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 THE MEMOIES 
 
 OF 
 
 BAEON THIEBAULT 
 
 (LATE LIEUTENANT-GENERAL IN THE FRENCH ARMY) 
 
 TRANSLATED AND CONDENSED 
 
 BT 
 
 ARTHUK JOHN BUTLER 
 
 Translator of Me'moires da G^€ral Marhot 
 
 — On ne se lasscra jamais de 
 lire les re'cita relatifs ii la 
 Revolution et a rEnipire. 
 
 ■J IlIrBAULT 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 LONDON 
 SMITH, ELDER & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE 
 
 1896 
 
 [All rights reserved]
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, 
 
 STAMTOED STREET AND CHARING CROSS.
 
 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Our reverses — Return to Paris — Dangers of the road — Some facts about the 
 battle of Novi — Death of Joubert — Conduct of Saint-Cyr — Jealousies. 
 
 While we were effecting our retreat from Naples, important 
 events had been taking place. A Eussian army under Suwarrow 
 had invaded North Italy, had captured the citadel of Milan, and 
 entered Turin and Alessandria. On June 17th and the follow- 
 ing days Macdonald was beaten on the Trebbia ; we were com- 
 pelled to evacuate Lombardy and almost the whole of Piedmont. 
 Yet Suwan'ow's idea of war was that of a wild beast; his 
 sudden rushes, which he doubtless regarded as the swoops of 
 the eagle, often landed him in traps wherein he stuck. It needed 
 all Scherer's incapacity and Macdonald's carelessness to lay 
 them open to the blows of a Suwarrow. Moreau, with a tenth 
 of his numbers, held liim in check by well-devised combinations, 
 and by his bold conduct of the clever, complicated strategy 
 which threw some glory over even our reverses. "When the 
 Eussian bear found himself in presence of an antagonist like 
 Moreau, it was the bear that was beaten. 
 
 In Genoa, where I was anxiouslv watching the struggle of 
 our forces against that formidable Eussian army, I collected 
 everyone's narratives and notes ; and kept a record of all the 
 feats of arms with all the keener interest that I was unable to 
 share in them. Macdonald lost the battle of the Trebbia in 
 consequence of fourteen demonstrated mistakes ; though when 
 he got back to Paris, where he put up with his friend Beurnon- 
 
 VOL. II. B
 
 2 MEMOIRS OF GENEEAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 ville, he tried to justify himself by spreading a report that 
 ]\Ioreau had thrown him over, an audacious assertion which only 
 took in his flatterers. 
 
 In spite of the noble blood of which, rightly or wrongly, the 
 Marshal Duke of Tarentum boasted (and which his father cer- 
 tainly did not make more noble by marrying a cook), and of 
 the splendid position wliich he holds so dear, no one will think 
 of putting up a statue to him as a pendant to that of General 
 Championnet. Having followed closely the parts played by 
 the general in that campaign, and having subsequently studied 
 them with documents and evidence before me, I have never 
 been able to avoid testifying consistently in favour of Moreau, 
 whom since 1813 I have hated, just as I testified in favour of 
 Championnet, whom I loved, and against Macdonald, whom, in 
 spite of his conduct towards his rivals and his carelessness 
 as a commander-in-chief, I have always been disposed to like 
 as a man and as a valiant soldier. I might have hated or loved 
 all alike, and I would have said neither more nor less. 
 
 All this wMle my convalescence did not make so much 
 progress as I had hoped ; and a doctor of high reputation, after 
 a careful examination of me, decided that I must return to 
 France and follow a course of treatment which, as he said, was 
 impossible, except with the regular habits of domestic life. 
 Accordingly on June 10 1 started in a felucca for Nice. Just 
 after passing Savona we fell in with another felucca, wliich 
 went along in company with us. It had General Sarrazin on 
 board, and also a young captain who had been on Bonaparte's 
 staff in Egypt. I have forgotten his name, but he was a clever 
 and enthusiastic young fellow. He was leaving the service to 
 marry, and I took him in my carriage from Nice to Paris. 
 
 When we were off the headland of Noli, we saw a very sus- 
 picious-looking craft. At that time it was hardly possible to 
 sail in these waters without the risk of meeting a privateer, and 
 my previous experience on my way out prepared me for an 
 adventure of this kind. Our suspicions were cj^uickly confirmed 
 when we saw the strange craft working in between us and the 
 land. We set all sail for the nearest port, and succeeded in 
 getting in just as we were on the point of being caught. But
 
 BANGERS OF THE ROAD 3 
 
 the privateer was not going to relinquish its prey so easily, and 
 hove to outside the port. Being in a hurry, we had to leave the 
 felucca and continue our journey Ijy the ' Corniche,' while the 
 enemy fired some shots after us, which luckily all missed. 
 
 At Nice we were warned of a new danger. Provence was 
 infested by bands, wliich, just as elsewhere in France, under the 
 pretext of political and religious aims, and under the names of 
 * Companions of the Faith,' ' Companions of Jesus,' and the like, 
 thought it a work of Iionour to rob the coaches, attack post- 
 chaises, and commit murder alike on the high road and in 
 private houses. The road from Nice to Aix and beyond, being 
 the way by which many people known or supposed to have 
 money were returning to France, was dangerous to the last 
 degi-ee. Consequently people only left Nice as a rule between 
 ten o'clock and mid-dav, and in caravans. This dawdling method 
 did not suit us at all. Hearing that the brigands were havins 
 
 o o O 
 
 all persons in any way conspicuous watched at Nice, I had my 
 carriage loaded, and ordered my horses for the hour when everyone 
 was starting ; then, just when the spies were likely to be about, 
 I suddenly invented an excuse of orders that might force me to 
 return to Genoa, and feigning to Ije in a very bad temper, I 
 countermanded the horses, but without taking anything out of 
 the carriage. In the evening I went to the play, as if I had 
 nothing to do ; and on leaving the theatre, going to the posting- 
 station, when everyone was asleep, I took out myself the three 
 horses I required. On reaching my inn, I had them put to, and 
 at half-past eleven, to everyone's surprise, the gates of Nice 
 were opened for me. I paid the postiUons well, and travelled 
 as fast as possible along the road, which, as no one expected me, 
 was quite clear. 
 
 Everything went as well as possible till Saint-lMaximin ; but 
 at the entrance to that village one of my springs broke, causing 
 a delay of three hours. While waiting, I was overtaken and passed 
 by two coaches full of officers, which I should have been glad 
 to follow. At last the horses were put to again, and when I 
 was in, the postilion, before cracking his whip for the start, 
 turned round and said, " Aix road ? " " No ; Toulon road." In 
 truth, if there was a single brigand left in the district, he would 
 
 B 2
 
 4 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TUIEBAULT 
 
 be on the look-out for me along the direct road, now that they 
 had notice of my coming ; and to throw them off the scent, I 
 had to make up my mind to go a long way round. 
 
 Sleeping that night at Toulon, I went on the next day to 
 IMarseilles. There I met, with hardly a rag on, the brothers 
 Lallemand, now officers of high rank. They had been in one of 
 the two coaches which had gone by me at Saiut-Maximin. A 
 league further on they and all their companions had been com- 
 pletely stripped of their goods. They knew no one in the place, 
 and I had to hand them the money they required to get some 
 clothes and continue their journey, while congratulating myself 
 on the cu'cumstances which had made me change my route 
 and escape Legitimist zeal. 
 
 The road from IMarseilles to Aix being not much safer, I did 
 what I had done at Kice — went to the play, fetched my horses 
 as I went home, started at midnight, and went to Aix full speed. 
 From thence my journey was merely travelling. At the 
 Hermitage, where I halted for breakfast, I had my carriage 
 loaded %nth some of the excellent wine they had served me. 
 I slept at Lyons, and nowhere else till Paris. 
 
 When I had retm-ned to Paris at the end of 1797, the 
 brilliant campaigns of the Army of Italy seemed written on all 
 men's faces, no less than spoken of by all men's mouths. !N"o 
 soldier from Italy could pass without all eyes being turned to 
 liim. The two years that had elapsed since then had left no 
 trace of the elation of those days. I had had the feeling of 
 this when I crossed our frontier. Every town had seemed more 
 stern ; while as for Paris, ovation seemed to have given place 
 to inquisition. People vied in asking you about the loss of 
 Naples, of the Pioman States, of Tuscany, the Marches, all 
 the Cisalpine Eepuljlic, and the effacement of so much renown 
 by the disgrace of our late defeats. If we kept the Ehine from 
 Holland to Basle, the l^oundary which nature has bestowed on 
 Prance, which we lost only l^y treacheiy, and wliich cowardice 
 alone would fail to take the opportunity of recovering, on the 
 other hand there remained to us out of the whole of Italy only 
 a wretched strip of land ending at Genoa. Masseua alone was 
 holding his gi'ound in Switzerland and defying all the efforts of
 
 NO VI 
 
 the Coalition ; and thus in the midst of the anxiety justified by 
 a state of things that became daily more threatening, our last 
 hopes were fixed on him. 
 
 If we did not in that temble year 1799 lose Italy for good 
 and all, it was thanks to the blunders of Suwarrow, who though 
 victor at the Trebbia did not at once crush the remains of the 
 Army of Naples, but allowed it to effect a junction with that of 
 Moreau; did not seize Genoa, but permitted us to organize 
 our defensive on the Corniche, as threatening a position as 
 an army could occupy; and let us have this respite, as the 
 coalesced forces had done, in order that he might amuse himself 
 with fortresses which his preponderant force entitled him to 
 neglect. But just at the critical moment when Moreau, by the 
 most scientific strategy, was taking advantage of this barbaric 
 application of the laws of war to regain his own footing, the 
 Directory, under the impression that it was as easy to bespeak 
 a victory as to arrange for a festivity in the Champ de Mars, or 
 a performance at the Opera, had sent its commanders-in-chief 
 the order to win. It was done so formally that Joubert, whose 
 age, no less than the fact that he was making his first start in 
 chief command, condemned liim to passive obedience, went on 
 August 15, with a force nearly one-tliird recruits and almost no 
 cavalry, and offered battle at Xovi to an army under SuwaiTOW, 
 consisting, when Kray's force had joined it, of 75,000 veteran 
 troops inspirited by their victories. Joubert, as is well known, 
 was killed at the very beginning of the battle, when only his 
 skirmishers were engaged. It is also well known how obsti- 
 nately our army was attacked, how furiously it defended itself, 
 how heavily the Eussians lost, and what a fearful impression 
 theii' losses produced on the Austrians and on SuwaiTOW 
 himself, who even in his reminiscences of Ismailoff could find 
 no comparison appropriate to so destructive a struggle. But 
 what are less known, or known ^^Tong, are the circumstances 
 relating to the death of Joubert. These are worth preserving, 
 and I am certain of the facts, though tliey have been related 
 by historians and represented in illustrations with a wealth of 
 meloch-amatic phrases and detail quite arbitrarily invented. 
 Joubert was not killed when advancing with one of his
 
 y 
 
 6 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 attacking columus, nor yet when dasliing forward at the head 
 of his grenadiers, nor did he point out the enemy to them, and 
 cry, " Keep on marching, sokliers." He was doing his duty no 
 less well, but in a less theatrical fashion. If I pause to set some 
 facts right, which, strictly speaking, are not within the scope 
 of these Memoirs, it is not only because they have an historical 
 value, but because they offer another opportunity of pointing 
 out to honest liistorians the errors into which contemporary 
 notices and engravings — nay, even official documents and all 
 "UTitten statements, put aljout as the interest or passion of the 
 moment dictated — may lead people. Historical truth will never 
 be established upon papers. 
 
 General Joubert, who had just, most unwillingly, resumed com- 
 mand" of that unlucky Army of Italy, had practically two cliiefs of 
 staff : one. General Suchet, for office work, and another. General 
 Preval, for fighting purposes. The first fulfilled all the WTitten 
 duties of the post ; but the other nevefleft the commander-in-chief, 
 slept in his room, and merely had a portfolio carried by an orderly. 
 
 Now it befell that on the day of that disastrous battle of 
 Novi, some shots having been heard, Preval, whom the 
 commander-in-chief employed in reconnoitring no less than 
 in drawing up orders, or transmitting them and seeing that 
 they were canied out, and who was always the first to mount 
 and the last to dismount, wished to go and see what they were. 
 Eiding all along the line of our advanced posts, he discovered a 
 mound commanding the enemy's position. From the number 
 and depth of the columns which his field-glass enabled him to 
 see, he judged that their movements were the prelude to a great 
 battle ; and having a native instinct as well as a love for war, 
 he thought it important that the commander-in-cliief should 
 judge for himself of the formation of the masses which the 
 enemy was getting ready to set in movement. Accordingly he 
 galloped at the full speed of his horse to tell Joubert. 
 
 The battle had already ])egun, and our skirmishers, being 
 driven in, were climbing the mound while the enemy con- 
 centrated his fire upon it. Just then Joubert, recognising the 
 importance of the position, came up, guided by Preval. He 
 had hardly levelled his field-glass when a Ijullet struck him full
 
 DEATH OF JOUBERT 7 
 
 in the heart, and he expired. It was a strange destiny which made 
 him iind Ids dcaili in a command wliichnie had so often refused, 
 and only accepted, it might be said, liy maiii force, and which made 
 his most devoted subordinate the involuntary cause of his death. 
 
 Ordering the general's body to Ije covered and taken away, 
 and his death to be kept as secret as possible, Preval, with a few 
 officers, at once went in among the skirmishers, in order to send 
 them forward again and prevent tliem from finding out the 
 loss that had befallen the army. After tins he hastened to 
 send news to General Perignon, commanding the left, who was 
 some distance away, then to l\Ioreau, commanding the centre, 
 and Saint-Cyr, commanding the right. No doubt the command- 
 in-chieT'devolved by the unhesitating agreement of all on 
 Moreau ; but he could not leave the centre, where indeed he 
 did wonders. Thus the battle of Novi was practically fought 
 without the Fren'cTr~army having any commander-in-chief, 
 and without the possibility of a single thought and will being 
 there to maintain the necessary harmony and combination in 
 the day's operations ; without any means of utilising forces 
 which at one point had become useless, at any other; and 
 without anything to prevent our army from appearing as three 
 corps acting each on its own account, or to enable us to meet a 
 general battle with anything but isolated engagements. Thus our 
 two wings were beaten, though one may believe they would have 
 held out if the forces which had become useless at the centre, where f 
 our victory was complete, could have been got to them in time. 
 
 The battle of N"ovi was lost. I need not say anything about the 
 blunders which decided tlir, issue of it ; especially the incredible 
 stupidity of a commander on the left, who got all his guns, to 
 the number of some twenty, into the bottom of a ravine, instead 
 of taking them along the high ground, with the result that in 
 order to stop the whole lot without a hope of saving them, and 
 get them disastrously taken, it was only necessary for a single 
 Austrian sharpshooter to kill the horses of the leading gun. ]5ut 
 what lamruaire has no words to characterize as it deserves is the 
 fact that from the moment when the left was routed, Generals 
 Grouchv, Perignon, and Colli should have imagined tliat the 
 whok' army uas losi. Terignon had feebly commanded the 
 
 I
 
 8 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 left, with the still feebler assistance of Grouchy ; and the three 
 generals, reckoning that to avoid ill-treatment it is always^Best 
 to be the earliest prisoners, and that you run fewer risks by 
 being taken in a village than in the open field, in the day than 
 in the night, tluree together than one alone, in the course of the 
 battle than in the last desperate struggle, agreed to remain in the 
 village of Pasturana. It was a point which, as they had omitted 
 to put it in a state of defence, the left had had to abandon ; so 
 letting their troops rethe, and hiding themselves in the recess 
 formed by the two projecting wings of an inn, they waited there 
 to surrender to the first Austrian general or officer who might 
 turn up. Now the captain of a light company, having noticed 
 them there at a time when retreat was still open to them, and 
 thinkinff he oucrht to sacrifice himself to "ive them a chance, 
 blocked the main street of the village with liis men. This 
 heroic resistance formed no part of the three generals' plan, 
 and they sent an order to the captain to put a handkerchief on 
 the point of liis sword. It was a needless disgrace. At that 
 moment came up a swarm of Austrian hussars, who ex- 
 terminated the company and took the officer prisoner. Pro- 
 ceeding on their way, the foremost of them, on aniving at the 
 recess of the inn and suddenly catching sight of the generals 
 with one or two officers, did them the honour to take them for 
 an ambuscade, and treated them to a few sabre-cuts. General 
 Perignon got his head laid open, and Grouchy the same, and a 
 scar into the bargain — to this day the besTtrrnament he has to 
 his marshal's baton. From Novi he wrote to his sister: "I 
 have three dangerous wounds : they will not have to trephine 
 me ; Perignon will be saved." 
 
 Amid the bustle all tliis would have remained unknown, for 
 the accomplices would never have told of each otlier; but 
 besides the captain who told the story when he got his exchange 
 and returned to Prance, it had been witnessed by a lieutenant 
 of the 26th, named Deney, afterwards secretary to General 
 Delmas. In his indignation he reported the matter to Moreau, 
 who advised liim to hold his tongue. However, General 
 Delmas heard of it through him ; and when his story was con- 
 firmed on the return of the captain, Delmas thought himself no
 
 THREE GENERALS 
 
 longer bound to silence, and let the truth come out. Other 
 persons knew of the incident in other ways, among whom I 
 may mention Marshal Moncey, Duke of Conegliano. But the 
 facts speak for fhemselves. Thi'ce divtsiuiial generals were 
 captured together : therefore none of them can have Tieeu at his 
 post,~^Tuch no man has a right to leave during a battle. They 
 were far away from their troops: therefore they must have 
 abandoned tliem. Lastly, they were captured without a single 
 circumstance, I will not say to justify, but to explain the 
 capture of one of them. Anyhow, Heaven took then- chastise- 
 ment upon itself; and not to recur to the saljre-cuts, which if 
 better applied might have saved France from gi-eater disasters,* 
 they misjudged the consequences of the battle, and M'ere the only 
 French generals who adorned Suwarrow's triumphal car. 
 
 Meanwhile Moreau, at the head of his troops, tluice beat 
 back the liussiau columns from his centre. SuwaiTOW led 
 them in person to the last attack, and retired, roaring like an 
 angry lion, only when the greater part of his best regiments 
 had been destroyed. Nothing could be more splendid than 
 Moreau's conduct ; nothing more characteristic than his coolness. 
 Falling with the second horse that had been shot under him, he 
 picked liimself up, puffing at his cigar no slower and no faster. 
 But it was decreed that in tliis battle the centre alone should 
 sustain the honour of the French arms. It is with paia that I 
 have to mention a fact which ia infamy far outdoes the conduct 
 of the tlu-ee generals ; for they, by surrendering, only gave up 
 three men to the enemy, and all one can regret is that France 
 had not lost them sooner. 
 
 The right, under Saint-Cyr, consisted of the old Ai-my of 
 Naples reduced to two divisions. General Watrin, command- 
 ing one of these, was occupying the base of the hill at the top 
 of which was Saint-Cyr with the reserve. Seeing some 
 Austrian corps forming for an attack in liis front, "VVatriu 
 thought he had better not wait for them, but march briskly 
 upon them and attack them while they were forming. Xot 
 wishing, however, to encroach on the rights of his cliief, he 
 
 * [The part which Grouchy played, or rather did not play, at "Waterloo is 
 well known.] 
 
 I
 
 10 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 went himself to Saint-Cyr, spoke of liis plan, and asked for 
 orders. The only answer he got was, " Do as you like." Now 
 with an unemotional, laconic, icy man like Saint-Cyr, especially 
 at a moment when a chief ought to do everything to kindle the 
 ardour of his subordinates, words like these could only signify 
 approbation, that is, an order, for to approve an attack is to 
 order it. Preval, who was present, and had been for the last 
 half-hour examining with General Saint-Cyr the enormous force 
 of cavalry which the enemy was massing in front of the position, 
 could not refrain from exclaiming, "But, general, he will be 
 smashed ! " " Yes," replied Saint-Cyr, with a calmness which 
 honifies one only to think of, " but it will do no harm to let 
 these generals of the Naples army have a lesson or two." And 
 in fact Watrin was hardly well on the plain when he was 
 attacked, broken, overwhelmed, and furiously pursued by 
 General de Lusignan, who, at the head of a large body of 
 cavalry, penetrated as far as Saint-Cyr's reserve, being by them 
 repulsed and himself seriously wounded. 
 
 Let us just consider this incident, which, unhappily, is ex- 
 plained by only too many more in the life of that great soldier.* 
 Saint-Cyr was so placed as to be aljle to judge of both the 
 possibility and the opportuneness of the movement; Watrin 
 was not. By coming to ask for orders, the latter covered his 
 own responsibility by that of his chief, and it was a sacred duty 
 for Saint-Cyr, who had just calculated the fatal issue of the 
 movement, to forbid him to stir. At a moment when France 
 was sustaining so unequal a conflict, it was treason to her 
 knowingly to allow a division to be destroyed — and for what 
 purpose ? In order that when the battle was going badly he, 
 Saint-Cyr, might have, as happened indeed for a moment, the 
 credit of restoring it. 
 
 Wliile fully recognising Saint-Cyr's extraordinary ability, one 
 has to admit: that he always played only for his own hand. 
 Having no regard for any interests save his own, he was always 
 
 * Thiebault's judgement of Saint-Cyr is remarkably confirmed by a no 
 less significant scene recorded by General Marbot : Memoires, vol. iii., 
 p. 110. — Ed. [Compare the estimate of him in Marshal Castellane's Journaly 
 under March 20, 1830.]
 
 JEALOUSY IN BlOn PLACES 11 
 
 a dangerous comraJu ; and any sign of devotion to his country 
 or otlier generous sentiment that might appear in him could Ije 
 only the result of cold calculation. Xor could the sequel of that 
 battle Justify his " Do as you please ; " for though he had the 
 immediate advantage of driving off Watrin's pursuers, he soon had 
 to abandon a position which but for the disaster to the sacrificed 
 division he might perhaps have retained, — a supposition rendered 
 probable by the fact that with the troops remaining to liim he 
 executed a superb retreat in the face of superior force. 
 
 This ardour to sacrifice a rival in order to bring out one's 
 own merits is, alas ! very common. Without much racking of 
 my memory, I can call up various generals keeping theii' troops 
 motionless for the pleasure of seeing an envied competitor get 
 beaten. Tliere is !N'ey, crowded up with artillery, and refusing 
 to let Soult have a few pieces after the loss of all his batteries 
 at Oporto. There are Dorsenne and Marmont, never missing a 
 chance of damaging each other. Tliere is Soult, failing to go to 
 Santarem, in order to prevent Massena from conquering Portugal, 
 out of which he liimself had been so disgracefully driven. 
 Indeed, it was owing to an incident of this kind that we were 
 able to keep Genoa when it was at the mercy of the enemy. 
 Suwan'ow and Melas discussed whether the place should be 
 occupied in the name of the Emperor of Eussia or in that of the 
 Emperor of Austria. It had to be referred to those sovereigns, 
 who were no more willing than their generals to give way on r 
 the point. While diplomacy was discussing, the chance was 
 lost ; and so the eternal honour of the blockade of Genoa, 
 which made it possible for the Eirst Consul to van at Marengo, 
 was added to Massena's glory. --— — 
 
 An event like the battle of Novi was bound to produce a 
 great sensation in Erance and, above all, in Paris ; and we all 
 deplored the subservience of Joubert to the Directory in the 
 teeth of his own convictions and the opinions of other illustrious 
 chiefs. The Directory, however, instead of regr-etting, renewed 
 the same business in regard to Massena, accusing him of re- 
 midniug inactive in Switzerland.* They even went so far as to 
 
 * [See Marbot, Memoires, vol. iii., p. 12. How very uear Massena came 
 to being superseded is related in the same work, vol. i., p. 34.]
 
 12 MEMOIRS OF OENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 have him attacked in newspaper articles, with the object of 
 preparing public opinion for his disgrace. He bided his time, 
 however, and when his plans were matured, a fortnight sufficed 
 him to beat and annihilate three armies and three army coi'ps 
 composed of different troops ; to secure the occupation of 
 Switzerland, after one of the best o? Austrian commanders-in- 
 chief had lost his life on the field, and the northern bear had 
 been sent home to roar in his den, and die there of rage at having 
 been beaten. 
 
 These victories were absolutely essential for the preservation 
 of France from immediate invasion ; yet tliis campaign, with its 
 glorious deliverance, could not muzzle Massena's slanderers ; 
 and while hostile Europe was everywhere proclaiming his 
 greatness,^l:liose at Paris were shameless enough to get up a 
 newspaper debate with the view of proving that if he had acted 
 sooner he would have gained greater advantages. Learning 
 that those impertinences emanated from a sufficiently high 
 quarter to deserve a more serious reception than mere contempt, 
 I wrote to refute them. Xot being able to procure the insertion 
 of what I had written in the paper which had been the aggressor, 
 I rewrote it, had it printed under the title Tlie Victories of 
 Massena, and distributed it widely. I concluded by prophesying 
 the speedy triumph of our arms, rendered possible by the 
 victories in Switzerland. 
 
 Now that the fear of invasion was dispelled, in my desire to 
 see the prophecies of my pamphlet fulfilled, I was possessed as 
 by a monomania by the idea of the reconquest of Italy. I 
 dreamt all night and thought all day of the means of effacing 
 the disgrace of 1799 from our annals. Several plans occurred to 
 my mind ; but one appeared to me most convincing and most 
 decisive. To give more precision to my thought, I wrote it 
 down and had a fau" copy made by a sister who was then acting as 
 my copyist. Then I showed it to my father, who thought it of 
 more importance than I had myself done, and advised me to 
 take it to the Minister for War and to the President of the 
 Directory. This I decided to do. 
 
 * [A false rumour of his death at Genoa made people cheerful in England 
 for a vfhole week soon after this.]
 
 ( 13 ) 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 Return of Bonaparte — The coming Dictator — A visit to the Rue Chantereine 
 — " Go to Berthier" — Bix-huit Brumaire — The murder of a Republic — 
 Throwing away a good chance. 
 
 On October 14 something took me to the Palais Pioyal. I had 
 hardly entered when I saw a gi'adually increasing group fonn at 
 the further end. Presently men and women began running at 
 their full speed. I walked towards the group, which now broke 
 up into a number of smaller knots, fresh persons continually 
 joining them and going off again with signs of great excitement 
 as soon as they had caught a word or two. I tried to question 
 some of these as they hunied past me. No one would stop, but 
 one man as he ran, panted out the words : " General Bonaparte 
 has just landed at Frejus." * After a moment s "stupefaction 
 I also went out. " 
 
 The general commotion in Paris left no doubt as to the truth 
 of the news. The regimental bands belonging to the gamsou 
 of the city were already promenading the streets as a sign of 
 the public cheerfulness, swarms of people and soldiers following 
 them. At night illuminations were hastily got up in every 
 quarter, and in all the theatres the return was announced by 
 shouts of " Long live the liepublic ! " " Long live Bonaparte ! " It 
 was not the return of a general; it was the return of a head in 
 the garb of a general ; of a head of whom we seemed to stand 
 in need alike for the army, for our policy, for the government, 
 the last especially. Only the ghost of a government remained 
 in R-auce: Breached by all parties, the Diiectory~was at t^ie 
 mercy of the first assault. It was not without talents7lcharacter, 
 and patriotism ; but what could live men of no fortune, of no 
 
 * [The actual landing took place on the 9th, according to Bourrienne.]
 
 14 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 family, with no future and no common principles — dress them 
 up and lodge them how you might — do against military leaders 
 renowned in so many fields ? Were the conquerors of kings to 
 deem themselves fitly represented by a Moulin, a creature so 
 insimificant that his uniform had been no bar to his admission ? 
 Moulin giving orders to Kleber, Saint-Cyr, Moreau, Massena, 
 Bonapaii^e, was merely comic. As for Bonaparte himself, all 
 our disasters had taken place since he had been in Egypt ; and 
 thus he had been the object of regrets and wishes which no 
 other general of the Eepublic could efface. If, thanks to 
 Massena, victory seemed ready to return to our lines, it was in 
 Bonaparte alone that any security was seen for its permanence. 
 By the morning of the 16th, the smallest house in the Eue 
 
 ■> Chantereine, wliich was at once l^y acclamation named Eue de 
 la Victou^e, held the man whose destiny, henceforth irrevocable, 
 was about to offer the most terrible example of human 
 
 1 vicissitudes. 
 
 Yet in the midst of the popular joy some notes of blame 
 were heard. Bonaparte was accused of having left liis army, in 
 the first place, because the expedition to Egypt could not now 
 have a fortunate issue ; and, secondly, because he saw that the 
 army must at last succumb. On the first count he was charged 
 vnth. cowardice; on the second with desertion in presence of 
 the enemy. And in truth, from a purely military point of 
 view, there w^as no excuse for Bonaparte, and Sieyes was quite 
 right when, referring to an intentional piece of disrespect on 
 his part, he spoke of " the little fellow's insolence towards a 
 member of an authority who ought to have had him shot." 
 He had indeed set an example of conduct wdiich he himself 
 would in later days have punished with death, and it only 
 added to his guilt that he had ventured to bring with him 
 officers who had no business to leave Egypt without the orders 
 of their Government, and who, as they had returned in this 
 way, could henceforth be considered only as his creatures or 
 his accomplices. The violation of the quarantine laws was 
 an equally grave crima^ and the two charges together were 
 sufficient motive for Bernadotte's proposal to bring General 
 Bonaparte before a court-martial. But they w^ere afraid of
 
 WEEN TEE PEAR WAS liIPE 16 
 
 driving him into immediate rebellion, and it was unquestionably 
 this which made Gohier, the President of the Directory, give 
 him the fraternal embriK »■. You could not take strong measures 
 against a man whose journey from Frejus to Paris had been 
 one triumph, and whom the very guard of the Directors greeted 
 with cries of " Long live Bonaparte ! " Yet it was evident that 
 with him patriotism w\as only the cloak for ambition ; nor could 
 it be"' disguised that liis very return" iracTTjeen equivalent to 
 hoisting the standard; of revolt. Dexterity, good luck, and the 
 audacity essential to success saved him; but speculate as he 
 might on the admiration of some, the weakness of others, the 
 need of order and repose, the misfortunes of the time and all that 
 was rotten in the state of affjiirs, he cannot have avoided the 
 conviction that for him there was no choice save between 
 complete success and an unpardonable crime, between a tluone 
 and the gallows. So the charge of cowardice is somewhat 
 al)surd, since in order to return to France he needed the energy 
 ancTcourage of a party-leader. 
 
 I had studied him and followed his career both in the Home 
 Army and during his immortal campaigns with too much 
 attention to be under any mistake as to the consequences of 
 his course, or on the drift of the phrase he had used before his 
 departure for Egypt: "The pear is not yet ripe." So I had 
 no doubt that he had been "brought back not by patriotism but 
 l)y ambition ; and "yet I yielded to the general enthusiasm, 
 enjoying in anticipation the victories guaranteed by the great 
 soldier's return. I gave way all the more freely to my joy 
 l3ecause I had not calculated that for the execution of his 
 schemes for destroying freedom he would choose first the 
 moment when France needed him most, when all military 
 operations were postponed by the time of year, and when all 
 were in the intoxication of his return. In spite of all the 
 symptoms I did not suspect that we were close upon the crisis 
 announced by his sudden presence. 
 
 On the 18th I presented myseK at General Bonaparte's door. 
 He was out, and I left my name. On the 21st I went again, 
 and found a good many there. He made a step towards me 
 as I approached, greeted me very kindly, and received good-
 
 16 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 I natiu^edly the congratulations which I addressed to France on 
 / liis return ; then, as I made way for some one else, he said, " I 
 hope to see you again." On the 26th (4th Brumaire), I took 
 advantage of this kind of invitation. It was lialf-past ten when 
 I entered the drawing-room. Bonaparte was standing up, deep 
 in conversation with a man whom I did not know, who was 
 walking up and down with him at the further end of the room. 
 I went to the fireplace ; and when Mme Bonaparte came in, I 
 chatted with her. In about half an hour he took leave of his 
 companion, and came towards us, saying, in a friendly way, 
 " Good morning, Thiel^ault ; " then rang for breakfast and, 
 turning to me, added, " You will breakfast with us ? " Hardly 
 were we seated, the three of us only, when he began to talk to 
 me about the two last campaigns. Dwelling on that of Naples, 
 he said, " I know you behaved well there." Soon afterwards, 
 without mentioning Championnet's name, but as his way was, 
 personifying the general part played by the army in his turn of 
 
 I phrase, he said, "You were the only one who did anything 
 good while I was away." 
 
 Something he said made me think of speaking to him of my 
 plan for a new campaign in Italy ; but the opportunity vanished 
 owing to the sudden way in which he all at once contrasted 
 with what we were saying about the devotion of the troops and 
 the zeal of the commanders that which had gone on and was 
 
 ^ going on at home. He attacked the Government with a violence 
 which confounded me. Here are a few phrases which my 
 
 ' memory recalls : " A nation is always what you have the wit to 
 make it. . . . The triumph of faction, parties, divisions, is the 
 fault of those in authority only. ... No people is bad under a 
 good government, just as no troops are bad under good generals. 
 But what can you expect of fellows who know neither their 
 country nor its needs, who understand neither the age nor the 
 men of it, and who meet only with resistance where they should 
 
 ■ find support ? " Then he went off in a volley of attacks on 
 the Directory. " I left peace, and I come back to war. The 
 influence of victory has been replaced by shameful defeats. 
 Italy had been won ; now it is invaded, and Trance is tlu-eatened. 
 I left millions, and ever}'where there is poverty. These
 
 C^SAR 17 
 
 men are brinf,dnf,' France down to the level of tlieir own blun- 
 deringr Tliey arc dugradiuL,^ lier, and ^lic is Leginning to 
 repudiate tliem." 
 
 NapoleoEi used to say : " If you want to dine well, dine with 
 Cambaceres; if you want to dineTjadly, dine wiili Le Erun ; if 
 you want to dine quick, dine with me." And indeed his 
 dinners often did not last more than half an hour, while the 
 breakfast of which I speak lasted much less. In spite of this, 
 and flattered as I may have felt by my presence at this little 
 repast, when fortune smiled on me to no profit, it seemed to me 
 long before it was over. From the time tliat he began this kind 
 of anathema against the Directory I had jjreserved strict 
 silence, and tried to make my countenance as mute as my 
 mouth ; but every moment the situation became more awkward, 
 and it was with a real feeling of relief that I saw the time come 
 when I might give my arm to Mme Bonaparte to return to the 
 drawing-room. There we found General Sermier, then in Paris 
 as a prisoner on parole, which was a Iresh piece of luck to me. 
 Bonaparte, who had not seen him since his return, at once began 
 talking about General Scherer's campaign, handling him worse 
 than the enemy had done. He said only a word about the 
 affair at the bridge of Polo, which General Serurier could excuse, 
 and hastened to explain. He passed lightly over the battle of 
 the Adda, which had been no less unfortunate than creditable 
 to Serurier; and then coming back to the Directory — showing 
 that he had a definite line in his mind — he went off into fresh 
 reproaches and expressions of disgust at the idea of the selection 
 of generals depending on intrigues, ignorance, and the authority 
 of a few lawyers. This word " lawyer," which he used in such 
 a way as to express the last degree of contempt, seemed to 
 please him ; he brought it in several times, and when Sermier 
 complained of the Directory, Bonaparte said, " Well, and what 
 can generals expect of this government of lawyers ? For 
 lieutenants to care about their work they want a chief capable 
 of appreciating them, diverting them, backing them up." From 
 the tone in which the word " lieutenants " was spoken, I thought 
 I was listening to Cresar ; the ground seemed uneasy beneath 
 me, and I took my leave. I had parted from General Bonaparte 
 
 VOL. n. c 
 
 ' (-7
 
 18 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 by the fireplace, leaving him intentionally in the middle of a 
 sentence. Hardly had I shut the door of the room when he 
 re-opened it, and disposing of me as though I Ijelonged to him, 
 
 I flung his order at me in the kindliest manner : " Go and give 
 your address to Berthier." I answered by a bow. 
 
 The position of those who had escaped from Alessandria, and 
 above all that of him whom Bernadotte called " the deserter," 
 had all along seemed to me a false one ; and the more clearly 
 I saw their game, the more I suspected them. I had made an 
 exception for a great man, my former commander-in-chief in 
 the Home Army and in that of Italy ; but there was nothing of 
 the kind to my eyes in Berthier's favour, and I did not see, or 
 did not care to see, what I could have to do with that general. 
 I remembered the odious dishonesty of his conduct towards 
 Massena at Eome, and saw no more reason to call on him than 
 on any general unemployed. However, I went as usual to 
 consult my father, and told him all that had happened at 
 breakfast. We had no longer any doubt as to the early execu- 
 tion of a seditious plan. I certainly did not care much for the 
 Directors : I knew none of them personally, and their actions 
 I were no recommendation. I could have no esteem for the 
 ambitious Sieyes or his satellite Duces, nor for the honest but 
 incapable Gohier and his satellite IMoulin ; least of all for 
 11 BaiTas " the rotten," as they called him in those days. Still 
 the Directors were part of the Constitution to wliich I had taken 
 an oath ; and I held to my oaths, and always had a horror for 
 the part of conspirator. We agreed, therefore, that I had better 
 say nothing about w^hat I had heard and noticed, but not call 
 on Bonaparte again ; and that as I had given my address to the 
 Minister for AVar and the military governor, I had no occasion, 
 to give it to anyone else, least of all to General Berthier. 
 
