Chapter VII: Part 7

The course of the Alle, near the spot where the two armies were about to meet, exhibits numerous windings. The French came up by the woody hills, beyond which the ground gradually sinks to the banks of the Alle. The ground at this season was covered with rye of great height. To the right of the French, the river was seen pursuing its way through the plain, then turning round Friedland, coming to the left, thus forming an elbow. At daybreak on the morning of the 14th, Lannes, who commanded the advanced division of the French army, reached Posthenen, whence he could see the Russians marching across the bridges to deploy into the plain, and drawing up in a line of battle facing the heights. A rivulet, called the Mill Stream, there formed a small pond, after dividing the plain into two unequal halves. Bennigsen imagined that he had to contend with but one division of the French army, and, for the time, he had this advantage. But the whole force under Napoleon’s immediate command was coming up to support the gallant Lannes, and by crossing the bridges, the Russian general fairly placed himself in the power of the Emperor. For this Napoleon had manœuvred several days, and he now saw that the victory would be one of that complete, decisive kind he loved.

Marshal Lannes, in his haste to march, had brought with him only Oudinot’s voltigeurs and grenadiers, the 9th hussars, Grouchy’s dragoons, and two regiments of Saxon cavalry. He could not oppose more than ten thousand men to the enemy’s advanced guard, which, successively reinforced, was treble that number, and was soon to be followed by the whole Russian army. Fortunately for the French, the soil afforded numerous resources to the skill and courage of their illustrious marshal. In the centre of the position which it was necessary to occupy, in order to bar the way against the Russians, was a village, that of Posthenen, through which ran the Mill Stream to pursue its course to Friedland. Somewhat in rear rose a plateau, from which the plain of the Alle might be battered. Lannes placed his artillery there, and several battalions of grenadiers to protect it. On the right, a thick wood, that of Sortlack, protruded in a salient, and divided into two the space comprised between the village of Posthenen and the banks of the Alle. There Lannes posted two battalions of voltigeurs, which, dispersed as tirailleurs, would be able to stop for a long time troops not numerous and not very resolute. The 9th hussars, Grouchy’s dragoons, the Saxon cavalry, amounted to three thousand horse, ready to fall upon any column which should attempt to penetrate that curtain of tirailleurs. On the left of Posthenen, the line of woody heights extended, gradually lowering in the village of Heinrichsdorf, through which ran the high road from Friedland to Konigsberg. This point was of great importance, for the Russians, desirous to reach Konigsberg, would, of course, obstinately dispute the road thither. Besides, this part of the field of battle being more open, was naturally more difficult to defend. Lannes, who had not yet troops sufficient to establish himself there, had placed on his left, taking advantage of the woods and heights, the rest of his battalions, thus approaching the houses of Heinrichsdorf without being able to occupy them.

The fire, commenced at three in the morning, became all at once extremely brisk. The artillery, placed on the plateau of Posthenen, under the protection of Oudinot’s grenadiers, kept the Russians at a distance, and made considerable havoc among them. On the right, the voltigeurs, scattered on the skirt of the wood of Sortlack, stopped their infantry by an incessant tirailleur fire, and the Saxon horse, directed by General Grouchy, had made several unsuccessful charges against their cavalry. The Russians having become threatening towards Heinrichsdorf, General Grouchy, moving from the right to the left, galloped thither, to dispute with them the Konigsberg road, the important point for the possession of which torrents of blood were about to be spilt.

Though, in these first moments, Marshal Lannes had but ten thousand men to oppose twenty-five or thirty thousand, he maintained his ground, thanks to great skill and energy, and also to the able concurrence of General Oudinot, commanding the grenadiers, and of General Grouchy, commanding the cavalry. But the enemy reinforced himself from hour to hour, and General Bennigsen, on arriving at Friedland, had suddenly formed the resolution to give battle—a very rash resolution, for it would have been much wiser for him to have continued to descend the Alle to the junction of that river with the Pregel, and to take a position behind the latter, with his left to Wehlau, his right to Konigsberg. It would have taken him, it is true, another day to reach Konigsberg; but he would not have risked a battle against an army superior in number, in quality, better officered, and in a very unfavorable situation for him, since he had a river at his back, and he was very likely to be pushed into the elbow of the Alle, with all that vigor of impulsion of which the French army was capable.

He lost no time in having three bridges thrown over the Alle, one above and two below Friedland, in order to accelerate the passage of his troops, and also to furnish them with means of retreat. He lined with artillery the right bank, by which he arrived, and which commanded the left bank. Then, nearly his whole army having debouched, he disposed it in the following manner:—In the plain around Heinrichsdorf, on the right for him, on the left for the French, he placed four divisions of infantry, under Lieutenant-General Gortschakoff, and the better part of the cavalry under General Ouwarroff. The infantry was formed in two lines. In the first were two battalions of each regiment deployed, and a third drawn up in close column behind the two others, closing the interval which separated them. In the second, the field of battle gradually narrowing the further it extended into the angle of the Alle, a single battalion was deployed and two were formed in close column. The cavalry, ranged on the side and a little in advance, flanked the infantry. On the left (the right of the French,) two Russian divisions, of which the imperial guard formed part, increased by all the detachments of chasseurs, occupied the portion of the ground comprised between the Mill Stream and the Alle. They were drawn up in two lines, but very near each other, on account of the want of room. Prince Bagration commanded them. The cavalry of the guard was there, under General Kollogribow. Four flying bridges had been thrown across the Mill Stream, that it might interrupt the communications between the two wings as little as possible. The fourth Russian division had been left on the other side of the Alle, on the ground commanding the left bank, to collect the army in case of disaster or to come and decide the victory, if it obtained any commencement of success. The Russians had more than two hundred pieces of cannon upon their front, besides those which were either in reserve or in battery on the right bank. Their army, reduced to eighty or eighty-two thousand men after Heilsberg, separated at this time from Kamenski’s corps and from some detachments sent to Wehlau to guard the bridges of the Alle, still amounted to seventy-two or seventy-five thousand men. General Bennigsen caused the mass of the Russian army to be moved forward in the order just described, so that, on getting out of the elbow of the Alle, it might deploy, extend its fires, and avail itself of the advantages of number which it possessed at the beginning of the battle.

