MEMOIRS
OF
MARSHAL
BUGEAUD
H.D'IDEVILLE
VOL I
DC
269
B93
I193
CHARLOTTE
M.YONGE
LONDON
HURST & BLACKETT

ARTES
VERITAS
LIBRARY
SCIENTIA
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
PLURIBUS UNIC
SQUAERIS PENINSULAM AMOENAME
CIRCUMSPICE
事
​¡
MEMOIRS OF
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
VOL. I.
DE
269
B93
I 193

Mr Rugerend Biely
MEMOIRS
OF
40111
MARSHAL BUGEAUD
FROM HIS PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE
AND ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS,
1784-1849.
BY
THE COUNT H. D'IDEVILLE,
Late Prefect of Algiers.
EDITED, FROM THE FRENCH,
BY
CHARLOTTE M. YONGE,
AUTHOR OF 'THE HEIR OF REDCLYFFE,' ETC.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS,
13 GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET,
1884.
All Rights reserved.

LONDON:
PRINTED BY STRANGEWAYS AND SONS,
Tower Street, Upper St. Martin's Lane.
22-02 NOG
EDITOR'S PREFACE.
THE original work of M. d'Ideville extends to three
large volumes, and where the whole work is so
interesting it has been a matter of considerable
difficulty to reduce it in length without sacrificing
important passages. As is well said by a writer
in the Quarterly Review, No. 312, p. 452, from
whose article we have been kindly permitted to
quote, Marshal Bugeaud, Duke of Isly, was cer-
tainly a more remarkable man than nine out of ten
who have been the idol of a biographer, and his
career is fertile in episodes or incidents characteristic
of the times, and throwing light on history.' The
same article contains an extract from General Tro-
chu's L'Armée Française in 1867, so interesting to
Englishmen that it may well be added to the
Marshal's life' There is a highly-interesting com-
munication from him, based on his Peninsular ex-
perience, to General Trochu, in which he gives a
vivid description of the contrasted bearing of British
and French soldiers in the field. Arrived at a thou-
sand yards from the English line, our soldiers began
exchanging their ideas in agitation, and hastening
their march so that the ranks began to waver. The
English, silent, with grounded* arms, presented, in
* Probably 'ordered.'
vi
EDITOR'S PREFACE.
their impassable immovability, the aspect of a long
red wall; an imposing aspect that never failed to im-
press the novices. Soon, the distances becoming less,
repeated cries of "Vive l'Empereur! En avant!
A la baïonette!" sounded from our ranks; the
shakos were raised on the muzzles of the muskets,
the march became a run, the ranks got mixed, the
agitation became tumult; many fired as they marched.
The English line, still silent and motionless, with
arms still grounded, even when we were not more
than 300 yards off, seemed not to be aware of
the storm about to burst upon it.
'At this moment of painful expectation, the Eng-
lish wall moved. They were making ready. An
indefinable impression fixed to the spot a good
many of our soldiers, who began an uncertain fire.
That of the enemy, concentrated and precise, was
crushing. Decimated, we fell back, seeking to re-
cover our equilibrium; and then three formidable
hurrahs broke the silence of our adversaries. At
the third they were on us, pressing our disorderly
retreat.'
As the expedition of La Pérouse, alluded to in
pages 2 and 5, took place in 1787, there seems
some difficulty in the allusions to it. The Mar-
shal's uncle must be the person named.
The war in Algiers and the colonisation, in
which the Marshal was the central figure, have,
we think, never been so fully set before the Eng-
lish reader in all their details, both of severity and
excuses to be made for such severity, as in these
volumes.
C. M. YONGE.
May, 1884.
THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
NEXT after the greatest military personage of the
century, Napoleon I., the most perfect is Marshal
Bugeaud. Our misfortunes and our faults have at
the present time placed us in such a position among
the powers of Europe, that it appears desirable to
bring into notice the character of one of the most
famous soldiers of France, who was also one of her
best citizens.
The Marshal's family are justly proud of their
hero, and have a good ground for comfort and pride
in the thought that our foes themselves have a
respectful remembrance of the victor of Isly, the
conqueror and organizer of our possessions in Africa.
In the month of September, 1870, a young French-
man, severely wounded in action, was at death's door
in the hospital at Haguenau. His mother was sent
for in haste, and arrived in time to rescue her beloved
from death. When the staff-officers learned that this
noble woman, the widow of a general officer, was
daughter to Marshal Bugeaud, they all bowed their
heads. The Comtesse Feray tells us, 'It was a
great pleasure to me to hear from the mouths of
Prussian officers an enthusiastic recital of my father's
viii
The author's PREFACE.
campaigns, and to see the respect paid to his name.
Most of his books, his instructions to the soldier, are
translated into German, used in the military schools,
and, must it be acknowledged, possibly more popular
beyond the Rhine than in their own country.'
The work we have undertaken is not so much an
individual creation as the orderly arrangement of
precious documents, for which we are indebted to the
family and friends of Marshal Bugeaud, especially his
two daughters. For the purposes of our work, the
Comtesse Feray has been good enough to put
together her earliest recollections, and dictate to us
invaluable notes full of living pictures of the scenes
that cradled her infancy. Thanks to this filial
piety we have been able in a sort of way to be
witnesses of the Marshal's life during his earlier years,
spent in such homely style at the ancient dwelling
of the family, and to reproduce with exactitude this
simple provincial home at the beginning of the
Revolution, and follow step by step the soldier-hero
through the episodes of his life.
The absorbing interest attaching to the remem-
brances of the Comtesse Feray, with their exquisite
simplicity and devotion, is enhanced by the attractions
of the Marshal's letters, a treasure affectionately pre-
served in the family, that we have the good fortune
to be the first to reveal to the public, thanks to the
kindness of M. Robert Gasson-Bugeaud d'Isly, the
Marshal's eldest grandson. This correspondence, too
often interrupted, will be united by descriptions and
historical explanations that will enable us to fill up
the too extensive gaps. In every line of these letters
THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
ix
6
stands forth the whole character of the man. They
display a powerful individuality, but always simple
and loyal. Everywhere is he found the same, from
the familiar letters where the young vélite' of the
Guard tells his sisters about garrison miseries and
adventures, to the stirring recitals he gives them of
the battle of Austerlitz or the siege of Lerida. After-
wards there are the notes written to the Marshal's
wife from a tent, on the eve of an engagement, in the
wilds of Kabylia. In them the hero-father pours out
his expressions of affection concerning his children
and their future, not forgetting to add farming direc-
tions for Durantie, the oats to be sown in good season,
and old trees to be grubbed before winter. His con-
fidences to his son-in-law, his wife, or daughters, are
sometimes very smart; men and events are judged by
him with remarkable correctness and brevity. He
paints a portrait in three lines, and his opinions given
after 1848 about everyone of the African generals,
most of whom were in the course of events called upon
to undertake the government of the colony, will be
read with active curiosity.
All the important events in which the Marshal
was concerned, his first campaigns, his feats of arms,
his sojourn at Blaye, his parliamentary contests, the
difficulties of all kinds he had to surmount in Africa,
his relations with the King and Ministers, his position
in 1848, are illustrated by his private correspondence,
by his daughter's notes, and the unpublished docu-
ments placed at our disposal.
HENRY D'IDEVILLE.

CONTENTS
OF
THE FIRST VOLUME.
CHAPTER I.
BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD
Birth of Thomas-Robert Bugeaud de la Piconnerie, October, 1784-His
Family- Genealogy-The Marshal's Childhood-The Revolution—The
Prison of Limoges - Death of the Marquise de la Piconnerie —The old
Gentleman and his eldest Son-The Aunts and the Uncle - Escape from
Limoges - The Château of La Durantie - Description of the old House
Rustic Education of Thomas Bugeaud-Wedding Dress-Severity of the
Father The Chase by Moonlight.
CHAPTER II.
PRIVATE SOLDIER (1804)
Thomas Bugeaud applies for a place as a Clerk in the Ironworks of
M. Festugières-His Enlistment-Barrack Life-Passion for Study-
First Duel-Regrets for the Country-Laundresses' Ball at Fontainebleau
-Education of a Soldier of Fortune-Letter of Trochu on the Marshal's
Failings.
CHAPTER III.
THE CORONATION (1804)
Letters of Thomas Bugeaud to his Sister Phillis-His Friend Lamothe
-He gains the Commandant's favour-Disgust at Army Life-Reviewed
by the Emperor-Interview of Napoleon and Pope Pius VII.-The Corona-
tion-March to Courbevoie-Almost sent to Italy-His wish to enter the
Military School.
CHAPTER IV.
THE CAMP AT BOULOGNE (1805)
Leaving Courbevoie-Preparations of the Army of Invasion-Account
of a Naval Combat-The English and Dutch-Failure of the Emperor's
Plans.
1
18
26
xii
CONTENTS.
AUSTERLITZ (1805)
CHAPTER V.
Letters of Thomas Bugeaud during the Campaign in Germany, 1805—
Horrors of War Arrival at Vienna Description of the City and
Suburbs - Hope of Peace-Account of the Battle of Austerlitz, Dec. 2,
1805-Enthusiasm at the Victory-Interview of the two Emperors-
Napoleon's Proclamation-First Promotion-Return to France-Fresh
Start for Germany.
CHAPTER VI.
33
POLAND (1806)
Campaign in Poland, 1806-Pursuit of the Russians-Action of Pul-
tusk - Bugeaud wounded in the Leg-Made Lieutenant, December, 1806
Stay at Warsaw-Polish Ladies-Return to France.
CHAPTER VII.
IN SPAIN (1808-9).
Thomas Bugeaud gets Six Months' Leave— He sends in his Resignation
to the Minister, but his Sisters keep back his Letter-He is sent to Spain
-Insurrection at Madrid-A Gallant Adventure-Siege and Capture of
Saragossa― He is made Captain-Appreciation of the situation of the
Army in Spain-Departure from Saragossa-Engagements of Maria and
Balahite-His Promotion to the rank of Commandant.
CHAPTER VIII.
LERIDA (1810-14).
Siege of Lerida, 1810-Attitude of the Spaniards towards their
Conquerors-Combats of Tivisa-Thomas Bugeaud despairs of Promo-
tion — Aspirations for Return-The Ninth Light-Patriotic Silence
about the Army in the North of Spain-Leaving Spain.
1814 AND 1815
CHAPTER IX.
Napoleon I.'s Proclamation-His Abdication-Thomas Bugeaud made
Colonel and sent to Orleans-A Legitimist Song of Colonel Bugeaud-
His attitude during the Hundred Days-Appreciation of the Count de
Chambord.
CHAPTER X.
THE HUNDRED DAYS (1815)
Colonel Bugeaud with the Army of the Alps-Combat of St. Pierre
d'Albigny, when he took Prisoners two French émigrés-Brilliant Combat
of Conflans-l'Hopital-The Second Restoration-Colonel Bugeaud is
reduced.
47
55
68
85
94
CONTENTS.
xiii
CHAPTER XI.
COUNTRY LIFE (1815-30)
Colonel Bugeaud in Périgord, 1815-1830-His Attempts at Agri-
culture His Activity and Taste for Field-work- He founds an
Agricultural Meeting-His Marriage with Mademoiselle de Lafaye-
Transformation of the Country in an Agricultural point of view-The
Soldier Labourer-Colonel Bugeaud and the Peasants.
CHAPTER XII.
REVOLUTION OF JULY (1830).
Colonel Bugeaud re-enters the Service-Receives the Command of the
56th of the Line at Grenoble-Letter from Grenoble on the Military
State of France-His Hatred of Newspapers and Demagogues — Gets
leave at Excideuil, in Dordogne, where he purchases a Property—
Elected Deputy, made General-General Bugeaud Politician - Letter of
Madame Sermensan (Hélène) to her Brother.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE DUCHESS DE BERRY (1832)
Survey of the Political Situation in France at the Commencement of
the Reign of Louis-Philippe-Letters of Thiers, the Minister of the
Interior, to General Bugeaud - Arrest of the Duchess de Berry -
Instructions to the Governor of Blaye - General Bugeaud appointed
to succeed him- The Comtesse Feray's Recollections - Impressions
produced on the Duchess-M. de Saint-Arnaud-Unjust Attacks upon
Bugeaud.
108
118
127
CHAPTER XIV.
THE DUCHESS DE BERRY (1832)
Summary of the Political Situation-The Duchess de Berry and the
Legitimist Party in France in 1833-Journal of the Citadel of Blaye-
Bugeaud's Letters to the Minister-The Duchess informs him of her
condition, and tells him of her Private Marriage-Refuses to Publish
it-The General advises her being set at Liberty-His Letter on the
Disturbances in Paris and Street Fighting.
CHAPTER XV.
LEGITIMIST TACTICS (1833)
Journal of Blaye-Legitimist Tactics-Precautions for Verification
Instructions-Comte de Choulot-Bugeaud persuades the Government
to be contented with Witnesses' Certificate.
143
159
xiv
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE BIRTH (1833) .
Precautions-The Birth-Preparations for Departure-Legitimist
Opinions - Arrival at Palermo-The Count-Return to France.
CHAPTER XVII.
POLITICS-DUEL (1833-4)
General Bugeaud's Return-Confidences to friends on the Paris and
Country Press-Session of 1833-The Deputy of Excideuil, his Aversion
for Journalists-The Duel with Dulong-The Newspapers-Insurrections
in Paris and Lyons, 1834-Story of the Rue Transnonnain — Bugeaud's
Generosity-Letter to the Minister, Colonel Charras.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Landing in AFRICA (1836)
General Bugeaud in 1836-His Portrait by Armand Marrast-Start for
Africa-State of the Colony-Disaster of Macta, 1835-Marshal Clauzel
-Landing-Bugeaud's Commencement-Campaigning-Difficulties of
the Road-Mustapha Ben Ismael.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE SICKACK (1836)
Tlemcen- Meets Abdel-Kader-Battle of the Sickack, 6th July-
Report-Duke of Orleans' Letter-Return to France-Reply to the
Messager.
CHAPTER XX.
THE TREATY OF the Tafna (1837).
Critical Situation in Algeria-General Damrémont Governor —
Bugeaud sent to Oran, April, 1837-Instructions-Competition of
Powers with the Governor-Letter to Count Molé-Signature of the
Treaty of the Tafna.
CHAPTER XXI.
ABDEL-KADER
The General's Interview with Abdel-Kader-Description of Abdel-
Kader-The Emir's Letter to the Governor-general- Cessation of Hosti-
lities-Pacification.
169
185
200
220
241
253
CONTENTS.
XV
CHAPTER XXII.
THE BROSSARD TRIAL (1838-1839).
Appreciation of the Treaty-The Jew, Ben Durand-Secret Article—
Re-victualling Tlemcen-General de Brossard's Complicity-Court-
Martial — Bugeaud's Deposition-Events of the Trial-De Brossard's
Conviction-Revision-Acquittal-Correspondence with M. Boinvilliers
Letter to Gardère-Bugeaud Commanding on the Northern Frontier,
1839- Lille-Re-elected for Excideuil-Correspondence with the Duke
of Orleans.
CHAPTER XXIII.
SYSTEM OF WAR IN AFRICA (1840) .
General Bugeaud in Parliament-Comments on the Treaty - The
General's Avowal-Discussion of the Address - Paragraph on Algeria-
Dangers of restricted Occupation- Absolute Dominion, Subjugation of
the Country-System of War and Colonization-Change of Cabinet-
Bugeaud's Inquiries of the Cabinet-Public Opinion selects General
Bugeaud as Governor of Algeria.
CHAPTER XXIV.
POLITICAL ORATOR (1831-40).
Character of Bugeaud's Eloquence- Originality, Patriotism, and Good
Sense Poland - Colonisation of France - Agricultural Societies -
Bugeaud, Protectionist - Wool - Importation of Horses - Cattle-The
Roads of Excideuil-Hatred of the Opposition-Military Disorganization
— No Universal Suffrage-Political Crimes-Amnesties-The Press.
CHAPTER XXV.
MILITARY ORATOR
Care for the Non-commissioned Officer-Defends Military Pay, 1831-
Peck of Oats-Officers' Pay, 1835-Generals' Widows-Colonel Combes
-Confirmation of rank under the Empire-Chamber of Peers-Generals
as Deputies—The War of Ambuscades-The Good Soldier-Prophecy of
the War of 1870-Fortifications of Paris-Pensions-Civil element in
Committees.
270
295
306
325
CHAPTER XXVI.
GOVERNOR-GENERAL (1841)
Soult and Guizot Ministry-Marshal Valée's Retirement-Bugeaud's
Appointment-Portrait by Guizot - Arrival at Algiers-Proclaniations
to the People and the Army-Sketch of Algiers by Veuillot-State of
the Provinces-Strength of the Forces - Bugeaud's New System - His
Lieutenants-Coming of the Duke d'Aumale-Correspondence with the
Princes.
342


MEMOIRS
OF
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
CHAPTER I.
BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD.
Birth of Thomas-Robert Bugeaud de la Piconnerie, October, 1784-His Family-
Genealogy - The Marshal's Childhood-The Revolution - The Prison of Limoges
-Death of the Marquise de La Piconnerie-The old Gentleman and his eldest
Son The Aunts and the Uncle-Escape from Limoges-The Château of La
Durantie - Description of the old House-Rustic Education of Thomas Bugeaud
-Wedding Dress-Severity of the Father-The Chase by Moonlight.
BORN at Limoges, October 15, 1784; died at Paris,
June 10, 1849, Thomas-Robert Bugeaud de la
Piconnerie, Duke d'Isly, Marshal of France, was the
son of a gentleman of Périgord, Jean-Ambroise
Bugeaud, noble, Marquis de la Piconnerie, and of
Françoise de Sutton de Clonard, a member of an Irish
family which settled in France with James II. Ac-
cording to a letter addressed to the Editor of the
Tribune, in 1844, the Marshal ironically traced his
genealogy to a rather plebeian source. My grand-
father,' he there says, was a smith; with his sturdy
arms, and by scorching his own eyes and hands, he
gained a fortune, that my father, an idle aristocrat,
employed in a spirited manner. Two genuine
VOL. I.
6
B
2
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
documents, the register of the Marshal's birth, and
his father's marriage contract, establish his paternity
with precision.
Of the marriage of Jean-Ambroise Bugeaud de la
Piconnerie with Mdlle. de Clonard were born fourteen
children, of whom seven lived:
1. Patrice de la Piconnerie.
2. Ambroise de la Piconnerie.
3. Thomassine de la Piconnerie, married the Vi-
comte d'Orthez.
4. Phillis de la Piconnerie, married M. de Puys-
segenez, de Lignac.
5. Hélène de la Piconnerie, married M. Sermensan.
6. Antoinette de la Piconnerie, married M. de St.
Germain.
7. Thomas-Robert Bugeaud de la Piconnerie, duke
d'Isly.
Patrice Bugeaud, the eldest brother of the Marshal,
had married Mdlle. Durand d'Auberoche, daughter of
the Vicomte d'Auberoche, of a very ancient family of
Périgord.
Ambroise de la Piconnerie, an officer like his elder
brother Patrice, served in the army of the Princes
during the emigration. He lost his life by shipwreck
on the way to India with his regiment.
The Vicomte d'Orthez, husband of Thomassine,
was descended in direct line from the Count d'Orthez,
Governor of Bayonne, who refused to have the
Protestants murdered on the occasion of the Saint
Bartholomew.
A Sutton de Clonard, brother of Madame de la
Piconnerie, the Marshal's mother, was lost with La
Peyrouse, being second in command.
Lastly, Thomas Bugeaud, Marshal of France,
-
BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD.
3
1
married in 1818 Mdlle. de Lafaye.*
The Marshal
left two daughters and a son; the elder married to M.
Gasson; the younger married General Count Feray,
who died in 1870. The Marshal's only son, Charles,
Duke d'Isly, married Mdlle. C. de Saint Paul, and died
childless in 1868. All the grandchildren of Marshal
Bugeaud are authorised to bear his name.
Although several members of his family had emi-
grated in the years following 1789, the Marquis de la
Piconnerie, after his release from the prison at Limoges,
did not think of leaving France. The Marshal's child-
hood was far from being happy. His father, an old
gentleman, harsh and selfish, ruined by the Revolution,
had banished his daughters and little son to La Durantie,
while he continued to reside at Limoges with his eldest
son Patrice, upon whom he concentrated all his affec-
tion. The notes of the Comtesse Feray upon her
father's childhood must be given without alteration:
My father was born at Limoges, in a hotel of the Rue de la
Cruche-d'Or, in old Limoges, once the aristocratic quarter. A marble
tablet marks the house, which is now turned into a shop.
He was the fourteenth child of the Marquis de la Piconnerie.
Being intended for the Church, he entered into the world with the-
title of Monsieur l'Abbé. At six years old he was removed from
his nurse's care, a fine child; his father ordered a handsome dress for
him, and sent him to school, where he made rapid progress.
One year later, in 1791, all the circumstances of the family
were changed; the Revolution had broken out; my grandfather,
grandmother, and their youngest daughter, Antoinette. were in
prison; their elder sons had emigrated. Thomassine, my eldest aunt,
was married to the Count d'Orthez; and the younger children were
left alone, and were obliged to work in order to support their im-
prisoned parents. Phillis, then aged sixteen, and her sister Hélène,
* Mme. La Maréchale Bugeaud, Duchesse d'Isly, Elizabeth Jouffre de Lafaye,
was the daughter of Leonard Jouffre, Seigneur de Lafaye, and Catherine Aubarbier
de Manègre. Her mother was of the Marquessac family, one of the oldest of the
nobility of Périgord.

4
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
without a moment's hesitation, began to make shirts from morning
till night. Their brother, who was not yet eight years old, cooked,
ran errands, and took home the work when it was finished.
My aunt Phillis was frequently summoned to appear before the
revolutionary tribunal, as her beauty had made an impression upon
the monsters Therefore she always took her little brother with her
as a companion; and both of them showed so much quiet courage,
that they managed to gain the respect of these men, and thus, thanks
to them, the condemnation of their parents was delayed. However,
notwithstanding their efforts, the sentence had been pronounced, and
the day fixed for the execution of M. and Mdme. de la Piconnerie,
when the news of Robespierre's death saved them from the scaffold
When my grandmother was released from prison, she made her
youngest son resume his studies. We have been told that a few
days before the school prize-giving she had a vision at night. Her
father and mother, the Count and Countess de Clonard, drew the
curtains of her bed, took her by the hand, and said, 'Daughter,
prepare to come and join us in heaven; you will die in four days'
time.' The very hour was fixed. My grandmother, without any
weakness, performed all her Christian duties, and, after having been a
spectator of her little Thomas's success, went home, and died on the
day and at the hour named by the phantoms.
My grandfather, whose fortune was but small, had been nearly
ruined by the Revolution. He sent his daughters to the Château of
La Durantie, and stayed at Limoges with his eldest son Patrice, the
only one about whom he ever concerned himself. As for the youngest
born, he never greatly cared for him. In times gone by, such was
often the fate of younger sons.
My grandfather was a man with a terrible temper, and is still
the theme of legend in that part of the country. Our country-folk
are convinced that long after his death he walked the woods of
Durantie by night, followed by a fierce pack of hounds and a troop
of gentlemen. These honest folk declare that they can hear his
voice roaring like thunder beneath the branches of the forest, and
say that his great white horse, with fiery red eyes, can be seen from
far by the light of the moon. It is to be hoped that our grand-
father now rests in peace.
Patrice, like his father, was proud and violent; otherwise both
of them had their amiable moments. Phillis, the eldest (unmarried)
sister, was as beautiful as a statue, with an expression full of high
spirit, yet of calmness. She would have been remarkable in the
loftiest station, but her views were bounded by doing good, or by
glorying in her brother Thomas, whom she had brought-up, and
whom she almost worshipped.


BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD.
ст
Hélène, with lovely features and golden locks, had a feminine
style of beauty; her ready and gracious intelligence adapted itself
to all the circumstances and needs of life. The saying of her in the
family was, Fit for the king's court or the poultry-court.'
Antoinette was small and plain, but very good. Her sparkling
wit, her vivacity, and astonishing memory, were the delight of the
family, and her death left a great gap among us.
Ambroise, a naval officer, whom his sisters often compared to my
father, died at twenty-five in the expedition of La Peyrouse.*
The Château de la Durantie, near de la Nouaille, Dordogne, was
in old times inhabited by my grandfather's brothers, priests or old
bachelors, and his sisters, old spinsters, and nuns driven from the
Convents of Périgueux and Limoges during the tempest of the
Revolution.
My grandfather had twenty-three brothers and sisters. His
mother, childless for five years, went on pilgrimage to the celebrated
Virgin of Rocamadour in Lot. It is to be observed that her prayer
was more than granted.
My father was attended to by no one at Limoges, for the
Marquis and Patrice hardly ever spoke to him at all. _He had been
taken away from school after his mother's death, and was learning
scarcely anything. He was lonely and felt forsaken by every one,
but he endured his privations with resignation.
But one day, in despair at the state of isolation in which he
was kept, he left a note for his father to say that he had gone to his
sisters, obtained a bit of bread from the servants, and when evening
came quitted Limoges. He walked all night, went the whole way
on foot (eight-and-forty miles), reached, La Durantie worn out, but
overjoyed to see his sisters: he was then thirteen years old.
This poor habitation bore the name of the_Château-de-la-
Durantie, no doubt traditionally, in remembrance of the old homes
of the family. In remote ages there had been a feudal castle.at
La Piconnerie, a few hundred yards away from La Durantie, sup-
posed to have been destroyed during the English invasion, but I am
not sure enough of the fact to assert it. The only thing that I am
certain of is, that it did exist; even in 1840 I saw a tower in the
middle of the farm. The plan of this manor is among the docu-
ments in the possession of our cousin, the Marquis de la Piconnerie.
The family had lived in the Château de la Gandumas,† and at
* See ante, p. 2.-ED.
+ The Château de la Gandumas, which is still in existence, was the family
property. It was there that the Marshal's grandfather had established some con-
6
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
La Durantie for infinite ages. After my grandfather it was only
called Old Durantie. It was a long, narrow house, with an out-
building attached to it, equally long and narrow, consisting of a
ground-floor and loft. A building opposite completed a large-
square court, enclosed towards the road by a wooden paling.
The house was entered by a low door studded with great nails,
leading into a vestibule paved with little pebbles. Opposite was the
granary door, with a little hole for the cats in the bottom. Inside
this door an almost perpendicular stair led to the wheat-store.
On the right of the vestibule, another door opened into a great
kitchen also pitched with pebbles; in the middle was a very large
table with benches round it on the wall to the right was a
beautifully carved wooden cupboard, reaching to the ceiling, which
had once contained the pewter vessels with the family arms.
There was a soup stove in a corner; then some immense provision
chests, black with age. The whole of one side of the old kitchen was
taken up by a wide and deep fire-place. This was the foresters'
favourite place, where they dried themselves of an evening by the
flames of enormous faggots, with their dogs between their knees.
A window looking on the court gave a view of anything that was
going on. To the right of the vestibule was the parlour, or rather
the common hall. This had what I cannot call a floor, but a sort
of badly jointed planking. A sideboard took up the whole of one
wall; and a glazed door opening to the garden made this room
tolerably cheerful in summer. A window in front looked out on
the court; at the back was a high chimney-piece with some
pretence at panelling. As ornaments upon it in summer, great
bunches of daffodils and honeysuckle were displayed in the old
earthenware vases; in winter a row of enormous beetroots, some fine
apples, and little sheaves of ears of curious sorts of corn. In the
middle of the room stood a long thick table of wax-polished walnut,
some chairs, and two arm-chairs of straw. These two arm-chairs
represented all the comfort of the habitation.
To the right of the fireplace was the room of the head of the
family; to the left a small door opening on a long and narrow
corridor that led to three large rooms in the back building. The
lower one was reached by a passage open to all the winds of
heaven. It was the most elegant, there was a looking-glass
above the chimney-piece; and the two grand old beds, hung with
magnificent silk drapery, probably a remnant of the furniture
siderable iron works, which are still in a state of activity. Thanks to this
business the grandfather was able to bring up his twenty-three children. It was
in allusion to him that Marshal Bugeaud said, 'My grandfather was a smith.'

BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD.
7
from Limoges, were not in harmony with the rustic simplicity of
the dwelling.
On the other side of the quadrangle a large building contained
the cellar, the workshops of all sorts, and the corn-stores. The
well, surrounded by a stone trough for watering the cattle, was
opposite the house door. Lastly, the court was full of fowls, ducks,.
and turkeys, not forgetting the great manure-heap. And this was
the dwelling where my father's youth was passed in company with
his sisters.
Of his uncles, several had gone to America to seek their fortune,
others had remained under the headship of the second brother, M. de
la Durantie. Two or three sisters were married. Mdlles. de Saint
Martin and des Places had remained in the nest, with nothing but
their spinning-wheels to amuse them. At Durantie my father lived
like Robinson Crusoe; rising at dawn to go out to the chase, he came
back at dinner-time in triumph, almost always bringing back some
game, as an addition to the family fare, which, as usual, was
chiefly composed of chestnuts. When resting he worked with his
sisters, who taught him, poor girls, all that they recollected of
their learning in the convent. They learnt Molière and Racine by
heart together, and then acted the scenes, giving each other the cue..
Forty years afterwards, my father and one of my aunts gave us a
recitation of a dialogue of Molière, which they had repeated in their
youth, and did not miss a single word. After lessons the little
brother went off to fish, enlisting the little country boys of his own
age in his wanderings. They all remained faithful to him, and.
most of them died as farmers upon the property. He did not
trouble himself much about meals; a fire of dead branches was
soon lighted to cook chestnuts or potatoes from the fields, or he
would seek the hospitality of the farmhouses, where the little master
was universally known and beloved. My father has told me that
he had no leather shoes; wooden ones were very soon worn out in
this active life, so he invented a way of making sandals out of
cherry bark and string, which were a complete success. His sisters
had no shoes, and spent months without going out.
My father was in great trouble at an invitation to a wedding at
a house in the neighbourhood, where there were to be all the amuse-
ments of that good old time. It was impossible to attend in his
dress of patched grey cloth. Just as, with swelling heart, he was
about to send a refusal, he remembered he had seen, in an old chest
in the loft, the dress that an ancestor had worn at the Court of
Louis XV. With his sisters' help, he brushed the dust off the
suit, and the dear girls soon contrived to attire their little brother..
He had never seen himself so fine in his life, and off he went to the

8
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
much-desired feast, where he danced three days with a success that
made him very proud.
At La Durantie the quiet life of the girls and their little brother
was only occasionally interrupted by the rare visits of my grand-
father and uncle Patrice. Everything trembled before the lord and
master. His children were never allowed to speak to him unless he
interrogated them. One day my grandfather was giving an order
to a servant about some farming matter. My father, then fifteen,
thoughtlessly allowed himself to make a remark. The marquis in a
fury lifted a great stick he had in his hand against the boy. My
father, in a fright at his audacity, and foreseeing the results of the
paternal anger, jumped out of his great wooden shoes and ran away
to avoid the blow. My grandfather stumbled over his son's heavy
foot-gear and the club gave the wall a violent blow.
My father had tears in his eyes when he told us of our grand-
father's harshness. Never,' has he said, 'did he once give me a
single caress, and I never remember his giving me a single kiss. I
do delight to caress you, my dear children, and therefore I lavish
upon you the tenderness that was so much missed by my loving
heart.' Poor father!
After his mother's death the boy met with no affection save from
his sisters, who loved him like mothers. However, he easily consoled
himself, thanks to his passion for the chase and for life in the open
air. One winter night, in beautiful moonlight, he was on the watch
for a fox not far from the house, and seeing in the wood a whole
flight of woodcocks waddling over the hardened snow he thought the
sight so charming that he ran to the house, and, notwithstanding
the cold, made his sisters get out of bed to partake of these sports-
man's pleasures.
:
CHAPTER II.
PRIVATE SOLDIER (1804).
Thomas Bugeaud applies for a place as a Clerk in the Ironworks of M. Festugières
- His Enlistment-Barrack Life-Passion for Study-First Duel-Regrets for
the Country-Laundresses' Ball at Fontainebleau- Education of a Soldier of
Fortune Letter of Trochu on the Marshal's Failings.
Thomas Bugeaud was
HOWEVER, time went on.
nearly eighteen years old. Country life, sport, and
study, were no longer enough for him. He felt the
necessity of making a future. Considering that he
had no patron to advance him in the world, and
being unwilling to leave his own country, he applied
for a clerk's desk to M. Festugières, who had married
the elder sister of Mdlle. Elisabeth de Lafaye, who
afterwards became his wife. M. Festugières was
owner of some considerable ironworks in Périgord.
He had a long interview with the young man, and
told him 'My boy, I do not want a gentleman as
clerk, it is not a situation for you; your ability
should raise you into high rank in the army. Go
into it since you are not well off.' Thomas, in de-
spair, went home to embrace his sisters, started for
Limoges, and in a couple of days his lot as a soldier
was fixed.
The following letter was written by Thomas
Bugeaud a short time before his enlistment. His
hesitation shows how little taste he had for a wan-
dering life of adventure :-
i


10
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
!
1
TO MDLLE. PHILLIS BUGEAUD DE LA PICONNERIE, at Bordeaux.
La Durantie, May, 1804.
MY DEAR,-I did not answer your last letter immediately, because
I was waiting for Patrice to ask his advice, and come to a decision
one way or other. After we had both reached the conclusion that
the best course to adopt for the present is what you have been kind
enough to suggest, I ceased to hesitate.
I considered that, perhaps, in fourteen or fifteen months' time I
might be obliged to go, and then so much time would be lost. If
in three or four years I have no taste for a military career, I could
take my discharge, and then be able to enter another profession.
So, my dear Phillis, I have made my decision, and expect to go
away about Easter. Will you be kind enough to send me the
letter of introduction you promised, and also tell me all you think
about my intention?
Though you say so, my dear, I do not think I can walk alone.
I am not so conceited yet. You cannot know much of me if you
think that I did not want your advice. No, my dear, I never meant
to say so. I want it—a great deal of it. I only said that you
could not make me see blue black, and black blue. Anyhow, you
have always the same right over my heart and mind.
I am very sorry that I have not the means to come and see you
before I go away.
But you know, my dear, that I have hardly any
money. I have already spent nearly all my year's allowance on the
necessary outfit and in my illness. I am not quite well yet, and
have returns of fever. I hope to be quite cured by the first fine
weather, and to be able to start.
How I wish Bordeaux was on my road, or not far from it.
How delighted I should be to go and wish you good-bye; but,
alas you are in the south and I am in the north.
However, I hope not to be parted from you for ever, and
reckon upon presenting you in a few years with a brother worthy
of you.
No doubt you think my writing very bad. Since I had the
fever, I have quite lost the habit of writing, and must form my
hand again.
Adieu, my love. Answer me at once. Kiss Helen and
Edward, and give them a million compliments for me.
Do not omit to give my remembrances to my aunt* and cousins.
Your affectionate brother,
THOMAS.
* Madame Mac-Karthy, sister of the Marquise Bugeaud de la Piconnerie.
PRIVATE SOLDIER.
11
حديد و
It is to his elder sister Phillis, his faithful and
devoted confidante, that the youngest son of the
Marquis de la Piconnerie almost always addresses
himself. There is nothing concealed from her; he
tells her all his impressions, his most secret thoughts,
all that he does; and we know nothing more touching
than this tender and filial attachment of the young
brother to her who stood to him in the place of a
mother, and in whose company were spent his early
years in the old home of La Durantie. The sincere
affection expressed by the young Bugeaud towards
his sister Phillis never diminished. The Comtesse
de Puyssegenetz all her life retained the ascendancy
she had possessed over her brother during his infancy
and youth. We have heard an affecting anecdote
on this subject. A short time before his death,
Marshal Bugeaud at a family dinner at La Durantie
had a little discussion with his elder sister. Without
intending it he had certainly vexed his dear sister a
little, so that a little pearl of a tear appeared in her
eye. Seeing this, the Marshal jumped up, and
throwing himself on his sister's neck, himself burst
into tears. 'Oh, my dear Phillis, oh, my well-
beloved, can it really be I that have made you weep ?
I shall never forgive myself.'
Thomas Bugeaud enlisted at Fontainebleau on
the 29th of June, 1804, in the foot grenadiers of the
Imperial Guard (corps of the vélites*), being nineteen
years and some months of age. Appointment to the
vélites of the guard was a little favour to the young
Limousin recruit. The corps of vélites was
* 'The light-armed troops bearing the name of velites.'-Smith, Dict. Greek
and Roman Antiquities, Army, p. 95.--ED.
12
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
posed of young soldiers of a little more education
than the rest, and the First Consul intended that it
should be a nursery for sub-officers..
The Comtesse Feray observes: Barrack-life was a time of
suffering to my father. The future did not look bright to him,
having neither friends nor money. He spent in study all the time
he had left from fatigues and drill. He even sold some of his bread
to buy books. He had not money enough to buy candles. When
his comrades were asleep, he read by the smoky barrack lights. He
was very often hungry, and in his dreams feasted upon the chestnuts
and mealy potatoes of old Durantie. As a recruit, he was very
badly treated by the veterans; his fine white hands, some marks of
the small-pox, his beardless chin, red hair, and especially his taste
for books, were the subjects for continual attack, while discipline
compelled him to be silent.
men.
'At that time the soldiers had only one soup-bowl between six
It was set upon a form or table; the men made a ring round
it, and there was a rule by which they ate. Each in turn put in his
wooden spoon, and abstained while the others took their share. One
day my father, in his hunger, forgot the regulation, and when he
had swallowed one spoonful took another at once. On this one of
the "old grumblers" rushed at the glutton, and shouted at him in
a rage, "With your thématiques and gérographie you are only a
confounded greenhorn. Upon this he received the contents
of the bowl in his face. A duel ensued; the old grenadier was
killed; and from that day the young recruits, hitherto martyrs and
butts, were treated with much more respect in the regiment.*.
""
Although he was experiencing a time of peace, my father felt
little inclination for the profession of arms. He kept on writing to
his sisters, lamenting the poverty that had driven him from his
home. His greatest consolation was to go and sit at the foot of a
tree in the forest of Fontainebleau, and pour forth his tears. He
has told us : "I was one day in a miserable state, when a comrade
saw me. 'What are you about, you fool? Do not cry like a calf;
come to the laundresses' ball.' He dragged me along, and I was
My comrade knew the ways of the
still wretched when we went in.
* This was the General's first duel. We are told that his second was during
the campaign in Austria, when a rough sergeant commanding the detachment
talked of offering insult to the daughters of a house where they had been hospitably
entertained. Corporal Bugeaud exclaimed against such dastardly conduct; a duel
was the instant result, and the sergeant killed on the spot. A third we shall have
to mention took place long after, in 1832, when the Deputy Dulong was killed.
1
PRIVATE SOLDIER.
13
place, he gave a nod to the prettiest girls; and then I was in the
middle of them, and my melancholy soon put to flight in the whirl
of a waltz. I was mad for dancing. The ball did me a great deal
of good, and I did not go so often to pour out my sorrows to the
wilds of the forest.
The two following letters, written from Fontaine-
bleau and Courbevoie by the young vélite of the
guard to his sister Phillis, show that the hero was
already meeting the miseries of his condition more
patiently :-
Fontainebleau, 11 Thermidor, 1804.
MY DEAR PHILLIS,-I was anxiously expecting your letter, and
at last it has come. But for that I should not even now be recon-
ciled to my profession; but now that you approve, I am content,
and am vexed at nothing but the separation from you. I begin to
have a better idea of the views of the government about our corps.
Generals are often sent to see if we are doing well, and inspect
our progress.
Marshal Bessières reviewed us yesterday; he
promised us masters, and it is almost certain that in a fortnight
everything will be arranged. I am delighted at this. I have got
back a great deal of my taste for study, and am really afraid,
because drill and duty leave me so little time for learning. But in
three or four months we shall know our drill, and then have much
more time. A man could make very little progress with only the
corps masters. There will be so many of us, that each one could
hardly have a ten minutes' lesson, so that I intend to have a private
master for each subject that I take up in public. That is the
way to get distinction. I have but little hope of advance till
M. Blondeau gets a place. The first-come vélites have all the
best of it; they have attracted the observation of the chiefs before
us, and already some forty of them have been appointed instructors,
and they will soon become sub-officers.
It is hard enough to become acquainted with the chiefs. They
are afraid of making us jealous of one another by seeming to
patronise any of us. Another thing is that there are only two of our
officers whose society is in any way desirable; the others are good
soldiers, but men of low birth and small means. However, I intend
to do my best to do duty well with them, for a man must make
himself known; without that he would always hang in a rut. I
expect to make acquaintance with a young captain by means of
the chase, for he is very fond of it. I have already got myself
14
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
mentioned to him by a sergeant whom I know. I have spoken of
myself as a great sportsman, and I hope that I shall soon go out
with him. When we have been after game two or three times
together, we shall be good friends.
It is still more difficult to make respectable acquaintance in the
town. 'The soldier' is in very bad repute. There is great distrust
of any one who wears uniform; and not remembering that the frock
does not make the friar, people will hardly meet any of us in society,
not even the superior officers. I have been told that there was only
one vélite who mixed in good society at Fontainebleau, and that
was because he had relations there. The chief cause of our banish-
ment from honourable society is, that several vélites have insulted
women, and otherwise misconducted themselves in many ways.
And so we are reduced to the society of low women and barmaids.
I hope you do not suppose I frequent it. When I have a spare
moment I prefer to pass it in barracks, or in the room I have hired,
in reading and learning English and geography. I have bought a
dictionary from Paris. Even if I were disposed to dissipation, I
have no time for it. We are obliged to be so very clean-both
our arms and our persons—that we have to work without ceasing.
We have at the outside an hour a-day, so you need not be afraid of
the mother of all the vices. I never was more well-disposed, and in
a corps of grenadiers I am behaving, perhaps, much better than I
should in a hermitage. I go to mass on Sunday morning, and hear
a sermon on that day, as much for pleasure as for piety. I some-
times
say prayers, and have never been laughed at by my comrades
Several more do the same as I do, and the others do not
deride them.
for it.
There are a great many of these young men who are not of good
family, sons of peasants, artisans, &c.; there are also some of high
birth, but in general this corps is not what is supposed. There is
very little intimacy among the vélites; we meet and look at one
another like strangers, and do not make up large parties. Each has
two or three friends, with whom he goes out and shares his pleasures.
We are not incited to expense, or asked to do evil.
The discipline is very strict and very harsh. There is an order
against playing billiards; if a young man is known to have lost even
so little money he is very sharply reprimanded. We have to be in
by nine o'clock, and if late, are confined to barracks; if the offence
is repeated, the guard-room.
Our chiefs all have very bad principles; they believe that after
death there is an end of everything, that they are beasts like the
rest; they believe in a Supreme Being, but suppose He is neutral.
This is the language of all I have spoken to, and they intro-

PRIVATE SOLDIER.
15
6.
duced the subject. Unfortunately, there are only too many young
men disposed to listen to them.
I hope, my dear, that I shall follow your wise counsels without
difficulty, and that when Heaven grants me the favour of seeing you
again, you will find me virtuous, and thankful for the great share
you will have had in my good conduct, and the advice you have
given me, and I hope will give me.
I have found X- so little inclined to give me what he
himself acknowledges my parents left me, that I have not ventured
to ask him for any more. We have come to no arrangement. I sold
him my linen, and the price, together with what he owed ine,
amounts to five hundred francs. I asked him to advance me
the first six months of my allowance, and he refused, saying I was
foolish; but he promised not to let me be in want, and to send me
my allowance punctually. You may imagine that after paying for
my journey, staying thirteen days in Paris at an hotel with M.
Blondeau, buying several things I wanted, such as books, paper,
nankeen breeches, dimity waistcoats, silver buckles, hat, uniform, and
a lot of things necessary not to look like a beggar, I can have very
little left; and I am afraid that X— will not be in a hurry to
send me any more. With the strictest economy, and spending
nothing but what is necessary-like paying my masters—I shall
find it difficult to wait two months. X thought that five
hundred francs would be enough for my expenses, as having nothing
to buy; he is very much mistaken. Besides that we have to pay
something to the masters over us, there is a good deal to spend on
our kit. We are allowed to make our uniform as handsome as we
like. After duty is over, one can only go out in nankeen breeches,
silk or fine cotton stockings, or with kerseymere pantaloons, and boots.
It is only the rustics who go out differently dressed; and the way
to gain notice is to show that one is not a man without means, and
to be well appointed, M. Blondeau, who understands the case,
strongly advised me to attend to this. I give you these particulars,
so that you may not think I spend my money badly.
A thousand things to all, and my respects to my aunt. Adieu,
my love; I am everything that a good brother should be to. Hélène.
THOMAS BUGEAUD,
*
Vélite of the Grenadiers of the Guard.
Fontainebleau, 10 Fructidor, 1804.
*
*
*
The recommendation you mention might be of great service
to me, though it is not often that this kind of patronage is suc-
cessful, because all the men in power receive so many requests that
16
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
they scarcely pay attention to them. However, those that come from
a brother ought to be a little better received; so I beg of you not to
neglect it. I should prefer the letter being addressed to General
Bessières himself, as it is very difficult to present such a thing to a
man of his rank. He knows me already, for he received me at
Fontainebleau, the last time he went there with the Emperor.
If he is reminded of this, and would like to be of service to me,
he can easily find me. I should be very glad to be in the theoretical
class; those who have been taken into it are almost sure to be made
sub-officers, as they are learning the duties. No one has been
chosen who had no interest; ability and talents count for nothing.
More than three-quarters of them are worth very little, while in our
corps there are many educated young men to be found who are not
the least thought of.
I have not lost hopes of getting into good society. I have
made the acquaintance of the lady from whom I have hired a room.
She is the wife of a printer; but in this part of the country women
of that class have a much better tone than they have among us even
in far higher rank. She has promised to introduce me to the sets
that will be made up at the beginning of winter; she will get me
invitations to balls and concerts; and when I am there, I shall try
gradually to form friendships, and, perhaps, shall manage to get
myself a good bourgeois' society.
*
*
*
*
*
*
Our commanding officer gave us a very agreeable surprise the
other day.
After drilling us about a great deal, he said he was so
pleased with us that he would take us out for a march.
And so we
marched off, but had hardly gone a quarter of a mile, when we saw
some baskets full of bread, bottles, cheese, and sausages. We
jumped for joy at this sight, and when the commandant had made
us pile arms, we formed groups, and made a capital breakfast. We
toasted the commandant, our chiefs, and the glory of France. I
went to him, and in the name of my comrades paid him a little
compliment on the feast that he was giving us. He seemed pleased,
and put into my hands a great Brie cheese and a hamper of Bur-
gundy to share among us. When we had done eating we had a
dance to beat of drum.
This, my dear Phillis, is the only pleasant moment I have had
since I have been here. This little scene has given me a little taste
for the army, and I felt almost for the first time a slight breath of
ambition.
*
*
*
*
Adieu, my dear Phillis; do not make me languish any more.
If you knew all the pleasure you give me you would make great
PRIVATE SOLDIER.
17
98
haste to send an answer. I hope you do not want fresh assurances
to believe that I feel like the most affectionate of brothers to you.
THOMAS BUGeaud,
Vélite in the Grenadiers of the Guard.
The serious and candid side of this character is
well displayed in these private confidences and by his
bitter regrets at the difficulty of obtaining education.
This desire to learn appears in all his letters. Indeed
it was to himself the Marshal owed all he knew.
During the troubled period of the Revolution and
under the Directory it was almost impossible for a
boy-for a young man without means, and living in
the country, to obtain any thorough education. We
have seen above that such an abode as La Durantie was
little fitted to enlarge the circle of ideas and know-
ledge of the son of the Marquis de la Piconnerie.
And so our homage is due to the perseverance and
force of will of the young man from Périgord,
ardently desirous to study, blushing for his ignorance,
and attaining through his own exertions alone a
very fair amount of information for a soldier of
fortune. Afterwards he did a great deal to supply
the want of early education; and if he had not the
'culture that results from close study,' as General
Trochu rather severely regrets, he made up for these
imperfections by some very superior qualities.*
* General Trochu was aide-de-camp to Marshal Bugeaud in Algeria. He says
in a letter doing honour to the Marshal's high qualities and his own sense of in-
debtedness to him: 'But he had not received the lessons of a well-arranged educa-
tion, and had not the culture that results from close study. His merit was only
the greater in having raised himself by his own efforts to the high position where
we saw him.' In M. Trochu's works on the French Army, in 1879, full justice is
done to the Marshal's high qualities. They (the Algerian generals) had the
benefit of the lessons and example of a practised soldier, who was their inferior in
education and culture of mind, but their superior in the scope of his natural
ability, especially distinguished by the most uncommon good sense, and far above
them in his experience of the great war-Marshal Bugeaud.'
VOL. I.
C
CHAPTER III.
THE CORONATION (1804).
Letters of Thomas Bugeaud to his Sister Phillis-His Friend Lamothe-He gains
the Commandant's favour-Disgust at Army Life-Reviewed by the Emperor
--Interview of Napoleon and Pope Pius VII.-The Coronation-March to
Courbevoie-Almost sent to Italy - His wish to enter the Military School.
In the letters which follow the young brother continues
to make a confidante of his beloved Phillis. His
whole character is revealed in these private out-
pourings; the little vélite is still somewhat shy and
haughty, and his taste for 'the military,' as he calls
it, diminishes every day instead of increasing. His
weariness and distaste for the regiment is more
evident, and is so strong that the enlisted volunteer
thinks of entering the Military School. But the cost
is considerable, the eldest brother, Patrice, rather
hard, and Thomas, alas! could not meet such heavy
expenses with the very small fortune left him by the
Marquis de la Piconnerie.
TO MDLLE. PHILLIS DE LA PICONNERIE, at Bordeaux.
Since my last letter I have had several little adventures, both
good and bad. I remember you told me to try to approach my
chiefs. Well, my dear, I have done it, whether I would or no, and
that in a way that might have kept me still more aloof. I do not
know if I have told you that I had a friend of the name of Lamothe.
This friend had a dispute, and asked me to be his second. I could
not refuse, though there is a special order against fighting or being
a second. As we were on our way to the appointed place we were
arrested by the guard. Lamothe and his adversary were put in the
guard-room, and I was left at large till further orders. As soon as
THE CORONATION.
19
the two combatants were together they had a desperate battle, and
would no doubt have throttled each other had they not been parted.
The commandant was very angry, and intended to punish them
very severely; but as some one pointed out to him that Lamothe
was not to blame, as he had been insulted, he suspended the punish-
ment, and desired Lamothe and me to give our facts and reasons in
writing. My friend was unable to write because he had sprained
his wrist in the struggle, and so he asked me to do it for him; and
so I made myself up into a Demosthenes to plead his defence
and mine.
You know that among the blind the one-eyed is king. The
chiefs who are good soldiers, who have obtained their position by
bravery and nothing else, considered that what I said was splendid,
and acquitted both of us. Since that time their manner to me is
changed, and the commandant often speaks to me. Of late he
addressed me in a very friendly way, asked me several questions as
to my position, the way I was treated by the inferior chiefs, and a
number of other things. I told him that I was very well satisfied,
because it is a bad plan to complain. Then he said to me, 'You are
one of my recruits, Monsieur de la Piconnerie. I presented you to
General Bessières.' I did not fail to give him the credit, nor to
manifest my gratitude. Then he tapped me on the shoulder, and
repeatedly promised that he would not forget me. He also asked,
'You can write well, Monsieur de la Piconnerie?' Very little,
commandant, but if my small talents could be of any use to you, I
should be most happy to place them at your disposal.' He accepted
this, and has employed me several times, and so I have had the
pleasure of seeing his daughters, who are very ladylike.
6
You see, my dear Phillis, that I have reason to hope that I
shall not be forgotten when there are places going among the vélites,
for the commandant is all-powerful, and will be referred to in the
selection of persons. I am very glad of this, though not ambitious.
My love for soldiering, instead of increasing, diminishes every day,
and I am come to hoping that I may not always remain a private
soldier if only for the sake of being less unhappy. Perhaps at a
future time I shall think differently; but it is such a hard case, one
is such a slave, and under so many persons who generally abuse one,
that a man has to be absolutely without feeling-like a bit of marble
-if he is to be a soldier. I can tell you, my dear, that 'the military
is a fine school for patience, and just the thing to form the character.
I have a notion that when you see me again I shall be as gentle as
a lamb.
Patrice is mistaken in saying that I am making progress in
mathematics; I only told him that I was studying them. How
20
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
could I get on when I have so little time to myself? Our labours
are not lessened, and, I fancy, will not diminish till after the corona-
tion of the Emperor, for as we are to go to Paris for it, the com-
mandant has set his heart on making us drill as well as the oldest
grenadiers.
As for English, I work very little at it. At last a master for
drawing, grammar, and writing, has been given to us; but it is
difficult to get on in these general schools, for the numbers are too
great. We are more than three hundred in the drawing-class: so I
have determined to engage the same master for my private lessons.
Adieu, my dear Phillis, believe me your affectionate brother,
THOMAS.
Fontainebleau, 1804.
For the last few days we have been journeying to Paris, and I
am very much tired, for we carried our packs, and I had loaded
myself very much, expecting to remain several days. But we were
not even given time to rest. We arrived in the evening, next day
were reviewed by the Emperor, and manoeuvred a long time before
His Majesty, who was said to be much pleased with us.
Next day
we went off again. I had hardly time to speak to M. Blondeau.
He was very friendly, and by his advice and conversation gave me a
little of the encouragement I stood in great need of. He promised
to write to me as soon as he has succeeded, so that I may go to see
him at Paris, where he expects to be very useful to me. I forgot in
my last letter to give you the account you asked me for, and will do
so now.
It is true that I am thinking of the Military School, because when
once a man is there he is sure of getting out with the rank of sub-
lieutenant, and can really learn there, for the authorities do not, as
with us, attend only to making the lads go to drill, but also to giving
them the knowledge necessary for making good officers-real soldiers,
for an ignorant officer is unworthy of the name. It is true that in
that school a most severe slavery has to be endured for a year or
eighteen months, but I should be glad to part with my liberty for
that time if I determine to follow the military profession. I stand
well with my chiefs, and am as happy as possible, for a soldier.
I am most kindly treated. But what vexes me is that they reckon
too much upon my complaisance, and that there is not a moment
when I am not overloaded with work; so that with all the racket of
barracks I can scarcely secure a moment for my mathematical master.
To make up for this I have been excused from guard-mounting and
patrol duty, and am very glad of it. I have been appointed an
instructor; and have to study the soldiers' schooling, and be present
THE CORONATION.
21
at a two-hours' lesson. As I have begun so long after the others, I
must work hard to catch them up. I fully expect that for three
months I shall not be able to study some most essential things. The
names of my principal chiefs are Commandant Chéry, Adjutant-
Major Véjut, he is from Lyons, and the Commandant from near
Fontainebleau. The General commanding the corps is named Ulat.
Marshal Bessières is the General-in-Chief—at least I think so, for
he has often reviewed us.
Adieu, my dear; I kiss you.
Your brother,
THOMAS.
The following letter mentions some memorabie
scenes at which Bugeaud was present :—
To MDLLE. PHILLIS DE LA PICONNerie.
Fontainebleau, 25 Primaire, 1804.
My dear, I was expecting your letter with impatience, but not
grumbling: I will never come to that; I am too sure of you to
fear anything. So it is no use to talk any more sentiment-we are
not obliged to pour it out in every letter; let us keep to history,
and leave our hearts to take care of the rest, giving them carte
blanche.
I have seen a quantity of things that were new to me. The
Emperor came, as you know, to Fontainebleau to receive the Pope.
I had the pleasure of seeing him several times very close when he
went hunting. He even spoke to me, and asked me if there were
many. vélites in a detached barrack he was passing. I answered
him, saluting. He acknowledged my salute, and passed on with the
speed of lightning. A few days afterwards he met the Pope, and
brought him back in his carriage. Every evening I went and
walked in the castle-yard to look at the Court equipages, and
though I have long been excused from guard-mounting, I asked to
go on, in hopes of being posted in the Emperor's or Empress's
ante-room. It was as I expected. I found myself on sentry at
the apartments of Madame Bonaparte. I saw her several times,
and had a quarter of an hour's talk with a lady of her suite, very
pretty and amiable.
The same day the Emperor went hunting. A stag was taken,
and the curée performed in the castle-yard in His Majesty's presence.
More than two hundred hounds threw themselves upon the poor
creature, and he was eaten up in a moment. You may imagine
whether I admired the sight! We gave a grand banquet to our
22
MARSHAL BUGEAUd.
brothers-in-arms who had come with the Emperor. Everything went
off gaily, and more than one bottle of wine was emptied in drinking
our healths. We went to Paris to be present at His Majesty's coro-
nation; it lasted ten or twelve days. We had a great deal of trouble,
and no pleasure at all. The weather was very bad, we were heavily
loaded, and, to complete our misfortunes, we had to go beyond Paris,
and occupy barracks four miles from the city. At every festival we
remained the whole day under arms; it was very cold, and the mud
abominable. At the end of the day we returned to our infernal
barrack, and had to work like negroes to clean our arms and tidy
ourselves for the next day. This, my dear, is the pleasure that I
had. I got away one day to see M. Blondeau, and could only stop
with him a moment, because he was very busy; he has not
succeeded yet.
You cannot imagine the beauty and magnificence of the Pope's
cortège and the Emperor's on the coronation day. The Pope went
first on his way to Notre Dame. A number of very splendid car-
riages preceded and followed his, and it put all the others in the
shade; it was drawn by eight most beautiful dappled grey horses,
their manes covered with plumes that nodded over their heads, and
the carriage was as fine as the team. A churchman marched a few
paces in front, mounted upon a mule, and bearing a cross; he
looked as if he was masquerading, and made the old soldiers, who
do not believe in such things, laugh a great deal.
The Emperor passed a few minutes afterwards; he surpassed
every one else. His cortège was of the same kind as the Pope's,
but his carriage much handsomer; his eight dun horses seemed
to make it fly majestically. It was all gold, and bore the imperial
eagle and crown on the top. More than 80,000 soldiers in new
clothing made a line as splendid as it was formidable. What
I thought most beautiful was the illumination; everything was on
fire, and the blazing lamps were cleverly arranged like trees and
designs of every sort. Here was a firework, further on an enormous
star, lighting a fountain that flowed with wine.
In a word everything looked heavenly. I should have thought
myself in Olympus if I had not been sensible of the miseries of man.
I caught a cold the first day of the festivities, and have had it ever
since. so that I have endured a great deal, for I could not fall-out;
and though it was deathly cold, we had to stick in the mud as up-
right as posts, and keep on presenting arms. Then there were six
miles at least to walk before I could get to bed. I was even obliged
to take a carriage back to Fontainebleau, or I could never have got
there. To-day I have gone into hospital, where we are very com-
fortable, and I hope I shall soon be better. Ah, my dear Phillis,

THE CORONATION.
23
how often in these times of suffering did I think La Durantie, my dog,
and gun, much better than this silly ambition, that makes a man
leave his home to run after fortune through a thousand miseries.
How glad I should be to be there with my sisters! At least they
would be sorry for me, and make my illness bearable by their
care; instead of which, I am here with strangers who do not even
attend to me.
Soon there must be some corporals chosen among us— -I hope to be
one; that will be one step gained, and I shall be much better off, for
corporal in the Guard ranks with sergeant-major in the Line.
There is an order against our having rooms in town, so I find
it almost impossible to do anything till I can get some post that
will give me a little room with another man. At this moment we
are ten in a room, with only one little table, and as few have any
taste for work, it is a witches' sabbath.
Adieu, my dear Phillis.
Your affectionate
THOMAS.
Now comes the first incidênt in the soldier's life,
the transfer of the vélites of the guard from Fontaine-
bleau to Courbevoie, and the disappointment at not
having been chosen as one of the vélites incorporated
in the army of Italy. This suburban garrison did
not leave our Périgord man any very pleasing re-
membrances. For the first time he is oppressed and
afflicted by disgust. 'If I ever come to have done
with soldiering, I should be much better pleased to
bury myself in the country, than to run after any
more adventures. Perhaps the pathetic tone that I
adopt makes you think I am weak, and can bear
nothing, but if you knew how hard it is to be a
soldier for a man who has any spirit, you would
think differently.' He returns to his idea of entering
the Military School, and meanwhile works at mathe-
matics, and uses his small means in paying a master.
The prudent Phillis must have been lecturing her
dear brother, as we perceive by one of his letters.
24
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
These two letters are curious, and show the
relaxation of morals at the time.
Fontainebleau, Pluviose, 1805.
MY DEAR PHILLIS,—I have hardly time to read your letter; I
devour it by bits, as I am making up my pack, putting on my sabre,
and running to the beat of the drum. Just as I got it, we were
told to be ready in an hour, to go to Paris, and on to Italy. We
had not a minute, no time to put our things in security, satisfy our
creditors, or get our clothes from the wash. We had to go at once,
it was four in the afternoon, and to-morrow we have to be by two
o'clock in the afternoon at Courbevoie, twenty leagues from Fontaine-
bleau.
Courbevoie, Pluviose, 1805.
We arrived at the appointed time, and four hundred men among
us were selected to go to Italy; I was one! but a second order came
that only two hundred were to go, and I was not one of them, to
my great regret. Those who go are incorporated with the old
Grenadiers of the Guard, who are intended for the same destination,
and we with those who remain, so that we are now admitted among
His Majesty's guards. Thus vanishes my hope of promotion. Now
that we are amalgamated with old soldiers, famous not for their
science but for their services, their bravery and their exploits, who
nearly all have the cross of merit, it is not to be presumed, and,
indeed, it would be unjust, for novices with six months of service
ever to command these conquerors of Europe; it is much that we
are placed in their ranks. So I was very anxious to go to Italy
with the brave fellows, who won their immortality there. I volun-
teered, but was refused, as I tried a little too late.
I hesitated at first because I had not a halfpenny, had left a
few small debts at Fontainebleau, and my property was by no means
secure. I also felt regret at leaving all means of instruction, but
when I looked at the condition in which I should find myself at
Courbevoie, I did all I could to get away, but to no good.
There were only two hundred men wanted, and all were glad to go.
Just now I am in despair at having spoken too late, and am going to
lead the most monotonous life here. Courbevoie is a large village,
three miles from Paris, where there are no books to fall back upon,
not a master of any kind, and too far from Paris to go and
seek instruction in that home of the sciences. I am reduced to
spend my days in going on guard, at the Tuileries, in eating and
sleeping. There is nothing to do here, but the universal vice; you
THE CORONATION.
25
can fancy that, at this rate, I do not amuse myself much, and had
rather be stupid in my room. Unprincipled young men are here in
a haven of delight. There is hardly a grenadier of the guard who
has not a mistress among the laundresses of Paris, who washes for
him, feeds him, gives him on Sunday her week's earnings, and is
only too happy if he will recompense her by a little fidelity.
It was quite a play, the night before the men marched for Italy,
to see a whole company of women, well enough dressed, come to
besiege the barrack, and wish their friends good-bye with tears in
their eyes. There they were, hanging on their necks, and slipping
their little savings of money into their pockets. I know a grenadier
to whom a laundress gave fifteen louis for his journey.
Your loving brother,
THOMAS BUGEAUD
CHAPTER IV.
THE CAMP AT BOULOGNE (1805).
Leaving Courbevoie-Preparations of the Army of Invasion-Account of a Naval
Combat The English and Dutch-Failure of the Emperor's Plans.
THE Consulate for life had lasted two years. General
Bonaparte, who had become First Consul August 2,
1802 (the year X.), was proclaimed hereditary
Emperor on May 18, 1804 (the year XII.), and
the people ratified, by 3,572,239 assenting votes, the
establishment of the new dynasty. Bugeaud, the
vélite of the guards, was then twenty.
His own
station was changed very soon after he had seen his
more fortunate companions depart for Italy. This
year, 1804, the first of the Empire, was so much dis-
turbed, so fruitful in occurrences, that half-a-century
afterwards, the Marshal remembered these events
which he had passed through, certainly as a very
humble supernumerary, but his observant mind and
good sense had formed a sober judgment on them.
It was during the summer of 1805 that the regi-
ment to which Thomas Bugeaud belonged was
selected for the camp at Boulogne. The First Consul's
immense preparations, and the prodigious activity
that he had displayed in his plans for the invasion of
England, had been a little disturbed by the grave
events of the year 1804, the royalist conspiracy of
Georges Cadoudal and Moreau, and the proclamation
of the Empire.
THE CAMP AT BOULOGNE.
27
An activity, long kept secret, had been de-
veloped in our harbours and arsenals.
To carry
the expeditionary force into England, and attain the
object dreamed of by the audacious genius of Napoleon,
there was no need for lofty vessels, but for a myriad of
gun-boats, flat barges, lighters, and pinnaces, propelled
by sail and oar; all our ports, even our great inland
cities, were put under requisition, and ship-yards
established all over France. All the master's thoughts
had to be swiftly executed. At Paris eighty gun-boats
were built on the bank of the Seine, launched and taken
to Havre, or sent to other divisions; they were equipped,
armed, and sent along the coast towards the Straits of
Calais. Squadrons of cavalry and light artillery on
shore followed all their movements, ready to protect
them against a hostile attack. From the Loire, the
Gironde, the Charente, the Adour, all the harbours of
the coast issued similar fleets. 1200 to 1300 vessels
thus collected were to be concentrated at Boulogne,
and the neighbouring ports, Wimereux, Etables,
and Ambleteuse.
Thomas Bugeaud's pleasant vision of entering the
Military School was soon to cease, at the will of the
omnipotent Cæsar. Indeed, at this period it was
perilous enough, or any way very useless, for the
subjects of His Majesty, and especially for a vélite of
the guard, to construct a plan, and build upon to-
morrow. The regiment at Courbevoie received orders
to march in twenty-four hours for Boulogne-sur-Mer.
、;
A letter from Abbeville, dated 16 Messidor, 1805,
was written during a halt. In the young soldier's
hasty lines there is a sort of breath of patriotism :
this is the first, 'We are going on a campaign, and
at least the pains we suffer will be useful to the State.'
28
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
Is it not in this unconscious feeling of duty, and
vision of distant glory, that we find the explanation
of the admirable self-denial, discipline, and sublime.
heroism that Alfred de Vigny has summed up in
his valuable work, Grandeurs et Servitudes Militaires?
To MDLLE. PHILLIS DE LA PICONNerie.
Abbeville, Wednesday, 16 Messidor, 1805.
You must have been astonished at my long silence, but, my dear,
you will not blame me when your hear that before I answered you, I
was waiting for certainty about a report of our moving, and that it
has been realised. We started for Boulogne six days ago, and I did
not know our actual destination till we came here. Uncertainty as to
when we were going hindered me still further from writing to you.
Here I am, my dear, every day trotting out very early, with my
pack on my back, and getting to quarters very tired. I have already
passed through the Isle of France, and almost all Picardy, a great
province, and much resembling the Limousin in the nature of the
soil, but it is better cultivated. The villages in it are horrible, the
houses no better than our charcoal-burners' huts, and the inhabitants
not a bit better-mannered than our boors of Limousins. Amiens,
the capital, celebrated for the famous treaty, seemed to me common-
place. It would not be worth mentioning without its cathedral,
which is magnificent, and there are some pretty walks.
At last I am at Abbeville, pleasanter than Amiens. I am
quartered upon a gardener, who seems to be a very good sort of
man; I have been over his garden, and so we talked of gardening.
He told me several little things that I did not know, and I will give
you one of his receipts that may be useful. If you have a number
of lettuces, hearting at the same time, and wish to keep them in this
pleasant condition for a long time, you must carefully pass a knife
under the foot of the plant, and cut the great root that is its centre ;
the other little roots will be enough to keep it alive, but they will
not make sap enough to throw up the stalk.
I was working hard to get into the Military School, and now
have to move. But I do not give up this design, as I can work for
it, although at a distance. It is not like me to complain of this last
event, as it is for active service. So I say no more, and, though the
labour is increased, you shall never see me grumbling, since what I
endure is of use to the State. It is only in garrison that a soldier
can complain. I could easily get excused from going, in order to
pursue my design, but I would not do the least thing tending that
THE CAMP AT BOULOGNE.
29
way; it would have been cowardice, otherwise, except as regards
my plan, I am delighted to go campaigning. There is talk of an
expedition, and no doubt we shall take part in it; but politicians
think it is only to induce the English to make peace. What is
certain is, that half of the guard is on the way to the coast, and it is
stated that the other half, now on its way from Italy, will come and
join us. We have received canvas trousers and frocks for the
voyage. We shall be encamped at a short distance from Boulogne.
We have a sovereign who will not leave his troops idle, and he has
confidence in the vélites, for in this expedition we are more numerous
than the old grenadiers. As for me, I am quite sure, that, if there
is an action, we shall distinguish ourselves, for we are in the best
possible spirits, and all delighted to go. In general, in single
combat, that is in duels, we are braver than the old grenadiers of the
guard. At first they wanted to order us about, but they begin to
respect us. In fact, I believe that the Emperor thinks much more
of us than he does of them, and that one day or other the vélites
will form a separate body.
Adieu, my dear,
Your brother THOMAS.
The detachment to which Thomas Bugeaud be-
longed was ordered to proceed to the camp at
Wimereux, and he then wrote the following letter to
his sister, giving an account of several engagements
with the English vessels cruising off our coasts, in
order to distract our labours, and oppose the con-
centration of our little flotillas at Boulogne.
Wimereux, near Boulogne, 1805.
I arrived, my dear Phillis, at the camp of Wimereux, near
Boulogne, in very good health, and was very much interested in ex-
amining all these things, new to me a very large camp, harbours,
flotillas, the sea; the sight of all this gives me the greatest pleasure.
Our camp, not a musket-shot from the sea, is very pretty, at a
distance it would be taken for a beautiful village. In truth, it is
not very comfortable, as we have to lie on a little straw, the bed is
by no means good, but one is not so badly off here as I expected.
Now, also, I am used to it, and it is not physical privation or fatigue
that troubles me. Three days after my arrival, a detachment was
embarked, of whom I was one. We were eleven days at sea, and
you would not suspect that in this time I have been present at three
naval engagements, two of them sharp enough. You should see the
30
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
account in the papers, but I think that some particulars will be of
interest to you, when you know I was there.
As we went out, the English came to attack us with several
frigates, brigs, and corvettes; we were rather surprised, for we did
not expect to fight, and hardly any of the crew had ever seen the
sea. We knew no sea terms for the management of the sails, or
gun drill for firing the cannon; but we had to perform both duties,
both quite strange to us. When we were told to let go a rope, we
hauled upon it as hard as we could, and this at first caused some
confusion, and took us nearer to the enemy than we wished. How-
ever, in a short time, we got used to our work, and we kept up a smart
fire with the help of the forts and coast batteries; the enemy were
compelled to haul off, and we got quit of them for some slight damage.
Two shots came on board the gunboat where I was without
doing much harm. After this skirmish we anchored in the roads,
and stayed there pretty quietly for some days; I was only sea-sick for
a quarter of an hour.
In the quiet days we were practised in manœuvring, and lost no
time in putting our theory into practice, for there was a signal that
a flotilla was coming from Calais; and either to make a diversion, or
to protect it, we made ready at daybreak. The English soon
perceived that we were in motion, and attacked us furiously; we
received them just the same way, and the combat was sharp enough
for an hour and a half; the enemy were again obliged to haul off,
and it is said were considerably damaged. On our side we were
very fortunate, for there were only three or four men wounded, some
masts cut, and other injuries, slight enough. In our gunboat there
was only one shot that went through from starboard to port, and
killed no one. The Dutch fleet was not as fortunate; all the way
from Dunkirk here it had to keep up a fight with forty-seven
sails, three or four of them being line-of-battle ships; in the evening
it came in sight, continually harassed by the English, and keeping
up a vigorous defence.* Some of our line were engaged, but it did
not last long, as the enemy suffered severely from the batteries and
forts on the coast. The Dutch had eighty men killed or wounded.
It is time, my dear, to finish this gazette, which may weary you, but
it amuses me to write it.
Your loving brother,
THOMAS BUgeaud.
* English vessels at Wimereux, 'Immortalité, frigate; Hebe, 32 guns; Arab,
20 guns; and the remainder of the detached squadron. Only damage, a nine-
pounder gun disabled.'—James' Nav¹l History, vol. iii. p. 311. See also PP. 312
and 313 for Action with Dunkirk Flotilla. Only small vessels were suitable for
the service, on account of shoal-water.-ED.
THE CAMP AT BOULOGNE.
31
Napoleon had invented several methods for keeping
the enemy at a distance. He established several lines
of submarine batteries, armed with heavy guns,
covered by high tide, and uncovered at low water,
so that the fire seemed to advance and retire with the
tide itself. Five hundred pieces of the largest calibre
were placed in battery upon the reefs the English call
'the iron coast,' and forts built out at sea prevented
the enemy's approach to the harbour. Several of
these batteries fired hollow projectiles.
Everything was ready, only waiting for a fair wind
and favourable weather. The English had recourse
to their usual plan of organizing a confederation.
Admiral La Touche Tréville died; Villeneuve, who
succeeded him, did not carry out the plans with
sufficient dash. The Emperor began by abusing
Austria and Villeneuve.
The violence and injustice of the Emperor's
expressions vexed Admiral Decrès. 'Villeneuve is
a wretch, who must be dismissed with ignominy,'
cried he; 'he has no power of combination, no courage,
nor general energy, he would lose everything to save
his skin.' He was raging thus in the presence of
Monge, for whom he had a real friendship, notwith-
standing the known opinions of the savant, who had
remained a republican. Annoyed at Napoleon's rage,
Monge went and told M. Daru, first secretary for
war. Daru went to the Emperor. Misinformed as
to his master's intentions, and the cause of his dis-
pleasure, he waited in silence; the Emperor came to
him, and cried, 'Do you know where Villeneuve is?
At Cadiz !' And detailing to M. Daru all the plans
he had been hatching for six months, attributing
their failure to the cowardice and incapacity of the
32
MARSHAL BUGEAUD..
men he had employed, he broke out into invectives
and abuse. All at once, as if he had eased his soul
by this outburst of passion, he said to M. Daru, 'Sit
down and write.'
A powerful effort, and the natural play of a fertile
imagination, says M. Guizot, had caused him to
revert to the combinations that were to make his
enemies tremble, and ensure him over Austria the
triumph which he had missed over England. The
plan of his campaign was arranged; all his thoughts
turned to execute his will like lightning.
CHAPTER V.
AUSTERLITZ (1805).
Letters of Thomas Bugeaud during the Campaign in Germany, 1805-Horrors of
War-Arrival at Vienna-Description of the City and Suburbs-Hope of
Peace-Account of the Battle of Austerlitz, Dec. 2, 1805-Enthusiasm at the
Victory-Interview of the two Emperors-Napoleon's Proclamation - First
Promotion-Return to France-Fresh Start for Germany.
OUR land forces were now to find themselves in their real
element; and very soon great excitement was to ensue
after the abortive enterprise of the camp at Boulogne.
The capitulation of Ulm, the battle of Austerlitz, the
reconstruction of Austria, were destined in this same
year (1805) to announce to Europe the accession of a
new Emperor. By some of the continual chances of
war our young soldier was only a spectator of this
grand drama until the day of Austerlitz. He writes
to his sister from Saint Quentin that after the daily
alarms, embarkation and disembarkation at Boulogne,
the march was as pleasant as travelling; after an
hour's rest he used to go and see anything curious
in the town where they halted. Another letter :
TO MDLLE. PHILLIS DE LA PICONNERIE.
Augsburg, 18 Vendémiaire, 1805.
MY DEAR LOVE,-I only rested one day at Strasburg; we
crossed the Rhine, and made forced marches that have wearied us
very much.
We move off very early every day, and do not stop till
night. All the army marches as sharply, and our little man drives
the ship with astonishing speed. Good feet are wanted to second
the activity of his mind. You can judge of the speed of our march
when you know that we have gone eighty leagues in a week, a great
VOL. I.
D
34
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
deal for loaded troops; for besides our packs we carry on our backs all
our campaigning kit-kettles, canteens, picks, spades, &c.
I am absolutely tired out, and cannot imagine how the body can
support such constant fatigue. Again, if we had but a good bed
when we get to our quarters; but not a bit of it, we only have a
little straw, and even that after three or four hours' delay, and often
we can only lie in the open round a fire. Hunger is another tyrant.
You can imagine whether ten thousand men coming into a village
can easily find anything to eat. What distresses me more is the
annoyance of stealing from the peasantry; their poultry, their
bacon, their firewood, taken from them by grace or force. I do
not do these things, but when I am very hungry I secretly tolerate
them, and eat my share of the stolen goods. All this plainly shows
that hitherto I have only seen the rosy side.
But do not suppose that I am wanting in strength and courage to
bear these evils, though I do seem to express disgust. On the contrary,
I endure them with patience, and try to fill my place honourably. I
assure you I will die or distinguish myself. I am most anxious to
win the cross of merit; and only want an opportunity.
There has been fighting already, and we had the best of it. On
the 16th four thousand prisoners were taken, whom I have seen
march by; there were several officers of good appearance, many of
them covered with blood. It is stated that General Murat has
blocked eleven thousand more men three leagues off, and that we
shall march to-morrow to compel them to surrender more speedily.
Do not be surprised if I am a long time without writing to you,
perhaps two months.
Adieu, my dear Sister,
Your brother THOMAS,
3rd Company, 4th Battalion, Imperial Guard, Grand Army.
Linz, in Austria, 16 Brumaire, 1805.
Till now, my dear, I have had no time to tell you anything
about the campaign we are making, or rather have already made,
for the Emperor allows us to count it as a campaign already on
account of our brilliant success. I have hardly had breathing time;
we have been always on the run, either to cut off the enemy, or to
pursue him; I take advantage of a little rest to entertain myself
with you, and to describe at large the various actions and operations
that have taken place.
After Strasburg we made long marches, crossing the principality
of Baden, and the electorate of Wurtemburg, then entered into Swabia.
The enemy fled before us; the first affairs took place near Augs-
AUSTERLITZ.
35
burg, where we made five or six thousand prisoners. Several small
affairs, that took place before the capture of Ulm, were always to our
advantage, but it was at Ulm that we secured a complete success
by the quick and skilful manoeuvres of the French army. The
enemy found themselves divided and were obliged to surrender; I
have had the pleasure of seeing twenty-eight thousand men march
past, who had laid down their arms. It was a fine sight. The
army was arranged semicircularly in échelon on a low hill that sur-
rounds Ulm; the Emperor was on a rock, near which we were
formed up, he was surrounded by the principal generals of the army,
and watched the enemy's army pass, as it were at his feet, coming
out of one of the gates of the city, and going in at another after
laying down their arms. He watched it all with a quiet and modest
glance, warming himself by a fire we had lighted for him, where
by the way he burnt the grey riding-coat that he seems to regard
rather superstitiously. After seeing the enemy parade in this beau-
tiful way, we reversed and turned back to Augsburg, where we
made but a short stay, for the Emperor will take no rest until he has
entirely conquered his enemy.
; no
We crossed Bavaria, entirely cleared of Austrians by our advanced
guard, and rested two days at Munich, the capital. It is a fair city,
but offers none of the conveniences or pleasures that are to be found
in our French towns. The enemy were entrenched on the banks of
the Inn, the river that divides Austria and Bavaria. They were
driven off without difficulty, and we have marched here as easy as
travelling, except for some little skirmishes. On the route we saw
occasionally places where there had been a little fighting. Only
some five or six Russians were to be seen on the field of battle
French at all, no doubt they had been buried. Just as I am writing
to you, two thousand prisoners have reached this town, Austrians
and Russians in equal numbers, taken yesterday and the day before.
The fighting was sharp, and the advantage all on our side. Report
says that our camp is twenty-five leagues from here, and that we are
only forty-eight post leagues from Vienna. I fully believe that, if
they do not come to terms, we shall soon see that famous caį ital, for
the enemy seem in no condition to resist us; they defend the,selves
so badly that we are nearly sure to beat them.
No doubt you sup-
pose that, with such a quantity of success, I have been often in
action, and my life twenty times in danger. Well! not in the least,
my dear; I have hardly run any risk, our corps has not been engaged
yet, and this is unfortunate. There is nothing to hope for, as per-
haps we shall not be in action at all this whole campaign; and then
no promotion! In war it is not the fighting that is to be feared;
on the contrary, it is often wished for as a deliverance from the suffer-
36
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
ings, weariness, and privations that are more cruel than death. I
can assure you that one day, when we were in front of the enemy,
that is to say, in the second line, but very near, it rained, snowed,
and hailed by turns, and I twenty times wished they would let us
charge. We were obliged to remain in the ranks, carrying our
packs, unable to light a fire, with nothing to eat, having had no
bread for four or five days, wet to the bones; and that went on all
day and part of the night, till we took possession of a very strong
village that the enemy had held. I was weak enough that day to
wish for death, and longed for one of the shot that I saw rush through
our ranks. If we had received the order to charge at such a time,
we should certainly have put everything to death. I do not tell you
of the horrors of war, the villages sacked, the wrongs and barbarities
that it brings in its train. I keep such tales for the happy time
when we shall meet again. Now I will only tell you that the pro-
fession of a hero is so much like that of a brigand that I hate it
with my whole soul. A man must have a heart of stone, destitute
of all humanity, to love war.
Your loving brother,
THOMAS BUGEAUD.
Brunnen, 4 Frimaire, 1805.
You did not expect, my love, that my first letter would be written
from forty leagues beyond Vienna, that is to say, from the capital of
Moravia. I wanted to write to you from the proud capital that we
have just humbled, but we only passed through it. I hardly saw
enough to tell you anything about it, but I must say something, or
you will tell me I do not know how to notice anything.
Vienna is situated in a very small plain; the neighbourhood is
very populous, and the villages so many and so beautiful that the
whole plain might be taken for one immense city. But the pleasure
houses that these villages are composed of are not adorned with the
beauties of nature, as is the case at Paris. There are no charming
English gardens to be seen, no groves, no hedge-row elms, and
labyrinths such as form the charm of these sort of dwellings. The
houses are quite bare, with only some trees giving a little shade.
Approaching the city on the side towards France, there is a great
suburb, handsomer than any at Paris. At the end of this suburb
is an open space, at the end of which stands the Emperor's palace,
close to the gate of the city. The inside is very mean, there is no
ornament about it, and I venture to say that the court is not twice
as large as that at La Durantie. On the other hand, it is said that
the apartments are of unrivalled magnificence. As for me, the only
AUSTERLITZ.
37
fine thing I saw was a pair of colossal statues at one of the gates.
The rest of the city presented nothing of interest; but the houses
are almost all well built. What surprised me was the confidence
prevailing everywhere in the city; the shops were open, ladies, even
the most elegant, passed among the French soldiers in the streets, and
the faces were as calm as if we had been in the depths of peace.
Oh! my dear Phillis, how my heart bled when I saw that we
passed this city by, when the capture of it seemed as if it ought to be
the limit of our labours and miseries. I conjured up a very lament-
able picture of my future lot; I already attributed Alexander's
ambition to our Emperor, and imagined myself one of the old Mace-
donians, whom he dragged about the world, and who sighed un-
ceasingly for their families and country. By way of consolation, we
marched the whole night, and in three days have made forty and
some odd leagues. On the march we saw a place where there had
been a fight. Joseph Debetz was in action there; and I was in fear
for his life when I saw a number of dead, both French and Russians
I looked at the buttons, and saw several of the 75th, his regiment,
among the killed. I passed on thinking our friend dead, for I had
been told that a great many officers were killed; but in a village
near I found a soldier of his corps, who told me he was well, and
he afterwards sent me his compliments.
At last the Emperor has restrained his thunders, to our great
astonishment; for we are halted in this town, without much idea of
the reason, for, though we are in the middle of everything that goes
on, our ignorance is complete, and we are real machines. The in-
action of the troops makes me hope that perhaps a treaty is just
being made. It is even stated that we shall soon go back to
Vienna.
The day when I turn my steps backwards towards my beloved
France will be a joyful one for me. No longer will the days'
marches seem long to me when every step is bringing me nearer to
my family, and especially to my dear sisters. I have always been
very well, but a heavy cold has caught hold of me here. This is a
fine way to cure it; we are always under arms, being reviewed, or
inspected; indeed, we have a little too much tyranny; after a march
of five hundred leagues, we are obliged to be as well turned out as
at Paris, and if we fall short on the smallest point we are punished
or reprimanded as if for a capital crime.
Brunnen, the Capital of Moravia, 19 Frimaire, 1805.
Do not be surprised at my silence, my dear, the speed of our
march, and the little rest we have had, have given me no chance of
38
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
writing to you lately; but to-day I shall make myself a little com-
pensation. An illness of the Emperor delays us in this village for
two or three days, and this gives me a moment to communicate
with you. As I know you are curious to hear all particulars,
will resume my account of the campaign from Augsburg. After
my return from Ulm, we left that city, and made our way straight
to Munich, the capital of Bavaria, and rested there three days. We
then crossed the rest of Bavaria to march against the Russians,
who were upon the banks of the Inn. The enemy kept on retreating,
and as far as Vienna there were only some slight affairs with their
rear-guard. So we crossed Austria like travellers, and after a halt
of three days at Lentz, we reached that proud capital, and its
capture seemed to be the limit of our labours and miseries; but,
alas! my dear, what was my surprise and grief when I saw that
we were crossing the city without a halt!
At a short distance from Vienna a large number of prisoners were
taken, and a large park of artillery captured. Next day we reached
the scene of a very sharp conflict with the Russians which had just
taken place; the dead covered the plain on both sides of the road.
I looked at some of them to see the different regiments that had
been engaged; and saw several of the 75th. I inquire and am told
that this regiment had suffered considerably and lost a number of
officers; but learnt, at last, that Joseph is well, and got off with a
few knocks on the head. We entered Moravia and have stayed some
days in the capital, where I still am. There is talk of peace
ambassadors have come, but no doubt the conditions have seemed
tco harsh to them. The enemy preferred to try the hazard of a
battle, they concentrated their forces at a distance of four leagues
from here; their army was formidable, and the two Emperors
commanded in person.
Three days before the battle we had orders to leave the town,
and encamped a league from the enemy. The Emperor came there
himself and slept in his carriage in the middle of our camp. For
the three days that passed before the battle he was always walk-
ing through all the camps, and talking to the soldiers or their
leaders.
We gathered round him. I heard much of his talk; it was very
simple and always turned upon military duty. At last, on the eve
of the battle, the anniversary of his coronation, he issued a proclama-
tion exhorting us to behave with our usual intrepidity, and promised
to keep his distance as long as victory followed us. But,' said he,
if by mischance you hesitate a moment, you will see me fly into
your ranks to restore order.' Then he promised to give us peace
after this battle, assuring us that we should go into cantonments.