 To save appearances, I went out little during the following 
 days. I was unwell also, and from November 6 to 9 (15th 
 to 18th Brumaire) I did not leave my room. I learnt from 
 the newspapers how Bonaparte had given Moreau a splendid 
 Damascus sword set with diamonds, and how the Houses had 
 given a banquet to Generals Moreau and Bonaparte — at wliich, 
 by the way, the latter ate nothing but eggs — in the Church
 
 THE mrn brum aire 19 
 
 of Saint-Sulpice, now the Temple of Victory. My friends had 
 other tilings to do than to come and bring me the news. Thus 
 on the morning of the 19th Brumaire, not having yet received 
 iny paper, I knew just notliing'or wliat had liappened on the 
 previous day. Just then the Chevalier de Satur was announced. 
 The Chevalier was an old member of the Light Horse or 
 Luneville Gendarmes. He was a tall man of over sixty, once 
 very liandsome, and remarkable in many ways ; a good Latin 
 scholar, a good mathematician, a man of wit, character and 
 capacity, and moreover a great chess-player, wdiich often 
 l)rought us together. He was a great friend of ours, and, being 
 full of the events of the previous day and night, he had 
 hastened to tell me as follows. Four Directors had resigned. 
 The Council of the Five Hundred had been transferred to 
 Saint-Cloud, and General Bonaparte, appointed commandant of 
 the Paris division, was in charge of the business of transfeiTing 
 it. ^He informed me, moreover, that that very morning 
 Bonaparte had just started for Saint-Cloud, preceded by 
 numerous l)odies of troops, and accompanied by a crowd of 
 generals and staff-officers on horseback. 
 
 If this news contained nothing to surprise me, it was none 
 the less of a kind to give me plenty to tliink about, and also to 
 indicate duties to be performed. I put on my uniform and 
 ordered my carriage. M. de Satur accompanied me to the door, 
 and said — I have never forgotten the words, as they were not 
 without effect on my fortunes — "You are about to witness 
 memorable events. As for General Bonaparte, by to-night he 
 will be lower than Cromwell, or greater than Epaminondas." 
 
 In spite of what he had told me as to the Directors, I went 
 to the Luxembourg, to see for myself what had happened, and 
 in any case to fulfil a duty. Only one side of the great folding- 
 doors was open ; and just as I had alighted and was about to 
 pass through, a sentry belonging to the 80th of the Line stopped 
 me, entrance to the Luxembourg being forbidden. I asked for 
 the officer of the guard ; he came, and I questioned him. " By 
 whose orders am I prevented from entering ? " " By General 
 Moreau's." " General ^Moreau's ? " " Yes, he commands here." 
 "Can I spealc to him?" "iN'o, general." I went off to the 
 
 C 2
 
 I 
 
 20 MEMOIES OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 War Office and asked for the minister, Dubois-Crance. " He is 
 out." " Is it known where he is ? " " K"o, general." So I set 
 off for Saint- Cloud, as the only place where I could decide 
 upon my future conduct. As I alighted at the gate of the park 
 I saw an officer coming from the palace, and asked him what 
 was going on. " Nothing as yet," he answered. " The rooms 
 where the Council is to sit are not yet ready, and they are 
 waiting." I thought it a good opportunity to breakfast. 
 
 Seeing nobody up the grand staircase, I left the gallery on 
 the left and entered a suite of rooms. In the third of them I 
 found the generals and staff-officers who had formed Bonaparte's 
 retinue. I went up to some of them whom I knew best, but 
 do what I would nothing passed beyond a few words spoken 
 almost in a whisper. People looked at each other, but did not 
 speak ; no one seemed to dare to ask, everyone was afraid to 
 answer. This was no fit arena for the brave men who filled it. 
 Some minutes passed in a situation more calculated to increase 
 my ill-temper than to disperse it. At length a door opened 
 on the right of the room, opposite the second window, and 
 General Bonaparte appeared. He said, " Some one go and fetch 
 
 Major X ." An aide-de-camp went off at once and soon 
 
 returned with the major. Word w^as taken to Bonaparte, who 
 reappeared, and, addressing the field-officer in the harshest 
 manner, asked him by whose orders he had shifted such and 
 such a post. The officer named the person who had given him the 
 order, observing that it was not the first order he had had from 
 him. The answer was perfectly proper, and, coming from a field- 
 officer, deserved consideration. This, however, did not prevent 
 Bonaparte from continuing in a tone of the sharpest anger: 
 " There are no orders here but mine ; arrest this man and put 
 him in prison." Four or five of the hangers-on who were present, 
 carrying zeal to the point of violence, threw themselves on the 
 major and dragged him away. I was disgusted, as no doubt 
 were others, but they knew how -to hold their tongues. I had 
 not much self-control in those days, and was less discreet. 
 " So it was to witness that sort of thing that we came here," I 
 exclaimed. Then seeing that no one opened his mouth, while 
 a cloud came over some faces, and some of those near me
 
 CROMWELL on EPAMINONDAS ? 21 
 
 looked like edging away, I lost my head entirely, and, in spite 
 of the example of silence set by many of my seniors, I added, 
 "This sort of thing does not suit me, and I am going back 
 to Taris." 
 
 Cesar Berthier had just entered the room, and heard me. 
 He threw himself in my way, saying, " General Thiebault, what 
 are you about ? " " Very nice of you to ask," I said ; " did not 
 I speak loud enough ? " So I went out in spite of him, and an 
 hour or so later I was back at my father's. I had laid up for 
 the time to come an endless series of tribulations and injustices, 
 in place of the favours, the promotion of all kinds, and the 
 brilliant future which fortune had for a moment placed within 
 my reach. 
 
 Next morning we heard pretty early of all tliat had taken 
 place at Saint-Cloud ; of the threatening way in which the sitting 
 of the Five Hundred had opened, and the manner in which 
 General Bonaparte had made his way in and how he had been, 
 received by that House ; of his state of fright, evidenced by the 
 incoherence of his words ; * of the help given by the officers, 
 without which he must have perished; of how General 
 Gardanne, about whose action Lucien was inexplicably silent, 
 had to cany Mm off in his arms, to prevent Ms being 
 murdered by the deputies, most of whom had daggers ; and 
 lastly of the charge with the bayonet which the gi-enadiers 
 under Murat'^executed in the Chamber to the sound of the 
 drums, forcing the deputies to decamp through doors and 
 windows. We also learnt how Lucien, 1)y his presence of mind 
 and steadiness, made Sieyes' plan capable of being carried out, 
 not only by stimulating the troops, but by collecting some fifty 
 deputies and forming them into a council, wMch, without l)eing 
 too precise about figures, people called "the Council of the 
 Thirty." j During the night he had boldly carried them on 
 till they substituted consular for directorial government. 'VV hen 
 
 * On leaving the hall of the Five Hundred, Bonaparte met Sieyes, and 
 said, " General, they have outlawed me." " So much the Letter," r eplied 
 Sieyes, laughing at the rank conferred on him; "they are outside the Taw 
 now themselves." "" 
 
 t"[i)esTrente.]
 
 22 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 we knew that General Bonaparte was appointed one of the tliree 
 Consuls, my father's first words were, " "Well, what are you going 
 to do with your plan of campaign ? " " And with myself ? " I 
 replied, smiling. He looked grave, but I went on : "I serve my 
 country, whoever may be at the head of it, without dirtying 
 my hands with conspmicies. Thus, as General Bonaparte is 
 invested with authority, I shall forward my work to him in a 
 few days ; and to know how I stand with him, I shall attend his 
 first audience." My father would have liked ime to ask for a 
 private audience. " But if it was not granted ? Besides, what 
 should I look like, not daring to see the new master in the 
 presence of witnesses ? I should seem to be apologising for my 
 behaviour, trying to redeem it by a sort of appeal for mercy." 
 My only resource now being an attitude, it must be a dignified 
 one. The greatest favour that the First Consul could have 
 shown me would have been to reproach me; and to this I 
 should have to reply by excuses, — that is, to own myself in 
 fault. No ; it was playing too high to run the risk of a pardon 
 in the case of Bonaparte, and it was difficult enough for me to 
 show him the face of a man who had been able to resist his 
 blandishments. Consequently, I contented myself with sending 
 him my plan on Nov. 16 ; and on the following Decadi, the day 
 fixed for the first Consular audience, I presented myself at the 
 Luxembourg with the steadiness and confidence of a man who 
 has not faltered in his duty. 
 
 The reception-room was on the ground-floor, and not very 
 large. Though it had not struck eight when I arrived, there 
 were plenty of people ; and when on the stroke the First Consul 
 appeared, a circle was suddenly formed. I placed myself in 
 the front rank, so that he could not pass appearing not to see 
 me. As we went round the circle to his left hand, the First 
 Consul, who always looked four or five ahead, caught sight of 
 me. I had my eyes fixed on him, watching for the impression 
 that the sight of me might make, so that no movement of his 
 countenance escaped me. I could have no doubt ; his face, 
 which had been gracious enough till I came into view, clouded 
 over. It was a long way from this face to that of General 
 Bonaparte saying, " Go and give Berthier your address."
 
 A CHANCE THROWN AWAY 23 
 
 However, though he remained grave, his expression seemed to 
 soften, and he stared at me rather with the air of one surprised 
 to see me there. 
 
 Although that extraordinary man exercised a magnetic in- 
 fluence over me"such as no other power could ever attain to, 
 I was not upset by this reception. He stopped in front of me, 
 and taking a step backwards said in a dry tone, " You seem to 
 know the roads into Italy very well." It might have been an 
 opening for a compliment ; but I confined myself to replying, 
 " General Consul, I thought it my duty to lay before you the 
 work that I had the honour to send you ; and it was this that 
 emboldened me to do so." He made no answer, looked hard at 
 me again, finished taking a pinch of snuff, and passed on. The 
 scene, though short, was enough to fix all eyes on me. I might 
 have got something worse ; yet I never set foot in the Luxem- 
 bourg again, thereby making a gratuitous mistake. 
 
 Thus my behaviour at Saint-Cloud, aggravated by that at 
 Paris, shut me out from all favours, though my plan of 
 campaign might have made them doubly sure. This is not the 
 place to publish a document of the kind ; * but I may say that 
 in many respects it anticipated that so brilliantly carried into 
 effect at Marenfjo. I do not know whether it was to this I 
 owed, not the goodwill of the First Consul — I had lost that for 
 ever — but his favourable opinion. As I learnt from those 
 about him, he never failed to see that some use could be made 
 of me; but he never i'uig;i\c me fur not having followrd Lim 
 when he most needed adherents, and of this, those about him 
 whom I had offended took advantage. My chiefs, knowing I 
 was in disgrace, did not care to dwell upon my zeal or my 
 successes ; the result being, not that my services were dispensed 
 with, as in the case of so many others, but that I had lo 
 dispense with the profits of them. 
 
 * It is reproduced in the second vohime of his Journal dcs operations dii 
 hlocus de Genes, edition of 18-17, with another account of these events. — Ed.
 
 24 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 Back to Italy — Genoa — Doing business with Massena — Some of my colleagues 
 — Tlie humours of gambling ; Oudinot and Wast — The blockade of 
 Qenoa — Capitulation — Breaking quarantine — A visit from the English — 
 Marengo and after. 
 
 SwiTZEELAXD 110 longer offered to Massena a field of action 
 
 worthy of his power. Austria and her allies had the upper 
 
 hand only on the Ehine and in Italy, and these now became the 
 
 centres of two commands, one of which fell to Moreau, the 
 
 other to Massena, but with this difference, that while the former 
 
 found not only an army in fine condition and superior to that 
 
 of the enemy, as well as a country abounding in resources, the 
 
 latter found only poor worn-out wretches devoured by misery 
 
 and disease, the shreds of what was still called the Army of 
 
 Italy, distributed among positions wliich they could not leave ; 
 
 positions too so dangerous that even with a victorious army it 
 
 would have been criminal in a commander-in-cliief to occupy 
 
 them, were it only for a week, in presence even of a beaten force. 
 
 Before taking command of the Army of Italy, Massena had to 
 
 come to Paris to obtain reinforcements, money, provisions, 
 
 clothing ; he was urgent in liis demands, and he was met with 
 
 liberal promises. Nothing was refused him, the object being to 
 
 decide him to start without delay for Genoa ; but it did not go 
 
 beyond words, and, when once he had been got off, no more 
 
 trouble was taken to provide Idm with the succour that had 
 
 been guaranteed. All efforts, almost all resources, were devoted 
 
 to pressing forward the organization of the army of reserve 
 
 which was to enter Italy under Bonaparte, who at a moment 
 
 when he saw glory to be won was not the man to leave to 
 
 others the opportunity of winning it, nor to furnish them with 
 
 the means of doing so.
 
 A VOYAGE ON THE liHONE 25 
 
 As soon as I heard of IMassena's arrival in Paris I called upon 
 him, I had no need to make any request. " You belong to my 
 military household," had been his first word ; "join me at Genoa 
 as quickly as possible." I was still in poorish health, and should 
 have been glad to delay my return to the army, l)ut nothing 
 could stay my departure as soon as it was a case of rejoining 
 Massena. 
 
 Just before setting out I went to take leave of General 
 Berthier, who was now Minister for War. " How do you 
 travel ? " said he. " In my own carriage." " Then you will be 
 able to take charge of 100,000 francs, urgently needed for the 
 hospitals of the army." " Certainly ; but you knowliow unsafe 
 the roads are." " Very good ; sit down and write out an order 
 for the escorts which you think you will want." I did so ; he 
 signed it, and gave me a draft on the treasury for the 100,000 
 francs. As I left the office I caught sight of Major Coutard, 
 whom I had liked and esteemed ever since the Kaples campaign. 
 At once it occurred to me to take him with me. He was not the 
 man to break his parole, nor was I capable of suggesting such a 
 thing ; l)ut in Paris he might have to wait years before getting 
 his exchange, and there would be an end of his career, while if 
 he came with me I might manage to exchange him against the 
 first Austrian officer of his rank whom we might make prisoner. 
 He agreed, and we started the next day but one. 
 
 With a view to arriving sooner, I decided to go from Lyons 
 to Avignon in what was called a post-boat ; and though the 
 Ehone was enormously higli, I accomplished the journey. 
 However, there was a violent wind, and when night came on the 
 boatman declared we must stop till daylight. I refused, but as 
 they were tired we had to go ashore to an inn, where we found 
 General Oudiuot on his way to join Massena as chief of the 
 staff. He advised me to do like him and pass the night there, 
 but I was determined to get on at any price, and at eleven I 
 started again, say what anyone would. I went near to pacing 
 dearly for my imprudence, for in the middle of the night the 
 wretched boat, built of ill-fitted planks and destined to be 
 broken up at Avignon, was spun right round by the wind. The 
 boatmen shrieked aloud, but fortunately it was only a puft".
 
 26 MEMOIBS OF GENERAL TniEBAULT 
 
 Towards nine in the morning the boatmen told us that we 
 were getting near the bridge of Saint-Esprit, and asked us if we 
 wished to land, warning us that later it would be impossible. 
 I had often heard talk of that bridge, and of the alarming 
 rapidity with which one passed under the arches, and I was not 
 going to miss the experience, especially when the weather, the 
 height of the water, and the violence of the current rendered 
 it so complete. In order that we might not miss anything, 
 Coutard and I took our place on the box-seat of my carriage. 
 The bridge soon rose before our eyes ; I wished to fix my gaze 
 on the arch which we had to go through, but no more bridge 
 was to be s^en, and when I turned my head I saw that we were 
 a quarter of a mile beyond it. As soon as we could stop we 
 went ashore and went back on foot to look at the bridge. We 
 were lucky enough to see another boat go through, and got a 
 full idea of the inconceivable speed with which we had just 
 made the same passage. So dangerous is it that a boat which 
 gets under a wi'ong arch or misses by ever so little the middle 
 of the cun-ent is totally lost.* At Avignon, just as I was 
 finishing my dinner, a messenger came to ask for a shirt for 
 General Oudinot. I sent at once what was wanted, after which 
 I called on the general, who told me that his boatmen had run 
 against the bank in landing, that his carriage had rolled into 
 the Ehone, and that he had tumbled in himself, so that not 
 having a dry thread on him he had had to apply to me. Thus 
 my imprudence had cost me only a moment's danger, while his 
 wisdom had not saved him from accident, whereby he lost a 
 box containing a pretty large sum in gold. 
 
 In due time I reached Mce. The commander-iu-cliief had just 
 left, but the paymaster-general and his subordinate were still 
 there, and I handed the money over to them. They were in 
 extreme need of it, for the plague was in the hospitals and 
 even in the town. Its ravages were such that during the four 
 days that I passed at Nice, 1500 persons died ; whether the 
 100,000 francs made tilings any better I do not know. 
 
 * [Headers of General Marbot's Memoires will remember that a few weeks 
 before this be bad a very narrow escape under the same bridge, and .was 
 wrecked before be reached Avignon.]
 
 GENOA 27 
 
 Of the two ways of getting from Mce to Genoa, that by land 
 involved an intolerable number of halts. At the same time the 
 sea- voyage was risky, owing to the enemy's cruisers, from wliich 
 there "was not much of escape even for a felucca. But we got 
 hold of a Maltese speronare, and tliis, being painted the colour 
 of the sea, lying almost flush with the water, having no sails 
 but moving entirely by oars, comljined with the advantage of 
 being invisible more than three quarters of a mile away that 
 of travelling with incredible speed. As, however, there was 
 only room for one passenger in addition to the master and eight 
 rowers, Coutard continued Ids journey by land. Before starting 
 I had my little craft fresh tallowed all over ; and though the 
 night was fairly bright, I passed with impunity through the 
 whole English fleet, and arrived safely at Genoa. I was then to 
 learn a great lesson from the military point of view ; indeed I 
 may say that, such as I have been, I owed all to the teaching 
 and the example of Duhesme and Massena, and that the siege 
 of Genoa was going to be my best school. 
 
 On landintr I went straight to the commander-in-chief, and 
 presented all the letters that had come for him to Nice, or had 
 been sent from that town. He seemed glad to see me ; but as 
 for the correspondence, all he did was to open two dispatches 
 from the Minister for War, and barely glance at them. Then, 
 giving me back all the letters, together with an enormous heap 
 of others, he observed : " Take all these and keep them : you 
 will have to see to all my military correspondence. At seven 
 to-mon-ow morning you will report to me on the contents of 
 them, and I will give you my orders as to the replies. You 
 are lodged in my house, so that you can get to work at once, 
 and you can have all the secretaries you want." An hour later 
 I was at work, and by the next day a precis had been made of a 
 hundred and thirty-four letters, the answers had been sent off, 
 and the general's coiTespondence was up to date. 
 
 Knowing Massena's quickness, I arranged the work so as 
 to meet the requii^ements of extreme speed. I classified all 
 the letters, and laid them before him in groups an-anged in 
 paper wi-appers, ruled in a double column. On one side was a 
 summary of my reports, each occupying four or five lines only.
 
 28 MEMOIRS OF GENEBAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 the other "being reserved for his decisions. Important passages 
 were underlined in red ink. When all was ready, I went and 
 read my reports to the commander-in-chief, with a promptitude 
 suited to his quickness. As a rule his decision was uttered 
 simultaneously with my last words, sometimes even before 
 them. It came like a flash of lightning, and yet was as precise 
 and complete as could be desired. Sometimes when I had 
 vainly sought to solve a point, I was amazed at the way he 
 took it as it were on the volley, and quite bewildered by his 
 accuracy and sagacity. In order not to waste the time of which 
 he was so chary, I soon contrived to write down the decision in 
 pencil even wliile I was reading the next report ; but though 
 it had only the effect of making me read a little slower, I was 
 soon obliged to give up even that. It got to such a point that 
 at Milan, for example, when there were never less than sixty to 
 eighty reports in a day, the general's work with me did not 
 take ten minutes. Except where some verification was needed, 
 or unforeseen circumstances turned up, every day's business was 
 finished the next day. 
 
 Another thing that was of great use to me was the re- 
 sponsibility that Massena laid on me. At first he used to keep 
 the letters to sign in the morning, so as to read them over 
 when his head was rested ; but very soon he only ran through 
 the more important, and at last he would neither keep them 
 nor read them. One day at Milan I begged him to attend to 
 two letters, which I did not wish to take the initiative even of 
 drawing up. He replied, in the presence of two members of 
 the Cisalpine Government, "I know you will end by getting 
 me hung, Ijut I have taken my line." I may be allowed to add 
 that of the thousands of letters which he thus signed with his 
 eyes shut, not one was ever found fault with. 
 
 Beside myself, Massena had three adjutants-general on his 
 staff. The first was General Eeille, who had the luck, shared 
 by no other of Massena's officers, to be in favour with both Mm 
 and Napoleon. He became the Emperor's aide-de-camp, was 
 made count, had a large endowment in addition to an ever- 
 increasing fortune, and commanded armies. What was more 
 curious was, that the fact of having been so well treated by one
 
 COLLEAGUES ON TEE STAFF 29 
 
 who treated liis earliest patron so badly, did not estrange this 
 latter from him; and after Napoleon's final fall, he married 
 Massena's daughter. Though Massena died under the Ilestora- 
 tion in a disgrace which itself was a scandal, Reille was no 
 less well thought of by Louis XVIII and Charles X, from whom 
 he received honours of all kinds, and at the moment of the 
 July affair * he was on the point of being created a marshal 
 of France. 
 
 The others were Campana, a distinguished officer, who soon 
 left the military career to become prefect at Turin or Ales- 
 sandria, and Gautier, a man who was all gentleness in private 
 life and iron in presence of the enemy. He had every gift to 
 qualify him for speedy accession to high command, yet the 
 reputation gained by a score of brilliant feats and eminent 
 services was all of no avail ; and in spite of the high regard of 
 his chiefs, the admiration of his comrades, the unspeakable con- 
 fidence and respect of his subordinates, he was only a major- 
 general when he fell at Wagram. To say this is to condemn 
 those who treated him unjustly, and notably Marshal Davout. 
 It was owing to sheer bad luck that I remained a major-general 
 for eight years ; but when I saw poor Gautier for the last time 
 at Bayonne in December 1808, he being then still major-general 
 while I was lieutenant-general, I was deeply grieved. When 
 he congratulated me on my promotion, I said, " I ought not to 
 have had it before you, but you ought to have had it long 
 ago ; " thereby only repeating what General Villatte had said 
 to me when, after I had left him at Tours, where as a major he 
 had been military governor under my orders, I came upon him 
 again as lieutenant-general in Poland. 
 
 I am not going to write here the history of the blockade of 
 Genoa, to which I have devoted a special work.f We reached 
 Genoa in January, and hostilities did not recommence till April. 
 
 * [When the elder branch of the Bourbons was expelled and Louis Philippe 
 became king.] 
 
 t The author's Journal of the Operations of the Siege of Genoa, which 
 appeared in 1801, went through several editions, was translated into English 
 (London, 1819), and was finally recast and, so to say, rewritten by himself. 
 The last edition appeared in 1847, after the author's death. — Ed.
 
 30 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 Soon after my anival IMariette, the lady whose acquaintance 
 I had made on my first visit to Marseilles, landed at Genoa, 
 together with the gambling-house keeper with whom she lived. 
 They at once opened a house of the same kind, the expense of 
 which was defrayed by the visits of officers of all ranks. Burthe, 
 for whom a green cloth was an irresistible loadstone, got what is 
 called a terrible scouring there, but the person whom I saw lose 
 the heaviest sums was General Oudinot. I remember one occasion 
 on which I saw him in much less than half an hour four times 
 give the key of his desk to his senior aide-de-camp, saying, 
 " Go and fetch me a rouleau of 100 louis," and no sooner had 
 the unfortunate louis arrived than they went to swell the pile 
 of gold in front of the banker. I hated play, but as all my 
 seniors and all my comrades went to these gatherings, I used 
 to go with them, and for want of better amusement watched 
 the phases of inconstant fortune. 
 
 Among the most regular players I soon noticed Wast, the 
 paymaster.* He never sat down, but played two or three 
 times, and then left the room, coming back for a few moments, 
 but soon withdrawing entirely. As all the other players had 
 the habit of looking out for and disputing for the possession of 
 any vacant chairs. Wast, who played standing, made such a 
 contrast to them that I had the curiosity to speak to him about 
 it. Under a seal of secrecy, which I have kept till now, he 
 gave me the following explanation, which seems WDrth quoting. 
 " The whims of Fortune," said he, " are not wholly a matter of 
 uncertainty, but you must follow them, and never defy her, 
 Now the method which I have adopted and found wonderfully 
 successful, and which I will in confidence enable you to verify 
 if it amuses you, is as follows : I bring five louis every time 
 with me ; I follow the play for a while without taking any part, 
 
 * Wast had been sent to Tuscany. When he came back, Preval made the 
 following verses, which drove him frantic : 
 
 *' Wast a termine son sejour 
 Dans la Toscane epouvantee. 
 Que nous aunonce son retour ? 
 Que la Toscane est devastee ! " 
 
 This may be paralleled by the well-known epigram upon Rapinat in 
 Switzerland.
 
 A PRUDENT GAMBLER 31 
 
 but try to judge the winning colour. Wlien it seems to me to be 
 settled, I risk one louis ; if it wins, I go douljle : if I win again, 
 I withdraw my stake, leaving three louis, and if I "win the 
 third coup, w^hich makes me six louis to the good, I regard my 
 luck as exhausted for the evening, and leave off playing. If, on 
 the other hand, I lose my first, second, or third trial, I leave the 
 game for a short time, so as to put an interval between my loss 
 and a fresh attempt. I do the same when I lose a second, a 
 third, or a fourth stake, l3ut as soon as I lose the fifth I retire 
 for good and all. If after a few unlucky shots I succeed, in 
 getting back my five louis, I do not risk another. Thus, whether 
 my five louis have been lost or douljled, I leave off playing, so 
 that, as you see, I require five unlucky coui^s or series in order 
 to lose, while one is sufficient to make me win. In any case 
 I never get excited, and I keep clear of that plunging, of all 
 those doubles or quits which make the fortune of a gambling- 
 house." 
 
 Wishing to judge for myself the chances of tliis method, I 
 followed it for eighteen days, not with louis l)ut with piastres. 
 Twice I came off neither winner nor loser, three times I lost, 
 finally I had won fifty piastres when the blockade put an end to 
 these meetings. One evening, the banker having looked hard at 
 Wast and myself several times, I wanted to know what he 
 thought of our mode of playing. " If everyone adopted it," 
 said he, " the banker's occupation would be gone. Without 
 confining oneself to the system adopted by M. Wast, it is only the 
 people who sit down that make us rich, and our fortune comes 
 especially from those who will persist in applying fixed and 
 sequent calculations to that which admits of neither calculation, 
 fixity, nor sequence." 
 
 Meanwhile a far more serious game and one not less difficult 
 to play was being prepared for us ; and in spite of all the 
 energy which Massena tlirew into his combinations for success, 
 all the chances of success were slipping from us. We were 
 awaiting a convoy of provisions, and the English fleet assembled 
 off Genoa allowed us no further hope of its arrival. We were 
 expecting further reinforcements ; but when General Melas 
 had carried the heights of San Giacomo, thrown General Suchet
 
 32 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIIIEDAVLT 
 
 back towards La Pietra, and separated the centre of the army 
 from the right, our three corps were isolated, and no concerted 
 action was possible. Genoa had to depend exclusively on the 
 troops forming the right wing, who to the number of 10,500 
 guarded the city and its outposts ; while 3,500 were in position 
 before Savona, and 5,000 were concentrated round Finale. 
 Against these 19,000 men Melas detached 60,000 from his 
 entire force of 135,000. Such was the situation of which 
 Massena in his patriotism had accepted the formidable respon- 
 sibility. How, when blockaded in Genoa, he held the Austrian 
 force in check for fifty-eight days and in ninety engagements ; 
 how he gained such influence over the inhabitants that he pre- 
 vented all danger of revolt from them, and persuaded them to 
 undergo the horrors of the siege with us and no less heroically 
 than we ; how the blockade to seaward by the English fleet 
 forbade all revictualling until the inhabitants in numbers died 
 of famine, wdiile the combatants were rationed on a few ounces 
 of horseflesh and the same of l)read, the latter a filthy mixture 
 of the consistency of putty, — all this is well known. The result 
 of this heroism is also well known ; without the loss of time 
 and men that it caused to the Austrians, the victory of Marengo 
 would have been impossible. When Bonaparte, who was to 
 draw such gigantic advantage from that victory, next met 
 Massena, his first words ought to have been nothing but, " Let 
 us go and thank the gods together." But Bonaparte had too 
 much interest in sacrificing a man like Massena, to be likely to 
 forgive him for such a service rendered. 
 
 All the phases of that great military drama have already 
 been noted in my Journal of the Blockade, and I need not 
 repeat them here ; but there are a few details which please me 
 to recall. I may begin with one relating to the Journal. 
 On April 21, when I had finished my work with the com- 
 mander-in-chief, he said : " Thiebault, my correspondence has 
 come down to a very few letters, so you must have time to 
 spare. I wish you would write an account of our blockade, 
 which is sure to be memorable." " General," I answered, 
 " that work has been begun ever since the 5th, and I was only 
 waiting till I had got a little more forward with it to tell you
 
 BLOCKADED 33 
 
 about it and to ask your leave to show it to you." He was 
 touched by this evidence of zeal, and said that I was at liberty 
 to come whenever he was in his Imth and read liim what I had 
 written, and also that I might apply to him for any information 
 I wanted. So I used to read the work to him when he took 
 his bath, which he did three times a week, and completed the 
 revision of it at Milan. 
 
 My intimacy with the general soon enabled me to get Coutard 
 exchanged. As a prisoner on parole he was devoured with 
 impatience at seeing his comrades fighting and not being 
 allowed to bear arms with them. ISTor was this the worst 
 feature in his position. If Genoa were to fall, Coutard would 
 be captured, as he could not fail to be, amid an army on active 
 service, and far from the domestic hearth wliich he was pledged 
 in honour not to leave. Luckily, when we retook Monte Faccio 
 on April 7, among the 1500 prisoners whom we captured was 
 Baron d'Aspre, a lieutenant-colonel of Austrian hussars, of a rank, 
 that is, pretty nearly equivalent to Coutard's. He was, however, 
 a man of more importance than his rank implied, so that 
 Massena was not very willing to let him go cheaply, and only 
 with great difficulty granted the favour I asked. Ultimately, 
 however, the exchange was effected, and Coutard could appear 
 once more in the field and distinguish himself, giving me an 
 opportunity of getting him not only presented, but, on Colonel 
 Wouillemont's promotion to general, put in command of his old 
 corps, the 73rd of the Line. 
 
 Another anecdote of captured prisoners shall be recorded, 
 as it may offer a useful hint to officers on campaign. On 
 April 10 we were marching on Yarazze. In one of our charges 
 we had just secured several prisoners, among them a young 
 Austrian officer. On being brought to me, he said, " General, 
 the day is over for me, while for you it is just beginning, and 
 may be long. Allow me to off'er you some provisions, which are 
 of no further use to me, and may be necessary for you." And he 
 handed me a lemon and a cake of chocolate. Eeally one needs 
 nothing more to save one from hunger and thirst through a whole 
 day ; I tested it so well that day that I resolved never again to 
 mount my horse without a lemon and a piece of chocolate in my 
 
 YOL. II. D
 
 34 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 pocket, and in war-time I have often found them of great 
 service. 
 
 If I gained Coutard, I lost Dath, who was taken prisoner 
 before long in carrying a dispatch from the commander-in-chief 
 to General Soult, — a duty on which five oificers in succession 
 were sent, without being able to get to him. Commanders in 
 those days had often to make their own inspiration stand in the 
 place of orders which did not come to hand. Among the 
 superior officers who were killed or wounded, I may mention 
 Colonel Villaret, whose death was a grief to us all ; Gautier, 
 whose life was only saved by a miracle ; and Mouton, the future 
 Marshal and Count of Lobau, who owed his recovery only to 
 the care taken of him. His wound reminds me of an incident 
 worth recording. On April 30 I had just taken a verbal order 
 to him to recapture Fort Quezzi with the two first battalions of 
 his regiment — the 3rd. " That is a beast of an order you 
 bring me," said he. I said that it was an order like any other, 
 and would give him the chance of earning further distinction. 
 " No," he retorted ; " it is a beast of an order." Calling his 
 servant, he took off a new coat that he had on and took an old 
 one, gave the servant his purse and watches, and went off, a prey 
 to gloomy forebodings. A quarter of an hour later he was 
 brought back mortally wounded, as it was thought, by a bullet 
 that had gone through his left arm and his body. 
 
 In the mouth of an ofiicer who was notoriously brave, and 
 subsequently gave numerous proofs of his quality, one might 
 be sure that an answer of this kind was not called forth by 
 ill-humour or lack of spirit, but by some strange presentiment, 
 such as is by no means unknown. I need only quote the case 
 of La Salle at Wagram. He was a man to whom a battle was 
 a treat, a charge positive enjoyment, yet, when he mounted his 
 liorse on that day, he had the conviction that he would be 
 killed in the course of it. Being unable to overcome his 
 gloomy mood or to conceal his foreboding, he would have none 
 of his officers near him; and in this frame of mind, unin- 
 telligible to his aides-de-camp, but revealed by an intimate 
 friend, he received the expected bullet in his forehead. 
 
 By the middle of May the report went about as a certain
 
 NEARINQ THE END 35 
 
 fact that the First Consul was comiug with the army of reserve, 
 and was manceuvring with a view of cutting off the enemy's line 
 of retreat. On the 26th Major Franceschi, General Soult's aide- 
 de-camp, who had been sent to the commander-in-chief by 
 the First Consul a month ago, returned, after making his way 
 through every sort of danger, and announced that he had left 
 General Bonaparte coming down from the Great St. Bernard, and 
 that the army of reserve, as soon as it reached Ivrea, would come 
 on to Genoa by forced marches, and raise the blockade on the 30th. 
 
 However, May 31 and June 1 passed without bringing us 
 any aid, the officers brought forward strategic reasons to explain 
 the delay in our deliverance, and looked for favourable sides 
 to the most alarming indications; but the soldiers could no 
 longer suppress their discouragement, gave way to disorder, 
 and deserted in numbers. Despair and rage were depicted on 
 all countenances ; inhabitants as well as garrison seemed to 
 be at the end of their strength. The ravages of famine and 
 sickness grew every day more terrible ; covered waggons went 
 about the town to carry off the corpses which were laid naked 
 at the corners of the streets. No further attempts could be 
 made in a military way, for the soldiers and most of the ofi&cers 
 were incapable of enduring the fatigue of a combat or even of 
 a simple march. Sentries had to sit down at their posts, and 
 often were taken ill on the way there. Xegotiations for the 
 evacuation began on June 1. 
 
 In these negotiations Massena showed himself what he was, 
 a commander incapable of a mistake, and a clever manager of 
 men. During the blockade his hair had grown quite white, 
 but he had lost nothing of his mental power. He imderstood 
 excellently how to make use of the sullen jealousy of the allied 
 diplomatists. At the right moment he flattered the pride of 
 the English at the expense of the Austrian self-conceit, and was 
 able so well to put on the appearance of being at his ease, was so 
 fertile in happy flashes, that he succeeded in obtaining leave to 
 take away even the five privateers that were in Genoa. A story 
 is connected with one of these which it amuses me to relate. 
 
 There was a tartanc which, in the opinion of M. Morin, 
 Massena's excellent political secretary, was well adapted for the 
 
 D 2
 
 36 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBATJLT 
 
 purpose of a privateer, and had been fitted by him before the 
 blockade for this object. Unhickily he put it under the command 
 of one Bavastro,* a man who would have been extremely well 
 suited to such an office had his honesty been on a par with his 
 courage. All that I know is that, besides the shares of the 
 crew and commander, the produce of the rich prizes on which 
 we reckoned was to have been divided in twenty-four parts, the 
 bonds for which were held, twelve by the commander-in-chief, 
 who gave the letters of marque, six by Morin, six by me. 
 However, these hopes vanished like so many others. Bavastro 
 saw vessels on their way ; instead of chasing them, he only made 
 poor prizes, and that only to be able to say he had made them. 
 The dividend of millions which he had promised us was reduced 
 to our share in the indemnities which we had to pay. The 
 result was less tragic though more expensive than that of my 
 former attempt at Pescara, and at least I gained from it two 
 ships' biscuits a day during the last month of the blockade, 
 which came out of the stores of the vessel. I was thus saved 
 from the alternative of eating bread which made the dogs sick, 
 or paying 36 francs a pound for good bread. 
 
 When we had finally reached the end of that glorious death- 
 struggle and got a treaty which allowed us our honour and our 
 freedom, I set sail for Xice in the same vessel, taking the 
 opportunity of carrying off from the arsenal of Genoa twelve 
 handsome bronze 12-pounders, which were placed in the hold 
 under mattresses and packages. Massena had embarked at 
 daybreak on the 5th for Antibes, and his officers were free to 
 depart in their turn. We were exhausted with hunger and 
 fatigue, as may be supposed our vessel was not provisioned, and 
 I had ordered Bavastro to take us with all speed to Mce, where 
 we were in a hurry to arrive in order to eat something. When we 
 were off Albenga, an English frigate came sailing down upon us, 
 and fired a shot as a signal to stop, Bavastro was for heaving 
 to; I objected, being indignant at the bare idea of anyone 
 wanting to hinder our progress. So we sailed on; but the 
 frigate gained on us, and when she was within range fired 
 
 * [He was Massena's cousin, and the two had as boys gone to sea 
 together.]
 