The situation of Lannes was perilous, for he had the whole Russian army upon his hands. Fortunately, the time which had elapsed had procured him some reinforcements. General Nansouty’s division of heavy cavalry, composed of three thousand five hundred cuirassiers and carbineers, Dupas’s division, which was the first of Mortier’s corps, and numbered six thousand foot soldiers, lastly, Verdier’s division, which contained seven thousand, and was the second of Lannes’s corps, marched off successively, had come with all possible expedition. It was a force of twenty-six or twenty-seven thousand men, to fight seventy-five thousand. It was seven in the morning, and the Russians, preceded by a swarm of Cossacks, advanced towards Heinrichsdorf, where they already had infantry and cannon. Lannes, appreciating the importance of that post, sent thither the brigade of Albert’s grenadiers, and ordered General Grouchy to secure possession of it at any cost. General Grouchy, who had been reinforced by the cuirassiers, proceeded immediately to the village. Without stopping to consider the difficulty, he dispatched the brigade of Milet’s dragoons to attack Heinrichsdorf, while Carrie’s brigade turned the village, and the cuirassiers marched to support this movement. Milet’s brigade passed through Heinrichsdorf at a gallop, drove out the Russian foot-soldiers at the point of the sword, while Carrie’s brigade, going round it, took or dispersed those who had saved themselves by flight. Four pieces of cannon were taken. At this moment, the enemy’s cavalry, coming to the assistance of the infantry, expelled from Heinrichsdorf, rushed upon the dragoons and drove them back. But Nansouty’s cuirassiers charged it in their turn, and threw it upon the Russian infantry, which in this fray was obliged to withhold its fire.

During these occurrences, Dupas’s division entered into line. Marshal Mortier, whose horse was killed by a cannon-ball, the moment he appeared on the field of battle, placed that division between Heinrichsdorf and Posthenen, and opened on the Russians a fire of artillery which, poured upon deep masses, made prodigious havoc in their ranks. The arrival of Dupas’s division rendered disposable those battalions of grenadiers which had at first been drawn up to the left of Posthenen. Lannes drew them nearer to him, and could oppose their closer ranks to the attacks of the Russians, either before Posthenen or before the wood of Sortlack. General Oudinot, who commanded them, taking advantage of all the accidents of ground, sometimes from clumps of wood scattered here and there, sometimes from pools of water, produced by the rains of the preceding days, sometimes from above the corn, disputed the ground with equal skill and energy. By turns he hid or exhibited his soldiers, dispersed them as tirailleurs, or exposed them in a mass, bristling with bayonets, to all the efforts of the Russians. Those brave grenadiers, notwithstanding their inferiority in number, kept up the fight, supported by their general, when, luckily for them, Verdier’s division arrived. Marshal Lannes divided it into two movable columns, to be sent alternately to the right, to the centre, to the left, wherever the danger was most pressing. It was the skirt of the wood of Sortlack and the village of the same name, situated on the Alle, that were the most furiously disputed. In the end, the French remained masters of the village, the Russians of the skirts of the wood.

Lannes was enabled to prolong till noon this conflict of twenty-six thousand men against seventy-five thousand. But it was high time for Napoleon to arrive with the rest of his army. Lannes, anxious to apprize him of what was passing, had sent to him almost all his aides-de-camp, one after another, ordering them to get back to him without loss of time, if they killed their horses. They found him coming at a gallop to Friedland, and full of a joy that was expressed in his countenance. “This is the 14th of June,” he repeated to those whom he met; “it is the anniversary of Marengo; it is a lucky day for us!” Napoleon, outstripping his troops through the speed of his horse, had successively passed the long files of the guard, of Ney’s corps, of Bernadotte’s corps, all marching for Posthenen. He had saluted in passing, Dupont’s fine division, which from Ulm to Braunsberg, had never ceased to distinguish itself, though never in his presence, and he had declared that it would give him great pleasure to see it fight for once.

The presence of Napoleon at Posthenen fired his soldiers and his generals with fresh ardor. Lannes, Mortier, Oudinot, who had been there since morning, and Ney, who had just arrived, surrounded him with the most lively joy. The brave Oudinot hastening up with his coat perforated by balls, and his horse covered with blood, exclaimed to the Emperor: “Make haste, Sire, my grenadiers are knocked up; but, give me a reinforcement, and I will drive all the Russians into the water.” Napoleon, surveying with his glass the plain, where the Russians, backed in the elbow of the Alle, were endeavoring in vain to deploy, soon appreciated their perilous situation and the unique occasion offered him by Fortune, swayed, it must be confessed, by his genius; for the fault which the Russian army were committing had been inspired, as it were, by him, when he pushed them from the other side of the Alle, and thus forced them to pass in before him, in going to the relief of Konigsberg. The day was far advanced, and it would take several hours to collect all the French troops. Some of Napoleon’s lieutenants were, therefore, of opinion that they ought to defer fighting a decisive battle till the morrow. “No, no,” replied Napoleon, “one does not catch an enemy twice in such a scrape.” He immediately made his dispositions for the attack. They were worthy of his marvellous perspicacity.