AUSTERLITZ.
39
We replied by shouts of joy, the harbingers of glad success. Torches
were lighted and the bands played while the whole army sang songs
with eagerness. It seemed that every man was celebrating his
return home, and felt the joy one experiences at seeing father, mother,
and brother. Yet how many of these happy men were not to see
their country again!
At daybreak the drums and trumpets announced the fight; a
start was made with shouts of Vive l'Empereur. The charge is
sounding. These words are repeated again louder, and carry terror
into the enemy's ranks. We charged like lightning, and the carnage
was horrible. The balls whistled. The air groaned with the noise
of cannon and our threatening voices, closely followed by death.
Very soon the enemy's phalanx was shaken and thrown into disorder,
at last we overthrew them entirely. One point withstands us, the
batteries in a moment are taken, the gunners cut to pieces at their guns,
and any that escape our steel either seek safety in flight, or a slower
death in the lakes. Nothing has ever been seen, my love, like this
memorable battle. In the opinion of the oldest soldiers it is the
most bloody that has ever taken place. I will not describe to you
the horrors of the field of battle; the wounded and dying imploring
their comrades' pity. I prefer to spare your feelings, and confine
myself to telling you that I was very much affected, and wished
that emperors and kings who make war without reasonable grounds
could be condemned for their whole lives to listen to the cries of the
unfortunate wounded, who remained three days upon the field of
battle without having any relief or assistance. The Russian loss is
innumerable; what is certain is that there are to be seen at least
sixty Russian corpses on the field of battle for one French; and it
is only in one spot that I have seen nearly as many French as
Russians.
Since that day there has been no more fighting. The two
Emperors met in our presence; it is stated that the German promised
whatever the French one chose to demand. The troops are
retiring; we return to Vienna to-morrow, and I hope we shall not
be long before we take the road to Paris. When we get there I
ask for leave, and fly home. It is by your side, close to all of
you, that I hope to get a recompense for all my fatigues, and to
forget my troubles. One moment will blot everything out, as I
embrace you with a full heart.
The Emperor has made a little harangue in a proclamation that
has been read throughout the army. It expresses his approbation
of our bravery, and commences with these words-'Soldiers, I am
satisfied with you.' Then he promises us a peace worthy of us, and
announces our speedy return to our own country, and the joy of
40
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
our countrymen at seeing us. The speech winds up-'It will be
enough for you to say, "I was at the battle of Austerlitz," for
men to exclaim-" Here is a brave man!'
In reading these letters of an obscure vélite, do
we not seem to hear the whole Grand Army re-
vealing its inmost thoughts to the world, imbued
by turns with a sadness verging on despair, or an
enthusiasm reaching to superstition,? We have
only to observe in what cities these fraternal out-
pourings are written. At this simple enumeration
of capitals do we not see the great shadow of
the modern Cæsar depriving the ancient House
of Hapsburg of its German electorates and Slav
kingdoms, tearing the imperial crown of the West
from the only heir of Rudolph, refashioning the
world with blows of an axe, to borrow a cele-
brated expression? What an almost supernatural
effect must this man have produced
have produced upon the
generations born to contemplate him, or to feed
his glory! And yet how many obscure heroes
dragged in his train begged for mercy from the
future prisoner of Saint Helena, seeing, like Alex-
ander's Macedonians, in every river the extreme
boundary of their conquests, every important city
the aim of their labours!
Having achieved his two corporal's stripes upon
the field of Austerlitz, the future Marshal of France,
who carried the golden baton-dotted with bees-in
his pack, was sent back to France. It was from
Courbevoie, the dépôt of the Imperial Guard, that he
sends this good news to his sister, the 26th of Feb-
ruary, 1806. The date of his letters is no longer in
Republican terms. His glorious master had abolished
the traces of the Revolution.

AUSTERLITZ.
41
TO MDLLE. PHILLIS DE LA PICONNERIE, at Bordeaux.
Courbevoie, 26 February, 1806.
At last, my dear, here I am back in Paris. On arriving I found,
as expected, my promotion as corporal in the guard. My captain.
informed me, and the proofs of his good opinion that he gave me
are the first pleasures I have had in my new profession. He told
me that he was very sorry that he could not get me made quartermaster-
sergeant, that he did all he could, but that, unfortunately, other young
men had better interest than his could be, and that was the only
thing that stood in my way. 'Besides,' he said, 'you ought to be
satisfied with the rank of corporal; it is more important than you
suppose, and may carry you a long way, especially as you gained it
in a campaign. A man must go through it to go further; one stop
more, and you are a sub-lieutenant in the line.'
I await this step, my love, with much impatience, because it will
give me the means to recover my liberty if I choose, and by that
means draw near to you. At this moment I am compelled by
prudence to abstain from such a pleasant meeting. You know, and
you have often told me, that it is necessary to consider the future,
‘that a man must not sacrifice the interests of his forty years to the
wishes of the moment, and that it is wise to draw back for a better
leap.'
Well, my dear, that is what I wish to do. It is to our friend-
ship, which will, I hope, last more than forty years, that I sacrifice
the pleasure of meeting you; but if I can gain the epaulette, no
further ambition will be able to stop me. I shall fly to you, to you
all, and doubly rejoice, for I shall have in some measure gained the
liberty of resting at home, if my taste does not incline to soldiering.
It would be impossible to get leave at this moment. I am attached
to the new corps of vélites, and their instruction absolutely requires
the presence of all the non-commissioned officers.
Adieu, dear Phillis.
Your brother,
THOMAS.
On the 6th of April, 1806, two months afterwards,
Thomas announced to Phillis, from Paris, his appoint-
ment as sub-lieutenant in the 64th Regiment of the
Line. Corporal of the Guard then was an equivalent
rank to sergeant-major in the Line. He now has his
epaulette, and says, 'When I think that I have at
42
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
last escaped from the miseries, it seems to me that it
is a dream, and a very agreeable dream.'
་“.
TO MDLLE. PHILLIS DE LA PICONnerie.
Paris, 6 April, 1806.
You had, my dear, a great idea of my deserts when I told you
that I was corporal. What would you think now if you knew that
I am a sub-lieutenant? When I come to think that I am at last
escaped from the unpleasantnesses of the military profession, it
seems to me that it is a dream, and a very agreeable dream. When
I was positively told of my new appointment, I wanted to tell you
all about my new regiment, and that has delayed me; for I do not
know yet what I shall be appointed to, and have a great notion I
shall not receive my commission till the fête. I suppose I am not
on the active list, for it is said that most of those who, like me, have
been made sub-lieutenants will be at the heels of the regiments. So
I have taken steps to avoid being one of them, and have obtained a
formal promise to be placed upon the active list. I have had the
good fortune in all this to be in the company of a captain, with
whom I was in two or three engagements at Boulogne, and who
thought he saw some courage in me. Added to this regular conduct
I have a little dexterity in making myself useful in moments of
difficulty, and these are the causes of my promotion.
I count with great impatience the moments that divide me from
a leave that must be granted. Adieu, my good sister.
Your brother,
THOMAS.
But there soon came disenchantments to cool this
charming delight. After a stay at Besançon, he was
again sent into Germany. It is true the Emperor
had no railways; but his valiant troops skipped from
north to south, without a thought of danger or fatigue.
A letter dated from Waldhausen, in Franconia, August
6, 1806, shows us the lieutenant face to face with a
surly colonel. From that time he becomes melan-
choly. Yes, my dear, I shall leave off soldiering
as soon as we have a Continental peace. Every day I
confirm myself in this resolution. The future has to
6
AUSTERLITZ.
43
-
be considered, for I see plainly that this is not a
profession for life.'
TO MDLLE. DE LA PICONNERIE.
Besançon, July 9, 1806.
No doubt, my dear, you believe that I am far away in Germany.
Well! I am still in France, and this is the way. The dépôt of my
regiment is at Besançon; and as that town was on my road, I went to
pay my respects to the major commanding it. He has kept me here
as he wants officers, and the battalions at the front have their full
number.
The town is charming, but I have little time to enjoy it. I
work hard at all that an officer cannot get on without knowing. First
at drill, then again at the financial administration of corps, and
military law. All this will not allow me a moment, because I do
not choose to be ignorant of anything that makes a well-informed
soldier, and can only be learnt by study or long practice.
The fat major is very good to me. He is lively, speaks kindly,
and is really the most amiable of superior officers. He has con-
fidence enough in me to give me the command of a company, which
has no other officers.
My journey here has been very pleasant; I always travelled with
pretty women, or sensible men, across beautiful country. Moulins
and Lyons are the finest towns I have seen, but Lyons is especially
magnificent, not so much by buildings as by the peculiarity of its posi-
tion. On one side, the town lies against some very fertile hills, on
the other side is a vast and fruitful plain. The Rhone traverses it,
and surrounds it on the eastern side, then joins the Saône, a little
below, so that a portion of the city is on an island. Though this city
is very populous, it is dull at this moment, for trade is annihilated.
I hope you have been told the reasons that prevented my going
to Bordeaux; in truth, the expense of my outfit had put me much in
arrear. When leaving Paris, I examined my purse to see if it would
take me to Bordeaux; but I found with pain that it would only just
take me to La Durantie. When I got there, I found a very hearty
welcome, but very little money. So on my departure, I only asked
for ten louis; but Patrice made me a present of a mare which I sold
on the way, and that was a great help to me.
Write to me, my good sister,
THOMAS BUGEAUD,
Officer, 64th Regiment, Besançon.
44
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
TO MDLLE. PHILLIS DE LA PICONNERIE, at Bordeaux.
Besançon, July 19, 1806.
MY DEAR PHILLIS,-How confused I am! Perhaps you may not
believe it, but I thought I had answered you. My affection
suggested some doubts, and thinking carefully, I found that I was
in arrear. This forgetfulness may surprise you, but your astonish-
ment will cease, when you think that, as my thoughts always run
upon you, I fancy I have written what I only thought. I have to
make a calculation in order to remember, because I have several ways
of communicating with you; that by letter is too dry; my ideas are
shut-in by certain rules, that deprive them of expression. But when
I walk alone it is very different. Then I give free course to my
feelings. They jostle, overturn, and mount upon each other; then,
without consulting me, fly like an arrow off to Bordeaux. Your
brother is a little mad with his castles in the air, but at those times
he deserves your friendship, for he always put you in the best place.
Since I have joined, I have spent a very active life of it. I have
no time for mischief; I am doing the duty of adjutant-major, and
this puts on me the drill as well as the police of the whole battalion.
Perhaps you will not be sorry to know how my time is employed.
This is it: drill from five in the morning till seven; from seven to
nine study in my room; at nine I parade the sergeant-majors, and
take them to the major in command, to receive his orders for duty; at
ten I have all the non-commissioned officers, and instruct them in the
theory and practice of soldiering; at half-past eleven I inspect the men
for guard; from noon till three I am tolerably free, but I have the
interior administration of a company, and that takes up some of this
time. At three I go to dinner; then to the café, to read the papers.
This brings me to five o'clock, when drill begins again and lasts till
seven. After that I go for a stroll or pay some visits, and come back to
my room to work till eleven. Add to all this bustle four or five
changes of clothes in the day, and you can fancy if I have any time
to rest. The post of adjutant-major is hard, but I would be glad to
take it, because I should have the rank of captain, and that gives
some prominence where the work is well done.
Adieu, my dear Phillis,
Your brother THOMAS.
TO MDLLE. PHILLIS DE LA PICONNERIE.
Waldhausen, in Franconia, August 6, 1806.
I only received your letter after my return to the Grand Army.
It arrived in the nick of time, for I was tired to death. Two days
AUSTERLITZ.
45
before I had been sent to a lonely village to command a detachment ;
I had not become used to my rude habitation, and wanted something
pleasant to restore me to my usual happy state. For I am quite in
hopes that you will now change your opinion, and that you will
have made out an explanation of the causes that prevented my
journey to Bordeaux.
Duty laid a strict injunction on me to join at once, and political
news also hastened my departure. A war with the North was
reported; my regiment lay in that direction, and I had every reason
to expect that it would be on the march before I could reach it. It
would have cost me a great deal of money to follow it alone, and I
might have had the pain of hearing that it had come in contact
with the enemy before my arrival. These I think are valid reasons
enough, but they are not all; when I got to La Durantie, I found I
had not a penny, and the little money I could get to meet the cost of
a long journey would not allow me to visit you. I thought it was
wiser to go at once to the regiment, and ask for leave when my
savings will allow of my making this much-desired journey.
I think I told you of the kindness of the major (the second
personage of the regiment), and the good reception he gave me.
Well, my dear! the colonel's was as bad as his was good. He has a
very harsh manner, and always seems as if he had a spite against one.
He hardly said four words to me, and his first were, 'You have been
expected a long time, sir.'
I made haste to ask his commands, so as to quit him the more
quickly, determining not to go and see him very often. If I intended
to continue my military career, I would manage to find a way to get
into his good graces; but as I reckon upon abandoning the profession
altogether, I will not take any trouble about it.
Yes, my dear, I shall leave off soldiering as soon as we have
a Continental peace. Every day do I fortify myself more and
more in this intention. The future has to be considered, and I
sce plainly that this is not a profession for life. I allow that an
officer finds a good many pleasant things in it; but it is only good
during youth, and men often find themselves in very unpleasant posi-
tions. The devil must be taken by the tail, to provide the turn-out
that is required, and a man often runs the risk of spending all his
fortune; and I should do this certainly if I remained, as the way to
attract notice is to make a display. Then, if one has the misfortune
to displease the chief of the corps, he compels one by main force to
send in one's papers, and in a moment you lose ten years' service.
Every day do I see officers in this case. That alone would be enough
to make me retire, and I do not wish to expose myself to loss of
years which I might employ to greater advantage. Just now I have
46
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
MANAGE
+
gained more than lost, having travelled much, seen the world, and
have not devoured my little portion.
My travel into Germany was most easy. I always had a carriage-
and-four which cost me nothing, and I was glad to offer a place to
ladies going the same way. At this moment I only need pride and
fierceness to be like the seigneurs of old times; for I really have a
barony under my orders. I have five villages under my command,
occupied by my detachment. I have only to speak, and I am instantly
obeyed. Yet, with all these advantages, I find it very dull; I have
no society but that of the peasants, and no books.
You will oblige me, my dear, by giving me your advice as to my
desire to leave the service. When you give it me, observe that in the
present state of things there cannot be any more speedy promotion,
as there was in the time of the Revolution. Four years must be spent
as sub-lieutenant to qualify for lieutenant, as many for the rank of
captain, and so on. I tell you plainly, the miseries of war, the pillage,
the vexations, the cruelties, the ruin of the inhabitants, often make
me detest my profession. It only pleases me when I think of glory,
and the great men who have made themselves famous. But that is
gust of wind that is soon passed.

All devour
The poor inhabitants must be entirely ruined.
them, from the private to the General in command. There are
Generals who give entertainments and banquets which cost as much
as 600 florins (1350 francs), and all at the cost of the people. Keep
this to yourself. I assure you that I spend nothing but what I am
obliged, and that the innkeeper benefits by me.
Adieu, my love,
Your brother,
THOMAS.
CHAPTER VI.
POLAND (1806).
Campaign in Poland, 1806-Pursuit of the Russians-Action of Pultusk-- Bugeaud
wounded in the leg-Made Lieutenant, December, 1806-Stay at Warsaw-
Polish Ladies-Return to France.
THE Treaty of Presburg was signed, and Napoleon
organized the Confederation of the Rhine on the ruins
of the German Empire. Europe might expect a
peace. But the interlude had hardly begun when
it was almost over. There was to be no rest at
this period.
Less than a year after the battle of the three
Emperors Prussia attempted to eclipse Austria on
pretence of revenging her. A rash idea, destined to
be dissipated by more disgraceful and more really
decisive reverses than had befallen her rival. The
battles of Jena and Auerstadt, the capitulation of
Erfurth, and some actions now forgotten, delivered
the kingdom of the Hohenzollerns to Bonaparte.
Like the descendants of Maria Theresa, the heirs
of the great Frederick begged for Russian support,
and Napoleon found his old Moravian opponents in
the steppes of Poland. Sub-lieutenant Bugeaud per-
formed this new triumphal march in the French army,
and gained a bitter remembrance of it to carry with
him all the days of his life, for the day of Pultusk
brought him his first wound, as that of Austerlitz
had beheld the winning of his first stripes.
48
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
Warsaw, 29 December, 1806.
I have been wishing to write to you, my dear, for the last four
or five days, but I had hardly begun when a sudden order came to
go in pursuit of the Russians. The drum beat, we made a start,
and having left Warsaw, we passed in succession the Vistula and
the Bug, at a distance of about seven leagues. During the night we
had carried the enemy's entrenchments at the point of the bayonet,
and driven him towards the Neva. It was on the 24th that this took
place; on the 25th there was only a small cavalry skirmish; but on
the 26th an army corps found itself placed before the enemy in a
little plain near the Neva.* We were very inferior in numbers, for
our forces had not all come up, among them the artillery, as the
roads were so bad. However, there was no hesitation to attack, for
we are always used to conquer. The chief part of our force was
posted on the left, for the enemy threatened to outflank us on that
side, thanks to a wood that covered them. On our right we had
only three battalions of our brigade, unsupported by any cavalry.
With this handful of men we attacked a great line of infantry, pro-
tected by several batteries, and supported by a large force of
cavalry. Our impetuosity threw them into disorder; they fled on
all sides, and the guns would have been in our possession if the
deep mud had not prevented our moving speedily. A man could
hardly drag his legs out of it. At this moment the cavalry charged
our left, which had no time to form, because all the men were stuck
in the mud, and could only move very slowly. Notwithstanding
their terrible fire, the two battalions on the left were overthrown and
driven upon the first, where I was. Happily we had time to form
square, but we were afraid we should be thrown into disorder by
our own comrades in their attempt to escape from death, and we were
compelled to kill a good many of them to save the rest, because they
were between us and the cavalry. We waited till the mass was
within twenty paces of us. Suddenly a fearful discharge confounded
and stopped the horsemen-they fell like hail; the rest were seized
with a panic, and a shameful flight deprived them of the small
share of glory they owed only to the dreadful state of the ground.
During our short reverse the enemy's gunners had bravely returned
to their pieces, and their infantry had rallied. So we had to
encounter a much superior fire. We bore it well, and when we
had fired all our cartridges, the officers collected any they could
from the killed, and gave them to the men. Hitherto I had been
lucky, but a ball came, and struck me just above the left knee. A
soldier came and took me by the arm to lead me to the ambulance;
* Narew.-Alison.
POLAND.
49
but when he had gone a few paces my conductor was killed by a
bullet So I was left alone in the mud, and, to add to my mis-
fortunes, some fresh squadrons of cavalry came by the rear of our
square, and passed just where I was. I had no resource but to
feign death; and they were no more successful in this charge than
the first. A man picked me up, and led me to a village, where my
wound was dressed.*
To make the scene more tragic, the house where I was caught
fire. I dragged myself as best I could to another quarter, and
from there was carried to Warsaw, where I now am pretty comfort-
able. My only fear is that I shall never be able to march com-
fortably, for the tendon is touched. I never rightly knew how the
action ended, but think it was to the advantage of the French.*
I have told you my misfortunes-now to cheer you up I will
tell you my good luck. I was made a lieutenant a week ago by
the Emperor at a review he held here. This is consolation!
Your brother, who loves you,
THOMAS BUGEAUD.
The following letter, also from Warsaw, mentions
the wound; it led to no bad consequences. A certain
difficulty in some movements was the only thing that
in future reminded the Marshal of this almost inevit-
able consequence of the profession of arms. As for his
horror at the ruined villages, the plains strewed_with
corpses, the wounded left without help, the fruitless
appeals addressed by the living to their friends of the
day before, whom they were never to see again, the
wars in Spain, France, and Africa, will show how far
the new-made officer was cured. Again, how many
mighty men of war have been affected like the heroine
of Domremy by the first action, who were destined
afterwards to sacrifice whole generations with the care-
lessness of Catherine the Great!
In this letter the young officer's tone is curiously
VOL. I.
* See Alison's Hist., vol. vi. p. 35. Battle of Pultusk.
E
50
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
changed. We find him a very civilised man of the
world, and we would wager that his enforced detention
at Warsaw-that Capua of the North-went a long
way in the change effected. Certainly the society of
the Polish ladies, those enchantresses, very much
aroused the animation and wit of the young French-
man, who sometimes seems to us somewhat worldly-
wise and experienced for a young officer of twenty-two.
To MDLLE. PHILLIS DE LA PICONNErie.
Warsaw, 21 February, 1807.
Be comforted, my dear, I am not crippled! I shall be able
to march easily, but perhaps shall never be quite so strong for
forced marches; for this, added to a sprain I have had, gives me
but a poor leg. I was almost entirely cured by the time of the
Carnival, but having chosen to go out too soon, and even having
spent the night at a masked ball, my wound broke out bleeding
again, and I was as bad as before for a few days. Now it is
getting much better, and I hope that in a few days I shall be in
condition to rejoin my corps.
I fancy I hear you saying, 'He is always the same giddy fellow;
he will never change!' Perhaps you are right. However, if I went
out too soon, it was because I was very anxious to join my regi-
ment, and had to walk about to get used to severe marches.
I am quartered upon a miniature-painter, who is much thought
of; and it makes his house very agreeable that he and his children
are very good musicians. Though still very young, they speak
six or seven languages, among them French, with considerable
purity.
I am absolutely in the midst of the arts and sciences. I never
felt before what it is to have no talents; I think of it every
moment. Why was I born in a cursed country where the arts and
sciences are almost ignored?
•
In this country they are very much tainted with nobility. The
gentlemen are unbearably proud, especially towards their own
peasants, who never approach them without kissing their feet, or
making a show of doing it. They were very much surprised that
the French took no more account of a palatine, or gentleman, than
of any other burgess. As we do not know how to bow our heads to
the ground, we have been considered unmannerly.
POLAND.
51
Lately, two ladies were rather stupidly telling stories of French
incivility before me. One said, 'To-day an officer very rudely
asked me to show him where his quarters were. The other said,
Madam, this is much worse. Two officers all over mud were
quartered upon me the other day. They were shown into my
apartments; I went out to give some orders, and these gentlemen,
thinking themselves at home, changed their boots and shirts—in a
word, made their whole toilette.' I instantly thought of
revenge, as this feeling is natural to us; and fancied that the best
way was to vindicate the French women. 'Ladies,' said I, we
are trained in camps, and it is not surprising that our manners
sometimes partake of the roughness of our employment. But if you
knew the ladies of France, you would judge much better of the
nation. They are polite and modest, they have the tone of good
society, and especially much fairness and kindness; never do they utter
in conversation the smallest word that could annoy anyone. They are
dainty, and display a multitude of little attentions that charm every-
one, even the persons who at first thought themselves neglected.
They are virtuous, but no prudes; on the contrary, gaiety and
enjoyment are their most graceful attributes. In a word, ladies,
they have in general all the amiable and solid qualities that a
reasonable man, a fool, a giddy-pate, or a philosopher could desire.
Oh! my dear country, when shall I revisit you?'
I saw my two Poles blush and bite their lips, but neither
said a word. I was silent, and saw that the portrait of my country-
women I had drawn had gained me a little consideration.
They no doubt thought that a man who was able to see so
many qualities in their sex, could not fail to perceive those that were
wanting in them.
I think, my love, I have chattered enough for to-day; yet I
do not choose to go to bed before assuring you that I am the most
tender of brothers,
THOMAS.
When cured of his wound, Lieutenant Bugeaud
had to return to France, to the dépôt of his regiment
at Besançon. He passed through Berlin, and stayed
there some time. His observations are short, but
effective. He writes: 'We are really esteemed in
this country, as much on account of our success as
for our freedom from pride. They compare us with
their own officers, who were vain and insolent; they
52
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
got no advantage from it. Alas! their pride is much
abased.'
When Lieutenant Bugeaud wrote these words,
three-quarters of a century ago, he was far from pro-
phesying that the Prussians, then so humiliated,
would one day enter Paris, seventy-four years after-
wards, as victors, and encamp on the Champs Elysées
before the triumphal monument erected to the Grand
Army.
To MDLLE. PHILLIS DE LA PICONNErie.
Besançon, May 28, 1807.
MY DEAR PHILLIS,-After a journey divided between storms
and pleasures, I happily reached Besançon, where one of your good
long letters was already awaiting me. Thank you for your advice,
always good and prudent, though it is only founded upon your
simple judgment. It will please you much that I have quite
determined to remain in the service. False hopes had long made
me form other plans; but when I saw that I was mistaken,
I altered my views, and fully determined not to be so weak
again.
I am forgetting to tell you of the miseries of the journey. I was
travelling with two captains near Frankfort-on-the-Oder, when we
were stopped by some partisans, who were nothing but Prussian
prisoners escaped into the woods. They robbed us of everything
that we had; I could only save six louis and a ducat that I had
sewn into my waistcoat. At Berlin I got an attack in the throat
that nearly killed me. A kind doctor attended me for twelve days,
and would not take any money, saying that he was too glad to have
made the acquaintance of a French officer. We are really much
considered in this country, both on account of our exploits and our
want of pride. They compare us to their officers, who were empty
and insolent. They do not gain by the comparison-their pride is
greatly abased. Berlin is quieter than in the time of the king,
according to the statement of the inhabitants; provisions much
cheaper, though there is less trade.
I do not in the least expect to join the legions that are in process
of formation. Except the Imperial Guard, or the Royal Guard of
Holland, which I do not like at all, there is not a corps for which I

POLAND.
53
would exchange my own. According to appearances, I shall be cap-
tain in three years.
Adieu, a thousand regards.
Your brother,
TO MDLLE. DE LA PIConnerie.
THOMAS.
Besançon, 1807.
Though I have become somewhat of a philosopher, I have at this
time some vexations that I endeavour in vain to stifle. The Govern-
ment has just appointed a stranger to the regiment to the post of
adjutant-major, to which I aspired. The Major is vexed at not
having an officer of his own selection. This is a chance that will not
occur again for a long time. The adjutant-major has not come yet;
I am performing the duties, and showing a brave face to fortune.
I should be very glad to get on General Souhans' staff-it is
very pleasant with a kind General. The place of captain attached
that I might get is very nearly the same as that of aide-de-camp.
He transacts all the business relating to the duties of the division,
and a large portion of the General's correspondence. He is obliged
to have two horses in war time; the pay is 180 francs a month,
and forage, which is very nice.
Adieu, my dear Phillis.
Your brother,
THOMAS BUGEAUD.
Thus, wounded at Pultusk, and unable to follow
his comrades in arms, he did not see the battle of
Eylau, a contestable victory, the achievement of
Murat's horsemen more than of Bonaparte's com-
binations, and a premonitory sign in the eyes of Ben-
ningsen, the Russian Commander-in-chief, of a
startling retaliation; nor that of Friedland, the
daughter of Marengo,' as said the Corsican hero in the
imaginative language affected by the people of the
South; nor the other various military events that led
to the peace of Tilsit.
6
What an error of the conquering autocrat was the
54
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
imperial Utopia destined to increase the Empire of the
Czars with Bessarabia and Finland, to alienate Turkey
and Sweden from France, and, lastly, to prepare in
the regions of the North a centre of resistance to the
desires of its author! The vanquished of Austerlitz
and Friedland became, thanks to combinations, less
worthy of Cæsar than of Charles XII.; the heir-pre-
sumptive of Constantine was to bring about the fall
of the 'great man,' whose friend he proclaimed himself
before a gallery of kings. Anyway, the Treaty of
Presburg was going to secure a moment's repose to
Europe, exhausted and out of breath; while no one
could then prophesy all its results.
CHAPTER VII.
IN SPAIN (1808-9).
Thomas Bugeaud gets Six Months' Leave-- He sends in his Resignation to the
Minister, but his Sisters keep back his Letter-He is sent to Spain-Insurrection
at Madrid-A gallant Adventure-Siege and Capture of Saragossa-He is
made Captain-Appreciation of the situation of the Army in Spain - Departure
from Saragossa-Engagements of Maria and Balahite-His Promotion to the
rank of Commandant
THOMAS BUGEAUD had been for two years a lieutenant
of Infantry of the Line (June 30, 1808) when he
obtained leave for six months. This was the first
time since his enlistment that he made so long a stay
in Périgord. Home-life, the affection he so much
needed, his native air, inspired him afresh with dis-
gust at military life, a disgust that he had so
often displayed in his letters to his sister Phillis.
So he decided, one fine day, to break with the
past, and it was without hesitation or regret that
he wrote to the Minister and sent in his resigna-
tion. His sister, Antoinette, offered to carry his
letter herself to the post in the town. [But, on
consultation with her other sisters, she carefully
locked up the important missive enclosed in a sheet of
paper. The young man, delighted at having made up
his mind, and proud of having regained his liberty
for ever, set himself seriously to the study of agricul-
ture with the help of his sister Phillis. Nevertheless,
he was beginning to be surprised at the Minister's
delay in acknowledging the receipt of his resignation,
when, instead of the final release that he expected, it
was an order to join his regiment that he received.

56
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
All was explained; his sisters' plot was discovered
and forgiven; and the poor officer, who had so gladly
renounced the glorious profession of arms, went to
join his regiment, the 116th of the Line, which had
just been sent to Spain.
The peace of Tilsit might have made Sub-lieu-
tenant Bugeaud believe for a moment that his desires.
would be fulfilled. Isolated from all Europe by the
checks to her allies, and especially by the bad faith
with which she had repaid their assistance, England
would be forced, in the opinion of the politicians of
the time, to behold, as an envious but impotent
observer, the elevation of the Empires of the East
and West, the two divisions of the civilised world.
But the new pacificator of Europe had not
despoiled the conqueror of Italy and Austria in order
to spend the latter part of a career already so eventful
in the administrative organization of his dominions.
One day this indefatigable winner of crowns noticed
Spain, and having at a single glance comprehended
its resources, and its strange government, he deter-
mined to conquer it.
Soon afterwards Charles IV., the possible heir of
the crown of France, placed the States of the Emperor
Charles V. and Philip V. in the hands of Monsieur
Bonaparte, Lieutenant-General of the armies of Louis
XVIII., who interfered in the internal discords of
the Peninsula in the name of outraged morality.
The people displayed a less accommodating humour
than their King. Everything on which Bonaparte
had reckoned seemed to turn against him. The young
Spaniards learnt in a new kind of catechism that Satan
was in three persons, Napoleon, Murat, and Godoy.*
* Manuel Godoy, Principe de la Paz, Minister to the King of Spain.
*
IN SPAIN.
57
With the feverish activity peculiar to the people of
the South, who are condemned by the consequences of
efforts as excessive as they are momentary to ages of
stagnation, the Spaniards organized, in a few months,
an insurrectionary government and a regular defence.
The Juntas, equal in number to the provinces, who
at first had dearly paid the penalty of local ideas,
formed the central Cortes of Cadiz. From this pro-
visional capital, continually exposed to the fire of the
French batteries, were soon to issue the civil and
military liberators of Spain.
Upon this rock, surmounted with a fortress backed
by the ocean, which constituted the whole European
empire of the prisoner of Valençay, the sword of
Napoleon was to be broken. At the moment of this
explosion, Madrid was not forgetful that she was the
head of Spain. The War of Independence commenced
on the threshold of the royal palace. The second of
May saw Castillian valour, forgotten the day before,
blaze forth into light, and was the commencement of
an era of glory.
For the first time did Lieutenant Bugeaud fight
against a popular rising. What impression was pro-
duced on the future sword of the monarchy of July,
by this war, without rule or law, but undertaken, it
is true, in the name of the national religion, invaded
country and dethroned king? The following letter,
which does not appear to reflect the ferocity so long
attributed by fable to 'the general of Trans-
nonain,' will answer that question:
To MDLLE. ANTOINETTE DE LA PICONNERIE.
Madrid, 10th May, 1808.
Your conscience is very tranquil, very approving, my dear
Toiny; because I have not written to you ten times, you think you
58
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
have nothing to blame yourself for. Well, you are wrong, you are
very much to blame, not only for the harm you have done, but for
the good you have neglected to do. Do you think that a poor
soldier, away from any kind of pleasure, is not worth consideration,
and ought you not to have relieved his weariness with several long
letters? Remember that I read them at least six times the first day
every two hours, and think of them meanwhile. I spend a happy
day. Thus you are to blame. This is demonstrated, and so for the
future be more wise.
You do not expect to hear the sound of guns and musketry;
well! put cotton-wool in your ears, for you will be cannonaded.
The populace of Madrid took a fancy to revolt on the second of May.
They seized upon straggling Frenchmen and cut their throats, then ran
to the arsenal, took possession of it, dragged out guns, seized upon
firelocks, and began a little war in the streets with some French
pickets. On our side we were not inactive. The assembly was
beaten, we hurried to the city, and their success was but brief.
We
attacked them vigorously upon all points. They were overthrown,
their guns taken, and in one hour this confused mass existed no
longer. The same day a good many of the guilty were shot. We
lost some men in this action. I got out of it for a bruise and a slight
scratch. The insurgents wished to murder our sick in the general
hospital, but the strongest of these broke open the stores of arms and
exterminated their assailants. Peace appears to be restored; but
there is no depending on it, though the Prince is doing his utmost to
quiet minds by his proclamations and his generosity to many of the
guilty. He behaved with humanity, stopping our vengeance at
several points at the moment when the carnage was most dreadful.
Ι I assure you I am not much at ease when walking through the
streets; I always have my hand on my sword, for there were daily
assassinations before the revolt, and these gentlemen took our modera-
tion for weakness. Now they are more gentle. Do you think that
this little life is better than the gun and game-bag that you tell
me of?
I assure you it is not a good time for playing the flute at night
under a beauty's windows, and besides we have no leisure. So the
article of love goes but badly in general. Every one complains of a
dearth of intrigues, and perhaps I am one of the most lucky, though
that is not much. A pretty little French milliner promised to love
me for three days, and to go on after that if I am alive. She says,
by way of reason, that our loves being birds of passage one cannot
promise for long. My answer was that the proofs must not be
migratory, and begged for some on the spot that they might be
permanent. The answer was that if I got them, perhaps in three
IN SPAIN.
59
days I should not ask for a continuance, and must wait. I yielded
to these grand reasons, but asked for pledges; and was given a
ring and lent the Lettres à Émilie. I begged her to read them
with me in order to furnish me with applications. You have the
whole account of my Spanish loves, for you know that we have
them in every country. You do not tell me about the truffles, nor
'Polisson' [Bugeaud's dog]. My love to all relations and friends. As
for you, you shall have nothing till an answer comes.
Bugeaud.
This explosion of patriotism, extraordinarily ex-
aggerated in importance by the fertile imagination of
the Spaniards, was in reality the commencement of the
war, most sacred, most embittered, and most glorious
to the people who maintained it, mentioned in con-
temporary European history.
Less than a year after the revolt of Madrid, Lieu-
tenant Bugeaud was engaged in the capture of Sara-
gossa. What man awake to the name of patriotism
knows not the legend, if not the history, of this epic
defence? In every age a town of Iberia has been a
self-devoted holocaust for the national glory. Sara-
gossa was a match for Saguntum and Numantia. And
so the French were imbued with admiration for this
improvised army, these public or private edifices
transformed into fortresses, these heroic leaders torn
from the charms of indolence, like Palafox,* or the
peace of a monastery, like Merino.† The young
officer's letter bears the impress of sadness; and
shows the reader all the admiration he felt for this
people with whom he was compelled to fight.
To MDLLE. PHILLIS DE LA PICONnerie.
Bivouac before Saragossa, Feb. 12, 1809.
I have received, my dear Phillis, your little letter full of great re-
proaches, and, as I do not deserve them, I will not make excuses.
* Defender of Saragossa.
+ The Cura Merino, a guerilla leader who did much harm to the French.-ED.
I
60
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
X
wish to direct your anger and mine against the Spanish assassins,
who murder a great many couriers, though all precautions are taken.
So complaints about correspondence are universal. The colonel of
the regiment has received your letter of inquiry about me; he tells
me he will answer it, but, for fear he should forget to reassure you, I
do not miss the chance of an officer who is going to France as
escort to a wounded general. I can write freely to you, for he will
post the letter after passing Bayonne, and so there will be no fear of
its being opened.
We are still before this cursed, this infernal, Saragossa.
Although we took their ramparts by storm more than a fortnight
ago, and are masters of part of the town, the inhabitants, stirred
up by the hatred they bear us, by the priests and fanaticism, seem
to wish to bury themselves under the ruins of their city, after the
pattern of old Numantia. They defend themselves with incredible
determination, and make us buy the smallest victory very dear.
Every convent, every house, holds out like a citadel, and every
one has to be besieged by itself. The whole is disputed foot by
foot, from the cellar to the loft, and it is not until everyone is killed
with bayonet thrusts or thrown out of window that we call ourselves
masters of a house. As soon as we have conquered one, there come
upon us from the next house, through holes made for the purpose,
grenades, shells, and a rain of musketry. It is necessary to raise
barricades and cover ourselves very speedily, till measures are taken
for attacking this fresh fort, and that can only be done by piercing
the walls, for traversing the streets is impossible; the whole army
would perish in them in a couple of hours. It was not enough to
make war in the houses, it is carried on beneath the earth. An art
no doubt invented by devils leads the miners beneath the building
held by the enemy. A large quantity of powder is laid there, fired
at a given signal, and the wretches fly into the air or are buried
beneath the ruins. The explosion makes the enemy evacuate the
neighbouring houses in fear of the same fate. We are posted very
near, and rush into them as quick as we can. This is how we make
our way in this wretched city. You may imagine how many men
such a war must cost. How many young fellows, the hope of their
families, have already perished among this rubbish! Our brigade
has already lost two generals. General Lacoste, of the Engineers,
a young man of the greatest promise who was not long from school,
but already made one of the Emperor's aides-de-camp, has fallen a
victim to his devotion, as well as so many others. There is not a
day when there are not some officers among the dead—many more
than in proportion to the soldiers, because the enemy, firing with
certain aim when we make the attack, select their victims.
IN SPAIN.
61
Oh! my dear, what a life, what an existence! It is now two
months that we have been between life and death, corpses and ruins.
If we get all the advantage from this war that is expected, it will
be bought very dear. But the most fearful thing is to think that
our labours and our blood may not be of use to our country. I
always remember these lines of Voltaire,-
Encore si pour votre patrie
Vous saviez vous sacrifier;
Mais non, vous vendez votre vie
A ceux qui veulent la payer.
*
Who can foresee the end of so many ills? Happy they who may
catch a glimpse of it.
I write very sadly to you, my dear; but what would you have?
One's mind is affected. No doubt if I had hopes of seeing you
again soon I should be more cheerful; but alas! that moment is
far removed. While waiting its coming, may God preserve your
health and happiness, and He will grant my most cherished
desires.
A thousand loves to Toiny and all your family.
THOMAS BUGeaud,
Captain in the 116th.
Saragossa was at last conquered, and Palafox
went to swell the number of his countrymen detained
in France until the terrible reckoning of 1814. This
siege, almost as much renowned to the north as to
the south of the Pyrenees, was worth captain's rank
to Lieutenant Bugeaud. And yet at this time the
future Duke d'Isly seemed less concerned about his
promotion than about that Périgord which he so
ardently desired to revisit in order to resume his
former habits there.
To MDLLE. PHILLIS DE LA PICONNERIE.
Pampeluna, 20 March, 1809.
How can I contrive, my dear Phillis, to express to you my joy
and my sorrow? These two feelings present such a contrast, that it
* If only you knew how to sacrifice self for your country; but no, you sell
your life to any that will buy it.
62
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
is hard to believe they can exist in one head at the same moment.
However, that is what has happened to me to-day, but it is true
that my sorrow is greater than my joy. To talk of the bad first.
You know I was in hopes that my return to France, or a jour-
ney into Germany, would procure me the great pleasure of being a
witness of the first day of your happiness. In addition to this
pleasant anticipation, there was the expectation of a journey to Bor-
deaux, by the colonel's orders, to buy musical instruments for our
regimental band. I had the order in my pocket, and was ready to
go, when the order to turn back into Spain arrived; my captain
was ill, and no officer with the company but one only eighteen years
old. The colonel told me he could not send me away, for a
grenadier company could not go on a campaign without an officer
to command it. Imagine my annoyance at the information, but I
could not say a word. There was talk of another siege, it would
have risked the loss of all I had won at the siege of Saragossa.
So off I went, and here I am at Pampeluna, where we have this
morning been reviewed by the governor. While we were under
arms, the colonel also was preparing a surprise for me as I am
doing for you now, called me, addressed me as captain and handed
me my commission! This is the cause of my rejoicing.
Adieu, &c.,
BUGEAUD,
Captain, 2nd March.
P.S.
Our general of division is dead; that is the fifth since
our entrance into Spain, four by the enemy's fire, and one by the
prevailing sickness.
To MDLLE. HÉLÈNE DE LA PICONNerie.
Saragossa, 30 April, 1809.
Now it seems that
We have lost a
MY DEAR HÉLÈNE :-Your kind letter found me at Saragossa,
where I have been for several days. A false alarm made us leave
our cantonments to concentrate near the capital.
the enemy have not made offensive movements.
good deal by these changes; the soldiers do not get such good food,
we have to take up new ways, and change our mode of life accord-
ing to the places we are sent to. Certainly I do not think that it
would be advantageous to get into the guard with my rank, and
those who say so are much mistaken. A captain in the guard
ranks with a chef-de-bataillon in the line, and he can only exchange
as such, indeed there are several who have gone out as majors.
IN SPAIN.
63
This is a very evident advantage. Now to consider the difficulty
that there is to get the rank of chef-de-bataillon in the line. There
are eight captains for each chef-de-bataillon, and so there are eight
candidates. Now I am the youngest captain of my regiment, and
so have no ground to hope to be chosen in preference to my
comrades. Let us then try to gain at once a rank that I cannot
win here for a long time.
I am very thankful for the remembrances of the C▬▬. Please
inform them of my thanks for their kind wish to be useful to me,
and my great desire to be in a position to know them better. I
embrace you with my whole heart.
BUGEAUD,
Captain Light Company of the 116th.
Fortune was already turning against the man
she had loaded with favours. The resistance of
Spain was preparing the public mind for the fatal
campaigns of Russia and Saxony.
After a short stay at Saragossa, the new-made
captain twice crossed the north-west of Spain in
search of the unapproachable enemy whom the
Grand Army was never to bring to submission.
These marches and counter-marches, that go to
make up almost all wars of this kind, caused him
to be present at the combats of Moria and Balahite,*
and gained him the epaulette of superior officer.
ས་
Mgr. the Duke d'Aumale has told us a good deal that is interesting as to the
importance Marshal Bugeaud throughout his life attached to his campaign in Spain.
It was the subject he opened most willingly and most frequently,' said the Prince.
The sieges of Saragossa and Lerida, his campaigns in Aragon, came over and over
again in his talk. He told of the batt'es with fire and animation, and loved to
remember that time. His accounts were also full of points. How many times in
Africa, at the bivouac fire, have we spent the whole night, not quite to our satisfac-
tion, listening to the Marshal. He slept but little and when he pleased; this was
not the case with his aides-de-camp and me, who were often falling asleep, but
kept nearly awake by our respect. How often, when an officer complained of
being forgotten or sacrificed, have I heard the Marshal say to him, "If you had
only lived in the time of the Empire it would have been quite another thing!
After the campaigns in Germany, after Austerlitz, Pultusk, the wars in Spain, the
sieges of Saragossa, Lerida, and the rest, I was a captain,—an old captain, do you
understand? and not decorated. We did not think of complaining then.
64
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
TO MDLLE. PHILLIS DE LA PICONNERIe.
Saragossa, 29 September, 1809.
I did not choose to answer your last letter immediately, my dear
Phillis, because I waited to be able to tell you something positive as
to the commission you gave me about the Spaniard. At last I
determined to mention it to Combemoreau himself. I discharged it
with exactitude to please you as well as our relation; but I did
nothing for the Aragonese peasant. I detest that class of assassins
and fanatics too much. However, the brother of Gregorio has
showed me much gratitude for the information I gave him.
We remain at Saragossa, to our weariness and the draining of
our purses. Everything is so dear, that the pay of lieutenants and
sub-lieutenants is not enough for them to live upon. This wretched
city still feels the disastrous effects of the siege. It is depopulated,
and the inhabitants that are left are so mournful that they freeze
everything around them. No amusing society, no tertullias
(evening parties). All remain shut up in their houses.
I cannot tell you how weary I am of this town; I go so far as
to wish to be campaigning to get away from this cursed place.
The only resource we have against this weary time is to eat, drink,
and sleep; and the only eatables here are brought us by French-
men, who, attracted to the army by interest alone, take advan-
tage of the circumstances to devour our substance. Our future
does not appear likely to be brighter. If peace is not made in
Austria, affairs here will go dragging. We are strong enough to
beat the enemy, but not to pursue him after the victory. This
cursed Peninsula is so large and so mountainous, that it would take
three hundred thousand men to hold it in such a way as to ensure
its speedy subjection. What we have done till now is of hardly any
use. We have occupied several provinces which have risen again
as soon as we left them; and even those we hold to-day are
filled with little parties who, too weak to attack the army, fall upon
small detachments, badly escorted convoys, couriers, orderlies, &c.
But this is melancholy talk enough; I must repair the effect it has
had by telling you that nothing is wanting to my satisfaction but a
better political condition. I am in a regiment that I look upon as
a second home; my comrades like me; I think my chiefs value me,
for they give me daily proofs of it; I command a fine company,
well clothed, well disciplined, that cannot fail to get me credit when
there is an action. What is wanting to my happiness? Could I
reasonably hope for such a good result when I entered the service
without interest, without those brilliant talents that enable a young
man always to make his way if he knows how to use them? By
IN SPAIN.
65
the way, it is as well to let you know that I expect to remain a long
time in the new rank I have just gained. It is not uncommon to
see captains who have been so for fifteen years. There are in a
regiment twenty-eight captains; there are so many competitors for
one place of chef-de-bataillon that may chance to be vacant; I tell
you all this that you may not be impatient in a few years' time.
If I am a superior officer by the time I am thirty-two, I shall be
well pleased.
I am very anxious to know if my business with Patrice is settled.
Do you know I have written to him twice, now several months ago,
and he has not answered?
Tell me what has become of Dubois in the turmoil. If you
could give him a useful present, you would do me a favour.
If you know any young men who wish, or who ought, to enter
the service, well brought up, and able to write a good hand, you
may, in my name, boldly advise them to go before the Prefect
and engage for the 116th regiment: the depôt is at Aire, in Gas-
cony. I promise them that, if they have the qualifications named
above, they will be sergeants within six months. If you are inter-
ested in some of those who embrace this career you must inform
me of their arrival at the dépôt. I will ask to have thein sent to
the battalions in the front, and then I will give them a good pat
on the shoulder till they get the rank of sub-officer, and then it only
depends on themselves to get made officers.
·
I go after game here whenever I have time. I kill a great
many fat quails, very often I have wished you could have a dozen
of them.
Just as I am writing come two bits of news: one-neither good
nor bad--is our departure from Saragossa on an expedition; the second
is this, very bad for the regiment. There were coming to us from the
dépôt two hundred pairs of shoes, four hundred sets of clothing, cloth
for all the officers, epaulettes, thirty soldiers and twenty-nine
musicians with their instruments. The insurgents in the mountains
have attacked and taken this convoy, and that is a loss to us of
40,000 francs. That of our band, especially, will not be made good
for a long time. Adieu, dear sister.
THOMAS BUGEAUD.
TO MDLLE. ANTOINETTE DE LA PICONNERIE.
Barbastro, a town of the north of Aragon,
not far from the Pyrenees, 1809.
I received your kind letter, my dear Toiny, just at the moment
when I had reached Saragossa, and found myself in front of the
VOL. I.
F
66
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
enemy; it made me for a moment forget that the cannon roared;
and when we got the order to attack, the only painful feeling I ex-
perienced was that I could not read it a second time. So after the
affair I fully recompensed myself. I read all you told me quite
quietly; how delightful to hear what goes on in the country!
But, here I have written a page, and told you nothing yet.
To begin, you know, perhaps, that after our return to Bayonne,
in Spain, we were sent to Burgos, in the kingdom of Leon; that
afterwards we made our expedition into Galicia, and went nearly to
Corunna. Now take the map and follow me.
Here I am on the march to return to Leon, crossing the moun-
tains and country of Vierys. Reaching the capital of the kingdom
of Leon we find a gathering of troops, who are going on an expedi-
tion into the Asturias, and informed that we are to join them. We
start by the steep cut road that leads to Oviedo, and the day before
we ought to arrive at that capital, our brigade receives an order to
turn back and go into Aragon, where the horizon was beginning to
darken. We set off by long marches to return to the scene of our
former glory. We rapidly cross Leon, Old Castille, the south of
Navarre, and at last reach the plain of Saragossa. What was our
surprise to see all the baggage of the army in retreat, and all
arrangements made to abandon a town that a few months before
had cost so much trouble! We learnt that General Blake, having
heard that the 5th corps had quitted Aragon, and that there were
not more than 10,000 of the 3rd, had united 30,000 men of the
armies of Valencia and Catalonia to seize upon our conquests, and
was not more than two leagues from the capital.
The little French army was making a good show in presence of
the enemy who were posted in the village of Maria, which is in a valley
fringed by rather high mountains, and this favoured our small
force. However, General Suchet had every reason to fear that
he would be crushed by numbers, and for two days had been avoiding
a general engagement in order to await our arrival. It was the 17th
of June, at noon, that we effected our junction. It was announced
to the army in order to give them confidence, and we immediately
took our places in the line after having marched seven leagues; it
was then I received your letter. The enemy, impatient to reach
Saragossa, attacked us; as soon as he moved we went at him and in
a moment the whole line was engaged. General Suchet made
several very able manoeuvres, and the last decided the contest.
While all the cavalry having gained the left flank of the enemy
charged between his two lines, the whole of the infantry attacked
in front with the bayonet. The boastful bands could not resist our
impetuosity. They broke on all sides, and in less than half-an-
IN SPAIN.
67
hour we had gained a complete victory. The enemy left in our
hands twenty-seven guns, three colours, a quantity of baggage,
ammunition, a great number of killed, wounded, and prisoners.
Among the last were two generals and several superior officers.
In this battle I became by chance captain of a light company.
I had been sent with my company of the centre, under the orders
of a captain of the light company of the same regiment who was
senior to me; we were skirmishing in the olive-groves and in a
village on the bank of a little stream called the Warba; a post of
consequence to keep. The poor captain of the light company was
killed by a discharge of grape, and so I found myself commanding.
The enemy tried several times to carry the post, but we always
received them with such a sharp fire that they were obliged to drop
their intention after leaving a number of dead before our shelters,
from which we fired point-blank. By this means we prevented the
enemy from passing by the only practicable road to turn the left of
our army. It is true we were supported by a squadron, but they
had no occasion to charge.
After the battle General Suchet came to the regiment, and asked
who were the captains commanding the skirmishers in the village.
I was put forward. He said, 'He must be saluted as captain of
the Voltigeurs, for he looks to me like a skirmisher.' It is right
to tell you that I had a double-barrelled gun in a sling at my back,
and this, added to the rest of my equipment, gave me a very
swaggering look. I gave my thanks, and here I am commanding
the green epaulettes and bugles. This does not suit my stature very
well; but it is true that I am not cut off from the Grenadier
company, and that is worth more, at least in respect of promotion.
After Moria came the combat of Balahite, where we took from
the enemy all the guns he had left, and a number of prisoners. After
this we crossed Aragon by forced marches, and here we are at
Barbastro resting a little.
I cannot write any more to you as I have to take advantage of
an opportunity of sending to Saragossa, and that does not happen
every day. I beg you will tell Phillis about me, and Patrice and
all the family, and you may, if desired, send my letter round.
THOMAS BUgeaud.
TO MDLLE. PHILLIS DE LA PICONNERIE.
Saragossa, September 2, 1809.
MY DEAR PHILLIS,-I do not like to lose a moment in
telling you anything that happens to me, good or bad, because you
68
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
take the same interest in it as I do; it would, indeed, be treason
against friendship not to tell you everything. Well, you must
know that I have been made captain of Grenadiers, that I command
the first company, composed of a hundred and twenty of the finest
men in the regiment and best behaved. Thus I hold an honourable
position that I had no right to expect with my short amount of
service. Another thing that should also go into the account is, that
it is worth 600 francs more a-year. So here I am, a little lord with
an income of 2400 francs. You can well understand that with this
I am no longer obliged to live upon my little fortune, so you must
be less careful in dealing with it.
I have nothing now to tell you; we are inactive, though sur-
rounded with enemies, timid ones it is true, on account of their
numerous defeats. It may be supposed that we shall make some
attempt towards the end of this month, when the heat will be less.
I have mentioned Barbastro to you in another letter, we left it
in the following way; a chef-de-bataillon, posted fourteen leagues
from Saragossa, was attacked before day by a handful of insurgents;
terror got the better of him, and he fled with all of his battalion he
could collect, leaving two or three companies at the mercy of the
supposed enemy. Not content with this cowardice, he immediately
wrote a report to the General-in-chief that he had been pursued by a
considerable force, had lost a part of his battalion, and only got in
after a terrible contest. What happened? Why, the said companies,
braver than their chief, chose to await a serious attack before retiring;
day came, they saw the weakness of the assailants, issued from the
village, and saved the position. But the General, before he knew this,
sent out his orders to all the troops to concentrate with all speed
upon the capital. This is why I have left the agreeable Barbastro.
It is supposed that the chef-de-bataillon will be cashiered.
Adieu, your devoted brother,
THOMAS BUGEAUD,
Captain of Grenadiers in the 116th.
After the combat of Balahite Commandant Bugeaud
constantly followed the fortunes of Marshal Suchet.
And so a few months after these engagements we
find him in Catalonia engaged in the war of sieges
that took place in that province.
CHAPTER VIII.
LERIDA (1810-14).
Siege of Lerida, 1810-Attitude of the Spaniards towards their Conquerors
Combats of Tivisa-Thomas Bugeaud despairs of Promotion-Aspirations for
Return-The Ninth Light-Patriotic silence about the Army in the North of
Spain - Leaving Spain.
AGAIN we will leave the actor in the siege of Lerida
himself to relate how this strong fortress lost its old
reputation of impregnability.
TO MDLLE. ANTOINETTE DE LA PICONNERie.
Lerida, 4 June, 1810.
I have written to you, my dear Toiny, by my Colonel, who is
gone to France, but as that letter may be delayed a long time before
it reaches you, and I do not like you to feel as if you might com-
plain of me, I am going to address another to you. I hope you
will cease to think that I make a favourite of Phillis, especially
when you recollect she wrote oftener to me than you did, and it
was but fair that I should answer her. Difference in affection has
nothing to do with it, and I think I love you all equally-that is,
all very much.
You leave politics and war to Phillis: you only want historical
descriptions. Nevertheless, should not you be very glad to have an
account of the siege and assault of Lerida ? And after that I will
tell you of the effect that our vigorous attack has produced upon the
beauties as well as the plain ones.
The trenches were opened very near the works, with the audacity
that is characteristic of the French Army.* The works were con-
* At only 300 yards from the bastions.-Napier's Peninsular War, vol. iii. p.
152. Ground was broken April 28, the citadel surrendered May 12. Suchet
assaulted with converging columns, that, when the ramparts were carried, drove
all the inhabitants, women and children, into the citadel. He then commenced
70
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
tinued with ardour when it was known that an army was coming
to relieve the enemy. Nothing was suspended on that account;
only the cavalry and some few battalions were detached to meet
12,000 of the best Spanish troops. The combat took place within
sight of the city, and a diversion was attempted by a sortie of 2000
men. Victory speedily declared itself in our favour. It was a bril-
liant charge of the 13th Cuirassiers and 4th Hussars that decided this
affair, an everlasting triumph for our cavalry. The enemy's ranks.
were fearfully crushed, his infantry, put to the sword and broken,
were obliged to lay down their arms, and not one man of the first
division-7000 combatants-managed to escape. The cavalry
only owed their safety to a speedy retreat. The garrison was not
much more fortunate; they were driven back to the gates with the
bayonet behind them.
In a few days batteries were established, and fired on the works,
without much luck. The fire of the Castle crushed them, and in
three hours they were silenced, and others had to be constructed.
The bad weather was against us. However, five days afterwards
forty guns were in position, and opened two large breaches.
The enemy must have expected the assault on that day; they
were deceived by attacks made upon some formidable redoubts they
held on another side, that were very bravely taken. Next day the
assault of the place was ordered, ten picked companies, mine being
one of them, were in orders, and assembled in the trenches nearest to
the breaches.
About six in the evening, at the signal of four cannon-shots, we
dashed on like lightning. The walls were escaladed, the works
were entered, several barricades were broken, and our enemies
perished in crowds under our blows. A gate leading to the quays
delayed us a moment: then several of our brave men were killed by a
point-blank discharge. At last the gate was broken; we entered
in a mass, racing with one another. Every man wanted to be first
to strike, nothing could stop us-bayonets, shot, and pikes could
not daunt our ardour. I have the luck of penetrating the mass with
my company; I am the first to reach a fortified post, and I cut off
a lot of the enemy whom we treated to the edge of the sword
and the bayonet The redoubts, the guns, the city, all fell into
our hands. The terrified Spaniards took refuge in the citadel and™
carried alarm with them. A number of the inhabitants also took
such a furious bombardment that the governor felt constrained to surrender to spare
the misery of so many helpless persons. The Spaniards were considered to have
been badly handled, as the attacking army was not more numerous than the
defending, instead of four times as large according to the rules of siege operations.
Napier -ED.
LERIDA.
71
refuge there. The soldiers, greedy for pillage, scatter themselves
about among the houses; carnage ceases, and gives place to scenes of
quite another kind; the conquerors are everywhere seen in the arms
of the vanquished-Carmelites, grey sisters, old women, young nuns,
all experienced the transports of our Grenadiers, and several of them
are said to have cried out, 'Oh, if we had known that this would
be all we should not have been so much afraid.'
The day after this terrible one, the forts were terrified into
offering to capitulate, and so in a short time we made ourselves
masters of a formidable city that had seen the great Condé fail at
the foot of its walls, and that the Duke of Orleans only took in 1707
after thirty-three days of open trenches. But the greatest advan-
tage of our victory is that it has turned the minds of all the women
in our favour. They were breathing nothing but revenge and´de-
testation; to-day they have become so kind and gentle that there is
no more need for an assault. By way of formality they exact the
honours of war, and these are always granted them. We stay some
days at Lerida; and already there is a talk of sieges of Valencia and
Tortosa. Always beginning again!
Your brother,
THOMAS BUGEAUD.
Time passes, King Joseph has already lost and then
regained his capital, where he only displays his power
by acts of clemency, using in vain the most noble
attribute which the constitutions of the age leave in
possession of the rulers of the State. In the various
provinces of the Peninsula the work of conquest only
eventuated in barren victories. Catalonia is divided
into departments, organized upon the model of those
of France; but the strong towns, the mountains, the
isolated villages, everything that is guarded from our
arms by art, nature, or solitude, still resist the in-
vaders, and shelter the soldiers of independence. The
heroic and patient adversaries of the Moors, waked up
by the sound of the guns of Saragossa, and encouraged
by daily partial successes, sustain the military ardour
that enables them to hope for a final victory.
72
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
To MDLLE. PHILLIS DE LA PICONNerie.
At the bivouac of Tivisa (Catalonia), eight leagues from
Tortosa, on the left bank of the Ebro, July, 1810.
I am sorry to hear nothing of you, my dear Phillis, but I do
not blame you. There are so many couriers intercepted I am very
much afraid that either my letters have not reached you, or that
your replies have fallen into the hands of some Spanish partisan,
who probably has made very little account of what is so very dear to
me. If these gentlemen would wish to be reconciled to me, let them
send me your correspondence. I would content myself with making
them prisoners; but, as they have not been gallant enough to do
it, I declare war to the death against them, and, as often as any of
them fall into my hands, I will send them to Pluto to teach them
how to live.
I told you in my former letters that you might dispose of my
little revenue as you pleased without being obliged to consult me.
I have given you an account of the siege of Lerida, and that I
had gained some credit there. If I had possessed the least interest I
should have been made a lieutenant-colonel. My colonel asked for
this promotion for me, and Pascal told me he saw the application in
the report that the general of division sent to Count Suchet. I do
not know if it reached the Government. But I am not without some
hopes, and two consecutive fights we have just had at Tivisa have
refreshed them. The 116th Regiment has gained much credit. I
will tell you this in place. I am going to begin by making you
perfect in our earliest operations.
The Third Corps marched on the two sides of the Ebro towards
Tortosa, to besiege it. This movement seemed to be in combination
with Marshal MacDonald, who commands in Catalonia; but it seems
that the shattered condition of his army, and the deficiency of maga-
zines in this wasted country, prevented him from starting as soon as
we did. Notwithstanding this difficulty, General Suchet established
his head-quarters at Nora, formed the blockade of the bridge-head
of Tortosa, which is upon the right bank, and pushed up our
division on the left bank to within two leagues of the place. He
established two flying bridges for communication, the one at Tibinys,
the other before Mora. Care was taker to protect them by field-works.
However, the Spanish army, not being attacked on the side of Tara-
gona, turned all its attention to us. General Odonilla issued a pro-
clamation, in which he exhorted all the inhabitants to join the army
in order to throw us into the Ebro. He named for points of con-
LERIDA.
73
centration Falcet and Tivisa, from which it was easy for him to
hinder our communications, as well as the navigation of the Ebro.
In fact, three thousand Spaniards and some hundreds of peasants
came to occupy Tivisa. A similar number proceeded to the other
point, at only four leagues distance.
General Suchet, informed of this, ordered the 115th and 116th
on detachment to attack the men at Tivisa. The combat was not
bloody; the enemy gave ground as soon as we met, leaving in our
power a very few prisoners and some stores.
We remained holding this place to the number of seven hundred;
the 115th returned to Mora.
On the sixteenth of July we were attacked by six thousand men,
commanded by three generals. Our forces being dispersed over
various hillocks that it was important to guard, it was not difficult to
drive us from them. However, we only yielded foot by foot, and
when being attacked by very superior forces we had reason to fear
that we should be surrounded. We made several brilliant charges,
but at last were obliged to yield to numbers. We were successively
deprived of all our positions, and found ourselves forced to retire by
the road to Mora. I was entrusted with the duty of covering the
retreat, during which I lost nineteen men; but having stopped the
enemy in several places, I prevented them from taking advantage of
the disorder that reigned in the column, as they could not have failed
to make a great many prisoners.
General Abbé re-formed the column on a plateau covered with
vines, and bounded by rather difficult ravines. The enemy manoeuvred
in three columns; two tried to turn our flanks, and the third attacked
us in front. A little audacity, with the help of a simple trick of war
enough, got us out of the scrape. We had just received three fresh
companies; two were placed at the head with mine, the third ex-
tended on the flanks to drive off the skirmishers. In this order we
resolved to charge the centre column with the bayonet, judging, with
reason, that the ravines would prevent the others from taking part in
the action for some time. We had been fighting all day in white
linen chakos;* we took them off and having done this rushed upon
the column with the greatest vivacity. Astonished at our audacity,
and supposing by the change of ornament that we had received a con-
siderable reinforcement, they only fired once, and were thrown into
horrible disorder. Without giving them time to rally, we pursued
them with the bayonet at their flanks to the foot of a high hill, where
they broke, leaving in our power their wounded and a great many
prisoners. The rest, terrified at the defeat of the centre, escaped
* Probably cap covers that they took off. -ED.
74
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
into the mountains. We pursued them till night, killing and wound-
ing a large number of them.
This combat is a very evident proof that it is not numbers that
decide the victory. A body inferior in number to its enemy,
but composed of brave men, and directed by a man of skill,
should fear nothing. It may encounter a momentary check, but
its constancy and determination will furnish its chief with the
means of seizing a fortunate opportunity, and repairing everything
in a moment.
This little victory only served to prove our superiority; for, with
a thousand men, we beat six thousand; but the results were not con-
siderable enough to make the enemy abandon their projects. They
were reinforced at Falcet; we at Tivisa. In a few days there will
be a battle. The victory is not doubtful, they will be beaten; but I
do not expect the action will be decisive, because the difficulties of
the ground do not permit the action of our cavalry, and present a
thousand ways of escape to a beaten army.
We lost in the affair of the 16th a chef-de-bataillon (we had one
in succession who replaced him), three lieutenants and sub-lieutenants,
twenty-two soldiers and sergeants, and forty-eight wounded. A very
slight loss for so serious a conflict, with several bayonet encounters.
I think I shall be able to tell you that I am a member of the
Legion of Honour. There are fourteen crosses for my regiment.
The list is made, and I am at the top. It has been forwarded to the
Chancellerie, and we expect our patents every day. As to the
lieutenant-colonelcy, that is not so certain. However, as I have
already told you, there is still hope. After the affair of the 16th,
General Abbé said to me, 'Young man, I think I may promise you
that you will be chef-de-bataillon before the end of the year.'
I tell you rather shamelessly of these flattering words addressed
to a young man who follows the profession of arms, but I hope it
will not go beyond the family, and that you will judge me well
enough to think that it is my great confidence in you that makes
me thus communicative.
Write to me twice for once, and tell me the same things over
again, for the roads have never been less secure. As we advance in
our conquests, the brigands multiply in our rear.
army for us to go to work with them.
There must be no
BUGEAUD.
Who could then foresee that the year 1812 which
had just commenced, would see the Grand Army dis-
appear among the snows of Russia, while in Spain
LERIDA.
75
every day brought on the capture of a fortress or the
destruction of a guerilla? However, this desperate
warfare was not nearly concluded.
Marshal Suchet, the most notable organizer of the
conquest of the Peninsula, made himself master of the
city of Valencia and received the title of Duke.
To MDLLE. TOINY DE LA PICONNERIE.
Camp before Valentia, 1 January, 1812.
We crossed the Guadalaviar on the 26th, and after a rather
sharp encounter the city was very closely invested. General Blake,
president of the insurrectionary Junta, is inside with 15,000 men.
The rest of his troops have escaped to Alicante. Our army is
superb, full of confidence, and rejoicing in an excellent spirit; that
of the Spaniards, on the contrary, is entirely discouraged by its
numerous defeats, and will soon be in want of everything. This
difference of situation must very soon cause the fall of Valencia, and
the conquest of the kingdom of that name.
We opened the trenches last night, all is going on most excellently.
Adieu, &c.,
BUGEAUD.
Among the letters of Thomas Bugeaud to his
family-precious letters, for which we are indebted
to M. Robert Gasson-Bugeaud d'Isly, owner of all
his grandfather's papers-we have found one dated
from Barcelona, and addressed to an old servant of
the family of La Piconnerie. We publish it, and
think there is no need to call attention to its affecting
simplicity and the exquisite sentiments it contains.
To M. PIERRE LIONNET, at Bordeaux.
Barcelona, 3 September, 1812.
I was glad to receive your letter of congratulation; I even ought
to say I was flattered by a good and old servant like you having
76
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
preserved the remembrance of a man whom he only knew as a little
child it is more than a remembrance, it is interest and affection.
I assure you I am very sensible of it. I have often thought of our
estimable Lionnet, and always considered that he must be happy,
for I knew that he possessed the qualities that must attract the
friendship of the masters whom he served. I do not know why he
left the family of Lajudie, but I presume that it was not his fault,
and that another situation must have made up for the loss. If I
was mistaken, my dear Lionnet, address yourself to Mdlle. Phillis,
she has some funds of mine, and will send you some help. You
need only present my letter to her, use it without formality or
scruple.
It is true, my dear Lionnet, that I have prospered in the pro-
fession of arms; it has cost me more pain and self-devotion than
it does others. I was without interest and without the brilliant
education that promises great success; I have gained my rank by
much toil, danger, and privation. I am well in health, and feel myself
strong enough to make fifteen campaigns if they were wanted for the
safety of our country, which cannot be.
Our affairs in Spain have been rather a failure, but I hope that
we shall restore them in the coming campaign.
Adieu, my dear Lionnet, keep well, and believe in my attachment
to you.
THOMAS BUGEAud.
TO MADAME PUYSSEGENEZ (PHILLIS DE LA PICONNERIE).
Granollers, 1813.
MY DEAR PHILLIS,-I have delayed writing because I wished
to tell you something definite as to my position. Fortune is
very capricious towards me, she serves me in action, everywhere
else she deserts me. You know I had a well-founded expectation
of being appointed colonel. Well, the minister sent me a major's
commission for the army of reserve at Montpellier. Marshal Suchet
was very much annoyed at it. He spoke to me with the greatest
kindness, and changed my destination, giving me the command
of the 14th of the line, and wrote again to the minister to press
for my appointment as colonel to this regiment or to some other.
This is my position. Henceforth please address me Major com-
manding the 14th of the line, 1st division of the army of Aragon
and Catalonia.
I am going to join my regiment which is at Girona.
On the 16th I was attacked at Saint Vincent by nine battalions
eighteen hundred horses, and four guns. It was not a fair match
LERIDA.
77
we had to halt, after delaying the enemy long enough to allow the
troops from Barcelona to reach the fortified position of Esplugas.
By the help of some sinall entrenchments, I maintained myself two
hours upon the right bank, and killed and wounded three hundred men
of the enemy.
My loss was seventy wounded and seven killed.
A horse which my servant was bringing me was killed. I cared for
him very much. It was an Andalusian that I had owned for three
years.
The Marshal gave me a lot of praise for my defence of Bobregal.
That is worth more than nothing. The enemy's project was to cap-
ture the garrisons of Saint Vincent and Molinos del Rey. Having
missed their point they retired, and we resumed our positions, and
kept them till the 19th. I learn that the advanced posts are pushed
near Barcelona.
I think I told you that the convoy of money, that had my 7000
francs, was robbed near Toulouse of a box with 10,000 francs. We
are bringing an action against the carriers, but am afraid we shall
lose, my loss will be 1800 francs. Our pay is five months in arrear.
I begin to be short of money. I think Marshal Soult's army is
doing well, and there is no fear that the English will penetrate
further.
Love to all,
Your devoted brother,
THOMAS BUGEAUD.
P. S. An important personage has crossed Catalonia, who,
they say, goes to propose peace to the Cortes. I look upon this
negotiation as very difficult. Send my letter to Toiny and Hélène.
To MADAME PUYSSEGENEz.
Saint Vincent, near Barcelona, 22 December, 1813.
MY DEAR PHILLIS, - Perhaps you will see in the Gazette that on
the 10th of this month I captured a picket of thirty-five horse and an
officer. I received flattering compliments from the Marshal. That is
all I have got for three years. His desire to keep me in his corps
d'armée has done me much injury. I should be colonel to-day if I had
been major a year, and as I might have been, and his Excellency did not
choose, under the excuse that he kept a regiment of his army for me.
A little Spanish servant has robbed me of nearly 800 pieces of
Spanish gold; in return I have made booty of two fine horses worth
80 louis, that only cost me a little money, that I have made into a
fund for the soldiers who were on the expedition. Each of them
had 66 francs. Their cavalry is very well mounted
78
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
A letter from Mont Marsan tells me of a victory gained over the
Anglo-Spaniards before Bayonne. Marshal Soult's manoeuvres, if
they are as said, were fine, wise, and bold.
Ah, my dear Phillis, when shall we meet? When shall we
cease to disturb the world? Ah, without patriotism, how weary I
should be of the first of all professions! You will find me aged, I am
beginning to turn grey; do not tell that to the fair ones of the
country, they would take advantage of it, and I hope with a little
attention to my toilette I may partly conceal the ravages of time.
Your devoted brother,
BUGEAUD.
Although the Duke of Albufera had managed to
establish an appearance of organization in the king-
dom of Valencia, whence King Joseph sometimes re-
ceived assistance, none the less was it necessary daily
to fight the little armed bands that intercepted all
our communications and were supported by the Eng-
lish. The Spanish insurrection was at last to gain
its point. But before leaving this country, to which
he was attached by five years of struggle and fatigue,
the late vélite of Austerlitz reproduces his first vic-
tories and gains the epaulette of Major (lieutenant-
colonel).**
In the Memoirs of Marshal Suchet, that excellent book written in 1826 by the
soldier himself, there is often mention of Chef-de-bataillon Bugeaud, who gave proof
on several occasions of capacity and intrepidity;' notably at the combat of Ordal.
It is interesting to give an extract: 'A section of Sappers marching with an
advanced guard were among the first to reach the redoubt with the Voltigeurs.
The enemy made an obstinate resistance, and twice drove us off. A second re-
doubt, placed very high and very near, crushed the assailants with its fire when
they had made their way in. General Mesclop with his sword drawn brought
them back with beat of drum; Chef-de-bataillon Feuchères was wounded, and
several brave men perished in the shock. At last the redoubt remained in our
possession; almost all its defenders were killed. Immediately, Marshal Suchet
advanced Habert's division to the left upon the road, and General Harispe's
reserve followed Mesclop's brigade. The battalion of the 116th, led by Commandant
Bugeaud, made a movement to turn the second redoubts by the left; they were at
the same time attacked in front, as well as the retrenchments that supported their
flanks on the crest of the hill. All were carried with a rush, and the enemy re-
treated, leaving many dead and wounded, covered by his cavalry.' Also vol. ii.
p. 345.
'Bugeaud's battalion leading, ran up and restored order.'-Mémoires du
Maréchal Suchet. (See Napier's Peninsular War, vol. vi., hook xxi., ch. ii. p. 56.
Combat of Ordal, Sept. 13, 1813. There were 1200 men under Col. Adam.-ED.)
LERIDA.
79
TO MADAME DE SAINT GERMAIN (Antoinette de la
PICONNERIE).
Saint Vincent, near Barcelona, 22 December, 1813.
MY DEAR TOINY, You do not write to me any more.
Do you
think that I do not care to get letters from you? You are quite
mistaken. I love you, and consequently love to hear from you. I
allow I write little; but you write still less, though you could do so
more easily than I can. Every day I have five or six letters to
write, without counting a good deal of other pen work.
besides, important business, and it will be much worse
am colonel. Then you will owe me three letters for one.
quite understand?
I have
when I
Do you
Some time ago there was some news of me in the Gazette.
It is possible that you may again see in it that I captured an English
picket of thirty-five horse and an officer. They might say God-dam!
as much as they liked, but they had to capitulate.*
I am well in health, but a little sick at heart, yet I am not
in love.
There is a singular fate against my promotion.. I often have a
chance of attracting observation; my chiefs all say that they wish
me success, and I get nothing! Patience and the armour of
patriotism.
Adieu, dear sister best regards to your husband.
:
pide
BUGEAUD,
Chef-de-Bataillon.
TO MADAME DE PUYSSEGENEZ (PHILLIS).
Girone, 13 February, 1814.
I wrote to tell you I was made major, and that his Excellency
had given me the command of the Fourteenth to recompense me, if
possible, for the minister's harshness. I have the certainty that his
Excellency the Marshal has done all he could for me. A letter
from the War-Minister proves it. He tells me he is desired to express
* Napier, Pen. War, vol. vi., book xxiii., cap. vi., p. 481. On the 9th, Suchet
pushed a small corps by Bejer, between the Ordal and Sitjes, and on the 10th sur-
prised, at the Ostel of Ordal, an officer and thirty men of the Anglo-Sicilian
cavalry. This disaster was the result of negligence. The detachment after
patrolling to the fron thad dismounted without examining the buildings of the inn,
and some French troopers who were concealed within immediately seized the
horses and captured the whole party. —ED.
80
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
to me the Emperor's satisfaction at my good conduct at Ordal and
on every occasion. I preserve this letter among my archives.
I send you a letter of good General Harispe, though my doing
so shows some vanity. It is indeed extremely flattering, but from
a sister I fear no criticism. You will see that I must be very unfor-
tunate if I am not a colonel very soon.
I have a very fine regiment which I much wish to keep. I do
not know the 9th Light. I am aware that it has a brilliant repu-
tation, but it must have lost most of its old soldiers.
The third part of our army, half the cavalry and all the light
artillery, have marched for Lyons. We are on Ter, and I think
we shall soon be on the Fluvia. There has been no fighting since
that on the 16th. The general orders relating to that affair
mention me in a very flattering way. I will compel the minister to
give me promotion.
Our pay is reduced by a fifth as long as there is an enemy upon
the soil of France. We get no pay; I shall soon be obliged to ask
for money. I am, and long shall be, a poor devil. There are no
riches to be gained in the profession of arms when it is honestly and
nobly practised. But for the high pay of the kingdom of Valencia,
I should be without a sou. There must be love of glory, for we get
nothing else and buy it very dear. Our condition is most decep-
tive, and yet one becomes most incredibly attached to it; so much
so, that it is very painful to become a civilian again; even when
our physical powers no longer allow us to serve, we always want to
run after this phantom of honour and glory. It was thus that Gil
Blas left his pretty country at Livia to return to the court where
he had experienced all the tricks of fortune.
A thousand loves.
THOMAS BUGEAUD,
Major.
TO MADAME DE PUYSSEGENEZ (PHILLIS).
Moxente, 29th April, 1814.
MY GOOD PHILLIS,-I received your letter of the 1st of April
yesterday. It is very good, for it is very long, and I bargain with
you to continue in the same style. The couriers come in regularly
every ten days.
It is true that Colonel Rouelle has been made a general, and it is
also very true that I had the greatest hopes of succeeding him in the
116th regiment. They were based upon the positive promises of