 A FRIENDLY ENEMY 37 
 
 a shot, which went through one of our sails. As might was 
 right, we stopped ; the frigate, with all sail set, soon caught us 
 up, and sent a boat on board of us with a young officer to know 
 who we were and what we had on board, and also to look at our 
 papers. Seeing that he spoke French very well, I said, " Upon 
 my word, sir, it's cruelty to stop famishing people like this." I 
 spoke in an emphatic tone of ill-temper, hoping to influence 
 the young officer, who seemed a gallant fellow, and thus prevent 
 his making a thorough examination of our vessel, since the 
 twelve guns were something more than contraband. Learning 
 who I was, he was extremely polite, and, after disturbing only 
 a few packages, took his leave. Hardly, however, was he on 
 board his vessel when another shot was fired, and we had again 
 to heave to. I was fairly savage ; but at last the young officer 
 came on board us once more, and told us that his captain, being 
 touched wdth our condition, and glad to testify his admiration 
 of the men who had defended Genoa, begged me to accept 
 some victuals. Accordingly he handed me two huge bags of 
 biscuit, three hams, two baskets containing a dozen of wine each, 
 and, by a refinement of kindness, a basket of fresh salad with 
 all the requisites for dressing it. I shook hands with the young 
 man, and asked the names of his frigate, his captain, and 
 himself. I wrote them down, but have, I am sorry to say, lost 
 them. Then thanking him once more for his share in this new 
 kind of duty, I bade him take our compliments to the captain, 
 and gave a louis to each of the two sailors who had brought the 
 provisions on board ; and so w^e parted. 
 
 We entered the port of Mce at eight next morning, overjoyed 
 at once more seeing France, and all eagerness to tread her soil. 
 We were trying who could land first, when a sanitary official, 
 accompanied by four soldiers, came up and told us that, as we had 
 been in communication with an enemy's ship, we were liable to 
 quarantine. I hardly know how the man escaped being thrown 
 overboard ; he was assaulted on all sides, his men lowered their 
 bayonets, and twenty sabres — I should be sorry to say that 
 mine was not one — were drawn. The soldiers were over- 
 powered, and presently not a soul remained on board. 
 
 Some of my comrades and I had just finished such a breakfast
 
 38 MEMOIRS OF OENEBAL THIEBAULT 
 
 as we had not made for months, and as we had washed it down 
 as it deserved,* we were extremely merry, when an officer came 
 in and informed me that a complaint having been laid by the 
 head of the health department, an order had just been given for 
 my arrest, on the ground that my rank and the authority I held 
 over the officers who had sailed with me made me responsible 
 for all. This was past a joke, and I hastened to General Oudinot, 
 who by good luck was at Nice. " The devil ! " he said ; " this 
 is serious." " Did General Bonaparte let himself be quarantined 
 at Frejus ? " I returned. " He did not land with drawn sword. 
 Besides, a precedent like that is no justification ; and in order 
 that there may be no mistake about it the First Consul has just 
 been revising the sanitary laws and ordering their strict execu- 
 tion. Do not stay at Mce, but go and join Massena at Antibes." 
 An hour later I was relating my adventure, or misadventure, to 
 Massena. " All right," he said, " stay with me : we will be off 
 at four to-morrow morning, and the sound of the guns will put 
 all that straight." And I never heard anything more about 
 the matter. 
 
 Massena had retained all his rights under the treaty of 
 evacuation, and he was not the man to remain inactive, espe- 
 cially when a division might ]je of assistance to the army of 
 reserve. He resolved to call together all that remained available 
 of the Army of Italy, some 10,000 men, and re-open the campaign 
 with them. He now let me continue my journey from Nice by 
 land with all the belongings of the staff, while he himself, 
 having a wound in the leg, went on board a felucca with Eeille 
 and Oudinot. Keeping close inshore, and sending a fast boat 
 on in front to see that the coast was clear, he reached Finale 
 without being caught. There he stayed and devoted some days 
 to re-organizing what remained of the troops of the right and 
 centre ; and there we overtook him. 
 
 When I entered Finale, a combat had just been going on 
 between an English brig and the garrison of the little port, 
 one trying to take and the other to defend two feluccas loaded 
 
 * Some officers, on landing at Nice, remained at table for seven hours on 
 end, eating everything that they could get. I need not say that the sudden 
 change from hunger to repletion caused several fresh deaths.
 
 " HERE ARE THE ENGLISH " 39 
 
 with grain, lately arrived from Nice ; and the brig had been 
 beaten off. The affair had just ])een reported to the commander- 
 in-chief when I presented myself. I asked if some one should 
 not see to the unloading of the two vessels, but was told that it 
 was late, and they would not be unloaded till the morning. 
 Next morning I was sleeping soundly when two of my servants 
 came into my room, crying out, " Here are the English ! " The 
 drums beat at the same time, and I thought they were landing : 
 so I jumped out of bed, telling one of my servants to saddle me 
 a horse, and the other to bring my clothes. The poor lad, who 
 was not eighteen, and had by this time lost his head, brought 
 me a sword instead of boots and a hat instead of breeches. 
 However, I got dressed before long, and started for the com- 
 mander-in-chief's. As I crossed the Piazza della Pietra, where 
 I lodged, which looked on the sea, I saw an English ship of the 
 line, followed by a frigate, a corvette, and the brig that had 
 been beaten off the day before. They were coming in close 
 column with all sails set towards the quay, which formed the 
 south side of the piazza, and off which the two feluccas were 
 moored. Not only did they approach so near that the ship's 
 bowsprit projected over the quay, but they seemed to be handled 
 by magic. Not a man was to be seen on deck or in the rigging, 
 the reason being to escape our musketry, which had done much 
 execution the day before among the brig's crew. Eight in front 
 of the piazza the ship of the line let fly a formidaljle broadside 
 of round and grape, the frigate, corvette, and brig taking up 
 the fire as they ranged alongside. Having passed the piazza, 
 all four went about, and grazing it again on the other tack 
 poured in their larboard broadsides, and sailed off. 
 
 I never saw a manceuvre executed with more accuracy, 
 audacity, and majesty. The ship's first fire had smashed the 
 two feluccas, and the sea to a great distance was covered with 
 wreckage and grain, amid which floated the corpse of a sailor 
 who had been asleep and unable to escape. The other broadsides 
 had damaged the piazza considerably and killed some of our 
 men, who could take no revenge, having nothing to fire at but 
 empty decks or portholes. One of our non-commissioned 
 officers met his death as by predestination. He was on duty at
 
 40 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIUEBAULT 
 
 the headquarters, and, reclining in a roomy armchair in front of 
 a window in the brilliant sunshine, was watching the evolutions 
 of the four vessels, when a case of grape which had not had 
 room to scatter took hiin in the breast. My own escape was 
 due to the wild panic of my servants, who had saved me by 
 waking me. My house at the upper end of the piazza was one 
 of the worst knocked about, and my room worst of all, as I 
 learnt by hearing that people were flocking from all sides to 
 look at it. The space between the windows had been driven 
 in ; several round-shot, coming in by the windows, had gone right 
 through the house ; while one shot and two grapeshot had 
 rebounded off the wall on to a bed, and others were lying about. 
 Asleep or awake, I should have been done for by one of them. 
 The thickness of the dust in the room was extraordinary. A 
 shirt, a hat, and an overcoat that were lying on the chairs were 
 all the same colour. 
 
 A circumstance of some importance is connected with Mas- 
 sena's stay at Finale. As soon as he got there, General Suchet 
 called on him, and did all he could to obtain the order to anti- 
 cipate the movement planned by the commander-in-chief, and 
 start at once with all the troops, in order to lose no time in 
 supporting the First Consul's operations. Nothing could seem 
 better or more plausible from a military point of view; but 
 things are not always what they seem, as both Suchet and 
 Massena proved on this occasion. Suchet was displaying a fine 
 zeal for the service in trying to elicit the order to quicken by 
 thirty-six hours an offensive movement which might even be 
 decisive ; but at bottom all he wanted was to have the sole 
 merit of it. It was a clever dodge to put himself at the head of 
 the army instead of the commander-in-chief. Suchet was 
 reproducing at Finale the part played by Soult at Genoa, when, 
 knowing that it was the only point from the defence of which 
 any glory was to be gained, he did all he could to prevent 
 Massena from fixing his headquarters there, on the score that 
 the commander-in-chief's place was with the whole of his army, 
 and not with a wing which might be cut off. But Massena was 
 too sagacious to fail to see the hidden reason, and too sharp to 
 show his hand. Moreover, Suchet's recent performances as
 
 SUCEET AND MASSENA 41 
 
 •commander of an army in a position to which he had Ijut lately 
 obtained, had not been exceedingly brilliant, and it was by no 
 means clear that anything would be gained by starting thirty-six 
 hours sooner under him than by waiting the same time till 
 Massena was ready. Moreover, it was absolutely necessary to 
 allow the troops returning from the Var, and still more those from 
 Genoa, a little time to rest and get into condition. Accordingly, 
 not wishing to say to his lieutenant, " I quite see your game, 
 and am not going to play up to it," Massena assumed an air of 
 justifiable wrath, in order to get out of the difficulty under the 
 guise of petulance ; complaining that none of the promises on 
 the faith of which he had accepted the command of the Army 
 of Italy had been kept, and that he had been deceived, indeed 
 deserted, sacrificed. Finally, to put an end to Suchet's impor- 
 tunity, he launched this parting shaft at the First Consul, " I 
 have done quite enough for that little ." 
 
 But, in spite of appearances, how did each act ? While 
 Massena was organizing his march with the utmost rapidity 
 and preparing in all haste for the co-operation at which he had 
 just been grumbHng, Suchet sent an order to Adjutant-general 
 Preval, his chief of staff, bidding him start at once with a few 
 hundred men and let the First Consul know that aid was 
 coming, and that, if there had been any delay, it had been due 
 to Massena's reluctance to act. 
 
 Preval set off in pursuance of this order, but found in front of 
 him the twenty squadrons which the enemy were keeping in these 
 parts to watch the reassembled force from Genoa and Suchet's 
 troops, and which, if they had not been thus kept immobile, 
 would have been more than enough to prevent the movement 
 which won the battle of Marengo. Seeing that they continually 
 retreated before his 500 horse, Preval suspected a trick, and did 
 not proceed without scouting as far as possible to his front and 
 on his flanks. As he advanced thus, he met Soult's aide-de- 
 camp. Colonel Franceschi, from whom he heard of the victory of 
 Marengo and its magical results. Any announcement of aid 
 now seemed useless, and not seeing the use of going on merely 
 to report Suchet's march to the First Consul, Preval halted, 
 merely sending back word to Suchet of the battle, the con-
 
 42 MEMO IBS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 sequent armistice, and the treaty that followed, whereby 
 fifteen fortresses were surrendered and the whole right bank 
 of the Adige evacuated by Melas as the result of twelve hours' 
 fighting. 
 
 The defence of Genoa had already become a subject of almost 
 legendary admiration, being regarded as the one thing which 
 had made the First Consul's victories possible. Everyone was 
 repeating the answer made to Berthier by the quartermaster- 
 general of the Austrian army. When the treaty of Alessandria 
 was being signed, Berthier, by way of making himself known to the 
 officers present on the other side, said, " It must be a consolation 
 to have been beaten only by a fine army under the greatest 
 general in the world." The Austrian officer replied briskly, 
 " The battle of Marengo was not lost here, but before Genoa ; " 
 and this famous answer, which passed from mouth to mouth, 
 confirmed the opinion already current that the defenders of 
 Genoa were the saviours of the country. 
 
 Since April 30 I had held the rank of general of brigade. 
 I have only referred incidentally in these Memoirs to that bril- 
 liant day on which three important positions were recaptured, 
 including Fort Quezzi, in the attack on wliich Colonel Mouton 
 was wounded, as I have already related. Deprived of their 
 chief, the troops had retreated, and Massena, who was personally 
 superintending the operations, had told me to take haK a bat- 
 talion and go straight for the fort at the double, while General 
 MioUis would attack on the right, and Adjutant Hector on the 
 left. I had the roughest work, but, thanks to the wonderful 
 energy of my half-battalion, Massena was able to come up with 
 the last reserves, and joining me on the ground which I held, 
 aid me in definitely routing the troops guarding the approaches 
 and carrying the fort by assault. I had needed the utmost 
 energy to keep my half-battalion together under the deadly fire 
 which enveloped us, and the commander-in-chief had appointed 
 me general of brigade on the field ; a favour of which I was 
 fortunate enough to secure the completion on the same day by 
 obtaining for Coutard and Wouillemout steps no less worthily 
 earned. 
 
 In consec^uence of the treaty, our prospect of a laborious
 
 AFTER MARENGO 43 
 
 military march was exchanged for that of a triumphal progress. 
 We proceeded thus to Milan ; and when I went to Masseua, the 
 morning after our arrival, he was about to call on the First 
 Consul, whither I accompanied him. It might have Ijeen 
 thought that the defender of Genoa, indirectly the victor of 
 Marengo, when going to one who as commander of the army 
 had reaped all the glory of the event, and as head of the State 
 was reaping all the fruit, "would have come proud of his conduct 
 and strong in the justice that was his due. Yet it was far from 
 being so. A few words which had slipped from an indiscreet 
 circle had given a hint of possible unpleasantness. Some 
 ventured to doubt if Masseua would retain his command ; 
 some knew on the best authority that, at the very time when 
 he was doing everything to sustain a hopeless struggle, the 
 succession to his post had been promised to General Desaix. 
 Even a successor of such merit could not have blinded anyone 
 to the disgrace of the fact ; and when the force of circumstances 
 prevailed over jealous hostility, it was only with regret at the 
 impossibility of acting otherwise that the course which could 
 not be helped was taken. Even this was only for a time, and 
 we soon- saw the great Massena replaced by one of the most 
 insignificant of our generals. 
 
 Naturally no one but Berthier was present at the interview 
 between the First Consul and Massena. The other officers who 
 accompanied the latter remained with those on duty. Murat, 
 Junot, and Duroc were there. This meeting between men who 
 had just taken part in two such great feats of arms was bound 
 to lead to an exchange of remarks. We took the lead in offering 
 congratulations and asking questions ; 1 )ut we ran up against 
 the reserve which was an attitude of caution around Bonaparte, 
 and became the official attitude around Napoleon. The 
 embarrassment and uneasiness between the staff of the First 
 Consul and Berthier and that of Massena looked like con- 
 tinuing, when some one or other started a change of topic. 
 This diversion, the only thing I remember about my appearance 
 in the First Consul's quarters at Milan, was a trial of strength 
 between Murat and a major of artillery. Murat as a general 
 was no longer in a position to engage in a rough-and-tumble
 
 44 MEMOIES OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 with anyone ; so the two champions took their seats on either 
 side of a small table, rested their right elbows on it, each 
 clasping the other's hand with interlaced fingers, and trying to 
 force back the other's arms. These efforts remained without 
 result, but the pressure of the fingers on the hand of either 
 adversary had been such that the blood had come under each 
 finger. 
 
 This diversion lasted for only a comparatively short time, 
 while the interview between the First Consul and Massena was 
 very long; our only resource was patience, but at last the 
 general reappeared. All eyes turned towards him ; his face 
 expressed at once agitation and content, but our suspense was 
 presently ended by these words, " Gentlemen, the First Consul 
 is returning to Paris, and I command the army." 
 
 The First Consul started for Paris, I think, next day ; and 
 I at once resumed the same duties with the commander-in-chief 
 as I had performed at Genoa. One of the first matters to which 
 I attended was the exchange of Dath, who, as I have said, was 
 taken prisoner at Genoa. Nothing could exceed the kind 
 manner in which General Melas acceded to the request which 
 I addressed to him.
 
 ( 45 ) 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 General Brune— I return to France — Murat at liome — Life at Paris — ^The 
 explosion of the Rue Saint-Nicaise— Calling on the First Consul— The 
 Opera ball— Berth ier's ball— Ze Qeneral Tres-beau—My godfather. 
 
 The time was at hand when the First Consul and his viziei 
 Berthier considered, apparently, that Massena's recent claim to 
 glory would be sufficiently forgotten, and after three months' 
 command in time of peace he was superseded, just when people 
 were predicting the renewal of hostilities, and superseded, of all 
 people in the world, by General Brune, who, in spite of his 
 campaign in Holland, the credit of which belonged to Vandamme 
 rather than to him, was far from having the qualifications of a 
 real commander. His short Italian campaign after the super- 
 session of Massena being outside of my personal recollection, 
 there is no object in pointing out its mistakes in this place. I 
 need only mention the fact that he marched three corps of his 
 army on a single road, so that the centre and left divisions 
 started and came in so late that the days were spent in moving 
 and the nights in deploying. Our poor soldiers, who punish 
 their commanders' mistakes by pleasantries and avenge the 
 needless waste of their own blood by jokes, called this way of 
 advancing, marchinsj a la Brune.* Phrases like this are none 
 the less final judgements for taking the outward form of puns. 
 
 Brune — who, for want of a will of his own, lost himself, wasted 
 all his time in feeling his way about, was under the influence 
 of a few favoured generals, and always agreed with the last 
 person who spoke to him — was none the less a stout revolutionary 
 and a man of honour, wholly devoted to his country and to 
 everything connected with his duty. Unluckily this is not the 
 
 * [lu the dusk.]
 
 46 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 same thing as ha^ing merits whether as a man or as a com- 
 mander; at the head of an army he was wanting in both 
 capacity and vigour, and when he was made marshal it was of 
 him that people were able to say that a crutch would have 
 suited him better than the baton, too short as that was for his 
 stature and too heavy for his arm. Thus, in spite of the advantage 
 that we gained by holding all the fortresses of Italy, and so being 
 in rear as well as in front of the enemy, one cannot say what 
 would have happened to that army if it had fought for long so 
 feebly commanded. But Moreau won the battle of Hohenlinden, 
 and the peace that was signed a month later at Luneville made 
 it possible to regret neither Massena's forced inaction nor 
 Brune's employment. 
 
 It was about six in the morning when Massena received the 
 dispatch announcing his supersession. He at once came to my 
 room with the deplorable news, and announced that he should 
 start for Paris that evening. He also expressed a desire to take 
 with him a copy of the Journal of the Bloclzade of Genoa. 
 Luckily I had just revised a copy. I took it to him half an hour 
 afterwards, and we did our last piece of work together, leaving 
 not a single letter to be answered ; the dispatches that came in 
 during the day were left unopened for General Brune. When 
 everything was settled, I said, " I have a last favour to ask you, 
 general ; namely, that you would kindly sign this permission 
 for me to go to Paris." " You do not stay with Brune ? " " No, 
 general." "Do you start at the same time as I do ? " "Give 
 me leave to remain a little longer at Milan." At ten in the 
 evening he had left the army, next day he had left Italy, while 
 I had left the palace in which he had been residing. 
 
 I remained full of regret. I was losing a chief who had 
 honoured me with his confidence and intimacy, whose board 
 and lodgings I had shared, who had heaped kindness upon me, 
 whom I liked as much as I respected him. To complete what 
 I have said about Massena, I will tell the following story. An 
 old officer of the Ptoyal Italian Picgiment, who had as captain 
 commanded the company in which Massena had started as a 
 private, came to Milan and called upon his old subordinate, now 
 become commander-in-chief. As soon as he was announced the
 
 massMa superseded 47 
 
 general hurried to meet him and took him into his own study. 
 He kept him to dinner, invited ;i]l the generals who were at the 
 headquarters to meet him, and introduced him to them in these 
 words : " Gentlemen, you see my old captain, the first officer 
 under whom I ever had the honour to serve, and whose kindness 
 I shall always remember." "When dinner was announced, he 
 took his old captain by the hand, led him to the table, set him 
 on his right, and during the whole meal showed liim so much 
 attention that the poor old fellow could not restrain his tears. 
 
 All those with whom I had been in daily relations had now 
 departed ; I had practically abdicated an authority which made 
 my position so conspicuous ; I had again become a stranger to 
 the movements of that great machine called the army, so many 
 of whose strings had vibrated under my hand ; I saw a chief, 
 who was physically a giant of six feet high and mentally a 
 dwarf of a few inches, figuring as under-study in a part which 
 he did not seem to me to suit ; in short, after a life every day of 
 which had been claimed by important duties, I had fallen into 
 complete inaction. A longer stay at Milan became impossible. 
 Eesolved as I was not to serve immediately at least with 
 Massena's successor, I could no longer form part of his head- 
 quarter staff. I had leave of absence to use it and to go away ; 
 not to use it meant to be sent as soon as it expired to one of the 
 divisions of the army. If I went to France, I thought I should 
 retain more control of my future than if I were employed in a 
 division even with the rank of general of brigade. Besides, I 
 had not yet had my rank confirmed, and General Brune might 
 dispute it, nor could he recognise it without laj^ing me under 
 an obligation, and this, for Massena's sake, I could not allow. A 
 letter from my father was a fresh motive for hastening my 
 resignation ; and finally, a last attempt on General Brune's part 
 to retain me, put me under the alternative of either remaining 
 with him or fixing a day for my departure. 
 
 As soon as my intention of going was known, it seemed as if 
 the word had gone round to load me with commissions. My 
 carriage was piled with parcels, among them several sums of 
 money, including one of GOO louis — all in gold. I may say I 
 was also the bearer of a necklace consisting of three rows of fine
 
 48 AIEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 pearls, valued at 30,000 francs, which General Vignolle gave 
 me for Mme Murat. Let me say that I gave no receipt for these 
 valuables, as I did not wish to incur a ruinous responsibility for 
 the sake of obliging my friends. I had to go through Piedmont, 
 wliere the roads were so far from safe that not a week passed 
 without the news of some carriage having been stopped by 
 brigands, which made me none the less anxious about carrying 
 such goods in trust. Moreover, among the other articles of 
 value which it was my destiny to take back to France, was 
 General Poinsot's wife, the general having asked me to see her 
 as far as Lyons. As he was in command at Alessandria, I was 
 forced to go by that town, which accordingly was my first 
 sleeping-place. 
 
 General Poinsot was a man of extraordinary bravery, and a 
 very good fellow too ; but otherwise ordinary both in style and 
 in manners. He was far from being stupid, and thus did not 
 fail to justify his name.* Several things that he said struck 
 me at the time, but I only remember one. On my expressing 
 my surprise that he should separate from his wife without 
 necessity, this was his answer: "When I get my marching 
 orders for active service, I buy a property, the cost to be 
 defrayed by the campaign. As soon as the conquest is made, 
 I get a command somewhere, and when things are pretty quiet 
 again send for my wife. Then, when I have got together the 
 sum necessary to pay off the debt contracted on the security of the 
 W' ar, Mme Poinsot goes herself to effect the payment, clear the new 
 property, and sometimes enlarge it." Nothing could be clearer. 
 
 Next morning I started at daybreak with the lady, my aide- 
 de-camp Pdchel^ourg, my valet, and Jacques Dewint, who was 
 my devoted servant till 1814. We had an escort of twenty- 
 four cavalry, under the command of a sergeant. This suited 
 me well enough ; for while securing Mme Poinsot's safety, they 
 also guaranteed that of the articles entrusted to me. They were 
 to accompany us to Novalese ; but they delayed our progress, 
 so that when night came on we were still a good league from 
 Turin, and I was sound asleep. We were roused by a shout. 
 Pdchebourg and Jacques were on the defensive, and replying by 
 * \_Point sot — a sufficiently obvious jest.]
 
 MUBAT AT HOME 49 
 
 a pistol-shot to two shots that had l)een fired at us. My fii-st 
 thou;.,dit was for Mine Murat's necklace, which was in a case 
 by my side. In a moment I took it out and fastened it round 
 my neck; then I took my pistols, and, as the carnage had 
 stopped, I was al)out to jump out when the serf^eant, who had, 
 as he should not luive done, fallen l)ehind, f,falloped up with 
 his men. The tables were turned, and our assailants fled. 
 Luckily nothing was wounded but one of our horses, so we 
 were a])le to proceed at once, and the only inconvenience of the 
 adventure was that I had to go and report it to the general 
 commanding at Turin. Next day we crossed the Mont Cenis, and 
 went without stopping to Lyons. There I left Mme Poinsot, 
 and travelled on at full speed day and night towards Paris. 
 Ten in the evening was striking as I passed the Barriere de 
 I'Enfer, and at a quarter past I alighted at my father's. 
 
 Many things had to l>e talked over. My father had seen 
 Massena on his arrival in Paris, and, learning from the general's 
 first words how anxious he was to see my Journal of the 
 Blockade published, had offered to get it printed. Pifty copies 
 were awaiting me, sent by the general. Xext morning I 
 was awoke by Mme ]\Iurat's secretary asking if I was the 
 bearer of her pearl necklace. Two hours later I placed it in 
 her hands, saying, " You will not have the first wearing of it ; " 
 which necessitated the story of how I had had to put it round 
 my own neck. 
 
 I breakfasted with Murat and his wife. Nothing could have 
 been more simple than he, or more unaffected than the future 
 Queen of Naples. In a position seeming all the higher for its 
 distance from that in which they had begun, both at the af^e 
 which is most becoming, — she beautiful as an angel, he 
 magnificent in figure, strength, face, and covered with laurels 
 reaped in Italy, Germany, and Egypt,— what could they lack to 
 their happiness, their prospects, their peace of mind ? All the 
 more did I appreciate their perfect good-nature. After our 
 excellent breakfast, served on fine porcelain, there was brought 
 in a pot of the coarsest earthenware, containing a kind of jam. 
 " It is a treat from my own country," said ]\Iurat ; " my mother 
 made it and sent it me." I liked the feeling that prompted the 
 
 VOL. II. E
 
 50 MEMOIBS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 words, and the jam tasted all the better for it ; but it was clear 
 that it would not be eaten in his honour much longer, and 
 that before long no more traces would remain of this taste of 
 childhood than now remained of the envy he had felt of my 
 position at the camp of Marly. 
 
 On leaving Murat I called on Massena. He was full of 
 regard for my father and of thanks for the trouble he had taken 
 in bringing out the Journal of the Blockade. " What about the 
 First Consul ? " I asked. " As for him," said the general, " this 
 is what happened. The day when the work was to appear, I 
 received a note asking for a copy, and forbidding me to dispose 
 of any others until I had had an interview. Next day I went 
 to the Tuileries. When the First Consul saw me he came up, 
 and said, ' I have read the Journal of the Blockade of Genoa ; 
 it is a good piece of work, and I am satisfied with it, and every- 
 body ought to be.' " 
 
 I had carefully avoided inserting any reference to the plan 
 for an Italian campaign which I had submitted to the First 
 Consul,* and which, by a coincidence of which I am proud, 
 he had just canied out. This prudent reticence may have 
 shielded me from the consular thunders ; but that was all I 
 could expect, and my Journal only aggravated my former sins. 
 It was a fresh offence to have proclaimed to the world the glory 
 of Massena just when a flagrant piece of injustice had been 
 committed towards him. Accordingly I resolved not to run 
 the risk of a refusal by taking any personal or direct steps to 
 obtain the confirmation of my rank as major-general. I had 
 not touched on the subject with Murat, and naturally had 
 said nothing to Massena. As I could not wait on either the 
 Minister for War or the First Consul without asking to be 
 confirmed, I kept away from both of them, merely continuing 
 to use the title of my rank. 
 
 I received many compliments on my book, including one 
 from Prince Henry of Prussia, speaking in high terms of 
 Massena, to whom I showed it. I allowed no copies to be 
 made;t but General Pamphile Lacroix, who heard it read, 
 
 * As we have said, it will be found in the edition published in 1847. — Ed. 
 t It is now published in the above-mentioned edition of the Journal. — Ed.
 
 SOCIAL PLEASURES 51 
 
 wrote it out from memory. By tliis means it reached the 
 highest circles, where it caused uiuch displeasure. Among 
 those who, being unable to criticise or correct these statements 
 of the book, avenged themselves by taking it in bad part, 
 was General Soult. Yet I liad eulogized him, if anything, to 
 excess ; as I remarked one day to Massena when walking with 
 him in his park at Kueil : " What else," I said, " ought I to 
 have done in order to avoid incuning his dislike ? " " What 
 ought you to have done ? " returned Massena, in his usual sharp 
 way ; " you ought not to have mentioned me in your work." 
 
 I saw but few people at this time, chiefly old friends of my 
 father — Dr. Bacher, M. Joly, M. and Mme Bitaube— or of 
 my own — Rivierre de I'lsle, Lenoir, Gassicourt — these and 
 other young men who with fine manners combined a wit at 
 once kindly and fertile in brilliant fla.shes. Charming men 
 they were, such as in truth I do not meet nowadays. The 
 type seems to have been lost since Frenchmen have abdicated 
 their national character, and taken to posing as teachers before 
 they have gone to school, while keeping so little control over 
 their own heads that they think themselves capable of con- 
 trolling the world. 
 
 Through these kind friends I gradually came to know others. 
 Eivierre introduced me to M. Clavier, the famous Greek scholar, 
 and his wife, afterwards the "motlier-in-law of poor Paul Louis 
 Courier ; also to Mme Winch, a lively and graceful Creole. I 
 forget at whose house I met Fabien ; but the meeting suddenly 
 revived all my old love of fencing, and I agreed with Fabien 
 that he should come and fence with me every morning from 
 eight to eleven. He could not be classed with Saint-Georges, 
 who had put himself beyond all comparison ; but he was none 
 the less a very remarkable fencer, and it was both profitable 
 and pleasant to match oneself against him, though during the 
 first weeks I was nowhere. Gradually I managed to defend 
 myself; and though always his inferior, I succeeded in touching 
 him pretty often. Ultimately, on his recommendation, I took 
 to going in the evenings, when my father did not want me, to a 
 fencing school in the Hue Pdchelieu, where I beat the master 
 and all the amateurs, and took rank in the first class. 
 
 E 2
 
 52 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 One evening as I was fencing there about eight o'clock, in 
 full fencing costume, a loud report was heard. " Hallo 1 " cried 
 some one, " there are the guns announcing the peace." But I 
 knew the sound of guns too well to recognise it this time ; and 
 as some tumult was heard, and the explosion could not have 
 taken place far away, I went out, mask in hand, and as I was. 
 As I reached the gate in the Eue Eichelieu the First Consul'^ 
 carriage on his way to the Opera stopped a little to my left, 
 and General Bonaparte, coming to the window, said to one of 
 the officers of his escort, " Go and order the whole Consular 
 guard to turn out." To another he said, " Go and tell Mme 
 Bonaparte to join me at the Opera." And the carriage 
 went on. 
 
 Everyone was moving towards the Eue Saint-Honore. I 
 changed my clothes, and followed the crowd, which bore me 
 along towards the upper end of the Eue Saint-Xicaise. There 
 people were pointing out a waggon wrecked, doors driven in, 
 ^vindows broken ; but no one could say anything certain as tO' 
 the cause of the disaster. Each was still interpreting it in his 
 own fashion, though people were beginning to suspect that it 
 was a case of an attempt on the life of the First ConsuL 
 Getting tired of being shoved, squeezed, and elbowed, I had 
 worked my way nearly to the Eue Saint-Honore, when the 
 cry was heard, " Another explosion ! " There was a general 
 rush, people were upset and trampled upon in all directions, 
 terrible slirieks resounded, and more people were injured in 
 this disturbance, brought al30ut simply l)y a trick of wliich the 
 thieves took advantage, than had been hurt by the infernal 
 machine, for it is needless to say it is of that that I am speaking. 
 Having been so placed as to be able to gather sooner than 
 almost anyone some certain details as to this diabolical 
 crime, I hastened to carry the news of it to my father, and 
 there were two of us to preserve an exact rememljrance of it. 
 Some time after I received a medal struck on the occasion ; but 
 I saw nothing written on it save a scrap from a romance. Thus- 
 history receives its consecration. 
 
 One day my father found himself dining at Dr. Bacher's in 
 company with Junot, then aide-de-camp to the First Consul
 
 'TALMA 53 
 
 and Governor of Paris. On Jimot's learning who my father 
 was, " Why, hang it all," said he ; " is your son here, and has 
 never been to see me ? " " General," replied my father, " he has 
 often regretted it ; but he is entitled to a confirmation of rank 
 which he has not had, and he cannot bear to solicit favours. 
 Accordingly he had decided not to show himself anywhere, 
 lest the motive of his visit might be mistaken." "That is 
 nonsense," replied Junot ; " tell him to come to breakfast with 
 me to-morrow." I went in response to this invitation, and 
 Junot received me most kindly. He had not long been 
 married to Mile Laure Permon, and he presented me to his 
 wife. It is impossible to imagine anything prettier, more lively, 
 more amiable, or more striking than was that young lady. 
 She was charming, and has always remained in my mind as 
 I saw her then, the most graceful being that ever appeared. 
 
 I had hardly come in when Talma w^as announced. I was 
 delighted to have the chance of seeing that great artist otherwise 
 than in character, and of estimating the actor as a man. The 
 result of the test was by no means unfavourable. I saw a man 
 of simple character, but with confidence in his own worth, 
 educated and capable, without swagger, keeping in his own 
 place, but dignifying that ; a man who would have ennobled 
 his profession if it had been of a nature to be ennobled, and 
 who at least placed himself in tlie front rank of possible ex- 
 ceptions. To pass from the man himself to his talent, I should 
 say, while feeble so long as he chose to follow the lines marked 
 out by Lekain, Talma rose in proportion as he got farther 
 from them ; while Larive, for instance, could successfully follow 
 none but roads already marked. Larive redeemed what he 
 lacked in genius by less roughness than his master, and by a 
 more dignified style. He had loarnt well what had been taught 
 him, and was able to teach it to others ; and our tragic stage 
 will, no doubt, have more Larives. But Talma, the child, 
 so to say, of himself, having displayed no true talent till the 
 day when he had forgotten his teachers, could not bequeath to 
 his successors his own originality. The course which Lekain 
 ojjened. Talma closed ; genius has no jmpils. In ilefault of this 
 merit he had at least that of arousing the enthusiasm of the
 
 54 MEMOIRS OF GENEBAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 world during thirty years, and of having substituted costumes 
 of some probability for the ridiculous get-up of old days, so 
 that we no longer see Eoman emperors in powder, Greeks in 
 silk stockings and pumps, or gods in knee-breeches. 
 
 When we left the table, Junot took me aside and said, 
 " Well, are you sulking ? " " No, indeed ; but I cannot call 
 upon anyone except people from whom I have nothing to get." 
 " Those that don't ask, don't want. However good your cause 
 may be, you have got to plead it. How do you stand ? " I 
 explained. " Come now, be at the First Consul's to-morrow at 
 nine, and wait for me if you are there first." " Thanks ; but 
 please tell me which staircase I must go up by ? " " Do you 
 mean to say you have not set foot in the Tuileries ? " " ISTot 
 yet." " In that case," he said, with a smile, " you must go up 
 by the staircase in the Pavilion de I'Horloge, and tell the 
 doorkeepers from me to let you go into the room where the First 
 Consul receives my reports." As will be seen, no one could 
 be kinder. 
 
 Next morning I was at the Tuileries at five minutes to nine. 
 My explanation to the usher was brief, and I was shown in. 
 At nine came General Mortier, commanding the first military 
 district. A minut"e~Tater, Junot had joined us, and he had 
 hardly done so when the First Consul appeared. After a 
 glance which took in all the room, and only rested on me as 
 on something unexpected, he went up to Mortier, and all the 
 while he listened to him continued to stride about, taking 
 pinch after pinch of snuff. Meanwhile I stood motionless 
 near one corner of the great room, and Junot stayed by the 
 fireplace. 
 
 After receiving a few papers, also some explanations or 
 reports, to which he replied only by motions of the head or 
 by monosyllal)les wliich I did not catch, the First Consul 
 halted rather near me and exclaimed, " More attacks on 
 coaches ? more robljeries of public money ? And cannot anyone 
 think of any way to stop these crimes ? " And when Mortier — 
 agreeably to the saying, " A big mortar has a short range " (he 
 is six feet high) — made no reply, the First Consul resumed his 
 walk, continuing in a loud voice, with short intervals after
 
 THE Fin ST CONSUL .05 
 
 every clause aud emphasis on every word: "The tops of the 
 coaches must be made into a kind of little forts. Parapets 
 must be formed with thick narrow mattresses, loopholes made 
 in them, and as many soldiers, all good shots, as there is room 
 for, placed behind them. Come, general, see that these orders 
 are carried out quickly." 
 
 'Wlien ]\Iortier retired, Junot approached the First Consul, 
 who, after listening a moment to him and making no answer, 
 came abruptly to me and said, "Yon are. General Thiebault ?" 
 At first, not seeing his meaning, I could hardly repress a half- 
 smile, for it seemed odd that he should appear to ask if I was 
 what I came to request liim to make me : but it called for the 
 answer which I was eager to give, " To be so, General Consul, 
 I require your confirmation." " You may count on it." Xow 
 was the moment to express my gratitude, my profound loyalty, 
 and my respect. " So you are at Paris ? " " On leave, but ready 
 to start for Italy again." " That we shall see. Good morning, 
 General Thiebault." 
 
 Ifirthis bfieTljut complete colloquy I was put, thanks to 
 Junot, to no great expense in the way of eloquence and pleading. 
 .\lso the First Consul said not a word about Genoa or my 
 Journal; but by his opening affirmation rather than interro- 
 gation, " You are General Thiebault," avoided any need on my 
 part for saying how I was so, or rather through whom I was so, 
 which I only understood when turning over the details of the 
 interview in iny memory. 
 