To drive the Russians into the Alle was the aim which every individual, down to the meanest soldier, assigned to the battle. But how to set about it, how to ensure that result, and how to render it as great as possible, was the question. At the farthest extremity of the elbow of the Alle, in which the Russian army was engulphed, there was a decisive point to occupy, namely, the little point of Friedland itself, situated on the right, between the Mill Stream and the Alle. There were the four bridges, the sole retreat of the Russian army, and Napoleon purposed to direct his utmost efforts against that point. He destined for Ney’s corps the difficult and glorious task of plunging into that gulf, of carrying Friedland at any cost, in spite of the desperate resistance which it would not fail to make, of wresting the bridges from them, and thus barring against them the only way of safety. But at the same time he resolved, while acting vigorously on his right, to suspend all efforts on his left, to amuse the Russian army on that side with a feigned fight, and not to push it briskly on the left till, the bridges being taken on the right, he should be sure, by pushing it, to fling it into a receptacle without an outlet.

Surrounded by his lieutenants, he explained to them, with that energy and that precision of language which were usual with him, the part which each of them had to act in that battle. Grasping the arm of Marshal Ney, and pointing to Friedland, the bridges, the Russians crowded together in front, “Yonder is the goal,” said he; “march to it without looking about you: break into that thick mass whatever it costs you; enter Friedland, take the bridges, and give yourself no concern about what may happen on your right, on your left, or on your rear. The army and I shall be there to attend to that.” Ney, boiling with ardor, proud of the formidable task assigned to him, set out at a gallop to arrange his troops before the wood of Sortlack. Struck with his martial attitude, Napoleon, addressing Marshal Mortier, said, “That man is a lion!”

On the same ground, Napoleon had his dispositions written down from his dictation, that each of his generals might have them bodily present to his mind, and not be liable to deviate from them. He ranged, then, Marshal Ney’s corps on the right, so that Lannes, bringing back Verdier’s division upon Posthenen, could present two strong lines with that and the grenadiers. He placed Bernadotte’s corps (temporarily Victor’s) between Ney and Lannes, a little in advance of Posthenen, and partly hidden by the inequalities of the ground. Dupont’s fine division formed the head of this corps. On the plateau, behind Posthenen, Napoleon established the imperial guard, the infantry in three close columns, the cavalry in two lines. Between Posthenen and Henrichsdorf was the corps of Marshal Mortier, posted as in the morning, but more concentrated and augmented by the young fusiliers of the imperial guard. A battalion of the 4th light infantry, and the regiment of the municipal guard of Paris, had taken the place of the grenadiers of the Albert brigade in Heinrichsdorf. Dumbrowski’s Polish division had joined Dupas’s division, and guarded the artillery. Napoleon left to General Grouchy the duty of which he had already so ably acquitted himself, that of defending the plain of Heinrichsdorf. To the dragoons and the cuirassiers commanded by that general he added the light cavalry of Generals Beaumont and Colbert, to assist him to rid himself of the Cossacks. Lastly, having two more divisions of dragoons to dispose of, he placed that of General Latour Maubourg, reinforced by the Dutch cuirassiers, behind the corps of Marshal Ney, and that of General La Houssaye, reinforced by the Saxon cuirassiers, behind Victor’s corps. The French in this imposing order amounted to no fewer than eighty thousand men. The order was repeated to the left not to advance, but merely to keep back the Russians till the success of the right was decided. Napoleon required that before the troops recommenced firing, they should wait for the signal from a battery of twenty pieces of cannon placed above Posthenen.

The Russian general, struck by this deployment, discovered the mistake which he had committed in supposing that he had to do with but the single corps of Marshal Lannes; he was surprised, and naturally hesitated. His hesitation had produced a sort of slackening in the action. Scarcely did occasional discharges of artillery indicate the continuance of the battle. Napoleon, who desired that all his troops should have got into line, rested for at least an hour, and being abundantly supplied with ammunition, was in no hurry to begin, and resisted the impatience of his generals, well knowing that, at this season, in this country, it was light till ten in the evening, he should have time to subject the Russian army to the disaster that he was preparing for it. At length, the fit moment appeared to him to have arrived, he gave the signal. The twenty pieces of cannon of the battery of Posthenen fired at once; the artillery of the army answered them along the whole line; and at this impatiently awaited signal, Marshal Ney moved off his _corps d’armee_.