LERIDA.
81
the Marshal Duke of Albufera, and the wish of all my chiefs and
comrades that it should be so. Everyone looked upon me as a colonel,
and the officers congratulated me on it; but often the things that
seem most certain escape us at the moment we think we hold
them. Success in the profession of a soldier depends much on chance
and luck. It is not enough to be a good player, a man must
be likewise lucky. Until now I have had the happiness of finding
several opportunities of bringing myself into notice. Just lately
again, at the combat of Yecla, the Marshal Duke of Albufera told me,
'Monsieur Bugeaud, a month ago I asked for a regiment for you,
and you have just established a fresh claim. I greatly hope that
you will have the 116th, at least I will ask for it till I have got it.'
After that you see that I might hope. Well, my dear, yesterday we
received a letter addressed to the administration of the 116th from
M. Chevalier, major of the 11th, to inform us that he is appointed
colonel of the 116th. General Rouelle is quite distressed at it.
So my promotion is stopped till there is another bit of luck. I
have desired Hélène to give you a long letter in which I tell her all
about our combats of the 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th of April.
One of our countrymen, M. Mesclop de Bergerac, has just been
made General, he is a great friend of mine; I enclose two of his
letters written to me after some small expeditions in which I was
fortunate.
me.
It was unlucky for me that they wanted to do too much for
If an officer's cross had been asked for, it would have been
got. A colonelcy was asked for a much better thing, for it is the
road to everything, and therefore I shall have nothing.
I think the Marshal is not on good terms with the War
Minister, because at first he only addressed himself to the Major-
general (Berthier). Now that the latter is ill, the Duke de Feltre*
does not care to be of service to the Marshal. Alas! it is on all
these petty feelings that our promotion is dependent, when His
Majesty is not with the army.
Love to Patrice and all.
THOMAS BUGEAUD.
TO MADAME DE PUYSSEGENEZ (PHILLIS).
Barcelona, 29th August, 1813.
I am at Barcelona, my dear Phillis, as a bit of a change from
the life in camps and mountains. This city is beautiful, and well
worth a journey of several miles to see.
VOL. I.
* Clarke.
G

82
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
I hear that a courier is to start for France to-morrow, and will
not lose this chance of telling you that I am well and always love
you.
It is probable that we shall not be long before we come near to
France. The force of circumstances draws us that way, but our
immediate enemy does not drive us. The army of Aragon is still
respected. Since we retreated we have not fired a shot.
My heart is torn with all that I hear of the army in the north of
Spain. It is very sad for us thus to lose the fruits of our splendid
labours, &c., &c., &c. I say no more. I suffer too much.
Adieu.
I embrace you most heartily.
BUGEAUD.
The Emperor had an especial esteem for Marshal
Suchet, and he considered him 'one of the best French
generals.' 'What he writes,' said Napoleon, 'is worth
even more than what he says, and what he does is
worth more than what he writes-just the contrary
The commandant of the two
to many others.'
armies of Aragon and Catalonia had noticed his
officer Bugeaud. Between the young corporal of
Austerlitz, the future Duke d'Isly, and the Marshal
Duke of Albufera, there was thenceforward a kind
of mysterious relationship of honour, kindliness, and
glory. Napoleon said that if he had possessed two
marshals like Suchet in Spain, not only should he
have conquered the Peninsula, but he should have kept
it That just, conciliatory, administrative mind, that
soldierly tact and courage, had gained for him incredible
success. Napoleon added, 'It is vexatious that sove-
reigns cannot create men like that.'
The five campaigns made by Marshal Suchet in
Spain as General-in-chief will remain as an imperishable
example of everything requisite in wise combinations,
audacity, and dexterity for establishing the domination
LERIDA.
83
of a foreign army in the midst of a great people rising
against them.
It was on the 1st of January, 1814, that the
invasion of the allied armies commenced on all the
boundaries of the empire, except on the side of the
Alps, still covered by the Viceroy Prince Eugene
Beauharnais at the head of the army of Italy. As
soon as war was kindled in the heart of France,
it was necessary to take into consideration the re-
linquishment of the occupation of Spain, and to
evacuate the kingdom that the Treaty of Valençay
restored to King Ferdinand.
On the 14th of January, by orders from the
War Minister, the Duke de Feltre, ten thousand foot-
soldiers, and two-thirds of the cavalry, quitted Bar-
celona. This first column was directed upon Lyons,
to be followed speedily by the last remains of our army
of occupation.
Commandant Bugeaud went with the last portions,
and left Spain at the same time as the General-in-
chief. The instructions were to hold back the enemy
before him, either to secure the safety of the garrisons
or to protect the territory of France, and make his
arrangements to do his part in covering the heart of
the threatened empire. *
* In the certificates of service given to Colonel Bugeaud I find, under the
heading, ‘Distinguished behaviour, wounds,' the following entries given complete:—
CAMPAIGNS IN SPAIN.
At the storm of Lerida, 13th May, 1810, the breach was scaled with courage,
but the assailants on reaching the quay were stopped by the active fire of six
light guns and a number of muskets. Captain of Grenadiers Bugeaud, at the
head of his company, rushed upon the guns and spiked them.
and spiked them. On this occasion he
himself killed several soldiers and gunners.
On the 15th of July, 1810, at the combat of Tivisa, Captain of Grenadiers
Bugeaud was ordered to protect the retreat. He did so with the greatest coolness
and courage, and was the first to resume the offensive, which decided the result of
the combat.
84
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
At the siege of Tortosa the enemy made a general sortie on the 28th of December,
1810, Captain Bugeaud with his company cut off four to five hundred men,
bayonetted a large number, took some, and chased the rest as far as the glacis.
This action gained him honourable mention in general orders.
During the siege of Tarragona, May 11, 1811, Chef-de-bataillon Bugeaud was
sent with seven companies to relieve the garrisons of Amposta and La Rapita.
Attacked by four battalions and three hundred horse at daybreak, he fell on the
enemy's flank, beat them completely, rescued the two garrisons, took five guns
served by English gunners, a hundred and fifty men, and a colonel.
On the 1st November, arriving at Barrocca to reinforce General Mazzuchelli
with six companies of the Fourth Italians, he caught sight of the band of Duran,
composed of two thousand five hundred foot-soldiers, and three hundred horse, in
pursuit of some companies of the First Italian Regiment. He attacked this enemy
in flank, made them lose hold, drove them from several strong positions, and com-
pelled them to retreat, leaving a large number of killed and wounded. On the 3d
he was detached to go to the relief of Alumnia, and on the 4th he was attacked by
all the bands united, to the number of six thousand foot-soldiers and eight hundred
horse. He was frequently surrounded during the retreat he made from Alumnia to
Muela; but he always broke the enemy who attacked his line, repulsed several
charges of cavalry, and reached Saragossa with two-thirds of his men, including
his wounded, nearly all of whom he brought off.
On the 20th of November he was detached by General Musnier against the hand
of Campillo. On the 23d, at midnight, he surprised the cavalry of that chief, killed
twenty men, took thirty-two horses, twelve soldiers, and the commanding officer.
He immediately marched against the infantry, hoping to surprise them, but could
only reach them at daybreak; he fell upon them very speedily, killed several
officers, about a hundred men, and dispersed the rest.
The 1st of September, 1812, he was detached with four companies and twenty-
four horse to destroy a collection of guerillas in the valley of Concenteyna. He
attacked them at daybreak and dispersed them. As he returned, these brigands
joined by a large number of peasants attacked his flanks. By a pretended flight
he drew them into an open space, where he killed three hundred.
The 26th of December, 1812, he was ordered to surprise the garrison of Ibi,
three companies and forty horse. One of his detachments alarmed the enemy too
soon, nevertheless he took two hundred and sixteen men and fourteen horses, a
captain and a lieutenant of the dragoons of Almanza.
At the combat of Ordal, Sept. 13, 1813, he determined the capture of the
redoubts and the position by a vigorous attack on the right flank of the enemy,
carried out with four companies of his battalion.
On the 13th December, 1813, an ambush that he placed near the pass of Ordal
captured thirty-five English horse and an officer.
CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE.
The 14th of June, 1815, he was in charge of the left attack upon the Piedmontese
line. He seized upon Conflans (Savoy), beat the Chasseurs Robert and the Regi-
ment of Piedmont; he made two hundred prisoners, and killed or wounded five or
six hundred men. On the 23rd he captured a company at Moutiers. On the 28th
he was attacked by seven thousand Piedmontese and Austrians under the orders of
Marshal Trenck. He retook the town of l'Hôpital three times at the head of his
Grenadiers, and threw a column of two thousand men who tried to turn his flank
into the river. After seven hours' fighting he held possession of the place. In this
affair he killed and wounded twelve hundred men, and made five hundred prisoners.
His force was fifteen hundred men and forty horse.
CHAPTER IX.
1814 AND 1815.
Napoleon I.'s Proclamation-His Abdication-Thomas Bugeaud made Colonel and
sent to Orleans—A Legitimist Song of Colonel Bugeaud-His attitude during
the Hundred Days-Appreciation of the Count de Chambord.
THE first of January, in the year 1814, was a sad day
for France. The armies of the coalition hedged
our frontiers; on all sides the cities and territories
were overrun; lastly, a bloody and obstinate strife
was waged around the capital. During the short
campaign in France, when all the resources of a
wonderful mind were developed, hope did not abandon
Napoleon I., until the last moment, when he saw that
everything was slipping from him. Victory at last
was weary of following him; the army was worn out
and its strength exhausted; the marshals were glutted
with plunder, their devotion exhausted.
On the evening of December 3, the Emperor
left head-quarters, and went to Paris to receive as
formerly, in prosperous times, the great bodies of the
State assembled at the Tuileries. A piteous and
heart-rending comedy!
6
The sovereign's reply to the embarrassed com-
pliments of the Senate was short and significant.
Bearn, Alsace, Franche-Comté, and Brabant are
invaded,' said he. 'The cries of these members of
my family distract my soul. I summon the French
to the assistance of the French; I call the French, of
Paris, Brittany, Normandy, Champagne, Burgundy,
86
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
and the other departments, to the aid of their brethren.
Will they leave us to misfortune? Peace and the
deliverance of our territory should be our rallying
word. The stranger will flee or sign peace on terms
of his own proposing, at sight of all this people in
arms. This is no time to speak of recovery of the
conquests we have made.'
France made no response.
Two months later, the Senate, in obedience to
circumstances, and following the will of the nation,
as well as their own instinct, put the climax to the
defection and registered it. On the 3rd of April,
1814, a proclamation from the Senate announced
that 'Napoleon having forfeited the throne, here-
ditary right is abolished in his family, and the people
and the army are released from the oath of fidelity.'
Two days afterwards the house of Bourbon was
restored in France.
it
To resist the decrees of fate would have been
madness. The people also, wearied and ruined, im-
patiently clamoured for peace.
As for the army,
must be avowed that it gave the new government
a cordial reception. Excepting a few generals and
soldiers, who remained faithful, and who were at-
tached to the Emperor by some special favour or
personal bond, all received the accession of King
Louis XVIII. with acclamations and enthusiasm.
The army of Spain, with which was Major
Thomas Bugeaud, had been neglected and sacrificed
by their master more than any other corps. The
letters written by the young officer during the six
years he passed in Spain often express great discou-
ragement, and very pardonable disgust. In spite of
most brilliant deeds of arms, the reiterated recom-
1814 AND 1815.
87
mendations of his immediate superiors, even those of
the commander-in-chief of the army of Catalonia, Mar-
shal Suchet, remained without result and unanswered.
It seems that this neglect arose from carelessness
in the offices, and the ill-feeling of the War Minister,
the Duke de Feltre, against Marshal Suchet, the
Duke of Albufera.
Although Thomas Bugeaud had won his corporal's
stripes on the field of Austerlitz, the son of the
Marquis de la Piconnerie, enlisted at twenty years of
age among the vélites of the guard, did not long remain
subject to the spell of the great conquering Cæsar. We
have seen him several times during the campaign in
Germany ardently longing with sighs to return to
his country, and the long and curious correspondence
he kept up with his sisters at this time frequently
contains bitter criticisms on the profession of arms,
which he had entered against his inclination.
When the royal family returned to France, the
14th regiment of the line, in which Thomas Bugeaud
held the rank of Major, was ordered to garrison
Orleans. In a short time came his appointment as
Colonel. We give his letter informing his sister of
this happy event. It is almost always to his elder sister
Phillis, his faithful and devoted confidante, that the
Marshal's long correspondence is addressed, begin-
ning in 1804, on his enlistment in the vélites of the
guard, and affectionately preserved in the family.*
* Statement of service of Marshal Bugeaud de la Piconnerie, Duke d'Isly
(Thomas-Robert), son of Jean-Ambroise and of Françoise de Sutton de Clonard,
born 15 October, 1784, at Limoges (Haute Vienne), married 30 March, 1818, to
Demoiselle Elisabeth Jouffre de Lafaye (Official permission, 27 December, 1817),-
died at Paris, 6 June, 1849 :—
Vélite in the Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard
Corporal
Sub-Lieutenant in the 64th Regiment of the Line
•
29 June, 1804.
22 December, 1805..
19 April, 1806.
88
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
Nothing was concealed from his sister. He com-
municated to her his impressions, his secret thoughts,
all the actions of his life. We know of nothing more
touching than this tender and filial affection of the
Lieutenant
•
Transferred to the 116th Regiment of the Line
Captain
Chef-de-Bataillon
Major in the 14th Regiment of the Line
Colonel
•
"Reduced, and placed on half-pay
21 December, 1806.
•
1 July, 1808.
Received upon the Reduced Pay List, in accordance with
•
the Order of 5 May, 1824, to date from.
Colonel of the 56th Regiment of the Line
Maréchal-de-Camp (Major-General)
Commanding a Brigade of Infantry at Paris
Commander-in-Chief of the Town and Castle of Blaye
Unattached
Commanding a Brigade of Infantry at Paris
Commander of the Forces, Province of Oran
Lieutenant-General
Unattached
Commanding the Active Division of Oran
Inspector for 1837 of the Infantry Forces under his command
Returned to France
Unattached
Commanding the Fourth Infantry Division of the Corps to
assemble on the Northern Frontier
Unattached in consequence of the breaking up of that corps
Member of the Cavalry and Infantry Committee
Governor-General of Algeria
Marshal of France
Relieved of the Government of Algeria
Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Alps
Died at Paris
2 March, 1809.
2 March, 1811.
10 January, 1814.
11 June, 1814.
11 November, 1815.
1 July, 1828.
8 September, 1830.
2 April, 1831.
30 November, 1832.
31 January, 1833.
22 July, 1833.
8 October, 1833.
23 May, 1836.
2 August, 1836.
1 October, 1836.
1 March, 1837.
22 July, 1837.
12 December, 1837.
1 January, 1838.
22 January, 1839.
25 May, 1839.
31 January, 1840.
29 December, 1840.
31 July, 1843.
29 June, 1847.
29 December, 1848.
6 June, 1849.
CAMPAIGNS.
1804, on Coast; Vendémiaire, year xiv, 1805, 1806, 1807, with Grand Army;
1808, 1809, 1810, 1811, 1812, 1813, and 1814, in Spain; 1815, Army of the Alps;
1836, 1837, 1840, 1842, 1843, 1844, 1845, 1846, and 1847, in Algeria.
WOUNDS.
Gunshot wound of the left thigh at the Battle of Pultusk, 26 December, 1806.
Member of the Legion of Honour
Officer.
Commander
Grand Officer
Grand Cross
Knight of Saint Louis.
DECORATIONS.
Created Duke d'Isly by Royal Ordinance
6 June, 1811.
17 March, 1815.
8 May, 1815.
24 December, 1837.
9 April, 1843.
20 August, 1814.
18 September, 1844.
1814 AND 1815.
89
soldier towards her who stood in the place of mother
to him, and by whose side were passed his earlier years
in the old home of La Durantie. This deep feeling
never failed. Madame de Puyssegenez throughout her
life retained the ascendancy she had possessed over
her brother during his infancy and youth.
TO MADAME DE PUYSSEGENEZ (PHILLIS).
La Ferté-Saint-Aubin, near Orleans, 12 July, 1814.
DEAR SISTER, This very moment I am informed that the
King has made me a colonel by a decree of June 11. So I was a
colonel when I was at Puyssegenez. Fortune is wonderfully kind
to me, and seems to reserve my pleasures so that I may be continually
receiving one. So she did not choose me to know of my promotion
while I was with you; it would have been too much good at once.
The favour I have just received is very great, considering the
actual circumstances. Several old colonels were asking for the 14th.
If I had not been appointed, I should have had to compete with
fifty-seven majors my seniors. And most likely I should have been.
sent about my business with half-pay.
I request you to inform the whole family in Périgord of my
appointment, and ask you afterwards to send my letter to Hélène,
who will tell Toiny; but no, I think, though very busy, I will
write to Hélène, and you need only undertake Périgord.
I shall reach Orleans to-morrow, and shall enter it at the head of
1100 men in fine order. Marshal Suchet, who saw us when he
came to Vierzon, told me it was the finest and largest regiment in the
whole army. Everything is going on as well as I could possibly desire.
The only thing wanting to my complete satisfaction would be to
keep the brave officers, who have contributed so much to my being
appointed their colonel. I fear a good many of them will be lost.
I shall be able to write little for a fortnight. I shall have much
to do for the new organization of my regiment. My most hearty
love to every one.
BUGEAUD,
Colonel of the 14th.
The city of Orleans, ardently Royalist, was very
eager to celebrate the return of the princes after their
long exile. The newly promoted colonel enthusiasti-
90
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
cally joined in all these manifestations, and especially
in the fêtes given by the city on the occasion of a visit
of the Duchesse d'Angoulême.*
זד
Thus passed at Orleans the first period of the Re-
storation, without incident, until the return from the
island of Elba. It has been stated that in March,
1815, at the time of the Emperor Napoleon's landing
at Cannes, Colonel Bugeaud, having proclaimed that
he was going to fight the usurper, himself gave his sol-
diers the signal to desert the royal cause. According to
an account then current, Colonel Bugeaud did not even
wait to leave Orleans before declaring himself, but
made his soldiers mount the tricoloured cockade in
the suburb Bourgogne.
• We believe these statements are unfounded,' says

* It is to M. H. de Lacombe that we are indebted for all the information
relating to Colonel Bugeaud's stay in Orleans, and the communication of a very
curious document that bears strongly the impress of the time. It is a little printed
sheet, surmounted by a shield with fleur-de-lis, with this heading. 'Verses made
on the occasion of the Fête, given by the city of Orleans to the officers of the
garrison.'
AIR-J'ai quelque foies chanté la gloire.
Loin de notre bonne patrie
Naguère nous portions nos pas,
Et le printemps de notre vie
N'était semé que de combats;
Aujourd'hui le sort, moins sévère,
Nous a fait un double présent :
En Louis il nous donne un père,} Bis.
nous fixe dans Orléans.
Allez, nous dit ce bon Monarque,
Vivez heureux, il en est temps;
Je veux qu'une joyeuse Parque
File les jours de mes enfants.
Les plaisirs, les jeux, la tendresse,
Ici rempliront vos loisirs ;
Mais au milieu de votre ivresse
Donnez à Mars des souvenirs.

Bis.
And there are two other couplets of the same style. The whole is signed, Colonel
Bugeaud, Colonel of the 14th Regiment of the Line.
At the bottom of the sheet, 'At Orleans, from the Press of Rouzeau-Montaut,
Printer to the King, the Mayor, &c., Rue Royale, No. 11.'
1814 AND 1815.
91
M. H. de Lacombe. First, it is established by offi-
cial documents that the scene supposed to have
taken place in the Faubourg Bourgogne is imaginary.
Some mischievous speeches having passed among the
soldiers of his regiment, Colonel Bugeaud immediately
checked them. Marshal Moncey, first inspector-general
of gendarmerie, had informed the Minister-at-War of the
reports current on this matter.' There was no impu-
tation then cast upon the conduct of Colonel Bugeaud,
and yet he had left Orleans several days before. He
had already reached Montargis, where he was to
operate with the army corps intended to oppose
Napoleon if he should advance from Burgundy. The
Minister-at-War, the Duke de Feltre, wrote on the 16th
of March, 1815, to Colonel Bugeaud, concerning the
bad spirit some of his soldiers had exhibited at
Montargis. 'I know, it is true, that, full of zeal, and
a
sense of your obligations, you, as well as the
officers, have done all you could to restrain the men,
and keep them to their duty. But these measures
are not sufficient.'
Now, these very acts of factious insubordination
that took place in the 14th of the line had been very
much exaggerated. Even before he received the War
Minister's letter Colonel Bugeaud had written to the
prefect of the Loire to deny them. The prefect had
immediately forwarded Colonel Bugeaud's protest to
the minister's office. The Minister-at-War received the
document from the prefect on the same day that he had
addressed to Colonel Bugeaud the missive given above.
He immediately wrote a second letter to the Colonel,
thus expressed, to be found, like the former, among
the archives of the office of the Minister-at-War :--
92
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
Paris, 17 March, 1815.
MONSIEUR LE COLONEL,-I have this moment received, with a
letter from the prefect of the Loire, a copy of that in which you
complain of the disadvantageous reports current as to the bad spirit.
of some soldiers of your regiment. A report has indeed reached me
on this matter, that led me to write directly to you on this very day.
I am glad to learn that this report has no sort of foundation, and
that you, your body of officers, and all the soldiers under your
orders, are animated by feelings that give the greatest assurance of
their fidelity to his Majesty. I will cause inquiry to be made for the
authors of these false reports.
From these documents it clearly appears, there-
fore, that if Colonel Bugeaud joined in the rising of
the Hundred Days, he did not in the least take
the initiative. He gave his adhesion when the
event had taken place; and setting aside the ques-
tion of dynasty, there only remained the military
and national question against the reconstituted co-
alition.
But, though quite false, these reports had the fatal
effect of causing Colonel Bugeaud to be treated as an
enemy and object of suspicion under the Restoration.
Thus it was that the government of Louis XVIII.
and the country were deprived of an able servant.
M. de Lacombe adds, 'I learn from a very trust-
worthy source that a very royalist officer, Commandant
Count l'Esclaibes, who was a friend of Colonel
Bugeaud, and knew his bravery and his sentiments,
wished to put an end to this unjust disgrace, and give
this valuable support to the monarchy. After the
Hundred Days at the Tuileries he presented Colonel
Bugeaud to the Duke d'Angoulême, president of the
high commission on the army. The conversation was
excellent and left a good impression, but unfortu-
nately had no practical result.'
1814 AND 1815.
93
In the correspondence of the Count de Chambord
there is a letter dated October, 1848, in which that
prince expresses his rejoicing at the patriotic inclina-
tions of Marshal Bugeaud; and adds that Colonel
d'Esclaibes had long ago informed him of them.*
TO MONSIEUR X.
Venice, 13 October, 1848.
I take advantage, my dear friend, of a safe opportunity to thank you
for the various letters you have sent me for some time. I have read with much
interest the accounts you give me of the condition of things and minds; but what
has struck me most is to see men of courage and ability of different parties forgetting
their old divisions, and uniting in their efforts to save society from approaching
destruction. This is a happy symptom that should confirm our hopes for the
future. I am especially rejoiced at what you tell me of the good disposition of
Marshal Bugeaud. I am not surprised at it, for the excellent Colonel d'Esclaibes,
whom we have had the misfortune to lose and who was his friend, had taught me
to know him long ago. By his military talents, his great ability, his firm and
energetic character, and the influence he exercises over the army, the Marshal may
be called to render the most signal services to our country, under existing circum-
stances. As for me, whose motto has always been "Everything for France," my
wish, my sole ambition, you know, is to serve my country, to devote myself to her
and those who will assist me to save her, and give her rest, freedom, prosperity,
and greatness. Such men may always count upon my entire recognition. They
will always find me ready to hold out a hand to them, wherever they may come
from.
(Signed)
HENRY.
CHAPTER X.
THE HUNDRED DAYS (1815).
Colonel Bugeaud with the Army of the Alps-Combat of St. Pierre d'Albigny,
when he took prisoners two French émigrés-Brilliant Combat of Conflans-
l'Hôpital-The Second Restoration-Colonel Bugeaud is reduced.
THE return of the Emperor from the Island of Elba
had again kindled the war in Europe, and the front-
iers of France were bristling afresh with a hedge of
bayonets. The 14th of the line, which was intended to
form the advanced guard of the army of the Alps, was
still under the orders of Marshal Suchet, and had, this
time, to contend with the Austro-Sardinian army
holding the valleys and defiles of Savoy. Our
military glory, so soon destined to be obscured upon
the field of Waterloo, darted forth a last flash upon
the frontiers of Italy, and it was to the brave colonel
of the 14th of the line that we owe this heroic feat of
arms.
This glorious incident of war, remaining almost
unknown amid the frightful crash of the colossus of
empire falling into ruins, seems to us like one of those
final radiances that sometimes illumine the sky as the
orb of day is vanishing. Might not there be a curious
similitude in the idea that the young colonel who, in
an obscure corner of Savoy, just before the disaster
of Waterloo, accomplished the last gallant action that
adorned the imperial era, should, after a long enforced
sleep of fifteen years awake as the most accomplished
THE HUNDRED DAYS.
95
soldier of his time, the only great warrior of the mon-
archy of 1830?
The commencement of hostilities had been fixed for
the 15th of June. The 14th, which was stationed at
Chatelard, among the mountains of Banges, in Savoy,
had received orders to descend into the valley of
Tarentaise, guarded by a Piedmontese corps, and to
take possession of the small towns of Conflans and
l'Hôpital.
It was then that Colonel Bugeaud, in conformity
with orders received, attempted one of those bold
strokes in which he had so often succeeded in Spain.
A battalion of the enemy (batallion Comte Robert),
was established as advanced picket at Saint Pierre
d'Albigny. Colonel Bugeaud resolved to surround
it, and make it prisoner with hardly a blow. With
this object he despatched three companies by a
mountain-path that came out about half a league in
rear of the village, and ordered them to lay in wait.
Then he attacked in front with the rest of his forcę.
One part of the enemy's detachment was captured or
killed, the rest ran away and fell into the ambuscade
prepared; not a man escaped, and by four in the
morning the whole Piedmontese battalion was cap-
tured.
In this combat Colonel Bugeaud himself made
two prisoners, who turned out to be two Frenchmen,
MM. de Polignac and de Macarthy, commissioners of
Louis XVIII., with the Austro-Sardinian army.
We will leave the account of it to Colonel Bugeaud,
who relates this episode in a letter addressed to one of
his sisters, dated August 3, which we shall find
below. A Piedmontese brigade, 3900 men strong,
had come in haste to support its advanced picket,
96
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
getting no communication from it. It came in con-
tact with the victorious 14th, was routed after a
pretty sharp conflict, and retired, leaving with its
opponent, 200 prisoners, its wounded, its dead, and
the possession of the towns of Conflans and l'Hôpital,
not even attempting to defend the approaches, which
the 14th occupied conformably to orders received.
Some days later Colonel Bugeaud, seeing that the
enemy continued to commit the same blunder, and that
their advanced posts did not sufficiently guard their
lines of communication with the main boly of their
troops, again gave himself the pleasure of capturing
a battalion posted at Moutiers as an outlying picket.
He employed the same method that had previously
been successful, brought upon the enemy's line of re-
treat a detachment which had to march for eleven
hours by horrible roads, then attacking the picket
in front, took it between two fires, and forced it
to surrender.
6
It would seem that Marshal Bugeaud must after-
wards have especially had the remembrance of these
two exploits in his mind, when he wrote in his
Maxims of the Art of War:' Efficient guards
must always be distant, and equally must it be
impossible for the enemy to penetrate through the
chain of the advanced posts unobserved. A fault
often committed by the chief of a detachment posted
on outlying picket, at a great distance from a nume-
rous force, is to surround himself with precautions
calculated to prevent himself from being surprised,
but to leave behind him a considerable space in which
a party of the enemy may lie in wait, and fall upon
the detachment when it, attacked by superior force
from another side, thinks it can easily retire to its
THE HUNDRED DAYS.
97
own forces, then it is captured, and uncovers the
space it was ordered to occupy.'
This was a happy commencement for the army of
the Alps; to be followed by a combat still more
glorious, that might have gained a great reputation,
had not at the very moment the bloody day of
Waterloo absorbed the attention of France and the
whole of Europe by the vastness of the strife of
which it was the turning-point, and the incalcu-
lable consequences that followed it. But it does
not displease us, while turning over this grand page
of history, to tarry, in company with the valiant man
of war whose life we are endeavouring to describe,
among these combats obscure, but deserving illus-
tration, that so honourably terminated the war upon
our Alpine frontiers. Besides, there can be no doubt
that the remembrance of this success was especially
valued by the Marshal when he reached an advanced
age, full of honours, for he gave a very full account
of it in an anonymous pamphlet printed, in 1845, at
the Government press at Algiers, from which we take
some of the details that follow.
In the last days of the month of June, 1815, the
14th of the line, reinforced by a battalion of the 20th
of the line, still held the two towns of Conflans and
l'Hôpital, washed by the stream of the Arly, a small
tributary of the Isere. Some prisoners, made on the
26th, informed Colonel Bugeaud that he was to be
attacked two days afterwards by 10,000 Austrians
under the orders of General Trenck, coming down the
Little Saint Bernard, while General Bubna, coming
from Mont Cenis with 20,000 men, was to advance.
by the valley of Maurienne, held on one side by the
brigade of General Mesclop. Colonel Bugeaud lost
VOL. I.
H
98
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
no time in forwarding this information to the General-
in-chief, and judiciously requested that Mesclop's
brigade might come and join him without delay in
the valley of the Tarentaise, so as to combine their
efforts to crush General Trenck, while Bubna's
column 'should strike at nothing, and run its head
against the tête-de-pont of Montmeillan.' But Mar-
shal Suchet had already received intelligence of the
disaster at Waterloo, and, considering it useless to
prolong hostilities, had sent a proposal for an armistice
to General Bubna. Being convinced that this proposal
would be accepted, and the forward march of the
Austrian corps stopped, he gave no orders to the 14th
of the line or to Mesclop's brigade. On the morning
of the 28th, instead of the reinforcement so ardently
desired, Colonel Bugeaud received the official bulletin
of the battle of Waterloo, and, by a singular coincidence,
the deputation of the regiment which had been sent to
the Champ de Mai for the distribution of the eagles,
joined at the same moment, bringing the eagle for
the regiment, together with the account of the Em-
peror's abdication.
While these unfavourable reports were spreading
through the ranks, and causing great excitement, a
sub-officer of cavalry arrived at full speed and brought
information of the approach of the Austrians. Matters
looked grave; resistance to an enemy of considerable
numerical superiority, with soldiers disconcerted and
troubled by the cruel intelligence just received, might
have seemed a hazardous enterprise; but Colonel
Bugeaud, inspired by ardent patriotism alone, found
some noble words that went to the soldiers' hearts,
and restored their morale. Forming up his regiment
in close column, he himself read the bulletin of
THE HUNDRED DAYS.
99
Waterloo, and received the eagle in the name of the
country, speaking these words in a loud voice,
'Soldiers of the 14th line, here is your eagle. It is
in the name of the country that I present it to you,
for if the Emperor, as here stated, is no longer our
sovereign, France remains. She it is who confides
this standard to you; it will always be your
talisman
of victory. Swear that as long as a soldier of the
14th exists no enemy's hand shall touch it!' 'We
swear it,' cried all the soldiers, and the officers stepped
from the ranks, waving their swords and shouting
again, We swear it!'
6
Happy are the soldiers led by such a chief!
What melancholy thoughts assail the mind at the
idea of the grand results that our brave army of
Metz might have produced in the fatal war of 1870
if at its head there had been a man of such energetic
mould, who would have been able to make the
grand idea of patriotism overpower the ruins of a
crumbling government.
It was in this mood that the 14th was going to
meet the enemy.
In order the better to resist such superior forces,
Colonel Bugeaud proposed only to defend the right
bank of the Arly, and to allow the enemy to pass the
stream in small bodies, so as to have them on easier
terms, and crush them in detail. He began by a
slack defence of the positions on the left bank, so as to
prevent the enemy from adopting a plan that they might
have conceived if they had met with an energetic
resistance, that of crossing the Arly at some distance
and turning the position. With the same view he
prevented the destruction of the bridge that unites
Conflans and l'Hôpital. The event was as he had
Dor M
100
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
foreseen. When the Austrians had made themselves
masters of the left bank, which had been so easily
abandoned to them, they several times endeavoured
to debouch from the bridge.
Every time they were received by a sharp fire
from a short distance; then our troops quitting their
shelter advanced upon the enemy with the bayonet,
and thrust them back to the other side of the stream.
with considerable loss.
Despairing of forcing the passage in this manner,
the Austrians passed a column of two thousand men
over a ford below the town, intending to cut the line
of retreat of the defenders of l'Hôpital. Colonel
Bugeaud, not choosing to empty the little town,
only made use of six companies of the centre to meet
this movement. Though numerically inferior, the
want of numbers was compensated for by an excess
of audacity, and he flung these few men, with himself,
upon the rear of the enemy's column, so that
they, thinking that they themselves were threatened
with being cut off from the ford where they had
crossed the river, became demoralised, gave back,
and were flung in disorder into the Isere and the
Arly, having sustained a considerable loss by a well-
sustained and well-directed fire. A second attempt
of the same kind on another point was not more
successful.
However, cartridges began to fail, and the Colonel
would perhaps have decided upon retiring, if he had
not been reluctant to leave to the enemy's mercy a
battalion of the 67th that had on the sound of the
engagement made its way by the valley of Udine and
had just communicated with him. Not being able
to maintain himself any longer in l'Hôpital without
Mou
THE HUNDRED DAYS.
101
ammunition, Colonel Bugeaud rallied his men, and
made them take up positions on the hills in the rear.
The Austrians entered the deserted town and pillaged
it. Meanwhile a detachment of twenty mules loaded
with cartridges had been brought up; the pouches
were filled, and the battalion of the 67th came up
with some pieces of artillery. Their arrival was a
signal to take the offensive; the 14th again rushed
forward, killed or captured 1500 Austrians who occu-
pied l'Hôpital, and effected its junction with the
battalion of the 67th over a heap of corpses.
At the same moment a battalion of the 20th of
the line arrived by the Chambery road. Colonel
Bugeaud, seeing his force augmented by two battalions,
prepared to cross the Arly in his turn, and to com-
plete the destruction of the Austrian division, when
an officer from the head-quarters' staff arrived with
the information that the armistice was signed, and, to
his great regret, the intrepid Bugeaud had to break off
the movement just begun. But he gave himself the
pleasure of waiting till the enemy themselves sent
him information of the armistice, and thus had the
well-deserved satisfaction of not leaving the field of
battle till the next day.
So terminated this combat in which 1750 French
fought for ten hours against nearly 10,000 Austrians,
killed 2000 men of them, and made 960 prisoners.
After the disaster of Waterloo, 18th June, 1815,
and the second abdication of the Emperor Napo-
leon I., 23rd June, 1815, according to the conventions
with the allied armies, the French forces were to
retire behind the Loire, and Marshal Suchet's corps
to quit Savoy.
A letter from Colonel Bugeaud, written to his sister,
102
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
on 3rd August, 1815, is already a foreboding of the
adverse decision about to be made with regard to
him.
TO MADAME DE PUISSEgenez.
Saint-Symphorien, 3rd August, 1815.
MY DEAR SISTER,—I received your letter of 20th July at Saint-
Symphorien. The one you addressed to me at the army of the
Loire has not reached me yet. Your opinion agrees with mine.
When I recovered from the first moment of disgust, I considered
that it was right to wait at my post till I am told, Be off with
you!' and that then I should have a right to say, 'I served my
country as long as I could, and it is not my fault that I am not
serving it still I fully expect that we shall be discharged, the
proscriptions do not promise anything good.
I should not be sorry to remain upon half-pay for a year or two
while things settle themselves.
Our army is obedient indeed; very obedient. Some days since
we received the white cockade. I have resumed this badge in the
regiment without encountering fresh desertions.
You may feel sure I never will join in a civil war unless com-
pelled by persecution. I am too much of a Frenchman ever to shed
the blood of my fellow-citizens as long as they do not threaten
my life.
I am in daily expectation of leaving this country and going to
Clermont. You can write to me at Roanne till further directions;
your letter will follow me.
You will no doubt like to see our deed of submission; I send you
an exact copy of it:-
‘SIRE,—The officers, sub-officers, and private soldiers of the 14th
Regiment of the line, present to Your Majesty the homage of their
complete submission. We unreservedly range ourselves under the
banner of the lilies. The fate of the country is henceforth combined
with that of your sacred person. This fact will be the warranty of
our fidelity and love.
'May all Frenchmen, forgetting their divisions, only make one
great family, and have like us but one cry, "Long live the King,
and France in all its integrity!"
You will experience our devotion, Sire, if ever this integrity
should be threatened.'
(The signatures follow.)
THE HUNDRED DAYS.
103
I have received a long and kind letter from Hélène, and answered
it. Ask her for my letter of the end of July, it will interest you. I
give her accounts that I have not sent you; in your turn I am
going to give you some that she has not received, and you may send
her in exchange.
On the 15th of June, at two in the morning, I surprised the
Piedmontese advanced posts at Saint-Pierre d'Albigny. I entered
the town with the first of the Voltigeurs. I heard two men gallop-
ing away down the street. Having no mounted men I pursued
them myself, and cutting them off at the turn of the road, I made
them prisoners.
'Who are you?'
'French travellers.'
'French travellers at such an hour, armed and in the enemy's
lines. I cannot recognise you as such. No, gentlemen, you are not
Frenchmen.'
Yes, sir, we are; and as we must tell you, we are French
émigrés. We left our country to escape from Bonaparte and serve
the King.'
'Ah, I understand, you are royalists, but foreigners and not
citizens of France.'
'Sir, we are Frenchmen on honour; we are on the road to it, and
it is not very clear that you are on the same course.’
Gentlemen, do not compel me to abuse the power I have over
you and say harsh things, which your own conduct may easily
give occasion to. We will break this off. You will be taken to
head-quarters with the other prisoners, and you will be able to
explain to Marshal Suchet.'
I was in haste, and went on my way without ascertaining the
names of my prisoners. In the evening I heard that one of them
was M. Jules de Polignac, and the other M. de Macarthy of
Toulouse; that they had been several days upon the frontier
establishing communications with France, and giving information
to the Piedmontese of all the movements of the French army.
The Marshal had them taken to Fort Bareau; but I soon learnt
that they had quietly been set at liberty.
Three or four days ago I received a letter from M. Macarthy
asking me to let him have for 1000 francs a couple of carriage-
horses belonging to him, which I had taken in the affair of
Saint-Pierre.
I answered him, that considering the Macarthys of Toulouse are
relations to those of Bordeaux, who are my cousins, I could not
consider these horses as fair booty, and that he might send for them,
not for the 1000 francs, but for nothing.
104
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
I added something, to say that this was not the least in conse-
quence of circumstances, but owing to the name of Macarthy.
I love you all, and embrace you a hundred times. Adieu.
BUGEAUD.
TO MADAME DE PUISSEGenez.
Clermont, 27th August, 1815.
Progress is being made with our disbandment. This will take
up at least a month, and will delay by so long the pleasure I shall
have in pressing you in my arms.
The councils of administration will be provisionally kept up, to
give-in their accounts with the records and stores. That of the 14th
is to be merged in the legion of the department of Côte-d'Or, and
said to be intended for the nucleus. If any colonels receive
employment in each legion, I am almost assured I shall be among
those chosen. The Marshal has told me several times, 'If any one
in the army ought to be employed, it is you.'
As soon as we are disbanded, if circumstances permit, I will go
and see you. I shall travel on horseback by cross-roads.
You will be glad to hear that several persons of distinction of the
department of the Loire have joined in requesting their deputies to
ask the King to give me the legion of the Loire. I have letters to
this effect from M. de Montenac, and the Marquis de Talame, peer
of France. I do not reckon much on its success, but am flattered
at this proof of goodwill which I owe to the good conduct of my
regiment, and to a slight service that I did to the people of the
country. This is it. A band of Austrian hussars were wasting the
country, pillaging, robbing, violating, &c. I went after them with
eight mounted officers. We caught them at the village of Regny,
and took them all.
I have received a long and kind letter from Hélène. She thinks
a great deal about me. The people of the South, or at least the
royalists, are covering themselves with shame by a quantity of
murders. They seem to wish to defy the Duke d'Angoulême rather
than the King. They are in a complete state of anarchy.
The illegitimate sovereign's party did not commit such crimes.
I hope that as soon as His Majesty can he will chastise these
brigands with white and green cockades. Doubtless you know all
that goes on in these countries. At Toulouse they murdered the
General the King had sent.
In several other places the authorities appointed by the King
have been unable to enter upon their duties.
THE HUNDRED DAYS.
105
Love to your husband, to Julien, to all the family, and to all the
friends.
You do not tell me about my money. Will Granger pay me?
Your devoted brother,
BUGEAUD.
On the 16th of September, 1815, as he had fore-
seen, Colonel Bugeaud was disbanded, as a brigand of
the Loire, and ceased to belong to the army. Perhaps
we may find an explanation of this proceeding on
comparing it with an incident that is rather obscure,
for unfortunately no letter of the Marshal's nor any
formal document gives information about it.
We have seen that the former major of the Spanish
wars had received his colonel's rank from Louis XVIII.,.
11th of June, 1814. There is no reason to doubt the
sincerity of the Royalist feelings displayed by him at
Orleans The son of the Marquis de la Piconnerie
had, besides, no strong bonds of gratitude to attach
him to the Emperor. Then came the Hundred Days.
Together with the whole army the Colonel took his
place beneath the standards of the usurper, and, under
the orders of his commanding officer, proceeded to join
him with his regiment at Auxerre. What took place
afterwards? The Colonel of the 14th of the line must
have had some powerful enemies in the office of the
Minister-at-War, for they managed to deprive him of
his regiment. The order was given by the minister, but
not carried into effect. Why?* The curious autograph
letter of the Emperor now in our hands will tell us.
Monsieur le Colonel Bugeaud, I am satisfied with your conduct.
The command of the 14th Regiment of the line, with which you

* In the statements of the Marshal's service obtained from the War Minister's
office, there is no trace to be found of this strange proceeding. The autograph
letter of the Emperor is the only document alluding to it.
106
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
joined me at Auxerre has wrongfully been taken from you. I have
given orders for it to be restored to you, and in proof of my satis-
faction have appointed you commander of the Legion of Honour.
Paris, 8th May, 1815.
Signed,
NAPOLEON.
Let us endeavour to establish the facts. No doubt
this must have passed, perhaps even without the
knowledge of Colonel Bugeaud. His protector,
Marshal Suchet, who showed an especial appreciation
of the brilliant soldier of the Catalonian
army, had
been informed of the injustice about to be inflicted upon
his comrade in arms, and managed to obviate it. He
was easily able to persuade the Emperor to revoke his...
minister's decision, by showing him how important it
was at that critical moment to favour and secure to
his side such a valiant soldier as Colonel Bugeaud.
Thence arose the imperial letter and the quite un-
expected nomination as commander of the Legion of
Honour.
Indeed, Thomas Bugeaud, chevalier of the Legion
of Honour in 1811, had been made an officer of the
order on March 17, 1815. Two months afterwards
he was commander! This politic nomination was
a dexterous action of Napoleon I., who evidently
wished by an especial favour to attach to himself one
of the youngest, cleverest, and most steady colonels
in the army. We have seen at Conflans and l'Hôpital
in what brilliant fashion Bugeaud showed that he
deserved the high distinction which imperial favour,
by a kind of divination and prescience, had granted
him beforehand. __ Notwithstanding the Colonel's fine
feat of arms, notwithstanding his services, his name
and his friends, it is certain that after Waterloo and
Napoleon I.'s abdication, his determined enemies at



ར་རྒྱུུ་་༑-་ ་
THE HUNDRED DAYS.
107
the War - Office produced, at the right moment,
this unexceptionable proof of the good-will of the
and took advantage of it to procure the
insertion of Colonel Bugeaud's name among those
who were discharged.
usurper,
CHAPTER XI.
COUNTRY LIFE (1815-30).
Colonel Bugeaud in Périgord, 1815-1830-His Attempts at Agriculture - His
Activity and Taste for Field-work-He founds an Agricultural Meeting — His
-
Marriage with Mademoiselle de Lafaye― Transformation of the Country in an
Agricultural point of view-The Soldier Labourer-Colonel Bugeaud and the
Peasants.
THIS period of fifteen years, 1815 to 1830, during
which the brilliant soldier found himself compelled,
by events, to abandon military life, was far from being
idle. The brave, indefatigable officer carried with
him into his retirement the same ardour, devotion,
and activity, that had already filled the first part
of his life. Besides, this was not the first time
he had engaged in agriculture, and farming had
long ago attracted him. We have told how it was
that several years before he had missed breaking off
his career, and devoting himself entirely to the
management of his little domain.
In 1815, the object of his life was to be completely
changed. We find in
We find in his manuscript notes, a
sort of biography dictated by himself to one of
his daughters, the account of his first attempts, and
the inauguration of the first agricultural society
established in France.
'Struck with the wretchedness of the people of his
country, he found the cause in the system of agricul-
ture, namely, fallowing in its most primitive state.
He saw that if he could not serve the State with his
COUNTRY LIFE.
109
sword, he might still be useful to the country-people
by teaching them how to improve their condition by a
more intelligent system of labour. He undertook this
mission with infinite eagerness, and it had a great
effect in consoling him for the loss of a career that
offered him the most brilliant prospects.
'A lady, as good as she was beautiful, soon united
her lot to his, and the soldier was nothing more than
a most active and zealous agriculturist. By daybreak
he was in the fields leading his labourers, and himself
showing them how the work ought to be done.
In order to speak with more authority, he had
very speedily learnt how to hold the plough, use the
scythe, and all the agricultural implements as dex-
terously as the most practised workman. And he
especially opened the minds of the tillers of the soil
by his teaching, and stirred up the neighbouring
townsfolk to a taste for agriculture.
6
However, he soon perceived that if his efforts
stood alone, they would not be able to conquer
the bad habits that had been the rule for centuries.
His idea, therefore, was to unite all the landowners
of the canton into a society. As soon as he could
show a favourable specimen of the effects of the course
of cropping that he had selected with reference to
the nature of the soil and climate, he assembled all
his neighbours. After a breakfast, there was an
inspection of the fields; they were delighted with
the excellence of his artificial grasses, roots, and all
his cultivation of a kind quite new to the country.
Actually, enthusiasm was displayed, for no one believed
that these lands were capable of producing such things.
'Colonel Bugeaud had previously prepared papers
for the formation of a company, and a programme of
110
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
the encouragement to be given to agriculture in the
canton. He took advantage of the general feeling
to lay it before the party, and all present signed.
Thus was organized the first agricultural society*
of La Dordogne, and we believe in France: this took
place in 1819.
The society prospered, and caused such progress
to be made in the canton as astonished the neigh-
bouring cantons. Colonel Bugeaud stirred them up
to imitation, and had the happiness of becoming the
promoter and organizer of several other societies.
At the beginning of the year 1818, Colonel
Bugeaud married Mdlle. de Lafaye, of one of the most
respected families in the country. Here is a very
interesting letter addressed by the impatient betrothed
to his future father-in-law, in which the Colonel
describes his whole self with original and delightful
frankness.
Excideuil, 27 October, 1817.
SIR,-I trust you will excuse a very natural impatience in one
who aspires to the happiness of becoming a member of your family.
It is impossible for me to wait till St. Martin's day to ask from you
an
answer upon which my happiness depends. You had the
kindness to promise it to me in a few days. It is only indirectly
that I have learnt that you have fixed a more distant period. You
had not told me; I may then surely beg you to fulfil your first
promise, without your being able to impute indiscretion to me.
And why should you defer a moment so much desired by me?
Shall you know me better in a fortnight?
time enough for consideration? Have you not
possible information? In mercy, sir, do not
certainty. Consult your own heart; it will tell you, for it is kind,
that you cannot leave me longer in this cruel expectation.
Have you not had
been able to get all
defer giving me a
But it is especially your daughter whom you must consult, if you
have not already done so. I hold above everything to her own well-
* Comice Agricole. Comitia, public assemblies of the Roman people. -Smith's
Dict., Greek and Roman Antiquities.
COUNTRY LIFE.
111
considered choice; otherwise there will be no happiness. I am
also sure that you will do nothing distasteful to her; your intentions
on this matter are well enough known, and your character would
point them out.
I know that some persons have cast doubts upon my temper.
Soldiers are said to be generally despots, being used to command; I
can only refute this idea by defending myself and my comrades.
I will therefore confine myself to observing that there is no
military man who is not under command more, perhaps, than
he is in command, and that this graduated subordination begin-
ning with the private and only terminating with the chief of the
state, teaches all to obey as well as to command. Assuredly a rich
only son, who has never left home, has much more the habit of
absolute command than a marshal of France, and it would be a
good thing for spoilt children to be in the service for four or five
years. I fancy their tempers would be improved by it.
My fortune is not what M. Festugières thought, upon what
grounds I know not, for I have never exaggerated it beyond the
reality. I have 78,000 francs either in my pocket-book or well
invested. I will immediately make a purchase to that amount, if
you require it. I have, besides, my pay, worth about 3000 francs.
I allow that this is little in the general way of considering these
things. Your daughter is more wealthy: I wish she were not so
well off, or that I were more so, and that would be better. How-
ever, my means are sufficient according to all my wants; and I
should not desire any more unless it might be as a means of level-
ling the difficulties that stand in the way of a union, that I desire
more than I have ever wished for anything in the world.
My messenger has orders to wait for your answer till to-morrow;
I reckon upon your kindness not to keep me in suspense any longer.
Accept, sir, the assurance of my feelings of respect and my com-
plete consideration.
BUGEAUD,
Infantry Colonel.
Colonel Bugeaud having returned home, where
he soon became head of his family, could not
remain inactive. His vivid imagination, elevated
mind, and heart always full of a wish to do
good, required occupation to make him forget the
field of battle. He soon found it. An immense
sphere was opening before him. Limousin where he
112
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
C
was born, Périgord the land of his adoption, were then
far from being reckoned among our most fertile pro-
vinces. There was wide-spread misery. The colonel
looked around,' as we are told by M. de Bezancenetz,
an Algerian, an actual worshipper of Marshal Bugeaud.
'He saw a land sparsely covered with heather, further
off vast lands without vegetation, scorched up as if
wasted by fire, with only a crop of grey rocks like the
bones of an abandoned cemetery. He looked another
way; on the hill, meagre vine-stocks only just pushed
forth their stunted branches; in the valley, marshy
meadows scarcely produced sedges enough to feed the
few lean cows dolefully browsing there. Here a
scanty chestnut-grove with mutilated trees; there a
copse-wood with foliage turning yellow before its
time. The veteran of thirty was greatly excited.
He went to see if the arable land was in better condi-
tion alas! half of it was fallow, and what had been
turned by the plough seemed only to promise half
profits to the cultivators.
'The Colonel reached a farm-house by a broken-
up road, choked with rolling stones, furrowed with
ruts. Children in rags, half naked, played upon the
manure-heap where the fowls scratched and the pigs
routed. He entered the house by a broken door.
The only openings of the one habitable room were
two small windows, without casements, and only
provided with an inside shutter closed at night when
there was no need for light. Thick planks put
together into the shape of chests, covered with straw
and a few rags over them, were made to serve as
two beds for the use of the whole family; an old
worm-eaten chest, a bread-board, two benches and
two stools, completed the farmer's furniture. The
COUNTRY LIFE.
113
floor was of uneven, trodden earth, the stairs were a
step-ladder leading to an almost empty loft. Such
was the appearance of the farm-houses of Périgord
in 1815, when the disbanded colonel came to take
up his residence in the country.
(
He who now travels in the country colonised by
M. Bugeaud,' adds M. de Bezancenetz, in 1852,
'cannot imagine that in so short a space of time.
as fifteen years the aspect of the country could have
been so changed by the influence of one single man.
When he admires the fields with such even fur-
rows, and covered with flourishing crops of corn,
the artificial meadows with such rich, thick sward,
the main roads thickly metalled, the smiling and com-
fortable farms, the healthy and well-clothed villagers,
he cannot believe that this plenty and prosperity
only date from some twenty years back. Why should
it not be so? The very inhabitants of the country
being used to the miracle, only have a confused
remembrance of the past.
'Colonel Bugeaud's attempts had at first been
viewed with mistrust. When the peasants saw him
undoing and destroying everything in his domains,
they shook their heads, and the owners of property
boldly declared that the innovator would ruin himself.
Each new trial, every implement unknown in the
country, were the objects of malignant curiosity and
criticism from all. What was the use of those
harrows? Their teeth would never break the clods
as well as the old peasant's mattock. What was the
use of these stone-rollers, to part the grain from the
straw? The flail known from all ages did its work
much better. Did not the Colonel also entertain
the crazy notion of having the harvested corn
VOL. I.
I
114
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
trodden under the feet of horses on the threshing-
floor. Clearly the Colonel was possessed with a mania
for novelties that would bring him to ruin and the
most melancholy results.
'But when, after a few years, the most obstinate
could no longer keep out the light, when they saw
that instead of being ruined, the innovator had con-
siderably increased his income, there was a truce
to disparagement. People even began to allow that
M. Bugeaud sometimes had good notions, and at
last came imitation. This was what the Colonel
waited for. The improvement of his own property
was only half his projected work; his wish was to
regenerate the canton, the arrondissement, the whole
department.'
He had rebuilt his houses; the men
the men who
worked for him were better clothed, better fed, more
intelligent than their like. Again, by his care a
school for the children of his commune had been esta-
blished in a house of his own. But that was not enough;
the good must be propagated from neighbour to
neighbour, like contagious diseases of other days. So
the Colonel, far from repulsing those who seemed
inclined to proceed with him on the course he was pur-
suing with so much success, placed himself entirely
at their disposal. He helped them with his advice,
gradually brought them to his views, and one morning,
as he has told us himself, the agricultural society was
founded.
It was a great day for Colonel Bugeaud. In his
ideas the existence of an agricultural society was a
fountain of prosperity to the country to whose progress
and welfare it was devoted. He said, 'Agriculture

COUNTRY LIFE.
115
being a science of local practice, the clever men of the
locality must select the processes most suitable to the
different localities. This is the original idea of
agricultural societies.'
It was not in his own department alone that he
desired to establish these gatherings of practical agri-
culturists, but all over France; later, he moved
in the Chamber that a sum of two million francs
should be allotted for promoting the establishment of
similar institutions in all the cantons of France, so
that two hundred thousand persons might be morally
associated in the same work of regeneration
•
His dream was realised; and under the Second Em-
pire annual district agricultural society meetings
were established throughout our territory. Never
should it be forgotten that this idea, so simple and
so fruitful in results, is due to the initiative of
Colonel Bugeaud.
He said on one occasion in the Chamber, 'It is all
very well to colonise Algeria, but it would be still
more interesting to colonise the great plains of
Brittany and Bordeaux. A portion of the army might
be thus employed, and villages built there, on the
camp principle, but on a convenient plan for agricul-
tural work; the troops might occupy them with the
double object of being taught the art of war, and
of cultivating the adjacent land. When the ground
had been brought into such a state that families
could live upon it, these villages and their depend-
encies might be sold or leased out.
'Some persons who have not observed the vast
resources of agriculture are uneasy at the increase of
population. It is said there are too many people; I will
116
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
undertake to prove there are not enough. We could
feed, and feed better, more than twice as many.
Certainly the population is at this moment ill ar-
ranged. There are too many in the towns, but I
would undertake to employ all the excess of Lyons,
Bordeaux, Rouen, Marseilles, and Paris, in the
country of Limoges.'
These notions of the 'soldier labourer' spread in
the neighbourhood. The seed bore fruit, and his
example and advice were so well followed, that the
canton of Lanouaille soon became, from an agricultural
point of view, one of the most advanced parts of half
the central provinces, and of the entire south. The
movement did not stop there, and the mode of culti-
vation that he advocated spread over Périgord and
some of the Limousin; agricultural societies were
established in several cantons, and the whole country
presented a new aspect.
Colonel Bugeaud was adored by the peasants.
His address being affable, encouraging, and grave,
and his fatherly solicitude had a great share in the
success of his enterprise for agricultural and moral
regeneration. He succeeded in improving their
generous but rather hasty natures.
So the peasant of
Périgord still carefully retains in his memory the
recollection of the master of La Durantie. In his
familiar talk by the farm fireside, on a bundle of straw
in the barn, before the church, as on the occasion of
the rural solemnities at the distribution of premiums,
his language was simple, energetic, and plain. He
always contrived to teach the labourers a great
deal they did not know, and to correct their ideas
about what they knew imperfectly. He talked
familiarly with them, politics, work, agriculture, even
COUNTRY LIFE.
117
social economy, so as to make them understand the
hardest questions.
*
Amid these absorbing occupations and pure enjoy-
ments did the years of the Restoration pass with Colonel
Bugeaud. He took but little part in politics, refusing
to be present at such republican and Bonapartist
meetings as kept alight the holy fire of the revo-
lution at Perigeux and Limoges.
The young Colonel, though he had been so stupidly
set aside by the Government of the Restoration, did
not feel any aversion to it. In fact, he could reckon
among the influential men of the day some intimate
and devoted friends, who bitterly deplored that so
many brilliant and solid qualities should be buried
deep in Périgord, and never guessed the wonders and
transformations accomplished in his province by this
able man, with his energy and perseverance.
* We give a sentence from one of his speeches in patois with the French :
‘Ni la liberté, ni l'art d'écrire et de
lire, ne vous donneront du pain, des
habits, des souliers, une bonne maison,
des meubles et le reste. C'est peu de
chose que la liberté, quand elle n'est
pas accompagnée d'aisance. La misère,
mes amis, est la cause de votre igno-
rance; c'est aussi la seule oppression qui
pèse sur vous, et c'est le plus dur de
tous les esclavages.'
Si èrâ librei, si sabia letzi, voû
dounorio co dô po, de' lâ vestâ, dô sutzou,
'no meïtzou, dô meubei.
E sabi
•
•
io qué! . . . . Sei paobrei, qué volei
sobei? E à co qué voût abrâco, lo misèrio !
què loa pu terriblé de toi lon
esclavatzei!'
CHAPTER XII.
REVOLUTION OF JULY (1830).
Colonel Bugeaud re-enters the Service-Receives the Command of the 56th of the
Line at Grenoble-Letter from Grenoble on the Military State of France-
His Hatred of Newspapers and Demagogues-Gets leave at Excideuil, in
Dordogne, where he purchases a Property-Elected Deputy, made General -
General Bugeaud Politician-Letter of Madame Sermensan (Hélène) to her
Brother.
11
ま
​THE day after the revolution of July, Colonel Bugeaud
made an offer of his services, believing war to be immi-
nent. In the month of September he was appointed
to command the 56th regiment of the line, in garrison
at Grenoble. Though very much engaged in the
instruction of his regiment, he followed the course of
politics at Paris with great interest, showing equal
aversion for the manifestoes of demagogues, and the
warlike declarations that were published, on the tribune,
by the press, and in the street.
We have read several letters expressing this
feeling in sharp, eloquent, and practical language,
where it is easy to recognise not only the good
citizen, but the soldier, and the statesman called to
the highest destinies.
These letters were written from Grenoble by the
Colonel of the 56th to one of his best friends, M. de
Lacombe, a royalist, who had very much regretted
that the brave officer was unemployed by the Restora-
tion. We give one of these letters, written ten days

REVOLUTION OF JULY.
119
after the appointment of the minister who repaired the
omission, M. Casimir Périer, 13 March, 1831.
Grenoble, 23 March, 1831.
MY DEAR FRIEND,* -This minister offers us some security, and
I hope he will be supported, even though there may be a limit to
his kindness, for we require a little stability to re-establish order
and confidence, without which we should be weak at the moment of
danger.
Unhappily the tendency of the press does not leave much hope
that the new ministry will be successful; the press, that indispensable
auxiliary to a representative government, seems only to be able to
live upon
troubles and fights. If it carried on the war disinterestedly,
unconcerned with defeated or dissatisfied ambitions, it would do well;
but it is only too clear that, since the days of July, it is in great
measure the organ of those who could find no place at the feast.
This is the root of the injustice and bad faith of accusations that
render it almost impossible for ministers to fulfil their office. It
is s very lamentable that a handful of private persons thus disturb the
industry, the peace, and the future of the whole of France.
Do you really think that the majority in towns. (I do not say of
the nation, for there would be no doubt of a negative) is desirous of
war, as is stated in the Tribune, the National, and the Revolution?
Even if such were the case, that should not determine the course of the
government, for the opinion of the multitude on war is like a blind
man's on colours. There is no matter less understood even by those
who are actually engaged. It is evident that, on the faith of these
journals who have talked nonsense by the fathom on this point, a
certain public, especially the commercial men, desire it unblushingly,
because they expect that a better future will arise from it. About
the means of carrying it on, the number of enemies we shall have
to meet, the disorders at home that would arise in consequence of
possible defeats, they have never thought at all. A better proof of
this than all sorts of arguments, is that they wished to make us
declare war six months ago, when we could not put 40,000 men in
line. Even to-day is our army really ready to strive against
Europe? The infantry could not put 200,000 men in line. We
really have no more than 75 regiments in France. I allow them
an effective of 2500 men, which would make 2100 fighting men,
* We are indebted for this letter to MM. Hilaire and Charles de Lacombe, of
Orleans, sons of the friend to whom Marshal Bugeaud addressed it.
120
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
to judge by my own regiment, or 157,500 for the army. The
cavalry cannot have 30,000 mounted men, the artillery and engineers
20,000. This makes 207,000; few to make head against Europe.
If war is absolutely determined on, the first thing to be done
would be to organize 400 or 500 battalions of National Guards or
volunteers, and equip and drill them very quickly. This is no small
business, but all these superficial writers think it can be done with a
turn of the wrist. Add to this, that the army wants teaching, and
that the cavalry and artillery are not ready. And yet these impu-
dent praters* do all they can to embroil us with all the world...
They ought to be thankful to the Government for not listening to
them; at the present time they should chatter no more. The armies
of Germany would be at Paris; 400,000 or 500,000 good troops
are not to be stopped by tumultuous gatherings. The more numer-
ous such are the better they are beaten.
At the present moment we should have ten times more chance of
success; our army would make a good advanced guard for the
nation, some peoples would assist us, and by the end of the year we
should have a formidable army. But what expense, what losses,
what misery! It makes one shudder. The advantages would be
very dearly purchased. Certainly I should only gain by war; I
should be killed or get promotion. And yet I do not desire it, for,
above all things, I fear civil war and republican anarchy.
My regiment goes on improving, we are fairly good in drill, and

*This letter shows that the notorious hatred of the brave Marshal Bugeaud for
the members of the press was of ancient date. Though he had so much force of
character, such a strong contempt for fools and danger, he could not read a calumny
against himself in a newspaper without a shudder of indignation. The journalists
and members of the opposition, knowing this unfortunate peculiarity and weakness of
the Marshal's, abused it strangely. The more they knew that he was sensitive, and
took all the infamies laid to his credit seriously, the less they spared him their
attacks and diatribes. His exasperation was unbounded when he saw in some
papers his intentions unrecognised, his actions falsely interpreted, his words tra-
vestied. He immediately wanted to reply to the article, refute it, and confound
the malicious calumniator. It was in vain his friends endeavoured to convince
him of the inutility of defence, and make him understand that silence and con-
tempt were the only arms to use against these wretches. The Duke d'Aumale
told us, 'It was not always easy to hold him back. How often the ministers were
embarassed! Although the Minister-at-War had the Marshal under his orders, he did
not much care to venture on a prohibition. In reality it could not be forgotten
that the Marshal was the chief personage in the kingdom. My father would send
him one of his aides-de-camps as an ambassador. I was myself sometimes desired
to advise him to desist.' Even to the end of his life did the Marshal maintain the
violent hatred he expressed as Colonel for the journalists and tribe of pam-
phleteers
REVOLUTION OF JULY.
121
I am
we are even giving a certain amount of instruction for war.
now taking pains to form their 'moral,' without which there is no
army.
BUGEAUD.
Marshal Bugeaud's younger daughter, the Comtesse
Feray, who has been kind enough to assist in our
work, has taken the trouble to arrange some valuable
notes upon the domestic life of her illustrious father.
It is thanks to her and her affectionate remembrances,
that we have already been able to give our readers
those charming pages that portray the childhood and
youth of the great soldier down to the smallest details.
This has reference to the year 1830 :
The start for Grenoble was very painful. How many tears were
shed. My mother was sorry to see my father re-enter public life.
We had been so happy! The apartments awaiting us were gloomy,
in a narrow street. The new Colonel soon became idolised in his regi-
ment, and was the object of touching attention during the severe illness
that kept him a long time in weak health. A few months after our
coming, the youngest of my two brothers was carried off by brain-
fever. Leo was three years old. Like my elder brother he was
singularly beautiful, and his over-developed intelligence had always
made us anxious. There are griefs that cannot be described.
shall never forget that of my parents. Kneeling in a corner of the
room, I prayed to God to take me and restore my brother. No more
fervent prayer has ever been sent up to heaven. My sister was
beginning to understand resignation, and wept beside my mother.
I
My father was not made a general as had been promised. His
injured health did not improve. He asked for leave, and the whole
family was delighted to return to the modest rural life of La
Durantie.
How delighted were the friends and peasants to come and meet
their master, when he resumed his agricultural occupations. My
father was very uneasy about my mother's health; he bought a house
at Excideuil, where we were to settle ourselves. It was a very plain
residence, but we were so happy there. Fruit and flowers in the
garden, and sun everywhere. My father was always trying to make
it pleasanter, and we all loved the bright house. How much might
be said of the influence that a habitation may have over the life.
122
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
This new dwelling soon became the rallying place of all the society of
the town and neighbourhood.
My father had been elected Deputy, and made General on the
2nd of April, 1831. He was in command at Paris, and we were
expecting him in the country, when, in the month of January, 1833,
my mother received a letter from him, and burst into tears. My
father informed her of his departure for Blaye; the King had not
allowed him time to refuse when he gave him the order, still less time
to consult his wife, adding that the commission was a difficult one,
that he would perform it as he had done everything entrusted to
him, like a man of heart and honour. 'Poor Tom!' said my
mother, he thinks other men are as good as he is, through every-
thing he always believes in their justice. It does not matter, in spite
of his disinterested devotion, he will be abused by excited factions.
The King sacrifices him without recollecting that he has a family, and
in the confusion of parties the Government will not support him.'
My mother was not entirely wrong.
Before entering upon the details of the episode of
Blaye, it is interesting exactly to establish the bent
of General Bugeaud's mind, as Deputy for Excideuil,
and his connexion with the politicians of the time, by
his correspondence now in our hands.
We give a letter, dated 7th July, 1832, written
by him to one of his best friends, M. Gardère, a rich
merchant at Paris, who was always the confidant of
his most secret thoughts. Detained at La Durantie
by business and farming, General-deputy Bugeaud,
not having any command, was not at Paris when
the troubles broke out in June, 1832.
La Durantie, 7 July, 1832.
I am really ashamed, my dear Gardère, of having been so long
in answering your original and kind letter. Believe that the cause
is not indifference, and that I love you as much as any one after my
own family, for you deserve it.
Yes, you may well tell me, 'Hang yourself, good Crillon.'*
* 'Pends-toi, brave Crillon, on a vaincu sans toi.' Message of Henri IV. to
Crillon, after the victory of Arques, from which Crillon had been absent.-ED.
REVOLUTION OF JULY.
123
་རྙ་
Perhaps I should have hung myself if the bousingots had won.
You may imagine how I regretted that I had not had my share of
the blows given to these implacable enemies of the tranquility of
France, and that I shall make sure of being present in future. I
think they were not struck hard enough. And what do you think
of the crotchets about the state of siege raised by the very men who
had demanded the same measures against La Vendée with such
pertinacity. They say the war is finished at Paris. What are
not the secret societies always at war?
Are they to be always allowed to make their attacks, and when
defeated to entrench themselves behind absurd forms of law? If it
were so, it would be necessary to make no prisoners, the laws being
impotent to punish these great criminals.
What do you think of these fine fellows who wish to carry the
war into Poland and Italy, who expect with their civilian pouch-
belts and their enthusiasm that they can overturn all the armies of
Europe, who, on the first gun-shots, hide behind barricades that they
do not know how to defend, and fire through cracks and holes.
What! You want to overthrow a million of Germans and Russians,
and you do not know how to defend the traverses of a fortress?
How would you meet the fire of a thousand guns, and the charge
of 20,000 horse in the open country? You fancied, no doubt, that
a quarter of Paris would be sent after you, mounted upon trucks?
But the combats of the 5th and 6th of June have proved that
would not be enough for the exubérants.
Is it true, as stated in the papers, that there is a general
complaint at Paris of the state of siege? I did not believe it.
What will be done with those scoundrels Garnier-Pagès, Cabet,
and Laboissière ? Certainly they are guilty. They have shown us
their plans so plain that there is no room to doubt!
Garnier is the most dangerous of all, and the most perverse.
God grant that the jury may do their duty by them.
I thought of resting in Périgord. Vain hope. I am overwhelmed
with visits; the interests of many are at stake; there is no end to it.
Lately a young man came from the further end of the department, and
stayed with me a day, without telling me what he came for, it being
his first visit. Next morning I said to him, 'Sir, no doubt your
visit has an object; what is it?' General, I have come to ask you
to get me a place.' 'What place?' 'I do not know: whatever
you think I could hold.' 'But, sir, I do not know you; and if I
knew you I have no places at my disposal to give you, or means of
applying for vacancies to be made for you to fill.'
He went away
after making a very good breakfast.
Though I find great eagerness for places, I find much less for


124
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
the public good. I am striving hard to establish agricultural
societies, and cannot succeed.
I am full of business. I am building a barrack for gendarmerie
at Lanouaille; I am building at Excideuil, where I have my hay
and my harvest. So you must excuse my delay. I have fifty
people to answer.
Adieu, my dear friend; I think it will not be long before we
meet; and yet I should be glad if it was not till October.
Love to Pascal.
B.
We find about the same time a letter from
Madame Sermensan (Hélène de la Piconnerie), the
Marshal's sister, which deserves to be quoted.
MADAME SERMENSAN TO GENERAL BUGEAUD.
Hanguiran, 22 April, 1832.
MY DEAR BROTHER,-I have just received a letter from
M. Reculet, and one from Chéry-Colomb, expressly to tell me of
their pleasure and admiration at your letter to the Minister-at-War,
refusing a command at Paris, that they read in the Memorial of
Bordeaux. It certainly gave me great delight; and once more did
I feel proud that the same blood flows in our veins.
I went back to the year 1816, when M. de Montureux wrote,
'He is a dangerous man, who must be watched, for he is the
rallying point of all the half-pay officers.' At the same time
M. Lainé wrote to the Duke de Feltre to know in what class you
were placed in the famous categories; the office reply came, 'He
is in the 14th class;' and the minister added below with his own
hand, 'That is to say the worst.'
How grieved I was at that letter; how it told me in large print,
Do not deceive yourself any more: your brother will never get
employment under such a government.
And this very dangerous man only wished, as he does now, to
encourage every one: for instance, he preached obedience to the law; he
occupied himself with agriculture, main roads, and anything to
the public advantage. He was a zealous maire, respected by every
one, &c., &c.; and yet the Government thought him unworthy to
resume his rank in the army. Oh, shame! but other times, other
manners.
One thing alone, my dear, gives me real pain, to see that you are
REVOLUTION OF JULY.
125

undecided about returning to the Chamber next year. I understand
the dog-life that you lead, I understand all the discomforts of your
position, especially separated from those you love; but it is worthy
of you to persevere in supporting the Government; and the ministers
are to be admired for their bravery, and bearing the attacks of all
these desperadoes with so much dignity-Mauguin, Salverte, and
the rest. I read the papers twice as carefully since you have been
in the Chamber. There are days when I am raging at their bad
faith, others when I pity them; the discussion is so stormy upon the
head of subjects that it will be difficult for them to find a suitable
substitute; and I cannot understand how, after M. Montalivet's
explanation, they could continue to make such a disturbance. It is
evident they are choking with rage, and are in search of a subject to
vent all their bile upon.
***
The wretches! I despise them too much to hate them
but I cannot believe that such an opposition is a necessity for a
representative government. By the rule of contraries, my admira.
tion for the ministers is doubled, especially for M. Casimir Périer.
A national reward has been voted to M. de Richelieu. I do not
cast any doubts upon his deserts, but according to my notions he is
nothing to compare with the president of the ministers. His courage
and devotion are much above those of heroes who win battles.
They peril their lives, it is true; but if they meet an honourable
death their memory will live with honour in history, while
M. Casimir Périer every day sacrifices his life, steeped in
bitterness, his rest, his reputation-indeed his happiness. And
perhaps this complete devotion, which is the saving of France,
will meet with nothing but ingratitude. Happily, men of his
temperament must find their sweetest reward in their own heart.
After all I see, my dear, I have no more ambition for you.
Thoroughly perform your work as deputy, and quietly return to hold
your plough, amid your family and all your cares; there is no real
happiness but that and an honest competence. It was said of old
time, As happy as a king: the phrase might be inverted now.
I thank you a thousand times for all your kind speeches to me,
and generous offers. I never expect to be in want of the needful, for
my expenses are too well regulated. .
My young couple are admirable in orderliness and economy, and
their love seems stronger every day. Azia is indeed very remarkable
for her precocious judgment.
It is too charming to be successful when one arranges the
marriage of a son of twenty-three. I have good news from Excideuil
and Puissegeney. Good Eliza has sent us a capital truffled turkey,

126
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
we had a party of the neighbours to eat it; and we drank the
health of that worthy and excellent woman, and of General Bugeaud,
the good and loyal deputy.
Phillis tells me that your little daughters are getting very pretty;
all the better, for I am like the men, I do not care for ugly ones.
Adieu, my good brother, I love you as you deserve.
HÉLÈNE SERMENSAN.*
P.S.-I will write to Pascal immediately. Meanwhile, kind.
love to M. Gardère, and all the Clonards.
* Colonel Louis Sermensan, now commanding the 50th regiment, is grandson to
two sisters of Marshal Bugeaud. Hélène de la Piconnerie married Sermensan, and
Phillis de la Piconuerie married M. Lignac de Puyssegenez. Thus his father,
M. Sermensan, married his cousin, Mdlle. Puyssegenez. As legatee of his maternal
grandmother, Phillis, Colonel Sermensan had in his possession most of the letters
and documents relating to his great uncle the Marshal. They then came into the
hands of the Marshal's daughters. The name Puyssegeney, the name of a fief, is
spelt in various ways. Thomas Bugeaud himself wrote just as often Puyssegenez,
Puissegenez, Puyssegenetz.
CHAPTER XIII.
The Duchess de BERRY (1832).
Survey of the Political Situation in France at the Commencement of the Reign of
Louis-Philippe-Letters of Thiers, the Minister of the Interior, to General
Bugeaud-Arrest of the Duchess de Berry-Instructions to the Governor of
Blaye - General Bugeaud appointed to succeed him-The Comtesse Feray's
Recollections-Impressions produced on the Duchess-M. de Saint-Arnaud —
Unjust Attacks upon Bugeaud.
We have now reached one of the most important
and interesting periods in the life of Marshal Bugeaud.
It is about half-a-century since the events now to be
described took place. We think the time has come
for telling the whole truth. The passions and political
hatreds that ensued upon the revolution of 1830 are
now at rest; and we hope we may be permitted to
touch upon the earlier years of the reign of Louis-
Philippe, without ruffling the calm course of history.
Besides, our work is not polemical, and we cannot be
accused of forming a partial opinion on the facts.
We will confine ourselves to bringing to light the
incidents that personally concerned our hero, and
properly defining the portion of responsibility that
rests upon him in an event of great political import-
ance, which was very variously considered in the strife
of parties.
From the commencement of his reign, Louis-
Philippe found himself encountering very great diffi-
culties. However, in these critical times, he had the
rare good fortune to meet with a great minister, a
man of both rule and liberty, whose energy, political
128
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
good sense, and patriotism, were a powerful assistance
in establishing his throne upon a firm foundation.
Indeed, this throne had been speedily shaken by
different enemies all equally determined; on
the one hand, the republicans, whose hopes of
anarchy the prince had frustrated; on the other
the partisans of the old régime, who could never
forgive the nephew of King Charles X. for not having
refused the crown offered by the representatives of
the nation. At the very moment when Casimir
Périer was dying, 16th May, 1832, having put down
the rising in Paris and Lyons after a terrible
struggle, the Legitimists were stirring up the western
provinces, and the Duchess de Berry, landing in
France, lost no time in proclaiming a capture by force
of arms in La Vendée. It was then that the Moniteur
of the 11th October, 1832, announced the Duke de
Broglie Minister for Foreign Affairs, for the Home
Office M. Thiers, and M. Guizot for Public In-
struction. Marshal Soult kept the War Office and
Presidency of the Council.
In the voluminous collection of the Marshal's
official and private correspondence, most kindly
placed at our disposal by one of his grandsons,
M. Robert Gasson-Bugeaud d'Isly, we have found a
large number of letters from M. Thiers. We give
two, dated the 12th and 28th October, 1832,
addressed by the new minister of the interior to his
colleague, General Bugeaud, the deputy of Excideuil ;
they show the young deputy for Aix,-M. Thiers
was then thirty-five years of age-minister for the
first time, asking the General to encourage him, and
to request men of spirit to support his calumniated
youth, assailed by the blasts of envy.'

THE DUCHESS DE BERRY.
129
MONSIEUR THIERS, MINISTER of the INTERIOR, TO GENERAL
BUGEAUD.
Paris, October 12, 1832.
MY DEAR GENERAL,-You are the first person to whom I write
after the martyrdom thrust upon me, that is made to pass for pro-
motion. The King had thought not of me, nor of M. Guizot, but
of M. Dupin alone. M. Dupin desired to be absolute chief, to make
and unmake at will, and especially to make an alliance with the Left,
under pretence of compounding with its most moderate leaders. At
any other time such a plan might have had its advantages, but at a
moment when we have need to prove to Europe that the vessel has
not lost its anchors, the notion of such a proceeding was senseless.
Three times was M. Dupin addressed, at my urgent desire; three
times did he obstinately refuse. Then the King applied to us. I
did not ask for what are called the doctrinaires, and they, more dis-
interested than any others, did not ask for power. But strength was
needed, and where was it to be got when Dupin refused? We went
in, despairing in our hearts, for the burden is immense.
But, in all
conscience, where can men be found more capable, more honourable,
more worthy of freedom, than MM. De Broglie, Guizot, and
Humann? Must there not be an infamous genius of calumny to
find anything to say against such men ?
Support us, I beg of you; give me courage, in my great need of
brave men, to support my calumniated youth, assailed by the blasts of
envy. I shall be very thankful if you will write to me. I am pain-
fully impressed by the newspapers, and am perhaps writing to you
too strongly.
Adieu, my dear General, I embrace you, and wish you better
health. The Chambers are summoned to meet on the 19th.
Adieu,
(Signed) A. THIERS.
M. THIERS, Minister of the INTERIOR, TO GENERAL BUGEAud.
Paris, 28th October, 1832.
MY DEAR GENERAL,-A man cannot display more patriotism or
judgment than you do. I think exactly as you, and consider your
articles in the Journal of the Dordogne to be very good indeed.
We have decided upon using the language that you wish, to the
Powers, and we have done so. I hope that we shall have Antwerp.
As for La Vendée, I should like to have hold of the Duchess; I have
neither hope nor wish to destroy the bands in a month. Jacque-

VOL. I.
K
130
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
minot has shown some anger, but he is quieted. There is no question
of his resignation. We are expecting positive answers from London
on the Belgian question. We are determined to get in. This is,
between ourselves, a State secret. Adieu, my dear General. I shall
be ready to retire when the good of the country requires it. I hope
you will soon be well.
(Signed) A. THIERS.
On the 7th of November, the Duchess de Berry
was taken at Nantes. It is no business of ours to
excuse or judge the means adopted for her arrest by
the zealous and ardent Minister of the Interior. The
following letter, written by him at the moment it took
place, fully expresses the general excitement at that
time :
M. THIERS, MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR, TO GENERAL BUGEAUD.
Paris, Tuesday, 13th November, 1832.
MY DEAR GENERAL, -I beg your pardon for not having
answered your letter. I am so wearied, so tormented, with cares
that I hardly have time to think of the most urgent business. You
are indispensable to us, my dear colleague. We cannot do without
you in any way. I have captured the Duchess de Berry, and yet I
have encountered nothing yet but folly and abuse. Now, people wish
that we had dragged her from one tribunal to another, and given rise
to an odious scandal; they would like to get us into a scrape, instead
of our confining ourselves to a simple precaution for safety. I have
never seen so much injustice and bad faith. Qur project is to propose
to the Chambers to detain her as long as is necessary to the safety of
the State. Come, my dear General, come and help us with your
advice, and your valuable vote. Adieu. All our friends must be
present, or we shall be lost. I embrace you, and pray that God may
send you better health. Adieu.
(Signed) A. THIERS.
We think it interesting to quote here a letter of
General Bugeaud's, addressed to M. Mourgues, Prefect
of the Department of the Dordogne. When speaking
THE DUCHESS DE BERRY.
131
of the Duchess de Berry, the General was far from
prophesying that a few days later he would be
charged with the delicate mission of being Governor
of Blaye.
General BUGEAUD TO Monsieur Mourgues, PREFECT OF
LA DORDOGne.
Paris, 4th January, 1833.
We shall have quite a theatrical sitting to-morrow at the pre-
sentation of five-and-twenty or thirty petitions for the Duchess de
Berry; after that we shall pass to the order of the day, and draw a
terrible thorn out of the Minister's foot.
The order of the day will be very significant; it will mean that
things are to remain in statu quo. At any rate, the way is likely
to be cleared by discussion.
Thus, it appears, the Duchess de Berry will not be tried, and
she will only be detained until circumstances permit of her being
set at liberty, on condition that she never returns.
I am well aware that the Carlists are lifting the mask, supposing
that they have had a mask, for I think they have never hidden them-
selves. This must be attributed, not to their bravery, but to the
gentleness of the Government and the laws. They are not physically
dangerous, and you may rest assured that, far from becoming worse,
the situation is improving every day. There are no more risings to
fear; Europe respects and fears us; trade and work are prospering;
everything promises us more prosperous days; there will still be some
small troubles, but we shall easily conquer them.