 Before three days had elapsed from this audience, I received 
 official advice that my rank was confirmed, and that from the 
 date of the 10th Floreal, Year VIII (April 30, 1800); that is, 
 from the day on which I had earned the step by the recapture 
 of Fort Quezzi at Genoa. I at once called on General Massena, 
 not to speak of the auilience I had had, but to thank Mm anew. 
 From him I went to Junot, and finally to the Minister for "War, 
 with the double object of thanking him for the promptitude witli 
 which the matter had been settled and of knowing whether, 
 when my leave expired, I was to carry out the order which it 
 contained to return to ]\Iilan, or whether fresh orders would be 
 necessary. Berthier replied : " I do not know what are the
 
 56 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 First Consul's intentions with regard to you, but you must wait 
 till he is pleased to make them known." " Could you not, 
 general, do me the favour of representing to him how anxious I 
 am to justify his recent kindness, and to find myself again as 
 soon as possible on the scene of his immortal campaign beyond 
 the Alps ? " "I \\i\\ speak to him about it." He did speak to 
 him, but when I saw him again he told me that the First 
 Consul had answered nothing but : " General Thiebault may be 
 easy ; I will attend to him when the time comes." It seemed 
 to me that nothing was less calculated to put me at my ease. 
 The agreement of the reply with that which the First Consul 
 had made to me directly, " We shall see that," when I asked 
 him if I had to start again for Italy, gave me a glimpse of a 
 decided intention to send me somewhere else. 
 
 iS^ot long after this I was asked to dine at the Tuileries; 
 naturally I could not refuse, and made a point of appearing as 
 contented as possible. Among the guests were the Eussian 
 General Sprechporten and the INIarquis Lucchesini. After 
 dinner, when we returned into the drawing-room, which after- 
 wards became the tlirone-room, the First Consul, in his red 
 coat with gold embroidery, was wearing for the first time hung 
 to a cross -belt a sword which lie had had set with the finest 
 diamonds belonging to France, the Sancy on the pommel and the 
 liegent on the guard : in short, he was exactly as he is repre- 
 sented in the picture that he had painted at that time and gave 
 to the Second Consul. Noticing how attentively people were 
 looking at this sword, he said, taking it out of the belt, " You 
 see, gentlemen, the sword of the Head of the French government : 
 it contains diamonds to the value of 14 million francs." When 
 Lucchesini came forward to get a nearer view of it, Bonaparte 
 put it in his hands, from his hands it passed to mine, from mine 
 to those of General Sprechporten and other people present. I 
 do not know how the momentary possession of that ornament 
 felt to them, but I had, after the first surprise was over, the sen- 
 sation of holding in my hands the symbol of a new spirit, the 
 glorification of a military force as figured in the inconceivable 
 wealth lavished on a sword. 
 
 Talking about General Sprechporten, I forget with whom and
 
 THE OPERA BALL 57 
 
 about what I was chatting when he came and joined in our 
 conversation, and in reference to some date took tlie liberty of 
 saying, " Yes, that was the time when the French invaded the 
 kingdom of Naples." He was alluding to Championnet's cam- 
 paign, and it was an extreme shock to hear the word in the 
 mouth of a Kalmuck. " General," 1 rejoined, " I Ijeg your 
 pardon, but it is only hordes that invade ; the armies of civilised 
 nations conquer." " Ah ! yes, conquer," he replied. The same 
 general expressed himself more fortunately in another place : 
 being unable to check a gesture at the moment when ^lassena was 
 introduced to him at the War Office, he had the happy thought 
 of putting his gesture right by these words : " You cannot fail, 
 general, to understand my surprise ; it is but natural on one's 
 first meeting with the first man since Charles XII who has had 
 the honour to beat the armies of Eussin." 
 
 One night al)0ut this time Eivieri'e carried me off to the Opera 
 ball. It was an important business for him, for me a curiosity, 
 Xobody expected me there or attracted me, while he was running 
 I do not know how many amorous intrigues at once. As soon 
 as he appeared various masks set upon him, competing for the 
 first place. In fact, he was so charming, sparkling Mith wit, 
 always laughing, at once elegant and athletic in l)uild, that it 
 was natural that a number of women should wish to take pos- 
 session of him. " I have some very amusing things to tell 
 you," cried one. " I've got some that will please you finely," 
 cried another. He did not know which to listen to, and as they 
 all dragged him right and left he kept saying, with a laugh, 
 "Pray fight for the possession of me; I will be tlie ])rize of 
 victory." 
 
 Called upon to answer for myself, I soon lost sight of him. 
 The first mask who attacked me said tliat when one managed 
 the affairs of one's country so well one ought to think of one's 
 own, but that I treated my fortune as I did my old friends. 
 Except for the last reproach, that might be true ; anyhow there 
 was no wit and no point about it, and nothing to puzzle me 
 seriously. The scene changed, however, when I was engaged 
 with a second mask ; it was impossible to employ the jargon of 
 masked balls more prettily, more smartly, or more maliciously.
 
 58 MEMOIBS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 There was a rolling fire of it, Ijut what upset me was that there 
 was no business, no interest, no private thought of mine of 
 which that confounded little mask did not speak to me, and in 
 the wittiest and maddest fashion. I thought of every device to 
 guess who was the charming fairy that I had to answer, — all 
 was useless ; I only got baffled in the most extraordinary way. 
 Just when she might have been boasting of having managed 
 the most successful mystification, she was accosted by another 
 mask and went off. However, if I was rid of her she was not 
 rid of me. I did not lose sight of her, but followed her till I 
 reached the door of exit. She sot into her carriagje with her 
 companion ; and although I was very hot, and it was snowing, 
 and I had no time to fetch mv overcoat, I was determined 
 to follow my fortune-teller. Luckily she lived in the Eue 
 Xeuve des Bons Enfants, so I soon got there, and just in time 
 for her confusion, when, having taken off her mask, she found 
 me at the door, and had to take my hand to alight from her 
 carriage. One of the ladies was Mme Clavier, the charming 
 wife of the Greek scholar; the other her friend Mme Winch, 
 both of them acquainted with Ilivierre, through whom the one 
 who had talked to me, Mme Clavier, had got such accurate 
 information of all that concerned me. 
 
 Besides Opera balls, I have many other memories of festivities 
 connected with that period. Our victories at home and abroad, the 
 definitive abandonment of the coalition by Russia, the pacification, 
 of La Vendee and the peace on the Continent, the end of anarchy 
 and the return to order, all formed as it were a new era, while 
 the power of Bonaparte seemed to restore universal confidence. 
 The moment had therefore come for recalling Paris to pleasure 
 and luxury, and to this end General Berthier, Minister for 
 War, gave a party consisting of a dramatic performance and a 
 grand ]>all. It was the first thing of the kind at which the 
 First Consul and his family had l^een present ; and invitations 
 had Ijeen sent out in immense numbers, to show the general 
 adhesion to and enthusiasm for the new government and its 
 head. Astonishment, curiosity, the novelty of the thing, made 
 everyone accept ; the concourse was beyond calculation. Had 
 there not Ijeen so many thousands of witnesses, one would fear
 
 IN A CRUSH 5D 
 
 to be accused of hoaxing when one says that carriages emerging 
 from the Pont lioyal at nine did not reach the War Office till 
 four in the morning; that one person living in the Kue du 
 Bac was tliree hours advancing and backing before he could 
 get out of his front gate and take his place in the line ; and 
 that in that same terrible street all the pies, cold meat, cake, 
 bread, even saveloys, that were to be found in the Fauljourg 
 Saint-Germain, were eaten, by masters and servants alike, 
 during the long and repeated halts. One poor lady, who had 
 left her Ijaby and come as a matter of duty, stayed an hour at 
 the ball, and could not get her carriage till she had waited 
 in the first room for three hours, crying so that everybody 
 pitied her. 
 
 It was arranged that I should escort a certain Mme Texier 
 to this ball ; her friend Michele Lagreca, who had left Xaples 
 with our army, being the third. The fourth place was taken Ijy 
 Trenis, the most wonderful society dancer that has ever lived. He 
 was the man who, wishing to express the full grace and softness 
 of the dance, averred that it was " like oil flowing over roses." 
 Some one said to him : " Monsieur Trenis, I saw you dancing 
 yesterday." He replied quite simply, " Had you a good place 
 for seeing ? " Yet, in spite of these specimens of affectation and 
 coxcombry, Trenis was none the less a very good fellow, a 
 charming man, well-mannered and witty, deservedly liked, and 
 sought for, even fought for, all round. l*oor fellow! he ended 
 his days a lunatic at Bicetre, in al)ject poverty. 
 
 After some delay by the block in the streets, during which 
 Trenis kept us diverted with his conversation and anecdotes, 
 we succeeded in gaining admission by the help of a friendly 
 officer of gendarmerie, into the line of official carnages, and 
 arrived just as the play was over, and the First Consul was 
 passing from the room that had served as theatre into the 
 ball-room. I was in his path, and he gave me one of the 
 most unpleasant looks I ever had from him. Till then great 
 simplicity in dress had been usual, and this was quite to my 
 taste. I did not like antl never have liked luxury, and had 
 gone to this ball in a new uniform, but without eml)roidery. 
 Now r>onaparte, while retaining the simplest style of dress
 
 60 MEMO JUS OF GENERAL THIEBAVLT 
 
 liimself, wished to make an impression by the magnificence 
 •of those around him, and of all who belonged to his govern- 
 ment. Thus his aides-de-camp, his ministers, and nearly all 
 his generals were covered with gold and embroidery even to 
 excess, making loyalty and policy an excuse for vanity. Amid 
 all this state, my costume, I must own, was a trifle modest ; 
 and owing to the contrast, I even seemed to advertise a kind of 
 contempt for the ideas which the First Consul adopted, and for 
 the deference which he required. The day at Saint-Cloud must 
 have persuaded him of this ; and from the date of this ball he 
 .sliowed towards me a little more of the ill-humour which in 
 a Corsican was bound to last for ever. I thought next day 
 that it would have Ijeen better if our carriage had remained 
 in the string, or if we had not met the obliging gendarme. 
 
 My old commander, the Count of Valence, was one of the 
 first to be struck off the list of those " who had gone abroad," 
 and I heard that he had returned to France and was in Paris. 
 I called on him, and was much touched with the pleasure he 
 seemed to feel at seeing me again. He invited me to dinner 
 the next day, and introduced me to his aunt the Duchess of 
 Montesson, with whom he was staying. One evening there was 
 a large party at her house, including Count Metternich and 
 Mme de Stael. I had been saying a few words to Mnie de 
 llontesson, and as I moved away Mme de Stael, who was 
 sitting near, and whom I had never seen l)efore, said, " Who is 
 that general ? " ]\Ime de Montesson replied, " That is General 
 Thiebault," to which Mme de Stael, who had heard imperfectly, 
 and saw me with more than indulgent eyes, returned, " Of 
 course I see that he is handsome (beau), but I ask what is his 
 name." Thereupon a laugh went round the ladies ; and as they 
 looked at me, I could not pretend not to see that I was the 
 object of their fits of contagious laughter. Indeed I was so 
 puzzled that I asked the reason of them ; and thus I was able 
 to make sure that in consequence of this little misunderstanding 
 the nickname of " General Tres-beau " should not— as some one 
 tried to insinuate it did— stick to me. It was not true, especially 
 in the superlative, and would have hugely annoyed me. 
 
 Among the frequenters of Mme de Montesson's drawing-room
 
 THE WRECK OF A MAN 01 
 
 I one day liciird the nanie of the ]Mke of Guiues. It could 
 not fail to recall the lirilliant duke, mentioned in the early part 
 of these Memoirs, who acted as my godfather, Ijeing at that time 
 ambassador from France at the Prussian court. I could not 
 believe that the little, lean, puny old man whom I saw, l)anished 
 as it were to the recess of a window in that sumptuous room,. 
 was identical with the most vigorous of our colonels, the most 
 showy of our ambassadors, — the man who, having taken offence 
 at something or other, had dared to appear before Frederick 
 the Great in a morning-coat and a round hat, with a riding-whip 
 in his hand. I begged M. de Valence to tell me what the 
 relation was between this M. de Guines and the amljassador. 
 " What relation ? Only that of identity." On my exclaiming 
 in surprise, M. de Valence questioned me, and learnt that I 
 knew the duke in right of being his godson: whereupon he 
 took my hand, and, leading me up to liim, said, " Duke, let me 
 present to you one for whom you are answerable before God." 
 I never saw anything like the change that came over the duke's- 
 face. " / am answerable. Count ? " said he, in a tone of positive 
 dismay, hardly venturing to look at me in my general's 
 uniform. The Count, having explained who I was and added 
 some kindly words, left us, and I did my best to put the old 
 gentleman at his ease, but could not succeed in doing so. When 
 I told him how glad my father would be to hear of him, and no 
 less anxious than I was myself to pay his respects, he merely 
 repeated that he would come to see us, and bade me give his com- 
 pliments to my father. I left him, much saddened by the sight 
 of the wreck of a man once so brilliant. When I imparted my^ 
 feelings to the Count of Valence, he owned that only a fragment 
 survived of the man whom I had known. He added : " Time 
 and misfortunes have helped to break him down. He is very 
 badly off; lives in rooms that are something less than plain, 
 and is waited on only by a single woman, who takes him every 
 morning to Mass and sometimes to friends' houses, whence she 
 brings him home like a child." Two days afterwards my father 
 and I left our names at his house, and Ijefore long we heard of 
 his death. 
 
 I had stayed in Paris longer than T had thought possible^
 
 62 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 when people began to talk of the formation of a corps of obser- 
 vation in the Gironde. It M'as assembling between the Garonne 
 and the Bidassoa, under the command of General Leclerc, 
 brother-in-law to the First Consul. Soon afterwards we heard of 
 the concentration of a corps at Poitiers, and simultaneously that 
 a squadron, under Admiral Bruix, was collecting at Eochefort. 
 Public opinion pointed to Portugal as the object of these prepa- 
 rations. At the same time I received orders to go to Poitiers 
 and take command of the troops who were arriving there, and 
 of whom a statement was sent me. I further had instructions 
 to the effect that I was at once to see to the provision of all 
 that might be deficient in clothing, equipment, and arms, or in 
 men and horses, for all battalions, squadrons, and batteries, in 
 order to bring them into a condition for active service.
 
 ( ^^^ ) 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 Ordered to Poitiers — Destination unknown — Admiral Bruix — Savary — With 
 Leclerc to Portugal — My staff — On the frontier — First view of Spain 
 and Portugal — Courts-martial — Quarrel with my chief — La Salle — 
 Practical joking — Moreau or Massena. 
 
 As I posted to Poitiers, I subjected myself to a sort of examina- 
 tion, to get an idea of the judgement likely to be formed of me 
 by the vox populi, wMcli in the case of soldiers is, unquestion- 
 ably, the vox Dei. I considered that general officers came in 
 contact with the men in four principal ways : first, as concerns 
 material needs of tlie troops ; secondly, in regard to order and 
 discipline ; thirdly, in manoeuvres ; fourthly, in direct command 
 on the march and in presence of the enemy. 
 
 Under the first of these heads, I felt confident of evincing 
 enough interest in and care for my troops to ensure their 
 speedy gratitude and attachment. So far as the second went, 
 I would not gratuitously insult them by supposing that they 
 would not appreciate the necessity for order, punctuality, and 
 discipline ; and as I meant to make a point of being just, I 
 hoped for success here also. But as regarded the thu-d point, 
 that of manoeuvres, I might have more cause for anxiety, 
 having never had occasion to direct any of those complicated 
 evolutions, so useful for keeping troops on the di'ill-ground, or 
 as a distraction in the leisure of peace or in garrison life, but of 
 no use in war. I have, in the course of twenty campaigns, 
 been engaged in two hundred or more combats, and the 
 manoeuvres I have seen performed in presence of the enemy 
 may be reduced to very few : flank marches, formation from 
 line into column and column into line, two or tlu-ee changes of 
 front, once only — on the eve of the battle of Austerlitz — a 
 march by regimental squares, and a few other momentary
 
 64 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 formations of the same nature; marches in line, one or two 
 movements in echelon, once a movement in echelon in squares. 
 All these simple manceuvres I had always regarded as indis- 
 pensable, and they were familiar to me. But, as I was going- 
 on active service, the elegances of drill-ground evolutions did 
 not seem essential in presence of the enemy, and I felt at ease. 
 
 In regard to marching, choice of position for attack or 
 defence, or the management of an action, I had seen too much 
 of these to be much afraid ; and, besides, they were my constant 
 subject of study. Indeed, when I was travelling, or even 
 takino- a walk, I never saw any natural feature without con- 
 sidering how I would attack or defend it, with any kind or 
 number of troops, and at any hour of the day or night. Thus 
 I felt myself sufficiently prepared to meet my troops from all 
 these points of view ; and as I had sufficient power of talking- 
 to be able to impress them, I saw no reason for aught but 
 confidence. 
 
 Soon after reaching Poitiers, I received a letter from Admiral 
 
 Bruix, commanding the fleet at Eochefort, in which he asked 
 
 for information as to a part of the corps which I had under me. 
 
 The correspondence soon grew brisk, and he mentioned that, in 
 
 one of his letters to the First Consul, he had congratulated 
 
 liimself on having to deal with me. Very soon came an order 
 
 to place at his disposal any troops that he might require, and 
 
 some of them began at once to move towards Eochefort. I was 
 
 wondering more and more what the result of this displacement 
 
 would be to me, when I received, on ]May 5, an order, issued 
 
 directly from Malmaison, Ijidding me emljark for a destination 
 
 which I should only learn when 250 miles at sea. It was a 
 
 confidential mission, and I was assured the expedition would 
 
 not be very distant. 
 
 Just at this time my aide-de-camp had made friends with 
 a M. Dupaty, a young man who had an enthusiasm for military 
 service and for me. He sent me word that if I would take 
 him, and would do my best to get him a commission, he would 
 come with me as a volunteer, and do the duties of orderly 
 officer. "But," I answered, "does he know the rumours 
 current about the expedition ? " " He says that he could put
 
 WHERE ABE WE OOINU * 65 
 
 up with a conquest of Brazil ; that he would uot like Egypt at 
 all ; but that he would be delighted with a landing in Portugal, 
 where he would l>e the foremost in making advances to the 
 Portuguese ladies." At this point he came in himself, and 
 repeated the proposal with so much gaiety and so much resolu- 
 tion that I told him he would be welcome, and tliat I would do 
 all in my power to open a career to him in wliieli he seemed 
 likely to distinguish liimself. 
 
 In pursuance of my orders, I had sent all the rest of my 
 troops, some to Bordeaux, some to Eochefort, whither I myself 
 went to take command of those who were to sail in Admiral 
 Bruix' fleet. An orderly met me there, and took me to the 
 lodging that the admiral had secured for me. I called on him 
 at once, and was most kindly received. He spoke of the troops 
 I had sent, and of their line condition ; of the staff-officers 
 attached to the expedition, and of General d'Houdetot, who 
 commanded under him ; of the fleet, of his most distinguished 
 captains, of the Foudroyant* on board of which I was to be ; 
 of his hope to be under sail in eight or ten days, in spite of the 
 English cruiser, which, however, caused him no small anxiety. 
 All this was said with remarkable energy, not by a sailor 
 such as we generally fancy them — sturdy, sunburnt, forbidding 
 — of the type of General Duperre, but by a little, thin, pale, 
 puny man, almost hairless, who made me think of a plucked 
 parrot, or of a corpse that had forgotten to cease living. 
 
 As I was about to take leave of him, he said : " General, I 
 reckoned on your doing me the honour to dine with me ; and 
 I have asked an aide-de-camp of the First Consul, General 
 Savary, to meet you." I was delighted to see once more my 
 old comrade of the Armies of the Ehine and of Eome. The 
 captain of the Foudroyant was also there. After a merrj' 
 dinner we went with the admiral to the theatre. We were 
 chatting in his box after the lirst piece, when a quarrel broke 
 out in the pit between a naval officer and a group of local 
 persons. All the other naval officers in the boxes rushed to 
 
 * [Not to be coufused with the Foudroyant captured from the French 
 
 in 1758, which did good service throughout the w.ir against her former 
 owners.] 
 
 VOL. II. F
 
 6Q MEMOIBS OF GENERAL TEIEDAULT 
 
 the aid of their comrade. The admiral, who, with the liveliness 
 of a midshipman, was very near jumping down from Ms box, 
 dashed off with all of us, I being followed by all the military 
 offieers. Swords were already drawn, and we arrived just in 
 time to stop a very unseemly scuffle. 
 
 Four days after my arrival an 80-gun ship was launched. 
 It was a lieautiful day, and the crowd was immense. When 
 the stays had been cut, the ladies trembled for the carpenter 
 whose duty it was to knock away the last shore. Their fears 
 were needless. The huge hull remained an instant motionless, 
 then slid slowly on the well-soaped ways, and, suddenly gaining 
 speed, shot like lightning across the Charente, and stuck — 
 more tlian fifteen feet of her- — in the mud of the opposite 
 bank. Cheers arose, no doubt 1 jecause she had not capsized ; 
 but she cut a doleful figure, stuck in the mud as though cast 
 AWjay. A hundred yoke of oxen were attached to the stern, 
 iind in this way she was pulled out, and went off to Oleron to 
 be fitted. 
 
 Savary went home with me, and we were chatting — I forget 
 in what connection — about my works. He spoke of what he 
 was kind enough to call my capal)ility, and of the enthusiasm 
 wliich I naturally possessed, and which the First Consul was so 
 well fitted to stimulate. " There is no man of youi^ kind about 
 him," he added. " You would share usefully in oui' duties ; 
 but besides that, you might be collecting materials for the 
 history of that great man, which are every day perishing irre- 
 trievably." "What prevents you from collecting them your- 
 self ? " I said. " You would do it Ijetter than I, and, besides, I 
 am always running about. But on what terms are you with 
 the First Consul?" I told him the business of the 18th 
 Brumaire, and reminded him of the line I had taken at Eome 
 against Berthier. He thought these bad antecedents, but still 
 did not give up his first idea, and left me under the impression 
 that he would try to get me attached to the First Consul, 
 That is all I have ever known. If he did take any steps, they 
 remained without result, as'' they were bound to do. There are 
 some chances, of wliich one never again picks up the thread 
 if one has once dropped it. And yet it depended on this
 
 THE FJJIST CONSUL'S LETTEIlS G7 
 
 alone that the Memorial of >St. Helena did not 1)eL,aii witli the 
 century. 
 
 A few days after this, orders were given to take all the 
 baggage on board. My aides-de-camp saw to the transport, and 
 I T)assed all day and most of the nif'ht writinjj. Towards four 
 in the morning I fell asleep, and did not wake till nine, when 
 I heard that the embaikation \\as put oft". I went to Savary's, 
 and found him sitting ])y tlie fire and reading, very thought- 
 fully, a letter from the First Consul — four pages long, and all 
 in his own wiiting, if that word may be used to exjiress letters 
 all distorted, words all abljreviated, and lines all aslant. I sat 
 down at Savary's bidding on the other side of the fireplace. 
 For himself, after finishing the letter, reading it over again ■^'ith 
 equal attention, making some notes, unintelligible to anyone 
 but himself, and casting his eyes once more over two passages, 
 he stretched out the hand in wliich he held it, and dropped it 
 into the fire. " What are you doing ? " I exclaimed. " What 
 my orders prescribe. Letters written by the First Consul 
 himself are wholly confidential ; and as the contents must not 
 be known by any other person than those to whom they are 
 addressed, they have to be destroyetl as soon as read." " Truly," 
 I said, " the idea of not preserving such historic relics for one's 
 children, existing or to come, (juite upsets me. Besides, you 
 give orders and act according to the tenor of these letters ; and 
 as the First Consul surely does not write himself," I added 
 with a smile, " for the pleasure of writing, and the object of the 
 letter is clearly important, how would you put yourself right 
 in the event of an omission on his part, or a mistake made 
 by you owing to an ambiguity ? " " I do not trouble myself 
 about all that," said Savary. "As for my responsibility, so 
 long as I leave no doubt as to my boundless devotion, that 
 is all I care about; while, as to any children that I may 
 have, the example of that devotion is the only thing 1 am 
 anxious about leaving them." I was struck with the remark, 
 w^hich I have often recalled. Without it Savaiy's life ■will be 
 impossible to understand ; with it, that life becomes wholly 
 consistent. 
 
 To change the subject, he asked al)out my own doings. I 
 
 F 2 ""
 
 68 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIKDAULT 
 
 admitted that I did not like the orders to emiiark. I was irkecf 
 by being put in a position superior to General d'Houdetot, my 
 senior by twenty years, while my father's age and the situation 
 of my family tied me to the mainland. "Nothing but duty 
 would make one go to sea," said Savary, " if one is not a naval 
 officer. As to d'Houdetot, the admiral has never been fair tO' 
 him, and I can understand that, though he has only praise for 
 your conduct, the position cannot be pleasant to him, "Well,. 
 write to the First Consul, saying nothing to make him think 
 you do not want to sail, but confining yourself to stating as 
 simply and Ijriefly as possible how you stand with regard tO' 
 d'Houdetot. My messenger goes in two hours, and will take^ 
 your letter," In a week Savary and the admiral, who had also- 
 written, had answers. General d'Houdetot resumed command 
 of the expeditionary force, and I rejoined the headquarters of 
 the corps of observation in the Gironde, commonly called *' The 
 Army of Portugal," I called, with Savary, on the admiral, 
 who had already sent me my orders, but was none the less 
 annoyed at my departure. " "When do you leave us ? " said be. 
 " At midnight." However, he insisted that I should dine with 
 him, but our dinner was gi'ave. 
 
 At the port I was attacked by the masters of two vessels,, 
 offering to take me to Bordeaux. The one I chose, as the 
 fastest, had not a good record. She had capsized in the previous 
 year, drowning all on l)oard but one man, on the very passage I 
 was about to make. Nowadays I should select the other ; one 
 holds tighter to life the nearer it is to taking flight. We spun 
 along, laid over till sailors and passengers had to lie flat on 
 their stomachs ; but, thanks to the breeze, leaving Eoyan at four 
 in the morning, we were in Bordeaux as it struck two in the 
 afternoon. 
 
 I passed a quarter of an hour with General Leclerc before his 
 departure for Bayonne. Leclerc, who was brother to Davout's^ 
 wife, was also brother-in-law of the First Consul by his mar- 
 riage with Pauline Bonaparte. His manner had more of self- 
 sufficiency than of dignity. It cannot be denied that he was a 
 clever man, nor, at the same time, that he was far inferior to> 
 the position he held and the opinion that he had of himself..
 
 ''THE BLOND BONAPARTE" 69 
 
 A proof of llii.s is that having, except for the colour of his hair, 
 n certain resenibhince in face, figure, thinness, and general cut, 
 to the Bonaparte of that period, he had got the idea that to 
 render the identity quite coniplete he needed only to copy his 
 postures, manner, and gestures. Thus lie held himself and 
 ■walked like his famous brother-in-law, put his hands behind 
 his back like him, and talked in brief and jerky sentences. 
 He tried to imitate his looks, his smiles, the movements of 
 his lips, with the result of substituting giimaces for that 
 incomparable play of feature which often decided a man's 
 fate before a word had been uttered. He had his boots and 
 clothes cut in the same style, even to the grey overcoat and the 
 monumental hat, which he put on his head in such a fiishion 
 that the whole of the First Consul — except the man Idmself — 
 was accurately reproduced in the " blond Bonaparte," as he 
 was called. 
 
 As I have said, my interview with him was but momentary. 
 Nearly all the troops were already at Bayonne, and he himself 
 •was starting to lead the first division. All that happened was 
 that I was put in command of the two last regiments, and told 
 to bring them on to join the headquarters at liodiigo. 
 
 Besides my aide-de-camp Eichebourg, and Dupaty, above- 
 mentioned, I had three travelling companions. One was Texier, 
 the husband of the lady Nvhose name has already occurred. He 
 was the son of a rich merchant of Bordeaux, but had quarrelled 
 with his family. The others were Delost, a kind of ill-built 
 Hercules, who, in consequence of several duels, had already had 
 to pass some time in Spain, where he had become a leading 
 spkit among a band of smugglers, and Delpech, the son of a 
 nobleman of Berigord. His father had forbidilen him to go 
 abroad, and also to take service on the staff of the Count of 
 Valence ; so he had become contractor-in-chief to the Army of 
 the North. He was a man of calm demeanour and elegant 
 appearance, but of extraordinary energy and activity of mind. 
 In April 1795, as aide-de-camp to Bichegru, he had given 
 vigorous assistance in suppressing the revolts of the faubourgs. 
 Once, in reply to some insulting remark, he sent a challenge to 
 Sebastiani, who has since become more celebrated than illus-
 
 70 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 trious. His secouds were Junot and Kerbonig ; but his reputa- 
 tion as a swoidsnian decided the valiant Sel)astiani to substitute 
 the most hunilde apology for arrogant insult, and even to otter 
 a written reparation, which Delpech disdained. A person who 
 continued Marat's Ami du Fcuflc attacked him in one of his 
 numbers. Delpech went to see him, Init got only threats and 
 renewed insults. He then got together the fifty soundest 
 pensioners to be found at the Invalides, made them drunk, 
 armed some of them with hunting whips, divided them into two 
 bands, went to the journalist's office, had him thrashetl within an 
 inch of his life, and his presses thrown out of window. He 
 escaped all pursuit, and even succeeded in putting them on a 
 false scent as to the perpetrator of the chastisement. 
 
 Anyone who crossed the Landes at the time of which I am 
 speaking cannot have forgotten their sands, into which the 
 carriage wheels used to sink up to the naves. The recollection 
 is all the more lasting because this lifeless, desert, monotonous 
 region, which produces nothing but pines, and has no crop but 
 turpentine, is suddenly succeeded by a picturesque and fertile 
 country, to the west of which, where the Nive and Adour meet, 
 stands the capital of the most lively, gayest, and most active of 
 peoples, not less remarkable for the beauty of the inhabitants 
 than for the gayness of their costumes, 
 
 ■When we left Bayonne on June 7, 1801, the younger 
 members of our party were determined to try panniers, as the 
 saddles are called that have seats attached on either side of 
 them, so as to enable every horse to carry two persons. Natu- 
 rally it is necessary to balance the weight of the persons, an 
 arrangement which, reckoning them as meat by the pound, 
 paired Eichebourg with Dupaty, Texier with Pelost. Delpech 
 and I were content with a horse saddled in the usual way 
 apiece. In this way we went I do not know how many leagues 
 at a smart trot without being able to outstrip the two Basques 
 from whom we hired our horses, and who went with us to bring 
 them back. They appeared to feel neither fatigue nor shortness 
 of breath, in spite of the speed and length of the journey, and 
 the proverb " to go like a Basque " seemed to us more than 
 justified.
 
 A FRONTIER SKIRMISH 71 
 
 We liked the panniers much ; it is a pleasant way of 
 travelling side by side with a person to whom one can talk at 
 one's ease. Nothing seems to me better to show the turn of 
 these ])eople's minds, their need of intercourse, and, I niiiy add, 
 their confidence in each other; for if liv a trick such as IJiche- 
 bourg played on Dupaty one of the two occupants of the 
 pannier jumps suddenly from his seat, the other necessarily 
 goes head over heels. 
 
 Towards the end of the day, when we left Bayonne, intending 
 to join our carriages at Saint Jean de Luz and my brigade at 
 Irun, it began to rain. We had been otherwise delayed, and 
 the bad condition of the roatl impeded our progi'ess still more. 
 On approaching the Bidassoa, which we did not reach till ten 
 in the evening, we even had to alight to relieve our carriage- 
 horses, and we were put out liy all these delays when some 
 custom-house officers came up to us. One of them, with the 
 air of barring a passage \\'hich no one thought of forcing, put 
 his left list against my breast. 1 cannot exactly say how it 
 happened, but his paw had hardly come in contact with my 
 body when a cut of a cane across his face overturned him in the 
 mud. Cries of " To arms ! " at once resounded, and tliirty men 
 with their muskets at once surrounded us. Our first reply was 
 to burst out laughing, wliich disconcerted them to begin with ; 
 l)ut as an end had to be made of the aft'air, I asked for the 
 officer in command, who came forward. I knew that he and 
 his men had been bribed to allow contraband goods to the 
 value of a million and a half to pass out of France into Spain ; 
 I tlu'eatened to inform against him, and further demanded that 
 our carriages should l)e searched, and that the name of the 
 official who had behaved insolently to me should be given up to 
 me. I made no use of the name, but, in order to anticipate any 
 conse([uences of my threats, the officer lodged a complaint on 
 his side, addressed to the Minister for War, which meant that it 
 came into the hands of my friend Lomet. He threw it in the 
 fire, but persuaded my father to write and advise me to behave 
 with more moderation. In this way 1 contracted a debt 
 towards these oflicials, payment of which had necessarily lu be 
 postponed till my return to France.
 
 72 MEMOmS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 EeacluDg San Sebastian, ^vhel•e we stayed twenty-lbnr hours, 
 we went on to Tolosa, at the junction of the roads to Navarre 
 and Castile ; from this point I did not again leave my troops. 
 At A'itoria I reviewed them in the square where the bull-fights 
 are held. At Miranda we crossed the Ebro. We passed the 
 night at Burgos, and so on to Yalladolid, where my quarters 
 were in the house of a canon of Santiago, a wealthy man living 
 in very handsome style. He was extremely polite and good- 
 natured, and insisted on our dining with him. The first day we 
 were alone, but on the following day all the most distinguished 
 people of Yalladolid were asked to meet us, notably the Grand 
 Inquisitor, with whom I had much interesting conversation. 
 After dinner- I touched upon the subject of the Inquisition, 
 speaking, as may be .supposed, not in the tone of one who was 
 attacking, but as one seeking information. I admitted, all the 
 same, that that morning we had visited and been not unmoved 
 by the judgement-hall and one of the dungeons of the In- 
 quisition. I spared him, however, the strong language Avhich 
 that visit had elicited from us, and said nothing about the 
 J cranks of Dupaty, who had sat down on the judges' bench, and 
 put on one of their four-cornered caps, afterwards assuming a 
 ■doleful demeanour as he took his place on the seat of the victims. 
 My Grand Inquisitor kept up his part ; he was a clever man, 
 and being forced V)y his cloth to justify the hateful institution 
 of which he was an official, he showed much tact in appealing 
 against what he called the falsehoods retailed on that subject. 
 Talking about the authors who had said most in condemnation 
 of the Inquisition, I was able, almost naturally, to bring in the 
 question, " Do you know the Compere Mcithieu ? " * He started, 
 but I had put so much good humour into my tone and my 
 look that he recovered himself, and answered, " I have heard of 
 the work, but never had the chance of reading it." Emboldened 
 by his phrase " the chance," I rejoined, " I must make full 
 allowance for your superior talent and your lofty position to 
 venture to add that the passage seems to me, nevertheless, well 
 
 * [A somewliat famous attack on Christianity written by the Abbe 
 Dulaurens, and pubUshed in 1765. It was written in so vigorous and 
 pungent a style that it was at first ascribed to Voltaire.]
 
 nniOAXDS AHEAD 73 
 
 worth your kuowiii^'; if you like to come as tar as my room, I 
 will put the volume contaiuiiig it in your hands, and you can 
 look over it." He hesitated, l)ut not wishing to f^jive me a ri«,'ht 
 to say that he either lacked self-control or was dull, he t olio wed 
 me. In my room I took the edition of the book which I had 
 with me, opened it at the page where the passage begins, and 
 withdrew. After time enough to have read it through the 
 Grand Inquisitor reappeared in the drawing-room. To pursue 
 the subject further would have Ijeen in excess of the limits of 
 propriety, so we had no more asides on the subject, and he 
 seemed to appreciate my delicacy. After all, I lost nothing by 
 it so far as regarded the pleasure of having made a Grand 
 Inquisitor read that formidable chapter. 
 
 On the road to Xava del liey, the day being very hot, our 
 party, travelling in carriages, had fallen considerably in rear of 
 the column, when an alarm of brigands was raised. "We were 
 warned of an impending attack by the " great Ijaud " as it was 
 called, but I refused to go back, thinking it unlikely that 
 brigands would venture upon a road on which the tracks of a 
 strong column were still visilile. Instead of this, I adopted the 
 plan of compelling every person whom we saw to join our 
 caravan. Casual passers-by, peasants on their way home from 
 gathering wood, even a priest on his mule, were pressed into 
 the service, until we reached the number of sixty persons, 
 which, with our horses and carriages, looked almost like a 
 column on the march. 
 
 On reaching Xava I sent for the corrcgldor, to inquire about 
 the band, and why no steps were taken to destroy it. I learnt 
 that it consisted of 300 men, and had already fought several 
 engagements. Although some hundred men belonging to it 
 were now awaiting their trial in the prison of Nava, it had 
 been lately recruited, and had just beaten two detachments of 
 the king's troops. It had levied several thousand reals in that 
 province, and was the terror of the countryside. Just now it 
 was hanging about Nava, in the hope of breaking into the 
 prison and freeing its comrades. " And what means," said I, 
 "have you for frustrating the scheme?" " Xot much," he 
 replied ; " but I have made up my mind, and am all ready
 
 74 MEMOIRS OF GENEBAL THIEBAIJLT 
 
 with what I have. And I have tokl the chief that if he attacks, 
 I shall begin by hamstringing all the prisoners." * 
 
 Here is another chai-acteristic touch of the Spanish of that 
 period. One of my battalions reached a village — I forget wliat 
 — ^just as one of the principal houses had happened to catch 
 tire. The inhabitants, on their knees before the church door 
 and about the streets, were seeking to extinguish the fire by 
 prayer. The officer commanding the battalion called a halt, 
 and detached one hundred men without theii" arms to get tlie 
 fire under, compelling the inhabitants to help. In this way he 
 saved the village, and the inhabitants, in course of time, undei- 
 stood the service that had been done them. A deputation, 
 headed by the parson and the corregidor, came in due form to 
 thank the officer ; in spite of which, three unlucky soldiers of 
 the battalion, who had been left behind when it moved on, 
 were murdered on leaving the village next morning, though 
 they had given no cause for complaint. More than a hundred 
 others shared the same fate in the course of that campaign, 
 though there was no question of a revolution in Spain. AVe 
 were the king's allies against Portugal, and were to have fought 
 under the orders of the Prince of the Peace, of whose army we 
 formed the right wing,t nor did my force ever maintain. stricter 
 discipline. 
 