From the wood of Sortlack issued Marchand’s division, advancing the first to the right, Bisson’s division the second to the left. Both were preceded by a storm of tirailleurs, who, as they approached the enemy, fell back and returned into the ranks. These troops marched resolutely up to the Russians, and took from them the village of Sortlack, so long disputed. Their cavalry, in order to stop the offensive movement, made a charge on Marchand’s division. But Latour Maubourg’s dragoons and the Dutch cuirassiers, passing through the intervals of the battalions, charged that cavalry in their turn, drove it back upon its infantry, and, pushing the Russians against the Alle, precipitated a great number into the deeply embanked bed of that river. Some saved themselves by swimming; many were drowned. His right once appuyed on the Alle, Marshal Ney slackened his march, and pushed forward his left, formed by Bisson’s division, in such a manner as to thrust back the Russians into the narrow space comprised between the Mill Stream and the Alle. When arrived at this point, the fire of the enemy’s artillery redoubled. The French had to sustain not only the fire of the batteries in front, but also the fire of those on the right bank of the Alle; and it was impossible to get rid of the latter by taking them, as they were separated from them by the deep bed of the river. The columns, battered at once in front and flank by the balls, endured with admirable coolness this terrible convergence of fires. Marshal Ney, galloping from one end of the line to the other, kept up the courage of his soldiers by his heroic bearing. Meanwhile, whole files were swept away, and the fire became so severe that the very bravest of the troops could no longer endure it. At this sight, the cavalry of the Russian guard, commanded by General Kollogribow, dashed off at a gallop, to try to throw into disorder the infantry of Bisson’s division, which appeared to waver. Staggered for the first time, that valiant infantry gave ground, and two or three battalions threw themselves in rear. General Bisson, who, from his stature, overlooked the lines of his soldiers, strove in vain to detain them. They retired, grouping themselves around their officers. The situation soon became most critical. Luckily, General Dupont, placed at some distance on the left of Ney’s corps, perceived this commencement of disorder, and without waiting for directions to march, moved off his division, passing in front of it, reminding it of Ulm, Dirnstein and Halle, and taking it to encounter the Russians. It advanced, in the finest attitude, under the fire of that tremendous artillery, while Latour Maubourg’s dragoons, returning to the charge, fell upon the Russian cavalry, which had scattered in pursuit of the foot soldiers, and succeeded in the attempt to drive it back. Dupont’s division, continuing its movement on that open ground, and, supporting its left on the Mill Stream, brought the Russian infantry at a stand. By its presence it filled Ney’s soldiers with confidence and joy. Bisson’s battalions formed anew, and the whole line, re-invigorated, began to march forward again. It was necessary to reply to the formidable artillery of the enemy, and Ney’s artillery was so very inferior in number, that it could scarcely stand in battery before that of the Russians. Napoleon ordered General Victor to collect all the guns of his division, and to range them in mass on the front of Ney. The skilful and intrepid General Senarmont commanded that artillery. He moved it off at full trot, joined it to that of Marshal Ney, took it some hundred paces ahead of the infantry, and, daringly placing himself in front of the Russians, opened upon them a fire, terrible from the number of the pieces and the accuracy of aim. Directing one of his batteries against the right bank, he soon silenced those which the enemy had on that side. Then, pushing forward his line of artillery, he gradually approached to within grape-shot range, and, firing upon the deep masses, crowding together as they fell back into the elbow of the Alle, he made frightful havoc among them. The line of infantry followed this movement, and advanced under the protection of General Senarmont’s numerous guns. The Russians, thrust further and further back into this gulf, felt a sort of despair, and made an effort to extricate themselves. Their imperial guard, placed upon the Mill Stream, issued from that retreat, and marched, with bayonet fixed, upon Dupont’s division, also placed along the rivulet. The latter, without waiting for the imperial guard, went to meet it, repulsed it with the bayonet, and forced it back to the ravine. Thus driven, some of the Russians threw themselves beyond the ravine, the others upon the suburbs of Friedland. General Dupont, with part of his division, crossed the Mill Stream, drove before him all that he met, found himself on the rear of the right wing of the Russians engaged with the left in the plain of Heinrichsdorf, turned Friedland, and attacked it by the Konigsberg road; while Ney, continuing to march straight forward, entered by the Eylau road. A terrible conflict ensued at the gates of the town. The assailants pressed the Russians in all quarters; they forced their way into the street in pursuit of them; they drove them upon the bridges of the Alle, which General Senarmont’s artillery, left outside, enfiladed with its shot. The Russians crowded upon the bridges to seek refuge in the ranks of the fourteenth division, left, in reserve, on the other side of the Alle, by General Bennigsen. That unfortunate general, full of grief, had hurried to this division, with the intention of taking it to the bank of the river to the assistance of his endangered army. Scarcely had some wrecks of his left wing passed the bridges, when those bridges were destroyed—set on fire by the French, and, by the Russians themselves, in their anxiety to stop pursuit. Ney and Dupont, having performed their task, met in the heart of Friedland in flames, and congratulated one another on this glorious success.

Napoleon, placed in the centre of the divisions which he kept in reserve, had never ceased to watch this grand sight. While he was contemplating it attentively, a ball passed at the height of the bayonets, and a soldier, from an instinctive movement, stooped his head. “If that ball was intended for you,” said Napoleon, smiling, “though you were to burrow a hundred feet under ground, it would be sure to find you there.” Thus he wished to give currency to that useful belief that Fate strikes the brave and the coward without distinction, and that the coward who seeks a hiding-place disgraces himself to no purpose.