Though General Bugeaud's mission commenced
three months after the arrest of the Duchess de Berry,
as he was only appointed Governor of the town and
castle of Blaye on 17th of January, 1833, it is in-
teresting to study the first instructions of M. Thiers
to Colonel Chousserie, the predecessor of General
Bugeaud in the post of Commander-in-Chief of
the citadel of Blaye. These documents were made
over to the new Governor when he relieved Colonel
Chousserie.
132
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
M. THIERS, MINIster of the INTERIOR, TO COLONEL CHOUSSERIE,
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AT BLAYE, GIRONDE.
Paris, 18th November, 1832.
COLONEL,-After a long journey you reached Blaye, where you
found the notification of the high command entrusted to you, and the
first instructions of the War Minister.
Before giving the final instructions in the portion that concerns
me, I require to know your private observations, and therefore will
confine myself to facts.
It was first necessary to provide for the most pressing needs, and
that is what the Prefect of the Gironde has done according to my
recommendations. He is, as you must know, furnished with a letter
of credit from the Receiver-General upon the special receiver of Blaye.
This letter, on his personal responsibility, has been delivered to the
Sub-Prefect of the arrondissement of Blaye, who will hold the neces-
sary funds at your disposal, in proportion to the requirements.
The great vigilance you are required to exercise and to direct is
necessarily divided into three portions: the interior, the exterior of
the castle, and the coast.
For the first, two civil commissioners will be appointed; a com-
missary of police will have charge of the second; and with regard to
the third I enclose a copy of the instructions sent by the Minister of
Marine.
Interior supervision of the castle.*
It appears there is no reason to expect an attempt to carry off
the Duchess by force, but it is reasonable to suppose that a number
of plans for escape will be made.
Two persons will be placed near her: M. de Mesnard, a devoted
servant, but old, and not likely to intrigue; Mlle. de Kersabiec, not
less devoted, but active, enterprising, accustomed to an adventurous
life; she would necessarily be the intermediary in all undertakings.
* The citadel of Blaye stands on the right bank of the Gironde, and commands
a town of a dull and wretched appearance. Some streets of barracks, a parade,
artillery and engineer stores fill the interior of the citadel. The top is
crowned by an old castle, said in popular story to have been built by Roland, and
that his body was carried thither after the defeat of Roncevalles. Around it is a
terrace only ten or twelve feet wide, on a level with the retaining wall. From the
top of this kind of parapet, sanded for the chief part of its length, and divided at
regular distances by embrasures bridged by planks, the eye commands an immense
horizon. On the west the river, clothed in this place with the melancholy majesty
of the sea; to the north, east, and south hills covered with vines, country-houses,
mills, and factories. The citadel is a cold place to live in. The winds are
dangerous there, and consumptive persons soon die.-Louis Blanc, Histoire de
Dix Ans.
THE DUCHESS DE BERRY.
133
Some waiting-women will probably be claimed by the Duchess.
The first selection made will not be unimportant. It will not be
sufficient only to be assured of their character. Who are their
friends? What family do they belong to? Whether the condition
imposed upon them, of keeping up no communication with the out-
side, might be illusory? It will be important to ascertain all this.
Books, clothes, instruments, &c., will be procured at Bordeaux.
Daily communications will be kept up with that city, where the
Legitimist party have always counted numerous adherents. These
books and clothes must be carefully examined; and information
obtained as to the tradesmen who supply them. There must be none
appointed. By procuring the goods first from one shop, then another,
not letting their destination be known, attempts at communication
and the establishment of a connexion with the castle will be evaded.
Letters can only be received or sent open. The wrappers of
newspapers must be taken off. The commissioner of police ought to
have chemical means in his possession to bring out sympathetic ink if
necessary.
These precautions are to be as much as possible unseen, but they
are indispensable. Watchfulness at every moment, and of every-
thing, is quite compatible with great respect, delicacy, and com-
plaisance. The object of this perpetual supervision is to leave the
Duchess no chance of escape.
I leave to you, Colonel, the charge of preparing a special regula-
tion, and articles relating to the proper establishment of the identity
of persons, in the indispensable communications, the office of con-
fessor, the service of health, &c., &c. All those attached to the
personal service of the Duchess must be informed that, once entered,
they cannot leave.
It will be through you that the Duchess will receive the news-
papers, which you will yourself procure; no subscription will be taken
in her name.
That which it is above all things necessary to avoid is the possi-
bility of the establishment of any direct communication, or any
method of concert. Your duties and those of the civil commissioner
must in no case be illusory. It is necessary that in everything and
everywhere, throughout the castle, the command of which is confided
to you, your presence and your action should be manifest. It is the
Duchess of Berry that is confined in the castle.
Receive, &c.,
(Signed) A. THIERS.
M. Thiers omitted no detail or precaution in his
134
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
solicitude for the great interests placed in his charge.
There is in existence a confidential letter that he wrote
himself to the special police commissioner employed to
guard the illustrious prisoner.
Colonel Chousserie was justly jealous of his autho-
rity, and was annoyed at M. Joly being placed by M.
Thiers at Blaye as special police commissioner, with a
kind of commission to supervise the guard and the
actions of the Commander-in-Chief. The Govern-
ment very soon afterwards put an end to these disputes
by nominating to the command of the fortress a maré-
chal de camp, the name then used for general of
brigade, instead of a colonel.
Zealous though he was, M. Thiers could not retain
the Home Minister's portfolio. On the 1st of January,
1833, he was succeeded by the Count d'Argout, for-
merly auditor of the Council-of-State under Napoleon
I., Prefect, Councillor-of-State, and peer of France,
under King Louis XVIII. M. d'Argout, a diligent
man, conciliatory, and rather sceptical, undertook this
ticklish duty without much enthusiasm ; but his
political programme being accepted, he proceeded to
work without hesitation.
We find in a curious book, Les Salons d'Autrefois,
by the Comtesse de Bassanville, the following passage:
'One of those who most often and most readily
opposed Mme. de Girardin was Marshal Bugeaud, at
whom the Legitimists of the Hôtel d'Osmond always
cast an evil eye, as they accused him of having solicited
the infamous honour of being the gaoler of the Duchess.
de Berry at Blaye. This accusation was an infamous
calumny. This is completely proved by the perfectly
authentic letter that I have been allowed to copy, and
"the history of his character leaves no doubt upon this

THE DUCHESS DE BERRY.
135
unfortunate affair, now long past, yet which might
inflict a stain upon the memory of the honourable
man who did nothing but obey, like a soldier, an
order that he was sorry to receive. This is the
letter:
Blaye, 13th January, 1833.
It was with great pleasure, my dear F., that I heard of your
appointment. I was uncomfortable every day when I thought of
you thus left out.
But I thought the more highly of you for bear-
ing this without a murmur, or attacking the Government, as do so
many persons who have been unable to obtain employments to which
they had no right.
Your title was patent, and you made no complaint, because you
knew that governments cannot always do what is right, nor do it at
once; that in every case the King and the Government ought not to
be blamed for these little denials of justice that will take place under
all governments, because they are composed of men, and men are not
gods.
You did not expect, any more than I did, to see me sent to
Blaye. This is how it occurred.
On the 30th (Dec.) I was at a court ball. M. Argout came to
me, and said, 'I have always thought, General, that you were very
much devoted to the monarchy and government of July. Would
you accept a mission of confidence and devotion?' and he looked at
me in a peculiar way as he said this.
'When I devote myself to a cause it is not by halves,' answered
I;' so I will accept it, and do anything that is not against honour :
the more dangerous and difficult the task, the more I shall be
flattered.'
'I expected this, and am going with your answer to the King,'
said M. Argout, going away.
Was
Thereupon my mind set to work to guess what it meant.
it assistance to Don Pedro? or a mission to Turkey? anything
but Greece. I ended by trusting to chance without further thought,
and stayed at the ball till five in the morning.
On my return to my lodgings I found the order to start for
Blaye. I went to MM. Argout and Soult to receive my instructions.
The King sent for me, thanked me for accepting, and immediately
gave me his instructions.
I assure you I should have preferred taking 6000 men to Don
Pedro or the grand Turk. This gaoler's business suits my character.
136
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
and mind very little; but I must obey, for we soldiers must not act as
suits us, but march when we get the order. Besides, is it not only by
this entire devotion of men of spirit that France can be made inde-
pendent of factions and the factious?
Adieu, my dear F. Amuse yourself; good luck to you, and
think sometimes of the poor prisoner, your affectionate
BUGEAUD.
Madame de Bassanville adds, 'I have chosen to
quote this letter entire as it belongs to history, and
no pains are too great to be taken in order to wipe off
the dust that might sully so fair a life as that of the
Marshal, whose memory is adored by the soldier.
He was at the time very much distressed by public
opinion turning against him, and conceived an im-
placable hatred to the journalists and journals whose
articles were rending him so pitilessly.'
These are the instructions addressed by M. Argout
to General Bugeaud on his departure.
THE COUNT D'ARGOUT, MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR, TO GENERAL
BUGEAUD.
Paris, 1st January, 1833, 3 p.m.
MY DEAR GENERAL,-These are your instructions, and letters
for the prefect, sub-prefect, Colonel Chousserie, M. Dufresne, and M.
Joly. I add all the copies that I could get made this morning of
the instructions given by me or my predecessor to Colonel Chousserie.
His duty is to leave you all those he has received; but in any case
I am not sorry to give them to you myself. I add the copies of
instructions sent to M. Joly, that you may know everything.
The Marshal will forward you your appointment and instructions
before four o'clock. I have ordered post-horses for that time. I
should not be sorry if you could start before the mail; make your
carriage precede it, so as to go faster. I think you should not stop
at Bordeaux, as that would make you lose time, but go direct to
Blaye, and forward thence the letter intended for the councillor of
the prefecture with a few lines of apology and compliment. No
doubt these precautions are in excess, but it is better to sin by excess
than default. In your communications with Colonel Chousserie be
THE DUCHESS DE BERRY.
137
good enough to explain to him that this measure is not a disgrace,
but a matter of convenience and the good of the service, as he per-
ceived himself when he suggested to the Government that a com-
mand of such importance should only be entrusted to a maréchal de
camp.
Adieu, my dear General, I again repeat how glad I am to see a
post, in which careful watch and judgment so much affect the
greatest interests of the State, entrusted to such loyal hands, so
dexterous and so devoted. I beg of you to have a perfect confidence
in my zeal to second you in everything, and to assist you in this
difficult task. Believe also, my dear General, in the sincerity of my
most cordial attachment. Write to me very often, and with the
most minute particulars.
CTE. D'ARGout.
I have taken a note of M. Desvignes and the interest you are
good enough to take in him.
We believe that of all the eye-witnesses of the
captivity at Blaye two persons alone are now alive-
the two daughters of General Bugeaud. One of them,
the youngest, the Countess Feray d'Isly, has been
good enough to forward us her recollections of this
time. We take the liberty of giving these freely
written private notes without alteration, full of the
freshness of childhood, always redolent of simplicity
and truth.
My father waited upon the Duchess de Berry the day after his
arrival at Blaye, and she soon saw that her position would be
improved. She was able to appreciate his open and thoroughly
honest character. There was an end of the excessive watchfulness
she had suffered under. She received whom she liked. The persons
whom she would not receive blamed the Government ! Very
soon after his appointment the relations of my father with the
Duchess de Berry became very cordial.
As soon as we arrived, without waiting for my mother to request
the honour of being presented, the Duchess sent to ask her to come
and see her, and bring her children. My sister and I were both
dressed fine-frock of light green bombazine, a hat of the same light
green, with a colossal rose-coloured bow. I give these particulars
to show you how perfect is my recollection. All the evening before.
138
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
I had been receiving sermons from my mother as to how beautifully
I was to behave, and Lieutenant Saint Arnaud made me rehearse
my curtseys. We started with my father at the time her Highness
had appointed, and she very graciously came to meet my mother in
her parlour. The Duchess had risen to salute my mother from a
very large arm-chair, with great down cushions; no doubt I was
fascinated with the comfortable look of this chair. I at once forgot
all the sermons and the curtseys, and I jumped into the chair and
disappeared in the soft down. Nothing was to be seen of me but
the red bow of my hat. The Duchess burst out laughing, as much
at my mother's confusion as at my uncivilised proceeding; she
would not allow me to be disturbed, and took another chair. Hap-
pily my sister had behaved like a well-brought-up young lady, but
when she saw me in full possession of my pleasant retreat, she took
courage and came and shared it with me.
After this visit, every time that we both were in the Duchess's
room she gave us the down chair, by turns. The Duchess was very
pleasant with my mother; when we left her room, my father went last,
and she called to him, General, send me your children
;
very often
I like your little savage, it is nature.' My sister went every day to
take lessons at a school. She only visited the Duchess on Saturday
and Sunday, and always took her a nosegay. Her Highness petted
us a good deal, always gave us something nice to eat, and liked to
see us running about in the garden. Not so much engaged as my
sister, I saw her almost every day. Sometimes she would look
steadily at me, take me on her lap, and give me a kiss. Nini,'
said she, ´ you remind me of my boy; he is fair like you. Lots of
people ask me for some of his hair; I will send them some of yours:
it is just like his.' And the Duchess used to cut off long curls of my
hair. My mother was very sparing of her visits, and the Duchess
was good enough to reproach her for it.
My father often went with M. de Saint Arnaud,* and spent some
hours with her Highness. The conversation was always interesting,
and very often exceedingly animated and cheerful. The Duchess
laughed very freely at stories the gentlemen told her. At other times
my father made plans with her in the expectation that she would
remain in France. He told her, 'Your Highness has been a good
general of an army, and would make a very good farmer. I will
come, madam, and bring my experience to help you.' Sometimes

* Marshal St. Arnaud's curious correspondence, published after his death, con-
tains some valuable information about the captivity of the Duchess de Berry, given
below.
THE DUCHESS DE BERRY.
139
the Duchess would tell him stories of her campaign in La Vendée.
The letters, published in the work of M. Henri Lecharpentier, show
that my recollections are very faithful. These conversations, though
I did not attend to them, have come back to my mind since I knew
how to understand them.
The rooms her Highness occupied were furnished with all the
luxury she was used to. She had her household, her gentlemen of
honour, and ladies of honour, and all the attendants her Highness
could desire. She seldom went outside the garden, often invited my
father and his staff to dinner, very seldom the persons who came
from Paris or anywhere else. She did not always like to receive
these visits, and was always perfectly free in that respect.
The Duchess had a dog named Bevis, and three parrots; a
person was entirely occupied in taking care of these creatures. The
house my father lived in was not very far from the royal habita-
tion. Though less elegant, there was plenty of room in it; his
sisters, my aunts De Puyssegenetz and Sermensan, came to us. The
officers and the numerous visits of my father's friends made the
private life of the family very gay. M. de Saint Arnaud was a
lieutenant in an infantry regiment in garrison at Blaye. My father
soon found him out to be the charming, clever, and devoted man
that he was, and placed him on his staff. From that moment they
never ceased to be on the most intimate terms. M. de Saint Arnaud
contrived the diversions. He arranged evening parties for reading
or singing, and nobody was better than he was at finding out games,
tricks with cards, and amusements of every sort. On the grand
days when plays were acted by the officers, an exhibition of marion-
nettes for the children was given. The Duchess asked for an account
of the entertainment, and desired a second representation at her house.
In this way M. de Saint Arnaud tried in the evening to distract the
minds of my dear parents from the troubles that crowded upon them,
by his cheerfulness, energy, and these amusements.
have only spoken of the good side of the situation. How often
has my mother talked of the reverse of the medal! Her sojourn at
Blaye would have been the happiest time of her life but for her
suffering at heart from the abominable calumnies directed against my
father. Not an insult was spared him! How patiently he bore the
injustice! He tried to console my mother, and restrain the anger of
M. de Saint Arnaud and my aunts. 'Justice will be done me
later,' said he; 'the King will defend me, and it will be known that I
have done my duty like a gentleman.' Poor father! what a
mistake! The ministers let the talk go on; it was more convenient
than undertaking the defence of the man of duty. The calumny


140
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
still goes on. Only a few months ago did I hear all these infamous
tales repeated by a person who was very near the King, or at least
the Government of that time.
Some even dared to attack my mother. I was not spared,
though only seven years old. My sister, being studious and working
successfully, was respected. I was determined not to learn to read;
my mother did not know how to rouse my emulation. M. de Saint
Arnaud wanted to give me lessons that only turned into play. One
morning came a paper with more horrible calumnies than usual.
The title was, 'Mlle. Nini's Reading Lesson.' In this imaginary
lesson of the journalists my mother was making me spell a
word, and I was answering by some coarse abuse of my father.
These unconscionable men were not ashamed to put such horrors
into a child's mouth; the article was long and wound up with this
flattering reflection, The gaoler of Blaye's little daughter promises
to be very clever.' All present were very indignant. My mother
had an idea; she called me and read me the article; the lesson was
valuable. In a few months I had learned to read.
-a
The Duchess received some strange presents, sometimes very
pretty things, a quilt of white satin, with her arms embroidered on
it, dresses, a dressing-glass; other times more serious missives
great woollen wrapper, with a bit of paper pinned to it and written,
'To warm Madame's chilled limbs.' I once saw the arrival of a
pair of shoes, real wagoner's shoes, with great nails in the sole, and
marked on a paper, 'To save her Highness from the damp floor of
her dungeon;' and many more attentions of the same kind.
You know the history of her Highness's marriage which was dis-
closed by herself; so it is needless to repeat it. I can now perfectly re-
member the excitement caused by the birth of the little princess, Marie
Caroline, born at four in the morning! A few days after the event
the Duchess sent to beg my mother to come and bring us to see the
little princess.
Her Highness was lying in a mass of lace and blue satin. At
the side of her bed was a cradle, also blue, in which slept the little
girl, and we went to see her, timidly walking on tip-toe. Her
Highness told us to kiss her; the baby was waked, no doubt, by
these too eager kisses, and began to cry like an ordinary mortal.
The nurse was not in the room; the lady of honour, Mme. de
Hautefort, sat upright in her chair, probably restrained by court.
etiquette. The child kept on crying. Though my mother was so
timid, she could not long resist that little voice. She rose, took the
little princess in her arms, and gently soothed her. I think I can
still see the Duchess de Berry's look of thanks to my mother. I very
soon resumed my habits with my dear Duchess; only Bevis and the
THE DUCHESS DE BERRY.
141
parrots got no more of my favours-all my love was for the sweet
little princess. I was at the height of happiness when her Highness
made me sit down in her great chair, and allowed me to hold her
little girl for a few minutes, and nurse her in my arms. Poor
infant her course upon earth was very short. I was really sorry
when she died.
(
The day before the Duchess left Blaye for Palermo she received
some shrubs with the usual paper, 'To shade Madame's prison.'
They are delightful,' cried the Duchess; to imagine that I should
stay here till these lilacs could give me shade! Here, my children,
I give them to you: plant them in your garden at Excideuil.'
These lilacs, violet, of a kind then very rare, lived a very long time
they were known by the name of the Duchess's lilacs; the white
ones could not bear the cold.
Next day, a very hot one, we were on the quay to see the
Duchess's departure; her Highness saw my mother standing a little
way off, and gave her a most affectionate farewell,* kissed us, and
let us embrace the little princess.
The crowd was great; persons of all parties were mingled upon
the quay, hoping for some accident that might prove to this mass of
witnesses that the infant was not the princess's, and that the infamous
governor had provided a supposititious child. Just as she was going
down into the boat the Duchess turned, and looked anxiously for the
nurse, who was separated from her by some persons. Just then a
ray of the sun was shining on the child's face; the Duchess stepped
forward hastily, and gave her parasol to shelter her child. There
was a murmur in the crowd-no longer any room for doubt.
This scene is very clear in my recollection, though I did not
understand the meaning of it; M. Veuillot has described it in one of
his books.
During the voyage from Blaye to Palermo her Highness, at the
instigation of the captain of the vessel who chose to act the zealot,
for a moment forgot that she had found a devoted and safe friend
instead of a governor, and spoke very harshly to my father. I do not
know the circumstances well enough to give an account of it. How-
ever, as she was very kind, she very soon resumed her former
feelings, and expressed to my father her regret for this capricious
freak in very warm terms.
This episode was related by the captain according to his fancy,
and several journalists commented upon it most malignantly to my
* Reaching the Porte Dauphine, Marie-Caroline, seeing the governor's two
daughters and their mother, bent to embrace them, then turning to Madame
Bugeaud, whom she knew to be endowed with a fine character and a merciful soul,
she said, 'I hope you will soon see your husband return quite well.'
142
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
father. Some letters written by the Duchess to my father after his
return to Excideuil prove what I have stated. Alas! the wicked
cannot be prevented from talking. The truth is known to intelli-
gent Legitimists. Justice has been done to my father's character.
Since I have known the history of that time I think that the real
friends of her Highness the Duchess de Berry, and the king her son,
might have shown their devotion to the august prisoner by more tact.
and silence.
CHAPTER XIV.
DUCHESS DE BERRY (1832).
Summary of the Political Situation-The Duchess de Berry and the Legitimist
Party in France in 1833—Journal of the citadel of Blaye - Bugeaud's letters to
the Minister-The Duchess informs him of her condition, and tells him of her
Private Marriage-Refuses to Publish it-The General advises her being set at
Liberty-His Letter on the Disturbances in Paris and Street Fighting.
AT the distance of half-a-century may not an im-
partial and unexcited historian go back to the past
and bring to light every document emanating from
the actors in a great political drama? Among the
documents laid before us, we know none more inter-
esting than the Journal of the Citadel of Blaye. This
precious manuscript is written by the very hand
of General Bugeaud, of Madame Bugeaud, and the
General's aide-de-camp, Captain de Saint Arnaud.
It is a simple paper book, decorated with the stamp
of the citadel of Blaye. The Governor, a man of
method, committed to it the chief events of the day,
copied the despatches he received and those he sent
to Paris, both to Count d'Argout, the Minister of the
Interior; and to Marshal Soult, President of the
Council, War-Minister. There are also notes written
by the ministers, generally by their own hand.
To understand what was going on we must trans-
port ourselves in the first place to the year 1832.
Louis-Philippe, sovereign in fact and by national
right-this is indisputable,—found himself placed in
a most critical and most perplexing situation imme-
}
144
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
diately after the arrest of his niece, the Duchess de
Berry.
Without wishing to detract in any way from
the high qualities of heart and mind, the nobility and
energy,
of the heroic princess, it is impossible to deny
that at this moment her Royal Highness had raised
the standard of Civil War in France. As a State
prisoner she would certainly have been immediately
set at liberty, if the opposition press-the Republican
papers-had not as soon as she was captured pub-
lished that the young princess was in a condition that
her widowhood rendered disgraceful, as there was no
knowledge of a previous secret marriage.
The Carlist party, as were called the partisans of
the elder branch, did not hesitate a moment to give
denial to the alleged condition of the princess. Thus
King Louis-Philippe's Government found themselves
driven to a painful and terrible alternative. To get
out of the difficulty and rebut the calumny, they
must choose between two alternatives. To set the
Duchess at liberty immediately was to declare them-
selves guilty in the eyes of the Legitimists of an
infamous lie; and to assume the odious responsibility
of having been desirous of dishonouring a noble prin-
cess of royal blood, the King's own niece, in order to
overcome a dynastic opposition. To keep the Duchess
in captivity, so as to establish the fact of her con-
dition, the secret marriage and the birth of the
royal infant, was without doubt a sad and painful
necessity; but reasons of State, and responsibility for
order, imperiously prescribed these last measures.
This was the determination of Louis Philippe's
Government.

-
Would any other sovereign have acted differently
DUCHESS DE BERRY.
145
in similar circumstances, just when the fires of civil
war were scarce extinct, in presence of the enthusiasm
of the revolutionary party, before Europe threatening
or ill-disposed?
The Journal of Blaye commences 3rd of February,
1833, with a report to Marshal
Council and Minister of War.
report we find:-
Soult, President of
After preliminary
Colonel Chousserie wrote to the Duchess to inquire if she would
receive me. She sent him the following answer :—
Colonel, I have received your information with great vexation.
It is a fresh annoyance from the Government. I have already told
you, sir, that I would do anything in my power to impede them.
Thus I will not receive General Bugeaud, nor the persons whom he
probably brings with him. If necessary, I will shut myself up
entirely in my own rooms.
But the Ministers will have to answer to
Europe for what a daughter of Henri IV. and of Maria Theresa* has
had to suffer. She will know how to die in fetters rather than yield
to tyranny. This is my determination. I hope I shall see you, sir;
be sure I shall never forget your kindness to me.'
I caused a short answer to be sent her that no tyranny was involved
in the change of Governor, far from it; that the King had himself
enjoined upon me to treat her with the utmost respect and attention,
that she might be convinced by the actual words he had desired me
to report to her, and that if any harshness had been contemplated in
my mission I should not have accepted it. My position as a French
officer, and a selected representative of the country, is a warranty.
The following letter from General Bugeaud to his
friend M. Gardère, at Paris, gives some curious
particulars as to General Bugeaud's first interview
with the Duchess de Berry:-
Château de Blaye, 3rd Feb., 1833.
My dear FrieND,—I arrived safe and sound, and immediately
assumed the command, and I already know my men and my post as
* The Duchess was daughter to the King of the two Sicilies, a Bourbon descen-
ded from Louis XIV., and his sister was Marie-Amelie, Queen of Louis-Philippe.
The King's mother Caroline was daughter of Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria. --ED.
VOL. I.
L
146
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
well as my own pocket. I am well lodged, well fed, well warmed,
well lighted both with lamps and candles. When my wife comes, I
shall be very well able to endure my prison.
The Duchess would not see me. She declared it was a fresh
annoyance from the Government, and that she would not bear it.
I did not insist, and as an experiment on the female character, I
simply announced that I had a verbal communication to make from
the King; and I would only present myself when she wished to
hear it.
Remembering that it is good tactics with the fair to sometimes
seem indifferent, I told Mme. d'Hautefort that the manner in which
I had been received when I went to examine the place had taken from
me any wish for admittance; and that, though not a descendant of
Henri IV. and of Maria Theresa, an expression of the lady's, I also
had my pride, which was founded on my personal antecedents.
This ruse seemed to have succeeded. Mme. d'Hautefort came and
told my aide-de-camp that she thought Madame would ask to see
me to-morrow.
(Signed) BUGEAUD.
(The General was compelled by his duty to visit
the Duchess's apartments, though she would not
receive him.)
TO THE MARSHal (Soult).
5th February, 1833.
SIR,—There is nothing fresh to report as to the Duchess. Her
state of health is the same. She walked to-day in the garden with
her companions in captivity. She has expressed no wish to see me,
and I have avoided being in her presence. I only visit her lodging
at night, so as to excite her desire to see me. If she persists in her
refusal, I will see her in a few days as she walks in the garden, to
observe her state of health. In justice to Colonel Chousserie, I
should say that the military arrangements were so well considered,
that I have very few changes to make.
*
*
*
I have the honour, &c.
On February 18th there is a report to the Minister
of a second interview with the Duchess, and on the
same day was written a letter to a friend, M. Mour-
DUCHESS DE BERRY.
147
gues, prefect of La Dordogne, with an interesting
account of the first interview.
*
You know, I think, that I was very ill received by the Duchess
de Berry, who at first refused to admit me on any other terms than as
a gaoler making an inspection. I used language to her that was
approved by the Government, and abstained from seeing her. I
had excited her curiosity by sending her information that I had
been desired by the King to convey his own words to her, and that
when she wished to hear me I would wait upon her.
This method, so powerful with the fair sex, was not successful,
and another had to be tried. Some days afterwards, having
requested an audience of Mme. d'Hautefort, I told her, 'Madame,
I do not insist on being admitted to the presence of the Duchess de
Berry; the manner of my reception prevents me from wishing for
it. Without being descended from Henri IV. and Maria Theresa, I
also have my pride, grounded upon my whole life. However, as I
should not like the Duchess's health to suffer from our want of inter-
course, I make her the offer of sending an officer with her whenever
she wishes to walk out.'
The Duchess answered that she would not be so rude as to walk
out with anyone but myself; that what she had done was not the
least personal; it was a lesson she had chosen to give the Govern-
ment. Then she several times expressed to my aide-de-camp an
intention of seeing me. I allowed myself to be wanted for some days
at last, yesterday I paid her a visit and was very well received.
She was remarkably cheerful. She talked about farming, bees,
poetry, war, and diplomacy. Twice she tried to touch on the
politics of the day, and I turned the conversation. She turned
sharply to Mme. d'Hautefort the first time, and said to her, 'How
cleverly he whips off the hounds!' The second time, He has tact.'
'
We parted the best of friends. Her cheerfulness surprises and
defeats me; her health is excellent.
*
*
من دوم
The following letter is important as giving General
Bugeaud's strong remonstrance against measures which
the Government proposed to carry out in order to put
an end to the state of suspense.
148
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
TO THE MINISTERS OF WAR AND THE INTERIOR.
22nd February, 1833.
GENTLEMEN,-I have received your despatches of the 19th and
the two instructions appended to them. These instructions, like
all that are prepared at a distance from the spot where they are to
be carried into execution, are susceptible of great modification, unless
there is an absolute determination to relinquish every sort of reserve
with the Duchess. Being entirely convinced that such a determina-
tion would not be to the advantage, either of the King or country,
I would request you to entrust the application of extreme measures
to another person. As the prescribed measures are not urgent, I
take the liberty of suspending the performance of them, even in
matters that I consider possible, until I receive your reply to the
following observations and the analysis of your instructions, para-
graph by paragraph, that I forward.

14:
If it is true that the Duchess de Berry is in the supposed.…..
condition (and it is my opinion that she is), it is at the most six
months gone. Therefore there is no necessity for haste in using
your power to impose Doctor Ménière and the nurse upon her.
There is more advantage in temporising, and obtaining by confi-
dence, and a careful watch, the same result that might be expected
from the presence of the two above-named personages. But even
suppose that they were quartered, by authority, within her house,
that would not advance matters. The Duchess, who is of a very
decided character, would withdraw into her room, would not see the
doctor or nurse, and if they came near her, I am convinced that she
would proceed to extremities, she would tear their eyes out. In any
case she would have nervous attacks that might be very dangerous. If
after all these scenes, which could not fail to become known to the
public sooner or later, she did not prove to be in the condition
supposed, or if these vigorous measures should cause an accident,
either by determining a premature confinement, or injuring her
health, it is easy to foresee that great inconvenience would result to
the Government The press of all colours, and honourable men of
all parties, would throw stones at us The hatred to the King in a
certain class would be redoubled in intensity, and he would lose in
the estimation of his friends.
But is the object of sufficient importance to cause the risk to be
run of encountering such things, and could it not be attained by
other means? I do not hesitate to say, No! the object is not great
enough, and there are besides other means of attaining it. These
methods are for the most part adopted, and I propose to establish
them all in succession, but with tact and reserve, for it is the only
way that seems to me to be good, the only one I could adopt.
DUCHESS DE BERRY.
149
In this way of proceeding I do not hesitate to include the perfect
openness you advise towards d'Hautefort.
It was already part
of my plans. I will wait to be better acquainted with her, for I
have only seen her four times as yet. Your despatches and instruc-
tions decide me upon speaking to her this very day, at 9 or 10
o'clock, so as to be able to communicate the result to you. Mean-
while this is the actual state of things.
I have applied to General Janin for a corporal of gendarmerie,
so I have three men of that force, and I put one of them every night
to watch in the apartment immediately below that of the Duchess.
From this point the smallest sound is audible. Another sub-officer
is on guard above, and at the side of the corridor leading to the
apartments there is also an officer. One of them will always be on
the watch near the wicket, whence everything can be seen and heard.
Movements can only be observed until the hour when the persons
detained retire to bed, for then they are isolated by curtains noise-
lessly placed at their door, and similarly removed early in the
morning. M. de Brissac, the Duchess, and Mme. Hansler, can
communicate, for they are in the same set of rooms; M. de
Brissac on the left of the entrance to the parlour, the Duchess on
the right, and Mme. Hansler, by the side of her mistress in a little
room.
rest.
I should be far from wishing to separate M. de Brissac from the
I believe he has so honourable a mind that he would be in-
capable of lending himself to a crime. So his presence seems to me
a security. His letters and his wife's have convinced me that this
couple are very good people. I am good friends with M. de Brissac.
I reckon upon speaking to him also. He has served in our ranks,
he loves soldiers, and he is not ill-disposed.
com-
I expect to gain much assistance by watchfulness. On the
smallest unusual noise the sub-officer under the room will
municate with the officer on guard by means of a sentry posted
before the lower window. I have had iron bars fitted to this ground-
floor. The officer off duty, and the two sub-officers, one of whom
is orderly on watch under that room, are shut up at nine in the
evening. The same sentry will desire the relief porter to call me at
the smallest sound, as well as the military commandant, and the
civil commissioner, whose lodging is near the walls. Doctor Ménière
who is also two paces off, will be warned. The nurse sleeps close to
the tower and can enter at any moment, but not go out freely again.
I see the Duchess every day.
My aide-de-camp, M. de Saint-Arnaud, on one excuse or another,
sees her two or three times. He is clever and observant. The
officer on duty and the sub-officer see her all day. It would be
150
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
very difficult for them to miss seeing any event, or the smallest
derangement of health.
*
*
The respect and esteem displayed towards the Duchess by her
companions, and her own perpetual cheerfulness, which we are
certain of, by observations that we make unknown to her, all
convince me that she is in the condition supposed, there is,.at
the same time, a cloak prepared to save her reputation, that is to say,….
a secret or pretended marriage. Supposing this to be true, there is
no doubt she will declare it when the fatal moment approaches. A
proof that this moment is not near is that she does not desire Mme.
d'Hautefort to sleep in her room, and that her habits are unchanged.
And my conviction is finally confirmed because she takes no pains
to conceal her condition. Twice Mme. d'Hautefort, noticing that I
was making observations, came between her and me.
I detain my despatch until I have seen Mme. d'Hautefort, I
am going to examine the instructions on other sheets.

22nd February, 1833, 3 p.m.
The thrust has been made. Things will go better than I thought,
or dared to hope. I asked for Mme. d'Hautefort, and said, 'Madame,
the moment is come to be perfectly open with you. In good souls
openness arouses reciprocity, and I count upon that. The govern-
ment desires to be released from the existing state of uncertainty, and
desires to make sure that the event that should be the consequence
of the condition supposed, or rather that they almost certainly know
to exist, may not be concealed from them. They give me orders to
take measures that may either be amicably received, or else im-
posed by force. I will not apply this last method, as you shall see
by the first page of my reply. But another man would employ it.
It is for you, madam, to judge if it is more desirable for you
to persuade Madame de Berry to take a noble course.
There are
two, the avowal of her pregnancy, if it is the case, the establishment
of the fact if it be otherwise. In this last case, it ought to be
important enough to Mme. de Berry to put an end to the reports
current among friends and foes throughout France, and to reappear
in all her glory before the eyes of her partisans. If she is in that
condition, perhaps there is a secret marriage, and the same interest
should make her acknowledge it. If there is no marriage, there is the
object of putting a stop to a number of little measures which she
would call vexatious, but which would become the duty of the
government towards the country interested in the authentication of
the event. See, madam, whether you feel strong enough and
attached enough to the Duchess as to open the question. I think
it should be done most frankly; show her the government despatch
in 1
a
DUCHESS DE BERRY.
151
and the two first pages of my reply. She will know what I think.
She will judge whether she ought to keep me near her by an avowal
of her condition, or by having it authenticated, or by bearing amicably
all the measures ordered by the ministers.'
Mme. d'Hautefort listened attentively to my speech, though
her face visibly changed. She answered,
General, I swear upon my honour that Mme. de Berry has
never made any communication as to her condition to me, nor has
she to Mme. Hansler. Like all the world, we have our suspicions,
and can see her visible increase of size. M. de Brissac and I have
talked about it, and to provoke the Duchess's confidence the other
day we said to her, Madam, in your position you should not
look on us as gentleman and lady-in-waiting, but rather as friends
to whom to communicate all your troubles, that they may help you
to bear them. This language was ineffectual, we know nothing.'
Thereupon Mme. d'Hautefort read your despatch and part of
mine, and said, 'Nothing, General, could be more honourable than
your sentiments, your frankness challenges mine, your confidence
challenges mine. I will do everything to keep you near us, but let
us take counsel with M. de Brissac.'
Long silence. I
M. de Brissac spoke like Mme. d'Hautefort. He swore several
times that he knew nothing, but suspected. He was more excited
than Mme. d'Hautefort. After a long silence I spoke again:
'Take courage, a course must be decided on.
Which of you two
will undertake to tell the Duchess everything?'
went on, 'It seems to me more proper for Mme. d'Hautefort.'—
'Yes, indeed,' said M. de Brissac; as for me, I could not do it.'
Mme. d'Hautefort said she would devote herself. Will, madame,' I
answered, 'take the Minister's letter, this sheet of my reply, pages
one and two, and try to remember the reasons I have given why
Madame should take a decided step.'
Mme. d'Hautefort came back a moment after. She was in
such trouble that she had forgotten all the reasons to be urged.
I saw they must be written down, and added this consideration,
that the Duchess de Berry should be induced to give evidence of her
condition by the wish she has to regain her freedom speedily. If
it be ascertained that there is no pregnancy, it is probable that
she will be free, and the disarmament arranged with Europe, and
that without delay.
Mme. d'Hautefort came back in an hour's time looking strangely,
and said to me, 'General, I have told Madame everything. She has
read the Minister's letter and yours. She is much affected by your
behaviour and feelings. She cried a great deal, but confessed
nothing.''Well, madame, what shall we do? What shall I write
AND 3
152
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
to the Government? Must I tell them to send me a successor ?'-
'General, give us a few days, I beg.'—' Madame, I can only give
you till Sunday, at five in the evening. If a course is not decided
on by that time, or I am not permitted to put in force all the
measures ordered by the Minister, I shall request to be relieved.'
General, we will do all we can.'
The expression of Mme. d'Hautefort's face gives me hopes of a
speedy solution.
I suspend the execution of your orders, so necessary to the
country, from love of the King. I have always thought it the duty
of a general, at a distance from his chiefs, to take upon himself to
change or modify his orders, according to the circumstances, and as
far as his power extends. I am confident we shall attain our object
by honourable means. Depend upon my patriotism.
→
Your respectful servant,
BUGEAUD.
5.30 p.m.
P.S.—I have just been summoned to the Duchess. She almost
threw herself into my arms, weeping. She pressed my hand and
confessed that she was secretly married in Italy, that she is pregnant,
and she thinks it her duty to her children, to her friends, to herself,
to acknowledge it. I congratulated her heartily, and asked for a
written declaration. She hesitated a little, but at last consented.
wait for it to add to this second despatch.
I
My heart is lighter by three hundredweight; I am happy the
object is gained. The honour of the King and the country is saved.
Everything is favourable to the throne of July.
Declaration of Marie-Caroline, Duchess de Berry.
Under the pressure of circumstances and the measures ordered
by the Government, though I had most important reasons for
keeping my marriage concealed, I think it my duty to myself as
well as to my children to declare myself to have made a secret
marriage during my residence in Italy.
At the citadel of Blaye, 22nd February, 1833
MARIE-CAROLINE.*
* A recent letter from General Count Trobriand contains a most complete
justification of General Bugeaud's proceedings, as it comes from the Duchess de
Berry herself.
GENERAL TROBRIAND TO MADAME X—————.
New Orleans, 5th April, 1878.
DEAR MADAM,-The incident referred to in your letter of 12th March last is
perfectly correct. My remembrance is very accurate. It was in 1846. I was
DUCHESS DE BERRY.
153
There is also a curious little letter of the General's
to his friend the Prefect.
Blaye, 27th February, 1833.

MY DEAR SIR,-When you receive this letter, the newspapers
will already have informed you of the Duchess de Berry's confession,
and the Carlists will be crushed and indignant. We shall very soon
"be obliged to protect the Duchess de Berry against them, the
heroic prisoner, the new Joan of Arc, Maria Theresa, &c., &c.'
Certain it is that I have become interested in her since she has
been in the depths of misfortune; she calls me son ami, she almost
has cause to do so, and I fully intend to offer her my services for the
future, if perchance she should obtain permission to remain in
France (not very dangerous now). I would persuade her to buy a
property in Périgord, and place at her disposal my agricultural
experience, and all my neighbourly good offices.
I thought that I was very far from a diplomatist. But I have
performed a bit of diplomacy; it is true it has been frank, open,
and bold, the tricks of Metternichs or Talleyrands would perhaps
not have been so successful. Sometimes the simple take one in more
than the cleverest. I have managed to obtain an acknowledgment
that will simplify my duties and those of the Government.
not been without difficulty.

It has
BUGEAUD.
living at Venice, and had the honour to be frequently admitted to the company of
the Duchess de Berry at Vendramin Palace. One evening there were a few of us
together, and mention was made of the captivity at Blaye, and one of the visitors
thought fit to speak harshly of the proceedings generally laid to the credit of General
Bugeaud when he was governor of that fortress.
me.
Then the Princess said, 'I see you share in the general error, but I assure you
that General Bugeaud was not at all as he has been usually represented. In reality
the Marshal is a kind man, who had a difficult task to perform, and did it as best
he could, trying to reconcile his duty as a soldier with the consideration due to
So I had no real ground of complaint against him. He was an honest man,
and we remained friends when we parted.' I was much struck with her words;
she was the last person from whom I should have expected a defence of him
who was governor of Blaye when she was a prisoner there. The account of the
matter completely reversed the generally received ideas, and those that I had
myself conceived on authorities that I thought incontestable.
You will thus understand, dear madam, how the incident impressed itself so
clearly upon my memory, so that, after so many years, I can produce almost exactly
the language that the Duchess de Berry used on the occasion.
(Signed)
R. DE TROBRIAND.
154
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
The General received a letter from M. d'Argout
expressing his great satisfaction.
However, though the Duchess had stated the fact
of her marriage, she refused to divulge the circum-
stances or the name of her husband, though pressed
to do so by the General and her own attendants,
Madame d'Hautefort and M. de Brissac.
Į
6
Madame,' said the General, 'take a friend's
advice, if I may call myself one, and tell us the cir-
cumstances of the marriage.'
'General,' with extreme vivacity, 'do not say
another word to me about it, I will never write any-
thing more. The Government are wretches! They
long for my death! They will have it!
With these words she rushed into her room and
banged the door in his face, a moment afterwards
reappeared and said,-
'My anger is not with the General; I have only to
praise him, but with the Government."
Then she went back again.
The General's letter to the Minister, Marshal Soult,
concludes, 'I continue to think that by the end of
the month her condition will be much more clearly...
visible, and that then the Duchess might be set at
liberty without risk, notwithstanding the bad faith of
the Carlist party. She will have no more political
influence, for even those who now deny are con-
vinced in their hearts. If she crosses France by
short days' journeys there will not remain the least
doubt. Even the fact of her being set at liberty will
be the best of proofs. In my opinion this measure
would be magnanimous and merciful. Besides, it will
have the advantage of relieving the Government from
the danger attending possible accidents that might
で
​DUCHESS DE BERRY.
155
ensue upon a confinement taking place under painful
moral circumstances. I should give this advice with
my conscience in my hand if I was summoned to the
Ministers' Council.'
On March 20th, 1833, the General reports that
the Duchess seems to make herself out before him worse
than she really is, and that he had asked M. de
Brissac and Madame d'Hautefort if they would be
ready to give a written attestation of the expected
event when it occurred, but they refused. He had
therefore pointed out that in consequence of their
refusal it would be necessary for the Government to
take more stringent measures to verify the event.
There are in existence three manuscripts of a
treatise on Street Fighting, the germ of which is given
in the following letter to M. d'Argout
CONFIDENTIAL.
22nd March, 1833.
MY DEAR M. D'ARGOUT,—This letter is not official, and is not
intended to address you on the subject of my present duty. How-
ever I must tell you, by the way, that the Duchess de Berry, what-
ever she says, is not very ill. As a proof I send you a note of her
dinner yesterday and breakfast this morning. I have reason to
believe that the Duchess went to bed yesterday on purpose to receive
me.
Now I come to the real object of my letter. The Bergeron trial
has revealed to us the power of the Society for the Rights of Man. I
think it is dangerous, and that precautions must be multiplied
against its probable attempts. No doubt the attention of the
Government is awakened to it. I do not presume to sound the first
alarm, but I know that men, very much occupied, do not always
think of everything; and I thought it only my duty to my country
to give you an idea on this matter. Excess of good cannot be an
injury.
What seems superfluous may be very useful. A military author
writing about sieges, when he came to the opening of the trenches.
1

156
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
put, 'The earth is to be thrown on the side towards the fortress.'
One of his friends said it was useless to put that in. Leave it,'
said he, ‘if it does no good it will do no harm.' Some time after-
wards, at the siege of Philipsburg, the trenches were opened and the
earth thrown towards the camp!
You may be surprised that I do not rather write to the War
Minister than to you. You will easily understand that military reserve
to superiors, and the great distance between the Marshal and me,
both in respect of rank, experience, and service, does not very well
permit of my giving him advice; and any qualifications I might
make use of in expressing my opinion would not prevent the appear-
ance of it.
My eyes not being quite cured, I continue through my aide-de-
camp.
I think that the Government in Paris should act as if it was at
the advanced posts, and should take the following precautions.
Fortify and battlement the chief guard-houses; put a small store
of cartridges in them with biscuits and wine for two or three days,
all calculated on the number of men that would rally there and defend
themselves to extremity.
The Maire's offices ought also to be provided with cartridges.
I know that means have been taken to arrange for the assembly of
the National Guard.
Cartridges should be issued to the chiefs of the line regiments,
who will only distribute a portion to the soldiers, and put the rest in
the barrack magazine.
Issue to them also, to be kept in barracks, axes, crowbars, and
handspikes. They should be responsible for these stores, and hand
them over to the troops who relieve them.
Ascertain that the higher officers of the line regiments have a
sufficiently exact knowledge of Paris, and especially of the places.
where they would have to act, and the points they would have to
defend.
Let as many as possible understand the plans for the defence of
the city of Paris.
Transfer the bakeries from Paris to Vincennes, Courbevoie, and
the Ecole Militaire; keep them always well filled, and have small
stores of biscuit in two or three safe places. It is to be remem-
bered that the King's guards had no food, and this was one cause of
their defeat.
It is not prudent to have all the artillery at Vincennes, or at the
Ecole Militaire. I should like to place two batteries at Courbevoie.
Always have a corps of twelve thousand infantry and artillery,
and two thousand horse, within one day's march of Paris, with the
DUCHESS DE BERRY.
157
two-fold object of answering for the instruction of the princes, general
and superior officers, and restraining the factious of the capital.
Proclaim the object of these measures, in order to reassure good
citizens, and to put a stop to the malicious interpretations of the
press. I would frankly say that these measures are taken to protect
liberty from the attacks of secret societies, such as the Society for
the Rights of Man, the Friends of the People, &c.
The same or similar measures should be taken with respect to
Lyons, or other cities where there may be fermentation and secret
societies.
There should immediately be issued instructions to all the com-
mandants of military divisions and subdivisions, in case of insur-
rection, which might by wonderful chance be successful in Paris. They
should have orders to obey no order coming to them by any other
authority than the King's, either by telegraph or messenger. They
should always be provided with ammunition.
*
A proclamation ready prepared for such an event should be sent
to them, so that in case of necessity the same ideas and principles
might be made public throughout France. This proclamation.
should appeal to the love of real liberty, to the material interests of
commerce and wealth, to patriotism, to the honour of all good
citizens and of the army.
The generals should have orders to mobilize a portion of the
National Guard. A scheme should be prepared beforehand for this
purpose, so as only to put the safest men under arms.
Wherever local peace is secure the general should march his
troops to Paris without waiting for orders.
The prefects should receive orders to support all these arrange-
ments, the instructions to be secret.
Only men of spirit and energy should be left at the head of the
divisions and subdivisions.
Unless all these precautions are taken beforehand, it is certain
that feeble and irresolute men will be found at the head of divisions
and departments, who will allow themselves to be drawn into the
popular movement for want of a line of conduct previously marked
out.
Most men have need to be directed by instructions that must
provide as much as possible for eventualities.
Foreseen events lose three-quarters of their moral influence, and
instructions given by means of that foresight prevent all irresolu-
It may
be interesting to note that a telegraphic despatch (semaphore) sent
from Paris at 3 p.m. reached Blaye at 12.-Ed.
158
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
tion and divergence in the actions of the diverse instruments of
government.
The measures relating to Paris, to great cities, and the camp,
will not alarm public opinion if their object is openly avowed and
announced by a well-drawn proclamation declaring that these pre-
cautions are only directed against the same seditious persons who
have stained the capital with blood, while it is reassuring in the
interests of liberty.
*
Receive, my dear M. d'Argout, &c.
28th March, 1833.
*
CHAPTER XV.
LEGITIMIST TACTICS (1833).
Journal of Blaye-Legitimist Tactics - Precautions for Verification—Instructions
-Comte de Choulot-Bugeaud persuades the Government to be contented with
Witnesses' Certificate.
I HAVE already reproached the Duchess de Berry, Madame
d'Hautefort, and M. de Brissac, with having had illicit communica-
tions outside the walls, and have made them sensible of the dangers
for them. They gave but a clumsy denial. I will return to this.
*
*
*
*
*
I perceived by several conversations with the Duchess or her suite
that she was desirous either of making propositions to the Government,
or that the Government should make them to her. I also thought I
saw that they were in some difficulty about the proposals and how
to formulate them; and this determined me to write a letter, enclosed.
I had no reason to be sorry for this when it brought me the reply,
also enclosed, allowing me to keep Deneux, a man so necessary to
the verification of the event we expect.
MADAME LA DUCHESS DE BERRY TO GENERAL BUGeaud.
Citadel of Blaye, 27th March, 1833.
I can only be very thankful to you, my dear General, for the motives
that prompted the proposals you submitted to me. When I first
read them I was determined to give a negative reply, and have not
changed my views on reflection, and I will decidedly not make any
advance to the Government. If they think it necessary to impose
conditions on a liberty so necessary to my completely ruined
health, let them inform me in writing. If they are compatible with
my dignity, I will consider if I can accept them. In any event,
General, I cannot forget that you have known how to combine the
respect and regard due to the unfortunate with the duties laid upon
you. I am glad to express my thankfulness to you.
(Signed)
MARIE-CARoline.
P.S. I have just heard that M. Ménière is going away, and
that M. Deneux is forbidden to see me without Doctor Dubois.
160
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
declare that under no circumstances will I admit M. Dubois to come
near me,* though I cannot but observe with great sorrow the distrust
the Government entertain for M. Deneux. I do not oppose his
remaining, but I will not make any request in that respect.
*
*
*
5 April, 1833.
I think it will be prudent by the end of the month to
make Ménière sleep in the room close to the Duchess's apartments.
Independently of that I shall leave the key of the door of the corridor
leading to the apartments with the officer on duty, and he will go and
listen five or six times in the night.
Besides, I do not the least suppose that they will conceal this
event. The Duchess talks more openly of her condition than would
a Paris shopkeeper very lawfully married. She shows a wish to
nurse the child herself; she is also surrounded by five or six persons
who would have to be induced to transgress orders, and that is impos-
sible. If it be suggested that the infant might be conveyed away
under the tower, that is still more impossible, because there is only
one exit, and it is guarded by two sentries, a trusty officer, and sub-
officer. Do not therefore be the least uneasy on these two heads;
the only reasonable one in which I agree with you is the Duchess's
health after her confinement.
*
*
*
TO MONSIEUR D'ARGOUT.
12 April.
SIR, I have the honour to forward to you a letter from Madame
de Brissac to her husband, containing an inclosure that seems to me
to be worthy of your attention. I have underlined it, and doubly the
part that seems to mean that a state of pregnancy is feigned in order
to be set at liberty, or at any rate that M. de Brissac had given
his wife to understand this to be the case. These would be a new
kind of deceitful tactics.
This discovery might well make us less amenable to any proposi-
tions that the Duchess might make, and the admission of the
counsellors she asks for.
It is evident that the party are prepared to represent the
pregnancy as a subterfuge for the purpose of getting set at liberty.
As to me I think her condition is very real, for a man must be blind
* The Duchess's dislike to Dubois arose from his having attended her husband
when he was assassinated, and she thought him unfeeling. She complained very
much that the King knew this, and yet wished to impose him on her as medical
attendant.
LEGITIMIST TACTICS.
161
not to believe in it, and must think that MM. Gintrac and Deneux
are two rogues or quite ignorant. The only thing that seems clear
to me is that they want to take advantage of our kindness and
mercy to play us a trick, to obtain her liberty, and then to laugh at us.
Extract from Madame de Brissac's letter.
M. de Sémonville said yesterday to some one, who told me, that
his government had quite decided upon setting madame at liberty
after her confinement. That does not do us much good, we who do
not believe that she is pregnant.
Notwithstanding even Deneux's letters, what an inconceivable
method this would be to select, compromising what is a thousand
times more precious than life, for the attainment of anything in the
world. My poor friend, I am always thinking of you. I am
feeling all that your noble heart and pure mind must experience
in all possible cases.
TO MONSIEUR d'Argout.
15 April.
SIR, I did not intend to mention to you a little, almost
unimportant event, because I was a little mystified, and one does not
care to acknowledge that. But the sub-prefect having told me that
he had said something about it to you, and that you expected
particulars from me, I think it my duty to inform you.
A certain Count de Choulot, having travelled from Prague, and
brought with him the portraits of the Duchess de Berry's two
children, asked me for an audience, that he might present the
two miniatures. I did so. The conversation promised frankness;
he several times told me that he had no doubt that the Duchess de
Berry was married, and pregnant; that most of the Legitimists believed
the same as he did; that the denial of the press injured the Duchess
much; adding that, if he could see her, he would tell her not to listen
to the bad advice from all around her, but assent to all the veri-
fications and guarantees the Government wanted for setting her
at liberty. He stated to me that Monsieur de Brissac and Madame
d'Hautefort were not sensible persons, and would only give the Duchess
very bad advice. He repeated these things many times, begging me to
let him see the Duchess for a moment. I consented to allow him ten
minutes private conversation with her, on condition he would allow
himself to be rigorously searched. He complied with the condition,
and he conversed with the Duchess for ten minutes, watch in hand.
I was in the room close by. When he came away I took him to my
VOL. I.
M
162
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
house, and put the following questions to him. Well, have you seen
whether the Duchess de Berry is pregnant? Has she told you? And
what shall you say in public?' Why, I cannot say that she is
pregnant, only that she is married, for she told me so.' 'What, sir,
you did not see her condition? did she manage to conceal her size?
But, General, she remained seated, so I could not tell.' 'Sir,'
indignantly, you had no doubts before you saw her, and you have
doubts now; it is infamous.'
6
Thereupon my aide-de-camp, M. de Saint-Arnaud, spoke to him
in most insulting terms, telling him he was a man without faith or
honour. I told him, 'Saint-Arnaud, go to the Duchess and ask her
from me if it is true that she did not rise before this gentleman, and
if she did not tell him she was married and pregnant; we will see if
the gentleman is as much of a liar as he is treacherous.'
Saint-Arnaud went like lightning, and came back the same,
with an indignant face. The gentleman is a cowardly impostor,'
said he, unworthy of your kindness for him, unworthy of the
decoration he wears at his button-hole. The Duchess told me that
she walked about before him, and had positively told him that she
was married and pregnant; and she offers, General, to tell him so
again in your presence.'
Thereupon we treated the wretch as he deserved, and he cannot
have the shadow of honour about him, when he has not required
satisfaction for the abuse. Lastly, I turned him out in disgrace, but
not without a keen desire to make him jump out of the window, or
spend one or two days in a casemate. It took all the influence of our
modern manners to deter me from doing this.
This is, as you see, a specimen of the good faith of that party.
I know them now, they shall not catch me again.
If you wish for information as to this Monsieur de Choulot,
inquire of a Monsieur Darmand, table de hôte, rue de Rivoli,
No. 10.
It is a proof of Monsieur de Choulot's interview having no
important effect, that three days afterwards the Duchess wrote me the
letter I have forwarded.
There certainly is no occasion to publish an account of the Conte
de Choulot. As for me, I told him that if he published anything in
the papers at variance with the truth, I would not only expose his
infamous conduct, but break his head wherever I met him.
It seems that these threats were not quite sufficient,
for M. d'Argout writes on 17th April :-
LEGITIMIST TACTICS.
163
*
*
I asked you yesterday for information as to Count Choulot's
proceedings at Blaye. You will see in the Quotidienne an
article announcing that he had seen the Duchess. I know that he
boasts of having obtained from her lips some information as to the
moral constraint exercised upon her when she wrote the famous
declaration that appeared in the Moniteur.
M. de Choulot has prepared a protest containing the Princess's
alleged words, and has lodged it with a notary.
This man, as I
have told you, is a very dangerous intriguer; I shall be very
impatient to receive your reply, that I may be able to answer any
questions put to me, and to advise a remedy for this unfortunate
Occurrence. However, it is not important. The Carlists have their
theme, and will not relinquish it; as a general rule not a word they
say is to be believed, none of their promises, none of their oaths.
Nothing binds them, and nothing ever has bound them; they are
past masters in the art of perfidy.
Heartily yours, dear General,
C. D'ARGOUT.
TO THE MARSHAL PRESIDENT OF COUNCIL.
16 April.
*
*
The refusal to send her Messieurs Chateaubriand and Hennequin
has greatly exasperated the Duchess, she launched out into
invectives against the Government. I let her run on, so as not to
provoke a scene injurious to her health; but M. de Brissac and
Madame d'Hautefort having joined chorus with her, I lost patience,
and spoke to them as they deserved. 'It is you and your party who
are the Duchess de Berry's real enemies, it is you who sacrifice her to
party spirit. You make it impossible to really set her at liberty by
your bad faith, your Machiavellic denials, the abuse and calumny of
every kind you fling on the Government. While Madame authorised
Monsieur Deneux to say that she was pregnant, this is what Madame
de Brissac wrote to her husband' (and I read the sentences you
know).
'You see, madame, that from these words it is plain that M. de
Brissac has never told his wife of madame's state, but has, per-
haps, led her to suppose that the condition is pretended in order to
obtain liberty. Judge now if you are not the victim of party spirit.
You should have consulted no one but yourself.'
M. de Brissac was at first quite stupefied, but he cried out that
he had said nothing to his wife, because he chose to say nothing, and
would never say anything; that there was an attempt to make him
164
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
play a part in politics, but he would not play it, he did not care to
have himself in print all alive.
:
I answered Sir, there is no question of playing a part in
politics, but only to act in the same manner as the Duchess did when
she made Doctor Deneux speak. By that you would have prevented
the denials and calumnies that hinder the Government from carrying
out their good intention of setting the Duchess de Berry at liberty.
With people who have taken the course of denying everything, it is
necessary to adopt the course of awaiting the last and strongest of
proofs.'
Madame d'Hautefort said, 'Ought madame's condition to be
made public for the satisfaction of the juste milieu? General,
you will have enough to do; you will never convert me.' 'Madame,'
said I, be quite convinced that I do not wish to convert you,
that there is no question of the juste milieu here, but only of the
Duchess de Berry. If juste milieu wins its stake in six weeks, it
will convince the most incredulous, and present them with a baby.'
'No, General,' cried the Duchess de Berry, 'you will not convince
any one, they will poke their noses into it; they will see me and my
child only to deny it again! Instead of that I wanted to make pro-
posals to the Government, if MM. de Chateaubriand and Hennequin
hal advised me, that would have been better for them than the
confinement.'
It is very unfortunate, madame, that your Highness has chosen
to rely upon party spirit. These gentlemen, according to their
manners, would have given you no advice unless conformably to their
own interest. Disinterested advisers, like me for instance, would
have been preferable.' 'Sir,' cried M. de Brissac, 'your Govern-
ment is ruining itself: if anything happens to the Duchess de Berry,
it is lost." 'Sir, the immense majority of the Chambers and of the
nation think with the Government on the question of the Duchess
de Berry.'
Several unsuitable expressions of M. de Brissac had drawn this
apostrophe upon him. The conversation continued long enough in
this tone. The Duchess de Berry several times repeated to me that
the plan she wished to propose was very favourable to the
Government, and better for them than any verification. I insisted
upon knowing this plan, and the Duchess de Berry seemed for a
moment disposed to communicate it to me, but M. de Brissac opposed
it. In this particular that person and Madame d'Hautefort departed
from their usual practice. In the course of talk there slipped from
M. de Brissac and Madame d'Hautefort an expression that I was
trying to make proselytes, but should never win them over to the
juste milieu.
LEGITIMIST TACTICS.
165
'Be quite convinced,' I said to them forcibly,' that the juste
milieu has no need of you; it fears you not, and your support would
be but a trifle, if, indeed, it were not hurtful, for you have spoilt
almost all the causes you were devoted to. At this moment you are
forwarding republicanism with all your power, and outraging the
Government that protects you, and is even discredited in the eyes of
our party by protecting you. If the republic came, it would be sure
to avenge us. Look at the declaration of the Society of the Rights of
Man' (Journal des Debats of the 12th).
The Duchess de Berry declared several times that she would do
nothing, and propose nothing, unless she was allowed to see some
advisers of her own choosing, but that it seemed quite clear the
Government wanted to kill her.
No, madame, no, the Government is far from desiring your
death, but it desires some surety; and there was no dependence in
the men who, having in the way of Machiavel taken to the plan of
denying everything, would have taken advantage of the visits to
Blaye to confirm the Legitimist public in the notion that you are not
pregnant.' 'I am sure they could not have done so, for I should
have told them to make known my condition, and the statement of
such important persons would have convinced every one, while the
other means the Government will adopt will convince no one.'
I have faithfully conveyed to you, sir, this curious conversation.
You can draw the deductions. If I were allowed to express my
opinion to the Council, I would say that I cannot see much danger
in the visit of MM. de Chateaubriand and Hennequin, under
necessary conditions. It is quite certain that the publication of the
Duchess's condition by M. de Chateaubriand would have dispelled
all doubt; and I can hardly believe that such a man as he is would
have refused to say what Deneux has published. He would have
found it a subject for writing some fine pages of romance, and we
know very well that he never lets slip the chance of a godsend of that
kind. To take another point, we are coming much nearer to the
event, and perhaps it would be better to wait till it occurs than
enter upon a negotiation, the issue of which cannot be foreseen. In
this last course we also run the risks of illness, and accidents ensuing
upon the confinement.
TO THE COUNT D'ARGOUT.
19 April.
Fresh useless attempts to prevail upon the Duchess
to consent to verification. Ménière persuaded her to tell him her
plan. I consider it is insufficient. I wrote to her upon it, and she
replied in the letter, copy enclosed.
166
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
There is nothing more to hope.
She must be confined here, and
the verification of the birth by witnesses must be official.
The conditions judged necessary were that MM. de Chateau-
briand and Hennequin should come to receive from the Duchess and
five witnesses the declaration of her marriage and condition, upon
their undertaking, before they came, to publish the declaration;
the Government undertaking to set the Duchess at liberty as soon as
this was done. The Duchess refused, stating that she could not
bind her friends.
Telegraphic Despatch to the President of Council.
The Duchess asked for two advisers. The Government refused,
and sent four doctors. Her Royal Highness refused to see them.
Before consenting to admit them, Madame wishes for a promise that
MM. de Chateaubriand and Hennequin may come, without any
condition imposed on them, to give her the advice they think most
useful to her, and for this purpose may be permitted to converse with
the Duchess as long as necessary without witnesses.
As it is of consequence to lose no time; if this proposal is
accepted, the Government should immediately invite MM. de
Chateaubriand and Hennequin to proceed to Blaye, and they would
receive a letter from Madame, requesting them to wait upon her
before they enter the citadel.
I advise you to allow these gentlemen to come; but we are too
near the event to set the Duchess at liberty without all the security
desirable. All her changes of front are caused by the wish to obtain
her freedom, and leave a door open behind her for the passions of
her party. Remember there is not more than a month left, and that
her health is as good as ever; but do not incur the evident reproach
of having refused her advisers, when there cannot be any danger in
it. If you permit the coming of the Legitimists, precede them by
instructions to conclude the matter or renounce it definitely. This
ought to be the last negotiation.
The doctors are very impatient to return to Paris. Answer
immediately.
Telegraphic Despatch to COUNT D'Argout.
22 April.
The Duchess de Berry persisted in refusing to see the four
doctors, yet Drs. Deneux and Ménière had almost overcome her
by their reasoning. She asked for a few minutes to consider, and in
two hours sent me the following letter :—
LEGITIMIST TACTICS.
167
'Citadel of Blaye, 22 April, 1833.
'GENERAL,—As the Government refuses me any sort of advice,
and does not even give me a single pledge that I shall be set at
liberty after the verification, I cannot receive MM. Orfila and
Auvity. I request you to express my regret to them.
'I will continue to receive the careful attendance of MM. Deneux,
Gintrac, and Ménière, with whom I am especially pleased. I will
not give any ground for accusation that I am not doing everything
that depends on me to secure a mother to her children.
'I eagerly take advantage, General, of any opportunity to do
justice to your heart and intentions.
'MARIE-CAROLINE.'
This is matter to make a good newspaper article, to give assur-
ance that you have taken all possible precautions for her health, and
also that she is not very ill, as she has refused the advice of four
distinguished physicians.
Telegraphic Despatch to the Minister of War and the Interior.
3 May.
As the event draws near, the difficulties become more apparent.
Everything possible will be done to keep the confinement from our
knowledge. Whether they succeed or not, or whatever we do to
verify it, they will deny it.
The Guyenne has already foreseen the confinement as the end of
the play they are acting. After these considerations, I address you
the following questions, and request you to reply to them categori-
cally. I attach more importance to the 'civil register,' for which I
am sure there will be Deneux's declaration, than to any sort of verifi-
cation. Do you agree with me?
This being answered affirmatively, ought we to disregard
considerations of humanity, of danger, and even of decency?
I very decidedly think not. Do you agree with me?
Will not the verification be a superfluity to the civil register, and
not rather act in contradiction than in support ?
Will it not be worth more to have Deneux's declaration simply
certified by witnesses appointed at the time, as well as by the maire,
and make them all sign the civil register?
This is my opinion. Besides that, this would enable you to dis-
pense with odious and dangerous means, which would bring you little
advantage, this register could never be suspected of being forged;

168
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
any writers who impeached it might be prosecuted. Can you tell
me whether you would release Madame if the verification takes
place? I could make use of it.*
Reply if you please as soon as possible.
BUGEAUD.
* General Bugeaud's advice prevailed. Thanks to his persistence with the
ministers the Duchess de Berry was spared the painful trial of verification.
The Duchess was either more simple or more cunning than her friends and
attendants their object seems to have been to save the credit of the royal cause
she wanted to avoid personal annoyances at the moment. While on the voyage to
Palermo, she adopted some of her friends' tactics; in later times, however, again
doing justice to Bugeaud.—ED.

CHAPTER XVI.
THE BIRTH (1833).
Precautions-The Birth-Preparations for Departure-Legitimist Opinions-
Arrival at Palermo-The Count-Return to France.
TO THE COUNT D'ARGOUT.
3 May.
•
the
THE more I think of it the more am I convinced of the inutility
and danger of a verification. Whatever you do it will be treated as
null. If you had a hundred witnesses who had seen
Legitimist papers would none the less say it was false. Thus we
should be taking harsh precautionary measures to no use, and at the
moment of the perils of childbirth exposing the Princess to the
dangers of too great excitement, The deed of verification is not
protected by law. It is vulnerable on every side. Far from being
a useful assistance, it will serve as a conductor to all the blows
aimed at the civil register. The latter, if alone, would rule; any
one who impeached it could be prosecuted. With the breastplate of
the deed of verification it would be a thousand times pierced through
and through. These advantages must not be given to our enemies,
Let us leave the sword of the law hanging over their heads by only
having the civil registration. Easily without any violence we will
surround it with all the solemnity you wish. All the witnesses
named to verify the fact of the birth may be witnesses to the declara-
tion that MM. Deneux and Ménière will make before the maire,
and sign the civil register. We will gather them together in the
Duchess's parlour as soon as we know that she is taken ill.
This seems to me incontestably the wisest course, especially
under the consideration that, according to all appearances, we shall
have but an imperfect verification. I know the tactics they propose
to employ; they are these:-they will accept nothing freely. This
is a settled plan; they will oppose everything, and have the answer
ready, 'What you intend to do is atrocious, but you have the power.'
They will keep her in pain as long as possible, and then call Deneux,
and he will say that the presence of any persons besides the accou-
ī

170
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
cheurs and two women would be dangerous to the Duchess.
Suppose we came in time we should be obliged to remain in the
parlour, or else be barbarians; and what could we say or do that
would be worth as much as the declaration that Deneux will make
before us and the maire? I could be sure of a hundred votes in the
council for the civil registration alone. It is the safest course, the
simplest, easiest, and the most honourable.
*
*

Thus the General returns again and again to the
inutility of a preliminary verification of the Duchess's
condition. The Government at Paris, not considering
the dangers and cruelty of this measure, strongly
insisted upon its taking place. Being an influential
deputy, and personally responsible for the grave
interests entrusted to him, General Bugeaud gave the
ministers to understand that he would not undertake
to execute their orders, if ever these orders appeared
to him to exceed certain limits.*
At last came the end.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL.
10 May.
Our uncertainties and fears are ended! Everything has gone.
* No doubt the historian who has given the most circumstantial account of this
event is M. Louis Blanc, then deputy of the department of the Seine. His Histoire
de Dix Ans is a remarkable book, though stamped with partiality. How much I
prefer it to M. Thiers'!
The chapter on the captivity of Blaye is especially curious. It proves the close
alliance that then united the republicans and pure Legitimists. The author expa-
tiates with complaisance upon the martyrdom inflicted upon the Princess,
endeavouring to throw the odium more upon the King's government than upon the
King himself. As to General Bugeaud, the portrait Louis Blanc draws of him is
most curious. One feels that the writer is striving between his conscience, love of
truth, and political passion. This was a soldier, endued for such an one, with
eminent qualities, possessing in certain things some solid knowledge, remarkable
for grotesque common sense. (Do you see the grotesque common sense?) Not so
wicked as strange, even sensible by fits, but angry, stupid, tactless, impatient of
the restraint of delicate proceedings, and animated with a subaltern's zeal, hardly
able to elevate its humility by his arrogance, his freedom, and swaggering airs.
The arrival of such a man was a thunderstroke to the prisoner. She had no diffi-
culty in seeing what he was, through the respect in which he sincerely tried to
train himself: she was afraid of him.'
THE BIRTH.
171
satisfactorily, and I hope the Government and the country will be
satisfied.
I remained with the Duchess de Berry from two o'clock in the
afternoon till her dinner-time. I saw her sit down to table.
Drs. Ménière and Deneux spent the evening with her till ten o'clock.
Nothing announced so speedy an event.
At three, the lieutenant of gendarmerie, Solabel, on watch below,
came and knocked at my door. At the same moment Madame
Hansler came out into the passage to call the doctors, and they
entered the room. I immediately ordered the three guns to be fired
to call my witnesses, and they came. M. Dubois was a witness of
the birth; he was in the room, the military commandant and I at
the door.
As soon as the child was born the Duchess asked for me, and I
went to her bedside. She held out her hand; I pressed it, and she
returned the grasp. I read her your telegraphic despatch of yester-
day, assuring her of her release in case the verification was properly
carried out.** General, I hold to all I promised you.
The official report tells you the rest.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL.
10 May.
*
*
*
*
*
The verification will take place as agreed between the Duchess
and myself. She will herself present the infant, and declare that it
is hers.
ג
*
*
*
When he signed his declaration, M. Deneux added, I have
delivered of a child the Duchess de Berry, wife by legal marriage of
Count Hector Lucchesi Palli, of the princes of Campo-Franco,
gentleman of the bed-chamber to the King of the Two Sicilies,
domiciled at Palermo.' *
* The Duchess de Berry, Maria Caroline Ferdinande Louise, born at Naples,
5th November, 1798, was daughter of François Joseph Xavier, then hereditary
prince of the two Sicilies, Francis I., king of the Two Sicilies, and the Arch-
duchess of Austria, Maria Clementina. She died in April, 1870.
She married 17 June, 1817, Charles Ferdinand d'Artois, Duke de Berry, a son
of France, son of Prince Charles Philippe of France, Count d'Artois, Monsieur, the
King's brother. The Duke de Berry died by hand of an assassin at Paris 13 Feb-
ruary, 1820.
By this marriage she had one daughter, Louise Maria Theresa, born 21st Sep-
tember, 1819, who became Duchess of Parma, and a posthumous son, Henry
Charles Ferdinand Marie Dieudonné, Duke de Bordeaux, Comte de Chambord,
born 29th September, 1820, at Paris. Died 1883 at Frohsdorf. The Duchess de
Berry was therefore thirty-one years of age when she brought into the world, in the
citadel of Blaye, the infant born of her second marriage with Count Lucchesi Palli,
a Sicilian gentleman, chargé d'affaires of the King of Naples at the Hague.
172
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
GENERAL BUGEAUD TO M. GARDERE, at Paris.
Blaye, 11th May, 1833.
You will have been glad to learn, my friend, that I have happily ·
ended my mission, for I consider it terminated. In all this I have
been labouring to reconcile very different interests, and have the
satisfaction of thinking that I have been completely successful.
The Government has all the sureties desirable. There is no
reason for detaining the Duchess any longer, and she will be imme-
diately set at liberty.
As for me, I expect and wish for nothing more out of this busi-
ness than to spend five or six months with my oxen and my clover.
The Duchess looks upon me as one of her best friends. She
pressed my hands most affectionately yesterday. She esteems me
because she perceives that I have been a faithful servant to my
Government and country, and have also paid due respect to a woman
in her position.
Write to me at once, and at length, of the talk of Paris about
this business; and matters in general, the look of Paris, parties, the
National Guard, &c.
Your sincere friend,
BUGEAUD.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF COUNCIL.
13th May.
I am completely rewarded by the King's approbation you have
been desired to convey to me. I desire nothing else, and as I wish
to avoid the unpleasantness of a refusal to Government, in case you
should have the idea of giving me any recompense, I beg of you to
do nothing. If I might be allowed to mention a wish to you, it
would be to be free till the month of October, and at that time I
should be glad to receive a command at Paris.
Then follow letters recommending officers for valu-
able services, &c., at Blaye, and arrangements for the
Duchess leaving Blaye by water for her voyage to
Palermo, which was likely to take place about the
3rd or 5th of June.
*
*
*
There is no doubt, sir, that the press and caricatures have a bad
effect upon the soldiers. Several anecdotes that have come to me
THE BIRTH.
173
have shown me this. As the army is one of the most powerful
guarantees of order, we must take care not to allow it to be corrupted
by the Anarchists.
As it is inevitable for the troops to read newspapers, I should wish
some to be prepared for them, to give them just notions on politics
and affection for the King's government, as well as mention of mili-
tary matters. I think they ought not to be delivered over to the
factions without an antidote. In the same strain of ideas, I have
long been wishing that honest men of independent means, who are
interested in good order, would form companies for encountering
the evil-disposed press with the press, since this is the only weapon
suitable. We should soon have conquered that cruel enemy to
peace and to the country, if men would put a little real desire into
it. What an advantage we should have over the journalists if we
set up newspapers without idea of speculation, but only to make the
truth triumph! We could give our sheets very cheap, often gratis,
for the shareholders would not hesitate in taking their shares to con-
secrate their capital to the triumph of the principles of a wise liberty,
without expecting interest; ready, on the contrary, to lose their
shares if necessary.
TO THE COUNT D'ARGOUT AND MARSHAL SOUlt.
4th June.
GENTLEMEN, I have received this moment the instructions for
departure that you addressed to me on the 2nd. There is no diffi-
culty in their punctual execution. The embarkation at Blaye will
take place about eleven in the morning of the 8th, ceremoniously, but
without too great a crowd. Neither the Maire nor the Sub-Prefect
will issue proclamations; but the officers of the National Guard, with
whom I am on good terms, will mix beforehand in the crowd to
induce the citizens to keep silence. I think I can assure you that
everything will pass off with propriety. You shall have an official
report of the embarkation, signed by all the signatories of the certifi-
cate of birth and several officers of the National Guard. I will take
two or three Legitimists, high-crested folk, in the steam-vessel as far as
the Agathe. At this moment there are very few persons who doubt,
M. Hennequin came here yesterday. He saw the Duchess to-day,
and dined with her. I asked him to dinner yesterday. His conver-
sation is witty and lively. He is pleased to talk of current affairs,
and especially his pleadings at Rennes, which he thinks ought to
hand him down to posterity. He maintained the contrary to us on
many of the questions that were raised there, and, clever as he is,
174
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
was sometimes defeated. He praised the genius, or rather the ability,
of the King, for, according to him, his genius may be contested, sup-
posing he did not let drop the happy words, that are remembered, as
they contain one or many thoughts. I answered him, 'He has done
better than that, he has let off many discourses stamped with
reason and great political scope. He has done better still. he has
known how to judge of his position, resist evil counsels, and follow
the good; compare that with the sharp speeches of Charles X.'
Otherwise, M. Hennequin has a very reasonable tone, and shows me
a good deal of respect.
TO THE MARSHAL, WAR MINISTER.
5th June.
*
*
*
The Duchess flew into a violent rage when she heard that the
Government required from her a letter declaring that her health and
her daughter's are quite good enough for a sea voyage, with a request
to go to Palermo, and list of the persons to accompany her. Vocife-
rations against the Government, the Ministers, &c. She retired in a
rage; came back quieter. I went away, telling her to consider.
I am sure she will write, but without mentioning her daughter.
The report of the embarkation, and four or five thousand witnesses,
will destroy this remnant of obstinacy.
Thus concludes the Journal of Blaye. General
Bugeaud accompanied the Princess to Sicily; and we
shall relate the consequences which so unjustly weighed
upon the life of the Governor of Blave, and soon after
caused the death of Deputy Dulong
The event was hardly accomplished, and the birth
of the Duchess's daughter duly verified, when there
broke forth from all sides, in the Legitimist and Re-
publican press, most odious imputations and grotesque
calumnies against the King's Ministers, and especially
against the Governor of Blaye. This anonymous abuse,
these ridiculous stories, to which men of sense did not
attach any importance, inflicted cruel wounds upon
the victim. We find confirmation of this in letters

、.
THE BIRTH.
175
written at this time by General Bugeaud to the Prefect
of La Dordogne, for whom he had great affection.
GENERAL BUGEAUD TO M. MOURGUES, PREFECT AT PERIGUEUX.
Blaye, 2nd June, 1833.
I think I am more independent than those who proclaim their
independence in their writings and speeches. Independent, and even
insolent, towards power, they grovel before the people in the streets.
I never flatter any one, neither kings, nor prefects, nor people.
I ask for nothing, want nothing. I desire to be nothing but what I
am; I can be so without the Ministers; I have won my position
without them, and I shall be able, at need, to gain promotion without
the Ministers or my position in the Chamber.
In a word, they are in want of men like me, and I am in no need
of them. This, I think, is complete independence; but it will not
make me unjust, for my mind and soul are not independent of my
reason.
*
+
While the Agathe was sailing towards the coasts of
Sicily, Mdme. Bugeaud was delighted to leave the
citadel of Blaye, and return to Excideuil with her
children. Though the letter below is of a private
character, we think it worthy of publication. It shows
something of the state of feeling at this time, and the
strong love his family entertained for the General.
MADAME BUGEAUD TO GENERAL BUGEAUD.
Excideuil, 15th June, 1833.
MY DEAR, We have just arrived in good health, but very sorry
to be here without you. I cannot tell you how sorry I am at your
going; I have the ship that took you away from us always before
my eyes. How sorry I was when my short sight prevented my
making you out upon the deck; I was paralysed, and neither heard
nor saw; in this state I returned to the citadel, to the house you had
just left but when I arrived there I awaked from this kind of sleep.
Then all the dangers I dread for you presented themselves to my
mind. How often did I wish to be alone! I had not even that
mournful pleasure. It was necessary to receive the adieus and com-
176
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
pliments of a crowd of persons, who seemed not to have a notion how
it all tormented me. At last we went off; I was suffering a good
deal; my malady was supposed to be from the heat; I was very
glad to let it be supposed so, to avoid the consolations that your good
sister, who went with us, would not have failed to give me. I wanted
none of them, I wanted to be free to think of you, and give free
course to my ideas. How painful they were! We stopped at Saint
Mer; the children wanted to rest there, and I consented.
On our
arrival I heard a bell ringing, and was told it was for the benediction,
so hastened thither. And if God will grant my sincere prayers
and vows, your voyage will be fortunate; for, my love, I prayed for
you, and never, I think, were prayers so heartfelt. I was so unhappy,
and I love you so much. Next day we arrived at X., where I was
overwhelmed with visits and inquiries for your health and your
return; at Excideuil, the same thing over again. Your sister,
Fanny, Ambroise, their children, and Gustave came at once.
dined with us, and are quite well.
They
18th.—The children are well, they have resumed their old occu-
pations, and would be quite contented if dear papa was come back.
The journey had tired me; but now I do not feel it any more.
I am taking pills, and am strictly dieted. I hope you will not tell
me that I do not choose to be cured.
me.
I receive a quantity of visits. All ask for tidings of you, when
you will return, the road you come, &c., &c. These continually
reiterated questions, that I cannot answer, are a real punishment to
Several Carlists have displayed a great wish to come and see
me; they seem to wish to make us amends for the infamies of their
Gazette, which is frightful. The honest men, the Memorial, and
even the Echo, have done full and entire justice in the matter. All
say that an honest man neither can nor ought to pay attention to it;
many subscribers have given it up. Thus, my love, we must shut
our eyes and ears upon it; contempt is the only answer; but it is too
much to tell you of this; to come to the fountain;* your disinterested-
ness is considered sublime; you are loved and admired, there never
was a man comparable to you, and your devotion to your country.
23rd. I am come from La Durantie; the corn is splendid,
even the spring corn, but there is some rotten in the last. They are
beginning to mow; there is not much grass in the poor meadows;
the trefoil is a little light.