 Salamanca, wliich I reached on June 26, might have been 
 expected to offer more interest than that of a night's rest ; but 
 the headquarters were at Ciudad Eodrigo, and I was in a hurry 
 to get there, and see how I should be treated by a chief who, as 
 an army-leader, was not indeed very formidable, but could be 
 decidedly so for subordinates whom he did not like, I had 
 reason to be fully satisfied with his reception of me. After a 
 few words on my journey and on the state of the troops 
 whom I brought with me, he added that he had three infantry 
 
 * M. Delpech reminds me of this characteristic anecdote, which I liad 
 forgotten, and also that the word used, which made us laugh a good deal, 
 was descortezar. [If so, the corregidor's threat was to fiaij his prisoners!] 
 
 t [This is not strictly correct, for the treaty of Badajo/ had been signed 
 some weeks before, and the war between Spain and Portugal was at hti end. 
 Godoy by no means desired French " help " at this time.]
 
 FIRST VISIT TO PORTUGAL 7§ 
 
 divisions, connuiiutlcd by geuenils ut" my nink, hut all uiy 
 sciiioi-s, 1111(1 offered me the advance -guard, consisting of three 
 infantry regiments, one of chasseurs, and six guns. Its right 
 rested on Fort Concepcion, its left on the Sierra de Francia. The 
 headquarteis were to he at Gallegos, a \illage near the centre 
 of the line. The Portuguese army, numerous, though not of 
 much value, was not to Ijc lost sight of, and I was to keep 
 the general posted up witli all the information I could g;iiu 
 a])out it. 
 
 I took the opportunity of calling upon various officers, 
 including Mesny, the paymastel" of the army, whose acquaint- 
 ance I hail made at Epinal in 1792, when we used to piactise 
 music together ; and the excellent La Salle, \\hom I never met 
 without fresh pleasure. Next morning, just when I was about 
 leaving Ixodrigo, I learnt that General Gouvion Saint-C>T was 
 in the place, though holding no avowed position of authority, 
 nor discharging any recognised duties. What could the presence 
 of a general of his calibre, in apparent inactivity, in a sort of 
 incognito, mean ? I was not long in doubt ; he was an adviser 
 to decide upon operations in the event of war. Xotliing could 
 l)e better calculated to sustain the confidence of the troops ; 
 l)ut what was the price set upon tliis obliging conduct, this 
 sacrifice beforehand of glory which could be due only to the 
 adviser, and would be reaped by the advised? A war alone 
 could have answered that question, and, as it happened, we did 
 not lire a single round ; but it is known that the mere good 
 intentions were rewarded by an embassy. Anyhow, though on 
 the point of leaving liodrigo, I went to pay my respects to 
 Saint-Cyr. He talked only of Italy and Ifome, and avoided 
 everything connected with the subjects of which he might most 
 naturally have spoken, with General Leclerc, or our army, or 
 Spain and the Portuguese. 
 
 I inspected the troops at Gallegos the day after my arrival 
 and visited Fort Concepcion, which, having been recently con- 
 structed and restored, looked more like a sugar-plum box than 
 a military work. I was not satisfied with the situation of the 
 regiment on my left, encamped at the foot of the Francia Hill, 
 and the officer in command of it said that his position was
 
 76 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 deplorable, but that it had been selected by the commander-in- 
 chief himself, and he did not see how to change it without 
 orders from him. However, as on reconnoitring the hill I 
 foimd an admirable position above its lower spurs, preferring 
 the risk of a reprimand to that of totally losing the regiment, 
 I at once established it on the higher ground. Then, in order 
 to have a clear notion of the strength and position of the 
 Portuguese army in front of us, such as, if necessary, to justify 
 to the commander-in-chief my shifting of the regiment, and 
 hearing that more than a league intervened between their 
 advanced posts and their camp, I crossed the line of outposts 
 with 125 cavaLry at an ordinary trot, stopping at the villages 
 to get intelligence. In this way I went some seven miles 
 between the enemy's outposts and his main army, and returned 
 to Gallegos by way of Fort Concepcion without having received 
 a shot or exchanged a sword-cut. The Portuguese army was 
 all in movement behind me, and I decided to pass the night 
 with all my troops under arms, the guns harnessed and the 
 cavahy ready to mount. But it was doing our enemy too 
 much honour ; that extraordinary reconnoissance had frightened 
 rather than emboldened them. They did not forget it, though, 
 for when I was at Lisbon in December 1807, the Marquis of 
 Alorna, the youngest general in that army, and the only one 
 worth anything, spoke to me about it. He added, " We ought 
 to have taken you prisoner." " That is true," I answered, 
 laughing. " It was not a fair match, for I was playing thu-ty- 
 one years against fifteen hundred " — the sum of their generals' 
 united ages. However, if I got off well as regarded the 
 Portuguese army, it was not so as regarded Leclerc, who was 
 not best pleased with the lesson I had given him in full view 
 of the troops. He said nothing about that, but got his com- 
 pensation by disapproving my trip through the Portuguese 
 army. Yet, from a military point of view, I was right enough. 
 
 Our stay at Gallegos was not entertaining in itself, but we 
 had plenty of cigars, and smoked like chimneys. My com- 
 panions were amiable and amusing — Eichebourg the inex- 
 haustible ; Dupaty in a state of permanent enthusiasm and 
 exaggeration; another aide-de-camp, Frehot, a dull man, but a
 
 COURT-MARTIAL DUTIES 77 
 
 <,'ood l)utl ; and Texier, who, though ecci-ntiic at times, vas a 
 <,'Ood-natured fellow and saiiff admirably. Witliout these dis- 
 tractions our tranquillity would have been lethargy. As we 
 were awaiting the end of it, I received an order from General 
 Leelerc to come to I'odrigo, and preside over a court of revision, 
 to consider the case of a soldier condemned to death by a 
 court-martial, a kind of duty that has always been repugnant to^ 
 me. When I arrived, the commander-in-chief took me aside, 
 and enlarged on the need of giving the army an example — that 
 is, on the necessity for confirming the sentence. All that I 
 could say was, that if the condemned had deserved his sentence 
 it would be confirmed. However, in spite of the eflbrts of one 
 member of the court, the man was acquitted. The result of the 
 N'erdict was a lively scene between the commander-in-chief and 
 myself, which sent me back to Gallegos in a Ijad temper, to- 
 keep the festival of July 14. 
 
 I thought I had done with this trying kind of work, Imt I 
 was wrong. Soon afterwards another man, l^elougiug to the 
 military train, was condemned to death. He appealed, and I 
 was again sent for to preside over the court of revision. It was 
 composed more carefully than the former one, and Leelerc gave 
 each of the members a talking-to, while Mith me he went so- 
 far as to give his recommendations the character of threats. 
 Thinking that so much trouble could not be taken for a good 
 motive, I examined the case with especial care, and did all I 
 could to find a good man to defend the prisoner. This was 
 difficult, and I was in a perplexity, when some one suggested, 
 as a suitable man for the purpose, a young fellow called 
 Meulan, sergeant in the 5th Dragoons, commanded by Louis 
 Bonaparte, 
 
 I sent for him at once, but when I told him of the duty 
 which I wished to entrust to him, instead of the thanks I 
 expected, he expressed his inability to respond to the selection, 
 I had so kindly made. Called upon to explain, he pointed out 
 that his application for the rank of sub-lieutenant was just 
 then under consideration, and that he was afraid to risk it by 
 oftendiug the brother-in-law of the First Consul and of his own 
 colonel. A few words from me as to a man's dutv towards
 
 78 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 himself, even towards his family and liis name, when he is 
 lucky enough to have an lionourahle name, matle him waver a 
 little. "And," I continued, "when the life of a man is at 
 stake, you make everything turn on a matter of personal 
 interest. I liave only one further question to ask you — if this 
 man is innocent, and perishes for w^ant of such a defence as you 
 might make for him, will you he ahle to forgive yourself?" 
 " General," said the young man vehemently, " I withdraw the 
 answer I made. I undertake the man's defence, and will 
 defend him to the Lest of my power." He made an able 
 defence, and the man, who was no more guilty than the other 
 had been, was acquitted. The sulj-lieutenant's commission was 
 luckily on the way, and came a few days later. > 
 
 In 18 — , having occasion to speak to the Count of Meulan, 
 (juartermaster-general, I called upon him. When our Ijusiness 
 was finished, he asked me if I did not recognise him, adding, 
 " You gave me a lesson, tliough, which I have never for- 
 gotten." And reminding me of this story, which, like so 
 many others, I had forgotten, he told me that he was the 
 hero of it. 
 
 However, if Meulan could look back upon his conduct in 
 this matter untroubled by any associations, it was not so with 
 me. To leave no doubt of his anger. General Leclerc at once 
 suppressed the advance-guard, and sent me to command a 
 brigade in the 1st Division under General Monnet, one of the 
 (hillest men I ever knew. Nor was that all. Happening to 
 review the division a few days later, he had a man of my 
 lirigade arrested on some wretched pretext — I forget what — 
 summoned a court-martial at once, composed of officers whom 
 he could trust, and without my being able to offer any opposi- 
 tion, had the poor fellow condemned and shot then and there. 
 After this it was all over between General Leclerc and me ; and 
 as I tried no more to disguise my indignation than he his 
 anger, I made an enemy, who was all the more implacable for 
 having been able to revenge himself on me only by committing 
 a crime. 
 
 On August 10 tlie headquarters and the ^Ist Division 
 moved back to Salamanca. Here, except fdr oae field-day a
 
 LA SALLE 79 
 
 week, Me were totally idle. La Salle, however, kept us alive 
 by all kiiuls of occupations, aiiTI Hy his inconiparal)le fun. 
 Every two or three days he used to make the coininaiider-iii- 
 chief go out shooting; and every day he practised music with 
 me for two or three hours, which ena])led him to say to Leclerc 
 one day at dinner: "I have had a singular destiny in your 
 army, general. I have given you a taste for shooting ; I liave 
 restored General Thiehault's taste for music; and there is 
 nothing left for me to do Imt to awaken in (Jeneral Monnet a 
 taste for intelligence I " 
 
 La Salle contrived to put infinite grace into things of the 
 least graceful kind. I mean that, with his charming manners, 
 he was a drinker, a libertine, a gamljler, a rowdy practical 
 joker.* At Salamanca he started a club called "The Thirsty 
 Souls," no member of which was ever allowed to own that he 
 was not diy. I forget how many lunatics belonged to it, 1)ut 
 what is certain is that in less than a month they had drunk all 
 the foreign wine in Salamanca. Once, when he had been gi^■ing 
 me the score of empty bottles, I said, " Do you want to kill 
 yourself ? " " My dear friend," he replied, " a hussar who is 
 not dead l)y the time he is thirty is a dirty sneak. I am 
 making my arrangements not to pass that limit." 
 
 A captain of engineers at Salamanca had a very pretty 
 mistress. That demon La Salle, who wrote a tender letter 
 every day to his own wife, made love to this lady somewhat 
 more violently than her recognised adorer could approve. A 
 challenge followed and a duel with sabres, a weapon with 
 which La Salle, Ijeing both strong and lissom, was the most 
 dangerous man in existence. The only chance of escape for the 
 captain lay in the generosity of his opponent. Of this there 
 was no (|uestion, but there was also no question but that he 
 would use it to play some mad freak. Estimating at once the 
 disparity of force, he abstained altogether from attacking and 
 confined himself to parrying, but did that with such vigour that 
 the poor engineer's wrist broke down. Whenever the poor man 
 took a moment's rest Master La Salle would skip round him 
 
 * [Compare General Marbot's account of La Salle, Momoires, vul. ii., 
 chap. 24.]
 
 80 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAIILT 
 
 amid a thousand jokes, inonkey-tricks and grimaces, give bim a 
 spank behind with the liat of bis sword, and go ott' in a burst of 
 laughter. Ten times was this trick repeated, and, furious as the 
 poor officer M-as, he was quite exhausted. When it was evident 
 that lie coubl stand no more. La Salle put an end to the contest, 
 saying : " If you had known me better, you would have attached 
 less importance to the incident that has vexed you ; and if I 
 had known you better, I should have abstained from poaching 
 on your preserves. Accept this declaration and let us end this 
 unequal contest, which has only served to show still plainer 
 what a man of honour you are." 
 
 From Salamanca I made an excursion with Eichebourg and 
 Dupaty to Madrid, where I saw several bull-fights, and met, 
 among other people, the canon who had entertained us so hospit- 
 ably at Valladolid. On our return to Salamanca we found a 
 changed state of things. The headquarters, the cavalry division, 
 the second infantry division, which had come from Eodrigo in 
 my absence, and other portions of the force had gone to Valla- 
 dolid, so that the place was occupied only l)y the 1st Division, 
 of which I commanded the 1st brigade. While General 
 Leclerc had been at Salamanca, I had met the bishop of that 
 see, by name Tavira ; a good prelate and distinguished man of 
 letters, called, for his worth, his wisdom, and his apostolic 
 qualities, " the Fenelon of Spain." He had always noticed me 
 to some extent, but after my return from Madrid his kindness 
 became more marked, and I used to dine alone with him twice 
 a week. One day as we were looking from the balcony of his 
 magnificent palace, and I was feeling rather more than usual 
 disgust at the sight of the wretched houses which lay between 
 it and the no less magnificent cathedral, I asked him how it 
 was they had not already been cleared away so as to let the two 
 Ijuildings be seen. " My dear general," he said, " you revive 
 one of my griefs. When I first came to the town, I had the 
 idea of getting rid of those frightful dwellings. I laboured at 
 the plan for ten years ; I had recourse to the influence of such 
 inha])itants as desired to see them demolished, even to the 
 authority of the king, who had no objection. I even offered to 
 pay part of the compensation out of my private fortune, but the
 
 PliACTlCAL JOKING 81 
 
 chapter to whom they helonj,' put insurmountahle obstacles in 
 the way of my efforts, and after a struggle, as prolonged as it was 
 useless, I had to give up on this point as on so many others." 
 I apologised for having directed his thoughts to a painful 
 memory; and we were hoth of us far from realising that I was 
 destined to carry his dream into effect, and lliat in 1811 I 
 should create the open space at Salamanca which he, the 
 bishop of the town — and a powerful bishop too — had failed to 
 get made. 
 
 The inaction of Salamanca, annoying to the officers, was 
 imendurable to the men. As long as there was a prospect of 
 war they only troubled themselves about Spain enough to make 
 jokes upon it ; liut when that prospect vanished, and they saw 
 their stay in those melancholy regions prolonged, home-sickness 
 seized them, and the mortality among the recruits became 
 alarming. Every other day I went to the hospitals and spent 
 hours in trying to keep up the poor boys' spirits, telling some 
 that we were soon going back to France, and joking with others, 
 — I was glad to think not entirely without success. 
 
 However, these distresses did not prevent some madcaps 
 from amusing themselves — Eichebourg, Dupaty, and Texier 
 among them. I had sometimes to stop their nonsense, even 
 after I had laughed at it. There was some fresh folly every 
 day. One evening, coming in at nightfall, we passed a bone- 
 house, above which, in a little niche, was a skull in the rays of 
 a lamp. Eichebourg took it down, and bought a candle-end, 
 which he lighted and put inside the skull. At the door of om- 
 hotel he stuck his own hat upon it, put it on his head, covering 
 that with liis cloak, and rang the bell. The maid who opened 
 the door fainted away. 1 gave him a lecture, but it was no 
 good. 
 
 Next day I did not go to the theatre. My idiots went, 
 armed with very long telescopes, M'hich they levelled at all the 
 ladies, provoking an uproar which interrupted the performance 
 twenty times. Hulin was military governor of Salamanca. 
 The following morning in his report he complained of the three 
 nuisances, and I had to put them imder an-est for three days. 
 They were not very dull, for in the house where wa lived there 
 
 VOL. n. G
 
 82 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEDAULT 
 
 were three very pretty girls, and almost every evening was 
 passed in laughing and dancing with them, Dupaty, one of the 
 two or three l:)est dancers of his time, tried all he could to learn 
 the bolero, but never succeeded. It requires a movement of 
 the hips and shoulders which can only be acquired in the supple 
 days of childhood. 
 
 General Lamarque, who commanded our 3rd Division, being 
 summoned by Leclerc to take part in the expedition to San 
 Domingo, I was ordered to take his place, the headquarters being 
 at Toro.* I have no recollections of the place beyond that it 
 was very dull and the weather was bad. But I had hardly been 
 there ten days when orders came to return to France. The army 
 was in a state not merely of joy but of ecstasy, as I have said no 
 country was ever more hateful to our troops. One might have 
 said that they had a presentiment of the 400,000 men with 
 whom we were to enter that country between 1808 and 1813, 
 but for the loss of whom we should have remained masters of 
 the world. 
 
 At Valladolid I hoped to have seen my canon again, but he 
 was absent when I passed tlu"ougli that town. On the road 
 through Castile I bought two handsome setters. One of the 
 latter cost me three hundred pesetas ; from his incredible speed 
 he was called Pegasus. He was said to have cleared a canal 
 twenty feet wide. He had hardly been delivered to me when 
 the vendor wanted me to give him back and take back my 
 money. He was a kind of pride of the neighbourhood, and 
 there was general lamentation at his departure. I might as 
 well have left him, for in the following October at Tours the 
 dog showed symptoms of rabies and had to be destroyed. 
 Besides the dogs I took away a very curious animal, evidently 
 the offspring of a dog-fox and a bitch ; we had seen it at 
 Kodrigo, and while I was at Salamanca Delost, hearing me 
 express a wish to take the curious creature back to Paris, had 
 gone to get it without letting me know. "When I talked of 
 
 * Lamarque wrote pitying me for having to live in such a dull place, 
 where there was no society : " You will not be surprised, however, if you 
 consider que lesfemvies de Toro sont des vaches." In spite of the pun, there 
 were some charming women there.
 
 MOREAU OR MASSENA f ^3^ 
 
 repayment, he said he had got it very cheap ; perhaps he had 
 got it for nothing, if, as I am much afraid, he had stolen it. 
 
 On arriving at Vitoria, where the reminiscences of my first 
 stay in the Peninsula come to an end, I found that I was lodged 
 in the liouse of the oVIarquis of Monte Hermoso; I was very 
 kindly received, and on the following day thirty people were 
 invited to dinner to meet me. Among them was a Spanish 
 general, who was not devoid of talent or of intelligence in his 
 profession. Inevitaljly we spoke of war and of our distinguished 
 military men ; it was natural to place the First Consul outside 
 of all comparison, but the general asked me to tell him whether 
 the prior rank as a commander ought to he given to Moreau or 
 Massena. After pointing out their character, their style of aljility, 
 and their education, calling attention to their principal feats 
 of arms, and making it clear that mountain warfare was more 
 especially Massena's line, war on leveFground Morean's, I said : 
 "Let us suppose that these two commanders unexpectedly 
 found themselves face to face with similar forces and appliances 
 in broken ground equally suited to both sides. In such a 
 situation Moreau would undoubtedly have the advantage at 
 first ; but as it is impossible not to make some mistakes in the 
 course of a great battle, and as it is no less unquestionable that 
 Massena with his eagle eye would estimate all his enemy's 
 mistakes and take advantage of them with the swiftness of 
 liglitniug, he would end by snatching the victory even if it 
 seemed desperate. Whence I conclude," I added, " that Moreau 
 is our first soldier, Massena our first warrior ; or, in other words, 
 that Moreau is the first of our army leaders, Massena the first 
 of our fighting generals. But I equally draw the inference, that, 
 up to a certain point, Moreau, as a man of thought and recent 
 experience, will be able to gTOW old with impunity, while 
 Massena, as a man of inspiration and impulse, will not be able ; 
 which brings me to" the "corollary that, so long as jMasseiia is in 
 the full vigour of his age, he will have an advantage~over 
 Moreau dependent upon natural powers, which advantage 
 Moreau will resume in proportion as calculation and reasoning 
 make up for that which can only result from activity, manly 
 vigour, and warm blood." 
 
 G 2
 
 84 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 This opinion struck my hearer so much that I remembered it 
 myself, though at that time I had no suspicion that it would be 
 confirmed in the Peninsula. Massena ceased to be a fighting 
 man after the Polish campaign and the hemorrhages which he 
 then had ; from that time he was no longer himself. He was 
 wasted, altered in feature, and without strength, when he was 
 sent into Portugal to tarnish by his own deed, and at the cost 
 of the remainder of his life, a fame which was envied because 
 he had won it for himself In those days he was only a man 
 who had outlived himself, unec^ual and incomplete. In the 
 march from Almeida to Santarem, in the long halt on the Tagus, 
 I will say that his tenacity alone was left, but not a single 
 inspiration. He found that all his authority was gone, and was 
 defied by men who not long before would have rushed to carry 
 out the least of his orders. As for Moreau, in the disgracefiiT' 
 position to which justice was done by a French cannon-ball, he 
 was still capable in 1813, as adjutant-general to Alexander, of 
 devising an excellent plan of campaign ; he was cool enough to 
 give the advice which brought about our disasters : " Ketreat 
 whenever you have Napoleon in front of you; attack whenever 
 youTiave only his generals to fight." Never losing his clear- 
 headedness even in the midst of treason, he caused the soil of 
 France to be sullied by the hordes who snatched from us th e 
 frontiers given us by nature and by victory.
 
 ( 85 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Return to France — A fight at a toll-bar — The peace of Amiens — Quartered 
 at Tours — Flavigny — An old soldier — Toussaint-Louvcrture — End of 
 the peace — Bonaparte's projects. 
 
 If, with the exception of a few hours spent at Yitoria, my 
 journey across Spain was monotonous and melancholy to the 
 last degree, the journey from the Bidassoa to Paris was neither 
 one nor the other. I had a debt to settle with the French 
 custom-house officers on the Bidassoa ; we had a grudge against 
 each other, they for the cut which one of their men had received 
 from my stick, I for their impertinence in denouncing me. 
 If I had let my aide-de-camp and the thirty troopers of my 
 escort have their way, there would have been a violent scene, 
 but I was determined, with adversaries of this kind, to keep 
 clear of any violent correction until they provoked it ; and in 
 order not to treat them with more importance than they 
 deserved, I resolved to begin by having some fun ^dth them. 
 
 Consequently, as I was marching with the last brigade of 
 my division, I had all my property, and that of my aides-de- 
 camp and my servants, packed in the baggage-waggons of the 
 second brigade, so that all our things, including the contral)an(l 
 cloth bought at Segovia, entered France twenty-four hours 
 before I did. When I reached the Bidassoa, therefore, I had 
 not even so much as a hand-bag with me, though nothing 
 revealed the fact. First my waggon, tlien my carriage, l)oth 
 closely shut, went in front of me, and I trotted after them as 
 if they contained the most valuable articles. 
 
 After crossing the Bidassoa, I saw all my friends of the 
 custom-house under arms and in full fig, drawn up in line in 
 front of their house. AVlieu I came abreast of them, the officers
 
 S6 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 and a dozen men came forward ; but I went on some hundred 
 paces, chatting with Eichebourg and affecting not to see them, 
 or to notice that they wanted to speak to me till I had got 
 them sufficiently out of breath. When I had given the word 
 to halt, they examined the carriage, and were much surprised 
 to find it empty. Then I gave them the keys of the two pad- 
 locks on the waggon, and they threw themselves upon it as 
 if they were taking it by storm. More than ten of them 
 climbed up on the three sides which would be left free when 
 the cover was lifted, and when that was done all craned their 
 heads forward, eager to make the first disco^'ery. Never was 
 zeal more rewarded ; the waggon contained only our ten dogs 
 and the fox-dog, which had been shut up there for more than 
 two hours, and, wild to regain their liberty, leaped at the faces 
 of the officials, who were nearly all thrown to the ground. 
 Falling in a heap with the dogs, the poor wretches got up as 
 they best could, some l^ruised by their fall, others more or less 
 scratched, all with their embroidered coats muddy and torn. 
 Wlien they were on their legs again, I inquired gravely, 
 " Is your examination over ? " On their answering that it was, 
 much to the disgust of my escort, whom I had some trouble 
 to hold back, I confined my revenge to this intervention of 
 our dogs. 
 
 At Bayonne I fell in with M. Desportes, first secretary to 
 the Madrid Embassy, who was following his chief, Lucien 
 Eonaparte, to Paris. As he had no carriage I offered him a 
 place in mine, and he told me a heap of anecdotes about 
 Spanish affairs, the court of Charles IV, and the events in 
 which I had almost ])lindly been taking part. We went at 
 one stretch from Bayonne to Barbezieux, where we stayed at 
 the comfortable inn of one Gaudaubert, who worthily main- 
 tained the credit of the j)ies of Barbezieux. Our stay there 
 was therefore pleasant enough, l^ut our issue from the town 
 provided less agreeable entertainment. In those days the 
 roads in France had got into a very bad state ; and in order to 
 raise the necessary funds for their repair, toll-bars had been 
 established at every posting-stage, an abominable method, 
 which cost more than it earned, and gave rise to all kinds of
 
 A SAVAGE TOLL-KEEPER 87 
 
 swindles. Holcliers pro vi Jed with passes were free of toll. 
 Now the toll-keeper on the Angouleme road at Barbezieux, 
 named Mouchere, was one of the most ill-bred among them. 
 He would often hide himself, and if a peasant, not seeing him 
 about, hurried through on the chance of escaping the toll, 
 the terrible toll-keeper would run after him, arrest him, and 
 make him pay the penalty. AVhen I handed liim my pass in 
 reply to his demand for payment, he looked angrily at me, 
 
 exclaiming, " Oh ! yes, they rob me every day, but d d if 
 
 I will be robbed to-day." Then he fell to spelling my pass out 
 w'ord by word, including the notes. I asked him to get it 
 done a little quicker. " Oh, I'm in no hurry," he answered, 
 and began again at the beginning. A saint could not have 
 stood it ; the cold was bitter, and the carriage-wdndows were 
 standing open. I thought of the 450 miles we still had 
 before us, and, losing patience, I snatched my pass out of his 
 hand, telling liim that I would pay the toll, and that he would 
 have to pay for his insolence. " You may pay the toll or not," 
 he said : " I am going to shut the bar- to begin with ; " and he 
 did so. I had already jumped out of the carriage, my sword 
 being in the belt ; and when he saw me going towards the bar 
 with the intention of opening, this powerful, thick-set man, 
 calling his son, who came running up to help him, leapt upon 
 me like a maniac, and seizing the collar of my waistcoat, for 
 my overcoat was open, tore it all the way down. I could 
 hai'dly say what I felt, but I will confine myself to facts, 
 and merely add that when the son, a big fellow of twenty or 
 twenty-five, came up to me, he found the point of my sword 
 against his breast, w^hile I had made the father let go by cutting 
 through three bones in his wrist-joint. 
 
 One of my assailants was thus disabled, and the other was 
 retreating w^hen M. Desportes alighted and persuaded me to 
 go with him and end the business before the sub-prefect, whom 
 he knew. We went off, followed by the two Moucheres and 
 escorted by a curious crowd. The facts were stated on both 
 sides, and Gaudaubert, who had heard of the affaii- and come in, 
 was of great service to us in quoting all sorts of incidents 
 to Mouchere's disadvantage. Finally the sub-prefect, after
 
 88 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 warning us that lie liad no power to stay judicial proceedings, 
 sent two gendarmes to open the bar for us. 
 
 We were hardly through it when M. Desportes said : " You 
 were perhaps surprised that I remained a passive witness of 
 yoiu- fight with those two jokers, and doubtless I need not say 
 that if you had been in danger you would not have waited long 
 for my help. But when you had struck your blow, I thought 
 of tlie consequences of the incident, and considered that if, not 
 being a soldier, I had taken part in the struggle, you would 
 not have escaped the assizes ; while as no civilian was mixed in 
 the affair-, you can easily get it brought before a court-martial." 
 
 ISTevertheless the adventure did not leave us free from 
 anxiety. On the one hand, I was summoned to the assizes ; 
 and on the other, Mouchere very nearly died. M. Joly, my 
 father's early friend, my friend and counsellor in difficult 
 circumstances, was a member of the Paris Court of Appeal, 
 and a much-respected magistrate. He advised an interview 
 with the Minister of Justice, Alorial, whom I had known at 
 Xaples, and took me to him. Our discussion was long and 
 serious, though there was a moment of merriment when I said 
 that " I would have sabred the Supreme Being if he had laid 
 his hands on me." M. Joly insisted on the facts that I was 
 a soldier on active service, travelling on duty, that no civilian 
 was implicated in the affair, and that I had been assaulted; 
 and succeeded in getting me sent before the military tribunals. 
 The court-martial sitting at Perigueux was therefore put in 
 possession of the affair ; and as by good luck the president of 
 it was my friend General Gardanne, and Mouchere more- 
 over got no more than his deserts, all that was left for him 
 was, he felt, to get some money out of me. Just then Salafon 
 came through Barbezieux. He was good enough to stay and 
 wind up the unpleasant business, and warmly supported by 
 Gaudaubert, whose zeal I had stimulated by an order for two 
 pies a month, he settled the whole thing for five hundred francs. 
 This was about the amount of Mouchere's doctor's bill ; and he 
 had lost his place and was maimed into the bargain. As for me, 
 between "tips," pies, expenses, and compensation, I got off 
 for forty napoleons and a waistcoat.
 
 PEACE EESTORED 89 
 
 Every time that I had returned to Frauce durhig the hist 
 nine years, even amid the intoxication of victory and the 
 turmoil of public rejoicings, I had found the country uneasy, 
 suffering from the stoppage to foreign trade and the death of 
 nearly all her industries. Bordeaux above all had fallen from 
 its prosperity, being reduced to rooting up the vines and using 
 the land for other crops. As for Paris, deprived of the masses 
 of foreigners, and of the movement of business necessary to 
 maintain life, it was dreary. Money was plentiful, but unpro- 
 ductive for want of confidence and circulation. Kow, thanks 
 to the power and genius with which France was governed by 
 the First Consul, a genuine expansion had taken the place of 
 these continual and increasing losses. As soon as peace was 
 signed with England, Bordeaux began again to export its 
 wines, and unloaded its cellars ; while land which had Ijeen 
 selling at one year's purchase recovered a high value. Paris 
 Ijecame once more the meeting-place of a crowd of distinguished 
 strangers, who brought the gold of Europe flowing in, when 
 my return to it took place amid the influence of this sense of 
 fortune and prosperity. 
 
 Passing on to the year 1802, one of the most important 
 events wliich it brings to mind was the Concordat. I need not 
 inquire into the necessity nor the opportuneness of this return 
 to Catholic worship ; but what is certain is that at that time 
 the enemies of the First Consul and of the Kepublic rejoiced at 
 it, while their friends and the army as a whole were in con- 
 sternation. As for the First Consul, if he had any doubts left 
 of his power, tliis gave him a proof of its immensity, for what 
 other than he but would have made ship^^Teck over such an 
 attempt. To show how colossal his power already was, the 
 clergy were able in that ceremony to insult and defy with 
 impunity in the face of the world all the generals of France. 
 Will it be believed that when invited to go to Notre Dame, 
 nearly all the generals who were in Paris went there ; foUoM'ing 
 the example, not of Moreau, who did not set foot in the place, 
 but of Masseua, of Xey, of Lefebvre, and so many more ? 
 
 Places had been prepared in Xotre Dame for everyone 
 except the generals, so that some sixty of them, blocked in the
 
 90 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 passage leading up the nave, knew neither where to go nor 
 what to do. To their right they saw about sixty priests, seated 
 at their ease, and looking almost with a grin at these officers, 
 the honour and glory of their country. The murmurs that 
 arose, not unmixed with strong language, may l)e imagined. 
 A steward of the ceremonies came up, and, impertinent even 
 in his difficulty, mumbled that he did not know what was to 
 be done, seeing that there was no room anywhere. " You go 
 
 and be d d," answered Massena; then seizing the chair 
 
 of the nearest priest and shaking it, he made him turn out 
 and took the place. The example was at once followed, wdth 
 the result of somewhat roughly substituting officers for priests. 
 They ought not, in the circumstances, to have been left to find 
 places for themselves ; and the exasperation caused by so 
 gratuitous a blunder only added to an almost universal dis- 
 approbation. General Delmas, who would break a wdndow 
 without troubling himself about who was going to pay for it, 
 ventured to say one day to the First Consul : " The only thing 
 you can do now is to give us rosaries instead of our sword- 
 knots. As for France, she must console herself as best she can 
 for the loss of the million of men whom she will in vain have 
 sacrificed to be rid of the rubbish you are reviving." * 
 
 The army corps to which I belonged had been broken up on 
 January 16, 1802 ; but we were still on full pay, and I was 
 in enjoyment of it when on March 22 1 received orders to serve 
 in the 22nd Division, the headquarters of which were at Tours. 
 It was commanded by General Liebert, under whom I had not 
 been very fortunate in 1795, when he was chief of Pichegru's 
 headquarter staff. He gave me my choice of residence between 
 Le Mans and Tours. I was inclined to select the former, 
 but Eichebourg, who belonged to Touraine and happened to 
 be at Tours at the moment, made use of his infiuence over me 
 to make me change my mind. General Liebert was also kind 
 enough to exert pressure on the same side. 
 
 * [Mine d'Abrautes and Lanfrey, wlio both quote this remark, give it 
 somewhat differently, and there are otlier variants. But the point is the 
 same. Delmas was a nobleman who had accepted the Republic. He was 
 banished for a time.]
 
 AT TOURS 01 
 
 I reached Tours on June 2, and, according to the established 
 etiquette, had to pay tliree visits on the first day — to the 
 divisional general, to tlie archbishop, and to the prefect. I had 
 made some inquiries as to the two last, and thus the archbishop, 
 Mgr de Boisgelin, the prelate who had preached on the occasion 
 of the ceremony in Notre Dame, and who had only just been 
 appointed — indeed, he had not lieen installed when I saw him 
 — was surprised when I talked to him not about the honourable 
 part he had played in the States-General and the Constituent 
 Assembly, not about the share he had taken in the Concordat, 
 but about the good works which he had left in yet earlier days in 
 Provence : a school at Lambesc, a bridge at Lavaur where he 
 had been bishop, and a canal. He seemed touched, and the 
 flattering remarks I had occasion to make earned me his 
 marked and consistent good-will, shown with the tact and 
 delicacy natural to him. 
 
 What I had heard of General Pommereul, the prefect, in 
 respect of his literary and scientific works, his service, the 
 missions which he had discharged, and his general capacity, was 
 far inferior to Avhat I found in him. AVhen he got hold of a 
 subject, he could set it out with equal arrangement, clearness, 
 and depth ; and these advantages were supplemented by a noble 
 Ijearing, and a countenance showing not less character than 
 sagacity. 
 
 To pass from these two remarkable men to General Liebert 
 is to go down. Once a sergeant of artillery, he seemed, so far 
 as style and manners went, to be one still. His merit was not 
 such as to justify his ever having been chief of the staff to a 
 great army; but no one could have shown more zeal for his 
 duties, and, as for his personal qualities, no one could be kinder 
 or more obliging. I was able to convince myself that Donzelot's 
 political cowardice could account for seven-eighths of the 
 severity practised towards me, in 1793 and 1794, in the name 
 of General Liebert. We remained good friends till his death. 
 
 The Sunday after my arrival I went to walk on the public 
 promenade. Formerly shaded by secular trees, it was now 
 adorned only by saplings of thi'ee or four years' growth ; and 
 what was remembered most indignantlv was that tlie Vandals
 
 92 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 of 1793 had cut down the old trees in August, when the sap 
 was up, so that the navy, for which they were intended, could 
 make no use of them, and the wood, being of no further value, 
 even for Ijurning, had been left to rot where it lay. 
 
 One morning Adjutant-general de Flavigny was announced. 
 He was a man of very good family, of great gallantry, and far 
 from devoid of ability ; but mad, not with the madness wliich 
 gets people shut up, but with that which ultimately prevents 
 their employment. In 1796, after one of the great battles, I 
 forget which, fought by the Army of Italy, he had been ordered 
 to escort a column of prisoners to the rear. Feeling this a 
 humiliating office, in a laudal)le spirit he took advantage of a 
 report that he had to send to General Bonaparte, to write as 
 follows: "While you continue to cover yourself with glory, 
 Flavigny is getting covered with dust." Aljout the same time 
 a revolt had broken out in Piedmont, and Flavigny had been 
 sent to repress it. In a few days he had beaten, killed, 
 dispersed, or captured all the insurgents. He then assembled 
 all his prisoners in an open space ; and when they were all 
 expecting to be shot, he formed them in a circle, and addressed 
 them in French to this effect : " Wretches, you have dared to 
 revolt against the armies of the Eepublic ; assassination has 
 been your method, and the death of the greater part of you has 
 been the beginning of the vengeance, which, for its completion, 
 demands your punishment. Yes, you have all deserved death, 
 and I ought to have you shot this minute. Yet I stay the arm 
 of justice, I yield to pity, and I grant you life. Go, those of 
 you who have fathers, and console your fathers ; those who have 
 wives and children, go and eml^race children and wives ; as for 
 
 those who have neither " Here Flavigny, at the end of his 
 
 eloquence, after repeating several times, " who have neither," 
 added, in delight at the inspiration: "Well, those who have 
 neither may go and be jolly well jiggered." The poor creatures, 
 half-dead with fear, and not understanding a word, stood there 
 bewildered ; so he fell upon them with a whip, but just then 
 some one signed to them to fly, and they bolted in all directions. 
 The scene was witnessed by many, and soon widely known. 
 Flavigny's discourse was repeated everywhere, including the
 
 AN OLD SOLDIER 93 
 
 final jest, so that, instead of the service he liad done Ijeing 
 considered, no one did anything but laugh at Iiim. 
 