On seeing that Friedland was occupied and the bridges of the Alle destroyed, Napoleon at length pushed forward his left upon the right wing of the Russian army, deprived of all means of retreat, and having behind it a river without bridges. General Gortschakoff, who commanded that wing, perceived the danger with which he was threatened, and, thinking to dispel the storm, made an attack on the French line, extending from Posthenen to Heinrichsdorf, formed by the corps of Marshal Lannes, by that of Mortier, and by General Grouchy’s cavalry. But Lannes, with his grenadiers, made head against the Russians. Marshal Mortier, with the 15th and the fusiliers of the guard, opposed to them an iron barrier. Mortier’s artillery, in particular, directed by Colonel Balbois and an excellent Dutch officer, M. Vanbriennen, made incalculable havoc among them. At length, Napoleon, anxious to take advantage of the rest of the day, carried forward his whole line. Infantry, cavalry, artillery, started all at once. General Gortschakoff, while he found himself thus pressed, was informed that Friedland was in the possession of the French. In hopes of retaking it, he dispatched a column of infantry to the gates of the town. That column penetrated into it, and for a moment drove back Dupont’s and Ney’s soldiers; but these repulsed in their turn the Russian column. A new fight took place in that unfortunate town, and the possession of it was disputed by the light of the flames that were consuming it. The French finally remained masters, and drove Gortschakoff’s corps into that plain without thoroughfare which had served it for field of battle. Gortschakoff’s infantry defended itself with intrepidity, and threw itself into the Alle rather than surrender. Part of the Russian soldiers were fortunate enough to find fordable passages, and contrived to escape. Another drowned itself in the river. The whole of the artillery was captured. A column, the furthest on the right (right of the Russians) fled and descended the Alle, under General Lambert, with a portion of the cavalry. The darkness of the night and the disorder of victory facilitated its retreat, and enabled it to escape.

It was half-past ten at night. The victory was complete on the right and on the left. Napoleon, in his vast career, had not gained a more splendid one. He had for trophies eighty pieces of cannon, few prisoners, it is true, for the Russians chose rather to drown themselves, than to surrender, but twenty-five thousand men, killed, wounded, or drowned, covered with their bodies both banks of the Alle. The right bank, to which great numbers of them had dragged themselves, exhibited almost as frightful a scene of carnage as the left bank. Several columns of fire, rising from Friedland and the neighboring villages, threw a sinister light over that place, a theatre of anguish for some, of joy for others. The French had to regret upwards of eight thousand men, killed or wounded. The Russian army, deprived of twenty-five thousand combatants, weakened, moreover, by a great number of men who had lost their way, was thenceforward incapable of keeping the field.

The French Emperor slept near the camp-fire, surrounded by his soldiers, who continued to shout “_Vive l’Empereur!_” They had eaten nothing but a ration of bread, which they had carried in their knapsacks, during their hurried march. But their souls had drunk deeply of the intoxicating nectar of glory, and they felt not the pang of hunger. The night was clear and beautiful. The Russians were not pursued. If Napoleon had had his entire cavalry, with Murat at their head, he could have captured the whole force which, under command of General Lambert, descended the Alle. But only half the cavalry were with the army, and the Russians were left to escape as speedily as possible.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friedland was a decisive field. Konigsberg surrendered soon afterwards; and the Russians were pursued till they took refuge beyond the Niemen. Here ended that daring march of the French Emperor—the new Alexander—from Boulogne to the Niemen, to crush the only power which could offer any effectual resistance to his arms. In the transport of triumph, the Emperor issued the following noble proclamation to his soldiers:

Soldiers—On the 5th of June we were attacked in our cantonments by the Russian army. The enemy had mistaken the causes of our inactivity. He perceived too late that our repose was that of the lion: he repents of having disturbed it.

“In the battles of Guttstadt and Heilsberg, and in that ever memorable one of Friedland, in a campaign of ten days; in short, we have taken one hundred and twenty pieces of cannon, seven colors, killed, wounded, or made prisoners, sixty thousand Russians, taken from the enemy’s army all its magazines, its hospitals, its _ambulances_, the fortress of Konigsberg, the three hundred vessels which were in that port, laden with all kinds of military stores, one hundred and sixty thousand muskets which England was sending to arm our enemies.

“From the banks of the Vistula, we have come with the speed of the eagle to those of the Niemen. You celebrated at Austerlitz the anniversary of the coronation; this year you have worthily celebrated that of the battle of Marengo, which put an end to the war of the second coalition.

“Frenchmen, you have been worthy of yourselves and of me. You will return to France covered with laurels, and, after obtaining a glorious peace, which carries with it the guarantee of its duration. It is high time for our country to live in quiet, screened from the malignant influence of England. My bounties shall prove to you my gratitude, and the full extent of the love I feel for you.”

Then followed the interview of Napoleon and Alexander upon the Niemen, and the treaty of Tilsit, by which the two emperors parcelled out Europe as if it were their own. The star of Napoleon had reached its zenith, and truly its lustre dazzled the eyes of the world.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE CAMP-FIRE AT MADRID.

The war of the Peninsula and the invasion of Russia were the great sources of Napoleon’s overthrow. Having summarily dethroned Ferdinand VII. of Spain, he placed the crown of that kingdom upon the head of his elder brother Joseph. But the Spaniards resisted this transfer from Bourbon to Bonaparte, and having taken the field, with enthusiasm, they defeated and captured a French army, commanded by General Dupont, and drove King Joseph beyond the Ebro. Napoleon then left Paris, (October, 1808,) and placed himself at the head of two hundred thousand men, to crush all opposition in Spain.