* After the Mission to Blaye, the King offered 20,000 francs to General
Bugeaud, who refused them and asked that they might be applied to the use of
the town of Excideuil. So a fountain was erected in the park of Excideuil, of which
mention is made in the next letter.
THE BIRTH.
177
The timber frame of Saint Pantaly will be set up to-morrow; a
beginning has been made in paving the yard at Excideuil, but it will
still be a long time before everything is finished. M. Lestang has
nothing to do; the workmen are not very speedy. However, I
hope that it will be advanced when you come.
I have received a letter from your sister, who gives me an account
of your voyage as far as the frigate. Poor Thomas! you were sick
already, what will you be in the open sea! How I long to see you
come back. Till then I shall be always in terror of your meet-
ing with an accident.
Adieu! my love, travel as quickly as possible, I am so uneasy,
I long to embrace you. Marie wants to say a little word. Adieu!
adieu!
(Signed)
C. B.
Though of a previous date to a letter just giver,
we think it very desirable to insert here the following
letter written to General Bugeaud, during his resi-
dence at Blaye, by a prominent inhabitant of Excideuil,
Doctor Chavoix.*
DOCTOR CHAVOIX TO GENERAL BUGEAud.
Excideuil, 26 May, 1833.
We have received to-day, General, the notification of the useful
edifice that your disinterested generosity has conferred upon the town
of Excideuil. I make haste to express to you, as friend and citizen
of Excideuil, but specially as very devoted friend, all the admiration
that I feel for such noble conduct as yours. I have been so much
touched by this noble and patriotic action, as this very day to have
proposed to several members of the municipal council,—not knowing
how to express to you all the recognition you deserve,-I have
proposed, I say, first, to give you a public vote of thanks, and then
to place upon the monument that will be raised, under your auspices,
a simple and modest inscription that will commemorate at once the
* Doctor Chavoix, now the very Republican Deputy of the Department of La
Dordogne, will, no doubt, forgive us for exhuming the interesting letter that he
addressed, forty-seven years ago, to his friend, the General Deputy of Excideuil.
If M. Chavoix has rather changed his opinions by 1881 who shall dare to throw
the first stone at him? Anyway, the noble and patriotic feelings expressed by
the honourable doctor and friend of the Bugeaud family belong to all time, and
we are certain that M. Chavoix would not hesitate to repeat them to-day.
VOL. I.
N
178
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
patriotic disinterestedness of a citizen, and the gratitude of his com-
patriots. On a slab of black marble will be placed these words :-
TO GENERAL BUGEAUD
THE GRATEFUL TOWN OF EXCIDEUIL.
So far my project has only met with approval. I hope that by
power of patriotism we shall compel the grumblers to be silent, or
at least to chatter in the shade. The native bousingots have not
yet dared, as far as I know, to make any outcry against this
immense improvement to beauty and utility in our city. No doubt
they cannot venture to say that it is the sweat of the people devoted
to this fancy; for such a foundation is for the people's good, if I
am not mistaken. Besides, they seem little enough pleased at the
turn their business is taking. I think, like the Courrier Français, as
it was obliged to confess the other day, that the republic has lost
ground by the very efforts of its partisans. It is a very curious thing,
and instructive at the same time, to see these gentlemen throw off
the mask one after the other. After the trial of the Society for the
Rights of Man, here comes that of the Aviso of Toulon which sur-
passes, in audacity and wickedness, even the maxims of that society.
It even has positively stated, as no doubt you have read, that it is
necessary to plunder the tradesmen, the capitalists, the bankers, the
manufacturers, &c., &c., because they are idle and make the most
of the people, growing fat upon their sweat. If the jury do not
condemn such loups-garous, we must draw up the ladder and
prepare to be firing guns very soon. I think that the Government
ought to put a very sharp bridle upon these curs; to forbid their
balls, their banquets, &c., &c., and if they think fit again to treat
an honourable man to a charivari, to give them such a worrying as
to make them lose the wish to do it again. This is the general
desire. I flatter myself that the publication of such extravagancies
will bring back to us some trustworthy men; I should augur very
ill of any that lean upon such maniacs.
The other day I was at Hautefort; there was much talk of the
Duchess. There was a gentleman there come to spend some days
at the castle, called the Marquis de la Fare. A man over sixty,
well educated, formerly a soldier, who had seen you in Spain when
you were fighting there; he lives at Marseilles. He is one of the
most reasonable Legitimists that I have met. Some surprise was
expressed at your having accepted the command at Blaye. But,'
said I, 'I suppose a soldier ought to obey his chief, when there is
nothing dishonourable in the order he receives.' 'You are right,'
said he; it should be so.' Then they asked me several questions
THE BIRTH.
179
with regard to Blaye. I satisfied their curiosity with such informa-
tion as I was authorised to give them. 'But,' said Mdme. de Damas,
'how is it that the commissary of police, Joly, whom M. Chousserie
had declined to receive, had the entry of the citadel as soon as
General Bugeaud took the command?' I answered, 'That is a tale of
your newspapers; nothing is falser than the story of M. Joly's empire
in the citadel of Blaye. I know that General Bugeaud would not
have allowed it, and, besides, I refer to the Marquis de la Fare, who
has been a soldier. Is it not true that soldiers dislike the police ?'
'It is very true,' answered he; 'there is not the shadow of probability
that General Bugeaud, who has the reputation of being a strict soldier,
would have chosen to let in a commissary of police to watch him.'
Further, neither M. de Damas, nor the abbé, nor any one else,
deny the fact of the pregnancy and birth. The abbé even went
further; he converted, as he told me, the unbelievers of his party
that they might not be exposed to the ridicule that attaches to the
denial of evidence. I am very glad that it is a daughter,' said he,
'because when people speak of the two princes, there will be no
question which.'
Really there are none but case-hardened Legitimists that still
deny the birth. The abbé told me that there was anger among
them against those who believed.*
I went twice to La Durantie as I passed. It is magnificent,
admirable to see such cultivation. Your oats are the finest, almost
the only ones I have seen.
* The maddest legends are often the most difficult to destroy. No one could
imagine the stories told at the time about the Duchess de Berry's captivity. The
unfortunate political necessity that had compelled Louis-Philippe t arrest his
niece, in order to put an end to an attempt at civil war, was the subject of the
most odious comments. As to the poor Princess, whose resolution, spirit, and
goodness have become traditional, she was cruelly punished by the consequences
of her heroic imprudence.
1.
The person who had most to suffer from these fables was General Bugeaud.
Many years after the drama of Blaye, the Legitimists, especially in the country,
only mentioned the name of the savage gaoler with shuddering. The Comtesse de
Feray fold us that in 1867, General Feray having taken over the command of the
corps d'armée at Toulouse, on Marshal Niel's giving it up, she was at the
beginning of her stay in that city the object of a studied reserve and coldness on
the part of the Legitimist society. The nobility of the country rancorously perse-
cuted in her the daughter of the Governor of Blaye.
It was not till some time afterwards, when the unbelievers were convinced by
irresistible testimony coming from the Duchess de Berry herself, that the Legitimist
society of Toulouse altered their former manner. It must be said that it became
quite lavish of unequivocal marks of esteem and sympathy to the innocent victim
of political passion.
180
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
I will give you a bit of news that will please you. The other day
I met the commissioners of the Lanouaille Society for the inspection
of trefoil. They told me they had found some much finer fields
than last year, and that next year there would be still finer and
more of them. You will be expected at the agricultural fêtes of
Lanouaille.
The Excideuil Society had a meeting to choose a young man
to send to the model farm at Grignan, to enjoy the advantage you
procure for him, as well as for our country. The choice fell on a
son of Martel, who seems intelligent and capable of profiting by it.
I beg of you to convey my respects to Mdme. Bugeaud, and the
assurance of my unlimited devotion.
CHAVOIX.
The Agathe left Bordeaux on the 8th June, but
did not reach Palermo till July 5. The following is
General Bugeaud's despatch, written on board the
vessel, and giving Marshal Soult an account of
his mission.
GENERAL BUGEAUD TO THE President oF COUNCIL, &c.
Roads of Palermo, 5 July, 1833.
SIR, I write to you before landing. A brig is reported making
sail, believed to be French. I wish to take the chance, intending to
send you a report of the landing and anything I learn in another
letter or the end of this one.
Our passage was much hindered by contrary winds or calms.
The Duchess de Berry was in perfect health; the terrible,
frightful chest disease talked of did not make her cough once; her
daughter improved a good deal.
As soon as she was in the ship the Duchess's manners to me, my
aide-de-camp, and M. Ménière, changed completely. She put us
aside with an affectation savouring of childishness, and implying
pettiness of spirit. She forgot our care and respect while she was
a captive at Blaye, and behaved to us almost as if we had been
cruel gaolers. For the sake of opposition, and in order to make us
the more feel the sting of her conduct, she was excessively polite
to all the naval men, and even went so far as to take the arm of
a simple midshipman. And she has just given a gratuity of twenty
days' pay to the whole crew.

THE BIRTH.
181
Seeing her formal intention of mortifying me, I retired upon
my own dignity, and contented myself with asking her how she
did once a-day.
The captain of the French brig, M. Nolette, corvette captain,
which lay in the roads yesterday, has come on board. He informs
us that the governors of Naples and Palermo have not been warned
of the arrival of the Duchess de Berry; that the French consul
is equally ignorant, and nothing is prepared for the Princess's
reception. Count Lucchesi only reached Palermo last night.
As the brig is immediately starting for Toulon, I close my
letter without being able to give you any further information.
Receive, sir, &c.
BUGEAUD.
At the same time as he wrote to Paris, General
Bugeaud addressed a letter to the French consul,
desiring him to obtain a report of the Princess's
landing from the Neapolitan authorities.
*
*
*
It is my duty to procure a document from the Sicilian autho-
rities, attesting the landing of the Duchess de Berry and her infant
at Palermo. No doubt the minister, as well as myself, counts
upon your amicable relations with them to obtain it. But, I
think, the utmost expedition will also be required.
If we
let the Duchess land before we demand the acknowledgment,
before the paper is prepared, and even signed, we shall not get it.
The Duchess has a great dread of giving the smallest paper that the
Government might make advantageous use of. Thus, in my opinion,
this request must immediately be made to the proper quarter; and,
if assented to, the document must be prepared and signatures pro-
cured, so that it may be handed to me at the moment of landing.
In the excitement of the moment a thing will not be refused,
that they might make difficulties about afterwards.'
It appears that the request was complied with, as
there is a formal letter to the General from the Prince
of Campo Formio, dated 5th July, and reporting the
landing of the Duchess and her infant on that day in
good health.
182
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
General Bugeaud did not stay long at Palermo,
and was delighted to begin his return journey to
France. Doctor Ménière, one of the persons named
by the Duchess de Berry herself, to accompany her
to Palermo, remained some time in Sicily. There is
a very curious letter written to the General by the
doctor, giving some remarkable information not
hitherto made public, as to the attitude of the court
of Naples towards the Princess.
DOCTOR MÉNIÈre to General Bugeaud, AT EXCIDEUIL.
Naples, 27th July, 1833.
MY DEAR GENERAL,- Perhaps you will think I have been
rather slow in keeping my promise, but hear my story and you will
forgive me.
Almost as soon as I had landed I found that it would be difficult
for me to leave the country as soon as I had intended. The feast of
Saint Rosalie was to commence on the 11th and last five days; the
steamer's arrangements were only for leaving Palermo on the 19th or
20th, and I found myself fixed in Sicily for a fortnight. That did
not please me at all. Having settled myself as well as I could in
this country of savages, in four or five days' time I went to pay a
visit to M. Deneux, who, as well as the abbé, was quartered in the
Butera Palace with the Duchess. I found the doctor not much
enchanted with his habitation; his little almost unfurnished room
was contiguous to that of the women, and the dear man sighed. It
is true that he had the honour of eating at the table of the Countess
Lucchesi, and he might have been gratified with this especial favour
if the cookery of Palermo had been as good as that of Blaye or the
Agathe, but he could not eat any of their infernal ragouts, and was
not long before he became ill. While I was conversing with him
Madame Hansler came to say that the Princess wished to see me.
I passed into the room of the two ladies of the bedchamber, and in a
few moments the Duchess came in, skipping as usual, half dressed,
and in a very good humour. She asked me twenty questions at
once, where I was living, if I liked Palermo, &c. She told me of
her daughter and M. Lucchesi. All this seemed to be natural enough.
When I took leave of her I made my adieus, but she told me that
she greatly hoped that I should not go away without coming to see her
again. This is the historical side. Now for the chapter of gossip.
THE BIRTH.
183
At home the Princess is only a countess, and everything is arranged
on the footing of a private person. At the Viceroy's palace she has
a small set of rooms as a Royal Highness, but this subtle distinction
was only established after a long negotiation. There was a gala at
the court on the occurrence of the queen-mother's fête. It was on
this occasion that the masters of the ceremonies were embarrassed, and
many personages did not choose to attend the kissing of hands. The
fact is that the public voice is against the marriage. In the great
world they find it hard to swallow. The Duchess goes out a great
deal; she takes exercise most evenings upon the Marina, a beautiful
promenade on the sea-shore. She has beside her Madame de Beaufre-
mont, and on the front of the carriage is her husband, flanked by
MM. de Ménars and de Beaufremont. An outrider precedes the
equipage. I have seen her rooms, they are nice; the gentleman's
are next, but to say the truth communication is possible. Nota bene,
the bolts are on her side. In fine, the husband always looks cold, as
you saw him on board the Agathe.
On consideration of departure there were a number of different
opinions. Every day there was a different arrangement. So M.
Deneux, the abbé, and I had engaged our three places in the steam-
boat. Next day these gentlemen engaged a fourth for Madame
Hansler; another day they countermanded this place, as Madame
Hansler was to stay till the end of the month. Later, Madame
Hansler and the little girl's nurse were to come with us; even the
she-goat was put on board. Next day this plan was quite given up.
The fact is that the Duchess wanted to go to Naples, then to Rome,
and then to Prague, passing through northern Italy. I should tell
you that at the steam-boat office the nurse had been described as
Madame Portier, nurse, and her child.' A passport was wanted
for the child as it is a Sicilian, and then came the difficulties. It
seems that the Duchess had been told that she could not go to Naples,
nor into Italy. It is even stated that the Court of Austria refused
to allow her to travel to her father-in-law, King Charles X.
On the 19th I went to pay my adieus to the Princess. Madame
de Ménars announced me, introduced me to Madame, and I had
quite a solemn audience. I found all the faces long, M. Deneux
quite red, Madame Hansler crying with sorrow at not going, &c., &c.
As I passed the nurse I caressed little Anna, nursed her in my arms
and kissed her, telling her that I loved her almost as much as if I
was her father. The nurse told me,' She would be very happy to
have a father like you, poor petita !'
This, my dear General, is all I can tell you about this interesting
matter. My stay in Palermo has been long, but I have gained some
good by it. I have seen many people. I have been called in
184
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
consultation by people of the first flight. I have been asked many
questions, and it was not difficult to see the feeling that pervaded
this curiosity. The unbelievers are numerous. I have had to give
the lie to many absurd reports. For instance, it is said that the
Duchess had shown on her wrists the print of the fetters she had
worn at Blaye. I was very sorry for the haste of your departure.
You could have remained here without the least inconvenience.
When things are observed from far, curious judgments are made.
The General, the Deputy, would have eclipsed all the little court of
Butera, and the public would have been on your side. I have been
received in several great houses by personages who had refused to go
to the palace. Ladies did not choose to meet our princess, who
seems to me not to have gained much by her change of condition.
If she is obliged to remain here, I think that she will find means to
escape.
Adieu, my dear General, I cannot form wishes for you, what do
you want at Excideuil or La Durantie? Keep a kind recollection of
me, for you owe me this for the real attachment that I have for you.
Forget my freaks, contradictions, and ill-humour. All that is out-
side; the structure I can venture to say is better, and I hope you
thought so. Allow me to present my respects to Madame Bugeaud,
and to wish her good health. I send a most affectionate embrace to
my comrade Marie and the dear Drondron. Be good enough
to remember me to your sisters, and generally to your whole family
and friends, whom I have had the advantage of knowing at Blaye.
I do not forget dear Saint-Arnaud.
Believe me always your devoted servant,
MÉNIÈRE.
I have not sent to M. Argout the gossip I forward you. If
you have anything to tell me, write to Florence, poste restante.

CHAPTER XVII.
POLITICS-DUEL (1833-4).
General Bugeaud's Return-Confidences to friends on the Paris and Country
Press-Session of 1833-The Deputy of Excideuil, his Aversion for Journalists-
The Duel with Dulong―The Newspapers-Insurrections in Paris and Lyons,
1834-Story of the Rue Transnonnain-Bugeaud's Generosity-Letter to the
Minister, Colonel Charras.
GENERAL BUGEAUD, on leaving Palermo, went direct
to Paris, where he had to give the King's Govern-
ment an account of the delicate and difficult duty
that had been entrusted to him. A few days after-
wards he returned to his dear Périgord, where his
family and friends were impatiently expecting him.
A letter to his friend Gardère shows how sensitive he
was to the attacks of the press.
GENERAL BUGEAUD TO M. GARDÈRE, AT BORDEAUX.
Excideuil, 3rd August, 1833.
The information you give me, my dear Gardère, about the fêtes
at Paris has pleased me much. I have learnt to distrust the odious
press so much that I only believe what an honest man says, who
is no journalist. I even distrust the Ministerial press. If only
every Frenchman thought the same as I do about journalists, they...
would no longer be dangerous, and soon obliged to change their
manners. What a horrible despotism is that of the pamphleteers!
Was that of the barons, kings, and Jesuits, ever comparable with it?
Did they ever-possess this horrible power of vilification and perpetual
calumny? Did they order the post of the kingdom every day to
carry out the poison of sophistry and falsehood all over France?
The press first makes you mad and savage, then makes you
slaves and wretched. And yet how is this hydra to be fought?
----
186
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
We could not seek to return to censorship without great risk.
All
the world has not yet seen the monster's horns and claws. To for-
bid attacks upon the principles of government would be a worthless
palliative.
نالد
I only see two remedies: the vote without deliberation for the
jury, and the press itself to fight the press. This last method, to be
effectual, ought to be made use of by the citizens and not by the
Government. Besides that, it has not money enough to do the
business, all its writings are considered tainted by the men who
ought to be attracted. It is for rich men, friends of order, to
associate themselves for the extension of the press in all cities, in all
the provinces, and most of all in Paris, where newspapers can be
compiled better than anywhere, and distributed all over France.
Would it be difficult to get together ten societies of this kind in Paris,
composed of fifty or sixty members, who would dedicate a capital
to this, and find its interest and liquidation in the improvement of
public thought, and the greater movement of business?
These societies should flood France with cheap papers, well com-
posed and interesting on all subjects. There should be attempts by
all possible means to gain, and especially to buy, the good writers of
the factions. This would be a double victory, for war would be
carried on by means of the enemy's soldiers.
I beg you, my friend, to think seriously of this, and speak to
your acquaintances of it. Is it not better to devote money to such
an enterprise, and to take some trouble, than to be perpetually
exposed to having to go out into the streets, and fire shots.
I do not tell you about my voyage, it would take too long. At
last everything went well. I handed over the Duchess and her daughter
at Palermo in good health, and I got a receipt given me by M. de
Campo Formio, father of Count Lucchesi. The King sent me his
compliments through his Ministers of the Interior and War.
they performed their duty in the most flattering manner.

And
My fellow-citizens were preparing at Excideuil to come out in
cavalcade to meet me, but I surprised them by coming a day too
soon. Disappointed in this plan, they gave me a serenade and some
improvised fireworks. All the juste milieu and all the people were
there, with some Republicans, naturally not a single Carlist. That
party holds me in detestation, and I return it, though less blind and
better grounded in my hate.
Adieu, my dear Gardère, &c.
BUGEAUD.
The General's confidences to his prefect, M.
POLITICS-DUEL.
187
Mourgues, are not less interesting. From the year
1831, General Bugeaud had been deputy and member
of the general council of Excideuil. The interests
of his department lay very close to his heart, and
the prefect M. Mourgues had become a friend of his.
The young editor of the official newspaper of the
prefecture alluded to in this letter was no other than
the great writer, Louis Veuillot, who afterwards went
with the General into Africa as his secretary.
GENERAL BUGEAUD TO THE PREFECT DE LA DORDogne.
Excideuil, 2 October, 1833.
It is still me, my dear M. Mourgues. You will take me for the
greatest beggar in France; but in reality what else is a deputy, who
has the great reputation of having a little credit ? Must he not
devote his whole life to begging?
We have destroyed the proceedings of the old court, the titled
minions, the favourites, the ruling courtesans, the confessor's power.
But when intrigue and ambition left the Tuileries and Versailles,
they split into innumerable bits and invaded towns and country.
Well, considering this, we are wrong to fear a republic, for the
smallest post will have a thousand candidates. The love of place
and selfishness rule almost all actions; they preside at the elec-
tion of a deputy, form the opposition, and swell the majority.
It was well worth forty years of declamation against the corruption
of courts to succeed in spreading it over the whole social body!
Formerly it was located like a distemper; now it is universal like the
cholera. It is no doubt a tool of government, and perhaps the
establishment of ours is so difficult, in consequence of the medley
of virtue and corruption to be observed in our parliament.
A large corrupt majority under a dexterous minister could do the
work of the country well. It is cruel to say it, but it is a fact.
*
*
*
*
*
*
I hope that our newspaper will make a good success; I have
procured a good number of subscriptions for it. It seems to me to
be a want in the political moral force of the department. One is so
weary of exaggeration, falsehood, and calumny. I advise our editor
to make extracts from the best papers, mentioning the source, which
he does not do, and some of the maddest articles of the Courrier,
National, Tribune, and Corsair, with a little commentary.
Of the gods whom we serve behold the difference
188
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
The Figaro is a paper little known in the department, there are
sometimes very sharp articles that might enliven the Memorial.
Your affectionate and devoted
BUGEAUD.
The General returned to Paris at the end of
autumn, 1833, for the session of the Chambers, and, as
usual with him, took an active part in parliamentary
work. All the questions that closely or distantly
touched upon the army were handled by him. As he
had a perfect knowledge of all the things he discussed,
the Chamber always listened to him, and never
failed to form a clearer opinion from his words.
Utopias of government, and revolutionary theories,
found a passionate opponent in him. His frankness,
his good sense, the boldness of his notions and
opinions exasperated the opposition journals.
A biographer of the Marshal, M. Bezancenetz,
wrote in 1851, 'to one and another he spoke his
thoughts with a distinctness and sometimes roughness
of speech, that very speedily placed him under the
ban of that liberal press, falsely so called, but which
he so truly characterised, pleasantly calling them "the
aristocracy of the inkbottle." Even before the General's
actions had caused him to be outlawed by the opposi-
tion journalists, they, perceiving that they had to meet
an adversary who would make neither peace nor truce
with them, declared against him one of those infuri-
ated wars of public writers against politicians, in which
it is very rare that the latter escape defeat. The
heavy guns and the light artillery of the opposition
press were directed against him. His life was
scrutinised to discover ground for calumny, his words
were travestied, his intentions were incriminated: the
rallying word was sent all round, and they hoped to
X
2.
**
POLITICS-DUEL.
189
6
get the better of him by ridicule, intimidation, or
calumny. This time the journalists' calculations
turned out wrong. They had attacked a man who
did not respect the fourth power of the state,
and who was but little affected by their attacks.'
(In this we think the biographer mistaken.) The
deputy of Excideuil let the papers talk, and marched.
none the less firmly along the straight path he had
entered upon, not seeking but not avoiding occasions
of expressing his whole thoughts upon the tyranny
that some men claim to exercise over the whole
country in the name of liberty.'
On the 25th of January in a discussion of the war
estimates, one of the most outrageous opposition
deputies, M. Dulong, having insolently addressed
General Bugeaud, he took notice of the words. A
retraction made in the beginning having been with-
drawn, a meeting took place. The event was fatal,
the General's adversary received a ball full in his face.
This event caused an immense amount of exaspera-
tion, especially as M. Dulong was a natural son of
M. Dupont de l'Eure, one of the venerated chiefs of
the opposition.
We have extracted some significant particulars
from the papers of the time. However, the most
precious document, certainly, is the letter given below,
written by the General to one of his old comrades,
M. Fayant, commandant of the veterans in the
country.
This letter, begun before the meeting and finished
the day after the duel, gives an account of the unlucky
adventure. This simple narrative, without boasting
or passion, but also without hypocritical regrets or false
sentiment, well displays the General's character.

190
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
GENERAL BUGEAUD TO CAPTAIN FAYANT.
Paris, 28 January, 1834.
MY DEAR FAYANT, The minister has given me a formal
promise that you shall be in the first list of nominations to the Legion
of Honour as an officer. General Schneyder has told me that the
papers are ready.
I regret very much that you have got your head stuck among
these veterans; it was your own choice, otherwise you would have
been chef-de-bataillon more than a year ago. But I advise you to
take your retirement soon; it will be almost as good as that of a
chef-de-bataillon, and then, perhaps, we have to fear a modification
of the law of 11th April, 1831.
You have had disagreeables, troubles, and annoyances, in your
position. Well! I can tell you my position is not pleasant. I have
no time to eat or drink. I am assailed everywhere by millions of
petitioners; besides, there is the Chamber, and that alone is work
enough to do; then my brigade, and you may judge how I am
engaged.
30th January.I have just had an affair. In the sitting of the
25th, I said from my place to Larabit, 'We obey first, and
remonstrate afterwards.' M. Dulong shouted to me from his place,
Does obedience go so far as to make you turn gaoler?'
I went to him to demand satisfaction for this affront. He
excused himself, but imperfectly. I said to him To-morrow.
Next day he consented to write a letter to the Journal des Débats,
the only paper that had reported the outrage, Next day the letter
did not appear, I learnt that he had withdrawn it. A fresh explana-
tion was indispensable. I very soon understood that the bousingots
had persuaded him to withdraw his explanation, and stirred him up
to fight. I insisted on the letter or a meeting. They would not
make any concession took their hour and chose the sword.
Dulong's seconds would not accept it at all. Well, gentlemen, we
will each fire a pistol-shot, and take the sword if there is no result.'
The same obstinate refusal. I proposed successively two pistol-
shots and the sword, the sabre, the musket, and on their refusal of
everything, in derision, the cudgel. At last wearied with such a long
discussion, I said, 'Well, gentlemen, since the offended party must
make all the concessions, I will fight with the pistol till one or other
falls.'
;
Yesterday at ten in the morning we met in the Bois de Boulogne ;
we were placed at thirty paces, with liberty to advance upon one.
another up to twenty. I aimed at him twice to draw his fire, but
without result; on reaching the barrier I thought it prudent to take
POLITICS-DUEL.
191
!
the first shot, having a very good weapon. When I had lowered my
pistol in the line of his nose as far as his cravat, I fired, before I
intended, and hit him in the head. He fell straight down, and
breathed till this morning at six o'clock.
The
The unhappy man was the most insolent one of the left. If
that was fate, it was better it should fall there than elsewhere.
gods have been just; you see how he insulted me!
Thad expressly asked for an increase of salary for your son and
the little Desramières: I am informed that Desramières alone has
obtained it on account of his good notes. I shall urge it again
for you.
Your friend,
S
BUGEAUD.
The Messager of the 30th January, 1834, thus
reports the occurrence:
'A fatal meeting took place this morning in the Bois de
Boulogne, at the Rond-point du Cèdre, between M. Dulong, deputy,
and his colleague, General Bugeaud. The weapon arranged was the
pistol.
The seconds of M. Dulong were MM. Georges Lafayette and
Colonel César Bacot. Those of M. Bugeaud were General de
Rumigny and Colonel Lamy.
"The two adversaries were placed at forty paces. They advanced
upon one another, both holding their pistols presented. They had'
not taken more than about a couple of steps each, when General
Bugeaud fired. M. Dulong fell at the shot, the ball having struck
the brim of M. Dulong's hat above the left eyebrow, entered the
head, and not come out again.
'M. Dulong was bled upon the spot by M. Jules Cloquet, and
conveyed to his home, rue Castiglione, in a carriage by M. Georges
Lafayette. At two o'clock he was again bled more copiously, but
the severity of his wound left little hope.
All friends and colleagues of M. Dulong who had been informed
of this deplorable event, made a point of meeting by his bed of
suffering. Arrangements were made to send information by
express to M. Dupont de l'Eure, the relation and best friend of
M. Dulong, and to send him a letter, written by the latter, under a
presentiment of the unhappy event.'
The cause of the duel arose from the circumstances
thus given in the Journal des Débats:
192
MARSHAL BUGEAUD
Marshal Soult.—A soldier must obey.
M. Larabit. The President of the Council reminds me of the
duty of obedience; I recognise it; but when a man is in the right,
and attempts are made to make him recede from it, gentlemen, he
should renounce his obedience.
Many Voices.-Never, never.
General Bugeaud. Obedience first.
M. Dulong, through the noise.-Is obedience to go so far as to
make a man to become a gaoler? (Disturbance.) So far as igno-
miny? (Noise, disturbance.)
In consequence of the explanations to which this
inaccurate report had given rise, M. Dulong had
written a letter intended for insertion in the Journal
des Débats, but on the Monday evening the Bulletin
Ministériel gave the following account:
'The Journal des Débats reported yesterday an insulting expres-
sion addressed by M. Dulong to the honourable General Bugeaud.
To-day it was said in the Chamber that the General had demanded
satisfaction, and required M. Dulong to write a letter to appear
to-morrow in the Journal des Débats.
The manner in which M. Dulong's proceeding was represented.
in this note induced the Honourable Deputy to recall his letter to
General Bugeaud, and place himself at his disposition. Thus this
note had caused a resumption of the quarrel.
(
However, yesterday again General Bugeaud had stated that he
would accept any explanation agreed upon by the seconds. Un-
fortunately, it appears that there was a determination to make this
discussion a party matter.
'At two o'clock MM. Lafayette and Bacot proceeded to the
Tuileries, to withdraw the letter, that M. Dulong had at first
written, from the hands of M. de Rumigny. But that gentleman
there declared to them that the letter had been burnt by him in the
King's presence. The written statement of the destruction of the
letter was signed by M. Bugeaud.
The deplorable issue of this encounter gives prominence to the
senselessness of parliamentary duels, and the odium attaching to the
conduct of those who added venom to the affair.
What, indeed, does this blood shed for the honour of M.
Bugeaud, prove? Was he any the less the agent in command of
the guard of an illegal captivity? The name of gaoler was not
POLITICS-DUEL.
193
correct, that is true, but why? Because this name is that which
the law gives to the legal custodians of prisoners, because it is inappli-
cable to the man who undertook functions, that being illegal have
no name in any language. The blood of M. Dulong does not wash
away anything.
All the republican journals, the Tribune, the
National, and others, whose articles had conduced
to this fatal meeting, had endeavoured, with such
sincerity as is their universal characteristic, to
embitter the quarrel, and make the Tuileries play an
odious part. One of them, namely, the Tribune, thus
concluded its article:-
19PC
Thus all hangs in one system.
Between citizens, civil war;
between private persons, duels. Do you not see blood everywhere?
You wear a general's uniform, you stain it by a gaoler's work.
There will come a day when you will be reproached for the stain,
and then you will fight and kill or be killed; and that nothing may
be wanting, your journals will stimulate, the aides-de-camp will
serve for seconds, and the chief of the state will be the depository of
the documents, and will burn them.
And all this was done à propos to the one question where the law
was broken beforehand, where its whole artillery has been insulted
by a minister's caprice.
Is this infamy enough? There is a court ball to-night.
*
*
*
*
The obsequies of M. Dulong have been performed to-day, and
will be for ever remarkable for the generous sympathy and the
display of wisdom exhibited by the population of Paris on the
occasion.
From daybreak the capital presented the appearance of a vast
camp along the whole line, from the Champs Elysées to Père La
Chaise. The whole crowd was on foot. The rues de Rivoli and
Castiglione were full of municipal guards and town police in squads,
and of those persons, known by their appearance and their bearing,
who make up the brigades of the secret police. Some pieces of
artillery had been marched along the streets and boulevards; it
was known that they were loaded with grape, and the lighted
matches carried with them showed plainly enough the determination
to make use of them.
All this parade of force did not intimidate anyone, and happily did
not also give rise to the exasperation that is often caused by the useless
VOL. I.
U
194
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
display of hostile forces. The admirable population of the capi-
tal (it is admirable to all eternity, that population), filled all the
district around the house of death, and all roads the company were
to traverse. Cries of Vive Lafayette' could be heard all along
the line.
MM. de Salverte, Cabet, Tardieu, Langlois, Carrel, and Dupont,
made patriotic and affecting speeches over the grave of the repre-
sentative of the people.
Tribune, 3rd February, 1834.
The Duke de Broglie and the Count d'Argout
having left the Ministry in the month of February,
M. Thiers resumed the portfolio of the Interior.
A short time afterwards (April, 1834) the terrible
insurrection of Lyons broke out, only preceding by
a few days a fresh armed rising at Paris. It seems
to us desirable, when recalling these events, to bring
in the testimony of a historian who cannot possibly
be accused of partiality for the Monarchy of July,
we mean M. Louis Blanc.
Without doubt we are far from wishing to excuse
the melancholy events that attended the repression of
the disturbance in these unholy days, when the soldiers,
fired upon from the windows, took upon themselves
to make terrible reprisals. But, alas! is it not prin-
cipally upon the men who had publicly enunciated
this maxim, 'Insurrection is the most holy of duties,'
that history should lay the responsibility of the blood
shed, the massacres of the Cordeliers of Lyons, of the
Faubourg Vaise, and the house, No. 12, rue Trans-
nonnain ?
This is the commencement of the cynical account
of those terrible days, the 13th and 14th of April,
1834, ingenuously given by M. Louis Blanc :-
However, orders were given (by the Committee of the Society of
the Rights of Man) to several of the sectionaries to go into the public
POLITICS-DUEL.
195
ways, to remain there a moment in a discreet attitude, and then to
disappear. They were told, 'It is not intended to commence the
attack, it is intended to pervade the air with an agitation that will
show what is the disposition of the people.' This order was ill
understood or ill executed. On Sunday, the 13th, in the rues Beau-
bourg, Geoffroy-Langevin, Aubry-le-Boucher, aux Ours, Trans-
nonnain, Maubuée, Grenier-Saint-Lazare, barricades were built by a
handful of excited men, whose ardour, it seems certain, was per-
fidiously stimulated by police agents. (A matter of course.)
Everywhere prevailed the noise and preparation of arms, the
monotonous beat of the assembly, the cautious promenades of patrols,
horsemen hastening through the city bearing redoubtable messages.
For the Government thought it their duty to marshal all their re-
sources; it was with an army of nearly forty thousand men, it was
with the assistance of the National Guard of the suburbs mustered,
it was with thirty-six pieces of cannon, pointed on different sides,
that Generals Torton, Bugeaud, Rumigny, and De Lascours, prepared
to sustain the conflict.
The attack began about seven in the evening, and with it the
mourning of so many families. A staff-officer of the National
Guards, M. Baillot, fils, was carrying orders to the mayor's office of
the 12th arrondissement, and four chasseurs were with him; a ball
wounded him mortally. M. Chapuis, colonel of the 4th legion,
received a severe wound in the arm. Soldiers and insurgents fell
never to rise again; at least the strife was short. At nine o'clock
the fire died away, and the now inevitable capture of the barricades
that still cut off the rues Transnonnain, Beaubourg, and Mont-
morency, was deferred to the next day.'
LOUIS BLANC, Histoire de Dix Ans.
Here we find in the private notes of the Countess
Feray some important revelations on a fact which has
remained obscure, and which we think it right now
to completely clear up :-
What were our terrors during the risings of April, 1834! After
a long day, my father, who was in barracks at the Ecole Militaire,
came home, broken down with weariness and sorrow. He was in
despair at this struggle between Frenchmen. He had served as the
especial target of the rioters, who saw from afar his lofty stature and
brave white head. M. Thiers, curious to study on the spot the
military manœuvres he has afterwards so cleverly described, had
196
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
never left him, though pressed by him to do so. My father every
moment feared to see him struck by the balls that rained about
them.
T1871 M. Thiers, President of the Republic, again told me the
history of that day.
Next day my father was shocked to read the abominable account
of the affair in the rue Trausnonnain, where he was called, the
sharpshooter, and murderer of women and children. His eyes filled
with tears, and he said, 'Why this is dreadful; I, the best friend of
the lowly and the brave people!' My mother answered, ' An imme-
diate protest must be made, this accusation must not be left upon
your memory.' 'I cannot do it, I should appear to be accusing my
comrade. General de Lascours, commanding in that quarter, un-
happily, could not prevent his soldiers, when assassinated through
the loopholes of the cellars and the garret windows, from firing at the
houses whence came the shots. He will be sure to tell what took
place, and to exculpate me. You may be sure he will do so; it is
his duty; he need scarcely expect attack, as he is not like me, the
object of the journalists' dislike.'
General Lascours kept silence. And so, when my father saw my
mother and his sisters weeping at these cowardly insults, he serenely
said to them, 'My dears, I beg of you be calmer; do you think I do
not suffer? God was misunderstood, abused, covered with ingrati-
tude upon this earth. Have I the right to complain?' When I
think that this melancholy history is still made use of by the fanatics
of the Legitimist party, and the republicans, I think my father was
very generous.
Heaven guard us from wishing to disturb the
calm of history by sad and inopportune reminiscences;
but it may be allowable here to point out that in the
most serious events of his life Marshal Bugeaud had
to suffer cruelly, because he had been by the chances
of politics and discipline several times placed under
the orders, or by the side, of M. Thiers. Not to
mention the furious attacks and incessant abuse to
which the Marshal was exposed during his whole
life, in consequence of certain facts, how many persons
now still actually tack to his name the epithets of
gaoler of Blaye, executor of summary justice, execu-
POLITICS-DUEL.
197
tioner of Transnonnain! Now it is upon M. Thiers,
as Minister of the Interior, that rests the whole respon-
sibility of these two political actions, the arrest and
imprisonment of the Duchess de Berry, and, the
repression of the rising of 1834. By a singular mis-
conception, it is upon General Bugeaud alone that
the unpopularity has hitherto always pressed.
During the continuance of the reign of King
Louis-Philippe, Marshal Bugeaud abstained from
any recrimination, and disdained to justify himself in
respect of the conduct attributed to him in such an
undeserved fashion. It would have cost him much
to disclose an historical fact, that certainly had
nothing dishonourable about it in his eyes, but
was nevertheless painful to the General, under
whom it took place.
At last, when the revolution of 1848 had given
rise to the establishment of a new government, and
the incessant attacks began to be still heavier against
the supposed murderer of the rue Transnonnain, the
patience and resignation of the old Marshal of France
were exhausted. This eternal part of scape-goat was
burdensome to him, and for the first time he thought
it his duty to put an end to an odious and lying tale.
In these proud and indignant terms did the old
corporal of Austerlitz write to the War Minister of
the French Republic, who chanced to be Colonel
Charras :-
MARSHAL BUGEAUD TO THE WAR MINISTER, COLONEL CHARRAS.
Paris, 28 March, 1848.
CITIZEN MINISTER,-You are my natural refuge against a
calumny which grieves me and terrifies my family, for it appears in
newspapers, in motions at club meetings, in anonymous letters. It
198
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
is evident there is a desire to devote me to the rage of the people
of Paris, by the accusation that I ordered the massacre of the
rue Transnonnain in April, 1834! Well, sir, I did not go into that
street, nor did any fraction of the troops under my command. I
had under my orders the 32nd of the line, Colonel Duvivier, now a
general of division, and the 9th legion, Colonel Boutarel. It is easy
to institute an inquiry, and I request that it may be instantly set
on foot in order to put a stop to reports that revolt me. Yes, I was
willing to defend the laws of the country from attacks by violence
but to give orders for the slaying of old men, women, and children,
the very thought of it would have shocked me.

ܕ1
The man who has often felt the pure enthusiasm of a victory
over the foes of France could not descend to order barbarities. The
inquiry will prove that, far from showing ferocity, I delivered a
crowd of prisoners from ill-treatment. The National Guards of the
9th legion, who were in front of the Hôtel-de-Ville, can attest this,
and among others M. Gabis, captain and deputy.
After a long career of entire devotion to my country, after
having reduced the Arabs of the whole of Algeria to submission, I
was far from expecting to be attacked with so much violence and
injustice by men who make a profession of elevated patriotism.
Receive, &c.,
THOMAS BUGEAUD,
Marshal of France.
A ministerial crisis ensued upon the risings in
Paris and Lyons, and general elections took place in
the month of June, 1834. The events in which the
deputy for Excideuil had been engaged had caused
him to incur most ferocious hatred. However, he
came off victorious in the contest, and tells his friend
Gardère about it in the following terms :-
General BugeAUD TO M. GARDÈRE, at Paris.
Excideuil, 27 July, 1834.
I ought to have informed you instantly of my victory, my dear
Gardère; but I acknowledge that, amid the chaos of visits, of
congratulations, of dinners and breakfasts, I forgot it. You already
know that I defeated the two parties united against me with
POLITICS-DUEL.
199
wonderful determination and unity. All means, even the most vile,
have been tried to get rid of me.
To what a degree of political depravity has the press brought
us! Men most opposite in principles and manners united with the
object of overturning France, and casting her into the gulf of revolu-
tion. This is shocking! But the two oppositions, and especially
the Republican, are well punished. Almost everywhere are they
beaten. The Chamber will be excellent, and we can hope for better
days.
BUGEAUD.
This life of political and parliamentary strife, in
which this powerful organization and sturdy tempera-
ment was engaged, shortly came to a pause, and we
shall very soon find General Bugeaud in his proper
sphere, before the enemy, in Africa.
1
CHAPTER XVIII.
LANDING IN AFRICA (1836).
General Bugeaud in 1836-His portrait by Armand Marrast-Start for Africa-
State of the Colony-Disaster of Macta, 1835- Marshal Clauzel-Landing-
Bugeaud's commencement-Campaigning-Difficulties of the Road-Mustapha
Ben Ismael.
STREET-FIGHTING, the passionate struggles of Parlia-
ment, and the cowardly attacks of a disloyal press,
were far from wearying or crushing General Bugeaud's
energy, and had only steeled his determined soul.
And so in 1836, when he was summoned as a soldier
to take the command of a brigade in Africa, he dis-
played on this new theatre-really his own-all his
peculiar powers. He was fifty years old, his mind as
strong as his body. He is thus described by one
of his secretaries :- He was tall in stature, squarely
built, and uncommonly powerful; his face was
plump, and full of muscle, slightly marked with the
smallpox; highly coloured, eye light grey; piercing
glance, but softened in ordinary life by the expression
of kindly sympathy; nose slightly aquiline, mouth
rather large, lip thin and smiling. When his expres-
sion, with its frank and simple character, was suddenly
animated by the sudden passing of a thought, genius
lighted up his large and powerful forehead, crowned
with a very few hairs that rose in silvered spires.
Everything in him breathed the habit of command,
and the imperious carriage of a will sure of securing
LANDING IN AFRICA.
201
obedience. It was an iron nature, greedy of fatigue,
inaccessible to the infirmities of age, that should only
have vanished in the clouds of a field of battle.'
مجھے
His enemies his political adversaries-and
certainly they were numerous, did him justice. The
republican, Armand Marrast, President of the
Assembly of 1848, in a biography full of gall and
abuse of Deputy Bugeaud in his character of politi
cian, does not fail to judge impartially of the soldier.
He says, 'An active man, prompt at a blow, fashioned
in Spain by the Guerilla Wars, careful of the soldier,
watchful for his well-doing, popular with the troops
thanks to his barrack fellowship, savouring of the old
campaigner; brave also, and unsparing of himself,
Bugeaud, by the very speed of his movements, showed
he was better than any one at this nomade-hunting.
'However, we ought in justice to say that Bugeaud,
by his system of war, by his frequently rash expedi-
tions, always fortunate, by the intrepidity of his
actions, and, to use the expression, by the mobility
of his courage, consolidated our power in Algeria,
pacified several of its provinces, chased the Arabs to
the confines of the desert, gave some rude shocks to
the prestige Abdel-Kader enjoyed, and prepared for
the future the germs of a serious and productive
colonization.'
When General Bugeaud received orders from the
War Minister to proceed to Algeria, the French
possessions in the north of Africa were placed under
the government of Marshal Clauzel, who had for the
second time been invested with that high office on
8 July, 1835.
Public opinion, or rather public malice, then loudly
imputed to the King and his Government a secret
प्रै
202
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
intention of relinquishing the new conquests, in
despair of holding them with profit.
The country and the Chambers were divided
between two systems: the one consisted in giving
violent shocks to the Arab mind by successive
expeditions, and giving up such half-measures as
paralyse or ruin all enterprises; the other lay in
erecting fortifications and powerful establishments in
certain selected places of the territory, ruling and
pacifying at the same time.
The honour of planting the banner of France
on the soil of Africa belongs to the Restoration.
General de Bourmont had landed at Sidi-Feruch on
14th of June, 1830. Algiers capitulated on the
5th of July, and the Dey of Algiers received permis-
sion to relinquish his states. Some days afterwards
King Louis-Philippe succeeded King Charles X., and
so the Orleans dynasty found itself beneficial heir to
the last victories of the elder house of the Bourbons.
In spite of the jealousy and discontent of England,
the new government did not hesitate to keep this
glorious conquest of the Restoration-not, however,
without serious difficulties, and the opposition of a
notable portion of the nation. The destinies
Algeria were long uncertain. The advantages and
importance of this magnificent possession were little
understood in France. The most various, the most
contradictory, the most strange opinions were uttered
in the Chambers. The partisans of limited occupa-
tion, and even of relinquishment, were numerous.
of
On another side the French Cabinet were pre-
vented by anxieties arising from the state of Europe
and domestic troubles from receiving much benefit
through this important colony.
LANDING IN AFRICA.
203
The first years of the French dominion in Algeria
were both painful and barren, and the selection of
generals deplorable. The five or six years succeeding
the conquest comprised a period of experiment.
Opinion in France, and even in the nascent colony,
was undecided. There were doubts between total or
restricted occupation, between peace or war, between
conquest by arms or by ideas, by the influence of
civilization! There had been a moment's thought of
granting the Algerian provinces to the son of the Bey
of Tunis to rule under one suzerainty. Native beys.
had been tried without success.
The Duke of Rovigo,* formerly Police Minister
under Napoleon, almost the only one among the earlier
governors who gave indications of initiative, and of
energetic qualities, had died suddenly. Under General
Voirol, who succeeded in 1833 to the temporary
Governor d'Avizard, General Desmichels, command-
ing the province of Oran, had signed a treaty with
Abdel-Kader on the 26th February, 1834,† the spirit
* Savary.
+ Some months ago, having reached the African period in the life of Marshal
Bugeaud, I conceived the notion of making application to the Emir, Abdel-Kader,
and asking him his opinion of his illustrious conqueror. My letter to the Emir
and his reply were these :—
MOST VALIANT EMIR,-I have collected some precious documents, hitherto
almost unknown, concerning Marshal Bugeaud, he who was your illustrious adver-
sary, against whom you fought so long and so gloriously.
I have given the account of his youth and employment under the great chief the
Emperor Napoleon I. There now remain to be made known his doings in Africa,
his numerous combats with the children of the desert and of the mountain.
Therefore I address a request to you. I ask you to describe, in a few words,
your whole and sincere opinion of the great soldier by whom it was the will of God
that you should be conquered, and who has long been slumbering in the tomb.
If you grant me this peculiar favour, I shall be thankful to you, for your words
are true and your judgments equitable. I shall be thankful to you, for the words
that issue from your mouth will have a great authority with the men of to-day and
those who live to-morrow.
I send you the salutations and respect due to those who have spent many years
on the earth, and have performed glorious actions.
Paris, 6th October, 1881.
HENRY D'IDEVILLE.
!
204
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
of which was to substitute for the Turkish rule, that
had formerly embraced the whole country, an Arab
To his Lordship the noble character the Honourable Count HENRY D'IDEVILLE.
Praise to God, &c.--Having presented to you our salutations, we inform you
that on receipt of your letter it was exceedingly agreeable to us to learn that you
have undertaken to publish all the facts relating to the life of our friend, General
Fugeaud, who made war upon us with such remarkable courage and perseverance.
It was especially when we met him face to face at the Tafna that we were able to
appreciate his political ability, as well as his military qualities. On that occasion
we recognised all the genius and kindness that was in him. He was a worthy
representative of the great nation. Submissive to the decrees of God, we have
surrendered our sabre to that nation, after a lengthened strife upon the fields of
battle. We are happy to do justice to Marshal Bugeaud, and congratulate you on
the subject of the book you have undertaken to write, also conveying to you our
especial esteem.
The sincere friend,
Damascus, 8 Techerine-Tani (November, 1881).
ABDEL-KADER EL HUSSEIN.
The most redoubtable adversary that France encountered in Algeria, the man
who, for sixteen years of heroic conflicts, fought for his faith and the independence
of his country, Abdel-Kader is undoubtedly the most remarkable and important
personage that has arisen for a century among the Mussulman populations.
Marshal Soult said in 1843, 'There are now only three men in the world who
may legitimately be called great, and all these belong to Islam. They are Abdel-
Kader, Mehemet Ali, and Schamyl.'
The life of our illustrious enemy is little known in France.
Lui, le Sultan né sous les palmes,
Le compagnon des lions roux,
Le Hadji farouche aux yeux calmes,
L'Emir pensif, féroce et doux !
Abdel-Kader was born about the end of the year 1806, at the Ghetna of Sidi-
Mahiddin, near Mascara, in the territory of Hachem, province of Oran. Gifted
with remarkable energy, an eloquence and power of attraction that it was difficult
to resist, he had only to come upon the scene to subjugate wills and conquer
hearts. He was small in stature, well proportioned, and excelled in all exercises
of the body. His glance, piercing and gentle, was hard to bear.
Abdel-Kader's father, the Marabout Mahiddin, of the tribe of Hachem, was
greatly reverenced by the Arabs, and, as a Marabout, enjoyed a great reputa-
tion for sanctity. When the tribes round Mascara desired in 1832 to recognise him
as supreme chief, he refused that honour, and offered the place to his young son
Abdel-Kader. Having inherited his father's popularity, he was accepted. Old
Mahiddin on this occasion related that, being on pilgrimage to Mecca some years
before with his eldest son and Abdel-Kader, one day that he was out walking with
the first he met an old fakir, who gave him three apples, telling him, 'That is for
you, that is for your son here, and the third is for the Sultan.' 'Who is the
Sultan?' asked Mahiddin. 'He,' answered the fakir, 'whom you left at home when
you came to walk here.'
This legend, most religiously believed in by the partisans of Abdel-Kader, con-
tributed to the consolidation of his power and fortune.
Thenceforward the life of Abdel-Kader is identified with the history of the con-
quest of Algeria. During those long years he alone held our troops in check; pro-
LANDING IN AFRICA.
205
kingdom in the interior, and a French occupation of a
certain number of 'presides' on the coasts.
phet and warrior, by turns he preached a holy war and fought step by step against
the invaders.
We omit all the events of the war-the capture of the Smalah in 1843, and
the numerous campaigns, to come to the fatal conclusion. Having surrendered
himself into the hands of General Lamoricière, the 22nd of December, 1847, the
Emir was conducted to the Duke d'Aumale, and spoke thus: 'I should have
desired to do sooner what I am doing to-day; I awaited the hour appointed by
God. The General has pledged me a word that I trust. I have no fear that it
will be violated by the son of a great monarch like the King of the French.'
Next day, as the prince was returning from a review, the ex-Sultan presented
himself on horseback, and, surrounded by his principal chiefs, dismounted a few
paces from the Duke d'Aumale.
'I offer you,' said he, this horse, the last I have ridden; it is an evidence of
my gratitude, and I hope it may bring you happiness.'
The prince replied, 'I accept it, in the name of France, whose protection shall
for the future cover you, as a mark of oblivion of the past.'
The 25th of December, 1847, the Emir, his family, and some servants, were
embarked in the frigate Asmodée, and conveyed to Toulon.
The convention made with General Lamoricière, ratified by the Duke d'Aumale,
according to which the Emir was to be taken to Saint Jean d'Acre or to Alexandria,
was about to be put in execution when the miserable revolution of February
destroyed the throne of Louis-Philippe.
The Emir understood that mischief was to be apprehended. He said to Colonel
Daumas, attached to his person and interned with him in Fort Lamalgue, 'Here is
a Sultan, announced to be powerful, who had contracted alliances with many other
sovereigns, who had a numerous family, who was quoted for his experience! Three
days have been enough to dethrone him. And you do not wish me to be convinced
that there is no other power, no other truth than that of God! Believe me, the
earth is but carrion, do:s only can fight for it.'
It was in vain that the Einir caused a warin and pressing address claiming the
liberty promised him by the generals and the son of the King to be forwarded to the
members of the Provisional Government. The Republic kept hin prisoner at Pau
and Amboise, contrary to the promise of the King's government. The Prince-
President restored his liberty in 1852. He sailed for Broussa, and is now in retire-
ment at Damascus. It was there in the month of June, 1860, he nobly seconded
the proceedings of Christian France by actively engaging in the defence of the
Maronites against the Druses. Abdel-Kader came to France at the time of the
exhibition of 1867, and has not since quitted Syria, where he is surrounded with
the respect and reverence of all Mussulmans and all Christians.
Abdel-Kader stimulated fanaticism, but was always free from it himself, and
the best proof is in his action at Damascus. I myself consider that a remarkable
point in his character, not yet sufficiently brought into prominence, is his admirable
resignation when conquered, and his impregnable fidelity to his word and oath,
his keeping faith. Notwithstanding favourable opportunities, and the incessant
instigations from his co-believers, for more than thirty years the Emir has refused
to resume the contest against France. God not having allowed him to be
victor, the Mussulman has broken his sword, the faithful believer has bent
head and knee before the fatal decree.
206
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
By this treaty the Emir Abdel-Kader had obtained
the right to appoint residential agents in Oran and
Mostaganem, they remaining French cities; recipro-
cally, a French officer was to reside in the Arab capital,
Mascara. Arzew remained to the Emir.
There was
freedom of trade, even in powder and arms. The con-
tracting parties promised protection to European
travellers into the interior, and to Mahometans in the
coast towns.
General Drouet d'Erlon became Governor-General
on the 22nd July, 1834. Born in 1765, this veteran
of the wars in Spain and of Waterloo, being very old,
was supported by General Rapatel in the command of
the army.
The new Governor began by disavowing the policy
of concession, that came to a climax with the shame-
ful treaty of Desmichels. He recalled the negotiator,
and replaced him by General Trézel, a partisan of con-
quest. Abdel-Kader, uneasy at this change, accredited
to the Governor Drouet d'Erlon, at Algiers, Ben
Durand, a Jew of Oran, formerly dragoman to Hussein
Dey, and secret instigator of the treaty of Desmichels.
Although the Chélif was not named as a boundary
in the treaty of 1834, it was accepted by common
accord. Abdel-Kader, no doubt wishing to show that
he had no intention of receding before the change to
be apprehended in the French system, crossed the
river and came to Milianah, where the Mahometans
received him enthusiastically.
He installed there Bey Ben Allah Sidi Embarek, a
distinguished warrior, of a great family of the Sahel
of Algiers, who had for a moment been in our service.
He also established an arsenal and a cannon-foundry
in that town.
LANDING IN AFRICA.
207
Though he constantly applied, General Trézel did
not receive any instructions from the old Governor,
who was tricked, perhaps, by Ben Durand. It was
then that Trézel assumed the offensive, considering the
situation too serious, for the encroachment upon Mili-
anah was not an isolated fact. He advanced beyond
Oran on the valley of the Sig. The commencement
of hostilities was not delayed.
In the first day
Colonel Oudinot, commandant of the French cavalry
of the advanced guard, was killed. General Trézel,
at the head of the rear-guard, renewed the attack;
but his troops manoeuvred badly, and became ciubbed ;
the confusion was great; there was want of discipline;
the baggage was pillaged, and the barrels of wine
staved by our own troops.
The
The enemy's numbers hourly increased.
second day Trézel determined to retreat fighting, with
his convoy between the two bodies of troops. As the
direct road to Arzew seemed to be held by the enemy,
the French general thought he should do right to return
to the coast by the gorges and marshes of the Macta.
But the Emir perceived the movement, and seized the
defile before him. Our rear-guard, fearing to be cut
off, broke up and joined the advanced guard. Seized
with a panic, the drivers of the convoy cut the traces,
and fled with their horses, leaving the stores and
wounded upon the ground. The Arabs rushed upon
the waggons with terrible shouts, cut the throats of
the sick and previous day's wounded, and rushed upon
the broken battalions, brandishing severed heads upon
the ends of their guns. Meanwhile, a knot of energetic
men had taken up a position on a height, singing the
'Marseillaise' as a rallying cry. The knot became a
battalion, and would not be broken. The brave little
208
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
band re-entered Arzew, keeping the enemy at a dis-
tance, but several hundred Frenchmen had perished.*
The Governor, Drouet d'Erlon, who had neither
ordered nor forbidden the expedition, disavowed it when
he heard of the disaster; General Trézel was replaced by
General d'Arlanges, and he, on the 8th of August,
1835, handed over the duty to Marshal Clauzel.†
Marshal Clauzel proceeded in person to the pro-
vince of Oran to avenge the disaster of the Macta.
This expedition, in which the Duke of Orleans was
engaged, concluded with the brilliant combat of Habra,
1st of December, 1835; the burning of Mascara, 7th of
December, 1835; and a speedy retreat to Mostaganem.
Tlemcen was occupied in January and February, 1836.
But these were only military promenades followed by
retreats, and did not weaken Abdel-Kader's influence.
Indeed, Tlemcen was blockaded as soon as it was
occupied.
* The number of 800 is given by M. Galibert, L'Algérie ancienne et moderne.
The Annales Algériennes say only 300 killed, 200 wounded, and almost all the
stores.
* Bertrand Clauzel, Count and Marshal of France, was born in 1772, at Mire-
poix, in Ariège, and die 1 in 1842. Enlisted as a volunteer he made the campaigns of
1794 and 1795 with the army of the Pyrenees, commanded a brigade in Italy in 1799,
accompanied General Leclerc to San Domingo, then assisted Rochambeau to bring
the remains of the army back to France. Promoted to the rank of general of
division, he served from 1805 to 1809 in the north, in Italy, in Dalmatia, and in
Illyria, distinguished himself especially in the war in Spain under Junot and
Massena, and directed in 1812 the retreat from Portugal that was compared to
Ney's in Russia. Louis XVIII. had appointed him inspector of infantry during
the first restoration, but banished him by the ordinance of 1815 for having joined
Napoleon on his return from the island of Elba. Clauzel retired to the United
States, and did not return till after the amnesty of 1820. Deputy of Rethel in
1827, he was a member of the Liberal opposition. Appointed Governor-general of
Algeria after the revolution of 1830, he defeated the Bev of Titery at the Col de
Tenia, occupied Medeah and Blidah, and endeavoured to colonise the plain of
Mitidjah. Recalled in 1831 because he wished to cede the provinces of Oran and
Constantine to some Tunisian princes, yet the King appointed him Marshal soon
after, and in 1835 again entrusted him with the government of Algeria. He took
Mascara, but failed before Constantine, and was a second time relieved. From
that time till his death he lived in retirement.
LANDING IN AFRICA.
209
General d'Arlanges, taking up a position in camp
at the estuary of the Tafna, on the side nearest to the
besieged place, soon found himself almost blockaded.
Endeavouring to penetrate to Tlemcen, he engaged in
a combat that was at least undecided, in which he was
himself wounded, as well as his chief of the staff,
Colonel de Maussion, and which cost us three hun-
dred men. Whatever were the losses inflicted at the
same time upon the Arabs, a combat in Africa, where
three hundred men are lost, is singularly like a
check.
During this time, incursions, more insolent than
ever, reached the very gates of Algiers. The Arabs
captured some cattle at Point Pescade, killed soldiers
at Dely Brahim, and at the Emperor Fort. They
even reached Bouzaréa.
It was under these eminently critical circum-
stances that General Bugeaud was sent with three
regiments to relieve the camp of the Tafna. The
province of Oran, that had just been the scene of the
disaster of the Macta and the checks of the Tafna,
was the theatre where our discouraged troops had
most need of a victory. It was necessary to restore
confidence this was the new General's work.
'A French column,' says General Trochu, 'im-
portant by the valour of officers and men, after diffi-
cult operations in the province of Oran, was driven
into a corner by the sea in the sandy delta formed by
the mouths of the Tafna. It was surrounded by the
whole levy of the country in arms, attacked every day
in its hardly defensible position, driven to continual
efforts and painful sacrifices; its moral condition,
like its material, bordered upon disarray. The
situation was serious. The Government and public
VOL. I.
P
210
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
I
M
opinion were excited. An immediate despatch of
troops, starting directly from the Mediterranean ports,
was resolved on. The command was given to General
Bugeaud.'
The
The six battalions of infantry, designed for the camp
at the Tafna, formed an effective force of 4500 men.
The King, wishing to put an officer at the head of
these troops on whose vigour he could reckon, had cast
his eyes upon General Bugeaud, who alone seemed
capable of contending with Abdel - Kader.
Minister of War, in the end of May 1836 instructed
him to proceed to Toulon, and thence to the mouths
of the Tafna, and take the command, secure the post
on the Tafna, march upon Tlemcen, and examine if it
was tenable. He was also to report to General Rapatel,
the interim Governor-General.
كانة
The reinforcement, partly embarked at Port
Vendres, partly at Marseilles, reached the mouths
of the Tafna between the 4th and 6th of June, and
General Bugeaud, who landed at the same time as
the troops, caused them to encamp on both sides
of the Tafna.
General Rapatel, advised of the speedy arrival of
General Bugeaud, had exerted himself to arrange the
organization of all the various services required by the
troops to be assembled on the banks of the Tafna.
The director of artillery and the military-intendant
had proceeded to Oran, while merchant-vessels con-
veyed thither six field-guns, thirty-six mules, and the
ammunition and provisions necessary for the troops,
as well as a reinforcement of 112 gunners. General
d'Arlanges had embarked to return to Oran and re-
sume the command of his division.
As soon as General Bugeaud landed, he took all
LANDING IN AFRICA.
211
*-
the measures necessary for the organization of the ex-
peditionary column, leaving the protection of the en-
trenched camp to a battalion of African light infantry,
with the addition of some companies composed of all
the exhausted and ailing men of every regiment, the
military artificers, and three hundred men drawn
from the garrison of the island of Rachgoun. This
collection, added to some coast-guard gunners, made
up an effective force of twelve hundred men, the
command being entrusted to the engineer chef-de-
bataillon, Perraud, who was to complete the
fortifications.
When General Bugeaud reached the mouths of the
Tafna the situation was very serious, and on landing
he saw it to be so at the first glance. Then, for the
first time, did he put in practice his views as to the
way to fight the Arabs, and he applied the firmness
and decision that he used in all the actions of his life.
to his modifications and radical changes in the former
methods of warfare. Having come to
to take the
command, and pursue the military operations directed
against the Emir, he lost no time in calling together
the colonels and chiefs of corps the very next day,
and harangued them in a way that could not fail to
astonish them.
Gentlemen,' he said, 'I am fresh to Africa; but
in my opinion the method of pursuing the Arabs
hitherto employed is defective. I was long campaign-
ing in Spain; now the war that you are carrying on
here presents a great deal of analogy with that we
undertook in 1812 against the guerillas. You will
allow me to utilise the experience that I then acquired.
I am, therefore, of opinion that strong columns should
be absolutely broken up, and we should disencumber
212
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
**
ourselves of the artillery and heavy baggage that
impede our march, and hinder us in pursuing or sur-
prising the enemy. Our soldiers, like the soldiers of
"Rome, should be free in their movements and un-
encumbered at any cost, the weight that burdens
them must be lightened. Our mules and horses must
the food and ammunition, and the tents answer
the purpose of pack-saddles and bags. Then we shall
be in a condition to cross mountains and torrents with-
out leaving our baggage behind us.

carry
Finally, gentlemen,' said the General in conclu-
sion, I shall be very glad to converse with you
individually, and receive your observations and advice.
So you will gratify me much whenever any one of
you will come and converse with me, and ask me for,
or give me, any explanations.'
The General was hardly gone, when the colonels
and chiefs of corps looked at each other in amaze-
ment, and shrugged their shoulders, considering the
new comer to be senseless and presumptuous. Colonel
Combes,* an excellent soldier, very brave, but violent
and rather narrow, was the most angry and most
bitter at the meeting. Besides, all the rest agreed
with him.
* Michael Combes, born at Feurs, Loire, in 1788, died before Constantine, 15th
October, 1837, distinguished for his gallantry during all the campaigns of the
empire, fought at Waterloo, left the country, and did not return till after the revo-
lution of 1830. Ordered to occupy Ancona at the head of the 66th of the line, he
seized the citadel by a daring attempt, that was disavowed by the Government.
Deprived of his command, and then sent to Africa, he was successively colonel of
the 1st Foreign Legion, then colonel of the 47th of the line, and commander of the
Legion of Honour after the battle of the Sickack. He was engaged in the expedi-
tion to Constantine. Mortally wounded just as he was leading the second column
up the breach to the assault, he encouraged the soldiers while hiding the severity
of the wound, and before he died desired to report the success of the operation he
had been charged with to the general. After his death, General Bugeaud most
energetically urged the Chamber to grant a pension to his widow.
LANDING IN AFRICA.
213
'As the General authorises us to speak openly to
him, and tell him what we think, I will go to him
to-morrow, and in your name, gentlemen, present
him with our opinion.'
In fact, next day Colonel Combes did wait upon
his General, and informed him of the impression his
yesterday's speech had produced upon the officers.
Our soldiers,' said he, 'will lose confidence without
artillery, and will not march. It is cannon alone that
sustains their courage; to dispense with it would be
disastrous. General, it is impossible for you to per-
sist in your plan; I am charged in the name of all
my colleagues to convey our opinion to you faithfully
as you authorised us.' The General replied to the
Colonel that all these objections had already been pre-
sented to him, and that, in spite of the opinion of the
chiefs of corps, he persisted in doing as he had decided.
When Colonel Combes tried to raise his voice, the
General confined himself to telling him, 'Sir, I cer-
tainly requested every one of you to come and give
me his observations and advice. But at
But at my discre-
tion, if you please, to attend to them at my pleasure.
With this, Colonel, I thank you, and request you to
retire.' The new commandant's orders were executed,
the guns and waggons were embarked, and all was
ready to commence the campaign.
This was General Bugeaud's beginning. Thus,'
said M. Guizot afterwards, 'did he immediately give
the war a character of bold initiative, unfettered and
unforeseen mobility, and swift and indefatigable acti-
vity.' He applied himself to pursue Abdel-Kader at
all points of the Arab territory, to forestall him, to
reach and conquer him or to baffle him, that is to say
the Arab nation personified in its hero.

214
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
Just as General Bugeaud landed on the banks of
the Tafna there occurred a little characteristic event
that for once covered the superintendents of victuals
and contractors for the troops with confusion.
This is the story told us by one present. It is not
from yesterday that the old quarrel between the army
and the commissariat bears date. There were com-
plaints in the time of the Romans of sacks of corn
filled with earth.
Several times had our poor soldiers, worn out
with weariness, and undermined by fever, complained,
and not unreasonably, of the bad quality of the drink
served out to them under the name of wine. This
production no doubt cost the Government dear enough,
but was not the less execrable. The contractors took
mighty oaths that our men, as usual, were making
unfounded complaints, and that this wine was as pure
as their inmost hearts. Just at this time some
terrible storms and hurricanes ravaged the coast, the
sea rose in fury and rushed inland, throwing back the
waters of the Tafna to a considerable distance. Our
men's camp was placed not far from where the river
enters the sea. One morning, what was the general
astonishment when, at the issue of rations at meal
time, all our soldiers, from the general to the simple
private, putting their glasses to their lips, found a
distinct taste of salt in their wine. The thing was
simple enough; the sea water had been mixed by the
tempest with the water of the Tafna, so it had become
salt since the disturbance. This was an irrefragable
proof that our soldiers' wine was regularly baptized
with river water.
On the 10th of June General Bugeaud was ready
for a start. Having received information that Abdel-
LANDING IN AFRICA.
215
Kader had sent troops in the direction of Oran to burn
our allies' harvests, and that his camp was at Oued-
Sinan, he first of all proceeded towards Oran, instead
of marching upon Tlemcen. He started at night, for
the enemy was near, and it was necessary to avoid
attack when traversing a dangerous country. Yet
the difficulty of a night march in an unknown
country full of obstacles, covered with brushwood,
would soon have thrown the columns into disorder.
Scarcely a league had been made, when the General
was obliged to halt and wait for day. As soon
as it broke the columns were reformed, and pursued
their march on the broken ground that inter-
venes between the sea and the road followed in
the previous April. Thus the worst places were
crossed without hindrance. About nine o'clock,
as the heads of the columns were coming out upon
the flats, they met the first horsemen of the Emir, who
had started very early from his camp at Oued-Sinan
to attack us. Twelve or fifteen hundred horsemen,
whom he had posted on heights, rushed upon the
right flank, and the rear of the columns, and also the
centre where the baggage was. The attack was
repulsed by a battalion of the 62nd of the line, and a
squadron of the Chasseurs d'Afrique.
General Bugeaud halted the heads of the columns
to concentrate them, as they had lengthened out on
the march, then he took the offensive. But the Arabs,
finding our troops marching resolutely against them,
did not keep their ground, and retreated after firing a
few shots. Mustapha,* the chief of our auxiliaries,
* Mustapha Ben Ismaël, one of our most faithful and useful allies, chief of the
Douairs and Smèlas, in Algeria, was born at Mascara, in what year is not very well
known, as the Mahometans take but small count of their age. He was between 65
216
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
܃
charged with great impetuosity at the right moment,
and throwing himself upon the Kabyles brought back
a number of heads. General Bugeaud writes that he
was shocked at the sight, but, nevertheless, could
and 70 in 1838 when he came to France to appear before the court-martial on
General de Brossard.
At the time of the conquest of Algeria, Mustapha was aga of the Douairs and
the Smèlas, two tribes composing the Maghzen of the Bey of Oran.
When Marshal Clauzel's expedition to Oran took place, Mustapha received at
the same time the General's propositions and those of the Emperor of Morocco.
Both of them made him an offer of succeeding Hassan, the former Bey of Oran.
Must pha, despising the overtures of Muley-Ali, the emperor's lieutenant, refused
to go to Tlemcen to receive investiture. His property was laid waste, he was taken
prisoner, and did not obtain his liberty until France had established the non-inter-
ference of the Emperor of Morocco in the affairs of the regency.
Abdel-Kader, having treated with General Desmichels, Mustapha entered upon
an open conflict with the Emir, whom he called 'the Shepherd's son,' in contempt.
After several fights, Mustapha retired to the citadel of Tlemcen, to the Turks and
Coulouglis. On the arrival of the French in January, 1836, Mustapha went to
Marshal Clauzel, and said, 'In six years I have received more than a hundred letters
from generals, and have not ventured to trust them. Your reputation and conduct
give me so much confidence that I am come to put myself into your hands.' A few
days afterwards he fought in our ranks, and never left them again. The success of
General Perregaux's expedition, on his return from Tlemcen, in the east of the
province of Oran, was in great part due to Mustapha. On the 30th of April, 1837.
he was made officer of the Legion of Honour, and promoted to the rank of marechal-
de-camp (major-general). At the combat of the Sickack, Mustapha was wounded
*In the hand, and remained crippled, without losing any of his activity.
"J
In 1838 he came to France, and, after giving evidence in the Brossard court-
martial, speut several days at La Durantie with General Bugeaud. The Countess
Feray tells us, 'It was at our house of Excideuil that Mustapha was received with
his family and suite. When my father introduced him to my mother, he said,
"You have four wives in your country, I have only one that I love like four.
Mustapha gravely answered, "My four wives are not worth your one.
"' In 1841 he
again distinguished himself in the expedition against Tackdempt and Mascara. In
the end of 1841, with Colonel Tempoure, he opened negotiations with Sidi-Chigi, a
respected Marabout, who joined our party against Abdel-Kader, and thus induced
the submission of the tribes near Tlemcen. This glorious campaign and noble
conduct gained him in February, 1842, the cross of commander.
In 1843, after the capture of Abdel-Kader's smalah, General Lamoriciere sent
forward the cavalry towards the sources of the Chelif, and Mustapha was to catch
a flying tribe. On his return to Oran with his maghzen, loaded with the booty of
the razzia, General Mustapha was attacked by an ambuscade in a wood at El Biada,
near Kerroucha, and received a ball point blank that killed him on the spot. His
troopers, numbering 500, were seized with a panic and fled, leaving his body in the
hands of the enemy. Abdel-Kader is said to have caused the corpse of old Mustapha
to be mutilated, the man who used to say, 'I have only two enemies in the world,
Satan and the son of Mahiddin.' The command of the goum of the Douairs and
Smelas, forming the maghzen of Oran, was given to his nephew, El Mezari, who was
his first aga. The mutilation was afterwards contradicted.
P
LANDING IN AFRICA.
217
not refrain from praising the intrepidity of his
warriors.
General Bugeaud then marched against the Arabs
and dispersed them with the same facility. When the
Emir's infantry, hidden in a fold of the ground, saw
their cavalry in flight, they speedily disappeared. We
lost five men; the loss of the Arabs was not great,
but there were some persons of importance among
the dead.
After that the enemy did not show themselves.
The General continued his march, and in the evening
reached Oued-Ghazer, where he established his
bivouac. The regiments lately come to Africa be-
haved with bravery, though they suffered most from
fatigue, and abandoned muskets, packs, and camp
equipage. Many men would have lagged behind, and
been massacred but for the active care of the
rear-guard and the ambulance. Some committed
suicide, and demoralisation even made its appearance
among the officers, to whom General Bugeaud
addressed some sharp language.
On the 13th of June, the troops started early, and
encamped for the evening at Oued-Sinan. On the 14th,
the camp was on the Oued-Amria; and on the 15th,
at Misserghin. General Bugeaud made over the com-
mand to the colonel of the 24th of the line, and con-
tinued his progress to Oran with all the cavalry.
This five days' march from the Tafna to Oran caused
the reappearance of our Arab allies upon the marches
of Oran, who had been kept away by the fear of Abdel-
Kader.
General Bugeaud on June 16 addressed the follow-
ing despatch to the Minister, being very much im-
pressed with the behaviour of our troops :-
218
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
GENERAL BUGEAUD TO MARSHAL MAISON, MINISTER OF WAR.
For the command in Africa there must be men of vigorous
mould both morally and physically. Colonels and chefs de bataillon
who are a little aged, whose vigour of heart and mind is not sus-
tained by physical power, ought to be recalled to France, where
they could be either retired or take garrison commands. Their
presence here is much more injurious than beneficial. Also, to carry
on this war successfully, there must be brigades of mules with
military organization, so as not to depend upon the inhabitants of the
country. We must have the power of proceeding in any direction with
activity, so as to be able to pursue the enemy to any point where he
may retire, and not load the soldiers, as is done, so as to make them
unable to perform the severe duty that falls upon them in such a
rough country and burning climate. There is actual barbarity, I
might even call it treason to the nation in loading them with seven
or eight days' provisions, sixty rounds, shirts, shoes, kettles, &c.
Many sink under such a weight, and the strongest must be marched
so slowly that it is impossible to make the rapid movements that are
the only means of securing success. Mules under military organiza-
tion seem to me to be the best base of operations in Africa. I have
made a calculation that there ought to be eighty to each thousand
men. They would carry ten thousand rations, and the soldiers have
in little bags a reserve for four days. This would give a supply for
fourteen days, and that is quite long enough for the campaigns that
can be made in this country. They must be short to avoid losing
all the soldiers. With the country transport, if an affair is at all
sharp, there is a risk of losing the provisions and wounded. On the
12th, when my transport was attacked, many of the camel and mule
drivers at once threw down their loads, and it took a great deal of
energy and activity to make them pick them up again. Things must
be done liberally, as that will be economy in men and money.
must be strong or be off* Especially it is necessary only to send
strong soldiers, and these men must be commanded by young and
energetic officers. If I had three thousand of the soldiers of Spain,
With mules to carry their provisions, I could overrun the whole
province of Oran and be master of it. The regiments that have
been two or three years in Africa begin to be good, but also their
effective strength is much reduced. The three fine regiments I have
brought will also become good, but this will be when they have lost
two or three hundred men, weak in both mind and body. Humanity,
economy, and prudence in war, all require that only selected men
should be sent to Algeria.