 After ceasing to be employed, he came and lived at Tours on 
 his half-pay, and his visit to me was for the purpose of gaining 
 my support towards his further employment on active service, 
 and of communicating to me the letter he proposed to send the 
 First Consul. Here it is : 
 
 "General Consul, 
 
 " You have filled the wliole world with your glory, and Flavigny sits 
 and spits iu the fire. 
 
 " Greeting and respect. " Flavigny." 
 
 This letter was the crowning achievement. It bore its 
 answer in it, and I had not the courage to give poor Flavigny 
 much hope. 
 
 The festival of July 14 was kept at Tours ; I think fur the 
 last time in France. I only remember that there was a 
 procession, that General Liebert made a speech, that a procla- 
 mation of the First Consul was read, and that, to make the 
 thing complete, it was very hot. Indeed this was the hottest 
 year I ever remember. Hares were found dead in the fields, 
 and partridge-eggs roasted. One Sunday the heat put all 
 the instruments out of tune, so that I had to stop the band 
 playing. 
 
 Tlu'oughout the Eevolution, July 14 and the honible 
 August 10 kept their old names, in spite of the Eepublican 
 Calendar; but for one's own safety, one did not venture to 
 pronounce or write those names without adding " old style." 
 At this last July 14 the other thing remarkable, besides the 
 heat, was that General Liebert's boy of four took part in it, hand 
 In hand with an old soldier of the Touraine regiment, aged a 
 hundred and four, so that there was just a century between 
 the two. 
 
 This old man was named Turrel. He was born at Dijon in 
 September 1697, entered the Touraine regiment in 1712, served 
 under every government from Louis XIV to the Emperor. He 
 had been at the battles of Lawfeld, Eaucoux, and Fontenoy. 
 When he completed his seventy-five years' service in 1787, he 
 was presented to Louis XVI by the Count of Mirabeau. A
 
 94 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 tray was brought in with a bottle of Malaga and four glasses. 
 The first was filled and presented to the king, who drank it ; 
 TuiTel had the second, Monsieur the third, the Count of Artois 
 the fourth. Many great persons, including the Duke of 
 Pvichelieu, had him to dine. Now he was living on a pension, 
 six hundred francs from the king and princes, and three 
 hundred from the ladies of France, which, on a report from me 
 to the First Consul, was raised to one thousand five hundred. 
 He was often asked to dinner by the chief military authorities, 
 but we warned each other to see that he did not eat too much. 
 He was married to his fourth or fifth wife, and made her mind 
 him. He had never had more than one daughter, and never 
 regretted not having a son. An easygoing old fellow, he had 
 retained his good spirits, and liked nothing better than to sing 
 his little song at dessert. Nor was he at all devoid of shrewd- 
 ness. A lady said to him one day at my house, " Turrel, God 
 must surely love you well, to give you so long a life. I am 
 sure you often pray to Him and thank Him." " Madam," he 
 replied with the slyest smile, " I have never been in the habit 
 of boring my friends." At a hundred and seven he expired, 
 never having been wounded nor infirm in any way. 
 
 To return to July 14, 1802, it was to be a great date in my 
 life. At the country-house of a common friend I had met a 
 young lady, daughter of a former landowner in San Domingo, 
 who had at one time enjoyed one of the finest fortunes in 
 France. Her name was Elizabeth Chenais, and she was con- 
 sidered one of the cleverest and most accomplished persons in 
 Tours' society. I had met her more than once, and been 
 charmed l)y her beauty and by her wit, when, on the evening of 
 that 14tli of July, as I was strolling about the fair which was 
 then open, I met a friend who was going to call on the Chenais 
 family, and wished to introduce me. M. Chenais, the father, 
 was born at Nantes, and originally destined for the Church ; 
 but nine duels, which he fought in one morning with officers of 
 the garrison, fully showed that his vocation did not lie there, 
 and he went off to seek his fortune in the Antilles. When the 
 insurrection broke out in 1792 among the negroes of San 
 Domingo, he lost much of his wealth, but he had a good deal
 
 THE NEOIiO DICTATOR 95 
 
 invested iu France. Much of this was lost in the unlucky 
 purchase and sale of an estate, and he was now living at Tours 
 in reduced circumstances. 
 
 I returned home after my visit, recognising that I had met 
 my fate. Other meetings in friends' houses increased our 
 intimacy with each other, ami Ijefore very long we were 
 (mgaged to be married, though a year elapsed Ijefore we actually 
 were so. 
 
 On August 3, a dispatch was brought to General Liebert, 
 
 from the Minister for War, informing him that Toussaint- 
 
 Louverture, whom General Leclerc had sent to France, had Just 
 
 landecTaTBrest, and was to be taken by post to the Castle of 
 
 Joux, the generals commanding along the road being responsible 
 
 for him while within the limits of their districts. General 
 
 Liebert, when communicating the order to me, told me that I 
 
 was answerable as far as Blois, to which point I was to have 
 
 Toussaint-Louverture accomparded by my aide-de-camp Eiche- 
 
 bourg, wlio would there be relieved by an aide-de-camp of 
 
 General Verdier, and take a receipt for the prisoner. I did 
 
 not wish to lose this unique opportunity of seeing a man, in 
 
 his own way extraordinary, a kind of specimen of the highest 
 
 degree~Cf' Capacity in a negro, — a man no doubt to inspire 
 
 horror7*in that he did not~stick at any means, even the most 
 
 cruel, and piled up disasters which he might have diminished. 
 
 Stni, he had been able, after creating a vast state, to win and 
 
 preserve the sovereignty of it, which perhaps it would have 
 
 been better to have allowed him to keep. His boasting also 
 
 interested me, and I wished to see the man who had not l^een 
 
 afraid to write to the First Consul : " The first of black men to 
 
 the first of white." So I ordered that, at whatever hour of night 
 
 or day"Ee might arrive, I was to be told, and he was to be 
 
 detained until I had seen him. In the evening of August 18 
 
 I heard that he had passed through Saumur at five o'clock, and 
 
 at two o'clock on the following morning I was aroused by the 
 
 words : " Toussaint-Louverture is at the post station." I had a 
 
 horse already saddled, and galloped off to the negro commander. 
 
 Beaching the door of his carriage, which I found open, I said : 
 
 ^' I wish to see you. to learn if you had any complaints to make
 
 96 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAVLT 
 
 as to the maimer of your journey or the respect that ought to 
 be shown you." " I have no complaint," he repKed in his 
 negro accent. " I only wish to reach Paris very quickly ; the 
 sooner to see the First Consul, to whom I have important com- 
 munications to make. He will understand that it is his interest 
 to send me back quickly to San Domingo. Still, I have plenty 
 to see and to learn in France, where I shall visit, especially, the 
 powder-mills, the arm-factories, arsenals, and foundiies." While 
 he was talking I was looking at that frightful countenance, the 
 lower part of which, projecting like a monkey's muzzle, was 
 covered with the white tufts of his beard. His mouth, with its 
 thick and pendulous lips surrounded by equally pendulous 
 black skin, contained only a few stumps of teeth, and projected 
 beyond the flattest nose ever seen, above which, however, were 
 two eyes blazing like carbuncles. However, what struck me 
 even more than this hideous caricature was to find him in a 
 temperature which, even at night, did not fall much below 
 70°, wrapped up in three overcoats, and to learn that not only 
 did he never take off his wraps, but did not allow a window to 
 be opened in a carriage which had become a regular travelling 
 oven. Eichebourg, who, on the road to Blois, had to use a 
 whole bottle of toilet vinegar to disguise the powerful flavour, 
 repeated incessantly that he ought to accustom himself to the 
 air of France, and that nothing was more wholesome than the 
 open air. " Poor devil ! " thought I, as I left the old man who 
 had achieved little short of renown. " I had rather that another 
 than I should reveal your destiny to you. Happily, you will not 
 suffer long, for the first north wind that blows into the loopholes 
 of the fort of Joux will be the breath of death for you." 
 
 Meanwhile more important events were claiming our atten- 
 tion. The peace with England — a peace which that Power had 
 never intended to make more than a truce — had been abruptly 
 replaced by hostilities without any preliminary declaration, the 
 result of which was, that we quickly lost nearly all the vessels 
 which, in reliance upon treaties, we had at sea. Yet our 
 irreconcilable enemies had gained Ijy that peace something 
 more advantageous for them than the most fortunate campaign 
 could have been. It practically made us lose the whole of
 
 ox THE WAT TO A THRONE 97 
 
 Morcau's iiriny, fur Avliich the yellow fever at Saii Domingo 
 so ])itilessly accoimted, and the loss became tlie .subject of 
 terrible reflections and of remarks often repeated, which, if 
 credit were to be given them, would be no less terrible for the 
 First Consul. 
 
 Xo one could any longer mistake his ambitious projects. 
 "Without being aide to explain in what way he would realise 
 them, it was not supposed that he would 1ie content with the 
 consulate for life, which he had got suljstituted tor i\w, live 
 years' term. Everything was being arranged for putting a 
 throne in place of the consular chaii', and replacing by a crown 
 the general's hat, or the cap of the repul^licaii First IMagistrate. 
 We foresaw in Bonaparte the man who was one day to say, " I 
 mean my dynasty to be, before ten years are out, the most ancient 
 in Europe." But, in order to realise those plans for slaying 
 liberty which cost France and mankind so dear in the carrying 
 out. Us "had alarming obstacles to overcome. With the old 
 Arliiy of Italy he could not dream of doing it, and in his 
 limitless foresight he had buried that at the foot of tlie 
 Pyramids. INIoreau, the rival to whom his renown was an insult, 
 and who in sucli a cause could not have failed to be Ijacked 1 )y a 
 Lost of generals, would liave been invincible, if the army which 
 he had so gloriously commanded had still trodden the soil of 
 the country. But the yellow fever had accounted for it, and, as 
 a special favour, IMoreau had lieen banished before the empire 
 took the place of the consulate. Among the men most capable 
 of ju^iglng, there was at that time none who was not convinced 
 that the necessity for getting rid of that last army was the pre- 
 dominant motive in the expedition to San Domingo. Thus the 
 peace~wrrrr England, short as it was, had Iteen sufficient for 
 Bonaparte's good fortune to profit, in the most astounding way, 
 by the ruin of a commander and the disappearance of an army 
 that blocked lus road to power.* " 
 
 To return to EnglandT The rupture that she had provoked 
 was keenly felt, especially in our wine-growing districts. The 
 
 * [It is worth while reading what Lanfrey, voL ii., p. 389 sqq., says on 
 this point. He does iiMt adniit a conscious design on Bonaparte's part, but 
 holds him none the less ;:ruilty.] ' ' 
 
 voTTTf. H
 
 98 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 government proclaimed her bad faith, anil all the authorilies 
 responded to its voice. All the bishops and archbishops in 
 France united their anathemas to the general indignation. At 
 the same time, as is well known, the First Consul created the 
 Army of Boulogne, attacked and rapidly conquered Hanover, 
 and to complete the reprisals issued, on May 22, 1803, a decree 
 to the effect that all Englishmen * liable to enrolment in the 
 militia, and aged between eighteen and sixty, or holding a 
 commission from His Britannic Majesty, who were at that time 
 in France, should immediately be constituted prisoners of war, 
 to answer for those citizens of the Eepublic who should have 
 been taken prisoners by His Majesty's ships previous to the 
 declaration of war. 
 
 Things soon, however, returned to their ordinary course ; 
 balls and parties went on at Tours without interruption. In 
 the course of the summer I had occasion to go on duty to Paris, 
 where I breakfasted with Junot, then commanding the first 
 military division. He asked what I was doing at Tours. 
 " What I will do wherever I am employed — my duty to the 
 best of my ability." He was good enough to assure me that he 
 believed it, and offered me the subdivision of Versailles and 
 Chartres, which was at his disposal. This was an offer of a 
 very pleasant residence, and, though it involved a separation of 
 some months from my future bride, I accepted. She approved, 
 though not without a tear ; but hope kept up our spirits. So I 
 left Touraine, that garden of France, where the air has a softness 
 that I never felt elsewhere, and where the philosophy of the 
 inhabitants is limited to enjoying life. 
 
 * [This included Englishwomen, as "France" included Italy. Tourists, 
 ambassadors, men of letters, were swept up indiscriminately. War had to 
 all intents and purposes been declared a week before.]
 
 ( 99 : 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Command at Versailles — Training dragoons — Visit to Junot — Offer of foreign 
 service — How to make np arrears of pay — Change of destination — Morcau 
 and Bonaparte — To Orleans — English prisoners — Beginning of the 
 Empire — My marriage. 
 
 It was not long before I recognised the advantages of my residence 
 at Versailles, under the du-ection of a chief so brilliant as General 
 Junot. Besides, I had six times as many troops to command as 
 I had had at Tours. In addition to several infantry regiments, 
 the 3rd Hussars in garrison at Chartres, and three dragoon regi- 
 ments at Versailles, I had under my orders the 3rd Cuirassiers, 
 occupying Saint-Germain ; a regiment commanded by a colonel 
 who had been made adjutant-general in Italy almost at the 
 same time as myself, though for some reason or other we had 
 not sought each other's acquaintance at that time. This was 
 Colonel Preval, one of the handsomest as well as the most 
 fortunate colonels in our army ; but what is more, one of the 
 best educated and most capable officers, and one of the most 
 intrepid soldiers that France ever possessed. 
 
 The 3rd Cuirassiers, which I inspected soon after my arrival, 
 was a picked corps in respect of appearance, discipline, in- 
 struction, spirit, and selection of men — a model corps in every 
 sense of the term. The inspection first enabled me thoroughly 
 to know and estimate an officer who had in a measure sacrificed 
 himself in order to solve the problems connected with a command 
 of that kind. In 1800 Preval had preferred the command of the 
 regiment to the rank of major-general, which was twice offered 
 him. I mention this, not only because it did him great honour, 
 but because it is characteristic of the spirit of the soldiers 
 of that time. The best officers then regarded their company, 
 their battalion, their regiment, as a man regards the spire of 
 
 II 2
 
 100 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEDAULT 
 
 the village where he was boru. They served for the honour of 
 doing good service, without any thought of ambition or greed. 
 Xansouty and others had similarly refused promotion ; Preval 
 would not quit the head of his regiment till he was thoroughly 
 acquainted with all the detail of it, which he afterwards put 
 together in his work on Nevj Rcgidations for Service and Drill. 
 Also he took a pride in turning an obscure and shabby regiment 
 into the finest cuirassier refdment in the service. He became 
 in this way one of the first ofl&cers of French cavalry, though 
 he suffered in some respects for the sacrifice and made himself 
 enemies. 
 
 Having ridden to Saint-Germain, I returned to Versailles in 
 the same manner, accompanied by Preval and several of his 
 officers, wliom I asked to dinner. In this way began my 
 intimacy A\ith Preval, which, though it did not become very 
 close till after the Eestoration, made me fully recognise his 
 distinction alike as a man of the world, a man of education and 
 wit, and a soldier. 
 
 On my anival at Versailles, I was entrusted with the re- 
 organization of the three dragoon regiments, upon the system 
 according to which regiments of that arm ought to be equally 
 well adapted for fighting on horseback or on foot. Accordingly 
 M'e were expected first to prove to them, regarded as cavalry, 
 that nothing in the world could resist a mounted troop, well 
 composed, well commanded, well instructed, employing with 
 ability and vigour at the right moment the power resulting 
 from speed and impact ; while on the other hand, regarded as 
 infantry, they had to learn that the best cavahy in the world 
 must be annihilated by infantry which remains steady and 
 makes the Ijest use of its fire and its bayonets ; the result being, 
 when once they had learnt their lesson, to inspire them with a 
 Ijrofound dread of infantry when they were mounted, and of 
 cavalry when they were on foot. Had not they been Frenchmen, 
 we should at great expense have been forming corps which by 
 reason of this preliminary intimidation had been as useless on 
 foot as on horseback. 
 
 As I was at breakfast one morning, there came in a fresh 
 little old gentleman, who said in a deliberate tone, " General,
 
 A GREAT MAN'S BIRTn-PLACE 101 
 
 will you kindly receive a visit from the fallier of General 
 Berthier, the ^Minister for War ? " I assured Mm that I should 
 have made a point of calling first, had I known that he was 
 at Versailles — I might have added, had I known that he was in 
 existence — and begged him to do me the honour of breakfasting 
 with me. He would only take a cup of coffee ; and it occurred 
 to me to propose accompanying him to the War Office, which 
 he said he had built himself, and in which he had lived and 
 his children had been born. 
 
 He was delighted, and we set off together. Had he been 
 proposing to sell me the place, he could not have shown me 
 more thoroughly over it, or given me the history of the whole 
 edifice more fully from cellar to garret. ^Vt length we reached 
 the attics. " Here," said he, " were my quarters." Stopping 
 before a small and more than modest apartment with a recess, 
 " And here," he added proudly, " Alexander w^as born." If it had 
 been the king of Macedonia, he could not have retailed a longer 
 strin<:f of recollections than he did. I thought this was the 
 gem of all that he had to show me, and that my task was ended, 
 and had already congratulated liim on his back-sinews, which I 
 said seemed in this building to regain the vigour they must have 
 possessed in the days of its construction, when he told me that the 
 most curious sight of all were the roofs. Straightway he went 
 tlirough a skylight, and towing me after him, as he ran and 
 climbed like a cat, he marched me from ridge to ridge, from 
 valley to valley, at the risk of breaking my neck twenty times 
 over. Indeed, he made me tremble for liimself, and in this 
 connection for myself afresh ; for if he had tumbled off the top 
 of the building, General Berthier might have held me in part 
 responsible for his father's death. Not that it would have anti- 
 cipated^the old gentleman's natural decease by a gi'eat deal, for 
 we were now in Xovember, and he died in the following May. 
 
 Having in Eichebourg an aide-de-camp on whom I could 
 depend, I was able to go frequently to Paris. There were few 
 days on w^hich I did not see General Junot. One day when I 
 had breakfasted with him, I did not return to Versailles till 
 after the play. I found a note which an orderly had brought, 
 dated 5 p.m., and bidding me breakfast again with him without
 
 102 MEMOIRS OF GENEBAL THIEBAULT 
 
 fail on the morrow. I guessed that some serious and pressing 
 matter was on foot ; and indeed that breakfast did not resemble 
 those to which I had been accustomed there. Merry anecdotes 
 were replaced by recollections of the wars. Mme Junot, who 
 generally, with the indescribable charm of her wit and imagina- 
 tion, bore the chief part in these gatherings, hardly took any 
 share in the conversation, and seemed something more than 
 grave. On leaving table, Junot and I went into his study ; and 
 he at once told me that the First Consul was giving him charge 
 of an expedition to which great importance was attached. " It is 
 not Europe," he said, " it is an expedition by sea ; but it will 
 not last long. I am counting on you as second in command of 
 the troops ; and if you accept, I will bring you back in six 
 months a lieutenant-general." "C4eneral," I said, "I am 
 devoted to you, and there is nothing I would not take under 
 your orders. For anyone else and without the prospects you 
 hold out to me, I should merely obey, for I shall be grieved by 
 my father's grief at my going, and have a marriage on hand 
 which I would not exchange for my life ; but as I am going 
 with you, I ask only two questions: whither? and when?" 
 Taking my hand, he said, " You must go to Saintes, where the 
 troops are arriving to-day " — it \vas December 23 — " and start 
 in two days, so as to take my place till I come. You will have 
 your orders to-morrow." " One word more, please : do you keep 
 the command of Paris?" "No; Murat replaces me." "Will 
 you be able to keep the Versailles command for me?" "I 
 will speak to him about it ; I hope so." I was at Tours by 
 mid-day on the 26th. 
 
 I have forgotten to mention that, two hours Ijefore leaving 
 Paris, I received my nomination to the Legion of Honour ; as 
 legionary, that is. Everyone began with that rank, the only 
 one mven at the first institution of the order. At Tours I took 
 the oath, and it is curious, rememljering how it was only a few 
 months before the establishment of the empire, to recall the 
 terms of that oatli. They must have made Bonaparte laugh 
 
 as Napoleon was to laugh later on. " This day appeared , 
 
 who has sworn ])efore us on his honour to devote himself to 
 the service of the Pvepul)lic, and to the maintenance of the exist-
 
 ARREARS OF PAY 103 
 
 in,cf laws ; to resist by every means that justice, reason, and law 
 nutliorize, any attempt to re-establish the feudal system or to 
 reproduce the titles and qualities which pertained to it." Thus 
 it ran, 
 
 lieachincj Saintes early on December 28, I found all the 
 troops, with the exception of the grenadiers, in a state of 
 mutiny. The pretext, I was told, was that their pay was 
 six months in arrear; l)ut the real reason was their aver- 
 sion to a voyage, of which soldiers had ceased to have any 
 idea. On inquiry, I found reason to believe that they would 
 decamp the very next night ; and as the paymaster was not 
 expected for tln-ee or four days, something had to be done. 
 I called on the prefect, and asked him to advance the money. 
 He replied, " I cannot be a party to any misapplication of 
 funds ; the orders are too strict." " Well," I said, " as prefect, 
 decline to comply with the WTitten requisition I shall send you ; 
 but kindly give me your personal help. Now between ourselves, 
 what funds has your treasurer ? " " None ; all the money was 
 sent off yesterday." " Do you mean that in all this town every 
 cashbox is empty ? " " The highway board has 300,000 francs 
 for urgent works n ow going on ; but I must remind you that to 
 divert special funds, even for a moment, is a capital offence." 
 I thanked him and went away. 
 
 '■^ On reaching my quarters, I drew up my requisition to the 
 prefect, saying that, in case of his refusal, I should force the 
 cashbox of the highway board, and requesting his presence at that 
 operation. This I sent in duplicate by liichebourg, who brought 
 me ])ack the prefect's refusal in duplicate. 1 then issued an 
 order of the day, announcing that I should review the troops at 
 ten next morning, and that they would receive an instalment of 
 their pay in the course of that day. Then, followed by a com- 
 pany of grenadiers, I went with the officers and the commissary 
 to the cashier in charge of the funds of the hiiihwav board. He 
 had had notice from the prefect, and, when I demanded the sum 
 I required, he refused it. Twelve grenadiers went through 
 the form of forcing the strong-l)Ox, and the sum required for each 
 corps was handed to each quartermaster or paymaster, a state- 
 ment being drawn up Ijy the commissary and signed by every
 
 104 MEMOmS OF GENERAL THIEBAVLT 
 
 officer present. The payments were made, and the review took 
 place. I made the twelve men who were reported as ringleaders 
 fall out, and sent them off under arrest, after which the troops 
 marched past, and order was re-established. I drew up a report 
 of the whole affair, which I sent to Junot, and to the Ministers 
 for War, Home Affairs, and Finance ; but as no one either could 
 disapprove, or might approve, I had no answer except from 
 Junot. He praised my conduct, but said that his destination 
 was changed, and that he was going to Arras, to take command 
 of 12,000 grenadiers forming the reserve of the Army of 
 England, being replaced in command of the troops at Saintes by 
 General Lagrange. 
 
 I was bitterly disappointed and wrote both to Junot and to 
 Murat, reminding the former that I had only gone to Saintes to 
 be with him, and telling the latter of my desire to serve under 
 him. Both wrote at the same time and in the most friendly 
 way to say that my ^^'ishes were granted. I was once more 
 saved from a voyage for which I had no taste. Twenty-one 
 days, however, elapsed before I got my orders of recall. The 
 prefect and his wife showed me every kindness, and tried to 
 make me forget my annoyances. My orders were to wait for 
 General Lagrange and hand over the command to him ; but of 
 this I took no notice, seeing that the senior colonel could take 
 my place admirably, and actually did so; and posted off to 
 Tours. The prefect gave me, as a parting present, two bottles of 
 brandy of 1696. 
 
 I had not meant to stay at Tours more than a few days, but 
 the days passed so quickly that they seemed to be days only hj 
 the calendar. " iSTo one," said my intended, " will carry Ver- 
 sailles away in your absence, and whenever you get there you 
 are sure to find it where you left it." And in truth nothing 
 seemed to make my presence there necessary, my orders were in 
 no way urgent, and I might even have stayed at Saintes during 
 all the time which I spent at Tours. But none of these good 
 reasons which I gave myself in my own excuse prevented, not 
 indeed Versailles from changing its place, but, as will be seen, 
 my place from being changed. 
 
 Just when yielding to necessity I had got permission to
 
 AN INTERVIEW WITH MOREAU 10 
 
 r 
 
 depart, General Liebert came and asked me to take a letter to 
 Moreau, — a coufulential letter, \\liich was to be given only to 
 the person for whom it was intended. I promised to do as he 
 wished, and did not think it any special favour, for I knew the 
 old friendship that existed between these two ex-sergeants of 
 artillery, and I liad as little reason to think that there could 
 be anything serious between them, as to suppose that there 
 was anything dangerous in Moreau's position or in the part he 
 was playing. Thus reaching Paris on the evening of Feljruary 17, 
 I executed General Liebert's commission on tlie following 
 morning. 
 
 I had never served under M oreau , I had never spoken to 
 liim ; I had, in fact, merely had a glimpse of him with the Army 
 of the North in 1794, at Genoa in 1799, in Paris on the 18th 
 Brumaire. I had sent him as an eminent military man a copy 
 of my works and had received polite letters from him, Ijut there 
 our dealings ended, and if he remembered my name it was as 
 much as he could do. My bringing the letter in question should 
 therefore only have led on his part to a few friendly words in 
 return for the phrases in which I had expressed my happiness 
 at having this opportunity of paying my respects to him. What, 
 then, was my surprise when having read General Liebert's letter 
 without inquiring whence I came, if I was employed or how, 
 looking upon me no doubt only as a friend of General Liebert, 
 perhaps having heard of my misadventure at Saint-Cloud, and 
 the powerful enemies which the blockade of Genoa had gained 
 for me, and judging therefrom that I was not likely to be 
 friendly to the existing order of things, he began with the 
 utmost vehemence to express his opinion against the govern- 
 ment and the First Consul ! I was again in presence of a scene 
 similar to that which General Bonaparte had exhibited to me 
 three days before he struck his blow, but witli the difference 
 that Bonaparte had expressed his thoughts in the form of 
 indignation and wrath, while Moreau, in harmony with his cha- 
 racter, employed contempt and disdain. To quote some of his 
 phrases: "Liebert is still at Tours — When you have cMldren 
 and no money you must serve at any price, tliough you have to 
 serve as stepping-stone to the most ambitious soldier that ever
 
 I 
 
 106 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 lived — this is the end of all our labours, all these hopes, all that 
 glory ; that's what so many brave men, ■whole armies, have been 
 sacrificed for — authority isn't enough for that insatiable appe- 
 tite, it will be wanting the purple and the hereditary principle 
 to hand down the fruits of usurpation — and it is we who are to 
 surrender to these encroachments, this slaughter of liberty, we 
 who are to be cowards enough to let them come to pass." He 
 was walking up and down his study, quickening his pace more 
 and more, when he began this discourse. I had followed him 
 for some minutes ; presently I had stopped without his halting 
 in his walk. At last he could not help perceiving from the indif- 
 ference of my face and from my silence that I did not share his 
 exasperation, and that if I delayed my departure it was because 
 there was no third person present to make it possible. So 
 after coming up to me he stopped, ending up with wishes for 
 France, to which I answered in polite phrases ; then I took 
 leave of him, resolved not to see him again.* 
 
 To tell the truth, I was amazed both at General Moreau's 
 frame of mind and at his boldness in confiding it to me. No 
 doubt I understood that one of the two greatest generals in 
 
 France after Bonaparte, and the only one who could have any 
 aspirations towards power — for Massena had never thought of 
 laying claim to it — would not be likely to forgive him who had 
 attained to it. The enmity was inevitable as the result of the 
 nature of things, of human infirmity, of the power of self- 
 interest. Even if Moreau was apathetic enough to let his 
 hatred remain inactive, he was urged on by his wife, still more 
 by his mother-in-law, till he never missed an occasion of finding 
 fault with the intentions and conduct of the man to whose laws 
 he had to submit after having preceded him by so many years 
 in the path of military glory. 
 
 On the 18th Brumaire, it is true, Moreau had joined Bonaparte 
 and even undertaken to become the gaoler of the Directors, 
 while the Directory was in its death-struggle. But it may be 
 
 * [It may be noted that if General Thieljault is correct in his dates, the 
 order for Moreau's arrest had, when this interview took place, been signed three 
 days ago. if the General was aware of the state of afiairs, his exasperation 
 was justifiable.]
 
 MOUEAU AND DUROC 107 
 
 said that he was (h'afwed ou Ijv events which ho had no means 
 of opposing. He presently acceptetl the command of the Army 
 of the Ehine, but no sooner was he at tlie head of his ohl troops 
 and on the ^cene of his victories than he Inok u]) a hostile 
 nttitu(5el General Fririon, who was picstiit, ua\c mc the 
 following anecdote in writing. 
 
 Soon after making himself Consul, General Bonaparte had a 
 fancy to go and inspect the armies on the Rhine and see the 
 generals commanding them. But much as he might wish, lie 
 did not venture to carry it out nor even make any announce- 
 ment on the sul)ject without giving notice to Moreau. Accord- 
 ingly he sent under some pretext his aide-de-camp, Duroc, one 
 of the most conciliatory and moderate of men. Duroc went to 
 Basle and i'uund Moreau at breakfa.sL with some of his officers. 
 After exchanging some commonplace phrases, Duroc recurred 
 to the Army of the Ehine, the fame, of its generals, the high 
 distinction of its commander, and the great interest which the 
 First Consul would take in visiting them on the very scene of 
 their triumphs. " Colonel Duroc," replied Moreau, emerging 
 from his habitual calm, " does Bonaparte take us for Philistines ? 
 Tell him that if I were going to Italy I should be delighted for 
 him to come and see me and give me advice, but 1 know 
 Germany lietter than he does, and you can tell him, my dear 
 Duroc, that — if he comes, I shall leave the command to him." 
 Duroc saw' directly that there was nothing to be got there, so he 
 declared that he must have expressed himself badly if he had 
 let it be supposed that the First Consul had any intention of 
 coming, and he said nothing more except as to a vague desire 
 which the First Consul might have had of finding an oppor- 
 tunity for giving Moreau a renewed assurance of his attachment. 
 
 Still it was a long way from this to playing a criminal part, 
 a long way from rivalry or sarcasm to revolt ; but from w^at he 
 had now said to me, and from the tone and manner in which it 
 was said, there was but a step to revolt, and that step it seemed 
 to me that he had made up his mind to take. On getting home 
 I told my father of the interview, and he was no less uneasy 
 than 1 had been. Neither of us understood the degree of fuiy 
 required to make this man, ou the tirst occasion of my speaking
 
 108 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 to him, reveal so fully to me the secret of so hostile a frame of 
 mind. What was my duty if not immediately to report the 
 interview to Murat, under whose command I was ? My horror 
 of anything like tale-bearing prevented the idea from even 
 occurring to me. ]N"evertheless, when Moreau was arrested and 
 brought to trial a few days after Pichegru, I was very^imeasy 
 both as to the contents of the letter which I had brought in 
 which my name might occur, and as to what IMoreau's answer 
 might contain regarding me. My poor father even passed a 
 night with me in packing up many of my papers and putting 
 them in a place of security. In fact, our anxiety lasted till after 
 the trial ; that is, until Moreau was banished and Pichegru dead. 
 Pichegru's death was imputed to Xapoleon, who was coiilent 
 to reTiite the charge with the plu'ase, "You do not dirty your 
 hands with a coin that is out of circulation .■"*" Pichegru WCuTd 
 pass no longer ; he was not worth a crime, but with any pluck 
 he was bound to evade the scaffold.* 
 
 On leaviug Moreau, I went to call on Murat. "But, my 
 dear Thiebault," he said, after the exchange of a few friendly 
 words, " what has become of you for the last three weeks ? " 
 " Was I wrong in thinking that there was no urgent reason 
 to bring me back ? " " Certainly you were. Some meetings 
 have been taking place in the forest of the Trou d'Enfer. The 
 First Consul heard of them, and asked me who was the general 
 in command at Versailles, so as to send him orders and instruc- 
 tions without delay. I named you, but I was forced to add that 
 yon were not yet back from Saintes ; and in the present serious 
 state of affairs some one had to be appointed to take your place, 
 and he was to go, and did go, to Versailles in two hours' time. 
 I kept Orleans for you, and I have added Chartres to it, so that 
 you might retain some portion of your old command. In this 
 way, with the exception of Versailles, you will still have the 
 most important part of the division." 
 
 There was a kindness in the regret he was good enough to 
 express, and in the arrangement he had made, for which I could 
 
 * [This defence of Napoleon seems to overlook the facts that he was a 
 Corsican, and that, among those against whom he had a grudge, Pichegru 
 was not the only person who died by a convenient suicide.]
 
 A DESERVED ILL-LUCK 109 
 
 not but thank biin ; and I left liiin as much cousoled as I could 
 be for the loss of the finest command which a f'eueral of bri'-'ade 
 
 o o 
 
 could have had in time of peace; for the exchange of a 
 command that was in every way delightful, might lead to 
 anything, for one of the least pleasant in France, which could 
 lead to nothing. It was with all the keener annoyance that I 
 had to recognise that I was the sole cause of it, and if a loss was 
 ever deserved, that surely was. 
 
 On being informed by Murat of the change, I asked for orders, 
 and expressed a desire to reside at Chartres. " At Cliartres ! " 
 he exclaimed ; " why, there is no comparison between that town 
 and Orleans in point of importance." But as I pressed it, he 
 said, " Well, you shall go to Chartres." And on February 20, 
 1804, my orders were sent accordingly. However, one day when 
 I was dining with him, he told me to reconsider my choice. 
 I preferred Chartres simply because my future wife detested 
 Orleans, and of all the cities of France it is the most tiresome, 
 by reason of its inhabitants. But the weight of considerations 
 in its favour outweighed a mere antipathy, and ten days later 
 I received my orders for Orleans, and took up my quarters 
 there accordingly. 
 
 As I have mentioned, the First Consul had decreed that, 
 l)y way of reprisals for the perfidious aggression of England, all 
 the English in France sliould be regarded as prisoners of war. 
 They were settled in several places, and Orleans became the 
 residence of some sixty of them, the most notable being Lord 
 Elgin and General Count O'Connell, uncle of the man who is 
 now upsetting England. 
 
 The former, who hail been English Ambassador at Con- 
 stantinople, and had gained a certain reputation for the harm 
 which, as a good Englishman, he had done us, was a man of 
 rather over forty,* not very tall, rather strong, and of dis- 
 tinguished merit and manners. Apart from the relations which 
 his position compelled him to bear with me, and in which I 
 tried to save appearances, three circumstances combined to 
 
 * [Not quite thirty-eight, as a matter of fact. His reputation rests more 
 ou the abstraction of the Partheuon sculptures than on any particular success 
 in injuring France.]
 
 110 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAVLT 
 
 establish a regular iutimacy between us. First of all, he shared 
 the first iioor of the Hotel du Loiret with me, and we often 
 passed our evenings in each other's company. Further, he was 
 just then building a fine house on his Scotch estates, and I had 
 a fancy at that time for laying out gardens and country-places. 
 He was as keen to show me his plans as I was to see them ; 
 and whatever his preference for the plans which had been 
 drawn after the ideas and suggestions of eminent architects in 
 London, Vienna, Constantinople, and Paris, I persuaded him 
 to make such important changes that it became necessary to 
 revise the plans : a duty which, at his request, I entrusted, on 
 one of my expeditions to Paris, to an able draughtsman there. 
 Lastly, just at this moment when my marriage was approaching. 
 Lord Elgin's affection for his wife was another cause which 
 drew me to him. When he had been forced to leave Paris, 
 Lady Elgin was near her confinement, and his grief at leaving 
 her was such that he could never speak of it without tears in 
 his eyes. When her time drew near, I felt so sorry for him 
 that I advised him to write to the First Consul for leave to 
 spend at least the time of her confinement with her, and I 
 supported his request to ]\Iurat and to the Minister for War. 
 We could, however, obtain no concession ; and while he was 
 in that state of despair, I felt it to be a scandalous piece of 
 gratuitous cruelty. He used to have news of her by special 
 messenger every morning and evening for the first ten days 
 after the event. 
 
 Though I can never think of Lord Elgin without paying a 
 deserved tribute to his merits, he was far inferior to Count 
 O'Connell, whose career was not less worthy of admiration 
 than himself of respect. Born in Ireland about 1745, he had 
 entered the French service as a sub-lieutenant in the Eoyal 
 Swedish regiment in 1760. In 1771 he was in the Mauritius 
 with the force assembled there by Choiseul to act against the 
 Indian possessions of England. Afterwards he served at the 
 sieges of Port Mahon and Gibraltar, when he rose to the rank 
 of colonel. He was at Cadiz, about to take command of an 
 expedition by sea, when he was summoned to Neuf-Brisach 
 to re-organize the Anhalt regiment, which had been ruined by
 
 COUNT 0' CON NELL 111 
 
 lack of discipline ; and having accomplished this duty, was placed 
 on the committee appointed in 1788 to revise our military 
 regulations. After the third sitting the other members decided 
 to leave the whole task in his hands, reserving only the right 
 of discussing the scheme of the chapters. They found nothing 
 to alter in the way he had drawn it up, and thus it is to 
 Count O'Connell that France owes the liegulations of 1788, the 
 basis and model of everything that has been done, or will in 
 future be done, in the way of military legislation* An addition 
 of G,000 francs to his pension and the rank of major-general 
 were the reward for his service. 
 