In the meantime, the Spaniards had vested the management of their affairs in a central or supreme junta, stationed at their recovered capital of Madrid. The determined spirit of opposition to French interference continued as strong as ever; but the power to act in concert, or maintain well directed efforts in a common cause, already appeared doubtful. The Supreme Junta found it difficult, sometimes impossible, to enforce obedience on their generals; and the provincial juntas were too apt to act independently, and assert their own right to separate command. The English government, at the same time, though promising aid, and making large preparations to afford it, yet continually procrastinated; and when Napoleon invaded the country, the native forces alone were in the field. Three armies had been formed, all intended to co-operate, and amounting to about one hundred thousand men, but, unfortunately, all under independent generals. Blake commanded the army on the western frontier, which extended from Burgos to Bilbao. General Romana, who commanded one of the auxiliary divisions of Spanish soldiers in the French service, had dexterously contrived to escape from the Island of Funen, and had been landed in Spain, with ten thousand men, by British ships. His corps was attached to that of General Blake. The head-quarters of the central army under Castanos, were at Soria; those on the eastern side, under Palafox, extended between Saragossa and Sanguesa. The Spanish armies were therefore arranged in the form of a long and weak crescent, the horns of which advanced towards France. The fortresses in the north of Spain were all in the possession of the French, and strongly garrisoned.

Napoleon was at Bayonne on the 3d of November, and by the 8th, he had directed the movements of the last columns of his advancing army across the frontier: on the same evening, he arrived at Vittoria, where Joseph held his court. The civil and military authorities met him at the gates, and prepared to conduct him with pomp to the house prepared for his reception; but he leaped off his horse, entered the first inn he observed, and called for maps and detailed reports of the position of the armies. In two hours, he had arranged the plan of the campaign; and by daybreak on the 9th, Soult took the command of Bessieres’s corps, and began to push forward his columns upon the plains of Burgos, against an auxiliary corps, under the Count de Belvidere, designed to support the right flank of Blake’s army. Belvidere was completely defeated at Gomenal; one of his battalions, composed entirely of students from Salamanca and Leon, refused to fly, and fell in their ranks. Blake was then routed at Espinosa, by General Victor, and again at Reynosa, by Soult, whence the wreck of his army fled in disorder, and took refuge in Santander. Nearly the whole of Romana’s corps perished in the cliffs of Espinosa, after the battle. Palafox and Castanos had, mean time, united their forces, and waited the attack of the French under Lannes, at Tudela, on the 22d of November. The Spaniards were on this occasion, also, utterly defeated, with the loss of four thousand killed, and three thousand prisoners. Castanos fled, after the action, in the direction of Calatayud; and Palafox once more threw himself and the remains of his troops into Saragossa, where he was immediately invested closely by Lannes.

The road to Madrid was now open to Napoleon. He advanced at the head of his guards and the first division of the army, and reached the strong pass of the Somosierra Chain, about ten miles distant from the city, on the 30th of November. The way lies through a very steep and narrow defile, and twelve thousand men, with sixteen pieces of cannon, which completely swept the road, were strongly posted to dispute his passage. On the 1st of December, the French began the attack at daybreak, with an attempt to turn the flanks of the Spaniards. Napoleon rode into the mouth of the pass, and surveyed the scene. His infantry were straggling along the sides of the defiles, and making no efficient progress; but the smoke of the sharp skirmishing fire, mingling with the morning fog, was curling up the rocks, and almost hid the combatants from view. Under this veil, he ordered the Polish lancers of the guard to charge up the road in face of the artillery. They obeyed with impetuous courage. The Spanish infantry, panic struck, fired, threw down their arms, and fled: the Poles dashing onward, seized the cannon in an instant. The whole of the Spanish force fled.

On the 2d of December, the French soldiers celebrated the anniversary of the coronation of King Joseph under the walls of Madrid. The city had been prepared for defence. A strong, but irregular force were in array within the gates. The pavement had been taken up to form barricades; the houses on the out-skirts loop-holed; and a spirit of desperate resolution, similar to that which had immortalized the people of Saragossa, was displayed. The French officer sent to summon the town, narrowly escaped being torn to pieces by the mob. The Emperor then made his dispositions for attack, and long after the camp-fires of his troops had encircled Madrid with flame, and scared the darkness of the night, the work of investure proceeded. The French were in high spirits. Their invincible Emperor was with them, and they had the greatest contempt for the Spaniards. About midnight, Napoleon again summoned the city to surrender; but an answer of defiance was returned; and then, dispositions were made for storming. There was but little sleep that night among besieged or besiegers. The clangor of arms, “the dreadful note of preparation,” resounded on the air until the dawn, when the Emperor was on horseback to direct operations. The Retiro and the palace of the Duke of Medina Celi were stormed, and as terror began to fill the breasts of the citizens, Napoleon again summoned the authorities to surrender. The governor came out to the French, and said he desired a suspension of arms, but was afraid of openly talking of surrender. Napoleon, wishing to avert the horrors of assault, gave a little longer time to the distracted city, whence there issued, throughout the night, “a sound,” says Napier, with vivid force, “as if some mighty beast was struggling and howling in the toils.” At eight or nine in the morning of the 4th of December, the gates were opened to the conqueror, and the French took possession of Madrid.

Joseph was now restored to his authority in the capital. Corunna followed, and the English were driven out of Spain. Napoleon then returned to Paris. But the subjection of the Spaniards was not complete, and was destined never to be completed by his arms. His ablest lieutenants, although successful for a time, were at length overthrown by the British and Spaniards, under Wellington, and the contest proved but an exhausting struggle, in which were developed the influences which brought the imperial throne to the dust.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE CAMP-FIRE AT RATISBON.