* Il faut être forts ou s'en aller.
We
LANDING IN AFRICA.
219
The authority and precision with which this
general of brigade speaks to the Minister is remark-
able. It was really the personal position of General
Bugeaud, an influential deputy, and much appreciated
by the King, that enabled him to express himself
thus.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE SICKACK (1836).
Tlemcen-Meets Abdel-Kader - Battle of the Sickack, 6th July-Report—Duke
of Orleans' Letter- Return to France-Reply to the Messager.
AFTER resting his troops ten days, the General re-
sumed the campaign to convoy a body of troops to
Tlemcen. On the 19th he bivouacked at Misserghin,
and the 20th on the Rio Salado. On that day three
hundred men were unable to continue their march
from heat and fatigue. He sent them back to Oran
under the escort of the native cavalry, and himself
reached Tlemcen on the 24th.
Here follows the very curious and faithful report
that General Bugeaud addressed to Marshal Clauzel,
Governor-general of Algeria. The sure and rapid
judgment with which he had in a moment measured
our position in Africa is remarkable:-
Tlemcen, 24th June, 1836.
SIR, -I have reached Tlemcen after five days on the road.
They would be short days' marches for Europe; they are long
enough for Africa with its heat. The march from the Tafna to
Oran had taught me that the troops must be most prudently led in
order not to lose, in five or six days on the road, as many men as in
a battle. I therefore took all imaginable and possible precau-
tions at Oran in the matter of provisions and transport. I halted
frequently; wherever there was water I stayed two hours or spent
the night, and, notwithstanding this, at two days from Oran I had
to send back nearly three hundred men who could march no further
THE SICKACK.
221
from one cause or another.
covered with soldiers and
for this sort of fighting.
After that, my litters and camels were again
officers. The new regiments are detestable
They only become good after being purged
light is a specimen; it came
of near half of their force. The
It must be allowed that
to Africa seven months ago with 1600 and some men; it has not 900
in the ranks, but these 900 are good.
apprenticeship costs rather too dear.
Among the new regiments the is the one I have been most
displeased with. It was very much demoralised, almost in despair;
four men committed suicide in a march of four leagues, and it
furnished as many to the litters and camels as all the rest put
together. This mischief came from the top. The body of officers
were discontented at having been re-embarked immediately after
their return from Corsica. They loudly gave vent to their com-
plaints, lamented over the soldier's fate, and pretended that they
had never seen troops driven so hard, while in the other regiments
it was agreed that they never had been marched with so much
care and plenty. They said, 'Compare with this the expedition to
Mascara, where we were without food for five days' (that was only
a brigade, the others only wanted for two or three days).
The Colonel and Lieutenant-Colonel are but little fitted for this
war. The latter is a bully and a grumbler. Young men are wanted
with ardour, and a future. I have been obliged to take serious
notice of the morale of the
I called up the officers, and
harangued them before the soldiers. I discussed their complaints
aloud. I showed them that there was no foundation for any of them,
that they had water and food in abundance, that there had been a
halt after every hour's march, that the regiments had taken turns to
lead, to be in the middle, and rear of the column, &c. Then,
changing the tone of the discussion, I told them that their complaints
of the soldier's fate were but a bad cover for the lowering of their
morale, and the soldiers would not have made complaints but for
their example.
to me.
The Lieutenant-Colonel was stupid enough to blame me for the
fatigues of the 12th, when there was fighting. This was fine sport
I answered him as he deserved, and my reply produced a
good effect. If such a thing was to occur again I should relieve the
two highest in rank of their commands, and I told them so in strict
privacy.
I have told you all this, sir, to confirm you in the opinion that
you, no doubt, already hold, that is to say, that Africa requires.
troops especially selected for it, and especially commanded by young
leaders, ardent and vigorous. Some young men have distinguished
themselves in Africa; if you keep this unfortunate conquest, they
222
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
must be promoted, and given the command first of regiments, and
afterwards of columns.
Perhaps I have been rather long in coming to my report of
military matters. We saw no enemy for the first five days, but to-
day Abdel-Kader's cavalry attacked my rear-guard in the broken.
ground that separates the Amiguier from the Safsaf. At first I did not
take much notice of the slight firing that had commenced, but seeing
that it became more serious, I halted the heads of columns, and
proceeded to the rear of the centre one, intending to give the pursuers
a lesson, who have, I think, been allowed to take up the delightful
habit of harassing us with impunity. I caused all the tirailleurs to
turn back behind a hillock, and formed three echelons of cavalry and
two of infantry. When I was giving orders to the first echelon to
allow the enemy to adventure largely before charging them, the
leader thought I was ordering a charge and went off at a gallop.
He received at short range the fire of a much larger number of
cavalry, six men were wounded, four horses killed, and the charge
abortive. I advanced with the second echelon and flung the whole
upon the enemy. At this moment Mustapha, whom I had sent for,
and was as usual hunting wild boars with his Douairs upon my left
flank, arrived most opportunely upon the enemy's flanks as we were
pressing him in front. His rout was complete. The worst mounted
fell by the sword, and their heads were cut off. Among them was
an aga of Abdel-Kader's, and one of his chaoushes. I gave orders
for the pursuit to be continued till all were dispersed. This took us
back as far as the Amiguier, but it was not lost time. The lesson
was valuable. It taught the Arabs that it was not good to come
sniffing so near us; it showed our soldiers that when one wants to
act lion, one makes one's tail respected. It was the more necessary
because before the charge several officers assured me that it would
not succeed, that we should weary our horses, and that when we
went about we should be harassed again. We did not see a single
man again, and this vigorous proceeding probably saved us 100 or
150 wounded that we should have had by the firing on the rear-
guard, probably continuing all the way to the Safsaf. Besides, it is
disgraceful for 6000 men to let themselves be thus mocked by a
handful of men, although it must be allowed that they are very
dexterous horsemen. I had six men killed and thirteen wounded.
I will report the names of the military men who distinguished them-
selves in my order of the day. After this combat I halted two hours
upon the Safsaf, one league from Tlemcen. It was then that
Cavaignac, the Bey, and the chiefs of the Moors and Jews, came to
meet me. They have been almost always blockaded. Abdel-Kader
was there yesterday with five or six thousand men, and 120,000 head
THE SICKACK.
223
A
of cattle, he destroyed the scanty harvest round Tlemcen. They
say he has retired towards the Empire of Morocco; I saw the marks
of two guns that he took with him; others say that he is awaiting
me at the meeting of the Isser and the Tafna. I shall know soon,
giving my troops one day's rest and then marching upon him.
Besides my desire to catch Abdel-Kader, I am compelled to
march upon the Tafna, for there is no means of living here without
trenching on the little store of the garrison. I should tell you that
this much-vaunted land is a small oasis, that it is pleasant to find
after crossing thirty leagues of barren and uncultivable desert that
divides it from Oran; but at the same time, it is very surprising to
see anything so little like the Oriental description given us. Tlemcen
is a heap of wretched ruins; it was a collection of little square huts,
with nothing left but the four walls in a greater or less state of
dilapidation; a small portion is still standing, and is not more
beautiful. It contains four or five thousand Jews, Moors, or
Coulouglis,* who seem very miserable, and are very wretched in
consequence of the blockade and stoppage of all trade. Such a state
of things cannot continue; if we do not destroy Abdel-Kader's
power, and occupy the country in force, the inhabitants of this
miserable town must submit to the Emir, or we must carry them to
some other place. The contribution commenced their ruin, the
blockade contributed much to it, and as they make nothing, their
little purse must be exhausted.
The geographical position of this town is agreeable. Beautiful
streams coming down from the neighbouring hills cross it, and these go
to water gardens and an olive wood that I had expected to be larger
from the pompous language of an African enthusiast. I fancy I am
liberal in putting the produce of the olives of Tlemcen at 200,000
francs (80007.). After this wood there are some indifferent fields ;
some bits of barley that have escaped Abdel-Kader show that the
harvest was very poor; not an ear of wheat. To find any it is said to
be necessary to go to a distance of six leagues in the hills; and even
that is not certain, but it is quite clear that there would have to be a
fight with the Kabyles before it was harvested. It would take two
days to bring back a little corn; during those two days we should
eat as much as we gathered, and the troops would be harassed; so
we must give up harvesting, at least, for the moment. When I
return, if the people of Tlemcen can furnish me with three days'
provisions, I will take them harvesting with me. I have to leave
three hundred foot-sore at Tlemcen, and take instead two hundred
* The Coulougli is the child of a Turk and an Arab woman.
224
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
men of the garrison, and three hundred Coulouglis, under the
command of Cavaignac.
As I can only send this despatch from Rachgoun, I will finish
it there.
Rachgoun, 29th June, 1836.
The enemy did not dispute the crossing of the Isser with me, nor
that of Mount Talgouat, which is, however, very difficult. Reaching
the Isser at ten in the morning, I pushed the heads of my columns
towards the road that leads by the Tafna. I allowed the troops to
rest till three in the afternoon, then changed flank to the right and
took the road leading over the hills. All the Arabs agreed in saying
it is better than the lower road by the Tafna. The engineer officers
declared the contrary by induction. I took the side of the eye-
witnesses, and I did well. Over the hill, though there is an ascent
of 500 metres (1650 feet), a good road for wheel-carriages might be
made in a day or a day and a half's work. The difficulty for a large
column is that there are only two insignificant springs; but it is
easy to protect a convoy everywhere. The road on both slopes
passes along a spine, flanked by enormous ravines, making a natural
fortification, but the neck must be held with a strong portion
of the column as a preliminary. A column takes three hours to
cross this mountain.
I slept on the hill the 27th, and 28th at the foot of the northern
slope, towards the banks of the Tafna, four leagues from Rachgoun.
I had two objects in halting there; to pasture my cavalry upon some
small fields of barley, so few of which are to be found in this
promised land, and to reconnoitre the lower road. At four o'clock I
marched upon this road with four battalions and the cavalry. The
infantry was placed in succession in echelon on commanding points,
then the cavalry, and with the allied Douairs I went just within
sight of my camp on the banks of the Isser. We found several bad
places; but there is one where six hundred men might stop an army.
Two perpendicular mountains contract the valley, narrow enough
before, and the Tafna closes it from one mountain to the other with a
ravine forty or fifty metres (150 feet) deep, with perpendicular sides.
The engineers were obliged to allow that the Arabs were right; if
there was a proposal to make a road from Rachgoun to Tlemcen in
time of peace, it ought to be made on the lower line, but in time of
war, and with the work we do in the worst places, the higher line
must be taken, as it is the safest. But I will make neither the one
nor the other; the lower one does not suit me at all, and as the
higher is waterless, I cannot remain there two days in this heat.
Besides, only having six bad waggons with bad teams at Rachgoun,
THE SICKACK.
225
it is not worth the trouble we should take; in two days' work we
should consume the loads of food, and the stores of Tlemcen would
not be increased. So I shall confine myself to loading my four or
five hundred camels and mules. I expect that they will carry ten
days' food for the column and two months' for the garrison of
Tlemcen, and that will give them provisions for about six months.
I hope to find some cattle at Tlemcen. As soon as Abdel-Kader's
camp was broken up, some Arabs came to market. I caused the
Bey to write to all the tribes in the neighbourhood, to induce them to
submit, and come to trade at Tlemcen.
I shall only remain at Rachgoun long enough to organize my
convoy. I cannot maintain my cavalry there and my numerous
transport without going far to forage, and great precautions have to
be taken to prevent accident.
Neither can I live at Tlemcen; therefore it is an absolute necessity
to return to Oran; I propose to cross the mountains of the Beni
Hamer to chastise those rebellious tribes. On our return to Oran
the troops will require some rest during the greatest heat. Thus I
shall have nothing to do for some time, and it will be a chance to
leave the command to General de l'Etang, who will, no doubt, have
to come, and visit Algiers, so as to have the power of telling the
Government and the Chambers my opinion of the colony, with a
knowledge of it.
Recognising the necessity of leaving the man, who had begun
the business pending at Oran, to complete it, so as to give continuity,
I have begged General d'Arlanges to continue, and I leave him in the
enjoyment of the indemnities attached. You, sir, will judge whether
you should allow me the expenses of entertainment. Meanwhile I
do my duty in entertaining, and shall be quite satisfied whatever you
decide.
It seems that Abdel-Kader has retired towards Morocco, because
the tribes responded but badly to his appeal. They see that we are
quite determined to fight, that they have nothing to get but blows,
and this disgusts them. They are also generally very miserable.
Obliged to fly with their herds, they are massed towards Trava and
Madroma, and there they are ill-treated, and only just allowed to
stay. So they are much disgusted with the war, and I expect some
overtures. A Kabyle Marabout has requested an interview with
Mustapha on a hill where a fire is to be lighted: we shall see.
I am
quite convinced that the country might be conquered, for a time at
least, with a good deal of exertion and expense; but I do not consider
that there would be a sufficient recompense for the cost and the blood-
shed. I will develope this another time. I will conclude with two
words on the posts of Tafna and Tlemcen. Time presses, the vessel
Q
VOL. I.
226
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
must start to fetch us what we want; I shall not have time to make
a copy of my despatch, and request you to keep one for me.
I think that now with the forces we have, it is well to continue
the occupation of Tlemcen, and to manoeuvre round it as much as
possible, but for that there must be magazines; this is the difficulty.
I continue to think that the post of Tafna is not at all so
necessary as that of Tlemcen. Far from facilitating operations, it
impedes them; and the harbour is so abominable all the year round,
so impracticable for seven or eight months, that nothing can be built
upon it.
I should much prefer an entrenched post upon the Sinan,
half way between Oran and Tlemcen. It would be easily provisioned
with waggons and mules, and the movable columns would find it a
central post to renew their supplies of food and ammunition; and
this would be much more advantageous for work than going to the
Tafna outside the circle of operations. It is further from Tlemcen
to the Tafna than it is to the Sinan. From there the troops could
penetrate anywhere, after getting ten or twelve days' provisions. The
post at the Tafna is in a blind-alley among the Kabyle mountains ;
the river has to be ascended for operations round Tlemcen. From
that point of the Tafna there are at least three days' march, or about
sixteen leagues. So, to take three days in going for food, three days in
returning to the centre of operations, is very troublesome and para-
lysing. If there was force enough both might be done, but for choice
I should give the preference to the post of the Sinan; I allow that it
is more difficult to make a permanent establishment there than at
the Tafna, on account of the difficulty of transporting wood,
lime, &c.
مونم
With a good transport system both might be dispensed with.
It would be less costly, more secure, and more convenient for opera-
tions than the Tafna. Tlemcen might be provisioned with twelve
waggons, and the column with eight mules per thousand men.
I will not conclude, sir, without saying a word about our allies,
the Douairs. I am exceedingly pleased with them, they are intrepid
and skilful horsemen. They are clearly superior to our cavalry for
reconnoitring, skirmishing, and fighting in difficult ground. Mus-
tapha, their chief, is a worthy man, and very sensible. There are
other chiefs highly to be commended for their bravery and intelligence.
It would be just, sir, and politic, to give a good salary to these men,
who serve our cause so well. I earnestly invite you to adopt this
view, and to call upon the general who is to command at Oran for a
report on this matter. It will be more beneficial than the fortifica-
tions that are sometimes injudiciously multiplied.
Receive, sir, &c.,
BUGEAUD.
THE SICKACK.
227
Tlemcen, the ancient capital of the kingdom of
Tlemcen, which contained the towns of Vedrona,
Oran, Arzew, Mazagran, Mostaganem, and Djijilli, had
encountered many vicissitudes. Attacked, taken and
re-taken, now by the Turks, now by the Moors, now
by the Spaniards, the town, with superb ramparts and
great minarets, had by the last century become
nothing but a focus of insurrection, and half thrown
down. The Emperor of Morocco had seized it in
1830, but soon had to relinquish it. The Coulouglis,
led by Mustapha Ben Israel, who defended the
Méchouar, or citadel, passed into the service of
France. Marshal Clauzel had taken possession of
the town in the month of January of this same
year, 1836, and had left a garrison there under the
orders of Captain Cavaignac,* the same
the same whom
General Bugeaud found on his arrival.
* Cavaignac, Louis Eugene, born at Paris in 1802, died in 1857, educated at
the Ecole Polytechnique, was appointed to the 2nd Regiment of Engineers in 1824.
In 1828 he made the campaign in the Morea as Captain. At the time of the
Revolution of 1830 he was in garrison at Arras. He was the first officer of his
regiment to declare for the new state of things. Soon after, he was placed on the
unattached list for having signed at Metz a protest against the system of peace at
any price attributed to Louis-Philippe. Restored to the active list in 1832, he was
sent to Africa, after having declared that he would not fight against the republicans
on the occasion of a rising. Courage for anything and eminent services soon
dissipated the repugnance that his opinions and avowed spirit of independence
had excited in his chiefs. He was distinguished in the expeditions of Medeah,
Bouffarik, and Cherchell, in the combats of Ouara, the pass of Mouzaia and
Affroun. He was appointed chef-de-bataillon in the Zouaves in 1840, then in the
light infantry of Africa, and assisted the same year at the taking of Cherchell, and
afterwards defended it successfully against an attack of the Arabs. Being made
Lieutenant-Colonel of the Zouaves for this brilliant exploit, he took part in the
expedition against Medeah, and fought the Beni Menad with credit, at the passage
of the Shaba-el-Kessa. He again attracted notice in 1841 before Tackdempt, and
succeeded Lamoriciere as Colonel of Zouaves. In 1842 he took an important part
in the combat of El Harbour against the Beni Rachel. He passed into the 32nd
Regiment of the line a short time before the battle of Isly, in 1844, where he com-
manded the advanced guard, gained the rank of Marechal-de-camp (Major-General),
and received the chief command of the province of Oran.
After the Revolution of 1848, the Republic gave him the rank of General of
228
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
The fortification of Tlemcen was well protected; but
our troops were isolated, as if blockaded in an island
in the midst of generally hostile populations, and were
in want of food. Bugeaud provisioned the place, and
then leaving his foot-sore men, returned to the camp
at the Tafna, where he stayed several days. On the
4th of July he again marched for Tlemcen, and on
the 6th met the Emir, who came at last to stop
his road.
It was the first encounter of these two great
champions, who were destined for so many more
Division, and made him Governor-General of Algeria. Deputy of Lot at the
Constituent Assembly, Cavaignac reached Paris two days after the 15th of May,
when the national representation had been violated by a rising, and received the
post of War-Minister from the executive commission. A month afterwards, on the
occasion of the formidable insurrection of June, the Assembly unanimously
entrusted him with the duty of defending Paris and the Republic. According to
the General's opponents there might have been calculation on his part in the
avoidance of immediate vigorous action, in allowing the danger to become
aggravated, the number of assailants to increase, in abandoning several divisions of
the city to them, so as to induce the representatives to confer a dictatorship upon
him. His friends on the contrary assert, and with more probability, that he acted
with great wisdom by first completing the preparations for attack and defence
necessitated by the greatness of the danger, by not exposing an army numerically
insufficient, and perhaps demoralised, to the chance of a check, by calling up all
the disposable forces near Paris so as to strike the insurrection on all sides with the
certainty of success. In fact the repression was vigorous and complete, and when,
after the victory, Cavaignac came to restore to the Assembly the discretionary
powers that it had given him, he was named by acclamation responsible chief of the
executive power, and it was declared that he had deserved well of his country.
When the election of President of the Republic came, Cavaignac's disinterested
patriotism was not a sufficient warranty for the re-establishment of order and
security in the opinion of France, as, being absolute master of power, he
had surrounded himself with men already supposed to be compromised, or
manifestly unqualified. On the 20th December, 1848, Cavaignac made a dignified
descent from power. Thenceforward, considering himself as responsible for his
political friends, from whom everything was slipping, he kept up an opposition to
the President of the Republic that may possibly have been attributed to disappoint-
ment, and even induced him to approach the men whom he had fought against in
the days of June. At the coup-d'état of the 2nd of December, 1851, he was
arrested as a precautionary measure and taken to Ham. Released a few days after-
wards, he took his retirement and went into private life. Elected deputy for Paris
in 1852, he refused to take the oath, and was declared to have vacated his seat by
a vote of the legislative body. He had just received a fresh nomination at the
elections of 1857 when he was removed by death.
THE SICKACK.
229
*
years to be rivals in daring, cleverness, and intre-
pidity. Alone, perhaps, of all the Arab chiefs and
French officers, who were on the 6th of July, 1836,
upon the banks of the Sickack, the Emir Abdel-
Kader is still surviving. This was, besides, the
only set battle in which the great chief engaged
the French. He soon understood with his marvel-
lous intelligence that the struggle against the invaders
was impossible, if continued under the same condi-
tions, and from that very day he adopted the
method of harassing, laying ambuscades, and retreat-
ing, that nothing but General Bugeaud's genius
could conquer.
It seems to us useless to give our own account
of that day, in presence of the authentic documents
emanating from the General himself, and therefore
will leave him the work.
This is the telegraphic despatch that General
Bugeaud addressed to the Minister, Marshal Maison,
to announce to him the victory of the Sickack :
Tlemcen, 7 July, 1836.
Not
Abdel-Kader had for four days been awaiting my great convoy
at the crossing of the Tolgoat, upon the banks of the Tafna.
having any advantage if fighting there, I made a feint, and crossed
elsewhere at night.
Next day, the 6th, he attacked me with all the forces he had
collected in a fortnight, at the moment my convoy was crossing the
ravine, excavated by the Sickack. I made the convoy march upon
Tlemcen with a portion of my forces; with the rest I took the
defensive, and Abdel-Kader experienced a complete defeat. His
infantry, especially, was destroyed. I saved a hundred and thirty
from the carnage; and am going to send them to Marseilles. It
was in the ravine of the Isser, where I threw them, that the greatest
destruction took place, that is to say, at four leagues from the spot
* This volume of the French work was published in 1882.—ED.
230
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
where the fight began. He left all his wounded, and four standards,
one of them being that of his regular infantry.
BUGEAUD.
Two days later the conquering General sent to
the Minister his report, hastily written on the field
of battle, reflecting the original boldness and grandeur
that distinguished this true man of war :
Tlemcen, 8 July, 1836.
SIR,- My telegraphic despatch has informed you in short of our
success of the 6th. As you have often been victor, you, better
than others, will estimate the happiness that I have in reporting
to you a combat that was my ambition, only excepting that Abdel-
Kader was neither killed nor taken; his own horse remained upon
the field of battle.
Without exaggeration, the affair of the Sickack may be called
a battle, because all the forces that my adversary could command
were present.
He had called up all the assistance he could, to prevent my
victualling Tlemcen, and for four days had been posted on the
Tolgoat, near the Tafna. A reconnoissance I had pushed thither,
with the object of examining the road for another occasion, and
giving him the change, had made him think that I meant to go
that way, while I never had occasion to do so.
My convoy was likely to be coveted by him, and I counted
upon it to make him come to a serious engagement, that I
might probably have sought for in vain by other manoeuvres.
To invite an attack is the best way with such an enemy upon such
a field; but it was necessary to fight in a favourable spot; and
that was the only thing I was anxious about.
I started from Rachgoun (Haârch-Goon) on the 4th, at four in
the afternoon. I pushed on three battalions, under the orders of
Colonel Combes, on the road to Tolgoat, and I encamped some
distance behind him with my convoy of five hundred camels, and
three hundred mules. At two in the morning Combes noiselessly
quitted his camp, by a path to the left, he was to occupy the col
of Sab-Chiouli in two hours and a half's time. One hour later the
convoy and the rest of the division proceeded thither. The col
was not guarded, but four or five hundred men of the Beni Hamer
were just coming there by the other slope. It was too late; by
THE SICKACK.
231
seven o'clock all my convoy had passed, and we were descending
towards the Isser. Abdel-Kader was too distant to oppose our march.
The river was crossed without interruption, and I encamped upon
the left bank, well pleased to have crossed the chain of hills without
fighting.
Abdel-Kader was drawing near me, having heard of my march.
At three in the afternoon, fifteen hundred or two thousand horse,
under the orders of his lieutenant, Bou-Koom, defiled in sight of my
camp on the right bank of the Isser, and came to encamp a league
upon my right. I judged that this manoeuvre was intended to
surround me next day in the deep ravine of the Sickack, that I
had to pass twice on my road to Tlemcen. I made a reconnoissance
in search of another road, but all presented difficulties, either for the
fight or for the convoy.
I decided upon crossing the Sickack, and left my camp at three
in the morning, with the two-fold object of passing the first ravine,
and of being nearer Tlemcen before being attacked, so as to throw
my convoy into it, and to resume the offensive as soon as I should
be freed from this vast encumbrance. I announced this resolution
to the troops: You will be attacked to-morrow on your march;
you will know how to bear the enemy's insults for a time, and
content yourselves with restraining him. But as soon as I can
throw the convoy into Tlemcen, you shall take your revenge; you
shall march upon them, and throw them into the ravines of the
Isser, the Sickack, or the Tafna.'
Notwith-
This was verified with unheard-of good fortune.
standing my diligence I was attacked by the camp on my left at
half-past four in the morning, when only half of my convoy had
crossed the first ravine of the Sickack; I caused them to be stopped
by the Douairs, a battalion of the 24th, and a squadron of the 2nd
Chasseurs.
When Colonel Combes had crossed the Sickack, he had cleverly
taken up a position protecting the convoy.
Suspecting that Abdel-Kader's column would not be long in
appearing on the plateaux of the left bank, I made haste to arrive
there with the head of the centre column and my left column.
Abdel-Kader was just entering with about three thousand horse,
three thousand Kabyles on foot, and his regular battalion of a thou-
sand or eleven hundred men. I deployed the 62nd and half of an
African battalion parallel to the Sickack, but behind the crest so as
not to be seen by the enemy following us. I formed up the 23rd
and half an African battalion at right angles to the left of the 62nd.
In front of the 23rd and parallel to it, I formed double columns
echeloned on the centre battalion of the three battalions of Colonel
232
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
Combes, and I threw forward, on the left flank of the 62nd, two
picked companies as skirmishers, and the Spahis of the 2nd Chas-
seurs. The second Chasseurs as a body had been recalled, and
placed in column of squadrons opposite one of the intervals of
Combes' battalions. The convoy was placed in the angle formed
by the line parallel and the line perpendicular to the Sickack. It
was guarded by two hundred men of the battalion of Tlemcen
and the Coulouglis. I recalled the Douairs and skirmishers who
were keeping the Arabs back from the right bank of the Sickack, in
order to encourage them to cross to the left bank. The Douairs
were slow in assembling, and could not take their post in the line
of battle because the events moved too quickly. I know no other
fault in this intrepid cavalry, than throwing themselves so recklessly
into the fight that they can hardly be made use of any more for
subsequent events. But as soon as they see that their presence is
necessary on any point where the combat is becoming serious, they
come up of themselves. And they did so successfully during this
day.
It is evident by the disposition described, that I was going to
engage in a double combat in square formation.
Against European armies this disposition might appear vicious,
the apex of the angle might be thought weak, as liable to be enveloped
and crushed. But, here, this inconvenience was redeemed by the
circumstance that one of the lines was covered by the ravine, and
that the other rested its right upon the same obstacle. Besides,
no order can be bad with Arabs, provided only one has firmness
and resolution. I also could not have selected, in the whole country,
a battle-field more advantageous than that offered to me by chance.
Abdel-Kader had a plain behind him, easy for cavalry, from two
to three leagues in extent, and surrounded on three sides by the
Sickack, the Isser, and the Tafna; so that I was almost sure, when
I put him to flight, of driving him upon a ravine where he must
experience loss provided the pursuit was vigorous.
I wanted ten minutes more to finish my dispositions and dis-
tribute the duties with precision. It was also necessary to give
the enemy time to cross the Sickack, in order to throw him into
it. The Emir did not choose to give these ten minutes. He drove
in my Spahis and skirmishers upon me, and advanced in great unformed
masses with frightful shouts. I judged that it was the moment
to take the offensive in my turn, and that a retrograde movement
might compromise everything. After firing shell and grape upon
this vast confusion, all the troops moved simultaneously at my
command, and very freely attacked the enemy.
The combat on the plateau was the most important; Colonel
THE SICKACK.
233
Combes' three battalions, one of the 47th, two of the 17th light,
acted with a resolution and rapidity remarkable for troops so weary
with marching and heat. The Arab horsemen were so numerous,
that the firing with which they saluted us resembled the fire of
two ranks of our infantry. They gave way but slowly. I thought
the moment favourable to throw the second chasseurs upon them.
I ordered this regiment to charge home, and it was quite successful
at first. The Arabs opposite to it were overthrown, and a part of
the Kabyle infantry was sabred. But the right wing of the Arabs
having attacked the left flank of the chasseurs, while on another
side their infantry, issuing from the ravine, fired upon their right
flank, they retired with some loss and betook themselves to the
protection of the battalions that I brought up to their succour,
almost at racing speed. The artillery, under the orders of the brave
Colonel Tournemine, conformed to these rapid movements, although
it seemed before to be impossible with the mountain equipment.
The Arabs gave way a second time; again I sent my cavalry at
them. The four hundred Douairs had rejoined me. Unhappily
their Aga Mustapha had bee nwounded, by a ball in the hand.
Though deprived of this excellent chief, they did me great service;
they and the chasseurs covered themselves with glory. Everything
was overthrown; and the Arab cavalry, embarrassed by its very
numbers, lost many men, horses, and arms; its killed and wounded
remained in our power.
Abdel-Kader, himself, whose standard we had seen in the rear
in the midst of his regular infantry, advanced with that reserve and
the cavalry he had managed to bring back. This is said to be the
first time that the Arabs have been seen to make use of a reserve, or
bring it up so appropriately. This last attempt could not stop
us a moment; we flung ourselves upon this body, and it, notwith-
standing a well-sustained fire, was broken and thrown in perfect
confusion upon the most difficult spot in the ravine of the Isser.
A rapid descent terminated in a rock almost perpendicularly cut
from thirty to forty feet above the ravine's edge. There began
a horrible carnage that I was unable to stop, do all I could. To
escape certain death, these unfortunates flung themselves from the
rock; and broke their necks or crippled themselves horribly. Soon
they were deprived of this miserable resource; our chasseurs and
light troops found a passage and made their way into the bed of
the river; the enemy were hemmed in on all sides, and the Douairs
were able to gratify their horrible passion for cutting off heads. At
last by shouting and striking with the flat of the sword, I succeeded
in saving a hundred and thirty men of the regular infantry. I am
going to send them into France. I think it is entering upon a
234
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
good road. Humanity and policy will alike be satisfied. These
Arabs will get notions in France that may bear fruit in Africa.
A large number of muskets given to Abdel-Kader, when he was
an ally, remained in our possession. Besides the weapons of the
killed and wounded, many of the soldiers had thrown away their
arms in order to make their way among the rocks, where they
had need of both hands. Our Douairs were, every one of them,
carrying two or three heads and three or four muskets. I gave
them all the money I had, but I told them that it was for the
prisoners and not for the heads, and for the future I would not
pay any one.
خيمة الصيد
The Arab cavalry had, like cowards, abandoned their infantry
and fled towards the Tafna. I saw them making an attempt at
a rally on the edge of the plateau, before going down to the river.
I marched against them with the 17th light, the 47th, the 23rd
and the artillery; leaving the cavalry to pursue the remains of the
infantry and the Kabyles. This cavalry (the Emir's) did not await me;
it crossed the Tafna, and I halted upon the right bank, my troops
being much tired and the heat excessive.
To return to the first field of battle where the 62nd and half
an African battalion had to charge the enemy who had attacked
the convoy, and part of whom only had crossed the Sickack at the
moment when I was obliged to take the offensive. This portion
was flung into the ravine, and fired upon at very close quarters ;
it experienced very great loss in men and horses killed. After this
victorious charge the 62nd, relieved from the enemy in front, came
to support my successful movement.
As soon as the victory was pretty well decided, I caused the
convoy to proceed towards Tlemcen. Although without my herd
of bullocks and all the officers' stores, I determined to sleep upon
the field of battle the better to establish my victory.
Receive, &c.,
BUGEAUD.
After this combat, the General halted two hours
upon the Sessas. There Captain Cavaignac, the Bey
of Tlemcen, and the chiefs of the Moors and Jews,
came to meet him. Abdel-Kader had been block-
ading them for a long time with five or six thousand
men, and had the country round ravaged by twenty
thousand head of cattle. He had started the evening
THE SICKACK.
235
before, some said, in the direction of Morocco;
others, to Mount Tolgoat. Bugeaud encamped his
troops under the walls of Tlemcen; gave them a
day's rest, and departed for the camp on the Tafna,
in order not to diminish the garrison's supply of
food.
In a memoir on the war in the province of Oran,
and the means of bringing it to a conclusion, by
General Bugeaud, July 1836, he thus sums up the
ideas he had conceived from this short campaign.
His persistence in modifying the system of war
shows how much importance he attached to these
innovations that he applied, afterwards, when he was
appointed to the Governor-generalship of Algeria
The expedition to the Tafna lasted from the 12th of June,
1836, to the 19th of July; but if we fall into inaction we shall draw
but little advantage from the success already obtained. The system
of active columns must be persevered in; scouring the country and
fighting the enemy whenever he appears; leaving him no security
nor rest; no safe place for the women, children, and cattle. But
for that is required, in the province of Oran, an effective strength of
fifteen thousand men at least. And more, these troops must be
composed of picked men and vigorous volunteers if possible; the
officers must be young men, with a future; no old superior officers
near their retirement; no old disgusted captains.
The system of transport hitherto in use, being the hiring of
camels and mules from the tribes under our hand, must be given up.
Besides being expensive, it has the inconvenience of delaying the
march and rendering secresy impossible in operating; the convoy
occupies a very large space, and nothing is so difficult as keeping
order. At the least danger they throw down their loads and fly;
and then the loss is irreparable. If this is the means of carrying
the sick and wounded, they are often ill-treated and abandoned by
the Arab drivers; lastly, a large number of troops must be sacrificed
to baggage guard, and the column thus weakened.
There ought to be eighty to a hundred mules per thousand
soldiers, with military organization, and driven by a sufficient
number of soldiers of the train; and they being armed would only
require a very small number of men to assist them to protect the
236
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
convoy. The general would no longer be paralyzed by his pro-
visions; could change his route, and on occasion pursue the enemy.
Thus, carts must be given up and artillery on wheels, for which
roads have to be made.
The expeditionary columns ought not to be less than six thousand
men strong, of whom twelve hundred should be cavalry. The forti-
fied posts should not be too much multiplied, as they diminish the
disposable force of men, are expensive and difficult to revictual, and
give chances of surprise in which the Arabs excel.
This is the language of congratulation from the
Duke of Orleans to General Bugeaud on his victory :
H.R.H. THE Duke of OrleaNS TO GENERAL Bugeaud.
The Tuileries, 3rd August, 1836.
I have been too much delighted, my dear General, at the brilliant
success you have just gained, not to hasten to add my congratula-
tions to the evidences you receive of the King's approval and the
general satisfaction. To the joy that I shall always experience at
the victories of the French arms is added, in this instance, the re-
membrance I have brought back of the province of Oran, having
traversed it with a portion of the troops under your command. I
know most of the military men whose names appear with praise in
your report, and request you, my dear General, to be my interpreter
to them. Be kind enough to tell them that I bitterly regret that I
was not among them during this campaign, and that I shall be
happy, if it is necessary, to interest myself here in procuring the
grant of the reasonable requests you have made to the Minister in
their favour.
Adieu, my dear General. I know we shall meet soon; and I
renew the assurance of all the feeling with which I am your
affectionate
FERDINAND-PHILIPPE D'ORLEANS.*
* The Duke of Orleans, Ferdinand-Philippe, born in 1810, died in 1842, eldest son
of King Louis-Philippe, had made his first essay of arms in Belgium at the siege of
Antwerp, before he learnt war on a large scale in Africa. He arrived there in 1835,
just when Abdel-Kader had won a victory at the Macta, and took the command of
the expedition to Mascara, which he occupied after having received a wound at the
combat of the Habrah. The King, in 1837, sent him into Prussia, to Vienna, and
into Italy; in 1839 he returned to Africa under Marshal Valée. As soon as he
arrived he received the command of one of the divisions ordered to force the Iron
THE SICKACK.
237
After this letter we think it will be interesting to
produce a passage from a book of the Prince's own,
The Campaigns of the Army in Africa, 1835 to 1839.
In this remarkable work, a monument of affection
that the descendants of the Duke of Orleans have
raised to their father's memory, the eldest son of
King Louis-Philippe shows himself to be a writer of
high class, a great thinker, and a real soldier :-
The combat of the Sickack was not only the most brilliant
success obtained in the open country; it was the most legitimately
won victory; for it was the one with which chance had least to do,..
and the General had done the most by combinations well adapted to
the qualities of his soldiers and the faults of his enemies.
→
The Emir had lost his regular infantry; 700 muskets, six
standards, and 130 prisoners, now soiled by contact with Christians,
and so more to be regretted than the 12,000 Mahometans killed
under arms in the civil war.
This vigorous action had only cost the French thirty-two killed
and seventy wounded. It was a great check to Abdel-Kader, but
it came two years too late. The Emir's power had already roots
enough to resist a passing storm.
e
The Arab army was broken up, but the people remained pos-
sessed of all that formed their power, their union, their spirit, their
unseizeableness.
It would have been necessary to conquer him; General Bugeaud
had neither the means, nor the will, nor the orders. Having no further
plan to execute, he endeavoured to diminish the burthen of the chain
Gates, and he passed this defile notwithstanding the rocks, the torrents, and the
efforts of the Khalifa, Ben Salem. A short time afterwards, at the head of his
troops, he penetrated into the 'Maison Carrée.' The next year, the army hailed him
as its chief for the expedition directed against the old Arab province of Titery, after
the heroic resistance of Mazagran. It was in this campaign that the Duke of
Orleans crossed the Col of Mouzaia, defended by Abdel-Kader in person, captured
Medeah and Milianah, and thus secured possession of the right bank of the central
Chelif. Such were then the leisures of our princes!
* In the Quarterly Review, Oct. 1883, the passage is continued, 'He transported
far away from the territory entire tribes whose fidelity he suspected, and beheaded
the chiefs who showed signs of faintheartedness. Throughout, the Arabs obeyed a
prince whose confidence in himself and in the final triumph of his cause seemed to
increase with adversity.'
238
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
that bound the division of Oran to the garrison of Tlemcen, by increas-
ing the store of provisions in the Méchouar with the corn gathered
in the neighbourhood; but his troops consumed more than they
could harvest without implements, and he returned to Oran on the
19th of July, scouring the province, doing damage, weakening the
Arabs, but without subduing the tribes who awaited the moment
when the French should pause after their victory.
General Bugeaud had gloriously discharged the commission he
had received to raise the blockade of the Tafna, to revictual Tlem-
cen for three months, and to beat Abdel-Kader. He had even
found the means to bring the modern Jugurtha to a pitched battle,
by taking for the base of his combinations his enemy's self-love,
cupidity, and ambition, as well as military science and art.
He made over the command of a division, inured to war and
well taught, to General De l'Etang, and returned to France, having
received a telegraphic summons, as the events on the frontier of
Spain hastened his return.
Before he went to France, General Bugeaud was
able to be present at the fêtes given at Oran, on the
28th and 29th of July, to celebrate the sixth anni-
versary of the accession of the chief of the Orleans
family to the throne. Advantage was taken of this
solemnity to sing a Te Deum in the Christian church
as a thanksgiving for the preservation of the King's
life on the occasion of Alibaud's attempt on the 25th
of June. The Moniteur Algérien of the 13th August,
1836, adds: The various authorities having joined
Generals Bugeaud and De l'Etang at the new castle,
proceeded in a body to the church. Public prayers
were offered up in the mosques and the synagogues
at the same time. Distribution of alms in money to
the poor of all nations was also made. In the after-
noon there were horse-races, followed by races on foot
between private soldiers equipped and armed carry-
ing their packs. In the evening six military bands
united. These various sights were beheld by an
*---
THE SICKACK.
239
excited crowd, in which the natives were to be noticed
expressing their joy with piercing cries.'
General Bugeaud embarked for Algiers on the
30th July, and from thence returned to France. He
left the province of Oran quiet, and the markets well
enough provided both with cattle and with com-
modities of all sorts. Several chiefs of the Beni
Hamer had begun to negotiate with our faithful ally
Mustapha with a view to their submission.
As to Abdel-Kader, he was near Mascara with the
remnants of his regular infantry. His authority with
the tribes had received a wonderful shock, and but for
help from Morocco, his financial position would have
been very precarious, but his energy and activity did
not at all fail him. He drew the fugitives from
Tlemcen to Nédrouma, and proceeded to manufacture
arms and clothing for his soldiers. Then, to avoid
the French attacks, he went and took up his quarters
at Takdempt, and speedily raised from its ruins this
old Roman town, lying thirty leagues from Mascara,
placing the seat of government there.
On the 2nd of August, after this short and brilliant
campaign, Maréchal-de-camp (general of brigade)
Bugeaud was promoted to lieutenant-general (general
of division). His colonel's commission went as far
back as the month of June 1814, that of general to
1831. It must be allowed that this promotion was
neither speedy nor undeserved.
However, this was not the opinion of the opposi-
tion journalists. A spiteful Republican sheet, the
Messager, having published some comments upon this
appointment, drew the following reply from the
General :-
240
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE Messager.
You have said that I entered the Chamber as a colonel, and am
now lieutenant-general, after having held the most lucrative com-
mands. This assertion contains two errors, to employ the most
polite language.
It was on 2nd April, 1831, that I was made maréchal-de-camp,
after eighteen years of colonel's rank, after having commanded the
advanced guard of the army of the Alps in 1815, and waged three
successful combats at the head of this advanced guard. The last
took place at l'Hôpital in Savoy, six days after Waterloo. With
these antecedents, a man may be made maréchal-de-camp without
favour. My election as deputy took place in August 1831.
You know the reason of my last promotion. Perhaps the army
will not attribute it, as you do, to a complaisant vote.
The lucrative employments that I have held, according to you,
remain to be noticed. During the first year I was of the legislature,
I was unemployed. A brigade in Paris was given me, when the
rising was imminent, and I had the honour of defending the laws
and the throne. Like my comrades who were employed, I got
nothing but my simple pay.
I request, and, if need be, I require you to publish my letter in
your first number.
BUGEAUD,
Lieutenant-general.
Excideuil, 30th October, 1836.
CHAPTER XX.
THE TREATY OF THE TAFNA (1837).
Critical Situation in Algeria-General Damrémont Governor-Bugeaud sent to
Oran April, 1837-Instructions-Competition of Powers with the Governor-
Letter to Count Molé-Signature of the Treaty of the Tafna.
MARSHAL CLAUZEL'S recall had been decided on after
the check to the first expedition to Constantine, that
took place November 1836, a few months after General
Bugeaud's short campaign in Africa.
The situation in Algeria was critical; seven years
after the capture of Algiers there had been no sensible
advance since the first days. The forts were occu-
pied, and nothing, or almost nothing, beyond. It
was now necessary to concentrate all forces on one
point and strike a certain blow, under the penalty of
having to divert the whole of the French army and
the greatest part of the budget to a simultaneous
conquest at all points of the colony, a resolution diffi-
cult and dangerous in the face of the parliamentary
complications of the government of July.
Marshal Clauzel's successor, General de Damré-
mont,* appointed Governor-general on the 12th of
* Charles-Marie Denys, Count de Damrémont, born at Chaumont, Haute
Marne, in 1783, died before Constantine in 1837. Leaving the military school then
held at Fontainebleau in 1804, his first fights were at Austerlitz, at Jena, and
Friedland, then he went to fight in Dalmatia and in Germany, 1807-1809, in Spain
and Portugal, 1811-1812. Recalled to the Grand Army in 1813, he was at Lutzen,
where Napoleon made him colonel on the field of battle. The following year he
VOL. I.
R
242
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
February, 1837, reaching Algiers only on the 3rd of
April, was not a stranger to Africa. He had taken a
distinguished part in Marshal de Bourmont's expedi-
tion, and was much valued by the troops. Revenge
for the retreat from Constantine was necessarily the
object of the French cabinet, and the principal task of
the Governor-general. But to avoid dividing his
forces at the moment of the attack upon Constantine,
it was necessary as a preliminary to make peace in
the west.
Thus it was necessary to choose a soldier who
should also be a negotiator; General Bugeaud was
naturally selected for this mission.
Just as General de Damrémont was arriving at
Algiers, April 1837, General Bugeaud was landing
at Oran, with a rather undefined authority, making
him in effect independent of the Governor-general, who
took it rather ill. There was written from Toulon
on the 14th April, 1837 :-
The steamboat Sphinx anchored to-day in the roads of Lazaret.
This vessel brings us intelligence from Oran to date of the 8th of
April.
General Bugeaud arrived on the 5th by the Sphinx, having em-
barked at Port Vendres. The General had with him his aides-de-
was distinguished at Brienne, at Champ Aubert, at Vauchamp, at Etoges, at
Montmirail, and at Meaux. First aide-de-camp to Marshal Marmont, he was soon
afterwards appointed negotiator of the armistice that preceded the capitulation of
Paris in 1814. Maréchal-de-camp in 1821, he made the campaign in Spain in 1823
with credit. In 1830, being entrusted with the command of one of the brigades of
the army of operations against Algiers, he gained fresh repute at the siege of that
town, and was sent for his good service to take Bôna. The rank of lieutenant-general
was the recompense of his services. He then returned to France, and in 1832 was
appointed to the command of the 8th military division at Marseilles. Dexterous
and vigorous, he was able to save this place from the civil war that threatened
it. Being selected in 1837 to be governor of the French possessions in the north of
Africa, he had the direction of the second attack on Constantine. A breach had
been made, Danirémont went to reconnoitre it, when he was mortally wounded by
a bullet. He had been created a peer of France in 1835.
TREATY OF THE TAFNA.
243
camp and Colonel Combes, colonel-commandant of the 47th, in all
eight persons.
As soon as he arrived M. Bugeaud had interviews with the
principal Arab chiefs, especially with Ismaël, whom he knew well.
On the 6th the General received the visits of the officers of the
garrison; immediately afterwards the organization of the army of
operations was commenced, and all is now ready for campaigning.
The active division does not exceed 12,000 men; it is made up
of the 1st, 23rd, 24th, 47th, and 62nd regiments of the infantry of
the line, the 2nd Chasseurs d'Afrique, the 3rd battalion d'Afrique,
Spahis and Arab auxiliaries. The expeditionary corps was divided
into three brigades, commanded by Generals Rulhières and Laidet
and Colonel Combes.
General Brossard, commandant of the Oran division, will not go
on the campaign; but he will have some troops of the line, the
engineers and the artillery, under his orders at the divisional head-
quarters.
It is in the general orders for the active army that the soldiers
are to be in their great-coats, and only carry in their packs one pair
of shoes, shirts, and the little necessaries required for the repair of
their effects. The report of the evacuation of the camp at the
Tafna that was already spreading has gained consistence since
General Bugeaud's arrival, but it seems for the moment that the
garrison will only be reduced.
All presages well, the army is in the best of spirits.
General Bugeaud was one of the youngest generals
of division, but, to tell the truth, he was honoured with
the King's personal confidence. Besides, he was a
deputy, and in these parliamentary days, this gave
him a sort of exceptional independence of senior
general officers, such as the Governor-general de
Damrémont. It has often been said that, at the busi-
ness of the Tafna, the General had a commission to
renew the war against Abdel-Kader if he could not
induce him to make peace, and for the moment relieve
the French Government and army from any care for
the provinces of the centre and west.
Such was the secret thought and real aim of the
244
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
King's Government; and what proved it was the
ratification of the Treaty of Tafna, notwithstanding
the very serious objections of General de Damrémont
and the French opposition in the press and Parlia-
ment. General Bugeaud, who, according to his formal
instructions, was to quarter the Emir beyond the
Chélif, and make him pay tribute, excused him from
the tribute, and granted him on the north of the
Chélif the district of Cherchell, bordering on the
Mediterranean. The treaty was nevertheless ratified.
The principal blame attaching to the French
Government in this matter was for leaving the two
Generals de Damrémont and Bugeaud in ignorance of
their respective powers. General Bugeaud, while not
much relishing the Governor, his regular superior,
acted with his usual loyalty in writing to him on
May 25, 1837:-
Nowhere, in my instructions, am I told that you are to
sanction the peace I am to make, and that I am only to prepare the
treaty, as appears from the expression in your letter of the 14th of
May. If the Government has told you otherwise, if you have
powers that have been kept concealed from me, the mistakes and in-
conveniences that have arisen are neither your fault nor mine; they
arise from the Government not having established the division of
power in a plain and well-defined manner. The blame must be
thrown where it is due.'
As soon as General Bugeaud arrived, he launched
a threatening manifesto against the tribes that showed
hostility to France.* At the same time he caused
Abdel-Kader to be sounded. The chief did not show
himself averse to peace, but at first seemed to think
* The original text of this proclamation to the Arabs cannot be found.
TREATY OF THE TAFNA.
245
that he would have to meet two French negotiators,
General de Damrémont for the Titery, and General
Bugeaud for Oran. In this uncertainty as to the
powers of the newcomer, he did not hasten himself,
but even got out of the way, going into the heart of
the province of Algeria. Indeed, at this time, the
Emir installed his own brother as Bey of Milianah,
arrested eighty influential Coulouglis, and received a
deputation from the town of Blidah, still French, and
destined so to remain, but terrified at the neighbour-
hood of the powerful Emir.
The presence of Abdel-Kader in the centre of the
Titery stirred up an insurrection of the Issers to the
east of the Mitidjah, and obliged the Governor-general
and his lieutenant, General Perregaux, to make an
expedition to the Isser, and to occupy Blidah. In
this campaign a combat, glorious to our arms, was
fought at Boudouaou the 25th of May, 1837.
The temporary disappearance of the Emir left
General Bugeaud without reply to the first proposi-
tions which he had made through the mediation of
the Jew of Oran, Ben Durand, whom we shall come
to again. The General was vexed, and entered upon
a campaign, although desirous of making peace
according to his instructions. He started from Oran
at the head of 9000 men, and went to Tlemcen. He
completed the re-victualling of it, then advanced upon
the Tafna, reaching it upon the 23rd of May. All these
marches were effected without any incident but the
exchange of a few shots with the tribes, in the absence
of the Emir.
The Emir rapidly returned when he heard of these
incursions. The negotiations were renewed through
246
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
the channel of Ben Durand. Abdel-Kader, always hesi-
tating about Bugeaud's competence to dispose of the
Titery, decided on entering upon negotiations in con-
sequence of the unexpected conditions that he found
offered.
By this treaty the Arab sultan was recognised as
an independent sovereign. He obtained the cession
of the whole interior of the provinces of Oran and the
Titery, and even the district and port of Cherchell,
giving access to the sea. Besides, a very important
clause in a religious point of view was conceded to
him, the relinquishment of the tribute.
The following letter commenting on the treaties
gives some very interesting explanations on the
particulars of these negotiations, and brings into
prominence General Bugeaud's qualities:-
GENERAL BUGEAUD TO COUNT MOLÉ, MINISTER OF FOREIGN
AFFAIRS.
Camp on the Tafna, 29th May, 1837.
SIR,-I have always thought that in grave circumstances a
general or statesman ought to be ready to assume a great responsi-
bility, when he has a conviction that he is serving his country well.
I have just been applying this principle, long established in my mind.
I thought it my duty as a good Frenchman, as a faithful and devoted
subject of the King, to negotiate with Abdel-Kader, although the
limits of territory were different from those pointed out to me by the
War Minister.
I said to myself that the Minister and his clerks could not judge
of the shades of the question as I could, knowing the places, and
facing the difficulties. I also perceived by the despatch of the War
Minister of the 18th that ideas were still ruling in Paris that might
have been just a year or eighteen months ago, but are at present no
longer in correspondence with the circumstances.
I have given you to understand by my despatch of the 27th,
sent through Spain, the small importance that I attach to limiting
Abdel-Kader to only some special portion of territory; that I even
consider it advantageous to give him more, because he gives us a
TREATY OF THE TAFNA.
247
better warrant of safety, and more commercial advantages than the
uninfluential beys it was proposed to establish between the Emir and
us. It was this line of ideas that determined me to exceed my
Instructions. For all the rest, the conditions are equal or superior to
those that were approved by the War Minister.
I reserve to France Mostaganem and its territory, so as not to
relinquish any point on the coast, and yet the instructions authorised
me to confine myself to the marshes of the Macta.
I acquire on the coast a new important trade post at the estuary
of the Rio-Salado, better than that of the Tafna. Lastly, I obtain
a war indemnity in stores that will maintain ten thousand men and
one thousand horses at Oran for more than a year.
There is only the one point, therefore, of boundaries on which I
have exceeded the directions. I hope that the Government will not
consider that this point alone ought to frustrate a treaty that will
immediately give us easy and safe intercourse over the chief part of
the regency; that will establish security for agriculture in the plain
of Mitidjah and the zone of Oran; that will stop the effusion of our
soldiers' blood; in a word, will render it possible to establish some-
thing in the shape of colonisation, tending to our firm establishment
upon the soil of Africa, and close the door upon the pecuniary sacrifices.
that are the subject of keen discussion every year in the Chambers.
I hope that a reduction in the price of commodities will allow
the troops kept in the regency to be supplied more economically than
in France; and the customs, revenue, and commercial gains will from
this year begin to remunerate us for the expenses we have laid out.
I expect I shall be asked if these are not delusions, and what
security is there for Abdel-Kader's sincerity, or assurance that he will
properly comply with the terms of the treaty, and give you com-
mercial and agricultural security in your territory and his own.
My answer would be that the knowledge I have obtained of the
Emir's religious and sincere character, as well as his power over the
Arabs, gives me an earnest conviction that all the conditions will be
perfectly complied with. I make myself the Emir's security, and I
prove the faith I have in his word by the great responsibility I take
upon my own head.
Yet I will avow that one thought alone has caused me to
hesitate. I said to myself three weeks or a month must pass before
this treaty can be authorised by my Government. This period of
time is the most suitable for fighting against the Arabs; this will
be half a campaign missed; what shall I be thought of as a soldier ?
Thus did I overcome these scruples. First I considered how bar-
barous and harrowing to the feelings it would be to burn the harvest
of a people whose principal desire is to treat, and with whom I
248
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
have been treating. And further I have considered that the cam-
paign would be still more profitable in July, as that will this year be
the real time of the wheat harvest; that in June I should find the
barley gathered into silos, and that if the campaign begins later it
may continue longer, because we keep our cavalry, our transport,
and the health of our soldiers untouched until the 1st of July.
But if it was necessary to lose the whole campaign, would this
still be a consideration sufficient to forbid our trying a new state of
things, that in my opinion may give us all the advantages I have
enumerated? If the treaty is badly carried out, and does not fulfil
our hopes, could we not do next year what we intended to do this
year? The Arabs will dread it, for they have a perfect comprehen-
sion of all the destructive power of a column organized like mine.
They said aloud, even Abdel-Kader's envoys themselves, that they
knew very well that they could not resist me, or prevent my burning
their harvest; but that they would fly to the desert, where they had
reserves of provisions, and come back when fatigue compelled us to
return to our towns.
But
Perhaps I shall be asked how it is that, with such advantages,
Abdel-Kader could not be restricted to the province of Oran. Not-
withstanding the opinion I have already given, I did everything in
human possibility to attain this object, and if Abdel-Kader had
been left to himself I should have obtained some concessions.
the other chiefs and the marabouts several times cried out that they
would sooner die than yield up any more. It was necessary to dis-
pute with them a long time to gain article 4, which establishes that
the Mahometans living in our territory shall not be subjects of the
Emir. This point touched upon the religion to which these men are
quite fanatically attached. Just as much debating was requisite to
obtain the cession of some portions of territory belonging to the devoted
tribes who first raised up Abdel-Kader upon the scene. Lastly,
there is hardly an article that has not been keenly disputed.
I made a strong demand for Tenès and Cherchell, but Abdel-
Kader explained that these two ports were surrounded by Kabyles
over whom he had no religious influence, that this population was so
savage and independent that if we were to go and establish ourselves
there we should be, as at Bougie, always at war with them; but
he thought he could warrant the obtaining free use of these two
little ports for our commerce. It was necessary to be content with
these reasons, and, besides, I think them true from the information I
have obtained.
I have the honour to point out to you that if we give up
Tlemcen, which was onerous to us, we acquire two towns that we
have never seriously occupied-Blidah and Coleah. I am firmly
TREATY OF THE TAFNA.
249
persuaded that it was impossible to gain more, unless we had gone.
through a long war full of successes, but possibly of reverses.
What do we risk by making trial of a rule founded upon the
arrangement that I have just made? Even from the first we shall
have a great diminution in the current expenses, and the losses of
all kinds that war implies, of men, horses, mules, clothing, equipage,
ammunition, excessive price of commodities, &c., &c.
The Oran division will cost nothing for food during this year of
trial, and there will be time for preparation, in every point, to
recommence the war in the month of April next if we fail in our
attempt.
Meanwhile, the camp of the Tafna, that troublesome post, is
evacuated, and the buildings are sold for more than three hundred
thousand francs, according to the goods given me in exchange.
The more I examine the considerations I have laid before you,
the more am I convinced that there is wisdom in this determination.
The last discussion in the Chambers on the supplementary credits
for Algeria supports me most especially. My treaty satisfies all the
opinions given; and M. Thiers himself, who formerly posed as
the warmest partisan of absolute conquest, but now confines himself
to advocacy of a certain zone around our fortified towns, and amicable
intercourse with the Arabs. Thus everything sanctions my treaty, ex-
cept one passage in the War Minister's instructions. This is it:- You
are then to insist absolutely, as you have expressed your intentions, on
reserving the zone you have indicated round Oran, and keeping
Abdel-Kader restricted to the province of Oran. Absolutely you
must require a boundary, if not the Foddah, at least the Chélif, and
not leave to Abdel-Kader either Milianah or Cherchell.'
And below, 'The three essential points, that you are not to
depart from, are the sovereignty of France; the confinement of Abdel-
Kader within the province of Oran, bounded at least by the Chélif,
that is to say, leaving outside it Cherchell and Milianah; and the
reservation of the zone you have pointed out from the Habra to the
Rio-Salado.'
That which has emboldened me to exceed these orders is,
that the first idea of this limitation seems to have been derived from
my correspondence with the Minister, and so these are in some ways
my own ideas that I myself alter.
In three or four days I am going to leave the Tafna and return
to Oran. If you approve of my plan, I request to be allowed to
remain a month or two to settle the basis of our establishment in the
zone reserved, and lay the foundations of one or two military colonies
in it. I will send the War Minister a detailed report of everything
that seems to me useful to be done. At the present time I mention
250
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
the salt-works of Arzew, and its excellent harbour, near which we
ought to make establishments for a traffic that may become con-
siderable. The salt-works also might afford a good revenue. The
Russians of the Black Sea and other people who import iron into
Spain, and return with cargoes of salt, would prefer to come to
Arzew, because the iron would find a ready market; there is salt
there, it is nearer than the coast of Spain, and the anchorage safer
than at Valencia, where these vessels generally go.
If you do not approve of my treaty, I still request to remain to
make the campaign of July, August, and September. This is no
small sacrifice for the sake of the decision that I thought it my duty
to make. I really felt that in the advantage of seeing my family
again there would be a compensation for the annoyances I have
experienced, wrongly no doubt, at the commencement of my
negotiations, and my recall would have procured it for me.
But if,
unhappily, there is war to be made, it would be disgraceful for me
to return to France without having once more given proof that I
am far from dreading it.
I am with respect, &c.,
Bugeaud.
P.S.-I have given information to the generals and superior
officers of my division as to the clauses of the treaty. They were
unanimously satisfied, and declared it would not be wise to refuse
such conditions. However, they were all very desirous of fighting.
The same day that General Bugeaud despatched
the above letter to Paris for the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, he addressed the following to the Governor-
General Count de Damrémont, whom he rather sus-
pected of having endeavoured to open negotiations
with Abdel-Kader at the same time that he did so
himself:-
TO THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL COUNT DE DAMRÉMONT.
From the Camp on the Tafna, 29 May, 1837.
GENERAL,I owe you some reparation, and will freely pay it.
Abdel-Kader assures me that you have never made proposals of
peace to him.
So I was deceived by Durand, who was playing a double game
to obtain concessions from both contracting parties by lying to both
TREATY OF THE TAFNA.
251
of them. He was labouring chiefly to make his own fortune; he is
a sordid man. I have not made use of him in these last negotiations;
I have treated directly.
Accept my excuses, General. Efface from your mind the
impression that my unfounded reproaches must have left.
Receive, &c., &c.,
BUGEAUD.
The text of the Treaty of the Tafna, signed the
30th of May, 1837, was this :—
Between Lieut.-General Bugeaud, commanding the French
troops in the province of Oran, and the Emir Abdel-Kader, has been
agreed as follows:
Art. 1. The Emir Abdel-Kader recognises the sovereignty of
the French in Africa.
Art. 2. France reserves in the province of Oran, Mostaganem,
Mazagran, and their territories, Oran, Arzew; also a territory thus
bounded on the east by the river Macta and the marsh from which
it issues on the south by a line starting from the above-mentioned
marsh, passing by the southern shore of Lake Sebkha, and reaching
as far as the Oued-Malah, Rio-Salado, in the direction of Sidi-Saïd,
and from that river to the sea, so that all the land contained within
this circumference shall be French territory.
In the province of Algeria, Algiers, the Sahel, the plain of the
Mitidjah, extending on the east as far as the Oued-Khadra and beyond;
on the south by the first crest of the first chain of the Little Atlas, by
the Chiffa, as far as the angle of Mazagran, and thence by a straight
line to the sea, enclosing Coleah and its territory, so that all the land
contained within this circumference shall be French territory.
Art. 3. The Emir shall administer the province of Oran, that of
the Titery, and the portion of that of Algiers that is not comprised
on the west within the limits pointed out in Art. 2. He shall not
penetrate into any other portion of the Regency.
Art. 4. The Emir shall have no authority over the Mahometans
that choose to dwell in the territory reserved to France, but they
shall remain free to go and live on the territory administered by the
Emir, as the inhabitants of the Emir's territory shall be able to
come and take up their abode on the French territory.
Art. 5. The Arabs living on the French territory shall freely
exercise their religion. They shall be able to build mosques there,
and follow their religious discipline in every respect under the
authority of their spiritual chiefs.
252
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
Art. 6. The Emir shall give to the French army 30,000
fanègues of wheat, 30,000 fanègues of barley, and 5000 bullocks.
*
The delivery of these commodities shall take place at Oran by
thirds; the first to take place between the 1st and 13th of Septem-
ber, 1837, and the other two at intervals of two months.
Art. 7. The Emir shall purchase in France the powder, the
sulphur, and the arms that he requires.
Art. 8. The Coulouglis who desire to remain at Tlemcen or
elsewhere shall freely hold their properties there, and be treated like
the Hadars; those who desire to retire into French territory may
freely sell or let their properties.
Art. 9. France cedes to the Emir Rachgoun, Tlemcen, the
Mechouar, and the cannon that were formerly in that citadel. The
Emir undertakes to provide carriage to Oran for all the effects, as
well as the warlike stores and provisions of the garrison of Tlemcen.
Art. 10. Trade shall be free between the Arabs and the French,
and they may establish themselves upon either territory.
Art. 11. The French shall be respected among the Arabs as the
Arabs among the French. The farms and properties that French
subjects have acquired, or shall acquire, in the Arab territory shall
be secured to them. They shall have free enjoyment, and the Emir
engages to recompense them for any damages the Arabs may inflict
upon them.
Art. 12. The criminals of both territories shall be reciprocally
given up.
Art. 13. The Emir engages not to give any spot upon the coast
to any power without the authorisation of France.
Art. 14. The trade of the Regency can only be carried on
through the ports occupied by France.
Art 15. France shall be able to keep agents with the Emir and
in the towns under his administration, to serve as intermediaries with
him for the French subjects in trade disputes, or any others that
they may have with the Arabs. The Emir shall enjoy the same
power in the French towns and ports.
* The fanegue is a Spanish measure of capacity for dry substances, nearly
equivalent to sixty litres (a bushel and three-quarters).
CHAPTER XXI.
ABDEL-KADER.
The General's Interview with Abdel-Kader-Description of Abdel-Kader-The
Emir's Letter to the Governor-general-Cessation of Hostilities-Pacification.
GENERAL BUGEAUD was very desirous to be acquainted
with the Marabout warrior, the chief who had held the
French armies in check for seven years. As soon as
the signature of Abdel-Kader had been placed upon
the instrument of the Treaty, the General caused
proposals for an interview in a spot selected between
the two camps to be made to the Emir. The Arab
accepted them, and the account of this memorable
interview is given in a confidential letter addressed
by General Bugeaud to Count Molé, the Minister of
Foreign Affairs —
TO COUNT MOLE, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
From the camp of the Tafna, 2nd of June, 1837.
Since I forwarded to you through Spain the treaty that I
believed I had concluded with Abdel-Kader, and the account of the
reasons that had decided me, I have met with a thousand difficulties,
and several times thought that I should be obliged to send you a war
bulletin instead of the original of the treaty that I had announced
to you with too much precipitation in order to lose no time.
I suppose there is nothing in the world so difficult as negotiation.
with the Arabs. It is much easier to conquer them in action. All
the articles have been discussed anew with a truly Arab tenacity;
on my side I stiffened myself, and did not yield on any point but the
annual tribute, because that was a matter of religion and to hold
to it, was to break everything. In compensation I obtained a great
:
254
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
tribute paid at once, and Mostaganem, that I had yielded at first. At
last, after much going and coming between Abdel-Kader's camp and
mine, the treaty was brought to me invested with the Emir's signa-
ture or his seal, for an Arab never signs.
I proposed to him an interview for the next day, at three leagues
from my camp, and six or seven from his. He accepted it, and at
nine I was on the spot with six battalions, my artillery, and cavalry.
I remained there till two in the afternoon without hearing of the
Emir. At last some Arab chiefs, with whom I had been in com-
munication the previous day, came successively bringing me dilatory
excuses; one said that the Emir had been ill, and only started late
from his camp; another added that the Emir would probably request
me to defer the interview till the next day, but that nevertheless he
was approaching; a third came and said he is quite near, but he has
stopped;' a fourth told us he was soon coming, and that I could go
forward a bit; it was then five in the afternoon.
Wishing to take my troops back to camp, and make a definite
end of it, I determined to go forward with my staff. I was in a
gorge, broken by hills; I proceeded more than an hour without
seeing anything: at last I saw the Emir's army at the end of a
valley, taking post upon some hillocks so as to make a great show.
At this moment the chief of the tribe of the Oulasias, Bou-Hamedy,
came to meet me, and said, 'The Emir is advancing towards this
hillock; come, and I will guide you to him.' I was then
I was then among the
enemy's advanced posts: to retreat would have been to show timidity,
and perhaps disarrange all the business, so I followed him, after tell-
ing him that I thought it unmannerly of his chief to make me wait
so long. The Kabyle, thinking that I was hesitating, told me to be
easy and not afraid. I told him, 'I have no fear of anything, and
am used to the sight of you, but I think it unbecoming in your chief
to make me wait so long and come so far.' 'He is there; you will
see him directly.
However, we still went a long way before we met him. Some
apprehension was manifested among my staff: an officer of high rank
called out that we were quite far enough. I answered, 'It is no time
now to give advice; we must not show weakness before these bar-
barians.' And I went forward.
And I went forward. At last I saw the Emir's escort
advancing towards me. The appearance of it was really imposing:
there were 150 or 200 chief marabouts, remarkably fine men, still
more imposing from the slowness of their movement. They were
riding splendid horses, and making them paw the ground and rear
with great elegance and dexterity.
Abdel-Kader was some paces in advance, riding a fine black
horse, which he managed with great skill. Sometimes he made
ABDEL-KADER.
255
him bound with all four feet in the air, and again rear upon his two
hind feet; several Arabs of his household held the stirrups, the
skirts of his burnous, and, I think, his horse's tail. To avoid the
ceremonial slowness, and show him that I had no apprehension, I
came up to him at a gallop, and, after asking if Abdel-Kader was
there, I cavalierly offered him my hand, which he took, and pressed
it twice. He then asked me how I was. I returned the compli-
ment, and, to shorten the time that the Arabs generally take up in
these preliminaries, I invited him to dismount, so as to talk more con-
veniently. He dismounted and sat down, without inviting me to be
seated. I sat down by him. The band, entirely composed of shrill
hautbois, began to play so as to prevent conversation; I made signs
to them to be silent, and they were quiet.
Before entering into conversation, I examined for a moment his
appearance and costume, not differing at all from those of the lowest
Arabs. He is pale, and a good deal resembles the portrait often
given of Jesus Christ. His eyes and beard are of a dark chestnut, his
brain well developed, mouth large, teeth irregular and white; his entire
appearance is that of a devotee. Except at the first address, he keeps
his eyes turned down, and never looks up: all his clothes were dirty,
coarse, and three-parts worn out; an affectation of strictness and
simplicity is perceptible.
I said to him, 'There are not many generals who would have
ventured to make the treaty I have concluded with you, for it is
partly contrary to my King's instructions' (they do not understand
what a government is). It was considered that you would be suffi-
ciently powerful without coming beyond the province of Oran; I
did not fear to further increase your power, because I am confident
that you will not use the power given you by the treaty otherwise
than to ameliorate the life of the Arab nation, and keep it in peace
and intercourse with France.'
'I thank you for your kind feelings towards me,' he answered. If
God wills it, I will make the happiness of the Arabs, and if the
peace is ever broken it shall not be my fault.'
In this point I have made myself your surety to the King of
the French.'
You run no risk by so doing; we have a religion and customs
that oblige us to keep our word; I shall keep it better than the
French; I have never broken it.'
"I count upon it, and therefore I offer you my private friend-
ship.'
I accept your friendship. I will keep my word; but let the
French take care they do not listen to plotters, as General Trézel
did.'
256
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
"The French do not let themselves be led by any one, and it will
not be any private acts done by individuals that can break the peace;
it would be the non-performance of the treaty, or a great act of
hostility. As for the culpable acts of private persons, we will
inform one another, and reciprocally punish them.'
'That is very well, you need only inform me, and the guilty
shall be punished.'
'I recommend to you the Coulouglis, who remain at Tlemcen.'
You may be easy, they shall be treated like faithful allies. But
you have promised me to place the Douairs in the country of Hafra'
(a part of the mountains between the sea and the Lake Zegba).
Perhaps the country of Hafra will not be enough, but they shall
be so placed as not to be able to break the peace.'
'That is well.' A moment's silence.
I resumed, ‘Have you given orders to resume trade relations at
Algiers and around all our towns?'
No; but I will do so as soon as you have given up Tlemcen
to me.'
'You know that I can only give it over when the treaty has
been approved by my King.'
'What! have you not power to treat?'
'Yes, but the treaty must be approved. This is necessary to
security, for if the treaty was made by me alone; another general
who relieved me might undo it; when being approved by the King,
my successor will be obliged to keep it.'
If you do not give up Tlemcen, as you promise me in the
treaty, I do not see the necessity of making peace; it will only be a
truce.'
'That is true, it can only be a truce. But in this truce you will
be the gainer, for I shall not destroy the harvests while it lasts.'
'You can destroy them, it does not matter much to us; and now
that we have the peace, I will give you a written authority to
destroy anything that you can. You could only destroy a small
portion, and the Arabs do not want corn.'
'I believe that the Arabs do not think like you, for I see they are
very anxious for peace, and some have thanked me for having spared
the harvests from the Sickack until now, as I had promised Hamadis
Sacal.'
Here he smiled with a scornful air, as much as to say that he
cared very little for the loss of the harvests, and, changing the con-
versation, he asked me,
'How long is it before notice of the French King's approval can
arrive?'
'It will take three weeks.'
ABDEL-KADER.
257
'That is very long.'
'But what do you risk by the delay? It is I that lose.'
At this moment his Kalifa, Bénarach, who had drawn near, inter-
rupted, and said,
'It is too long, three weeks; it cannot be waited for more than
ten or fifteen days.'
I answered, 'Are you lord of the sea?'
'Well! in this case,' answered Abdel-Kader, 'we will only re-
establish trade relations when the approval has come and the peace
is definitive.'
'You will do most harm to the men of your faith, for we receive
everything we want by sea, and you will deprive them of trade.'
I thought I could not insist any more, and asked him if a de-
tachment left at Tlemcen, with some stores, might come in safety to
join me at Oran, where I expected to be by the 8th or 9th. He
answered me that it might go in perfect security. Then I rose, but
he remained seated; I thought I perceived an intention of leaving
me standing before him; I told him that it was proper for him to
rise when I rose myself, and then took him by the hand with a smile,
and raised him up. He smiled, and did not appear offended at this
liberty, great in the eyes of the Arabs.* His hand, which is pretty,
* At the Chamber of Deputies, in the sitting of June 8, 1838, General Bugeaud,
replying to a question as to the consequences of the Treaty of the Tafna, gave this
picturesque account of it, and was much applauded: 'I had made peace; I did
not choose to be contented with the signature or seal of a chief. I wished to have
it sanctioned by the Arab people, and so I demanded an interview with Abdel-
Kader. He at once consented, and we fixed the meeting-place on the banks of the
Tafna, at a spot called El Zubeccka. It is not a village, only a ravine (laughter).
It was four leagues from my camp, nine from Abdel-Kader's.
'He came five leagues more than I did to the meeting-place. I do not see that
there is any reflection on the national dignity in that. (Applause from the centre.)
'It was natural for me to arrive before him. He was very late, and I after-
wards learnt why; it was because he wished to collect as many people as possible.
He marched very slowly, because detachments were reaching him from all sides.
'It was four in the afternoon when an army appeared at the end of the valley.
This valley is especially tortuous and full of hillocks. There is no long view in it.
Impatient at having waited so long, and desirous of bringing my soldiers back to
camp, for they had brought none of the materials required for making soup-and I
care very much for my soldiers having their soup to eat (laughter)-I determined
to enter the valley myself with thirty of my officers.
'All at once I found myself surrounded by Abdel-Kader's scouts; I had them
before and behind, they came from everywhere. (Laughter.) My chief of the staff,
M. de Maussion, said to me, "We are in danger, let us get back as quick as pos-
sible." I answered, "No, it is too late; on the contrary, we must show them a
noble confidence, must go to them;" and I started at a gallop.'
These words, spoken sharply by the General while he snapped his fingers,
brought some approving laughter from the Chamber.
VOL. I.
S
258
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
seemed to me to be weak: I felt that I could have crushed it in
mine.
This physical weakness gives a still greater proof among the
Arabs than with us, how much moral force is superior to physical,
for the less civilised people have a greater appreciation for bodily
strength. We made our mutual adieus, and mounted our horses.
He was re-conducted towards his army with the same ceremonial
as he had come. When the Arabs, who had kept silence religiously
during the whole interview, saw that we had parted, they burst out
into shouts of joy that echoed majestically among the hills. At this
moment a clap of thunder, that was very long drawn out, came to
add to the magnificent character of the scene. My suite were quite
thrilled, and all shouted at once, 'It is splendid, it is imposing, it
is admirable. I shall never forget it as long as I live!' I stopped
a moment on the scene of the conference; I endeavoured to count
the army before me, and I think I am moderate in laying it at ten
thousand horse. It was massed to a great depth upon a line of
more than half-a-league, over some hillocks shaped like sugar-loaves;
the horsemen were crowded from base to summit.
Happily,' said I to the officers around me, 'the number of this
multitude is no advantage in action; they are only individuals,
there is no power of unity. The six battalions behind us could
march through the middle of them, and soon break up this sort
of order that has been established with so much difficulty, and is,
no doubt, one of the reasons why the Emir was so late.
officers thought as I did.
The
While the scene I have just described to you was in progress,
my little army was in a state of great anxiety. They thought me
very imprudent to have ventured thus to place myself in the hands
of these barbarians, and were considering if it would not be well to
march up to me and support me in case of accident.
In fact, I was at a distance of more than a league, and with my
company of thirty-six persons, among whom were the commissary,
'I reached Abdel-Kader, who was himself advancing to the appointed place.
We met, and I proposed to him to dismount. He did so, and sat down upon the
grass; I sat by his side. I can declare to you here that it was I who always
played the first in the conversation, I interrogated him, I asked him ques-
tions; he answered me in monosyllables, for the Arabs are small speakers, and
have not the French fault. (Laughter.)
"This conversation lasted about forty minutes. When I had said to Abdel-
Kader all I had to say to him, I rose. Abdel-Kader remained seated. I fancied I
saw in this act a certain notion of superiority, and so I made my interpreter tell
him. "When a French general rises before you, you should also rise;" and while my
interpreter was translating my words, I took Abdel-Kader by the hand and lifted
him up; he is not very heavy.' (General laugh.)
ABDEL-KADER.
259
two surgeons, two Neapolitan officers, and M. de Dinaizaine, a
Danish officer, —a very honourable company, but not formidable in
fight—there was no resistance possible: it was a matter of confidence.
I give you, sir, a rather theatrical account, so that you can, if
you like, make a newspaper article of it. I have been a faithful
historian, so you have only to give the facts to a good painter. I
should suppose that several accounts of this really picturesque scene
have been forwarded to the papers by some of those present.
Receive, sir, &c.,
BUGEAUD.
A few days later General Bugeaud gave his
personal opinion of the treaty in a private letter:—
To M. GARDÈRE, AT PARIS.
Arzew, 15 June, 1837.
DEAR GARDERE,-I take advantage of an hour's rest, during
the greatest heat, to answer your letter of the 1st of May. You
judge me too much with the eyes of your great affection, and you
see everything that I do or say in a good light. Unfortunately, the
public does not see as you do. You confirm what I had already
heard, that the press have bitterly censured my proclamation to the
Arabs. I have read nothing; I have not had time. How could I
have read these wretches! Are they worth the trouble of sacrificing
to them an hour of the country's time?
You expected war bulletins, and so did I, though my proclama-
tions invited peace or war. After many difficulties and objections,
peace has won the day. When Abdel-Kader saw me on a campaign,
when the tribes had the sight of my easy and imposing march from
Tlemcen and the Tafna, they sent me more reasonable propositions,
and after long debates I have concluded a treaty, that is at the
moment submitted for the acceptance of the Government. I am
sure this treaty will be condemned as much or more than my
proclamations; but wise men will approve it, and that is all I
want.
In order to conclude it I had to go against the instructions I had
long unsuccessfully requested from the Government, and obtained at
last, when everything was spoiled by the indirect proceedings of
General Damrémont. But I had especially to struggle with myself.
It cost me a great deal to put an end to everything, and return the
sword to the scabbard without fighting, when the zeal, confidence,
I
260
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
and perfect devotion of my division promised me some glorious
combats.
I regretted it most of all, when at our interview the Emir
displayed before me 12,000 horse, and I learnt that 3000 horse and
4000 foot had come to him from the frontiers of Morocco.
I then had proof that he was preparing for a great battle; and
then you would have had the bulletin you expected, though I had
only 8500 men.
I sacrificed all these certainties to what seemed to me conform-
able to the real interests of the country. I calculated that some
successful combats would not advance the question, for we were not
prepared to occupy and subdue the country; that after two or three
months of laborious marching, after burning a quantity of crops,
throwing 1200 or 1500 men into hospital, it would be necessary to
go back and make new overtures for a treaty, and be contented with
a peace uncommonly like one I could make before these labours.
It is less glorious, but wiser. I know I shall not be thanked
for it, and in that lies some merit of the action.
Besides, the war is not compromised if the treaty is not adopted.
I hold myself ready to march to the East, being relieved of the
post on the Tafna, and of all anxiety about Tlemcen, as I have
provisioned it for more than a year.
Meanwhile I am studying the country reserved to us, and am
preparing to compose a memoir as to what can be serviceably done
there towards the foundation of anything advantageous and durable.
You will observe that my peace satisfies all the opinions spoken
from the Tribune by M. Thiers himself, and especially the excellent
speech of M. Busson.
To you,
BUGEAUD.
Although the General had executed the orders
of his Government when he signed the treaty of the
Tafna, public opinion at the first moment was far
from ratifying it. The press and the parliament did
not spare the General either criticism or blame, and it
was not till later that the policy of France was
understood, and obliged to disembarrass itself from
Abdel-Kader, so as to be free to repair the check met
with in the first expedition to Constantine.
ABDEL-KADER.
261
་
The Moniteur Algérien of the 21st of June thus
announced the signature of the treaty of peace in its
official portion :—
'The Governor-general hastens to inform the inhabitants of the
French possessions in the north of Africa, that his majesty the King
of the French, on the 15th of this month, gave his approval to the
treaty concluded by General Bugeaud with Abdel-Kader.'
There is a very interesting letter written by
M. Léon Roches* in 1837, from Abdel-Kader's camp,
then our ally. It gives the best description of our
irreconcilable enemy, and the organization of his
forces that we are acquainted with. It exhibits this
chief of savage peoples, fanatic and ignorant :
Camp of Sour el-Ghozlan, near the Ouennogha, entrance
of Kabylie, 19 December, 1837.
You have, no doubt, stared at a lithograph in all the print-
shops, representing a mulatto with a cruel face and bloodthirsty
look, covered with rich garments and splendid arms, and read below
Abdel-Kader; and from this you and I, and all France, have taken
our ideas of the appearance of this Arab chief. Imagine my
surprise, therefore, from the portrait I am going to draw you of
the Emir, to whom I have been presented, and whom I have seen
every day for a month.
His complexion is fair, of a dull white; his forehead large and
high; narrow black eyebrows, much arched, over two large blue
eyes fringed with black lashes, and full of the moisture that gives
the eye so much brilliancy and softness.
His nose is well made and slightly aquiline, his lips thin but
* M. Léon Roches, an adventurous spirit, full of courage and bravery, who
afterwards, as chief interpreter of the army in Africa, became one of the most valued
instruments and most devoted friends of Marshal Bugeaud, was twenty-five when,
through some romantic adventures, he became attached to Abdel-Kader in 1837.
A remarkable intimacy founded on mutual esteem sprung up between the Emir
and the young Frenchman. We shall see afterwards how useful the relations of M.
Roches with Abdel-Kader were to France.
262
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
not pinched, his beard black, full, without being thick, short, and
ending in a point, his face oval.
A little tattoo mark between the two eyebrows blemishes the
fairness of his forehead, his hands are small and thin, and remark-
ably white, one of them is almost always resting on his foot,
which is not the least inferior to it in its proportions or whiteness;
his stature is not above five feet and some lines, but he is strongly
built.
Some turns of a small cord of camel's hair fixing a haik of fine
white wool upon his head, a cotton shirt, a tunic of the same stuff,
a white burnous and a brown burnous, this is all his dress.
He always holds a little black rosary in his right hand, and is
rapidly telling over the beads; when he listens, his mouth is always
pronouncing the words of prayers applicable to the occasion.
If an artist wanted to paint one of the monks of the middle
ages, who were animated by sublime ideas of religion, and by the
courage that often made them take up arms for the defence of that
religion, he could not find a better model.
There is as much ignorance about his mental qualities as about
his physical.
He is educated; he is merciful, though Mahometan policy some-
times compels him to have recourse to bloody executions; he has
stirred up the Arabs in the name of religion, that powerful motive
that shakes empires; he wishes to bring the Mahometans back to
Mahomet's institutions, his government to the form of the old
government of the Kalifs, the conquerors of Africa. His code and
his charter is the Koran.
For three years Abdel-Kader had been waging an unequal war
with France. The last campaign, when General Bugeaud had
pursued and beaten him with unwearied activity, had brought him.
to extremity: his treasure was exhausted, his regular army
decimated and demoralised, his dominion considerably restricted,
a large number of the tribes had revolted. The kabla (south), and
all the cherg (east), refused his rule. His only supporters were the
tribes of the province of Oran, and even some of them were
hesitating; no taxes found their way to his coffers, his position was
becoming more critical from day to day. He felt this, and did every-
thing to secure the peace that the French government were driven
to make by the force of circumstances; the treaty of the Tafna is
signed, and Abdel-Kader looks forward to a brilliant future.
We French, enlightened and civilised, get no advantage from
this treaty; we trust to the good faith of the Arabs; and we shut
ourselves up in the greatest security within the boundaries, that we
do not even seek to know.


ABDEL-KADER.
263
He, the ignorant and barbarous Arab, does not lose a moment,
and only looks upon this peace as a truce, during which he ought
to make better preparations for war.
He is very careful not to make the Arabs acquainted with the
tenor of the treaty; he only lets them learn what may be of service
to him in the execution of his plans.
He has divided the country, of which we have granted him
the sovereignty into eight provinces ; he has chosen in each province,
among his nobles, the most intelligent and ambitious man,
appointed him chief of this province, and given him the title of
Khalifa, lieutenant.
He has divided each Khalifate into three, four, or five agalics,
each agalic is composed of a number of tribes, varying according
to their importance. Each tribe is commanded by a Kaid.
The taxes are received by both the Agas and Kaids, to be
poured into the Khalifa's chests. Every six months he lays before
the Emir an account of his receipts and payments. The surplus
is paid over to the treasury to provide for the pay of the regular
army, and the state expenses.
Abdel-Kader assumes the following titles, Emir El-Mouminin,
Nadhyr Bit El-Mel, El-Moudjehed, Fi Sebil illa, Khalifa Moulai,
Abdel Rahman, Sultan El-Gharb; Prince of the believers, Inspector
of the State treasure, Warrior in the way of the Lord, Khalifa of
Moulai, Abdel Rahman, Emperor of the West.
Do you want an idea of his policy? Listen. He increases
his treasure with the arrears of taxes that he has paid up
by the tribes that remained under him. He recruits his army of
foot and horse; he calls all his auxiliaries friends; and goes with
them to punish the tribes of the kabla (south). His first success
decides in his favour all that are wavering; and makes all that have
revolted submit through fear. Some he generously pardons; others
are punished with death; some receive gifts; others are drawn by
the attractions of ambition. The further he goes the more formidable
become his forces; six months have hardly elapsed since the treaty
of the Tafna; and here his dominion is recognised from the frontiers
of Morocco to the frontiers of the province of Constantine.
But where is he going eastwards with his 12,000 auxiliary
horse, his 3000 foot, and 400 Khielas, regular horse, and his
artillery?
He is going, first, to establish a Khalifa in the provinces of
Hamza and Sabaou; who is to unite under his rule the Kabyles
and Arabs who inhabit the whole country extending from the first
southern chain of the Mitidja, as far as the province of Medjana.
Because, although the French did not intend to abandon this great

264
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
extent of country to him, they did not reserve it to themselves by
any clause; and that which belongs to no one, belongs primo
occupanti. Now the Emir chooses to be the first occupant.
He goes, secondly, to support, by his approach, the Khalifa who
has just been appointed by him in the province of Medjana; because
in the treaty there was no more mention of the province of
Constantine; and if the French have seized the town, they are
not for that masters of the whole province.
Besides, there is a report among the Arabs that the French will
soon do with Constantine as they have done with Tlemcen; that
they only took it to give it over to the Emir who is for the future
to reign alone all over Africa. The French still keep the coast for
a time; but as soon as Abdel-Kader has confirmed his power
and replenished his coffers, he will buy Algiers, and the Christians
return home.
tell
What do you think of this policy? For there is no need to
you that all these reports are spread by the Emir's orders.
I confess to you that I am dejected; all my illusions are
vanishing one by one. Instead of an open peace during which I
hoped to work with an ignorant but sincere chief at the civilisation
of the Arabs, I see an armistice that will be injurious to my
country.
If ever, in the future of time, France again should have to make
a treaty with an Arab chief, may she well remember that the Arabs
are still the Numidians who fought the Romans two thousand years
ago; that their enmity is still further augmented by all the hatred
that difference of religion stirs up in them; may she carefully read
the clear and laconic treaties that the Romans made, when they
gave peace to a barbarous nation; and may she distrust Punic
faith grafted upon Mahometan faith.'
After the peace was signed, and the interview
with General Bugeaud over, Abdel-Kader had sent the
following message to General de Damrémont, through
Captain Pellissier, lately appointed director of Arab
affairs, in place of the Aga of the Arabs, whose
functions had been suppressed. It will be noticed
that there were still some doubts remaining in the
Emir's mind on the validity of Plenipotentiary
Bugeaud's powers, and he addressed himself to the
Governor-general for the removal of his scruples.
i

ABDEL-KADER.
265
PRAISE TO GOD ALONE.
THE EMIR OF THE FAITHFUL, SI-EL-HADJI, ABDEL-KADER TO
THE VERY ILLUSTRIOUS GOVERNOR DAMRÉMONT, CHIEF
OF THE FRENCH TROOPS AT ALGIERS.
May the favour and blessing of God, as well as his mercy be
upon him who follows the path of justice.
You should not be ignorant of the peace that we have made
with General Bugeaud. We should have desired the peace to be
concluded through you; because you are a wise man, gentle and
accustomed to the usages of the cabinets of kings; but the General
at Oran having written to say that he had the King's sign manual
for negotiation, as was the case, in consideration of his proximity
we have prepared with him an authentic act, as you have been
perfectly informed. I am therefore now on a footing of confidence,
and depending on the treaty that has passed between us and the
French nation. Calm yourself, therefore, on your side; expect that
everything will turn to good and according to your wishes. You
shall not experience damage from anything that the Arabs of the
countries placed under my command can do, on this side of Bouffarik,
of the Mitidjah and around.
In a short time, if it please God, I will come over to your side:
I will cause disorder to cease; I will clear up all business with you
as well as with others, so that nothing shall remain out of harmony
with reason. If you have need of anything that is in our power,
we will satisfy you and not remain in debt. It should be the same
with you to us. When your letters reach us with demands for
anything you want, as has been and always will be the habit of
friendly princes, I also will write to you everything concerning the
affairs of this world.
Written the Friday evening of the 1st of the month, Rabi-el-
Tami, in the year of the Hegira, 1253, by order of our lord the
Emir of the believers; he who makes religion victorious, whom may
God protect and deliverance come by him! So may it be.'
Letters from Algiers, at this time, say that as
soon as the knowledge of the suspension of hostilities
had spread among the tribes, the plain became quite
quiet. The tribes of the east alone appeared undecided
as to what they have to do. The Governor-general
had caused the camp of Boudouaou to be occupied,

266
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
so as by this demonstration to encourage the party
desirous of peace; and several chiefs had requested
interviews with the officers of the direction of Arab
affairs.
General Bugeaud had gone, on the 14th of June,
from Oran to visit Arzew and Mostaganem. As for
Abdel-Kader, he went to Medeah in his province of
Titery.
The Moniteur Algérien, of the 12th of August,
1837, published this note in its official portion.
Although the Governor-General de Damrémont had
disapproved of the treaty of the Tafna, he recognised
its results:-
In spite of the violent declamations of which the treaty of the
Tafna may have been the subject, it does not the less remain àn
established fact that the peace it arranged commences to bear fruit.
Indeed every day sees increasing importance in the trade relations
with the interior, and quieting of our intercourse with the natives :
safety of roads; respect for property and person; more numerous
arrivals; this is already the first effect of the stipulations it contains.
We no longer have to notice those treacherous kidnappings and
bold strokes that were almost incessantly sending families into
mourning, and putting difficulties in the way of business.
Notwithstanding the pacific assurances of the
Count de Damrémont, minds were still far from
being pacified, and the tribe of the Hadjoutes had not
abandoned its habits of incursions and brigandage.
It was at the beginning of the month of October,
that the Governor-General de Damrémont undertook
the siege of Constantine. The city was taken on
the 13th of October, but the Governor-general met
with his death there. General Bugeaud was detained
at Oran, as inspector of the troops placed under his
ABDEL-KADER.
267
command, and did not join in this expedition. His
mission being ended he returned to France by the
Minister's order.
In a letter to M. Louis Veuillot at Paris, dated
20th of July, General Bugeaud gives the reason why
he did not share in the expedition to Constantine:—
It only depended upon me to be entrusted with the negotiations
and demonstrations at Constantine. M. Delame came to make me
the offer of it, and M. Molé told me, confidentially, that there was no
one but me to develop the pacific system that I had founded in
Algeria. I replied that I was flattered by the confidence shown
me by the Government; and that in return I ought frankly to tell
them what seemed to me to be for the interest of all. This is the
exact passage in my letter.
I sincerely think that it would be better to entrust this business
to the Governor-general. He is intended to remain long in Africa,
and perform a great and difficult duty there. Now, to order the
execution of two great operations close to him, without his partici-
pation in them, would be to lower him far too much. And there
would be another danger in so doing, namely, that not having had any
share in the negotiation of these treaties, he would not be equally
zealous in their maintenance. Even unknown to himself he might
allow himself to fall into practices and views that would be but
little favourable to the system you desire to maintain. It is
unhappily the tendency of the human mind.
I assure you, my dear Veuillot, that greatness is not all roses,
and especially in Africa. I find it impossible to keep up my cor-
respondence, or to write a memoir begun a month ago; I am so
bothered with the thousand delays of organization.
Ah! how
I long to return to Périgord. And at the end of all this to be
attacked, calumniated, abused; it is too much.