 In 1792 he decided to go abroad, and presented himself to the 
 Duke of Broglie at Coblenz. Being told that all the posts were 
 filled up, he served the campaign of 1793 with the Bercheny 
 as a simple trooper. When the princes deserted the army 
 and went to Eussia, O'Connell returned to England, where he 
 married a refugee French lady, a widow with two daughters. 
 ]\Ieanwhile the hopes of the royalist party waned more and 
 more; and by 1801 the power of the First Consul had become 
 gigantic, and the might of France irresistible. Mme O'Connell 
 had interests in France ; and as the law no longer forbade their 
 return, they went back in 1802. The younger daughter before 
 long maiTied M. d'Etchegoyen, who afterwards became one of 
 Napoleon's hundred chamberlains, and whose elder brother 
 some years after married her sister.* 
 
 On learning that the author of the Eegulations of 1788 was 
 in France, the First Consul wished to attach him to his 
 government, and sent most honourable offers to him with that 
 view ; but O'Connell replied, " I am too old to desert a cause 
 which I have served all my life." The functionary who had 
 called on him came again with no more success, and then a 
 third time. This time he warned the count that no further 
 advances would be made, adding: "j\Iake your own terms, 
 and they will be complied with. It is not proposed that you 
 should go on active service ; it only rests with you to be the 
 head of the First Consul's Cabinet. If you persist in your 
 
 * [An account of O'Connell, difiering in certain details from Thie'bault's, 
 will be found in the Dictionary of National Biography.']
 
 112 MEMOIRS OF GEXEBAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 refusal, consider how much offeuce it may give, and do not 
 disguise from yourself that it is calculated to call forth severe 
 measures against you." If the count's mind had not been 
 made up, it would have been after this threat. IVIethods of 
 that kind could have no effect on a man of his stamp. As 
 for the First Consul, he ordered him to be arrested and taken 
 to the Temple, a step to which the count submitted with 
 inflexible resignation. By the efforts of a devoted friend, 
 Senator Fargues, his detention in the Temple was commuted 
 to residence at Orleans as prisoner of war, and in this way 
 Count O'Connell came to be among the prisoners for whom I 
 was responsible. 
 
 When I received his first visit, the facts I have related were 
 not known to me ; but his handsome venerable face, his white 
 hair, and the calm dignity to which his lofty stature gave full 
 effect, together with his natural, noble bearing, and the con- 
 fidence one felt in the least word of his simple yet powerful 
 converse, showed me that I was dealing with a man above the 
 common ; and it was with ever-increasini? cordialitv that I 
 showed him how much I was di^awn to vie with his old friends 
 in zeal for him. 
 
 It was not long before I had an opportunity of proving this. 
 One morning I received orders to send off all the English at 
 Orleans, for the Fort of Bitche, within twenty-four hours. For 
 the sixty families or individuals concerned, this was a calamity 
 which it was not in my nature to help feeling. But the orders 
 were imperative, and you did not palter much with the First 
 Consul or those who ministered to his will. However, while 
 carrying out this cruel transfer, I ventured to take it on myself 
 to except O'Connell and Lord Elgin, though I was far from 
 mistaking the consequences of such a bold step. It occiirred 
 to me to write to Murat, saying that Lord Elgin and Count 
 O'Connell, Ijeing at Orleans under special orders, I had 
 thought that they would have been mentioned by name, if 
 they were included in the general order which I had carried 
 out ; and delaying the departure of my letter for a day, I 
 made both write at once to their friends, so that they might 
 take advantage of the twenty-four hours' start to back me up,
 
 THE MARSHALS 113 
 
 or ratlier pave the way fur me ; and in this way we oljtaiued 
 leave for them to remain at Orleans. 
 
 On Wednesday, May 2, I received an address, all ready drawn 
 up, the ohject of which was to present a humljle petition to the 
 First Consul to allow himself to be named Emperor. It had to 
 be read at once to all the military officials and all the troops at 
 Orleans, and, when backed by the greatest possible number of 
 signatures, to be sent back by messenger so as to reach Paris on 
 the Saturday evening. The covering letter further ordered me, 
 with the major, to be at Saint-Cloud by eleven on the Sunday 
 following, in order to take part in the ceremony of acceding to 
 the desire expressed in the address. This was duly executed, 
 but in order to arrive at the hour named we had to travel by 
 special post ; that is to say, incur an expense the compensation 
 for which, it would seem, was to be found in the honour shown 
 us, and in the happiness we must feel at the accomplishment of 
 what I may say in passing neither of us had the least wish for. 
 Nor indeed was our desire to be granted, save to the misfortune 
 of him who had directed it and of those who were obliged, 
 willy-nilly, to express it. 
 
 On May 19 — the morrow, that is, of the day on which the 
 decree of the Senate confeiTcd on him the imperial dignity — the 
 Emperor re-created the order of marshals, under tlie title ol' 
 Marshals of the Empire. Eighteen were named, fourteen for 
 military service and four who belonged to the Senate, and were, 
 it appeared, not to be actively employed in future. Kellermann 
 was an exception, though he only held commands connected 
 with the organization of troops or the so-called reserve armies. 
 
 In this re-establishing the marshals Xapoleon was afraid of 
 his own work. He feared lest great services, enough to carry 
 men to so lofty a position, should set up a power which miglit 
 become dangerous. To preserve himself from this, he thought I 
 it bes^t to lower the credit of the institution by his selections, 
 and these were so made that favour prevailed entirely over 
 justice. He also took advantage of this opportunity to show 
 that, if he could make a great personage of a man without any 
 recognisaljle claim, he could with the same ease annihilate any- 
 one, whatever his claims might be, wlio might give him offence, 
 
 VOL. ir. I
 
 I 
 
 114 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 who did not ofl'er sufficient security of devotion to his person, 
 or who simply was not fortunate enough to please him. Many 
 of his selections were scandalous instead of encouraging, and 
 tarnished the lustre which but for them would have been pos- 
 sessed by the great dignity of the marshalate. I well remember 
 the tone, half of wrath, half of contempt, with which MassensL, 
 in reply to my congratulations, uttered the scoff, " There are 
 fou rteen of > is ! " 
 
 Not long after Xapoleon's accession to the imperial throne, 
 Eugene Beauharnais came to Orleans on his way to preside 
 over the electoral college of the department at Blois. Coming 
 to the Hotel du Loiret and asking for a private room, he was 
 shown by the landlord, who did not like to make him go 
 higher than the first floor, into my dining-room. He at once 
 came to ajjologise, and I went to keep him company while he 
 breakfasted. It shows what a bad actor I was, that while I 
 could without too much effort use the words " Emperor," and 
 even " His Majesty the Emperor," when speaking of Bonaparte, 
 I could not bring myself to use " Empress " and " Majesty " of 
 Josephine, who, in spite of her husband's transformation and 
 lier own share in his honours, was for me still Mme Bonaparte. 
 I could only ask after her by saying to Eugene, " How is your 
 mother ? " This awkwardness, to call it no more, made him 
 smile, and then I was again awkward enough to laugh too. I 
 have often recalled this bit of clumsiness, and I have found 
 plenty of people besides myself who would have done the like. 
 One had got accustomed to look upon Bonaparte as greater 
 than anything that had hitherto been considered ' greatness ; 
 but how could it be the same with regard to his wife, who, 
 raised as she was by many rare qualities and adorned by an 
 infinity of graces, remained, nevertheless, for me as for so many 
 others, merely Josephine, the mistress of Barras, who had been 
 made Mme BonaparTe in return for the command of the Arlny" 
 ? of Italy? However, I gradually fell in with the style of the 
 perio(I7'and very soon there were no imperial qualities that I 
 should not have found in Josephine. 
 
 On May 21 I had to administer the oath of fidelity to the 
 officers and local officials, and on June 12 I was ordered to
 
 THE MAKING OF AN EMPEROR 115 
 
 Saint-Cloud to be present at the ceremony of taking the oath 
 by the Emperor. Wlien T had made the journey to l*aris, I 
 was told it would not take place. On the 20th I was informed 
 that a certain numlier of j:,'enerals and colonels would be 
 admitted to the ceremony, and I was invited to join those who 
 had been summoned to it by His Imperial Highness the Lord 
 High Constable. 
 
 Finally, on June 23, I was informed that I had expressed a 
 desire that a solemn Tc Deum should l)e sung in tlie church 
 of the Invalides, to return thanks for the happy accession of 
 Napoleon Bonaparte to the throne of the French Empire ; but 
 that, in order to assist in giving that august ceremony (which 
 took place at 8 p.m. on August 15) all the splendour it admitted 
 of, I was t o be docked of five da ys' pay. It will be seen 
 that in this travail, which was to bring to the birth an emperor 
 all ready made, no expense was spared, whether of parade, 
 wTitings, documents, or money, so long as it was other people's ; 
 and in this way was brought about the great deliverance which 
 was to^nd in the most terrible subjection of France to lier 
 most implacable enemies. 
 
 In the course tif the summer I was married to j\Ille 
 Elisabeth Chenais, to whom I shall in future refer by the 
 name of Zozotte, a Creole abbreviation of her Christian name 
 l)y which she was known to her intimate friends. General 
 Liebert and the prefect, M. de Pommereul, were my witnesses 
 on the occasion. My cross, or star, as we then called it, of 
 Commandant of the Legion of Honour, to which grade I had 
 recently been raised, being the first of its kind seen at Tours, 
 was a great centre of attraction. 
 
 After four davs of entertaining and l^eiufT entertained, we 
 left Tours for Orleans. 
 
 I 2
 
 116 MEMOinS OF GENERAL THIEBAVLT 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 Coronation festivities — Ordered on active service — Ulm — Victory in full 
 career — On the way to Vienna — Breaches of discipline — Austerlitz — ^My 
 l^art in the battle — Severely wounded — Convalescence — Reflections on 
 the battle — Mistakes on both sides — Marshal Soult. 
 
 On October 21 my wife and I went to Paris for the Emperor's 
 coronation. We were late, and had great difficulty in finding 
 a lodging, but after much search I secured an attic at the price 
 of fifteen francs a day. I need not describe the vast bustle, 
 amid all conceivable magnificence, which marked the next three 
 months. After the bald simplicity of the Committee of Public 
 Safety, the puny parade of the Directory, and the prelude of the 
 Consulate, it was the outburst of a return to all the prodigality 
 of ostentation. Others besides me will recall that luxury, 
 which indeed was maintained, if it did not increase, as long as 
 the Empire lasted. 
 
 In the course of the gathering, ceremonies, and festivities, no 
 less sumptuous than imposing, Berthier, now Prince of Xeu- 
 chatel, conceived the idea, or received the suggestion, of a party 
 to be given for the Emperor by all the generals and admirals 
 in Paris; and Cesar Berthier was entrusted with the duty of 
 putting the idea about and getting it adopted. Nothing was 
 easier — who would have ventured to discuss it ? So the agree- 
 ment was unanimous. A committee was appointed, consisting 
 of eight lieutenant-generals including one vice-admiral, and ten 
 major-generals or generals of brigade, of whom I was one. 
 After settling preliminaries, the committee were deputed to 
 inform the Emperor of their wish to celebrate the great and 
 happy event in the person of the princes and great dignitaries 
 of France, and to beg his Majesty, with the Empress and the 
 prince and princesses of the imperial family, to honour the ball
 
 THE GENERALS' BALL 117 
 
 with his presence. On the following Sunday the couimittee 
 met at the Tuileries, and, as soon as the persons who had come 
 for the audience after the Mass were gone, General Duniuy, the 
 senior general of division, asked the chamberlain on duty to 
 inform the Emperor that a deputation from the generals and 
 admirals awaited his Majesty's orders. 
 
 The chamberlain went off to discharge his eiTand, and we 
 w^ere already gloating over the friendly reception with which 
 we were about to meet, and the agreeable and profitable 
 recollection of each of us which the reason for this audience 
 would leave, when he reappeared and struck us dumb with the 
 words, " His Majesty orders me to tell you that, as the generals 
 do not form a corporation, no deputation from them can be 
 recognised." 
 
 A painter who should have undertaken to render the scene 
 could have had no better or more varied models, for every age 
 and every character had its representative grimace. Naturally 
 we began by reproaching the speaker for using the word wdiich 
 had brought this rebuff upon us. Some one thought that, having 
 paid our compliment, we might stop there and economize the 
 expenses, which ultimately came to three thousand francs for 
 each lieutenant-general and one thousand live hundred for a 
 major-general ; twice that for committee-men. However, it was 
 finally agi'eed that General Dumuy and Admiral Ganteaume 
 should attend the reception that evening and give the invitation 
 as they best could. This was done, and it was graciously 
 accepted. 
 
 The ball was held in the Dramatic Hall in the Eue Chantereine. 
 It lasted till daylight, and supper was served continuously 
 after one o'clock. As a member of the committee, I could not 
 go with my wife, l3ut I had bidden her to be there punctually at 
 eight. At that hour I went to meet her at the door, but having 
 waited for some time, and being called away by my duties, I 
 was obliged to leave her to her own resources. Somewhat angry 
 and anxious, I was soon on my way back to the entrance, when 
 I saw Zozotte on the front seat of a first-row box, reserved for 
 the Court and the high dignitaries. I hastened to her, and, on 
 my expressing my astonishment at seeing her there, she burst
 
 118 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 out laughing and said, " You see, there are powers more potent 
 than yoiu's." The fact was that, not finding me at the carriage 
 entrance, and not knowing what to do, she caught sight of 
 Marshal Massena as he arrived, went straight up to him, and 
 said, " Mai'shal, you see the wife of one of your most devoted 
 officers, who will be puzzled what to do with herself if you do 
 not take her tor a moment under your protection." On learning 
 who she was, the marshal most gallantly offered his arm, and, 
 taking her to the corridor of the first tier, had the box opened in 
 which I found her, placed her there, and chatted with her for 
 some minutes. 
 
 The marshals' ball, which was the necessary consequence of 
 the generals', was like the crowning piece of all these splendours, 
 but it cost each marshal twenty thousand francs. Zozotte had 
 a great success. People followed her and asked who she was. 
 I doubt if at that gathering any other woman received so 
 many compliments no less unanimous than flattering. General 
 Suchet, passing near me as I was walking with her on my arm, 
 stopped and whispered, " Who is that with you ? " On my 
 reply, he exclaimed audibly, " The deuce ! " — making us both 
 laugh. She was waltzing with my friend Eivierre, and there 
 was a block just as they were opposite the imperial throne. 
 They had hardly stopped, when Zozotte's eyes turned to the 
 Empress, and that kind Josephine, an infallible judge of every- 
 thing like perfection, bent towards her, saying, in the caressing 
 tone so natural to her, "It is impossible to be prettier or to 
 waltz more gracefully." Zozotte, taken aback, yet delighted, 
 could only answer by a deep courtesy and a charming blush. 
 "Well, my friend," said Pdvierre, when he told me of this 
 success, " you know I am no friend of those people ; but was I 
 not right when I told you that in your position you were wrong 
 not to take Mme Thiebault to Court ? " 
 
 The marshals' Ijall was somewhat spoilt for me by a squabble 
 that I had with Cesar Berthier. He had had the politeness at 
 the generals' ball to cause some ladies of his acquaintance to 
 eat the supper intended for eight ladies whom I had gone to 
 fetch. His behaviour had annoyed me more than the thing 
 itself, which only involved a quarter of an hour's delay, but I
 
 BALLS UPON BALLS 119 
 
 had not been able to suppress my irritation ; and when Cesar 
 met us again at tlie marshals' ball, he said something, I forget 
 upon what subject, w^hich I thought out of place. As bad luck 
 would have it, I was chatting with Massena and Lannes, and, as 
 the presence of these witnesses increased both his bad manners 
 and my bad temper, I answered no less drily than ironically. 
 Cesar Avas going to reply. " Go about your business," said I ; 
 whereupon he added, " I will fetch my brotlier." Lannes 
 exploded with laughter, while ]\Iassena said, " You are going to 
 liave all the family on your back " — and, in fact, I was quits 
 witli General Cesar, but I should not have got off so cheaply 
 ^^•ith his elder brother the marshal, and I had to retreat. 
 
 The ball given by the Minister of Marine was very fine ; few 
 localities were better fitted for a party. As is well known, it was 
 the old palace of the Eoyal "Warehouse, full of early recollections 
 for me. M.. Decres also did the honours of his ball admirably ; 
 few men had more wit or finer manners. It M-as he who said of 
 Talleyrand, with reference to his fortune, "How should you 
 expect the man not to be rich wdien he has sold all those wlio 
 have bought him ? " Many others of his sayings were quoted ; 
 I remember one of them. After the First Consul appointed 
 his ministers, he had allowed them handsome salaries on the 
 understanding that they made a good show ; but lie had at the 
 same time ordered Fouche to have some spies in tlie household 
 of every one of them. Soon after this Decres gave a grand 
 dinner to his colleagues, where they were waited on by many 
 footmen in rich liveries. " The deuce ! " said Fouclie — " you have 
 got a household quite like a great lord of old times ; it must cost 
 you a great deal ! " " Xot so very much," answered Decres, 
 " seeing that it is your business to pay the w^ages." This Duke 
 Decres was a very bad horseman, and the saying was, that when. 
 he rode the only thing he hurt was Ids stomach ! 
 
 The last reminiscence that I shall give of tliis period of the 
 coronation relates to the substitution for tlie old colours and 
 standards of what were afterwards called the " eagles," because 
 of the eagles on the top of the poles. The Champ de Mars, 
 which is the scene of all political and military displays, had 
 been chosen for this ceremony. On the Emperor's anival, a
 
 120 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 general roll of the drums was heard, after which the troops 
 broke into sections, and were marched past to give up their old 
 colours and to receive from the Emperor's own hand the eagles 
 intended for them. More than one tear was shed at that 
 moment to the regulation shouts of " Long live the Emperor ! " 
 However, the exchange was carried out as arranged, and at the 
 end of the ceremony the Champ de Mars was gay with the 
 most brilliant eagles. These eagles promptly received from the 
 soldiers the name of "cuckoos," which stuck to them in the 
 dialect of the barrack-room. 
 
 Until then nothing had weakened the solemn effect of the 
 distribution, but either l)y a purpose hard to conceive, or by an 
 oversicrht which would be still more astonishing, no one had 
 remembered to tell the men who had brought the eagles and 
 received the colours in exchange what they were to do with 
 those colours; so that when the Emperor was gone and the 
 stands were empty, finding it tiresome to be loaded with the 
 colours, all the more as it l)egan to rain, they could think of 
 nothing better than to throw them down, — that is, in the mud. 
 There they were trampled under foot just as the regiments were 
 passing on their way back to their quarters. 
 
 Indignant at the insult to what they had been honouring and 
 defending for thirteen years, the regiments began to grumble. 
 Presently oaths and imprecations burst out, while some 
 grenadiers even wanted to fly to their old colours and resume 
 possession of them. ]\Iy carriage not having yet gone on, I 
 hunied to find the commander of the Military School. Failing 
 him, I met one of his adjutants, and told him to fetch all the 
 men that could be found of those who were keeping the ground ; 
 then, having ordered them to raise up the colours, I had 
 them carried into one of the rooms of the Military School. 
 This done, my first idea was to go at once and report the 
 incident to Murat ; but reflection soon decided me to hold my 
 tongue. Either one thing or the other ; either they had really 
 forgotten to give any orders on the subject, or else they had 
 taken this opportunity to advertise contempt for those old 
 witnesses to the glory of the Eepul^lic, while providing a means 
 of punishing, if necessary, those on whom responsil)ility for the
 
 OLD FRIENDS AND NEW 121 
 
 insult might have l)ecii hiid. Now, in the first case, my report 
 would have implied a reproach ; in the second, it would have 
 been a piece of awkwardness, and, under either supposition, it 
 would have put me in the wrong. Moreover, it had nothing to 
 do with my duty ; lastly, and above all, I was quite convinced 
 that no one of the details of that profanation had been the result 
 of chance. 
 
 January was drawing to an end, and with it the time that I 
 could remain away from my command, and moreover, from the 
 condition of my purse, 1 judged that we had had amusement 
 enough. My wife had made acquaintance with many of my 
 friends ; M-e had dined more than once with M. and Mme Maret, 
 the future Duke and Duchess of Bassauo, whose acquaintance 
 we had made at the house of his brother, the prefect at Orleans. 
 Mme Maret was a splendid woman, who in private life was no 
 less amiable and kindly than unpretending. One evening, on 
 going to a reception at the Orleans prefecture, we had found her 
 hemming napkins for her sister-in-law, and our amval had not 
 prevented her from going on with her occupation without a 
 thought of either apologising for it or even alluding to it. In 
 public she knew how to replace good nature by dignity, and 
 made the noblest and most graceful Duchess that could be 
 imagined. We also dined with Cambaceres. His table could 
 not fail to be appreciated as it deserved by " Mile Chenais," 
 who, without having her whole appetite concentrated like her 
 father upon the pleasure of eating, was none the less his worthy 
 daughter in this respect. Lastly, as she wished to receive the 
 Pope's blessing, we went one day to the Capuchins' Church in 
 the Chaussee d'Antin when his Holiness officiated. Thus 
 petted ])y all our friends, having been present at all the 
 festivities, congratulated l)y the Empress, blessed by tlie Pope, 
 Zozotte had nothing left to desire when we took our way back 
 to Orleans, where, as she said, if one only considered the 
 inhabitants, one would have been forced to admit that except 
 for sugar the word refinement would have been unknown. 
 
 On the morning of June 14 our first child was born, and 
 received the name of Edward. Our doctor, unfortunately, was 
 only a specialist, and, tliough successful in his own line, had
 
 122 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIJIEBAULT 
 
 not the faculty of foreseeing results. FOr sixty-two days 
 Zozotte was extremely ill, and just when she Avas beginning to 
 improve I received orders to go to Chartres to inspect the 
 3rd Hussars. Military orders are despotic, and I had to go, 
 though determined to get my business over as soon as possible. 
 Still, though I worked night and day, eleven days were required 
 to verify everything and to draw up my report. 
 
 Eeturning home on August 30, in the evening, I ran up into 
 the drawing-room — a spacious and airy apartment — in which, 
 before my departure, the bed of the mother and the cradle of 
 the child had been placed. A sad picture offered itself to my 
 view. The infant lay on the knees of a strange nurse, while 
 liis poor mother, rising with difficulty at the sight of me, burst 
 into tears, and for all answer to my cry, " What is the matter ? " 
 pointed to her child, livid and motionless. Her own illness 
 had affected the child's health and brought on some malignant 
 inflammation, which had progressed too far to render the aid of 
 a fresh nurse of any avail. The poor infant only lived two 
 days longer. Zozotte remained for some time prostrated and 
 almost lethargic, and I had to put aside my own grief to con- 
 sole her. Such was the state of things when, not many hours 
 after the death of our child, a messenger passing by Orleans 
 brought me the order to set out, within six hours, for Landau 
 in Bavaria, there to take command of the 1st Brigade of Saint- 
 Hilaire's division, forming part of the 1st Army Corps under 
 the command of Marshal Soult. 
 
 I felt as if a thunderbolt had fallen on me. I vainly tried 
 to soothe Zozotte and to persuade her that this order would not 
 have to be literally executed. It was the last blow for her ; she 
 was seized with a violent hysterical fit. 1 sent an express 
 messenger to Mme Chenais, who arrived on the evening of the 
 next day, when, in order that my wife should not be left 
 alone, our regular medical man. Dr. Latour, had a room pre- 
 pared for her in his house, whither she was taken before my 
 departure. 
 
 I was carried from Orleans to Paiis without recovering my 
 full consciousness. On my arrival I had barely strength to go 
 to bed and I had not strength to get up. Gassicourt and
 
 TROUBLE AT HOME AND ABROAD 123 
 
 Eivierre, mIio were expecting me, liastencJ to my side, wliilo 
 Eichebourg and my servant Jacques went to buy the postchaise 
 wliich I required, and loaded it. On the following day I 
 received a letter from Dr. Latour, as we had agreed, in which 
 I leamt that my wife was going on as well as could be 
 expected. I replied at once, writing also to my poor wife, and 
 to the prefect, M. Maret, to ask him to see to the placing of a 
 stone on the child's grave. Then 1 continued my melancholy 
 journey. 
 
 As my readers will have surmised, the meaning of the order 
 which had compelled me to start at such short notice was that 
 a new campaign was on foot. England had just financed a 
 third coalition, the most necessary of all to her. Her object 
 Avas to cause the break-up of the camp at Boulogne and render 
 useless the flotilla at which people made believe to laugh, but 
 which required only a little smart manoeuvring and a good 
 breeze to enable it to throw upon the coast of England 
 150,000 men, under a chief who increased their strength ten- 
 fold. This coalition re-opened hostilities with Austria and 
 Eussia, which had been interrupted for two and a half years. 
 Yet what hope could those two Powers have of beating an army 
 which Napoleon had for the last two years been training for 
 the war, which was amply provided, and had been stimulated 
 to the highest pitch of enthusiasm ? Thus, nothing could be 
 more shameless than the way in which Francis and Alexander 
 took their pay, trafficking in this way — I will not say in the 
 honour of their arms, compromised as that already was, but in 
 the blood of their soldiers. 
 
 Taking advantage of the fact that Napoleon, being occupied 
 with his plan of invading England, did not seem to be in a 
 position allowing him for two months to come to appear in 
 Germany with a sufficient force, the Coalition had in ai-ms to 
 meet him 417,000 men, ready for active service, besides another 
 100,000 in the depots and recently raised. To this formidable 
 array he could only oppose 247,000 men ; but on August 30, 
 the very day when he had received news at Boulogne of the 
 armament on foot, abandoning his vast flotilla, the stores he had 
 ready, and all his plans, he had settled the organization of the
 
 124 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 Grand Army, and twenty-eight days later that army, the greater 
 part of which crossed the Ehine between Strasburg and Spires, 
 was marching under his command to meet the enemy. Murat 
 was second in command. The force consisted of six cavalry 
 divisions and two divisions of dismounted dragoons, ten 
 battalions of the Imperial Guard under Bessieres, ten of 
 grenadiers under Oudinot, and seven army corps commanded 
 by Bernadotte, Marmont, Davout, Soult, Lannes, ISTey, and 
 Augereau, to which an eighth under Mortier was afterwards 
 added. The Bavarians under Wrede formed a ninth corps. 
 
 Austria, having succeeded in disguising her preparations, was 
 the first to act. Mack, at the head of 80,000 men, had already 
 crossed Bavaria, and was posted on the lUer, with his right at 
 Ulm and his left at Memmingen, a position whence he could 
 threaten us, and where he expected to be joined by a second 
 Austrian and two Eussian armies in time to be able to offer a 
 successful opposition to any enterprise of ours. 
 
 The Emperor's only chance lay in rapid and unerring move- 
 ment. His task was to anticipate the junction of the allied 
 armies in full force by attacking and destroying the first army 
 that stood in his way before the other corps had come up. 
 With this object, instead of marching directly upon Mack's 
 army, he advanced by the left bank of the Danube, past Ulm, 
 on which Mack's right rested, and made his entire force con- 
 verge upon Donauwerth. Capturing this town, but only passing 
 through it, he crossed the Danube, and by this unexpected 
 stroke, no less clever than bold, found himself in Mack's rear. 
 That general, who already had been unlucky at seeing through 
 iSTapoleon's designs, was unlucky once again. He might have 
 tried either to open the way to Munich, and so preserve his 
 line of communications, or to fall back on Tyrol, whence his 
 reinforcements were to come. Instead of this he packed him- 
 self into Ulm, in the hope of being joined by the three armies 
 that he was expecting, in time to get Napoleon between two 
 fires. But the battle at "VYertingen, in which Murat distin- 
 guished himself, settled the reinforcements from Tyrol. Ney 
 attacked the bridge of Giinzburg (where the good Colonel 
 Lacuee was killed) and drove back the Austrian corps that
 
 VIC WHY JN FULL CAR FEE 125 
 
 held it ; the 4th Corps took Meramiugen ; the Archduke 
 Ferdinand cut his way through and took refuge in iiohemia, 
 where, thanks to Murat, his troops arrived in a fragmentary 
 state. This series of reverses made Mack's position so critical 
 that, like Wurmser at IMantua, or Melas at Alexandria, he had 
 to capitulate; like the former, laying down his arms. Thus 
 a single operation and a few slight actions sufficed to destroy, 
 with hardly any loss, an army w^hich it ought to have cost us a 
 third of our entire force merely to beat, and only delayed our 
 progrress for eight days. Within a month from our crossing the 
 Khine Napoleon was in Munich. More than thirty actions, 
 fought, so to say, in our stride, resulted in as many victories, 
 and, among other results, had the effect of destropng the 
 Kussian reputation for invincibility which, in spite of the 
 defeats of Korsakoff and Suwarrow, the boasts of their allies 
 had assigned them. 
 
 My division took only a secondary part in this campaign, and 
 my reminiscences of it are connected more with marching than 
 with fighting. Such as they are, however, they have a place in 
 my Memoirs. My orders, received on Septemljer 2, were to the 
 effect that I was to report myself at Germersheim by the 12th. 
 If my mind had not been full of more serious matters, touching 
 me more nearly, I should have felt more keenly the annoyance 
 of being placed under the orders of Marshal Soult, who for the 
 last live years had been making no secret of feelings towards 
 me, which his character, aided by the difference between his 
 position and mine, might easily render disastrous to me. 
 
 I hoped that the first interview would at least pass without 
 a dispute ; but I was mistaken. Indeed, the marshal seemed 
 to throw a touch of spite into the aljrupt information that he 
 had placed me in Saint-Hilaire's division, and that, as General 
 Morand commanded the first brigade, I should have the second. 
 General Vare remaining in reserve. " My lord," I said — as the 
 etiquette then ran — " I am a friend of Morand's, but I am also 
 his senior, and I ought to command the first brigade ! " "A 
 commander-in-chief," he replied, " can place his generals as he 
 likes " — confusing, as regarded himself, between the commander 
 of an army and of an army corps, and, as regarded the fact.
 
 126 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 between employment and rank. However, I merely pointed out 
 that this could not extend to matters of organization, which 
 were governed by superior regulations ; and to settle the ques- 
 tion I added that, if General Saint-Hilaire were to be absent, it 
 would be my right to replace him provisionally, which was not 
 compatible with the command of the second brigade. "Very 
 well," said the marshal, with a touch of temper ; " I shall form 
 an advance-guard for Morand." This left him with only one 
 regiment, instead of two or three, but kept him at the head of 
 the column. In this way Saint-Hilaire's division, the first of 
 the army corps, was thus composed : the 10th Light Infantry, 
 under Morand, as advance-guard ; a first brigade, made up of the 
 14th and 36th, under me ; and a second, made up of the 57th 
 and 105th, under Vare. 
 
 From the fact of my original order having been to set out 
 in six hours, and the date fixed for my arrival, I had thought 
 that I should only be just in time for the crossing of the Ehine. 
 Ten whole days passed in complete inaction, during which all 
 that I could do was to make acquaintance with my new 
 " military family." I will introduce them. To begin with my 
 chief. General Saint-Hilaire, I could only deem myself happy 
 to serve under him. He was an excellent man, of charming 
 manners, and made friends with me at once. He soon confided 
 to me that I M'as in his division by the Emperor's special 
 appointment, which gave me an opportunity of saying that the 
 more I appreciated the good fortune of being in his division, 
 the happier I was to owe it to goodwill in such high quarters. 
 I also explained to him my relations with Marshal Soult, which 
 he was good enough to bear well in mind. 
 
 I was o-lad to see Morand again, as a reminder of Eoman 
 
 (;[ays I might almost say as a friend of those days. He did not 
 
 seem to bear me much of a grudge for the loss of his brigade, 
 though, indeed, I have always felt sure that the marshal, who 
 favoured him without concealment, had told him that he should, 
 none the less, be general of division at the end of the campaign, 
 and have the first promotion. We lived on good terms and 
 met nearly every day. I even had to thank him for an 
 excellent aide-de-camp, a devoted officer named Parguez.
 
 MY NEW COMUADES 127 
 
 Morand was well educated, u man with some flexibility in his 
 ideas, and as much capacity as his small head would hold. To 
 sum him up, he was admirable as a major, quite above the 
 average as a colonel, distinguished as a general of brigade, and 
 up to his work as a general of division, though overparted with 
 the command of an army corps. As an infantry officer he was 
 specially remarkable, and in that capacity one of the men who 
 had seen most service and done best. He was one of those 
 wliose elevation to the Chamber of Peers could be viewed 
 without offence, when so many others were rather pitchforked 
 into it by favour than borne into it by their deserts. 
 
 General Varo calls for no remark. Of Colonel Mazas, com- 
 manding the 14tli, 1 retain a recollection founded on well- 
 deserved esteem and regard. The commander of the 36th, 
 Colonel Houdar de Lamotte, was as energetic before the enemy 
 as Mazas, and a man of talent as well ; of perfect manners, and 
 fine appearance and reputation, he was engaged to Mile Bara- 
 guey d'Hilliers, who married General Foy, and would have had 
 a fine career had he not been killed at Jena. 
 
 To go outside my own division, from this campaign I date 
 my lively and lifelong friendship with General Margaron, who 
 commanded the cavalry of the 4tli corps. We had fought 
 together before Solre-le-Chateau, in 1793, when he was captain 
 in the Ardennes Hussars and I in the 24th Light Infantry. 
 Lastly, I wish to reconl here the name of General rlordy, whose 
 acquaintance I made at Landau. I do not mention him, I may 
 truly say, as an example of manners, or cleverness, or even high 
 capacity, for he had none of the qualities which make a genius 
 or a man of the world. Hut, born with a passion for war and 
 an instinct for it, he was one of the rare heroes who are the 
 boast of their chiefs and the honour of the armies to which they 
 belong. His too sliort career was illustrated by a score of feats, 
 notably the attack on the island of Noirmoutier, which he con- 
 tinued to direct with his left thigh and his skull fractured. 
 Indeed he had, in despair, been obliged to leave the active army 
 eight years before this time, though he had served two cam- 
 paigns since losing the use of his left leg, as well as the sight 
 of an eye by the same shot which had broken his skull. Then,
 
 12S MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 however, his zeal coukl no longer hold out against eighteen 
 wounds, some of which kept re-opening. He was at first recom- 
 pensed by the command of Strasburg, with pay as on active 
 service ; but on the classification of the fortresses he had to 
 leave Strasburg and take command at Landau. 
 
 I have mentioned General Jordy as an example of the 
 reputations which, though based on numerous deeds of heroism, 
 confirmed by orders of the day, by letters from the Directory, 
 by promotion on the field of battle, and by national rewards, have 
 none the less fallen into profound oblivion. His name, and 
 the names of others, with which our armies so deservedly rang, 
 are no longer known to the present generation. It does not 
 take long for contemporary pygmies to hide the giants of times 
 past ; the old horizon of renown is every day covered by thicker 
 mists, and only a few colossal figures remain uneffaced. 
 
 On September 26 there was a general movement. We 
 broke up our cantonments, crossed the Ehine at Spires, and 
 entered upon the campaign. I have given the general facts of 
 it. As concerns the part played by the troops with Vfhom I 
 was, we proceeded by way of Heilbronn, Hall, EUwangen, and 
 Nordlingen. We crossed the Danube at Donauwerth, merely 
 passing through. Thence Saint-Hilaire had orders to march on 
 Aufjsburg, where I went to see the hall in which Melanchthon 
 presented the articles of his schism to Charles V. Next day, 
 being October 7, we started for Landsberg, a march of over 
 twenty miles. We had gone fourteen or so, and Saint-Hilaire, 
 Morand, and I were riding together at the head of my brigade, 
 chatting as we went, when Philippe de Segur, the Emperor's 
 orderly officer, overtook us and handed to Saint-Hilaire a letter 
 which, to my great surprise, he read out aloud. Here it is, 
 verhatim : — 
 
 " General Saint-Hilaire, — 
 
 " Sir, — I send you this letter to tell you that the enemy is occupying 
 Landsberg. I think that you will give me a good account of him, and 
 therewith I pray God to have you in His holy keeping. — Nap." 
 
 " Come, gentlemen," said the general at once, " let us hurry 
 on, so as to get there to-day, and justify the Emperor's con-
 
 A DILEMMA 129 
 
 fidence." The men, learnini^' the contents of the letter, quickened 
 their pace, singing and shouting " Long live the Emperor ! " 
 
 We had been getting along in this fine style for a quarter of 
 an hour, when an aide-de-camp from Murat, galloping as fast 
 as his horse could go over the ploughed land, appeared on our 
 right, and beckoned to us. As soon as he was near enough to 
 be recognised and heard, he shouted us to halt. On doing so, 
 we learnt that the prince was engaged with a much superior 
 force of the enemy, and ordered us to join him with all speed. 
 " Impossible ! " answered Saint-Hilaire ; " look at the Emperor's 
 orders, sir." " The issue is at Ulm, not at Landsberg," replied 
 the officer; "what will become of you, too, if the prince is 
 overwhelmed, and General Mack gets out?" These reasons, 
 strong enough in themselves, being backed ]>y the roar of 
 cannon in the direction of Mindelheim, he urged that not a 
 moment should be lost. "Oh, gentlemen," said Saint-Hilaire 
 to us, " what is to be done ? " His eyes seemed to rest on me 
 as he ended his exclamation, and I said, " March on the sound 
 of the guns, general." The quotation of this maxim appeared to 
 decide him. " Well then, gentlemen," he said, " regiments, 
 right wheel ; advance in columns." The word of command 
 was passed along, and we were soon on our way to Murat in 
 five infantry columns, his aide-de-camp going forward to let 
 him know. 
 