Napoleon could never trust his allies. Completely beaten, they submitted to the conqueror; and yet they hated as deeply as they feared him, and therefore took advantage of every opportunity to rupture the peace of Europe, and attack his power. No wonder that he lost patience, and treated their representations, when humbled, with contempt. These old legitimates proved themselves as false as they were imbecile, and they deserved the contempt of a man who was an Emperor by nature. After the peace of Tilset, Napoleon turned his attention to Spanish affairs, and placed his brother Joseph upon the throne of Spain. The Spaniards immediately took up arms to restore Ferdinand VII. to the crown of his ancestors, although they had long suffered from the misrule of the Bourbons. They resisted the armies of France, and being aided by the English, threatened the invaders with a terrible overthrow. This spectacle caused the faithless house of Austria to break all its engagements. Once more the Austrian Emperor resolved to make an effort to destroy the dominion of Napoleon. He collected an army of one hundred and fifty thousand men, which was placed under the command of the brave and skilful Archduke Charles.

Napoleon collected an army much inferior in number to that of the enemy, and with his usual rapidity advanced to the attack. The Empress Josephine accompanied him as far as Strasburg, and there watched the event of the campaign, although its termination was destined to be so melancholy for herself.

The Archduke Charles’s plan was to act upon the offensive. His talents were undoubted, his army greatly superior in numbers to the French, and favorably disposed, whether for attack or defence; yet, by a series of combinations, the most beautiful and striking, perhaps, which occur in the life of one so famed for his power of forming such, Buonaparte was enabled, in the short space of five days, totally to defeat the formidable masses which were opposed to him. Napoleon found his own force unfavorably disposed, on a long line, extending between the towns of Augsburg and Ratisbon, and presenting, through the incapacity, it is said, of Berthier, an alarming vacancy in the centre, by operating on which the enemy might have separated the French army into two parts, and exposed each to a flank attack. Sensible of the full, and perhaps fatal consequences, which might attend this error, Napoleon determined on the daring attempt to concentrate his army by a lateral march, to be accomplished by the two wings simultaneously. With this view he posted himself in the centre, where the danger was principally apprehended, commanding Massena to advance by a flank movement from Augsburg to Pfaffenhoffen, and Davoust to approach the centre by a similar manœuvre from Ratisbon to Neustadt. These marches must necessarily be forced, that of Davoust, being eight, that of Massena between twelve and thirteen leagues. The order for this daring operation was sent to Massena on the night of the 17th, and concluded with an earnest recommendation of speed and intelligence. When the time for executing these movements had been allowed, Bonaparte, at the head of the centre of his forces, made a sudden and desperate assault upon two Austrian divisions, commanded by the Archduke Louis and General Hiller. So judiciously was this timed, that the appearance of Davoust on the one flank kept in check those other Austrian corps _d’armee_, by whom the divisions attacked ought to have been supported; while the yet more formidable operations of Massena, in the rear of the Archduke Louis, achieved the defeat of the enemy. The victory, gained at Abensberg, upon the 20th of April, broke the line of the Austrians, and exposed them to farther misfortunes. The Emperor attacked the fugitives the next day at Landshut, where the Austrians lost thirty pieces of cannon, nine thousand prisoners, and much ammunition and baggage.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the 22d of April, Napoleon manœuvred so as to bring his entire force, by different routes upon Eckmuhl, where the Archduke had collected full one hundred thousand men. Here, perhaps, was one of the most splendid triumphs of military combination ever displayed. The Austrians were attacked on all sides about two o’clock in the afternoon. They fought with stubborn courage, and the Archduke displayed great bravery. But nothing could avail against the overwhelming attack of a scientific adversary, and about dusk the Austrians were completely defeated. All the Austrian wounded, a great part of their artillery, and twenty thousand prisoners, remained in the hands of the French, and many more prisoners were taken during the pursuit. Davoust, whose services were conspicuous on this occasion, was created Prince of Eckmuhl.

On the 23d, the Austrians made an attempt to cover the retreat of their army, by defending Ratisbon. Six regiments occupied the town, and seemed determined upon a vigorous defence. The Emperor himself came up to order the attack. Ratisbon is situated on the Upper Danube, across which it communicates with its suburb Stadt-an-Hop, by a bridge a thousand German feet in length. It is one of the oldest towns in Germany, and has an antique aspect. Its streets are narrow and irregular, and its houses, although lofty, are old fashioned and inconvenient. Many have tall battlemented towers, loop-holed for musketry, etc. Among the most striking public buildings are the cathedral, an old Roman tower, and the bishop’s palace. The ramparts are dilapidated, and scarcely useful for defence.

The French soon effected a breach in the ancient walls, but again and again were they repulsed by a tremendous fire of musketry. At length there was difficulty to find volunteers to renew the attack. Such a storm of death appalled even brave men. But nothing could daunt the impetuous Lannes. His courage was of the kind that rose with the danger. He rushed to the front, seized a ladder, and fixed it against the wall. “I will show you!” he shouted, “that your general is still a grenadier!” In spite of the tremendous fire, the troops followed the example of their glorious leader, for whom there were never laurels enough—scaled the walls, and continued the fight in the streets of the town, which was set on fire.