Your friend,
BUGEAUD.
After the treaty of the Tafna, Bugeaud had been
employed by the Minister's order, of 22nd July, 1837,
as inspector of the troops placed under his command,
that is to say, in the province of Oran; though the
268
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
T
Government had no intention of keeping him in
Algeria. While Governor- general de Damrémont
was making preparations for the second expedition
to Constantine, Bugeaud was confined to his post
at Oran.
We are able to give a letter, curious in many
respects, from General Bugeaud to M. Louis Veuillot
about the siege of Constantine, that cost us so much
blood on the 13th of October, 1837. The General
had known the great writer at Périgueux, about the
year 1832. Veuillot was the editor of the Memorial
de la Dordogne, and the relations between the soldier
and the journalist soon became cordial; indeed
intimate. We shall have occasion to refer to this
again.

GENERAL BUGEAUD TO M. LOUIS VEUILLOT, AT PARIS.
Oran, the 1st of November.
MY DEAR VEUILLOT,-I am still here, and God knows when
I shall get away from Africa. Constantine is taken; but the
Governor is killed and many brave men with him; among them the
brave Colonel Combes, my friend. A reverse, frightful for the little
army and humiliating for France, only hung by a thread. They
were come to their last day's provisions; and some very bad weather
had frozen the men and destroyed a great number of horses. If the
town had not been carried it would have been necessary to retire;
leave all the material, and perhaps die of hunger on the road. So
I had very good cause for insisting that this siege should only
be undertaken in the month of May. At last the town is taken.
A fine feat of arms has redeemed the honour of the French flag.
God and our brave men be praised! Valour has repaired the faults
of policy, and of the general combinations of the war. The ministry
have in it a fine vehicle for the elections. You will allow that it
would be melancholy for so many brave men to have shed their
blood as an election vehicle; for it was that which caused the
expedition at the present season, and then Garnier Pagès' infamous
ABDEL-KADER.
269
committee would have won.
bound to bow the head under such an infamous yoke?
Do you think we should have been
Your friend,
BUGEAUD.
General Bugeaud's expectations regarding his
stay in Africa were not to be realised. He received
orders to leave it, and returned to France on the 12th
of December, 1837.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE BROSSARD TRIAL (1838-1839).
Appreciation of the Treaty-The Jew, Ben Durand-Secret Article-Re-victual-
ling Tlemcen-General de Brossard's Complicity-Court-Martial-Bugeaud's
Deposition - Events of the Trial- De Brossard's Conviction - Revision
Acquittal-Correspondence with M. Boinvilliers - Letter to Gardère― Bugeaud
Commanding on the Northern Frontier, 1839-Lille-Re-elected for Excideuil
Correspondence with the Duke of Orleans.
THERE is a painful event in General Bugeaud's life
that we should have liked to omit for evident reasons.
Yet this incident attracted so much notice at the time
when it took place, and the great soldier's enemies
made so many attempts to make use of it against him,
that we feel compelled to give it considerable space
in this recital.
We hasten to say that our hero personally had
nothing to expect from the prosecution brought
against General de Brossard; but it will be under-
stood how painful it was to General Bugeaud, not
for his own exculpation or justification, but for the
explanation of the facts, to reveal certain acts of
indecorum of which his colleague, General the
Marquis de Brossard, was accused.
The treaty of the Tafna had given rise to some
severe criticism. The concession to Abdel-Kader of
sovereignty over almost the whole of the provinces of
Oran and Algiers, while only reserving the ports and
...
THE BROSSARD TRIAL.
271
a sufficiently shabby zone for colonisation, was a
renunciation of the fine conquest made by the
Government of the Restoration in its last hours. It
was reducing it to the small proportions of the barbaric
settlements, within which, since the time of Charles
V., the Spanish Government had always found its few
colonists blockaded, without being able to draw any
benefit from their possessions, though so near the
metropolis.
General Bugeaud saw the defects of his work so
clearly that he thought it well to justify his conduct
in the letter he addressed to the President of the
Council of the Ministers on the 29th of May, 1837,
given above.
The treaty of the Tafna contained a secret article,
by the terms of which the Emir was to make over to
General Bugeaud 100,000 boudjous, about 180,000
francs (some 72001.), the General having a right as
plenipotentiary to what is called, in official language,
'a sealing present.' The Count de Molé, Minister of
Foreign Affairs, had duly authorised the General to
receive this sum, which he destined to be used upon
'the vicinal roads of his department, and to reward
the officers concerned.' The French Government.
however, refused to accept this clause. So General
Bugeaud left the Emir his 100,000 boudjous, and in
this way paid him for the goods furnished by the
Arabs when Tlemcen was revictualled.
The existence of this clause, though never exe-
cuted, was a cause of complaint against General
Bugeaud in the prosecution brought against General
de Brossard.
On the 13th of January, 1837, General de Bros-
272
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
sard* had taken command of the province of Oran,
relieving General de l'Etang, who returned to France.
The very name, 'province of Oran,' was a much-
exaggerated expression at the time. The French,
indeed, only occupied, besides the town of Oran and
its suburbs, a few spots closely blockaded by the
Arabs, among them Tlemcen and the Tafna.
If General Bugeaud's powers as plenipotentiary
were ill-defined as regards the Governor-general
Damrémont, they were not much better, if we may
believe General de Brossard, as regards himself.
According to the pamphlet the latter published,
headed, 'On the Morality of the Accusation brought
by General Bugeaud against General de Brossard,'
before he appeared before the court-martial at Per-
pignan, Bugeaud's mission had been limited by the
King with the description, 'commanding the active
division.' 'Bugeaud,' says General de Brossard,
'has by an official falsehood usurped the command
of the Oran division.' Perhaps this was a first cause
of dispute between the two generals, of whom Bros-
sard was the senior.
One of the means employed by Abdel-Kader to
discourage the French before the treaty of the Tafna
was to starve them. The military administration,
being in considerable difficulties how to feed the
troops, as too often happens, accepted the tolerably
leonine offers of two Jewish brothers named Durand,
* Brossard (Amédée Hippolyte, Marquis de), born in 1784 at Follény (Seine
Inferieure), served in 1796 among the Vendéens, then in Condé's army. Returning
to France in 1806, he was in the expedition to Portugal, then all the campaigns of
the Grand Army. Chief of the staff of the first division of the expedition to Algiers
in 1830; maréchal-de-camp in 1833, he was commanding the subdivision of the
Drôme when he was sent to Algeria. He died in 1845.
THE BROSSARD TRIAL.
273
or, according to the nomenclature in use by the
Arabs, who like to refer every man to his father's
name, Ben Durand,* that is, the son of Durand.'
6
The French administration contracted to receive
at specified prices, highly advantageous to these
Israelites, supplies of meat and grain, if they could
procure such, and this not under bond. Now, the
brothers Ben Durand proceeded to Algiers itself
to obtain a ratification of this very exceptional con-
tract by the Governor - general himself, General
Governor-general
Rapatel being then a temporary governor. The Jews
Ben Durand had an idea that Abdel-Kader himself
might furnish them with these supplies, in this
way:
If the French were in want of bread and meat,
especially for the garrison of Tlemcen, where Com-
mandant Cavaignac was closely blockaded, Abdel-
Kader wanted ammunition, powder, iron, and steel.
The brothers Durand obtained a permission for this
contraband of war to be delivered to the Emir. It
was even forwarded to him in the French artillery
waggons.
It was thus that the ingenious Israelites, being too
well supported, played a double game, and made the
French believe that the plan was to deliver to Abdel-
Kader, in exchange for cattle and corn :-
* Judas-Léon Durand, called Ben Durand, appeared at Perpignan as a witness
before the court-martial. The Gazette des Tribunaux of September 2, 1838, thus
describes him :-'Forty-five years of age, of a very stuffy appearance; a turban, an
Arab dolman, large pantaloons. By the wretched material of his great sleeves,
mended in several places, it was hard to divine one of the richest merchants in
Africa.'
It is probable that this African Israelite, like many of his co-religionists, even
in Europe, called himself by the name of the town where he was born, Oran, by
the Arabs pronounced Ourann. The first French that landed may have made
Durand of this.
VOL. I.
T
274
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
1. Munitions of war.
2. Arab prisoners, taken at the battle on the
Sickack, detained at Marseilles, it being a duty im-
posed upon the Emir by religion to deliver them as
soon as he could.
3. A sum of money agreed, for the provisioning
of Tlemcen, of 41,000 francs (17507.); according to
General de Brossard, 36,806 (14607.) only.
But, in their negotiations with Abdel-Kader, the
brothers Ben Durand made no mention of the remit-
tance of the French money; they only demanded from
the Emir cattle and corn, especially for the provision-
ing of Tlemcen, in return for munitions of war and
the restitution of prisoners.
On the other hand, the bargain ostensibly made
between Durand and the commissary at Oran only
mentions the price, nature, and quality of the matters
to be furnished; there is no mention of prisoners, or
of the Arab Emir.
Thus, Abdel-Kader supposed he had ransomed
the prisoners for goods; the French authorities
thought they had bought the goods for ready-money,
and freed the prisoners as a measure of policy and
generosity. As for Ben Durand, he congratulated
himself on appearing to render a service to both
sides, and kept the French money. It is even
probable that he obtained payment also from the
Emir as a reward for his good offices.
When a demand for the return of some French
prisoners, captured in the province of Algiers was
made, and the Emir seemed disposed to assent, as
soon as the treaty was signed, one of his intimates
said to him publicly, 'What! you restore the French
THE BROSSARD TRIAL.
275
their prisoners for nothing, when they made you pay
roundly for your men.'*
This speech was reported to the French autho-
rities, and roused the suspicions of honest General
Bugeaud. Orderly-officer Allegro, sent by him to
Mascara, learnt the truth from the Emir, although
Abdel-Kader was very discreet. General Bugeaud
personally questioned Ben Durand. The Israelite
boldly answered, 'My business is to make money.
I have faithfully performed my contract with the
commissariat. What matter to you the profits that I
have been able to make, and the way in which I have
made them?"
Ben Durand had, in reality, alone appeared in the
bargain; he had caused the goods agreed upon to be
delivered at Tlemcen; he had been paid the price.
The return of prisoners was only an accessory mea-
sure, not inserted in the contract, and consented to by
the French authorities to facilitate the negotiations.
Ben Durand added, 'Again, though I have no
* Extract from the indictment laid against General de Brossard :
'These reports having come to General Bugeaud, he desired to know the truth,
and sent his aide-de-camp, M. Rouvray, to Abdel-Kader, when the Emir answered
that he did not know what they were talking about. Then in August, 1837,
General Bugeaud sent M. Louis Allegro, lieutenant in the Spalis of Bona. He saw
that he could only get a reply from Abdel-Kader by stratagem. In his interview,
which had for its principal object to obtain the freedom of some prisoners made
from the Douairs, he first reminded the Emir in pompous terms of all that France
had done for him; after which he came to the promise made to General Bugeaud
to give up the Douairs prisoners, seeing that the General had made him a present of
the prisoners taken at the Sickack.
Abdel-Kader, annoyed at this expression, called out that it was no present made
him by France, as he had ransomed them by re-victualling Tlemcen.
'I know quite well that you speak the truth,' answered Allegro; but that
should not prevent your restoring the Douairs prisoners.'
Though Allegro had been very careful not to allow any appearance of satisfaction
at having surprised Abdel-Kader's secret to be visible, the Emir saw he had let
slip a word he should not, and said, 'Allegro, I tell you all this, and rely upon
your discretion.'
JorM
276
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
account to give of my profits, my conscience is quite
easy, as I shared them with General de Brossard.
Besides, in consideration of the sum of 200,000
francs paid down, and 50,000 francs a-year secured
to his family, the General has engaged to arrange
with the Emir to make the French leave Algeria.'
A portion of this confession unfortunately agreed
with certain information, otherwise obtained, as to the
peculiar perquisites allowed to General de Brossard
on the purchase of provisions.
General Bugeaud, after a very animated conversa-
tion with his colleague, De Brossard, placed him under
close arrest. This being done, he informed the War
Minister of the charges that had arisen against M. de
Brossard, and announced his being sent to France
for trial.
1
However, he soon repented of his severity. In
a second letter he conjured the Minister not to prose-
cute judicially upon his former report, and to permit
M. de Brossard to go and finish his career in the
Portuguese service. General Bugeaud on this occasion
also claimed the King's indulgence. In fact, General
de Brossard's family had gone to Oran to beg the
General's mercy, and he felt the influence of pity.
It was too late; these grave facts had already become
public, and justice must take notice of it.
GENERAL BUGEAUD TO HIS MAJESTY KING LOUIS PHILIPPE.
Oran, July, 1837.
SIRE, - General de Brossard has acted very wrongly towards
I have been
your Majesty, towards the country, and towards me.
obliged to deprive him of his command.
He has requested me to allow him to proceed to Paris to submit
himself to your august tribunal. He wishes, he tells me, to confess
everything to your Majesty.
THE BROSSARD TRIAL.
277
I beseech your Majesty to forgive him, as I have forgiven him
in what concerns me. Misfortune, and the painful situation of his
family, have betrayed him into these errors. Your Majesty will pity
his wife and three children.
As to him, Sire, if I might be permitted to give any advice, I
should propose to send him to Portugal, and arrange for him the
means of entering into the service of that country. He has ability,
he speaks English and Portuguese, he is insinuating, and he might
be useful, for he has tact.
Be good enough, &c.,
BUGEAUD.
General de Brossard refused to go and take service
in Portugal; and although landed in Spain, where he
might soon have placed himself beyond the reach of
French power, he went in person to demand a trial
before the 1st Court Martial of the 2nd military divi-
sion, sitting at Perpignan under the presidency of
the Maréchal-de-camp Thilorier, August, 1838.
A confidential letter of General Bugeaud to the
War Minister, dated 6th of September, 1837, was
given in the indictment. The following passage is
most remarkable :-
Thus has General de Brossard unworthily compromised the
dignity of France. France believed it was generously releasing its
prisoners: they were sold! You will see the result. As the Emir
paid for these prisoners, he thought there was no duty of reciprocity.
He certainly released nineteen French prisoners to me, but he always
evaded the return of the women and children.
General Bugeaud wrote this second letter to the
War Minister, General Bernard :-
Oran, 21 September, 1837.
Two days ago I wished to have an explanation with General de
Brossard. I had marked the passages in my record of corre-
spondence, commending him so much to you. I read them
278
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
to him in succession, and during the reading he often thanked
me. When I had done I said to him, 'What would you think of a
man who having been thus treated had only laboured to injure his
benefactor?' He would be a wretch.' 'Well, General, it is you
yourself that you have described.' He was struck as if by a
thunderbolt.
Then I enumerated my own personal grievances, being also those
of the State; and I added, ' But what are your wrongs towards me?
Nothing! These are your crimes towards the King, the country,
and the army.' Then I told him all I knew, and concluded thus:
'You understand that you can no longer remain here; therefore,
make ready to depart by the first steamer; I will have sick leave
given you.'
He denied it a moment, but he soon threw himself on my mercy,
confessing a great part of the actions of which I had accused him. His
wrong-doing towards me he almost entirely admitted. He confessed
his proposals to Ben Durand for passing over into Abdel-Kader's
service; but he said there was nothing serious in it, and the extrava-
gance of the proposal was enough in itself to prove the impossibility
of it. As to the facts about the money, he acknowledged them, but
he alleged that he had not known of the bargain about the prisoners
till afterwards.
After these confessions, he gave me a touching description of the
situation of his family, and said with a sigh that was what had led
him astray, and destroyed him.
*
The incident of the secret article of the treaty
of the Tafia, served as an argument for General
de Brossard and his counsel for his defence. General
Bugeaud, who appeared as a witness in the end of
August, 1838, before the court-martial at Perpig-
nan, showed great annoyance at these suggestions.
everal times in the course of the proceedings he
lost the coolness so necessary to all men who feel
they are without reproach. Without suspecting it he
defended himself with the keenness of an accused
person, adopting the position that the counsel was far
from attributing to him. These various outbursts of
THE BROSSARD TRIAL.
279
anger are so characteristic, that we think it well to
give some of them.
The counsel for the defence, Me. Boinvilliers,
having asked in the sitting of 28 August,
*
Will General Bugeaud give some information as to a sum of
180,000 francs that had been promised by the Emir ? '
General Bugeaud: 'I was quite desirous of making known my
correspondence relating to these 100,000 boudjous that the Emir
had actually promised, and I intended for the vicinal roads of my
department (commotion). The 100,000 boudjous (the boudjou is
worth 1 franc 80 c.) were left to the Emir, whose letter is here
"If it never was your intention to sell me my prisoners, and if
you delivered them to me gratuitously, you must then have sent me
money for the barley, the wheat, and the cattle I provided you with
for Tlemcen, and for which I have not received a centime (23rd of
September, 1837)."
'I wrote back to him-
"If any one asks you on my account for the 100,000 boudjous
that you promised me, answer him that I renounce them. This will
answer for the price of the goods you have sent to Tlemcen. It may
then be said that the prisoners were given you gratuitously, and
you will not hesitate to return to me the women and children of the
Douairs."
6
Thus you see I returned the Emir his present of 100,000
boudjous; this does not concern the trial, but it does concern my
reputation.
'I had only asked for this sum for my department, and I only
did so after consultation with M. Molé, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
I had requested the sanction of the Government; it was refused me,
and so I took this indirect way of really paying Abdel-Kader for
the provisioning of Tlemcen, by renouncing the 100,000 boudjous
that I had intended partly for the vicinal roads of my department,
partly to give to the officers with me.'
And further on in the same sitting in reply to
General de Brossard-
I had asked for 180,000 francs for the vicinal roads of my
department.'
* Gazette des Tribunaux.
280
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
On some commotion among the audience, the
General stood up and said:
There is nothing but what is very honourable in that, gentlemen!
I communicated it to M. Molé, who answered me, 'When the
time comes I will be your advocate in the Council.' When
M. de Brossard knew that I had only asked the Emir for 100,000
boudjous, he said to me, 'Have you forgotten the officers who have
served with you?' I answered him, 'I shall have 100,000 francs
for the vicinal roads of my department; the 80,000 francs remaining
will be divided by me among the officers and soldiers who have
behaved best. I have put your name in the list for a share of
10,000 francs.' He answered, What is 10,000 francs? That
would not set my affairs straight, and I should be thought to be paid
with those 10,000 francs. I will not have it.'
Thus on the question of these 100,000 boudjous,
such a mark of disapproval as was manifested by a
simple movement among the audience found General
Bugeaud remarkably irritable.
It is certain that General Bugeaud had gone back
to recollections and examples in the wars of the First
Empire. At that time the military chest of the extra-
ordinary territory, augmented by the tribute from the
enemy imposed by Napoleon I., was continually open
to make benevolences, both in favour of officers and
of works of public utility. But Bugeaud was not
Napoleon, and times had changed. The system of
order, and control of the Government of July, in the
military and financial point of view, was no longer
that of the Consulate and the Empire.
At the last hearing (that of the 30th of August,
1838) General Bugeaud's replies were very sharp.
He requested to speak at the beginning.
'I demand a correction in a personal matter. The reporter, in
taking down Ben Durand's deposition, made him say that, when I
THE BROSSARD TRIAL.
281
heard of De Brossard's wish to go over to Abdel-Kader, I said, "The
dastard." *
I expressed my indignation strongly enough, but I did
not use the word dastard.'
Reporter Robert: 'Durand said that when General Bugeaud
learnt the fact he cried out, "The scoundrel." I put "dastard.” '
The President: So you said " scoundrel."
77 2
Thus General Bugeaud does not deny having
really applied the term 'scoundrel' to a French
general, but he protested when he was stated to have
called him dastard.' This is entirely a military
distinction.
6
Then came the defence by General de Brossard's
counsel, Me. Boinvilliers.† Every one knows the
latitude of speech permitted to advocates, especially in
criminal cases, with the object of saving the accused.
These liberties of speech were not to General
Bugeaud's taste, when he thought himself ever so
little attacked.
'Four days afterwards,' said Me. Boinvilliers, in the course of his
argument,' appeared General Bugeaud's denunciation.'
M. Bugeaud, rising: Mr. President, I cannot allow such an
expression; it concerns my honour!'
The President: Do not interrupt.'
M. Bugeaud: 'I cannot suffer any outrage upon it! A chief who
makes a report does not make a denunciation.'
The President: You have not the right of speech. I am
obliged to keep order in the hearing. The defender must not be
interrupted.'
M. Bugeaud: The defendant must not outrage my honour; he
must not call me an informer.' (Disturbance among the spectators ;
cries of Order, order.')
The President: General, you must not interrupt; you were not
interrupted.'
* Lâche,' afterwards 'Gredin.'
+ Afterwards Deputy at the National Assembly of 1849, then President of
Section in the Council of State, and lastly, Senator of the Empire.
282
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
M. Bugeaud: 'If the court will not make me respected, there is
nothing left to me but to make myself respected.' (More dis-
turbance, fresh cries of Order.') 'I cannot admit the word informer.'
The President: 'General, you shall have the right of speech on
personal matters after the defence.'
M. Bugeaud: 'It would be too harsh a regulation if a chief could
never be severe, could never make a report, and, if it were allowable
to throw the name of informer in his face.'
The President: General, I repeat you shall have full scope for a
reply on personal matters.'
M. Bugeaud: 'I am silent.'
On another occasion, Bugeaud, having again
interfered with the course of the defence, Me. Boin-
villiers said, 'I shall not reply any more to the
interruptions for which the witness's excitement is
the only excuse.'
M. Bugeaud: 'I am not the least excited.'
Me. Boinvilliers: Then you are inexcusable for continually
interrupting the defence.'
During all the speeches of counsel, Bugeaud had
notes taken by Colonel Marey, sitting next him.
When Me. Boinvilliers had done speaking, General
Bugeaud advanced to the bar, and placed himself
opposite the seat of the defence, saying that he did so
in order to be heard by as many persons as possible.
'Then,' he said, 'the positions are changed. It is I the witness,
who am the subject of a violent attack by the counsel for the defence;
attacked in my honour, in the same honour that he has so well
defended for General de Brossard. I shall demand from the Govern-
ment a serious and exhaustive court of inquiry on all the matters
that took place at Oran. I shall myself demand to be brought
before a court-martial, and I shall choose Me. Boinvilliers to defend
me, for I admire his fine abilities.'
Then he again recited the facts. The counsel for
the defence, Boinvilliers and la Fabrègue, objected to
THE BROSSARD TRIAL.
283
reopening the discussion, but General Bugeaud would
not stop for such a trifle. The advocates objected again.
Bugeaud: 'But it is generosity in the defence, when it has over-
stepped all recognised limits (murmurs from the audience), when it
has exceeded all these limits,' resumed the General, raising his voice,
'to allow a deputy, a general, the father of a family-for I, too, have
a wife and children—to come and invoke all those feelings that you
for the defence have invoked for another person. You wish to drive
me off into newspaper controversy, and you do not wish me to reply
before this audience who have heard the attack.'
Then General Bugeaud pertinaciously returned to
the discussion of those incidents with which his
name was mixed up. As he spoke, he fascinated the
defender with his look. The President seeing it,
requested him to address himself to the Court.
M. Bugeaud. 'I have turned towards the defender! I have my
eyes upon him; and therefore I am addressing him.'
The President.- General, you must not.'
M. Bugeaud, excitedly, slapping his thigh violently.—‘Then I
cannot explain.'
The President. Give your explanation, General, but to the
Court.'
Bugeaud continued to pursue the subject. For
the third time he came to the 100,000 boudjous, and
said in the 80,000 francs intended for the officers,
there were presents for all, there was one for General
de Brossard, there was one for Ben Durand.
Me. Boinvilliers.-'No doubt the General does not understand
in what a false position he has at this moment placed himself, as
regards the pleadings.'
M. Bugeaud.—'What, then, can I not speak?'
Me. Boinvilliers.—You put yourself in the most false position
possible, by continuing this discussion.
M. Bugeaud.—' I have just done, I have only one fact more.
The President.—' I request you to be brief.'
284
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
}
M. Bugeaud.—'I tell you that I should have done long ago
if you had not interruped me.'
There were murmurs and exclamations among
the audience. After this disturbance, having several
times protested against it, General Bugeaud cried
out, ‘I should have a good deal more to say, but
you stop my mouth.'
The court-martial dismissed the accusation against
General de Brossard on all counts, except that
of having been engaged in business incompatible
with his position as commandant of Oran. General
de Brossard was in consequence condemned to six
months' imprisonment, and a fine of 800 francs (327.);
he was besides declared incapable of undertaking
public duties.
General de Brossard entered an appeal. Of the
six grounds for quashing the conviction brought
forward by the defence, the witness Bugeaud alone had
furnished three by his excitement at the examination.
The result of this trial of General de Brossard was
different. The judgment of the first court-martial
having been quashed for error of form, the second
court-martial also sitting at Perpignan under the
presidency of Maréchal-de-camp Pailhan, gave a
verdict of acquittal, after seven consecutive sittings,
commencing on June 21st, 1839. General Bugeaud
this time abstained from appearing as a witness.
The Moniteur of the 4th of July, 1839, mentions
that General de Brossard, who had long been wanted
at the suit of some of his creditors, was immediately
transferred from the citadel to the house of detention
for debt.
THE BROSSARD TRIAL.
285
We must add that General Bugeaud having
thought himself insulted by Me. Boinvilliers, the
counsel for General de Brossard's defence, during the
hearing, wrote him the following letter:-
GENERAL BUGEAUD TO M. L'AVOCAT BOINVILLIERS.*
SIR, You have exceeded the bounds of a legitimate defence
as affecting me. You were not contented with rebutting the
accusations made against your client; you made personal attacks
upon me unjustly, and so as to wound. If you had no intention
of insulting me, I hope you will not refuse to give me a declaration
to that effect, which you will understand I need.
I have the honour, &c.,
Lieutenant-General BUGEAUD.
Me. Boinvilliers replied :-
GENERAL,
I am sure I kept within the bounds of my right,
and even within the strict observance of conventionalities as regards
you; what I said was nothing but the accurate repetition of facts
that you yourself had publicly declared, or documents that you
had written; it would be my duty, and I should perform
it with regret, to say the same things in the same way if the
occasion again occurred.
As to any intention of insulting you personally, it would have
been contrary to my duty, it was foreign to my mind.
Receive, &c.,
BOINVILLIERS.
Being attacked by the Ministerial papers, General
Bugeaud, as usual, bore very impatiently what he
called the injustice of the Government towards him.
The angry letter he wrote from Excideuil to his
friend Gardère displays these feelings :-
GENERAL BUGEAUD TO M. GARDÉRE AT PARIS.
Excideuil, 20 September, 1838.
I had read the article that has so justly irritated you, and you
* Moniteur, 6th of September, 1838.
286
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
may suppose that I have been excessively angered. I have just
written to M. de Bussy, and told him that I depend upon his
friendship to show it to M. Molé, so that he may understand
my feelings. I promise you that there is a warm description of my
annoyance.
If we were not so near the opening of the Chambers, I should
follow your advice, at least partially, for I should not choose to
show my memoir to the Minister. But I have stated that I shall
give an explanation before the Chambers; I must wait for that
time, and apparently I shall not wait to be challenged before
I speak.
What then is to be done now is to procure the insertion of
a note to the publisher of the article in the Commerce and one or
two other papers that have published the article you send me,
signed by you or by Ambroise, and thus expressed :-
SIR, I had called General Bugeaud's attention to the
unjustifiable article referring to him in the Débats of the 17th,
and I, as well as several of his friends in Paris, requested him
immediately to publish a memoir, explanatory of the proceedings
at Perpignan, because the Ministerial journals seem, to a certain
point, to sanction the attacks of the opposition press. The General
replied that he knew very well how to appreciate the conduct of
the Ministerial journals in this matter, as well as the efforts that
those of the opposition will make to cause him to break silence,
but that he had expressed his intention of giving an explanation
before the Chambers, and had determined to say nothing before
that time.
'I think it my duty, sir, as the General's friend, to make this
resolution known, so that the public may not put a bad interpre-
tation upon the General's silence.'
He was describing my services,
that millions were at the gate,
General Bugeaud accepted the
I have had a report from Marseilles of a very flattering
expression of M. Thiers about me.
and when he came to Blaye, said
and plots besieging the citadel.
command, and we were secure. It is a shame to abandon a man
who has done so much service, and can do so much more.'
I am every day receiving equally flattering letters from Africa,
and it is only in the Ministerial newspapers that I am supposed to
find other sentiments.
Do not lose a moment in publishing the letter if you approve it.
Yours,
BUGEAUD.
After his mission to the Tafna, General Bugeaud
THE BROSSARD TRIAL.
287
did not return to France till the end of December,
1837. Indeed, we have seen that his duties as
Inspector of the Infantry, under his command for
the year 1837, had kept him in Africa until
that date.
For the whole of the year 1838 he remained
unattached. His parliamentary work, and still more
his agricultural occupations at La Durantie, absorbed
him till January, 1839.
European events then occupied the Cabinet of
the Tuileries so much, that there were thoughts of
massing troops upon the frontier. On the 22nd of
January, 1839, the negotiator of the Tafna was
called from his retirement, and appointed command-
ant of the 4th infantry division of the corps
assembling on the northern frontier. A few months
afterwards, this corps being disbanded, the General
again became unattached on the 25th of May of the
same year.
Thus his stay at Lille was very short. We see
by the following letter to M. Gardère, that the press
did not cease to occupy itself with him, and that,
as usual, he bore the discomforts of notoriety very
impatiently.
GENERAL BUGEAUD TO M. GARDÈRE, AT PARIS.
Lille, 10 February, 1839.
I received your little word with great pleasure. I should be
still better pleased if your business took you to Lille whilst I am
condemned to remain in this frozen country, where, however, I was
warmly received by the troops. Whatever the National has said,
they have great confidence in me. This is shown in a thousand
ways, from the private soldier up to the lieutenant-general, who
commands the 16th military division. You will feel that this
flatters me, not with an empty pride, but with the thought that
288
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
•
these currents of opinion will probably be one day the best element
in the services I can render to the country.
This has not prevented the Republican journal of Arras from
attacking me, and blaming me for the murder of Dulong, and the
homicides of the rue Transnonnain. A Périgord man, living at
Arras, sent it an energetic reply; and it put the letter in without
remark. The Republican journals of Belgium are also excited
about my coming to Lille, but in their attacks they allow their
respect for my military qualities to show through. These people
seem to undertake the task of making me a celebrity. I should
hardly be known but for their hatred. Like you, I felt much
annoyance when I heard of the dismissal of Persil; but it subsided
when I reflected that this ex-minister had made the mint a kind
of radical club against the Government, that as chairman of a
committee he had himself threatened the officials with dismissal if
they voted for the 221 who are the majority faithful to the principles
of the 13th of March and the 11th of October. Persil was
punished by the law of retaliation.
My annoyance also subsided when I reflected on all the mischief
that has been done, and will still be done, by this unworthy
coalition, that has divided and dissolved a good Chamber, that
has awakened all the hopes and all the furies of the Republicans
and Legitimists, so as to create a real danger. I think it would
have been better not to dissolve the Chamber, and that a coalition
Ministry should first have been tried (I do not mean a coalition
pure), that would have fairly represented the factions of centre left,
centre, and centre right. At least, there would have been the gain
of dissolving the coalition through the jealousy of the men who would
not have had a place in the combination, or who would not have
found the satisfaction of their theories in it.
However it may be, my friend, I applaud you very much for voting
for the men who will be preservers of order at home, and peace
abroad, and not for those fools who wish to throw their country
into trouble. If war came upon us to-day through the follies of
your demagogues, who are attacking Belgium in newspapers, and
speeches, and plots of all kinds, how will you carry it on, with
50,000 men in Africa, 20,000 at Paris, 8000 at Lyons, 12,000 in
la Vendée, 6000 in the South,-all points that cannot be stripped
without imprudence? Add to this, that our cavalry regiments can
hardly make up three squadrons, that our fortified places are not pro-
visioned, &c. In a word, nothing is ready, and they wish to throw
themselves upon Europe, having given it warning to prepare; for
such is the advice given it every day by our journalists and tribunes.
THE BROSSARD TRIAL.
289
The Chamber having been dissolved on the 2nd
of February, 1839, the general election took place
in the following month. The electors of Excideuil
again selected General Bugeaud as their deputy.
The coalition, composed of Thiers, Guizot, Berryer,
and Garnier Pagès, left centre and theorists joined
to the
the antidynastic opposition, having won in
these elections, the Minister Molé-Barthe-Montalivet-
Salvandy had to retire on the 31st of March, 1839.
This is the language in which the newly elected
deputy of Excideuil relates his success to his friend
Gardère. The re-election or defeat of Republican
deputies alone interests him: -
GENERAL BUGEAUD TO M. GARDÈRE, AT PARIS.
Excideuil, 8 March, 1839.
You have heard of my triumph, my dear Gardère; it has been
complete and incontestable. The small number of dissentients,
when they voted against me said it was not against the man, but
for the principles. Never was it seen so quiet. A stranger would
not have suspected that there was an election at Excideuil.
The result of the elections shows plainly enough that, with but
little exception, the Chamber will meet again just the same as it was
before. The difficulty will not be obviated; so a Ministry will have to
be tried, representing the various shades of Conservatives, as an at-
tempt to rally them. The struggle cannot be recommenced without
great danger. All the passions are roused. The Republic is
audaciously lifting its head. They will talk of a rising, as if it
was a hunting-party. It is time for union, if we do not wish to
be overwhelmed and surrounded. A truce to the struggles of
ambition and vanity; the storm groans; To the helm! To the cables!
Furl the sails! No more talk of shades, for the sun is obscured by
a great shade.
Around me four Republicans have been elected; one in the
Dordogne, three in the Haute-Vienne.
My letter is for you and for Odiot. I have no time to write
two. My house has been full for a week, and they give me plenty
to do. I have sent my election address to the Débats and the
VOL. I.
U
290
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
Presse. Have you read my little pamphlet, A Letter from a
Lieutenant, &c.?
All the world loves you here. I shall be at Paris about the 24th.
Adieu, adieu.
Your old Friend,
BUGEAUD.
The General returned to Périgord at the end of
the month of May, being relieved of his command
of the division at Lille in consequence of political
circumstances, that is to say, the cessation of
anxieties from without. The next letter to
M. Gardère that we give is particularly interesting.
It gives the General's views with respect to Algeria.
In fact, he had hoped that the Government would
have selected him to accompany the Duke of Orleans
when the Prince went to our possessions in Africa.
But the General himself suggests that he had given
umbrage to the Ministry, and General Schneider,
who then held the portfolio of War Minister, was
but little disposed to put forward such a man as
General Bugeaud.
The Duke of Orleans, contrary to General
Bugeaud's expectation, made a point of communi-
cating with him, and condescended to give him some
information about his journey. This letter and the
two following ones, preserved as a great treasure in
Bugeaud's family, do as much honour to the royal
Prince as to his correspondent. The great warmth,
intelligence, and tact with which the heir of the
throne concerned himself about Algeria is remark-
able in them. The touching confidence and affection
that he displayed towards the old soldier of the Empire
are a title to glory for both of them.
It is not without a sinking of heart that we recur
THE BROSSARD TRIAL.
291
to those days, and think how much these two men
have been wanted, and, especially at the present day,
are wanting, to France.
GENERAL BUGEAUD TO M. GARDÈRE, AT PARIS.
Excideuil, 18th September, 1839.
I have neglected you very much, my dear Gardère; but I had
desired Ambroise to give you news of me, and ask about you. On
the 7th and 8th I had attacks of fever that have left me rather
weak, and have made me neglect my friends. Then, business in
heaps, journeys to visit relations, and to be present at agricultural
meetings; this is enough to make you excuse me. I have a great deal
to do in arranging all the affairs of my properties, so that an absence
of eighteen months or two years may not be too troublesome, and I
assure you it is not a little business.
It is quite settled that we are to go and establish ourselves at Paris
in November. I have already desired Claire to hire an abode for us
as arranged with the Clonard family. I would not give you this
trouble knowing how busy you are. I wanted not to be far from
the Chamber, nor from the Clonard family.
Here is Don Carlos gone quite to the bottom. The fact shows
that the King seems to have had good reason for unwillingness to
intervene, and the ministers are going to brag of their success,
because they have sent a few more brigs to the coast.
is all owing to two men, Maroto and Espartero.
placed himself in a terrible situation by his cruelty,
cleverly made use of it.
In reality, it
The first had
and the second
You ask me what the Duke of Orleans is going to do in Africa;
I absolutely know nothing. It seems there is to be an advance along
the main road as far as Sétif, that Collo, Dellys, and perhaps
some other points, will be occupied; and this will increase the dis-
persion, the difficulties as to provisions and administration, without
any advantage in return. Why am I not there? I am perfectly
ignorant; not a word has been said to me. A newspaper to-day
asserts that the Prince is not to command that he will join the ex-
pedition as an amateur. On another side I know how jealous and
ready to take offence Marshal Valée is. Perhaps that is the reason
why they have not chosen to take me.
But, was not a word of explanation due to me? Have I lost
credit since the King's very flattering conversation that I told you of?
Have not I given fresh proofs of devotion? I confess to you that I
am a little hurt at these proceedings. I have just showed it to the
292
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
Prince in a letter full of dignity and reserve, but that he will feel
very well. It will find him probably at Port-Vendres. I will tell
you what he answers if he does send me a reply.
BUGEAUD.
The Duke of Orleans, contrary to the General's
expectation, made haste to answer him. We give
this first letter, and also the two written by the
Prince on his return from Africa, which we have
alluded to above:-
H.R.H. THE DUKE OF ORLEANS TO GENERAL BUGeaud.
Algiers, the 28th September, 1839.
I have not forgotten, my dear General, the conversation you
remind me of, and I have not changed my manner of looking at it.
Be kind enough to believe this. But I am not come here to make
war, but really only to see the army in Africa, the establishments
that have been founded now four years, and the province of Con-
stantine, that I do not know. That is the sole object of my voyage.
And if there was to be a rupture with Abdel-Kader, no one but
myself should have informed you.
I thank you for proposing to send me your speeches. I had
read them at Perpignan, in the Journal de Débats, and they
interested me much. Being myself a member of a society, and one
of the founders of it, and being proud of having received medals for
some colts of my stud, decreed by secret vote, I can follow all your
excellent advice, and share in the teaching your words convey.
Excuse, my dear General, the desultoriness of this note, written in
haste, as I arrived here, where I found your letter, on returning
from Oran, and believe all the sentiments with which
I am,
Your affectionate
FERDINAND-PHILIPPE OF ORLEANS.
H.R.H. THE DUKE OF ORLEANS TO GENERAL BUGEAud.
The Tuileries, 1st of December, 1839.
The last news from Africa, my dear General, of events you had
foreseen long ago, makes me desirous of a conversation with you when
you return to Paris; and when you come here you will see that I have
THE BROSSARD TRIAL.
293
not forgotten the conversations that we have previously had on the
subject.
Receive, my dear General, the fresh assurance of all my senti-
ments.
Your affectionate
FERDINAND-PHILIPPE OF ORLEANS.
H.R.H. THE DUKE OF ORLEANS TO GENERAL BUGEAUD,
AT EXCIDEUIL.
The Tuileries, 9th of December, 1839.
I received this morning, my dear General, your letter of the 5th,
and I make a point of thanking you by return of post. I keenly
regret not being able to converse with you, not only because all the
phases of so complex a question as that of Africa cannot be examined
by letter; but also because in what I have to say to you there are
things that I cannot determine to put on paper. But I will try to
find a way to inform you of some of them.
I have read again and again, with the greatest care, the excellent
advice that your letter contains, as to the measures to be immediately
taken in Africa, and the preparations for the war which is kindling
at this moment. I have been long 'convinced,' as you know, of the
excellence of your system of war in Africa, and the experience that I
had of it in the very miniature command that I have just held in
Algeria, has convinced me, though all was on a very small scale, that
it is the sole means of avoiding the misfortunes inevitable to any
other mode of action, and the only chance that we can have of
getting satisfactory results, always with great difficulty.
Unhappily, my voice here is vox clamantis in deserto; and
though at first, even before the receipt of your letter, I had per-
suaded the Council of Ministers to adopt some measures, that are
very similar to those which you propose, for the operations, for the
reinforcements of cavalry, for the supply of mules, and the organi-
zation of the infantry and cavalry; yet, all the tenacity that, in the
public interest, I could oppose to the ill-will of the subordinates
was not strong enough to conquer the obstacles that you know as
well and better than I do.
My ardent zeal for the future of French Africa, my deep attach-
ment to an army truly worthy of its mission, and the conviction
that, like you, I am in the right of it, will make me still redouble my
efforts; but to move this inert world, which opposes continual care-
lessness, like Archimedes, I must have a lever; and it is the
want of my natural fulcrum that makes my chief difficulty. This
294
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
´is painful; but I am not a person to be easily discouraged, or
daunted, when it is a question of the advantage of the State. I
shall persevere.
Adieu, my dear General. I am much grieved to hear that you
continue ill. Believe, I beg of you, in the assurance of all senti-
ments from
Your affectionate
FERDINAND-PHILIPPE DE ORLEANS.*
* This fine letter of the Duke of Orleans involuntarily induces us to make a
comparison between the proceedings in 1839 and in the present day. It shows
how very respectful the Princes of the royal family were to the laws and constitu-
tion of the State, and how their conduct differed from that of the little Republican
despots. If a royal prince, an accomplished soldier, gives up the idea of putting
the wisest and most practical ideas into execution, and bows to the decisions of
the cabinet, meeting the ill-will and ignorance of the subalterns;-what are we to
think when we see in our day the jaunty bearing with which our ministers and
their ringleaders treat the country, and even its representatives; enforcing their wil
upon them, and drawing France into mad and costly adventures, safe to get the
measures taken, and the accomplished facts obediently ratified by a subsequent
vote!
CHAPTER XXIII.
SYSTEM OF WAR IN AFRICA (1840).
General Bugeaud in Parliament Comments on the Treaty The General's
Avowal Discussion of the Address - Paragraph on Algeria - Dangers of
restricted Occupation - Absolute Dominion, Subjugation of the Country-
System of War and Colonization-Change of Cabinet-Bugeaud's Inquiries of
the Cabinet-Public Opinion selects General Bugeaud as Governor of Algeria.
THOUGH General Bugeaud had gained the rank of
lieutenant-general by his campaign on the Sickack,
after his return he was far from professing much
enthusiasm on the subject of Algeria.
When there was a vote upon the address, 19th
January, 1837, in which a sentence referred to the
recent disaster of the first expedition to Constantine,
the General spoke. While he explained, in matters
of colonisation, his preference for certain departments
repudiated by the metropolis,* turning to Africa, he
avowed that there was no mean between conquest
and retreat, and that conquest required an effective
military force beyond anything hitherto thought of :-
This country is described as admirable, and having a most
brilliant future. Cotton, cochineal, indigo, gold-dust, ostrich-
feathers (laughter), ornament the speeches of the patrons of Africa.
Others will tell you, with long details, and more reason, as I think,
that it would probably be better to employ your treasures, and your
soldiers' arms, in cultivating your downs, making canals and roads.
There must be a speedy decision; the interest of this country, per-
* Probably referring to his scheme of cultivating waste lands by military
villages.-ED.
296
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
haps its safety, demands this, for it is no trifling matter to have
30,000 or 40,000 men engaged beyond sea; the interest of the
colonists, attracted to that country by hopes, exaggerated, as I
think; lastly, the interest and glory of an army that has lavished
its blood for six years. It has not yet been supplied with the means
necessary for conquest, or getting a decisive success.
There is no middle path. The mixed system talked of, lying
in clemency, in good conduct, in justice, does not exist. It is good
to use in time of peace. War cannot be made by halves. There
must be peace, or war with all its consequences.
Some say they will not have a retreat; then it is necessary to
arrange for victory. To obtain a good result, the expedition to
Constantine must not be an isolated fact; it must be combined with a
general plan; you must show yourselves strong everywhere at once
to influence the Arab mind.
It is useless to try treating with the Arabs, unless we are
victorious; they would laugh in our faces. The Arabs respect and
honour no one but the victorious enemy. And do not go and believe
that a little force of 20,000 or 30,000 men is enough for that.
A Voice.-How many?
General Bugeaud.—At least 45,000 men (prolonged movement).
I was the first in 1831 to demand peace, when everyone was asking
for war.
I am not fond of war, but I speak of the Arabs; and
with the Arabs a man must know how to wage war, and to do it
quickly, if he is not to have to do it for a long time.
M. de Rancé.-—It is the only way to have peace.
General Bugeaud. Men say that the Restoration conquered
Africa, and that the Government of July neither knows how to keep
it, nor how to administer it. Gentlemen, the conquest was never
made; it is still to make.
The General's second visit to Africa and his treaty
of the Tafna gave him fresh authority in parliament.
In the sitting of the 7th of June, 1838, he thanked
the speakers of the current session for their courtesy,
saying that he had not been so well treated the pre-
vious year. Next day he spoke at length upon the
very treaty of the Tafna, 8th of June.
He said he considered the convention of the Tafna
as the ministers' work, as they had given him in-
structions to make peace, and had ratified it. The
SYSTEM OF WAR IN AFRICA.
297
war, as Thiers said, was badly done, because the
means were generally insufficient. Flying expedi-
tions destroyed property, but when winter came men
had to be in quarters, and the pacification of the
country had not advanced one step. Counting on
the influence of the campaign of 1836, he thought he
could offer Abdel-Kader peace, and did so by a pro-
clamation, also threatening the Arabs with fire to
their crops. This seems barbarous, but it is the
only way to touch the Arabs. When ready for the
campaign, a communication was received from Abdel-
Kader that he accepted the ultimatum. Were the
harvests to be burnt, some 3000 or 4000 soldiers
doomed to perish, five or six millions to be spent,
when everything was obtainable that war would give
us? So
So peace was made and ratified, and he thought
it well for the business of Africa.
I put a stop to the heavy war expenses. I gained time for
making establishments. I gained time for considering the question.
For public opinion has still much to learn.
You have not yet got a
system.
Territory was abandoned to Abdel-Kader, but he
had got it already. Indeed, he had Coleah and the
plain of the Mitidjah as well, and they were secured
to France by the treaty.
If the warlike spirits within this Chamber or without wish to
renew the war, nothing is easier. Come here to the tribune, and call
upon the Government to renew the war. Well, gentlemen! treaties
have never bound nations when they were not conformable to their
interests. The Emir will supply plenty of occasions for breaking
this, without our having need to violate it ourselves. He has supplied
them already, if my information is correct.
than
Then, the war will be renewed: but it must be carried on better
you have hitherto done, or it had better be let alone.
A
298
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
It is not that the Arabs are unconquerable. I believe that
France will conquer them when she chooses. But that will take
100,000 men, well handled. They must be in large divisions, strong
enough to maintain themselves, and then the Arabs may be told,
'You shall neither plough nor sow, nor gather your harvests without
my permission.' And then there must be 300,000 colonists behind
thêm.
Another way would be to have light moveable columns to burn
the harvests and retreat; that would make an end at last, but it
would be a very long time first, by tiring out the Arabs.
It was on this occasion that the General gave his
description of the interview with Abdel - Kader,
inserted above.
Again, on the 15th of January, 1840, do we find
the General justifying the treaty of the Tafna. The
same day, in the debate upon the draft of an address
to the King containing this sentence-
After victory we do not doubt that your Government will, in
concert with the two Chambers, occupy itself in searching for definite
means of securing the safety and stability of the establishments that
France desires to keep in Algeria;
6
the General moved to strike out the words, after
victory;' and explained his system of war in Africa.
I should never be in doubt of victory with French soldiers, but
I cannot approve of such a want of practical mind. I should be
tempted to apply the speech of Francis I.'s jester, who said, 'Sire,
your councillors are greater fools than I am; for they are quite con-
vinced that you can get into Italy, but have not said how you are
to get out of it.'
*
I shall not be suspected when I say that restricted occupation
seems to me to be chimerical. And yet it was with that idea that
the treaty of the Tafna was made. You desired to keep the little
zone in the province of Algiers, and spent a great deal to do so.
And now the moment war has broken out our entrenched posts are
past; the Arabs have overrun the plain of the Mitidjah, and
destroyed the shadow of colonisation that we had so laboriously
established in it.
SYSTEM OF WAR IN AFRICA.
299
Gentlemen, there are only three plans to adopt : abandonment,
maritime occupation, and absolute conquest.
Abandonment, official France will not have it; the writers, that is,
to say, the aristocracy of the inkbottle, will not have it (laughter). The
fathers of families who see their children perish in Africa may think
otherwise; but they neither talk nor write; they work and are not
consulted.
Maritime occupation would be good if we could have some
Gibraltars on the coast that could be guarded by 1200 or 1500
men and supplied by sea. But that is impossible, you have con-
siderable populations to feed: 35,000 souls at Algiers; 12,000 to
15,000 at Oran; 8000 at Bôna, &c. You could not suffocate
these large populations between four walls; they must each have a
zone for their requirements, and for the safety of these zones 25,000
or 30,000 men would be wanted.
*
17-
*
*
*
There only remains absolute domination, and the subjugation of
the country.
I think that great nations, like great men, ought to make their
mistakes with greatness. Yes, in my opinion, the possession of
Algiers is a mistake; but as you choose to commit it, as it is impos-
sible for you not to commit it, you must commit it grandly, for that
is the only means of getting any profit out of it. Therefore the
country must be conquered, and Abdel-Kader's power destroyed.
If I did not fear to weary the Chamber, I would describe my own
system (Speak, speak).
In Europe we make war against interests as well as armies.
When we have beaten the armies we seize the centres of population,
of trade, of industry, the custom-houses, the archives, and these
interests are soon forced to capitulate.
There is only one interest to seize in Africa the agricultural
interest; it is more difficult to seize there than elsewhere, for there
are no villages nor farms. I have reflected long upon it, rising up and
lying down; and I have not been able to discover any other way of
subduing the country than seizing upon this interest. As near as
possible to the desert there must be established columns powerful
enough to leave the indispensably necessary guard at the quarters, at
the stores and the hospital. I have made a calculation that a column
of 7000 men, well led, would be enough to beat the largest possible
collection of Arabs; for in tumultuous gatherings, and the Arabs
are nothing but tumultuous gatherings, numbers have nothing to
do with the business; they are a multitude of very brave individuals
without power of union, Beyond a certain limit the number is
nothing, provided the soldiers are thoroughly convinced of this

300
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
truth, that their morale may not be affected by the sight of the
multitude.
I should wish the columns to be made up to 10,000 men; so
as always to have 7000 disposable, and 2000 or 3000 non-effective
or as indispensable guardians of the depôt. I would establish one
column at Tlemcen, one at Mascara, one at Medeah. I would give
the commanders orders not to pursue the Arabs, as it is useless; but
to prevent them from sowing, reaping their harvests, or pasturing
their cattle. (Hear, and commotion.)
These murmurs seem to say that the Chamber finds this method
too barbarous. Gentlemen, war is not made philanthropically; he
who wills the end wills the means.
In fact, the Arabs cannot live without Algeria. In the desert
there is no corn and but little pasture; only enough for sheep. The
dates and wool of the desert are exchanged for the corn of Algeria.
The Arabs can fly from your columns into the desert; but they
cannot remain there, they must capitulate.
*
*
*
*
You want military colonists* (murmurs), or civil if you like it;
the name matters little, but they must be under military organization,
for the colonists must be great warriors in such a country.
The War Minister, General Schneider, refused to
enter into particulars; he even thought it dangerous,
whatever the previous speaker said, to publish the
Government plan. In general terms he rendered
homage to the army of Africa, an imposing force,
without any trenching upon the forces on home
service.
General Bugeaud could not be satisfied with such
generalities, and spoke again.
The extreme right and the extreme left applauded
*This was the first time General Bugeaud said the words, 'Military Coloniza-
tion.' Though his words were received with murmurs, it will be seen afterwards
that when Marshal Bugeaud had become Governor of Algeria, he never, for a
moment, gave up this notion, as he thought it not only salutary and productive,
but also vital to the colony. Even to the last day of his command, he persisted in
urging the application of it upon the Government, with an energy and obstinacy
that was the real cause of his final recall.
SYSTEM OF WAR IN AFRICA.
301
General Bugeaud, their declared opponent, whom
they persecuted so determinately in the press and
upon the tribune.
After this speech, King Louis-Philippe understood
that the ministers had no system, but that General
Bugeaud had one capable of accomplishing the con-
quest of Algeria in a few years. After this speech
Lieutenant - General Bugeaud was virtually the
Governor of Algeria. He was so in reality six months
afterwards.
In the month of May, of the same year, the dis-
cussion on Algeria came again before the Chamber;
a new minister had replaced the old, and General
Schneider had given place to General Despans-
Cubières. General Bugeaud asked the new cabinet
if there was a plan:-
I asked the last ministry what was their system; they could
not explain it; I doubt if there was one at all (laughter).
I have reason to believe that the new ministry has not got one
any more. (More laughter.) When war is going on; when there
are 60,000 men employed it is necessary to have a system. It is
unexampled in the fasti of nations, for a war to be commenced with
a great army and no object. Perhaps the ministry have a plan; but
a good one they have not. (Laughter and murmurs.)
*
*
*
*
Gentlemen, as you are irrevocably condemned to remain in
Africa, something must be done: there must be a grand invasion like
those which the Franks made; like those which the Goths made;
otherwise you will come to nothing. (Exclamations.)
The truth must be told without dissimulation. I had rather
frighten you than deceive you. There must be a great military
invasion; but before that colonists must be got together. There
must be a persuasive appeal made to them; for without it you will
get none. Wherever there is good water and fertile land; at
Tlemcen, at Mascara, the colonists must be placed without finding
out to whom the lands belong; they must be distributed with full
possession.
302
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
*
*
*
**
Marshal Clauzel, a former governor - general,
answered General Bugeaud, and while defending his
own actions, said something in encouragement of the
new notions.
The President of Council, M. Thiers, just contrary
to his predecessor's speech in January, gave his
general approbation to Bugeaud's system; but neither
was he sparing of eulogiums on the system of General
Rogniat, lately dead, which consisted in raising a
continuous obstacle along the Mitidjah.
General Bugeaud reascended the tribune.
The President of the Council has said that I was a peremptory
spirit (laughter). I do not reject this epithet; for it is with a
peremptory spirit, when it is right, that great difficulties are con-
quered. (Very good.)
I was wrong. The cabinet has a system; that which is esta-
blished at Constantine. It is not in opposition to mine; and I
should like things left as they are in that province.
But that system is in opposition to the one I have described for
the other provinces. (Marks of impatience.) Gentlemen, policy
and diplomacy have been tried upon the Arabs, and have had but
very poor success. The beys placed in different spots had not
influence enough over the country.
When the Arab colonisation, spoken of by the President of Council,
is tried at some points, I should wish military colonisation on a large
scale to be tried at other spots.
Yes, Abdel-Kader must be conquered; he must be destroyed,
for without that you will not come to anything. Marshal Clauzel
has just told you that Abdel-Kader's character is little known. I
certainly think that African is not known well enough. His capacity,
his subtility, his duplicity, make him very dangerous, and so we must
wage war against him with determination. But for that there must
be large forces, and a great deal of perseverance. It is then certain
that a peremptory spirit is needed.
In the correspondence exchanged between the
General-deputy and his friend M. Gardère, we find
SYSTEM OF WAR IN AFRICA.
303
traces of his anxious thoughts about the events
passing in Algeria. It can be seen that, from this
moment, the General expected to be appointed
Governor-general of our colony.
La Durantie, 7 August, 1840.
MY DEAR GARDÈRE, -I have to repair a long silence to you.
I have been so busy, and running about so much, that you must
excuse me.
I have just been visiting almost all my electoral district. I have
been well received everywhere, though a small number of electors
have deserted my banner for that of M. Chavoix; but as at the
same time twenty-five new electors have taken up their abode at
Excideuil as my supporters, I do not fear my opponent. Other
electors also are inclined to get themselves transferred to Excideuil.
I have been a widower since the 29th of last month. My wife,
my daughters, and my son are
(Gers) with my two sisters.
gone to the waters of Castera
What do you say to the pompous report of Marshal Valée and
his Napoleonic proclamation?
It has succeeded in throwing dust into the eyes of the Govern-
ment. They think he has done well, and that he must go on.
They are really blind not to see what the junior sub-lieutenant in
the army sees very plainly, and that is, that he has done nothing, that
the only result of the campaign is that two garrisons have been
thrown ten leagues forward, and blockaded by the Arabs; the army
diminished in strength and means of all sorts.
Has a serious victory been won ? Has a single one of Abdel-
Kader's battalions been destroyed? Have any prisoners been made ?
Have any submissions been made? Has Abdel-Kader asked for
Not a bit of it all.
peace? Have we safety around us?
I looked at things thus before I received letters from Africa. I
have received several that confirmed my suppositions. Lastly, I
have just read in the Débats that the tranquillity enjoyed, just round
Algiers, was only temporary; that several detachments have been
attacked between Bouffarik and the capital, near the model farm, &c.
However, to listen to Marshal Valée, the war was almost at an end.
He told his soldiers, You will have the glory of terminating a war
that has lasted six years, and of giving France a vast and beautiful
colony.
It would be hard to laugh more audaciously at France and the
Government. An Government is pleased, and the press does not

304
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
say anything! Oh, how that teaches me what a simpleton I have
been to speak the truth, and try to make my country avoid the
scourge of the conquest of Africa. Official France chooses to be
deceived. If you do not flatter her passions to serve her, she
overwhelms you with abuse.
What do you think of the reports of war? these mountain-cleaving
airs that the ministerial press is putting on? As for me I do not
believe in it; it will exhale in smoke. Our situation in Africa has
given courage to defy us. It will make us come to a settlement,
if they will make us ever so few concessions.
However, it is possible that a war may be the result, and then
we shall have to make prodigious efforts. Then we shall see if our
warlike writers, our terrible disturbers, will enlist to go and deliver
peoples oppressed by kings!
Ambroise and his family are well.
sister Phillis) alone is in bad health.
are doing her some good.
Madame de Puissegeney (his
She writes that the waters
I am at last sending you the lion skin I had promised. Write
to me and tell me what Paris thinks of the war and the ministry.
Friendship, &c.
BUGEAUD.
The following letter, also addressed to M. Gardère,
was written a few days before General Bugeaud's official
nomination to the government of Algeria. His military
programme had caused a great sensation in the
Chambers and the country. The King and the
ministers could not avoid yielding to the pressure
of public opinion, and giving Marshal Valée a
successor.
GENERAL BUGEAUD TO M. GARDÈRE AT PARIS.
Paris, 17 October, 1840.
MY DEAR GARDÈRE, -My being sent to Africa is still a
pressing question, and I really think it is settled, but not to be
published yet. I have anticipated your advice; I have not stirred
at all. Though I am not Achilles, they may come and fetch me
from my tent.

SYSTEM OF WAR IN AFRICA.
305
No doubt the soldiers of Mazagran would think a little pension
worth more than a monument; but such things are put up for
posterity, and to multiply fine actions by preserving the remembrance
of them. The pension would not have the same effect.
A thousand loves, amigo,
Bugeaud.
VOL. I.
X
CHAPTER XXIV.
POLITICAL ORATOR (1831-40).
haracter of Bugeaud's eloquence-Originality, Patriotism, and Good Sense –
Poland Colonisation of France - Agricultural Societies - Bugeaud, Pro-
tectionist-Wool-Importation of Horses-Cattle-The Roads of Excideuil
Hatred of the Opposition - Military Disorganisation - No Universal Suffrage-
Political Crimes- Amnesties-The Press.
In order to give a more complete knowledge of the
man, it seems well before following Governor-general
Bugeaud, the conqueror and pacificator of Algeria, into
Africa, to study his character in parliamentary discus-
sions. There, as in all the events of his life, we
shall find him the same, with his somewhat cynical
frankness, his originality, his quick intelligence, and
the admirable good sense that has a traditional re-
putation. His abrupt and rather rough eloquence, the
precision of his language, the vivacity of his repartees,
the warmth of his patriotism, fixed the attention of
all; and we do not believe that, since his time, an
orator of his mould and temperament has raised his
voice on the tribune in the Palais Bourbon.
General Bugeaud was first elected deputy at the
elections in August, 1831. For the entire duration
of the July monarchy. the electors of Excideuil,
Dordogne, continued to give him their confidence.
He had been raised to the rank of General of
Brigade, or rather, in the style of the times, Maréchal-
de-camp, on the 2nd of April of that same year.
He
POLITICAL ORATOR.
307
received Lieutenant-general's epaulettes five years
afterwards in consequence of the victory of the Sick-
ack. So it was not to his votes as a ministerial
deputy that he owed his rank, the reproach that was
cast upon him by his adversaries of the right oppo-
sition after Blaye, and of the left opposition after the
death of Dulong and the disturbances in the rue
Transnonnain. Besides, this imputation was roundly
denied by Bugeaud himself in a letter he addressed
to the Messager newspaper.
Bugeaud was not a dumb deputy quite the con-
trary. He was not one of those deputies, of whom
there are many in the Chambers, and especially in
the centres, who content themselves with voting,
approving, and, on exceptional days, venturing an
interruption, taking sides in committee-rooms, or
on commissions, and, when wanted, making a
valuable report upon any question. Bugeaud
was not dumb, Bugeaud was not calm.
quite ready to mount the tribune, and even to
speak in public. He was glad to speak to his
colleagues in the Chamber and to his peasants at
Excideuil; and at need he would go down into the
street to harangue the hot heads of Périgord, who
were preparing a charivari for him in 1832.
He was
He was an orator, and a French orator in the
fullest sense of the word, in his vivacity, his anima-
tion, and his patriotism. There are few of his
speeches that do not contain original traits, exciting
the sympathy, or provoking the hilarity, of his
colleagues. An expression that might slip out in his
hasty speech was sometimes rather vulgar, but the
orator would explain it, and return to the charge to
308
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
6
develop his thoughts, even at an interval of several
years. Such was the famous peck of oats' for which
he was so much blamed.
Bugeaud had presented himself to his electors as
a partisan of the monarchy of July. But he did not
intend to be a revolutionary, far from it. On the
8th of May, 1839, he explained from the tribune
why he did not take his seat upon the opposition
benches :-
M. Garnier Pagès has said that I announced to my constituents
in a circular that I was going to sit by the side of MM. Laffitte and
Dupont de l'Eure.
(Hear.) I only said I should sit
Indeed, my place was there, and
That is not perfectly accurate.
by the side of General Lamarque.
it was there that I took my place at first.
Why did I leave it? I will frankly say, because I found
opinions there quite contrary to what I expected to find. It is
because I found there such extraordinary opinions (laughs from the
centre) as to the direction to be given to the revolution of July, and
our conduct abroad, that I found it impossible to bend my reason to
my promise. I loyally informed my constituents, and explained
my reasons in several letters. They entirely approved, and the
proof is that I am still here. (Laughter.)
How could I, a warrior, who think I know something of war,
have remained in a division of the Chamber that wanted to make
war upon all Europe without having organized a single battalion ?
(Exclamations on the left.)
Well, gentlemen, this was the effect of all your debates of that
time, and was the opinion your writers published every day. They
said, it is not necessary to have organized troops for making war
upon Europe. They wanted immediately to go to war upon the
Rhine, and announce to Europe that the revolution of July was
not to go any further.
M. de Lafayette, if it be allowable to make the dead speak, said
one day, We have not to engage in a war of tactics and strategy,
but a war of proselyting and liberty. I think I answered him then :
The war of proselyting and liberty resolves itself into battles, and
to win battles there must be battalions, squadrons, and batteries, all
well organized. (Applause from the centre.)
POLITICAL ORATOR.
309
They counted much upon the sympathy of the peoples, and
turned that to account. I who have experienced what the sympathy
of the peoples is, in the different countries where I have fought, I
had not much faith in that.
Thus General Bugeaud became resolutely minis-
terial, because of the consequences that the sequel to
the revolution of July might have produced, by an
inconsiderate declaration of war against Europe.
As soon as he entered the Chamber, he declared this,
though he was quite independent of the ministry and
the ministers, and chosen deputy without their influ-
ence, perhaps against their wishes.
On the 13th of August, 1831, he proclaimed from
the tribune his adhesion to the peace policy desired
the
by the country.
The great subject of national anxiety at that time
to Bugeaud, as well as to all sensible men, was the
possibility of an armed intervention in favour of
Poland, which was demanded by the left, and the
short-sighted patriots.
Bugeaud showed that he had been the comrade in
arms of all the Polish heroes of 1807, and yet he
repulsed with all his might the folly of an armed
intervention on the Vistula after 1830.
Notably on the 22nd of September, 1831, in the
debate upon Poland, Bugeaud combated the favourite
idea of the left, namely, their desire to attack Europe
with the National Guards:
An army cannot dispense with communications to its
country. To send an army into Poland, it would be necessary to
protect the communications against the confederation and against
Austria; then it would be necessary to have an army upon the
310
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
1
Rhine as a base of operations, an army of observation upon the
Pyrenees, and forces in the interior to repress the factious, and that
would take not less than 800,000 men.
In fact, it is very certain that in a battle the troops not engaged,
but holding an enemy's corps in check, are no less necessary than the
troops that fight. Just the same in politics; a people can be pro-
tected just as well by threats of war as by actually making it. Well,
that is the part we have played with regard to Poland; we have
told Austria and Prussia that they shall not make war on Poland.
This threat has prevented the conclusion of the struggle in a few
weeks.
Three years afterwards, on the 6th of January,
1834, on the discussion of the address, he resumes
the same theme:
I was much troubled at the pertinacious attempts in the
discussion on the address in 1832, to procure adoption of a
sentence that I thought dangerous, it was this: We are assured
that Polish nationality shall not perish.' A great nation should
never proclaim what it can do; for if it makes an announcement
that is not realised it is accused of weakness. (True, from the left.)
*
*
*
*
*
*
More than that. The first gun fired upon the Rhine would have
been the signal for the fall of Poland; 15,000 men starting from
the duchy of Posen, and 15,000 from Gallicia, would have finished
Poland in a week. After that, the enemy's armies would have
advanced from Poland upon the Rhine for a much greater war.
There is no use in always saying we have let Poland perish.
We have done for her much more by peace than we could have
by war. By keeping the peace, we have kept all Europe in check.
If you had fired a single gun upon the Rhine, Europe would no
longer have had to consider you, she would have crushed Poland,
a week's work.
The General-deputy was very ready to speak.
He even sometimes attacked subjects for which his
knowledge and experience were, perhaps, insufficient,
such as the supply of stamps for registration, and
the monopoly of tobacco. But most of his speeches
POLITICAL ORATOR.
311
can be reduced to three favourite themes: First,
the encouragement of agriculture; second, the
maintenance of the honour and prerogatives of the
army; third, war against the rioters, republicans,
opposition journalists, members of secret societies:
to sum up, all the people whom he described with
a picturesque appellation, the aristocracy of the
ink-bottle."
6
The analysis of all these speeches would not be
a good way of making Bugeaud's parliamentary
work known. It will be our duty to make quota-
tions from these statements, so full of humour and
good nature, and now so completely forgotten.*
The old Colonel of the army in Spain, having
become passionately fond of farming, during his
fifteen years on the unattached list, as soon as he
became a deputy, claimed to be a representative of
the popular type of soldier labourer. He desired
that the army, in time of peace, should be employed
in agricultural work.
On the 21st of April, 1832, he said, I am only a soldier
labourer. Make agriculture flourish; turn in that direction a large
proportion of the financial and intellectual power of the nation;
encourage agricultural enterprise; stir up the great and public
functionaries to occupy themselves with it. Make agriculture
become a profession, an opening for abilities, that for want of a
* The very first day he made his appearance on the tribune the Deputy
Bugeaud excited the hilarity of the Chambers by a humorous sally. Having to
report the election of Count du Châtel, President by age, Deputy of Jonzac, the
Deputy of Excideuil used this expression, 'I move the admission of our venerable
"dean in years," though he has not produced his certificate of birth.'
Bugeaud was then so unknown in parliamentary circles that the official news-
paper gave his name as M. Buffant, Moniteur Universel, August, 1831, page
1265.
312
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
career, are used to the injury of the country, in composing bad
writings, Saint Simonism, and a thousand other follies.
་
*
Let Algeria be colonised. That is all very well, but it would be
much more interesting to colonise our great moors of Brittany and
Bordeaux. A portion of the army might work at that; and villages
be built there, not in form of a camp, but on a commodious plan for
the pursuit of agriculture. Soldiers would occupy them, with the
object of being taught the art of war, and of bringing the
surrounding lands into cultivation. When this result was obtained,
these villages and their dependencies would be sold or let. Thus
the army could produce a portion of its cost, and make a consider-
able contribution to the nation's prosperity.
At every debate on the budget, on every address,
he is anxious to claim advances of credit, favours,
and honours for agriculture. It is in the creation
of agricultural societies, that he sees the remedy for
the general indifference of the political world to
agriculture. On the 28th of February, 1832, he
moved for a credit, enormous at the time, of two
millions of francs, with the object of establishing
a society in every canton. It may be said that
General Bugeaud was the real creator of agricultural
societies in France, by his persistent exhortations.
Of all the means of improving agriculture,' said he, the most
efficacious, and most speedy, is the establishment of agricultural
societies; that is my "Delenda est Carthago."
Two years later, in the sitting of the 6th of
May, 1834, he thus expresses himself upon the
same subject
There has just been a vote, and there has every year been a
vote, of a considerable sum for trade, for art, for music, for the
theatre; and nothing is done, absolutely nothing, for the encourage-
St. Simon, born 1760, died 1825; his doctrines were advanced Socialism,
touching equalisation of property, marriage, &c. A sect was formed on his
principles after his death.-ED.
POLITICAL ORATOR.
313
ment of agriculture. It is not that we expect to be encouraged
by strokes of the budget (laughter), for it would take ten budgets
like ours to encourage agriculture.
We have not public spirit enough left in France, especially in
the country, to establish agricultural societies, if we do not get an
impulse from the Government. The 200,000 francs that I move
for, will only be a trifle; we do not want great money votes, but
a life-giving institution.
*
*
We ask the King himself, the Princes, and the public
functionaries, to attend to agriculture, and give it the impulse that
is so necessary.
I especially demand that the Minister of Commerce, for the
words are more important than might be supposed, will be good
enough to take the additional title of Minister of Agriculture,
and head his letters Ministry of Commerce and Agriculture.'
(Marks of assent.)
6
Every member of the society is anxious to produce on his pro-
perty some specimens of the cultivation that he extols and rewards.
A peasant cannot go to mass, to a fair, or a market, without
finding along the road some specimens of the cultivation, for which
instructions and rewards are given.
The agricultural society should only embrace one canton. I
am very glad to say so from this tribune, for it is very generally
supposed that it would be desirable for the society to embrace an
arrondissement. This extent is too large. There would not be zeal
enough available if a whole arrondissement had to be inspected.
The commissioners would be engaged for several days in visiting
the crops, and zeal does not go so far as to sleep out.
If you hold
agricultural feasts in the head-quarters of departments, very few
peasants will go there; if you hold them in the cantons, all the
peasants will go.
Eight years after the commencement of this
interesting campaign, just before his parliamentary
career was closed in order to go and conquer Africa,
General Bugeaud on the 5th of June, 1840, joyfully
attests the progress effected, the success obtained:
Allow me to cast a glance at the agricultural societies. They
* This wish of Deputy Bugeaud's was accomplished; some years afterwards
the Ministry of Commerce and Agriculture was created.
314
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
have been very seriously taken up. They have been so multiplied,
there are, I believe, 600, that the Minister of Agriculture, I am
sure he will not contradict me, finds the sum for their encourage-
ment insufficient.
It certainly is an admirable institution; there cannot be a better
or more popular; it unites the poor with the rich; it compels the rich
to draw near to the poor for the encouragement of agriculture.
I do not hesitate to say that it is the most progressive of all our
institutions; and that it alone is worth more than all the political
reform so noisily demanded.
Among the means of encouraging these useful establishments,
one of the best is the distribution of honourable and other rewards;
I should like crosses of the legion of honour for the men who
have most distinguished themselves in the proceedings of societies;
and I should like some bursaries arranged for their children in our
royal colleges.
General Bugeaud often spoke at the meetings
of the agricultural societies at Excideuil. We will
only give extracts from two speeches that he made
there, on the 1st of September, 1839, in the two
years interval of rest, when the conqueror of the
Sickack, and negotiator of the Tafna, a second time
interrupted his active military life, before resuming
the sword that was to subdue Algeria.
To the members of the society the General
made a speech in French, containing the following
remarkable passage:-
*
To those who dream of the extension of political rights I
should say: How can you expect men to value these rights, and
make use of them, as long as they are in a state of wretchedness ?
The first need of the twenty-four millions of cultivators; and the
six millions of workmen, is not electoral reform, but a better
material existence, a necessary preliminary to a better moral position.
There is no one, even these venerable churchmen, who have
honoured our meeting with their presence, that is not interested
in the progress we pursue. Their special care is the improvement.
of morality. Well, nothing could be a more powerful assistance
to their holy mission than easy circumstances in the country.
POLITICAL ORATOR.
315
Do not suppose, gentlemen, that I seek to gain popularity by
holding this language. I have never flattered the people's passions;
I have told them the truth, and run the risk of their displeasure.
I have never chosen to feed them with chimerical and dangerous
notions, as some do; I have served them, and will serve them again,
in their real interests; in their evil passions, never!
As for the peasants, he harangued them in patois,
placing himself within their range, both in language
and ideas, with delightful kindness:-
My friends, more than ten years ago, the gentlemen of this
canton, who love you and look upon you as brethren, afflicted at
seeing how badly your painful toil was recompensed, united to
teach you a more intelligent system of work.
Yet the greatest
progress hitherto obtained, is that you no longer resist our teaching
in words. You no longer say, It is better to do as our fathers did.
You even are ready to agree that the cultivation of forage crops
and roots, as well as the lessons given about vines, are good things.
Unfortunately, your actions do not answer to your words; the force
of habit holds you back, and you make no progress.
At considerable distances there are to be found some small
squares of trifolium, sainfoin, and lucerne, but they are not much
bigger than the sheets of your beds. You are not bold enough
to quit your old routine; you do not know how to come to a
decision. You act as if you had a thousand years to live; and you
march at a snail's pace.
My friends, life is short; you must not leave everything for your
children and grandchildren to do. Whatever you do, there will remain
plenty for them to do. Forward then, march! Increase the cultivation
of roots, for nothing considerable can be done in the way of cattle
without roots. I will not tell you to give up the cultivation of
maize; it is useful, especially in the years when there is a dearth
of wheat; but I would tell you to reduce it; by reducing the space
it is not certain that you will reduce the quantity of the harvest,
for you may treat it better. Try to mix maize with roots of all
kinds. You may plant the rows of maize at ten or twelve feet
apart, and grow beetroots, potatoes, and turnips in the interval.
Do not be afraid, my friends, of multiplying cattle; they are the
source of all other progress. I have heard some say that if a
number of them were bred, there would be no sale to be found.
That is a great crime. France draws from the foreigner some
fifty or sixty millions (of francs) worth of cattle, or the produce of

316
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
them. Why should we leave this profit to foreigners? I can
also say that the consumption of meat is daily increasing in France,
as the people become a little more easy in their circumstances.
You yourselves, my friends, if you follow our lessons, you will not
confine youselves to eating it on carnival and holidays.
When you have made a good sale in the town of the goods
you produce more than you need, you may come back with a leg
of mutton, and eat it with all your little family.
Then he gives them advice about their plough,
telling them it was almost as bad as that of the
Bedouins in Africa. Then he speaks to the peasants
of the unfortunate tendency of their sons to go into
the towns, a tendency that the progress of agri-
culture would arrest.
*
*
*
*
General Bugeaud was ready to speak on questions
of customs' duties, when they were connected with
agriculture. He was a protectionist by temperament
and conviction. There were many such speeches; we
give an extract from one on the 18th of April, 1840,
on presenting a report to the Chamber about the
enactments on sugars it displays the General's
protectionist ideas :-
It is not very becoming to the other industries to blame the
beetroot sugar for the involuntary protection (the Continental
system), that encouraged its growth. All of them have been
born, and have only grown, under the shade of protection; some
of them are still protected by prohibition.
Without the protectionist system of the Empire, should we
have the cotton trade and many others? Is not our shipping
interest protected by all our customs laws, and do we not still
give enormous premiums to the deep-sea fisheries? So beetroot
has done nothing but profit by the principles common to all her
sister industries. . . . It is certain that beetroot feeds a greater
number of cattle with its pulp, as it can be kept the year round
in silos. If it is true that our cattle are increased in price, it is
POLITICAL ORATOR.
317
a fresh proof of the prosperity that this industry has spread abroad,
because it is clear that consumption has made a greater advance
than production. . . . This is one of the fine victories of modern
agriculture. It spreads work and prosperity over our country.
It finds a use for the feeble arms of old men, women, and children,
both in the fine season and the dead. It is a powerful means of
abolishing pauperism.
Thus, General Bugeaud, in his energetic defence
of the sugar industry, and his endeavour to obtain
protective legislation for it, was prophetic of the
future. In fact, this agricultural industry has become
a source of wealth for France, and of comfort in the
country.
By continual pressure, General Bugeaud had
founded the agricultural societies. On the 18th of
April, 1840, he proposed a central institution, a
superior council of agriculture. This council was in
existence under the Second Empire, and is again one
of the felicitous ideas realised, thanks to him.
When it was a question of agriculture, Bugeaud
did not make payment in words alone, he paid with
his purse. It has been previously shown that he had
presented the gratuity of 20,000 francs, given to him
after his mission to Blaye, to his canton for the
establishment of fountains there. We have also seen
that he ran some risk of compromising himself by
asking Abdel-Kader at the Tafna for 100,000 francs
for the vicinal roads of La Dordogne.
In reply to some attacks, one of his friends pub-
lished an account of General Bugeaud's gifts to
works of public utility in La Dordogne. This
account is contained in a letter dated Excideuil, the
9th of September, 1838, to the Courrier Français
signed Langlade.'
(
318
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
A half-pay colonel for fifteen years, having no interest with the
Government, General Bugeaud, by trouble and sacrifice of every kind,
managed to secure some important roads for Excideuil, when it had
no communications or trade. His name is to be found at the head of
every subscription for the public benefit. He regularly sacrificed a
portion of his income for works of public utility, though he had
then no election favours to expect, nor such popularity as would
serve objects of ambition.
This is a list of the sums he spent upon roads alone; and no
doubt some are omitted:
Road from Excideuil to Périgueux
1200 fr.
No. 6
500
""
from Thenon
600
from Excideuil to Brives
600
""
from la Nouaille to Thiviers
1200
""
from Excideuil to Jumilhac
1200
وو
3000
ང་
2000
دو
2000
2000
""
from Angoulême to Aurillac
from Jumilhac
•
from Excideuil to Montignac
from Saint-Pierre de Chignac
A portion of these sums was liberally subscribed by M. Bugeaud
when he had only his small half-pay and but little private fortune.
He devoted the 20,000 francs given him for his command at
Blaye to the construction of fountains at Excideuil and La Nouaille.
With his habitual soldierly frankness, living without conceal-
ment, without calculation, and with open heart, he had not omitted
to tell some intimate friends, before he started for Africa, that he
hoped to obtain these 100,000 boudjous, that such a noise has been
made about, and that he intended them for the roads.
General Bugeaud's laudable passion for vicinal
roads and material interests was not his only object.
The founder of agricultural societies also endeavoured
to enlighten the peasants as to their duties and their
rights by the establishment of elementary schools.
Being convinced that the country gains little benefit
from knowledge as long as it is poor, he taught the
cultivators of the soil to enrich themselves, and gave
them leisure to draw their first useful learning from
the village schools.
POLITICAL ORATOR.
319
Different from most of the governmental deputies,
Bugeaud never feared a debate. He was quite ready
to challenge or attack from the tribune the men who,
he had a prophetic feeling, would be the destroyers of
the monarchy of July-the Aragos, the Garnier-
Pagès, the Lamartines. He only once was called to
order during his parliamentary career, on the 20th of
March, 1834, and that was for a sharp speech against
Berryer, who was not sparing of him after the business
of Blaye.
So the republican opposition, according to their
usual tactics against those few adversaries who
opposed them with a vivacity comparable to their
own, accused him of assuming a tone of provocation
(sitting of March 24, 1834).
6
They disparaged him unworthily, and one of the
hard heads of the party, Armand-Marrast, described
him thus: An undistinguished appearance, a corporal's
language, and that sort of self-possession peculiar to
the private soldier that puts orders in place of any
feeling or any thought.'
To other than dishonest opponents, Bugeaud's
characteristic as a political orator was his admirable
good sense. It was thus that he opposed the
right of association in the army claimed after 1830,
which not unnaturally seemed to him likely to dis-
organize it :-
The petitioners have made a mistake in supposing that there
can be any association but that of the National Guard. (Dissent on
the Left.)
There ought to be no association in the army but that of duty.
Men must be disposable at any hour, at any moment. An officer
cannot do anything without requesting his colonel's permission. I
was commanding the 56th Regiment when associations first made
320
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
their appearance. The officers came and asked me if they might
join an association. Why do you want to do it?' I asked. For
the defence of the State, and to oppose the return of the older branch
of the Bourbons.' 'Have you not got an association? Have not
you taken oaths to Louis-Philippe and the charter? Why, you are
at the outposts, you will be the first to fire a shot. You will be in
the front of the fight, and you want to put yourselves at the tail of
an association.' They all understood this reasoning, and not one
joined the association.
General Demarçay, who answered him, shouted
out, 'The honourable speaker's doctrine is, that
when a citizen enters the military service, he should
completely surrender himself, both physically and
morally.' Bugeaud made no answer, for that was
most certainly his opinion.
He also opposed the throwing open of the general
councils* on the ground that the members, being
principally men more conversant with the fields
than with public speaking, would be shy, and the
whole deliberation would fall into the hands of a few
advocates, if spectators were present.
He was an energetic opponent of the extension of
the franchise, and especially of universal suffrage, an
institution that Europe may envy us, but is careful
not to adopt. He was right in thinking this exten-
sion to be dangerous to the nation's peace.
Especially, on the 15th of January, 1833, he thus
expressed himself:-
It is a great mistake to suppose that there is an increase of
liberty by extending the franchise. Is the elector more free than
the citizen who has not a vote? Certainly not; he exercises a
duty and a mission; his mission accomplished, he returns into the
crowd, and is ruled by the same laws as the other citizens.
* Of elected members for regulating the affairs of departments.
POLITICAL ORATOR.
321
On the 6th of January, 1834, he shows that it
is impossible for universal suffrage to be in any way
a remedy for the people's misery.
On the 7th of February, 1835, he said on the
famous question of the addition of the capacities:-
I admit that in 1830 and 1831 I should have voted for the
addition of the capacities; but after that, the capacities showed me.
they knew too well what they were about. (General laughter.) They
showed me that poor capacities wish to become rich capacities.
These are the capacities that have created the bad newspapers, and
inundated us with so many detestable principles. It is they that
have brought upon us Saint Simonism, associations, and risings.
These are the capacities that have organized the Society of the Rights
of Man. Give me Big Jack, give me Big Peter, I like them better
than capacities without fortunes. (General laugh.) It is because a
man has capacity that, if he is poor, I should mistrust him. He
will wish to put forward his capacity, make it come to the top, not
of what it is in reality, but of what he thinks it is; he will turn the
country upside down till he has attained his object.*
On the discussion of the address of 1834, in the
sitting of the 6th of January, he draws an interesting
comparison of the people in town and country :-
As for the misery of the people, what people is it that is meant?
Certainly not the country people, who are attached to their work.
They are but little susceptible to club oratory. So it is the town
population that is meant! One of our honourable colleagues has
justly described them by the name of the aristocracy of workmen.'
Yes, the aristocracy of workmen, for they earn as much as three
and four francs a-day, while the country people only earn twenty
sous for the season round, and twenty to twenty-five in the finest
months of the year. (Commotion.)
I know no other means of improving the condition of either of the
peoples I have mentioned than the development of trade and in-

* When the deputy of Excideuil spoke these prophetic words, would it not
seem as if in 1834 he was prophesying the accession of the capacities, a new social
stratum, out of which came the Chambers of 1876 and others, that the republicans
themselves, anticipating history, already designate by a grotesque appellation that
will remain popular?
VOL. I.
Y
322
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
dustry. That speaker sought his remedy in universal suffrage. It
is in the material improvement of the people that true liberty is to
be found; it is not in the barren advantage of going to drop ballots
into an urn fifty or sixty times a-year.
Whenever the riots that ensanguined the first
years of Louis-Philippe's reign became directly or
indirectly the object of a discussion from the tribune,
General Bugeaud did not hesitate to combat the
insurgent enemies of his country with his tongue, as
he had done with his sword.
In the sitting of the 1st of February, 1832, on
the matter of the decorations given to the army after
the riots at Lyons :
The Government is continually blamed for having given decora-
tions to the soldiers, who have fought to make the laws respected.
And why is there not equal surprise at those so profusely given to
the conquerors of July?
Why, then, should not they be similarly rewarded? I will say
more: the conquerors of July have been rewarded more than the
winners of ten battles. No objection ought to be made to the
soldiers, who have made the laws and order respected at Lyons,
being rewarded.
Gentlemen, there is a saying that French bayonets only thirst
for the blood of the stranger. That is true, in the sense that they
only desire to fight against the enemies of France, but also they are
always ready to fight the factions. (In the Centre, ‘Bravo!')
They wish to make resounding speeches heard; we also will
make some to be heard. Yes, we will fight the factions. (Bravo,
bravo!) We wish all Frenchmen to rally round the throne of
July; and as to the factions, we shall always be ready to fight them
under whatever colour they appear.*

* The outbreak of the wrath of demagogues depended upon most secret causes.
In 1830 the revolutionists again supposed that they had finally seized upon the
Government. It slipped from them by that mercy of God towards France that has
often disarmed the enemies of its rest at the very moment of their triumph.
Open or mysterious associations were everywhere exercising their baneful rule.
When the severe commercial and industrial crisis was weighing upon the whole of
France, some serious insurrections at Lyons and Grenoble, in 1831, revealed the
POLITICAL ORATOR.
323
In many of the quotations that have been made,
the speaker's sentiments with regard to the press are
very evident, and yet Bugeaud said he was not sys-
tematically hostile to the press. He said so with a
certain precision at the beginning and the end of
his parliamentary career, in 1831 and in 1840. In
1831 the question was of a grant to a journal named
the Stenograph, intended to publish the exact words.
of political orators.
'I attach a great deal of importance,' said Bugeaud, 'to the
truth being known. It is a fresh public means of disseminating a
faithful account of our speeches, and of supplying the provincial
press.'
On the 30th November, 1840, immediately before
his departure to take up the Governor-generalship of
Algeria, he said :-
It would be wrong to suppose that I am opposed to the liberty
of the press. At bottom I am only opposed to its errors. I have
not the least desire in the world to see its liberty suppressed. I
wish that all sensible men would restore it to a better path, by re-
probation of its misdeeds.
*
*
*
Our discussions are entirely transformed; they are not on what
we have seen and heard, but something totally different. If the press
would return to the language of truth, it would be useful to the
country, and I declare I would love it exceedingly.
In 1834, in the discussion of the address, he
said :
An advanced, a very advanced, orator has told us of persecu-
tions of the press, the misery of the people, and universal suffrage.
mournful bondage that enslaved the peaceful and sensible workmen, who allowed
themselves to be drawn´into actions and crimes, that they soon abhorred.—GUIZOT,
Histoire de la France.
324
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
Persecutions of the press! But, in truth, that makes every one
smile. Is it not, on the contrary, the press that is essentially a per-
secutor, that persecutes all honest men, all patriots, all those who
have consecrated their lives to working for their kind, and precisely
for the very people it pretends to protect? It is the press that per-
secutes, with lies and calumny, disparaging every action, every man.
It is, in a word, the greatest despotism that we have yet laboured
under.
Again he said upon the same subject, the 23rd of
May, 1835-
Thus, for instance, when I let slip the words, a peck of oats,'
(general hilarity), the newspaper, Temps, so distorted my views that
it made me say things most improper for a soldier. The result was
that a chef-de-bataillon of the department of the Lozère wrote me
an insulting letter. He told me that I was a vile man. I answered
him, I see plainly that you are a vile slave of the press (laughter);
I will, however, descend to your level, and teach you to read news-
papers. I will give you a meeting half-way, and we will fight it
out to the death.' (Commotion.)
The chef-de-bataillon replied, I have since read other journals,
among them the Débats, and I see that your views were misrepre-
sented. I hasten to make my excuses to you, and withdraw my
subscription to the Temps. (Prolonged laughter.)
This is the sort of thing brought about by the press. It has
caused much bloodshed, and will cause more.
We here conclude our extracts from General
Bugeaud's speeches upon general policy, agriculture,
and political economy; and will devote a special
study to General Bugeaud as a military orator, that
is to say, to Deputy Bugeaud taking part in parlia-
mentary discussions on the army.
1
CHAPTER XXV.
BUGEAUD, MILITARY ORATOR.
Care for the Non-commissioned Officer-Defends Military Pay, 1831-Peck of Oats
-Officer's Pay, 1835-General's Widows-Colonel Combes-Confirmation of
rank under the Empire-Chamber of Peers-Generals as Deputies—The War
of Ambuscades-The Good Soldier-Prophecy of the War of 1870— Fortifica-
tions of Paris-Pensions-Civil element in Committees.
MARSHAL BUGEAUD was famed for his care of the
soldier on campaign, and this was equally displayed
by him in parliament upon all questions relating to
the position of officers, and especially to that of non-
commissioned officers.
General Bugeaud was rich for the time when he
lived. The competence he enjoyed as a country
gentleman, during the fifteen years that he was un-
attached, the happiest time in his life, was sufficient
for his needs and tastes. So he often declares that his
pleading is not for himself, but for his comrades.
Indeed, on considering the great improvements
that the Second Empire and the third Republic have
introduced into the position of officers and soldiers,
alike in pensions, pay, and accessory advantages of all
kinds,* it is easy to see that in 1830, under a new-
born government, encountering great financial diffi-
* The Second Empire, besides considerable increase of pay, restored the pay of
the members of the Legion of Honour, organised military messes, gave the army
the right of travelling for quarter fares, tobacco at reduced price, &c. The third
Republic doubled pensions; under the Government of July the army, in all
these respects, was under the general rules.
326
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
culties, just after the half-pay time of the Restoration,
the pecuniary position of officers was far from
enviable.
Deputy Bugeaud therefore seized upon every
chance of promoting the pecuniary interest of the
soldier, and claiming increase. In the sitting of the
13th of December, 1831, in the budget debate he
observes that civil pay had been frequently increased
since the time of the Empire. A colonel command-
ing 3000 men and 100 officers only receives 8000
francs, when some heads of offices get 20,000. The
army saves nothing, even the soldier spends more
than he gets; for there is not a man that does not
write to his mother for money when he goes into
hospital.*
Next year on the 13th of March, 1832, he spoke
strongly against Mangin's amendment to reduce
military pay. On the 17th of February, 1834, he
moved an amendment in favour of officers returning
*The pay of officers has been wonderfully increased since the Regulation Law
of the 25th of December, 1837. We give a comparative table of the infantry pay
in 1837 and 1882.
Pay.
Colonel
In 1837.
In 1882.
Increase.
7600
9756
2156
Lieutenant-Colonel
Chef-de-bataillon
5020
6084
1064
4240
5004
764
Captain, 1st class
2724
3420
696
Captain, 2nd class
2324
3168
844
Lieutenant
1666
2448
782
Sub-Lieutenant
1416
2268
852
In the cavalry each rank receives about 200 francs more than in the infantry.
In the artillery these differences are less marked.
Captain, 1st class
Lieutenant
Sub-Lieutenant
2924
2116
1916
3600
2628
2556
676
512
640
The pay of Generals of Division has not been much increased. It was 26,400
francs in 1837, it is 26,910 francs now. It is the General of Brigade, Maréchal-de-
camp, that has benefited most by the new regulations; he received 13,600 francs
under King Louis-Philippe, he receives 15,948 francs under the Second Republic,
that is to say, 2348 francs more.
MILITARY ORATOR.
327
home as released prisoners. The picture he draws of
their situation is melancholy :-
No persons can be more unfortunate than officers returning from
captivity. They are always plundered of all they possessed. Their
watches are taken, their money, their clothes, and often their boots.
I have often seen officers return barefooted from captivity! While
they are prisoners they lose their promotion; when they return they
are unattached, their place is taken.
Certainly, it is to be hoped that not many French officers will be
captured; but it is often the bravest that are made prisoners, as they
hold their ground longest, as they expose themselves oftenest, and go
nearest to the enemy as skirmishers.
In the debate on the regulation of the numbers of
the staff in 1834, General Bugeaud had raised a kind
of parliamentary tumult by comparing the promotion
expected by deserving officers to 'a peck of oats.'
'It is an expression borrowed from our most cele-
brated fabulist,'* said the orator, a good deal surprised
at the disturbance raised by his familiar expression.
In the discussion of 1835 the General repeated his
expression, and this time, as he surrounded it with
some oratorical precautions, it passed without con-
tradiction.
<
First, I will call attention to the fact,' said he, in the sitting of
the 14th of May, 1835, that of all European armies the French is
that which has proportionally the fewest generals, and pays them the
least.
'In time of peace an army cannot do without promotion; there
must be emulation. Unhappily men are so created. They do not
like to remain in the same position.
When the colonel has done good service he must be made a
general officer. And this is the reason why the list of general officers
should be proportioned to the strength of the army. There is a
general need of keeping up this salutary emulation. I will not say that
it is necessary to have" the peck of oats," since it causes laughter, though
* La Fontaine's Book 1, Table iv. Les Deux Mulets.
One was very proud of carrying a load of money, but when thieves stole the
money and wounded him, the other said, 'If you had been doing the humble duty
of carrying oats like me, you would not have suffered.'-ED.
328
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
the expression was certainly very applicable. (Laughter on the left.)
I ought not to hesitate to make use of the words of one of our best
poets, but I will say that emulation is as necessary to soldiers as to
civilians. A substitute wishes to become procureur-du-roi, a sub-
prefect wishes to become prefect. It is human nature. What
would you do with the colonels if you had not a list of general
officers ?"
In June, 1838, he moved for the establishment of
an African bounty, extra pay. He had seen the situa-
tion himself in the campaigns of the Sickack and the
Tafna. The suppression of the African bounty in
1834 had made a great change in the position of the
officers and men. The duty in Africa was very
severe, and expenses were great, the cost of living in
camp very high, clothes often worn out. A bounty
was indispensable to repay the extraordinary expenses
men were compelled to incur in keeping up the dignity
of their rank.
After some expressions of approval from the
Chamber, the amendment was opposed by Govern-
ment, and was at last rejected.
In the case of especially distinguished officers, he
moved for rewards intended to serve as an encourage-
ment for future generations of soldiers. The amount
of pension he demanded in 1834 for the widows of
generals, such as Decaen, Gérard, Daumesnil, would
seem moderate enough to-day. 'Such great examples
must not be lost. They are so many patterns to hold up
for imitation by the army. By recompensing these
illustrious generals in the persons of their widows,
you will sow so as to reap.
ductive of a rich future.'*
Such payments are pro-
* Marshal Jourdan's widow, 12,000 francs, 6000 of them being from the
Pension Warrant of 1831; Decaen, 3000, of which 1500, &c., and the others like-
wise.
MILITARY ORATOR.
329
His pleading for a pension to the widow of
Colonel Combes, his old comrade, who fell at Constan-
tine, is still more touching. The proposal had been
opposed by the Finance Minister :--
The Finance Minister has performed his duty as guardian of the
financial interests of this country. I have another to fulfil, that of
guardian of the military honour, which is also a treasure to the
country.
Alas' perhaps I was the cause of Colonel Combes' death, of that
death which was really so glorious, and one of those no soldier can
regret.
Combes was discouraged, and wished to retire: he thought he had
reason to complain of a denial of justice; he thought he had deserved
the rank of maréchal-de-camp, and it had not been given him. I
met him at Perpignan, and told him, 'Colonel, there is still some good to
be done; and for men like you, when there is still something to be done,
it is no time for repose. Will you go with me to Africa?' He con-
sented; but circumstances did not answer to his ardour. The expedi-
tion to Constantine came just as he had written a fresh application for
retirement. I made him tear up his letter, he went to Constantine,
and what he did is well known.
He made his way into the town, and encouraged the soldiers after
the horrible explosion that had caused some hesitation in the ranks.
He received the fatal blow just as he was making sure of victory.
When he saw it was safe, he went back to the breach and met the
general-in-chief and the Duke de Nemours. He told them what he
had done so quietly, that they only saw that he was wounded when
he turned away. Then they saw the hole where the ball had gone
through his lungs and his shoulder-blade. 'Happy,' said he,' will
they be who survive this victory!' Next day he was dead. You
need not be afraid of disordering our finances by making a noble
exception in the case of Colonel Combes. Such characters will not
be too common. If your decision should succeed in multiplying
them, there would be nothing in it but cause for rejoicing (10th
February, 1838).
When military honour seemed in question he was
still more eager than on questions of money.
In the sitting of the 15th of September, 1831,
General Bugeaud proposed and carried an amendment
330
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
confirming the decorations granted between the 4th
of February and the 7th of July, 1815, both by the
Emperor and also by the commanders of corps.
A few days afterwards he also moved the confirm-
ation of ranks given by the Imperial Government at
the same time.
On March 10, 1832, there was a debate on a bill
brought in for the conveyance to the Pantheon of the
remains of citizens Foy, La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt,
Manuel, and Benjamin Constant.
Marshal Clauzel having proposed to add Marshal
Ney, and place him first in the list, General Bugeaud
proposed to add to the five names those of Dugommier,
Masséna, Hoche, Kléber, Desaix, and La Tour-
d'Auvergne.
M. Odilon Barrot, in reply, having called the
persons put forward by Bugeaud 'honourable,' the
General cried out, Sir, they are more than honour-
able, they are illustrious.'
6
In 1831 there was a debate on the revision of the
charter as regards the persons eligible for nomination
as peers of France. It was proposed that they should
be chosen among the citizens who had served six
years in elective civil offices, members of the chambers
of commerce and of general councils, paying 3000
francs in direct taxes. General Bugeaud made a claim
in favour of the army.
When the desirability of employing General
Deputies upon active service was contested in the
Chamber, General Bugeaud made a lively defence of
his rights.
Certain debates in the Chamber gave General
Bugeaud cause for entering upon the principles of
MILITARY ORATOR.
331
strategy, the qualities of a soldier, the greater or
smaller advantage of fortifications, and the discussion
of principles. It is sad to say that his opinion was
much more appreciated abroad, especially in Germany,
being insufficiently valued in France.
On the 20th of March, 1832, when there was a
debate on the maintenance to be granted to the old
armies of the West, he gave an interesting explanation
of the war of ambuscade, as he understood it.
'In Spain,' said he, 'for six years we had guerillas, or bands, in
the midst of our armies. Certainly we did not spare them. They
were not Carlists, and we could seldom destroy any of them. The
minister ought not then to be blamed because he has not put a stop
to these disorders, it really is not in his power.'
M. Odilon Barrot. You cannot compare France, even La
Vendée, to Spain. It is an insult to the country.
M. Bugeaud. To which country?
M. Odilon Barrot.-It is an insult to La Vendée and to
Britanny, which are also inhabited by patriotic populations.
M. Bugeaud.—I do not know how any insult to La Vendée can be
found in what I say. I compare the chouans to guerillas, and there is
a perfect identity between these subjects of comparison. Bands are not
to be destroyed by theories; there must be muskets, activity, per-
severance, courage, and especially legs.
In general, it is better not to pursue them; it is a bad plan.
This war is like a wolf-hunt, and must be worked by surrounding
and ambuscades. When there is information that a band has
appeared in such or such a village, it is no use to go there in a
straight line; detachments must be directed upon the points of
retreat, and time given them to arrive before advancing upon the
village. Ambuscades at the crossings of rivers and intersections of
roads must sometimes succeed if they are varied and well concealed.
In summer, I consider, this method will be less wearisome, and more
useful than the continual expeditions that are made. The officer in each
cantonment ought to have a perfect knowledge of the roads, the paths,
ravines, and streams in the circle that lies between him and the
neighbouring cantonments. The cantonments ought to communicate
by signal. The duty of each detachment must be drawn out before-
hand, so that where notice is given of a band, every one can go and
take up the appointed post without losing time.
332
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
If this system is well organized, it seems to me likely to give
good results; my brothers in arms will judge of it; but the best
way of all is order within. If you wish to put an end to
chouannerie, for the Government to be strong against the Carlists,
cease, yourselves, to make violent attacks upon it, and tie its legs
and arms, and then tell it to be strong.' (Great disturbance at the
extremities; a voice, 'Whom are you speaking of?' 'Order.')
On the 11th of May, 1835, he describes what
he thinks the way to make a good soldier :—
Some think that teaching a man drill is enough to make him
a good soldier; that is a mistake. Drill is the last thing in a
soldier's education. A man is not a soldier till he has got over
his home-sickness; when the regimental colours are like the village
church tower; when he loves his colours; when he is ready to
take sword in hand whenever the honour of his number is attacked ;
when he has confidence in his chiefs, in his right hand and left
hand man ; when they have eaten their soup a long time together,
as the Emperor used to say. This, gentlemen, is what makes the
real soldier.
Why does the law of enlistment require seven years'* service?
Because it considers that it takes seven years to make a good soldier.
A man becomes a soldier in the first three years of service; but
he will never `make one if he thinks he shall only stay three years
with the colours.
Now comes a real prophecy of the dangers with
which the war of 1870 threatened us :-
Empires are only defended or invaded by battles.
War goes
* We are very far from seven years' service now. Reduced in 1868 to five
years, that are in reality cut down to four, if the ideas that prevail at present are
carried out, the term of military service will soon be no more than three years.
Under these conditions the army is nothing but a school, that all the young citizens
fit to bear arms, pass through as quickly as possible, so as to get a more or less com-
plete military education, and rejoin it in the hour of danger; but this cadre must
have a very solid and energetic constitution to supplement the deficiencies of military
education in these young soldiers; and to receive, without cracking or breaking
down, the immense flood of humanity that will come in twice or thrice twenty-four
hours, and triple the strength of the army on its peace footing. All lies in this;
not to reduce the length of service until the cadres, especially the lower cadres of
the troops, that is to say, the non-commissioned officers, are very perfect.
MILITARY ORATOR.
333
very fast, and if peace was broken, you would not have time to
organize troops, as you had at the beginning of the French revo-
lution. I repeat it, war travels very fast now, and from the very
commencement it is necessary to be in a state to give battle with
a chance of victory. A battle won gives the victorious army
immense advantages; it usually wins a square of eighty leagues
a side.
The bringing in of a bill on recruiting for the
army is due to deputy Bugeaud. The question was
the employment of a bounty on re-engagement, instead
of military substitution.* The plan adopted under
the Second Empire.
In 1836 we find these words, alluding to the
fortifications of Paris :-
Believe that with the modern system war travels fast, and
the first battles decide the fate of the campaign. A battle
won gives the victor a square of some sixty or eighty leagues
the side. Paris is within this square. An ever-to-be-deplored
spirit of opposition has prevented you from fortifying Paris; fortify
the whole of France, by accepting my propositions about the army.
In 1838, speaking of the great objection to a
multiplication of fortified places, he attacks the
question of the fortifications of Paris :-
The events of 1814 and 1815 have not passed unnoted through
my mind. Now I consider the abuse of strong places as the
greatest danger that threatens the country.
When fortresses are too numerous, and in my opinion they are
so now, they absorb the greatest part of the active forces. Now
these are the army that defends the territories; the army that
makes conques's and keeps them. I do not mean to say that all
fortresses are to be abolished; but I say there must he a good
Military substitution, a person drawn as a conscript for military service
fir ling a man to act as his substitute. The plan, under the Second Empire, was
for such persons to pay a sum to the Government office, when the money received
vas used to provide bounties to induce old soldiers, who had served their time, to
e-enlist. In 1872 the permission to find substitutes was abolished.—ED.
i
334
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
selection of those that may be serviceable, if too numerous they
may be the ruin of the country.
The engineer officers say, if we had not got them we would
not build them; but as we have them, let us keep them. The
same reasoning as in the case of Africa.
Gentlemen, if these fortresses could keep themselves without
danger, like the superfluity of monuments in our towns, I should
say keep them, even at the cost of some millions. But there is
great danger in keeping what is useless. When war comes, it
will be necessary to put garrisons into these strong places; they
must not be allowed to fall into the enemy's power.
But it is said, when you are in front, a few veterans and some
national guards will be enough. When we are in front that is
well, but when we retire it is different. Why? because a battle is
lost and we are too weak. It is at the moment when the army
needs reinforcement, when the army is not in condition to hold the
country, that it is necessary to garrison fortresses.
What happens then? Why the fortresses fall one after the
other, because there is no army at large to protect them. I
remember that in 1836 I came to Algiers; I inquired the strength
of the army, it was 12,000 men. At this moment something took
place at Bougie. The commandant was murdered. That town
was supposed to be threatened, and it was proposed to send a
reinforcement of 800 men. The General commanding in Algiers
could not find 350 men, though he had 12,000. And why?
Because there had been such a multiplication of camps and block-
houses in the Sahel and the Mitidjah, that the 12,000 men were
all absorbed. Though I wish some fortresses to be abolished, I
certainly could not mention those to be destroyed. I should wish
at the same time to have some built in the interior, upon the Loire
for instance, so as not to have all our military establishments upon
the frontier.
But especially I desire to see this great question of the fortifi-
cations of Paris resumed.
Because the question has been some time unpopular, that is not
a reason against its resumption. I hold to popularity as much as
another, but I hold still more to the safety, the dignity, and
independence of my country as regards the foreigner, and I have
a most firm conviction that as long as we have not fortified Paris,
we shall not have as much weight as we ought to have in Europe.
Do you know who it was that rejoiced at seeing this ques'ion
given up? It was the foreigner!
I do not decide upon the system of fortification, but in n'y
present opinion detached forts are preferable.
MILITARY ORATOR.
335
Again in January, 1841, after Bugeaud had
been appointed Governor-general of Algeria, he once
more spoke in the Chamber, advocating the fortifica-
tion of Paris, a national question above all others
in his eyes.
Sytem
We see what fundamental importance Bugeaud
attached to the fortification of Paris. It may be
supposed he made a considerable contribution to
the settlement of the question; for the advice of a
general, just selected from among the youngest to
be made Governor of Algeria, must have had
considerable influence upon the councils of the
July Government.
The fortifications of Paris did not prevent the
final catastrophe of the war of 1870. In conse-
quence they have been considered, by some persons,
as a simple obstacle that only retarded the fatal
issue of the Franco-Prussian war, and as a useless
obstacle to the expansion of the great capital.
Was Bugeaud, in whom we have recognised a
sort of prophetic gift of military foresight, mistaken
on this most important question ?
No, but if he had foreseen the possibility of
Reichshoffen and of Forbach, he had not foreseen
our second army capitulating at Metz, and the third
riddled with grape surrendering in the funnel of
Sedan, instead of coming to interpose between the
conquerors and the capital, its natural position.
He had not foreseen Strasbourg burnt, and Metz
starved out. He had not foreseen the speedy and
easy transport of the immense siege material, destined
for the reduction of Paris, over a continuous line of
railway from Magdeburg to Châtillon.
336
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
Bugeaud, with prophetic foresight, speaking in
May, 1839, said, that in order to overcome a future
invasion, the French would not only have to show
courage, but, more than anything else, union.
The only persons who responded in 1871 to this
appeal for union were the royalist Zouaves killed at
Patay. But how badly did the republicans of the 4th
of September understand it, when their only care was
to endeavour to terrorise the provinces, and disperse
the councils and municipalities, while the irreconcil-
ables of the risings of the 31st of October, and the
22nd of January, unintentionally played the game
of our Prussian foes.
Bugeaud saw truly. In 1814 and 1815 Paris
surrendered a month after Montmirail, a fortnight
after Waterloo. In 1870-71 Paris did not surrender
till six months after Reichshoffen, because the city
was fortified. The proof of the justice of Bugeaud's
views, is that military opinion in France after the
capitulation of 1871 was unanimous, not by any
means to dismantle Paris, but to perfect her fortifi-
cations by the construction of exterior redoubts.
Bugeaud himself would certainly have desired them
if he had seen the perfection of long-range artillery.
So the construction of fresh forts at Paris is nothing
but the reproduction of Marshal Bugeaud's views,
adapted to circumstances, after the events of 1871.
Bugeaud did not believe alone in the ne-
cessity of the substitution of two or three vast
entrenched camps for the system of numerous
small fortresses, as the national defence. He
especially believed in the necessity for a powerful
army. He speaks of a strength of effectives that
MILITARY ORATOR.
337
the ideas of his time were hardly used to, 200,000
men first, then 500,000.
Before the interesting revelations of M. Camille
Rousset were made, General Bugeaud had reduced
the story of the volunteers of 1792 to its proper
proportions.
The other day (said he, in the sitting of the 17th of February,
1834), M. de Ludre asserted that I said that a Republican govern-
ment was as favourable to discipline as any other.
I am very far from thinking so. A Republic, on the contrary,
is inimical to any kind of discipline. The more liberty there is,
the more clubs there are, the more popular societies, and liberty
of the press; and the less discipline. (Murmurs from the extreme
parties.)
I have said that the governing bodies under the Republic,
feeling how the bonds of discipline were growing slacker every day,
demanded excessively severe laws, and obtained them.
It was not till the severe laws were passed that discipline
was restored to the army, after the clubs had banished it.
Regarding the heroes of July and the volunteers
of 1792, he said on the 6th of January, 1834:
The fighting of July, 1830, has turned the heads of several
people. They have supposed that because they beat 7000 or 8000
men of the Guards and Swiss in Paris, they could beat all the
armies of Europe. I wish to point out that there are no manœuvres
to make in the streets of Paris, none of those movements that, as
at Waterloo, taking the army in flank and reverse, decide the
victory, although every soldier be an Achilles or an Ajax.
*
*
A battery of forty guns playing grape upon the enthusiasts
soon stops the shouts of enthusiasm. We have been nauseated
with tales that the battalions of volunteers at the beginning of the
Revolution conquered Europe, thanks to enthusiasm. It is false,
you have only to consult history. In the two first campaigns the
volunteers were almost incapable of discipline, because there were
men among them who had imported the spirit of the clubs into
the army, incompatible with discipline and military power. They
were beaten in almost every instance. It was only at the
VOL. I.
Ꮓ
338
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
battle of Fleurus that they began to do service. (Interruption.)
Gentlemen, it was only at Fleurus! At Jemmapes and Valmy, the
greater part of the force was composed of the old army.
After boasting of the success of the army of
Italy, he says that the camp at Boulogne was a still
better school :-
Remember the famous campaign of 1805; an Austrian army
destroyed in a week; our arrival at Vienna, at full gallop in a
kind of way; and then Austerlitz. Till then the revolutionary battles
had been but child's play, compared to the war of 1805. No
doubt the battles in Italy were very fine; but compared to the
battles of Wagram, Jena, and all the other battles of the Empire,
I repeat they were but child's play! I do not want to undervalue
the revolutionary battles, but I know how to appraise them
justly.
On the 11th of March, 1840, he made a humor-
ous attack upon the preponderance of the civil
element in the councils of revision:--
There is nothing more illogical than having the soldiers, who
are to compose the army, chiefly selected by civilians. (Dissent.)
The selection of men by civilians is as illogical, quite as bad,
as if the magistrates were chosen by the soldiers. (Laughter.)
I shall be told that civilians can judge of the cases of exemption
as well as soldiers; but I say that a man may not be in any of
the classes of exemption that have been foreseen, and yet not
fit to go on service. This is what civilians can never understand
as well as soldiers.
When a council of revision finds a man who presents no defect
of formation, it declares him fit, while we soldiers might declare
him unfit. Why? Because we know the strength necessary to
endure the fatigues of war. We know that there must be a deep
chest and strong thighs, to carry a pack, eight or ten days' pro-
visions, sixty rounds in the pouch, a sabre, and a musket. For
that a man must be strongly built.
It is well known that in 1840 the Eastern
question nearly induced France to declare war
against all Europe. Mighty man of war as he was,
Bugeaud was an energetic opponent of this madness.
MILITARY ORATOR.
339
In a remarkable speech which he made on the 30th
of November, 1840, he was induced to notice again
the invasion of 1792:-
With war it is allowable to fear an internal revolution. I
know we should overcome the factions. But that would oblige
us to raise fifty or sixty thousand men more: you will allow that
to be an inconvenience, when such great efforts are necessary.
This is not a reason against making a war of interest, a war
of honour, but it is a consideration against making it lightly, for
weighing the motives well, and not showing too much touchiness.
The real danger is in the divisions of the country; it is in the
language of the factions.
M. Dupin.—In case of war we should unite!
M. Bugeaud.-Yes, I should have been more warlike, but for
the horrible maxim, that a great invasion cannot be resisted but
through the means of revolution. This fatal and barbarous error is
unhappily shared by some of the youth of the schools! And how
should they not share it? They have drawn it from the historians
of the Revolution. It is treating our country with contempt to
tell it that it is powerless to resist without the Terror behind it.
(The left, Hear Long interruption.)
M. Manuel.-You calumniate the country!
M. Bugeaud. The Terror, they say, saved France. Has
it the prerogative of suddenly creating armies, training them, using
them to war, and perchance can it call up spontaneously from the
earth grenadiers like those of the Imperial Guard? (Laughter.)
No, gentlemen; it can provide something, it can drive out a few
more who do not like to go and fight, it can extract a few crowns
out of the pockets of people who would not be inclined to give
them. (Laughs and murmurs.) But that is all.'
It is time, gentlemen, to do justice upon these dangerous
sophisms. If I insist upon it, the reason is that the error is exces-
sively dangerous for my country. It will be said that, being unable
to save ourselves but by the Terror, we must make a Terror. (No,
no.) I have heard it said a hundred times to a crowd of young
people. (Interruption.)
Should you like me to tell you what did save France? I shall
teach you perhaps, for I venture to say that the history of the
Revolution is less known than the history of the Medes and Persians.
(General and prolonged hilarity.)
First, the armies of the Coalition were but weak in numbers; the
military condition of Europe was not what it is at the present day.
340
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
The men who fought at that time have often told me that there were
not more than a hundred and fifty thousand men in line against us.
A Member-Such language is anti-national.
General Bugeaud.-The chief cause of our success lay not in the
limited numbers, but in the system of war then in existence.
An Austrian Field-marshal, M. de Lassy, had published a specious
work which he called Methodical War. And this method, or rather
this absence of method, had led all Europe astray. This was the
origin of war of details, of cordons, and tentatives, that gave the
French Republic time to organize its armies.
It was natural that when a million of men were put in motion, a
powerful army should come out of them. We were not fortunate in
the first campaigns, with their little combats. Sometimes victors,
oftener vanquished. (Great interruption from the Left.) Let the
facts speak. Gentlemen, they must be recalled for you, at least for
the public without; for there are many people in France quite con-
vinced that singing the Marseillaise' alone is enough to overthrow
the armies of Europe. (Laughter in the Centre, murmurs)
on the Left.)
Gentlemen, it is necessary to learn that as long as our armies
were not well organized, as long as there were no tactics, you had no
decided successes, and you had reverses.
M. Taschereau.-The people of Paris in 1830 proved that it
could overthrow an army.
M. Odilon Barrot.-Enthusiasm and exaltation are a power!
General Bugeaud. I highly appreciate the singing of the
'Marseillaise' (laughter), but I do not believe that it alone wins
a victory. I think it a good thing, gentlemen, for the combatants
to sing the 'Marseillaise' before going into action, but not during the
action; what is wanted then is silence and self-possession. Silent
troops must be respected, not those who shout and sing. (Murmurs.)
If you had been pursued, if the enemy had concentrated only
100,000 men in that first campaign, he certainly would have come
to Paris. (Outburst of murmurs on the Left and some other benches,
shouts of Order, order.')
Without this war of tentative operations, without the sieges of
all our little places in the North, it is most likely the Republic would
have succumbed in spite of Danton's fury. (Violent denials.)
The second campaign presented another appearance. Your
armies had acquired experience and knowledge, and gained great
victories. They did great things that I admired under the Revolu-
tion and took my share of under the Empire.
In this remarkable speech, directed against an

MILITARY ORATOR.
341
"
inconsiderate declaration of war with more nume-
rous and more powerful enemies, it will be observed
that, though the wise and politic general was ani-
mated by the same patriotic ardour, he remained
faithful to the principles he had already supported
from the tribune in 1831 and 1832 on the Polish
question...
I joined the commission full of warlike ideas,' said he, at ano-
ther point of this same discussion; and you may trust me that our
national honour was not in bad hands with that commission, for four
members out of nine had shed their blood for their country.'
If Marshal Bugeaud had lived to 1870, it may be
supposed from his speech in 1840 that he would have
used the whole weight of his authority against the
declaration of war with Prussia, and would have
exerted himself to reduce to its just proportions the
famous insult inflicted by King William on our am-
bassador, M. Benedetti, at Ems.
CHAPTER XXVI.
BUGEAUD, GOVERNOR-GENERAL (1841).
Soult and Guizot Ministry-Marshal Valée's Retirement-Bugeaud's Appoint-
ment-Portrait by Guizot-Arrival at Algiers-Proclamations to the People
and the Army-Sketch of Algiers by Veuillot-State of the Provinces-
Strength of the Forces - Bugeaud's New System-His Lieutenants-Coming
of the Duke d'Aumale-Correspondence with the Princes.
WHEN the Government recalled Marshal Valée*
from Algiers, in December, 1840, the chief command
of the army in Africa was placed in the hands of
General Schramm. Count Schramm, born in 1789,
was already one of the oldest soldiers of the Empire.
He was a man of the greatest probity, whose military
* Valée, Sylvain-Charles, Count, Marshal of France, 1773-1846, born at
Brienne-le-Château, left the Artillery School at Chalons in 1792, to join the Army
of the North. Captain in 1795, Lieutenant-Colonel in 1804, he made the Auster-
litz campaign as Inspector-General of the artillery train. Colonel in 1807, he was
summoned to the grand head-quarters as second of the artillery staff. After
Eylau and Friedland, Napoleon gave him the command of the artillery of the
Third Corps in Spain. General (of Brigade) in 1810, and in 1812 Lieutenant-
General, he succeeded in bringing back a large proportion of our stores to France
after the evacuation of Spain by our troops. Made Count by the Empire, the
Royal Government appointed him in June, 1814, to the duties of Inspector-General
of artillery. Though he had been commander of the artillery of the Fifth Corps
during the hundred days, King Louis XVIII. reappointed him to the post of
Inspector-General of his army. During the last years of the Restoration and the
first of Louis-Philippe's reign, he remained unemployed.
In 1835 he was made a Peer of France; in 1837 he accompanied General de
Damrémont to Algeria, and took the command of the artillery on the expedition to
Constantine. When Damrémont was killed under the walls of that fortress the
chief command of the expeditionary army devolved upon him, and next day he
took Constantine by assault. When he returned to Algiers he found his Marshal's
baton there, and in a few days' time was appointed Governor-General of Algeria.
In October, 1839, in company with the Duke of Orleans, the Marshal undertook a
military promenade from Constantine to the defile of the Iron Gates, Bibans.
While this expedition was in progress, and in reprisal for this manifestation, a
GOVERNOR-GENERAL.
343
talents were appreciated.
However, the state of
the colony required a more active and enterprising
man.*
number of armed tribes invaded the plain of the Mitidjah, massacring the isolated
detachments, destroying the agricultural establishments and harvests, and spread-
ing terror over all that part of our possessions. In November Abdel-Kader himself
appeared in the Mitidjah, while one of his lieutenants threw himself into the pro-
vince of Oran. Not till this moment did Marshal Valée make serious preparations
for defence. The winter passed in continual skirmishes; and the struggle did not
really commence till the following spring. In the month of March, 1840, a corps
of 12,000 men advanced upon Cherchell and took possession of it, while 20,000 men
were employed in chastising the Haractas. On the 27th of April the Marshal,
accompanied by the Dukes d'Aumale and d'Orleans, left Blidah with 15,000 men
On the 20th he
crossed the Atlas on the 12th of May and occupied Medeah.
repassed the Atlas, and by the end of the month had returned to Algiers. The
forces placed at the Marshal's disposition were insufficient. He had made the
mistake of scattering his troops too much, and was accused of sometimes sacrificing
them through his obstinacy. The invasion of the Mitijdah by innumerable bands
of Kabyles and Arabs spread terror as far as Algiers, and the warriors almost
reached the walls of the city. He reopened the campaign in the first days of
June, and occupied Milianah which Abdel-Kader had just devastated.
After the formation of the Cabinet of the 29th of October, 1840, Marshal
Valée was replaced by General Bugeaud. His cultivated mind was unfortunately
more lofty than extended. Firm enough in his resolutions, he was sometimes
slow in coming to a decision, because he considered all the difficulties in an enter-
prise. But when he had come to a determination, and facts were so unkind as to
turn out in disagreement with his previsions, he would refuse to recognise them, as
if his infallible judgment ought to have ruled the course of events. His character
was rough and positive, while he had natural ability, and his freaks were original.
Marshal Valée died in 1846.
* General Jean-Paul-Adam, Baron, and afterwards Count de Schramm, was
born in 1789 at Arras, in Pas de Calais, and when but ten years of age entered the
army. During his first year of service he rose from the ranks and became a sub-
lieutenant in the year 1800. In 1805, on the field of Austerlitz, he was decorated
and promoted to a lieutenancy of infantry, and by a daring act performed
during the siege of Dantzic, in 1807, he won his commission as captain in the Im-
perial Guard. In the succeeding year he was wounded by a musket-shot at Heils-
burg, from which he had barely recovered when he was sent to Spain, whence he
was recalled in a few months to take part in the battles of Wagram and Essling.
Returning to Spain, his gallantry there was soon after rewarded by promotion to
the rank of commander of a battalion of the 2nd Voltigeurs. He served in the
Russian campaign, and in that of Saxony, and at Lützen captured the entrenched
camp of the Prussians at the point of the bayonet, a success which gave the victory
in the battle to the French, and obtained for De Schramm the title of baron. He
received two wounds in this affair, and for a time his life was thought to be in
danger; but he rejoined the army before Dresden, and, being in the advanced
guard, routed the enemy in front of him, and captured some of the guns. He
afterwards led his regiment to Pirna to cut off the retreat of the Austrians. In
T
344
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
In October, 1840, the President of the Council of
Ministers was Marshal Soult, Duke of Dalmatia,*
this town Napoleon gave him the rank of general of brigade. This was the 26th
of September, 1813, and he was not then twenty-four years of age. He was sub-
sequently taken prisoner, and carried to Hungary, whence he returned to France
in 1814. During the Hundred Days he commanded in Maine et Loire, and was
energetic in contributing to the defence of Paris. After the fall of the Empire he
lived apart from public life till 1830, but in 1831 took part in the expedition to
Antwerp, and during the siege was raised to the rank of lieutenant-general, and
pla ed in command of a division of the infantry of the reserve. In 1840 he wa
com mander-in-chief of the army in Algeria, where he had been serving for a year
as chief of the staff, and in 1841 he was created a count. He was a Councillor of
State from the year 1830, and in 1834 had a seat in the Chamber of Deputies. In
1839 he became a peer of France, and in this, as well as the Lower Chamber, wa
a supporter of Conservative principles. In 1850 he accepted the portfolio of
Minister-of-War, but resigned it a few months later, not wishing to countersign
the dismissal of General Changarnier. After the coup d'état he was appointed a
Senator, and though he was the senior general of the French army, his name was
always borne on the effective list as having commanded in chief in the face of the
enemy. He obtained the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour in 1840.-Morning
Post, February 27, 1884, notice of the Count's death.
* It may be interesting to give the succession of Ministers-of-War from the year
1830 to 1848.
1st August, 1830, Gérard, Maurice-Etienne, Count, Lieutenant-General,
Deputy.
17th November, 1830, Soult, of Dalmatia, Jean-de-Dieu, Marshal Duke (for the
second time), he had been in the Ministry as President of Council from the 3rd of
December, 1814, to the 11th of March, 1815.
18th July, 1834, Gérard, Marshal Count, Peer of France.
10th November, 1834, Bernard, Simon, Baron, Lieutenant-General.
18th November, 1834, De Tréviso, Adolphe-Edouard-Casimir-Joseph Mortier,
Duke, Marshal, and Peer of France, President of Council.
30th of April 1835, Maison, Nicholas-Joseph, Marquis, Marshal, and Peer of
France.
19th of September, 1836, Bernard, Baron, Lieutenant-General, Peer of France,
for the second time.
31st March, 1839, Cubières, Amédée-Louis Despans, Lieutenant-General.
12th May, 1839, Schneider, Antoine-Virgile, Lieutenant-General, Deputy.
1st March, 1840, Cubières Despans, for the second time.
29th October, 1840, Soult, of Dalmatia, Marshal Duke, for the third time;
President of Council to the 15th of September, 1845.
10th November, 1845, de Saint-Yon, Alexandre-Pierre Moline, Lieutenant-
General, Peer of France.
9th May, 1847, Trezel, Camille-Alphonse, Lieutenant-General, Peer of France.
25th February, 1848, Subervie, Jacques-Gervais, Baron, Lieutenant-General.
5th April, 1848, Arago François, Member of the Provisional Government.
17th May, 1848, Cavaignac, Louis-Eugene, General of Division, Member of the
Constituent Assembly.
GOVERNOR-GENERAL.
345
I
assisted by M. Guizot for Foreign Affairs; Martin du
Nord, Keeper of the Seals; the Comte Duchatel, for
the Interior; Admiral Duperré, for the Navy; and M.
Villemain, for Public Instruction. The frequent and
severe criticisms directed against Marshal Valée's
administration and management of military matters.
had determined the Government to replace him by
General Bugeaud.
King Louis-Philippe must have had some courage
and an absolute confidence in General Bugeaud to
make such a choice. Indeed, no politician could
count up so many personal enemies as the new
governor. The Republicans, the Legitimists, even
several Conservatives, were openly hostile to him, and
the press was far from sparing him. His appoint-
ment stirred up the warmth of the journalists, and
gave occasion for the sharpest criticisms. They said
it was an actual challenge to select for governor of
our African possessions the man who had so often
declared from the tribune the necessity for re-
nouncing our conquest, and had even gone so far as
to advise its abandonment. In fact, in 1837, after
Bugeaud's return from his first voyage to Africa, after
the expedition to the Sickack, he had not hesitated,
as we have seen, to show himself opposed to the
colonisation of Algeria. He said that the most part
of Algeria was only a great rock surrounded with
thickets of brushwood, unfit for cultivation, that the
olive could only grow, in these arid plains, by the
28th June, 1848, De Lamoricière, Christophe-Louis-Leon-Juchault, General of
Division, Member of the Constituent Assembly.
20th December, 1848, Bullière, Joseph-Marcellin, General of Division, Member
of the Constituent Assembly.
346
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
help of irrigation, and that it was pure madness to
continue the war,
When General Bugeaud went to take leave of the
Duke of Orleans, on his appointment as successor to
Marshal Valée, the Prince rallied him on his deter-
mination to conquer and colonise a country which
he did not like, and had spoken so ill of. The
General replied, 'Sir, it is very agreeable and very
pleasant for a man to marry a woman, young, rich,
attractive, with whom he is desperately in love.
Where is the wonder if he behaves well to her? But
what would you say of a man compelled to marry an
ugly woman, poor, and uncomely, whom he could
not abide; what would you say of that man if he,
notwithstanding, was never forgetful of any duty or
any respect towards her? Well, sir! I will be that
husband to Algeria, this new kind of gallant, and I
will treat her so well, surround her with so much
attention and love, that she shall be compelled to
become young, attractive, and beautiful.'
The Government were not ignorant of the effect
this nomination was likely to produce in Algeria;
and thus the War Minister took care to preface the new
chief's arrival with the following notice, and had it
posted up everywhere:-

General Bugeaud will soon be on his way to Algiers. There is
no reason to infer from his appointment that the occupation will be
limited; the campaign to be commenced in the spring will prove the
contrary.
M. Guizot, in his Memoirs, thus draws the portrait
of General Bugeaud at his departure. We cannot
convey a better idea of the man of war than by re-
GOVERNOR-GENERAL.
347
i
producing the magisterial judgment of the great writer
and statesman :
When the King, on the 29th of December, at the request of his
cabinet, appointed General Bugeaud to be Governor-general of
Algeria, I did not conceal from myself the consequences of this selec-
tion, and the obligations, I will add the difficulties, that it imposed
upon us. General Bugeaud was not an officer to whom it was pos-
sible to give such or such instructions, with the certainty that he
would limit his ambition to executing them as best he could, and
making his way in his career by pleasing his chiefs. He was a man
of an original and independent mind, a fruitful and fervid imagination,
an ardent will that thought for itself, and took a great deal of room
for its own thoughts, while serving the power from whom he held
his mission. Neither education nor study had tamed his powerful
character, while they developed it. Early thrown among the stern
trials of military life, and too late into the complicated scenes of
political life, he had formed himself by his observations alone and his
own experience, according to the instincts of a strong good-sense,
that was sometimes deficient in proportion and tact, never in justice
or power. In everything, in especial the war and affairs in Algeria,
he had his own special views, his plans, his resolutions; and
not only did he pursue them indeed, but proclaimed them before-
hand on every occasion, to all comers, in his conversations and his
correspondence with a force of conviction and a warmth of speech
that increased more and more in proportion to the contradiction and
doubt he encountered. He thus committed himself in his eager-
ness, both as regards himself and those who did not entirely accept
his views, was so full of his own decided judgment and his patriotic
intentions, that he did not perceive the prejudices aroused by the
intemperance of language, or foresee the difficulties that these preten-
sions would sow around his steps when he had to act, after so much
talk.
General Bugeaud reached Algiers on the 23rd of
February, 1841, and the same day the two following
proclamations were posted on the walls :—
INHABITANTS OF ALGERIA,—On the tribune, as well as during
my command in Africa, have I endeavoured to dissuade my country
from attempting the entire conquest of Algeria. I considered that a
numerous army and great sacrifices would be necessary for the attain-
348
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
ment of this object; that her policy might be embarrassed and her
internal prosperity retarded during the prosecution of this vast
enterprise.
My voice was not sufficiently powerful to stop an impulse that is
perhaps the work of destiny. The country has committed itself; I
must follow it. I have accepted the grand and beautiful mission of
assisting in the accomplishment of its work, and I consecrate to it
for the future all the activity, devotion, and resolution that nature
has given me.
The Arabs must be conquered; the standard of France must be
the only one raised on this African land.
But the war now indispensable is not the object. The conquest
will be barren without colonisation.
I shall therefore be an ardent coloniser, for I think there is less
glory in gaining battles than in founding something of permanent
utility for France.
The experience gained in the Mitidjah has only too clearly
proved the impossibility of protecting colonisation by isolated farms;
and that is almost the only method hitherto tried: it has vanished
at the first breath of war. Let us not recommence this attempt
before the time is come; the fighting strength would be weakened
by being broken up into fractions, and the army perish by sickness
without giving the farmers security for their crops.
Let us begin the colonisation by assemblies in defensible villages,
convenient for agriculture, and, at the same time so tactically con-
stituted, and combined with one another, as to give time for a
central force to come up to their assistance; and I devote myself to
this work.
Agriculture and colonisation are one. It is useful and good no
doubt to increase the population of towns, and to build edifices there;
but that is not colonisation. First the subsistence of the new people
must be assured, and of their defenders, parted by the sea from
France; so what the earth can give must be demanded from it.
The cultivation of the open country is in the forefront of colonial
necessity. The towns will be no less the subject of my care; but I
shall induce them as much as is in my power to turn their industry
and capital towards the fields; for with the towns alone we should
have only the head of colonisation, and not the body; our situation
would be precarious, and at length intolerable to the mother country.
Let us therefore endeavour to found something life-like, something
productive; call, incite capital from without to join yours. We will
build villages; and when we can tell our countrymen and neigh-
bours that we have to offer establishments ready-built, in healthy
spots, surrounded by fertile fields, and effectually protected against
GOVERNOR-GENERAL.
349
sudden attacks from the enemy, be sure that colonists will come to
fill them.*
Then France will really have founded a colony, and will reap
a reward for the sacrifices she has made.
GOVERNOR-General Bugeaud.
The second proclamation was addressed to the
army:
SOLDIERS OF THE ARMY OF AFRICA,―The King has called me
to be your leader.
No man solicits such an honour, but if he accepts it with
enthusiasm for the glory that is promised by men like you, the fear
of being unequal to this immense task moderates the pride felt in
commanding you.
You have often conquered the Arabs; you will conquer them
again; but it is a trifle to make them fly: they must be made to
submit.
Generally you are accustomed to severe marches and privations
inseparable to war. You have endured them with courage and
constancy in a country of nomades, who, when they fly, leave
nothing to the conqueror.
The coming campaign again summons you to display to France
the soldierly virtues she is so proud of. I shall call upon your
ardour, your devotion to the country and the King, for all that is
* General Daumas tells us that Algeria, starting from the sea on the north to a
variable depth of 450 cr 500 kilomètres (300 to 340 miles), is divided into two prin-
cipal zones, the Tell and the Sahara. The Tell is the portion nearest the sea; it is
the country of mountains and valleys, of cereals and water-courses. Its popula-
tion is made up of Kabyles and Arabs. Both of them follow the Mahometan
religion; but their manners, the constitution of their society, as well as their origin
and their language, make them like two distinct nations. The Sahara is the country
of plains; it is the privileged resort of the herdsmen Arabs who find valuable
resources and a vast amount of pasture in these immense distances. The want of
water makes this country almost impossible for cultivation. This difference in the
constitution of the soil produces notable differences in the manners and wealth of
the respective populations as a natural consequence. The one gather the produce
of a fertile land, raise cattle, but live a more sedentary life owing to the necessity
of only moving within a restricted circle. Thus they are given the name of Hal
el Gueraba, cottage people, Hal el Haouach, farm people, or Hal bit-ech-châar,
people of the houses of hair, as they live in villages, farms, or tents. The others
easily become owners of numerous herds, horses, camels, and sheep. They come
and go over larger spaces, and therefore are called Rahhala Arabs, that is to say,
who often shift their camp.
350
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
requisite to attain the object. and no more. I shall be careful to
spare your strength and health. I am sure the officers of every
rank and the sub-officers will support me. They never will neglect
an opportunity of relieving the troop from some moments of fatigue,
or of giving such moral encouragements as the circumstances may
require.
It is by this constant care that we preserve our soldiers. Our
duty, our humanity, the interest of our glory, alike enjoin them
on us.
I shall always be glad to be able to report to the King not only
courageous actions, but also in the same way the chiefs who dis-
tinguish themselves by their paternal care of their troops, under
a climate where precautions must be multiplied.
Soldiers! on other occasions I have been able to gain the confi-
dence of several corps of the African army; I am proud to believe
that this feeling will soon be general, because I am resolved to do
everything to deserve it. Without confidence in the chief, moral
force, the first condition of success, cannot exist. Have confidence,
therefore, in me, as France and your general have confidence in you.
The Lieutenant-General,
BUGEAUD.
The proclamation to the inhabitants of Algeria
had not the effect in France that the Governor
expected. It was far from satisfying the numerous
partisans of restricted occupation.
These persons,
who thought they saw a victory in Marshal Valée's
recall, were powerful enough to compel the Minister
to give orders for the completion of works that were
both ridiculous and useless. General de Berthois
received from Marshal Soult orders to superintend
the_construction of a continuous obstacle in the
Mitidjah. This work has left traces that we have
actually seen in existence, in the neighbourhood of
Algiers. It was the digging of a deep ditch, which,
uniting Koleah, Blidah, and the 'Square House,' was
to embrace a territory of sixty leagues round Algiers.-
The Engineers claimed that they could provide com
GOVERNOR-GENERAL.
351
plete security by this blockading ditch, which they
had staked out at every five hundred mètres, and a
certain number of camps behind it. The idea of this
singular defence came from General Rogniat,* of the
Engineers, and was developed by him in a work on
colonisation in Algeria, and the fortifications to
secure it against the African tribes; in which he says
he desired to make a continuous defensive line after
the pattern of the great wall of China.
The new Governor's language was to the taste of
the army and colonists in Algeria. The blunt, frank
tone, the disdain of oratorical contrivances, this
mixture of original thought, of advice and practical
ideas, appears in General Bugeaud's proclamations,
as it had in the speeches of the Excideuil deputy.
To-day, in the month of March, 1841 (wrote Louis Veuillot in
his book The French in Algeria), after ten years of occupation it is
a very melancholy thing to contemplate our possessions in Africa.
No doubt the tint by which it pleases our map-makers to distinguish
them is spread over a fine extent of coast, and the Parisians have
nothing to do but to wander over it with eye and finger. Look
closer. Let us mark with ink what really belongs to us, and let us
make these points very small; they will not be numerous. Place
the pen upon Algiers; Algiers is yours, and even, provided the
night is still far distant, you may walk out a league around it.
Two or three other points in a circle of three or four leagues ;
* Vicomte Joseph Rogniat, 1767 to 1840, general of division in the Engineers,
was born at Vienne, in Dauphiné. He served under Moreau in 1800, and made
the campaigns of 1805 and 1807. Chef-de-batailion at the siege of Dantzig, he
distinguished himself there. Colonel in Spain, he assisted in the sieges of Sara-
gossa, Tortosa, Tarragona, and Valencia, and came back to France as general of divi-
sion. In 1813 he was transferred to the Grand Army, and fortified Dresden. In 1814 he
commanded the Engineers at Metz; in 1830 he was inspector-general of Engineers,
a peer of France. We are indebted to him for several works, among them the
sieges of Saragossa and Tortosa, and some considerations on the art of war. But
we do not suppose that General Rogniat, the Engineer-general, will ever go down
to posterity as having invented the ingenious conception of the little Algerian ditch.
352
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
these are your posts or camps of the Square House, Fondouk, Habra,
&c. You own the surface they cover, and the surroundings just as
far as a musket will carry, but on condition of sowing and building
nothing there, and on condition of having within your ditch
ammunition and food enough to last till the column comes with a
fresh supply. When there is no water within the camp, the soldiers
can only go to the well in sufficient numbers; they are eaten up
with vermin, worn out with weariness and disgust, decimated by
fever, by the sun, and the pestilential exhalations of the marshes.
Happy are they who have a few sheets of old newspaper to read.
I have heard officers shut up in these burning prisons say that the
most vigorous mind could not bear three or four months of such
a punishment. Many give themselves up to strong liquors, turning
to brutishness to save them from madness.
But to continue. A spot at Douera, a spot at Bouffarik, another
at Blidah, two specks for Coleah and Cherchell. You maintain a
certain number of troops in each of these spots, and drink-shop
keepers, who poison those that the fever and the Arabs have left
alive. This is your province of Algiers. As for what you have
not marked, no doubt it belongs no more to the Arabs than it does
to you. And yet the Hadjoutes get harvests there, now of cattle, now
of heads and weapons of men who risk themselves in it; you get
nothing but harvests of gunshots. I forgot your towns of Medeah and
Milianah, two great tombs at the end of a road, where you might
build twenty triumphal pyramids of the bones of your soldiers.
Between Oran and Bona you have besides Algiers five maritime
towns: Mostaganem, Cherchell, Bougie, Djijilly, and the nascent
Philippeville. Be careful that your ships do not get wrecked beyond
gunshot of these fortresses; the sea is yours, the coast belongs to the
Kabyles; and if a vessel stops a moment, there is always a party of
Arabs ready to fire on the Christian flag.
To go on to the province of Constantine, where peace is said to
reign. Here is Bona and its quiet neighbourhood, and the marshes.
of the Seybouse, which have killed more Frenchmen than the two
sieges of Constantine. Here is Philippeville, a town of planks. No
fighting there, only death. Ghelma is a camp, Bougie and
Djijilly are two prisons insulted by the Kabyles every day. Con-
stantine is a focus of conspiracies. Abdel-Kader and the old Bey
Achmed have partisans there under the tent of our best friends.
You are safe at the Calle; nevertheless between Bona and the Calle
a captain and several men of his squad were attacked and murdered.
It is true vengeance was taken.
Mostaganem is near Mazagran; that is enough to say. Oran
extends its dominion as far as Mers-el-Kebir and Arzew on the
GOVERNOR-GENERAL.
353
·
coast, as far as Misserghine inwards, two to three leagues! Razzias
have been made upon tribes encamped much nearer. They departed;
and after all these razzias, it was found that Oran was without food.
But the province of Oran is officially in a state of war; it is quite
natural for the capital to close its gates, and bread to be scarce. If
at least this melancholy state of things was not known to the Arabs!
But they quite appreciate it, and are emboldened by it in the war
they make against us. Abdel-Kader makes use of it with unusual
dexterity. It is the favourite theme of the most cruel railleries,
while the bulletins boasted to us in France of the excellent results of
the last campaign; a bantering letter written in the Emir's camp
laid bare the spectacle of our weakness and misery. There are
plenty of documents of this kind. They say that the Arabs are
discouraged! It is much more certain that they are as much as ever
inclined to fight.
This was the critical condition of Algeria when Bugeaud came
there, unpopular, and almost made ridiculous by newspaper abuse;
dreaded by the colonists because of his probity, by the generals and
office-holders because of his determination; considered a tyrant with
a coarse and visionary mind. In France all the opinion of the
liberals was against him; in Algeria all the world, except the
soldier, who counted for very little.
If there is anything to be admired here below, it is the spectacle
of a great will engaged with great difficulties. Power in itself
is nothing. There are mean minds that possess it, and hesitate
to make use of it, or warp and break it by clumsy blows. No
weapon is more delicate. It is the will that does everything.
But will itself is nothing but obstinacy and violence, when not
directed by good-sense. The sensible man adheres to his plans,
because having in advance taken judicious measures, foreseen ob-
stacles, and calculated their power of resistance, no difficulty surprises
or deters him; he marches upon his object. But where is bred the
good-sense necessary for these grand exertions of human will?
Whence does it derive its stability against the passions that might
surprise it, against the obstacles it must overcome, and the certain
dangers it has to brave? Good-sense then is the love of truth, zeal
for good, it is virtue !
Marshal Bugeaud's good sense immediately showed him what he
had to do; his virtue did not recoil before the enormous task. I
say his virtue, not his courage. There is a kind of courage that
Marshal Bugeaud did not possess, or only by an effort of virtue.
He was afraid of public opinion, and he was afraid of it in the
most wretched form. This man who would not have been afraid of all
deaths in combination, feared the newspapers, and was uneasy about
VOL. I.
A A
麦
​354
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
what they would say. In fact he had a cruel experience of their
powerful blows. To them he owed a reputation of being a boor and
madman, such as added a good deal to the difficulties of his position.
Notwithstanding this he no doubt was in the wrong to fear it so much,
but he did fear it. He encountered it, resolved to act as if it did not
exist. And he forthwith developed all his power at once, without
troubling himself what might be said in Algeria, or written in
France.
Our brilliant generals had carried on the war in Africa without
profit, but not without glory, and enjoyed a popularity that
encouraged them to speak a little too freely of the new system of
occupation and war that the Governor intended to adopt. He sum-
moned them to his presence, and told them that he would have none
of their bravery or talents, unless he could reckon upon their perfect
obedience; otherwise he should know how to do without them.
However, in the month of November, 1840,
nearly 7000 Mahometans, horse or foot, were
ranged under our banners. Algiers, Oran, Bôna,
were rising from their ruins and rapidly extending.
The European population was increasing in a constant
ratio; and on the 21st of December, 1840, amounted
to the number of 28,000, of whom 13,000 were
French, 9000 Spaniards, 6000 Italians, Maltese, or
Germans.
The new Governor had under his
men; 13,500 of them being horse.*
orders 78,000
War on a large
* We give a table of the numbers of the French army in Africa, as stated in
the sitting of the 14th of May, 1840, on the authority of M. Emmanuel Poulle,
Deputy :-
1831
1832
1833
1834
1835
17,900
1836
22,400
1837
27,000
1838
31,000
1839
30,000
1840
31,400
42,600
48,000
54,000
63,000
On the 1st July, 1841, our troops in Algiers amounted to 78,900 men, French
troops, auxiliaries, and natives:
On the 1st of July, 1842, they reached 83,281 men.
1843
1844
""
""
85,664
90,562
""
""
1845
""
89,099
1846
"}
""
1847
"
107,688
101,520
2
GOVERNOR-GENERAL.
355
scale was not to be continued in Africa. General
Bugeaud speedily gave up the ring of isolated posts
that protected nothing. The towns were to be held,
and the system put in practice of radiating around,
starting from a fixed and permanent position. In
this fashion the enemy being always kept on the
alert, and thrust to a distance were compelled to
remain on the defensive at great fatigue and ex-
pense; being impoverished every day.
The eternal glory of General Bugeaud will be
his understanding that it was not actually an army
that we had to meet, but the population itself; and
that, consequently, in order to maintain themselves
in such a country our troops must be almost as
numerous in time of peace as in time of war. At
the same time he discovered that the populations
who repelled our domination were not nomades, as
had long been believed, but only much more moveable
than those of Europe. In fact each tribe had its
defined territory, that it only left with difficulty to
find pasture for its herds, and was always obliged to
return to. If there was no seizing the inhabitants
houses, the harvest might be taken, the herds captured,
the individuals arrested, and likewise the women
and children.
Thereupon the new conditions of war in Africa
became apparent to General Bugeaud. There was
no occasion, as in Europe, to collect great armies.
destined to encounter similar masses; but the object
was to cover the country with little light bodies that
might catch the population on the run, or when
placed near their territory, might overlook them and
compel them to remain and live there in peace. The
principles of war inaugurated by him on the Sickack,
356
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
*
in 1836, were going to be put in practice. Everything
that encumbers the march of troops in Europe was
to be renounced, and cannon almost entirely given
up. The camel and the mule were to be used instead
of carriages. Magazine posts placed in various posi-
tions rendered it possible to carry but few or no pro-
visions. The officers learnt Arabic, studied the
country, and led their columns over it without hesi-
tation. As speed was much more important than
numbers, the columns were only composed of picked
men already inured to fatigue. An almost in-
credible rapidity of movement was thus obtained.
If our soldiers of to-day, equalling the speed of an
Arab army, move faster than the tribe on a march,
to Marshal Bugeaud do we owe it.
While at Paris, in the Chambers, and the press,
there was passionate discussion on the different
methods of holding the regency, and the faults of the
Excideuil deputy's character,* the new Governor-
general was making his preparations for war like a
man who understands it. To strike the enemy in his
basis of operations and points of political support,
to reach the material interests of hostile populations,
that is to say, to hunt Abdel-Kader to bay, and
* A curious work, entitled The French and Arabs in Algeria, written in 1860
by a retired officer, M. Hugonnet, contains these lines which attracted our attention.
They show that the Marshal was not very wrong in detesting the press.
'We may
believe that the malevolence of the press was very prejudicial to General Bugeaud,
because it injured his reputation. He himself sometimes felt it very keenly, and
entered upon polemics with a certain acrimony. He has even been blamed for
having been too sensitive to the newspaper attacks, and yet the drift of them is
enough to be a considerable impediment to Marshal Bugeaud's celebrity becoming
popularly established. This is one of the injustices of opinion that are but too
common. So, some marshal of the First Empire, because his name is mentioned
in the Great Captain's bulletins of the grand battles at the beginning of the cen-
tury, perhaps may have for ever more renown than the conqueror of Isly, although
he be of much less worth. For myself, I remember, and I confess it with humility
GOVERNOR-GENERAL.
357
operate against the tribes by frequent razzias; this
was his conception, and by putting it in practice he
demolished the Emir's edifice, bit by bit.
From the very beginning, as we shall see in the
following chapter, General Bugeaud inaugurated a
new strategy, new tactics. Till his time, our
soldiers, fixed in block-houses, redoubts, and en-
trenched camps, had been decimated by sickness and
privation; doing but little service in return. To
secure the safety of the country, the Governor-general
had a more simple and effectual plan of policy; this
was, first, to force any Arab tribes, as soon as con-
quered, to recognise chiefs selected from among
themselves, who were answerable for the quiet of
the territory. One of General Bugeaud's merits was
having a fixed system, an arranged plan. In fact,
as soon as he had shown the goodness of his method
by success, his presence, in person, was less necessary.
It was allowable for him to entrust his generals, and
even officers of a less elevated rank, with operations
over a more or less extensive portion of the African
territory; according to the examples and categorical
instructions given them by him.
The movable, or expeditionary, columns usually
comprised three or four battalions of infantry, two
squadrons of cavalry, two mountain howitzers, and
a train of beasts of burden. The horsemen, riding

1
that when I left Saint-Cyr to go to Algeria, I was very glad to join my battalion,
excepting for the fact that our fine army in Africa was under the orders of such a
chief as Bugeaud. I had taken the accusations of a certain press literally. As
may be supposed, a complete revulsion was not long in coming over my opinion.
Some talk with my new comrades had soon undeceived me, and the moment I saw
the Marshal, and heard him speak of war, I was for ever convinced of his real
superiority.'
358
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
native horses, had their equipment as much simplified
as possible, clothing lightened, and carried nothing
but what was absolutely necessary. The natives in
our pay, the contingents of conquered Arabs, further
furnished us with horsemen valuable for recon-
noitring, getting information, escort duty, and the
protection of convoys. These cavaliers then per-
formed the part taken by the Uhlans, of melancholy
memory, during the disastrous Prussian invasion of
1870 and 1871.
The infantry were most changed by General
Bugeaud. The campaigning bag which the foot-soldier
had carried was given to him unsewn, that is to say,
in the shape of a plain bit of canvas. When the
bivouac was reached, three or four comrades made
a tent by joining their several portions by the help
of cords and supporting sticks. On an expedition
the soldier carried no spare clothes or shoes; only
his food, ammunition, and weapons.
with the column on its own legs. The baggage
followed or remained in reserve. The soldiers were
to have loose clothing; generally open over the chest,
the stock was abolished and replaced by the cotton
neckerchief.
The meat went
The order of march of the columns was almost
always thus arranged; the cavalry, the main body
of the infantry, the artillery, the ambulance, the
convoy, the cattle, and a strong rear-guard. The
camp was a square; the infantry at the four sides,
the cavalry, artillery, the staff, and all the baggage
in the centre, inside the infantry. The start was
made according to the season, at
from three to
six in the morning; every hour there was a
GOVERNOR-GENERAL.
359
twenty minutes' halt for the head of the column,
and it did did not start again till the rear-guard
had come up.
When half of the day's march was done, there
was a grand halt of about an hour. This was called
'coffee,' because that was the only cookery the men
had time to finish. On ordinary marching days the
halt for the bivouac took place at two or three in
the afternoon; the meat was immediately killed, and
the soldiers cooked their evening meal of soup and
beef. In the morning, before starting, they had rice.
When it was necessary to push rapidly upon a point
during a march, the commander of a column would,
sometimes, leave all his baggage and convoy in a
good position protected by one or two battalions; and
proceed with the cavalry and the rest of the infantry,
leaving their packs with the baggage. The foot-
soldier having nothing to carry but his musket, his
pouch, and packets of cartridges wrapped in the rolled
tent slung over his shoulder, went light and full of
animation, singing camp songs.
All these details of the soldier's equipment, the
multitude of cares required for a march into the
country, as well as the innovations introduced into
our fashion of fighting the Arabs, and holding the
country, took up all the time of the new head of the
colony. Hitherto, it must be said that, though the
successive governors of Algeria had all been animated
by excellent intentions, they were far from possessing
the ardent patriotism, the absolute and complete
devotion to their work-their task, that Bugeaud
so rarely exemplified.
Certainly, if General Bugeaud's predecessors
360
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
were not possessed of the lofty qualities so necessary
for the regulation and ruling of men, it is just to
say that when the new Governor reached Africa in
the month of February, 1841, he found himself
surrounded by a collection of officers, and young
chiefs of corps as his subordinates, who, every one
in his sphere, with various aptitudes and different
dispositions, were already distinguished soldiers; and
almost all destined to become generals. Changarnier,
Lamoricière, Bedeau, Cavaignac, Pelissier,* St.
Arnaud, Moriss, Yusuff, Tartas, and so many others,
in secondary rank, formed the nucleus of the valiant
army of Africa that will remain for ever the glory
and honour of France and of the monarchy of
1830.
* Pelissier, Amable-Jean-Jacques, was born on the 6th of November, 1794, at
Maromme, Seine Inférieure. He was educated at the Military Prytaneum, and
the School of Saint-Cyr. Two days before the return from Elba, he received his
commission as sub-lieutenant, and was posted to the regiment stationed in obser-
vation on the Rhine. In 1823 Pelissier made the campaign in Spain, and was
decorated with the Legion of Honour and the Order of Saint Ferdinand.
As a
result of the expedition to Algiers, in which he was engaged, Pelissier was promoted
to the rank of chef-d'Escadron; then he became aide-de-camp to General Pelet at
the attack upon Antwerp. In 1839 he again went to Algiers with the rank of
Lieutenant-colonel, and for three years managed the staff of the Province of
Oran. He was distinguished in the expedition to Tackdempt, 1841, at the combat
of Oued-Melah, and after the expedition to the Chélif was made Colonel.
Pelissier was engaged in the war with Morocco, and distinguished at the battle
of Isly, where he commanded the left wing. In 1845, having been ordered to
pursue a number of Arabs, who had taken refuge in the caves of Ouled Rhia, and
seeing the difficulty of dislodging them from their position, he caused fires to be
lighted at the mouths of the caves, and the Arabs perished by suffocation. There
was great excitement: the War-Minister, Soult, being questioned in the Chambers,
blamed Colonel Pelissier, though he had only acted upon the orders of Marshal
Bugeaud, who was energetic in his support of his subordinate. Next year Pelissier
received the epaulettes of General of Brigade. At the time of the coup-d'état, he
took the place of General d'Hautpoul as Governor-general, declared Algeria in a
state of siege, and gave his complete adhesion to the new government. Relieved
by Marshal Randon, he returned to Oran, arranged the first expedition to Kabylia,
took Aaghouat, and in 1852 compelled the tribes to submit.
General Pelissier had just been promoted to the Grand Cross of the Legion of
Honour when he received orders to assume the direction of the siege operations at
GOVERNOR-GENERAL.
361
We have seen, above, the position filled by the
crown-prince of France in the history of the first
years of our conquest. At the time when General
Bugeaud entered upon the chief command of the army,
two of the King's sons proceeded to support him in
his task, and while fighting under his orders gave,
to all, splendid examples of regard to discipline,
of courage, and of self-denial.
The Duke d'Aumale,* the third son of Louis-
Philippe, though young, was already an old African,
as he had been with his eldest brother in his last
campaign in 1840.
Returning to France at the end of 1840, he soon
Sebastopol, General Canrobert, commanding-in-chief, having resigned. After
several combats, conducted with uncommon vigour, General Pelissier reduced the
fortress, having taken the Malakoff in 1855.
This conquest gained him a marshal's baton, and the title of Duke de Malakoff.
Returning to France he was sent Ambassador to London. In the war of 1859 the
Emperor entrusted him with the organization of an army at Nancy, to watch
Germany and stop her, if necessary. After the peace of Villa Franca, 1859, he
became Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honour, then in 1860 was appointed
Governor-General of Algeria. He died there in 1864. Marshal Pelissier, besides
most uncommon courage and daring, showed very great military intelligence.
His traditional churlishness and bluntness were allayed by a great feeling of
equity and singular natural ability.
* Henri-Eugene-Philippe-Louis d'Orleans, Duke d'Aumale, born at Paris on
the 16th of January, 1822, was the fourth child of King Louis-Philippe. Edu-
cated, like his brothers, at the College Henri IV., he was distinguished in his
studies. At seventeen he entered the army, and made his debût at the camp of
Fontainebleau. Having for some time been a teacher in the school at Vincennes,
he was, in 1839, promoted to be captain in the 4th of the Line. In 1840 he went
as orderly-officer with his brother, the Duke of Orleans, whom he was most
tenderly attached to, and went bravely through his first fight at the actions of
the Affroun, the Col of Mouzaia, and the Olive Wood. The same year he ob-
tained the rank of chef-de-bataillon and lieutenant-colonel. At that time (March,
1841) he returned to Africa, and, with his brother, the Duke de Nemours, took
part in the campaign of Medeah and Milianah. Having caught a fever, he re-
turned to France in July, 1841, and crossed France with great ovations; just
when he made his triumphal entry into Paris, at the head of the 11th Light,
he and his brother, the Duke of Orleans, had a narrow escape of falling
victims to the attempt of the republican Quenisset, on the 13th of September.
362
MARSHAL BUGEAUD.
went back to Africa, doing duty in his rank. Thus,
in 1841, he found himself, for the first time, under
the orders of General Bugeaud. The Duke d'Aumale
was then nineteen years of
of age.
We subjoin a bright, cheerful letter from him full
of eagerness, like a trumpet-sound; and General
Bugeaud's reply in the same strain :—
GENERAL,-As the King has appointed me to the vacant post
of my rank in the 24th regiment of the line, I shall go to Africa in
a few days to join my regiment; and hope to stay there a long
time. I was determined to tell you myself, and as soon as possible,
how glad I am and proud to serve under the orders of such a dis-
tinguished leader as yourself; and I will do my best to deserve
your regard and justify the honour done me.
I shall beg of you,
General, to spare me no fatigue nor anything of any sort.
young, strong, and a real cadet of Gascony; I must win my spurs.
I am
After completing his military education at Courbevoie, the Duke d'Aumale,
just made a marechal-de-camp, in October, 1842, returned to Algeria. He com-
manded the sub-district of Medeah, when, having been sent by the Governor-
general, Bugeaud, in pursuit of Abdel-Kader, he captured the Emir's smalah,
with surprising intrepidity and coolness, 16th of March, 1843.
Made a
lieutenant-general in the October of the same year, he received the chief
command of the province of Constantine. In 1844 he commanded the expe-
dition to Biskra, and distinguished himself in the campaigns against the
Ziban and Ouled-Sultan. On the 25th of November he married the daughter of
the Prince of Salerno, Marie-Caroline de Bourbon. He commanded the camp in
the Gironde, 1845; took part in the pacification of Ouarensenis in 1846. In 1847
he relieved General Bugeaud in the government of the colony, exercising a kind
of vice-royalty. Abdel-Kader's surrender was the last act of his government.
When the revolution broke out in February, 1848, he made over the government
to General Cavaignac, and went to Gibraltar amid general regret. He then re-
sided at Claremont and Twickenham, in England. Being heir of the Prince de
Condé, and so very rich, he made a very fine collection of pictures and books.
After the fatal year 1870, and the fall of the Emperor, the Duke d'Aumale was
elected representative of the department of the Oise by 52,222 votes. In the
month of March, 1872, he was placed on the active list as general of division.
In 1873 he was nominated president of the court-martial on Marshal Bazaine ;
obliged to undertake it, he performed it so well that the intended snare only
showed his discretion, and made him more popular.
Marshal MacMahon appointed him to the command of the Seventh Corps in
1873, and he was relieved according to a decree of 1879. The Duke d'Aumale
was chosen a member of the Academy in 1871, and now takes no part in politics.
He has even left Paris, and lives at Chantilly, where he keeps his wonderful
collections.
GOVERNOR-GENERAL.
363
I only make you one request; and that is, not to forget the Duke
d'Aumale's regiment when there are blows to give and take.
Receive, General, the assurance of my respect,
Your affectionate
HENRI D'ORLEANS.
General Bugeaud's reply to the Duke was:-
Algiers, 6th March, 1841.
MY PRINCE, The King is really spoiling me this year! It
was not enough to have given me a mission that is the more
honourable from its difficulty. His majesty is also willing to
entrust two of the sons of France to my care! It is too much
honour at once. But if I am confused at it, I am not alarmed. I
do not fear the responsibility that such great marks of confidence
impose upon me. Besides, my task is lightened by the presence of
two princes; as the emulation, already so remarkable, in the Algerian
army will be thereby augmented; and that is a pledge of success.
You, my prince, do not wish to be spared! I never had a
notion of it. I will give you your fair share of the fatigues and
dangers; you will know how to take your share of the glory.
Receive, &c.
END OF VOL. I.
BUGEAUD,
General.
London: Printed by STRANGEWAYS AND SONS, Tower Street, Upper St. Martin's Lane.
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