A detachment of French, rushing to charge a body of Austrians, which still occupied one end of a burning street, were interrupted by some wagons belonging to the enemy’s train. “They are tumbrils of powder,” cried the Austrian commanding, to the French. “If the flames reach them, both sides perish.” The combat ceased, and the two parties joined in averting a calamity which must have been fatal to both, and finally, saved the ammunition from the flames. At length the Austrians were driven out of Ratisbon, leaving much cannon, baggage, and prisoners, in the hands of the French.

In the middle of this last _melee_, Bonaparte, who was speaking with his adjutant, Duroc, observing the affair at some distance, was struck on the foot by a spent musket-ball, which occasioned a severe contusion. “That must have been a Tyrolese,” said the Emperor, coolly, “who has aimed at me from such a distance. These fellows fire with wonderful precision.” Those around remonstrated with him for exposing his person; to which he answered, “What can I do? I must needs see how matters go on.” The soldiers crowded about him in alarm at the report of his wound; but he would hardly allow it to be dressed, so eager was he to get on horseback, and show himself publicly among the troops.

That night the Emperor fixed his quarters in Ratisbon, and the watch-fires of his victorious troops illumined the air for miles around. There was much revelry that night. A glorious, decisive campaign of five days had prostrated the foes of the Emperor, and why should not the soldiers rejoice? The following proclamation was issued by the Emperor:

“Soldiers—You have justified my expectations; you have made up for numbers by your courage; you have gloriously marked the difference which exists between the soldiers of Cæsar and the armies of Xerxes.

“In a few days, we have triumphed in the three battles of Tann, Abensberg and Eckmuhl, and the affairs of Peissing, Landshut and Ratisbon. One hundred pieces of cannon, fifty thousand prisoners, three equipages, three thousand baggage wagons, all the funds of the regiments, are the result of the rapidity of your your courage.

“The enemy intoxicated by a perjured cabinet, appeared to have lost all recollection of us; they have been promptly awakened; you have appeared to them more terrible than ever. But lately, they had crossed the Inn, and invaded the territory of our allies; but lately they had promised themselves to carry the war into the bosom of our country. Now, defeated, dismayed they fly in disorder; already my advance-guard has passed the Inn; before a month we shall be at Vienna.”

As Sir Walter Scott says: “It was no wonder that others, nay, that he himself, should have annexed to his person the degree of superstitious influence claimed for the chosen instruments of Destiny, whose path must not be crossed, and whose arms cannot be arrested.” When before had Europe witnessed such a campaign? So much glory was enough to intoxicate even Napoleon, and we have yet to see that his deep draught of the nectar was fatal.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------

CAMP-FIRES AT ASPERN AND ESSLING.

After the taking of Ratisbon, Napoleon advanced upon Vienna, which offered but a feeble resistance, and was easily occupied. But the Austrian army, in abandoning the capital of the empire, had not given up the struggle.

Sheltered by the Danube, the bridges over which they had destroyed at Vienna, and the surrounding places, they awaited a favorable opportunity of taking the offensive. The bridge of Lintz was the first object of their attacks; but Vandamme opposed to them a vigorous resistance, and Bernadotte, arriving, completely routed them. On his side, Napoleon was also impatient to force the passage of the river, in order to finish this glorious campaign. The reconstruction of the bridge, was, therefore, his first care. Massena had thrown several over the arms of the Danube, which bathe the island of Lobau; Napoleon resolved to make use of it for the passage of the whole army. In three days, the corps of Lannes, Bessieres, and Massena had taken up a position on the island. The communication with the right bank, was by a bridge of boats, five hundred yards in length, and extending over three arms of the river. Another bridge, which was not more than sixty-one yards in length, connected the island with the left bank. It was here, that on the 21st of May, thirty-five thousand men crossed without opposition, to give battle between Aspern and Essling.

The reports brought to the French during the night were contradictory. Many lights were seen on the heights of Bisamberg; but nearer to the French and in their front, the horizon exhibited a pale streak of about a league in length, the reflected light of numerous watch-fires, which a rising ground between prevented from being themselves visible. From such indications as could be collected, Lannes was of opinion that they were in presence of the whole Austrian army. Napoleon was on horseback by break of day on the 21st, to judge for himself; but clouds of light troops prevented his getting near enough to reconnoitre accurately. Presently the skirmishers were withdrawn, and the Austrians were seen advancing with their whole force, double in number to the French, and with two hundred and twenty pieces of artillery. Yet with this vast disproportion of odds, they were strangely astonished at the stand which they made on this occasion, as the French were mortified and reproached with having suffered a repulse or made only a drawn battle of it instead of a complete victory. The conflict commenced about four in the afternoon with a furious attack on the village of Aspern, which was taken and retaken several times, and at the close of the day remained (except the church and church-yard) in the possession of Massena, though on fire with the bombs and choked up with the slain. Essling was the object of three general attacks, against all which the French stood their ground. Lannes was at one time on the point of being overpowered, had not Napoleon by a sudden charge of cavalry come to his relief. Night separated the combatants.

The hundred thousand Austrians of the Archduke had not been able to gain an inch of ground from the thirty-five thousand French of Massena, Lannes and Bessieres. After the camp-fires were kindled among the dead of Aspern and Essling, both armies received reinforcements. The grenadiers of Oudinot, the division of St. Hilaire, two brigades of light cavalry, and the train of artillery passed the bridges, and took up a position on the line of battle. Napoleon confidently expected to achieve a decisive victory on the following day.