 We had been marching in this way for another quarter of 
 an hour when a cry of " Halt ! " brought us to a standstill. 
 Murat's aide-de-camp had disappeared, the fire was slackening, 
 and Saint-Hilaire, having no longer anything to keep him to 
 the point, had changed his mind. Calling us together, he 
 explained that we were disobeying the Emperor's orders, his 
 written orders even, that we were perhaps spoiKng some superb 
 operation, that we were losing the opportunity of distinguishing 
 ourselves and of playing a part of our own, and all in pursuance 
 of orders from one wlio had no right to order us. " Therefore, 
 gentlemen, we are going to march on Landsberg. Columns, 
 left wheel." Thus, after wasting three-quai'ters of an hour in 
 time, and three-quarters of a league in lal)orious marchin<^, 
 and not disguising our ill-humour, we resumed, over plouf^hed 
 
 VOL. II. K
 
 130 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 ground, the direction of a road which we had rightly left. We 
 had struck it, and were following it once more, when Murat's 
 guns were again heard, so much nearer to us now that we could 
 distinguish the musketry. The soldiers — infallible judges — 
 formed their opinion of the military blunder, and of the fault in 
 not keeping a promise which in the circumstances should have 
 been sacred. A murmur arose, and poor General Saint-Hilaire 
 was all the more distressed l)y an increase in the tiring. He 
 came back to us, swearing at his position, ^vhich left him only a 
 choice of disobediences, and compelled him to act in the dark, 
 with the risk of putting his foot into it, whatever he did. 
 " But, general," said Morand, " it is ten to one that the force 
 which was at Landsberg has combined with that which the 
 prince is fighting." So the division changed its direction for 
 the third time in less than an hour, and wheeled to the right 
 again. The result of all these false movements was that we 
 came up just as Murat's vigorous attacks had succeeded in 
 repulsing both a corps coming up from Tyrol, and that from 
 Landsberg as well. By arriving in time we should have helped, 
 not only to beat them, but to suiTOund them. Naturally we 
 were not well received, nor was Murat's " Good-morning " in 
 the least gracious to anyone save me, which exception I set 
 down to the advice I had given in the hearing of his aide-de- 
 camp. Nor did anyone trouble himself about us. We had 
 some difficulty in finding shelter; and as for my men, they 
 had to bivouac, and it was a very cold night. 
 
 Next day, the 9th, we started in the morning for Landsberg. 
 Eain no less copious than icy had been falling continuously 
 since daybreak ; the roads were horrible, and we only reached 
 Landsberg at night, wet and chilled to our bones, to discover 
 that by orders from headquarters all the furniture and equipages 
 had gone back to Augsburg, so that I had no second horse, no 
 servant, not even a dry shirt or pair of boots. To crown my 
 troubles, I could not get off my right boot, on the side, that is, 
 upon which the rain had driven, without slitting it from top to 
 bottom. Bidding my landlord buy me a pair of boots during 
 the night, I went to bed dead-tired. 
 
 When the morning dawn woke me, I called for the boots
 
 BOOTLESS AND SUPPERLESS 131 
 
 which were to liave been bought ; none could be got at any 
 price. If my landlord had not been a tomtit with a foot 
 hardly as big as a woman's, I would have made a compulsory 
 purchase of his ; but it was no good to think of that. I had 
 the town scoured for an old pau', at any rate ; but it was lost 
 trouble. Meanwhile the division was marching out. There 
 was nothing for it Init to put on, with infinite labour, my 
 remaining sound boot, and fasten the other round my leg with 
 a bit of rope. Thus shod, wdth my clothes still wet, and snow 
 falling thickly, I jumped on my horse and followed the rear- 
 guard only just in time, for as I w^ent out at one end of the 
 market-place of Landsberg I saw the Austrian hussars entering 
 at the other. 
 
 The road from Landsberg to Memmingen goes through vast 
 pine-forests, and we could admire the picturesque effects of the 
 snow at our leisure, as it never stopped all day. "We passed 
 the night at Mindelheim, and drew near Memmingen on the 
 11th, as night was drawing on. The troops were ordered to 
 bivouac, and Saint-Hilaire went forward to find quarters, 
 leaving his chief of staff to get the various corps into their 
 proper lines, and an aide-de-camp to bring Morand and myself 
 to a house where we should find fire, bed, and supper. Morand 
 went off at once ; but it was against my principles to leave my 
 men till they had piled arms, so I had the direction of the 
 house pointed out to me as well as the darkness allowed, and 
 on tliis somewhat vague indication I dismissed the aide-de- 
 camp, glad enough not to have to wait. 
 
 In half an hour I set out to rejoin General Saint-Hilaire, but 
 the night had grown so dark that while trying to follow the 
 direction pointed out, I got stuck in the mud, and found a 
 brook in front of me of which I knew neither the breadth nor 
 the depth, and which formed a swamp that I had much trouble 
 to get out of. Was there any ford or bridge ? No dwelling 
 appeared, no light, no inhabitant. I could distinguish nothing 
 but the wood, of which I had been told, forming a black edging 
 to the other side of the l^rook. Eichebom-g, assisted by one of 
 my orderlies, looked for a way across, and looked in vain. x\t 
 length, after having wandered about for some time in the snow 
 
 K 2
 
 132 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 and the mud, we beard a man and succeeded in catching him 
 up. It was a dragoon going back to bis regiment, which was 
 cantoned a good league away. We followed bim, hungry, 
 dead-beat, frozen, and no longer thinking of anything but 
 shelter, which when we reached the cantonment seemed to be 
 offered l>y a bouse of fair size. Eichebourg and I dismounted, 
 and going in, found a room full of straw, lighted by a wretched 
 hanging lamp, and warmed by a cast-iron stove almost red-hot. 
 Not even the stifling heat and the awful odour could stop us. 
 The floor was covered with dragoons lying under and upon the 
 straw ; \\e flung ourselves among the snorers. By dint of 
 treading on the feet of some and bands of others till they 
 yelled, I managed to find just room enough to bold me between 
 two of them, and fell asleep, convinced though I was that it 
 would require a miracle to prevent the stove setting fire to the 
 straw and broiling us like bacon. 
 
 At daybreak the " boots and saddles " roused half a squadron 
 out of this stinking den, together with Eichebourg and myself. 
 But Eichebourg, who no less than I had been soaked like a 
 sponge for the last forty hom-s, having wished to profit by the 
 heat of the stove to dry bis clothes, had been rewarded for this 
 bit of luxury by finding one of bis coat-tails entirely burnt, a 
 disaster which bis face and his rage would have made comic 
 had our situation been less wretched. We remounted, he with 
 one coat-tail, I with one boot, but at any rate we had a guide 
 who took us to the country-house, where they bad waited dinner 
 a whole hour for us the evening before. To complete our ill- 
 luck we got there just as the general was mounting — that is, 
 when breakfast was over ; and as they had left nothing but some 
 bread and cheese, we ate that on horseback, washing it down 
 with wine drunk straight from the neck of the bottle. 
 
 That day passed in negotiations resulting in the capitulation 
 of Memmingen, but if the capture of the place did not cost us a 
 single man, the fury of plunder did cost a few. At the moment 
 when our cavalry forced the outposts to fall back in a hurry, 
 the horses of a cart, which was going towards the town, bad 
 been killed close up to the gates, the drivers had fled, and the 
 cart had been al)andoned. Our soldiers had somehow discovered
 
 CLUBBED 133 
 
 that among tlie load of the cart was a case of jewellery and 
 another of watches, after which it was impossible to hold them 
 back. Neither the most imperative orders nor the fire of round 
 shot, grape and musketry, directed at all who ap])roached the 
 cart, could check them. More than forty were killed, but the 
 two cases were broken open and emptied ; which was what these 
 madmen called making war on their own account. 
 
 This brings me to a painful reminiscence. The task of 
 taking Memmiugen accomplished, Soult's orders were to march 
 to Biberach in order to blockade Ulm more closely on that side. 
 The capitulation was signed in the evening, and the marshal 
 left Legi'and's division, 1 think, to occupy the place until the 
 captured garrison and artillery had been started off for France, 
 and set out with the rest of his troops for Biberach. But he 
 had completely overlooked two precautious : iirst, to establish 
 an order of marching for tlie troops of all arms, including the 
 artillery ; and secondly, to have the road reconnoitred, Now it 
 happened that for a distance of about five miles the road was 
 formed by a deep hollow way ; the artillery were among the 
 first to get into this, while it should on all accounts have 
 brought up the rear of the column ; it was followed by the 
 infantry and the cavahy mixed up together. The road soon 
 became abominable, night came on; many of the guns and 
 tumbrils got stuck in the mud or broken, while everything that 
 came after them was compelled to stop. It was thought that 
 this halt would only be momentary, and in order to gain as 
 much ground as possible the troops were locked up closer and 
 closer till no one could stir. Still for some time they remained 
 patient, but as it gi'ew quite dark and an icy rain began to fall 
 heavily and promised to last all night, thousands of men up to 
 their ankles in mud getting wetter and wetter and unable to 
 shelter themselves, to sit down, to light a fire, to advance or 
 to retreat, began to swear and grumble, and ended by the mcst 
 fearful imprecations against the generals who could do nothing, 
 staff officers who were quite innocent, and the marshal who was 
 alone responsible for the situation. 
 
 In order to find o.it the reason for the stoppage and, if 
 possible, to remedy it, the generals had ordered their aides-de-
 
 134 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 camp to reacli the head of the column and report what was 
 going on ; but not one of them could advance even a few 
 hundred paces, and those who ventured came near to be 
 murdered. One general officer tried to make his way through 
 and got into very great danger, so that he had to give it up and 
 leave the troop"^ to stick in the hole by themselves. My 
 brigade fortunately reaching the hollow way just when the 
 confusion Ijegan, I was able to halt it in time and extend it in 
 front of a tillage which came just before the entrance of this 
 horrible road, i'or the rest of the troops, however, it was a 
 lamentable night, and it dealt a fatal blow to the confidence and 
 discipline of the soldiers. When the officers were mixed up 
 with their men, scenes of really atrocious mutiny and brutality 
 occurred which could not be checked. Such a want of foresight 
 would have been a blot upon the career of a corporal, and cuts 
 a still worse figure in the military life of a marshal of France. 
 
 Dayliglit unravelled the abominable tangle, but instead of 
 getting to Biberach in the early morning it was towards evening 
 when we arrived. By a piece of good luck on which we had no 
 right to count, this made no difference ; but if Mack, who was at 
 his last gasp, had taken advantage of that night to break out of 
 Ulm by the valley of the Iller, he would have caught us in a 
 state of confusion which would have made resistance impossible. 
 We were still in the period when fortune in alliance with 
 genius marked our enterprises by victories only. It was a time 
 of illusion and spell, when everything succeeded beyond all that 
 could have been foreseen, and blunders were committed with 
 impunity- — a lucky time, Ijut not lasting for ever. 
 
 All we had to do at Biberach was to wait three days, until 
 Mack and his army had finally passed under the yoke. So far 
 as concerned myself, when I reached that cantonment I had not 
 had a meal nor gone to bed for four days, passing days and 
 nights in alternations of snow and rain. My stockings had 
 never been dry, nor had I untied the cord which fastened my 
 boot. I thiuk it was the hardest week of my whole life ; but 
 now I was in a comfortable Swabian peasant's house, and in a 
 village where razors, food, and a bed were to be had. As for 
 my boot, heaven provided me. An orderly happening to leave
 
 DISCIPLINE AT FAULT 135 
 
 Augsburg to join General Saint-Hilairu, my surxaut Jacques 
 liad the sense to give him a pair of boots, one containing a shirt 
 and stock, the other a pair of stockings and some handkerchiefs. 
 As bad luck would liave it, the string that tied the boots 
 together broke, and the boot with the shirt in it was lost; but 
 on the other hand, as good luck would have it, the lost boot 
 was the left one, so that the one which reached me made a pair 
 with the one I had left. 
 
 Ulm surrendered, its fortifications were levelled, and we 
 concentrated once more on Augsburg, whence we started for 
 Munich and Vienna, the general movement Ijeginning on the 
 18th. I said that the night following our departure from 
 Memmingen dealt a serious blow at discipline, and it was not 
 long before we had a proof of this. The troops, who up till now 
 had by their good behaviour shown themselves worthy to have 
 formed part of the camp of Boulogne, took to pillaging, and 
 even, in pursuance of their maxim, " The enemy is like a sheaf 
 of corn : the more you beat him the more he yields," got 
 into the way of thrashing the peasants to make them give up 
 their money. One can hardly believe the pitch to which they 
 carried the tactics of plunder. AVlieu searching a house, they 
 made the master of it go with them, watched his most furtive 
 glances, and broke into every place on which his eye had rested. 
 Without wishing to blame other corps, I may say that my own 
 brigade was one of those in which the best order was kept. On 
 the march I used to place in rear of each regiment a squad of 
 non-commissioned officers commanded by a firm and efficient 
 officer, who allowed no one to lag behind, and to this end 
 .searched every house or farm near which we passed, while I 
 myself, as well as my aides-de-camp — one of them was always 
 at one end of the column when I was at the other — kept con- 
 tinually moving to and fro, to keep an eye on everything. I 
 had trained my colonels to this system, and at length got them 
 to back me up. I halted frequently, and no man might fiill 
 out unless accompanied by a corporal, and leaving his musket 
 with his next man. On the bivouac, lastly, not only did no 
 one go to fetch rations, wood, or water, save with a detachment, 
 but I surrounded the brigade with a ring of sentries, which
 
 136 MEMOIBS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 neither my own men nor those of other corps were allowed to 
 pass, while I remained on the front of the lines all night. 
 
 I recall one incident. Some soldiers from another division 
 came one evening to get some of my men to go marauding with 
 them. I had heard of the scheme, and accordingly was on the 
 spot when they came ; and as my line of sentries had some 
 difficulty in stopping them, I had to interfere. I thought I had 
 done with them ; but an hour later, as it w^as getting dusk, they 
 returned in larger numbers, having been cunning enough to 
 break up into small groups, and make their appearance 
 simultaneously at several points. They ran past my line of 
 sentries, and were about to get among my men, when I made 
 the picket stand to arms and fire with ball at the foremost. 
 The lesson produced two good results ; for the fellows went off 
 as hard as they could run and did not reappear, while my men 
 became more manageable and their officers firmer. 
 
 " What ! " said the good-natured Saint-Hilaire, when I 
 reported to him, " you dared to fire on the Emperor's soldiers ? " 
 " I do not recognise soldiers without discipline," I replied ; " the 
 laws which condemn pillage are the same for the Emperor's 
 soldiers as for anyone else. Besides, on the day when disci- 
 pline ceases in my brigade, I shall cease to command it. I may 
 observe too," I added, laughing, " that, killed or wounded, no 
 one was hit." Still, I should have acted in the same way, 
 whether or not they had been ; and General Saint-Hilaire's 
 phrase expresses better than any words of mine the degree of 
 independence which certain troops had reached. Thanks to the 
 kind of varnish which their title of " the Emperor's soldiers " 
 put on, they acquired, with weak commanders, a sort of 
 inviolability of which they took advantage to commit excesses 
 of a grim kind. 
 
 The amount of thrashing I did in that campaign is incredible, 
 and it must be admitted that I did not go at it with a slack 
 hand, for I broke two canes. The incident that cost me the 
 second is one that depicts our French soldier admirably, and in 
 a sense does him honour. I had let my brigade go forward, I 
 think, while I stopped to breakfast ; several other corps had 
 passed me, and I was trotting on to rejoin it, when I heard
 
 ASPECTS OF THE FRENCH SOLDIER 137 
 
 fearful shrieks coming from a solitary house a few yards to the 
 left of the road. I dismouuted at once and ran to the house. I 
 found it full of soldiers, rummaging in all the cupljoards, even 
 in the drawers, to see, as one of them had the impudence to say, 
 that there were no Austrians hidden there ; others liad got very 
 tight hold of the wife and daughter of the house. Using my 
 cane freely, I made them bolt out of door and window. Then 
 I was told that the cellar was full of soldiers, and the wine 
 flowing in streams. I rushed down the stairs, but no sooner 
 was I in the cellar, than all the rascals blew out their lights and 
 bolted, while I broke my cane over somebody's back, and drew 
 my sword to make a better job of it. Meanwhile the last had 
 made oft", shutting the door beliind him, and in perfect darkness 
 I stumbled over tubs and against barrels, only getting out by 
 dint of bawling till I was at last heard. I searched the house 
 and courtyard to see that all the looters were gone, and saw the 
 last of them cUmbing over a wooden fence that suiTOunded the 
 gai'den. They shouted any number of threats and fooleries at 
 me, one of them having the audacity to say that I should die by 
 no hand but his ; so advising the people to shut their doors and 
 shutters and open to no one, I remounted. On resuming my 
 road, I saw that it made a long circuit round a hillock, on the 
 other side of which was some level ground, which seemed to 
 offer a short cut. I urged my horse that way, but he had gone 
 only a few steps when his hoofs sunk in ; he tried to back, I 
 spurred him ; then he leaped forward, and gave a great many 
 bounds as though paddling through water ; at last he was right 
 in the mud, and, as it were, floating on his stomach. I was in 
 one of those abominable swamps, frequent enough in Germany, 
 ■which there is nothing on the surface to show, while they often 
 cover a wide space, and in some cases are bottomless. I soon 
 saw that I could look for no support save from my horse ; but 
 he sank imperceptibly, and the least effort that he made to get 
 out involved him further. Eichebourg and my orderly were in 
 despair, not knowing how to help me, and we were getting very 
 uneasy when the same soldiers whom I had just been whacking 
 and who had sworn to kill me, but who at bottom knew quite 
 well that 1 liad done my duty, and in this case, at all events.
 
 138 MEMOIES OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 made no mistake as to theirs, having reached the point where 
 the road looked down from the hill, saw the danger I was in. 
 With a spontaneous movement they scrambled down the steep 
 side, threw down their knapsacks and arms, ran to the wooden 
 fence round the house from which I had just driven them, 
 broke it up and returned each with his load of planks to the 
 edge of the quagmire. Making a floating floor on this, they 
 succeeded in reaching and saving me ; and not content with their 
 flrst exploit, they pushed their planks all round my horse, and 
 then, by the help of cords, levers, and girths, they lifted him 
 and dragged him by his head and tail out of the horrible mud, 
 and brought him back to me. " Come," I said, patting one of 
 them on the shoulder, " there is a bit of devil about you some- 
 times, but you are good fellows all the same. Here," I added, 
 pulling out two napoleons, " take this to drink the Emperor's 
 health with." "We have drunk that quite often enough," said 
 one of them, and they went off laughing, but nothing would 
 they take. 
 
 When I did not lodge in the same place with General Saint- 
 Hilaire, he had the next best country-house to that which he 
 occupied himself reserved for me. One evening, however, 
 getting in later than usual, well after nightfall, and having a 
 mile and a half to go from the bivouac to my allotted quarters, 
 being moreover very tired and not at all hungry, and having 
 to start again before daybreak, I took possession of a deserted 
 house by the roadside. As it had been previously occupied in 
 succession by any number of officers or men, the stove of the 
 principal room was still burning, and the room was therefore 
 warm. As it was also full of straw, without further examina- 
 tion I lay down between the stove and a man who had not 
 moved on our arrival. At daybreak I got up, shook my cloak, 
 and was just about to go, when my eyes fell on my neighbour. 
 It struck me that the sounder he slept the less I ought to leave 
 him in a place which, after the troops were gone, might not be 
 very safe. I called him, but got no answer. I seized his arm ; 
 it was stiff and cold. I touched him with my foot ; he rolled 
 over on his face and remained so. As may be supposed, no one 
 took the trouble to identify him; and in this way men dis-
 
 GOOD QUARTERS 139 
 
 appeared in our armies by hundreds of thousands, without 
 anyone thinking to give their families any proof of their 
 decease, while we were obliged to draw up a formal statement 
 of the death of every horse. A strict account was kept of 
 horses, but it was no one's business to account for a man. 
 
 At midnight we received the pay due to us. The paymaster, 
 while counting out my money, said that he had to stop one 
 day's pay. "AVhy this stoppage, pray?" "For a monument 
 at Boulogne." " What monument ? " "A monument which 
 the marshal is having put up to the glory of the Emperor." 
 " And have I to pay for it ? " " It is being done by sub- 
 scriptions from all the generals, officers, and men of the 4th 
 Army Corps, fixed at one day's pay per month." Unable to 
 escape, I submitted to the stoppage ; but I thought that 
 Marshal Soult, who was making us pay the piper, would have 
 been the greatest man iu the world if glory could have been 
 raked in as easily as money, or if he had proved as terrible to 
 those he had to fight as to those he fleeced. 
 
 When I alighted at Wels, my billet bore the words, " At the 
 Abbey." Hearing that the marshal was to sleep at Wels, I 
 asked where his quarters were, and was told, " At the Abbey." 
 " And Salligny ? " (the chief of the headquarter staff). " At the 
 Abbey." "And General Saint-Hilaire ? " "At the Abbey." 
 In short, everyone's address was the Abbey. Thinking that we 
 should Ije very uncomfortable there, I tried to get another 
 lodging, but in vain. Eesigning myself, and not in a very good 
 temper, I went there, and found an immense palace, lighted u\) 
 like a town. I handed my billet, and at once a servant in 
 livery showed me into a handsome set of rooms, admii-aUy 
 furnished, every room warmed, and lighted with wax candles. 
 In one of them a ta1)le was laid with six places; and at the 
 hour I fixed, dinner was served to perfection, with two servants 
 to wait. Everything went on as by magic, and without my 
 seeing anyone to thank. It was the same thing at breakfast, 
 and I could onlv wish that their friends might be as well 
 entertained by the monks as their enemies were; for indeed, 
 though in their own country, the Austrians did not always 
 receive the best treatment. On one occasion, iu passing
 
 140 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAVLT 
 
 tlirougli a forest where a battle had taken place two days 
 previously, I chanced to enter a hovel full of wounded Austrians, 
 who had been left there all those two days without food and 
 lire in the bitter cold. I had to send for the regimental 
 surgeon of the 36th, and bid him do what he could for them, 
 w^aiting with a guard till I could send food and the first 
 necessaries for dressing their wounds from the next village I 
 came to, and find means to remove them to the nearest town. 
 
 While the 4th Corps was accomplishing the passage of the 
 Inn at Miihldorf, I had gone in company with General Saint- 
 Hilaire to visit Marshal Soult. Stretched at full length on a 
 table, supported on his crossed arms, and with several maps 
 spread out beneath him, he was shifting from one to the other, 
 while he read over and over again some instructions that he had 
 just received from the Emperor. He hardly appeared to notice 
 our entrance. Thrice, at long intervals, Saint-Hilaire repeated 
 the question he wished ;to j ask him; and when we got the 
 answer at last, we had been there a good half-hour, and the 
 marshal had neither moved nor looked round. No doubt he 
 had aftbrded us the spectacle of close attention and great per- 
 severance, but also that of great slowness of perception ; and 
 Saint-Hilaire and I were finally convinced that, if few men 
 were capable of more persevering efforts than IMarshal Soult, at 
 the same time no one had less keen penetration, less sagacity, 
 fewer of those rapid and brilliant inspirations which go to make 
 up a distinguished soldier. The marshal's career has confirmed 
 the judgement we then formed of him. 
 
 It is always delightful to beat an enemy, but it is intoxi- 
 cating after 250 miles of victories to enter his capital — above 
 all, when that is the capital of the modern Caesars. I myself 
 only passed one night at Vienna, and that in the house of a 
 magnate who owned one of the first vintages of Hungary. My 
 host, a chamberlain to the Emperor of Austria, had left Vienna 
 some time before our arrival, but he had left a steward, who 
 was as much edified by our temperance as we were satisfied 
 by the way in which he did the honours of his master's rooms, 
 kitchen, and cellar. 
 
 The law of a soldier's life is, after a mansion, a hovel — after
 
 " MORT A VIE" 141 
 
 plenty, want. I got up in a palace at Vienna, and I went to 
 bed at Stockerau in the most wretched hole, after the worst 
 possible dinner, in contrast to my splendid breakfast. More 
 than that, we left Austria proper, and it was strange what an 
 effect our entry into Moravia produced on us. That part of the 
 Austrian monarchy differs little from its neighljours — soil, 
 climate, buildings are alike. The inhabitants, burnt out and 
 sacked by the liussiaus, received us as liberators — better, that 
 is, than we had been received in friendly countries. It even 
 happened to our soldiers to help the natives to repair the 
 ravages committed hj their allies, and to the Emperor to make 
 his escort halt and work at putting out a fire. The people, 
 moreover, seemed as gentle as their language, which sounded all 
 the softer to us after German. Yet that soft-sounding name of 
 Moravia became matter for a sinister play on words, and many 
 of us could not resist a presentiment that, in their case, the 
 country was to give death in exchange for life.* No doubt, put 
 in this way, it looks a mere childish pun ; but there are certain 
 moments in war, as well as certain periods in life, when to play 
 on words may correspond with a frame of mind, and this frame 
 of mind was a genuine uneasiness. Eichebourg, a brave man, 
 of intelligence far above the average, felt something like horror 
 at entering Moravia, where destiny had marked his grave. 
 Colonel Mazas was so struck by the verbal jingle that he was 
 incessantly repeating it, and a good many officers, who had been 
 fighting and risking their lives on many fields for the last ten 
 years, thought, for the first time in their lives, of making a will. 
 Like many others, I fell a prey to this uneasiness, which I had 
 never felt before. 
 
 We had recrossed the Danube on November 17, at daybreak, 
 paying our compliments to the chivalrous impulse to which 
 Murat had yielded when, being informed on approaching 
 Vienna that the bridge over the Danube was made of wood 
 and was going to be burnt, he hastened off to it without sroinfr 
 through the town, crossing it in the teeth of the sentries who 
 were guarding it, reached the left bank, went boldly up to 
 General Auersperg, who commanded the rear-guard of the allied 
 
 * \_Mort a vie.}
 
 142 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 army, and got him into conversation.* Meanwhile, several 
 men joined him, and he ventured to resist the intended burning 
 of the bridge. In this way, he allowed time for some troops to 
 come up and save it ; an immense service, for if the bridge had 
 been destroyed, we should, in order to reconstruct it, have had 
 to cross the river in boats, an operation always risky in face of 
 a large army and on a river like the Danube. In any case it 
 would have involved a delay of twelve or fifteen days, which 
 might have changed the fortune of this Hundred Days' War, 
 So it w' as called, though only sixty-two elapsed from our passage 
 of the Danube at Donauwerth, when hostilities really began, to 
 the morrow^ of Austerlitz. 
 
 Napoleon's position, after recrossing the Danube, was in 
 truth complicated. In order to be prepared, or at least able to 
 be prepared to act, if necessary, against the King of Prussia, 
 the Archduke Charles, the two emperors, and the Archduke 
 Ferdinand, or to mass his forces against a divided enemy, he 
 left the corps of Augereau and Ney in observation on the 
 Upper Danube, within reach of the reserves at Strasburg and 
 Mainz, to act in concert with our Army of the aSTorth, and hold 
 the Prussians and Swedes. The Bavarians were to keep the 
 Archduke Charles in check ; Eeille with the Wurtembergers, 
 and Lauriston with the Badeners, commanded at Linz and 
 Braunau, to secure our communications; Marmont occupied 
 Vienna ; while the rest of the army, that is, the corps under 
 Bernadotte, Davout, Soult, Lannes, and Mortier, the Imperial 
 Guard, the grenadier reserve, and four cavalry divisions, 
 marched under Napoleon's direct command to Briinn. This 
 fortress was stuffed with stores and ammunition, and it was 
 thought that the allies would not leave it to us without trying 
 the chance of a battle. But on our approach they withdrew, 
 and continued their retreat as far as Olmiitz. There they 
 concentrated in a formidable position, making Napoleon think 
 that they would remain there for some time ; the more so that 
 
 * [As a matter of fact, Murat and Lannes saved the bridge by telling a 
 deliberate lie, to the effect that an armistice had been concluded, a stratagem 
 which even in the French army was thoiiglit rather sharp practice. See 
 General Marbot's Mernoires, vol. i., p. 239.]
 
 TEE CRISIS APPROACHING 143 
 
 part of their troops were tired, and had already lost heavily, 
 and they were expecting the Grand Duke Constantine with the 
 Guards' corps. 
 
 At this juncture the Emperor was informed that the Arch- 
 duke Charles must have passed Goritz. At once he sent 
 Mortier's corps and half of Davout's back to Vienna, com- 
 bining them there with Marmont's corps, in order to guard the 
 capital, occupy Gratz, and be able to assemble 40,000 men 
 there with a view of checking the Archduke's march and, after 
 being joined by Massena, of crushing him. As a final pre- 
 caution, he kept in touch witli Vienna by placing Friant's 
 division of Davout's corps and one division of dragoons at 
 Mkolsburg. As a result of this disposition, he was able to 
 reinforce himself at all points, and be prepared to beat the 
 enemy's dilferent corps one after the other. But the uncertainty 
 of the allies' operations, and the disorder that prevailed in 
 their management, were in these circumstances as good as a 
 stratagem in the way that they baffled Xapoleon's previsions. 
 While he believed that the allies were thinking only of 
 completing their concentration, and fortifying themselves at 
 Olmiitz, they had reached that town on November 23, and, 
 expecting to be joined on the 25th by Constantine with the 
 final reinforcements, suddenly resolved to advance again, and 
 move on the 25th. In consequence of this grotesque change of 
 plan, the orders in execution of the new arrangement were 
 issued on the 24th. Two days' rations, however, were to be 
 distributed to the troops during the course of the 24th, and as 
 these ran short the start had to be put off till the 26 th. But 
 on that day it turned out that the generals had not yet com- 
 prehended the orders and instructions which they had received 
 on the 24th, and it was only on the 27th that the army of the 
 two emperors was again on the march. Their unexpected 
 movement was to bring about the shock ; and just as he 
 had reason to expect a long rest, Napoleon suddenly found 
 himself on the eve of a great and decisive battle. 
 
 This battle, which was to be the chastisement of a most 
 faithless aggression, and which, as the result of a series of 
 gigantic conceptions, was to crown by the most brilliant of
 
 144 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TniEBAULT 
 
 victories such a campaign as no army will ever again enter 
 upon, has been often enough descril)ed. I will therefore only 
 speak about it so far as is necessary to my story. 
 
 The hostile force which was advancing to give battle 
 amounted to 104,000 * men, including 16,000 cavalry. I give 
 these figures from what I was told at Briinn, where I lay 
 wounded after the departure of the army, by General Weirother, 
 who was appointed Governor of Moravia at the peace, and who, 
 at the time of the battle, was quartermaster-general of the 
 allied army, of which Kutusoff was commander-in-chief. 
 
 At the moment when these 104,000 men got into movement, 
 and marched upon us in a body, our troops were thus distributed. 
 Four regiments of light cavalry at Wischau, where, I do not 
 know how or why, 104 infantry were captured ; at Austerlitz 
 and in the neighbouring villages the 4th Corps under Marshal 
 Soult, which came up by way of the Convent of Eaigern ; at 
 Bosenitz, Holiibitz, and Welspitz, the 5 th Corps under Lannes ; 
 at Schlapanitz the 1st Corps under Bernadotte ; on the road 
 from Briinn to Wischau the cavalry of the Line, under the 
 immediate command of Murat ; at Briinn the grenadier reserve, 
 the Imperial Guard, and the Emperor. 
 
 On the morning of the 28th the enemy appeared before 
 Wischau. Our four regiments of light cavalry, attacked in 
 front and outflanked by the three cavalry divisions of Prince 
 Bagration's advance-guard and by General Kienmayer's advance- 
 guard, fell back. In spite of several charges which delayed 
 them, they effected their retreat in good order by the Briinn 
 road, till they were in rear of Eausnitz, which we evacuated in 
 the course of the evening, and the enemy occupied at once. 
 All the troops passed the night under arms, and from the 
 heights of Austerlitz, where the 4th Corps bivouacked, we 
 counted seven lines of the enemy's bivouacs, ruled to an 
 immense length across the heights in front of Wischau. In 
 rear of those lines of fire, at Prosnitz, the entire reserve 
 formed the guard of the two emperors, while in front of 
 
 * [The number of the allies is usually giveu now at about 80,000, of whom 
 16,000 were Austrians. The French seem to have been slightly more 
 numerous.]
 
 ON THE EVE OF AUSTERLITZ 145 
 
 tliem Bagration and Kicninayor weiv in position between us 
 and liausnitz. 
 
 Wliile everything was thus getting ready for a terrible shock, 
 flags of truce were passing more actively than ever. On that 
 very 28tli General Gyulai and Count Stadion arrived at Briinn 
 to negotiate, but Xapoleon, having just put an end to an 
 armistice which had been extorted from INIurat on November 15 
 and was only a trap, sent the plenipotentiaries in haste back to 
 Vienna under the pretext of resuming the conferences begun 
 at Molk. On the evening of the same day they were followed 
 by Count Haugwitz, the Prussian Minister for Foreign Affairs ; 
 but the Emperor, pointing out that he might be in danger amid 
 the hurlyburly of a great battle, advised him also to go to 
 "N'ienna. I may say that the negotiations continued until the 
 cannon began to roar and were interrupted only by it ; for on 
 the next day, and again on that following, Savary was sent to 
 Alexander, while on the morrow of the battle of Austerlitz 
 Prince Lichtenstein began the negotiations which led up to the 
 peace. There was, indeed, talk of an interview between the 
 TWO sovereigns ; the Emperor Alexander had expressed a desire 
 for it, but those about him were opposed to it. As for 
 Xapoleon, on hearing that Alexander's aide-de-camp, Prince 
 Dolgorouki, was at the outposts, he went there from a motive 
 which people were far from guessing. The arrogance of the 
 ] Russian, the extravagance of the claims which he was bidden to 
 maintain, seemed of such a kind that Dolgorouki was pretty 
 sharply sent back. Two things were striking in these inter- 
 views — one the contempt for the Austrians which the Eussiau 
 •officers from the imperial headquarters very unjustly proclaimed, 
 attributing to them all the reverses of the campaign ; the 
 other the ignorance under which the same officers lay with 
 regard to what had passed. They believed that they had 
 nowhere been beaten, were convinced that we had more than 
 shared their losses, and were certain a hundred times over not 
 only of beating us but of annihilating us. Alexander himself 
 •carried this mistaken confidence to the highest point, and it 
 •certainly had its influence upon the disaster towards which he 
 and his army were marching. 1 have always been convinced 
 
 VOL. II. L
 
 146 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 that Xapoleon, in determining to see Dolgorouki, had wished to 
 judge of this fact for himself, and that not only thus did he 
 fully convince himself from their bragging of the incompetence 
 of the Eussian commanders, but that he also succeeded in 
 adding to their fatal confidence. 
 
 Xo sooner had Count Haugwitz left liim on the evening of the 
 28th, than Napoleon mounted his horse and went off to the post- 
 house in rear of Welspitz, where Murat had his headquarters, 
 and where he and Soult were just then discussing our position 
 with regard to the disparity of forces. Lannes having just 
 come in, they put the position so vigorously before him that not 
 only did they persuade him of the urgent need for a retreat, but 
 they persuaded him also to take advantage of the freedom of 
 speech which he had maintained towards Kapoleon, and write 
 to let him know the opinion of all three. Lannes never lacked 
 courage to express his convictions ; no man in the world was 
 braver, and equally no man was franker or more straightforward. 
 He at once took the pen, and was finishing his letter when the 
 Emperor entered. " Well, gentlemen, we are pretty comfortable 
 here," were his first words. " We do not think so," answered 
 Lannes, "and I was writing to your Majesty to that effect." 
 Without replying, the Emperor took up the letter and read 
 it. When he had finished, he continued : " AVhat ! Lanne.'? 
 advises retreat ? It is the first time that has ever happened. 
 And you, Marshal Soult ? " Soult replied with an evasion, 
 " In whatever way your Majesty employs the 4th Corps, it will 
 account for twice its number." Indignant at w^hat he called a 
 bit of humbug, Lannes rejoined angrily, " I have not been here 
 a quarter of an hour, and I know nothing about our position but 
 what these gentlemen have told me. My opinion was founded 
 and formed on their statements, just as it w^as at then' instance 
 that I was w^riting to you ; so that Marshal Soult's answer is 
 that of a dirty sneak, and such as I was far from expecting. I 
 regard it as an insult, and I will have satisfaction for it." Soult 
 tried to explain away a motive and a method too worthy of 
 himself for any mistake about them to be possible ; but it was 
 at no time an ea.sy matter to mislead Marshal Lannes about any 
 point of conduct or honourable dealing, and he continued to
 
 PRELIMINARY EVOLUTIONS 147 
 
 treat Soult in the most insulting fashion. As for the Emperor, 
 he walked up and down for some moments without troubling 
 himself about the quarrel, or even seeming to be aware of it. 
 Suddenly he stopped short, and after saying, " I, too, think a 
 retreat necessary," aliruptly opened the door of the room, 
 through which Major Subervie, Lannes' senior aide-de-camp, 
 had heard all that I have just related, and ordered him to send 
 and fetch Marshal Berthier. He was in the act of dismounting, 
 having just come from Briinn, and came in instantly. Murat, 
 Soult, and Lannes withdrew at once ; the Emperor dictated an 
 order for what was an evolution rather than a retreat, in pur- 
 suance of which Lannes' corps fell back on the " Santon " * a 
 little before daybreak on the 29th, and Soult's in inverse order ; 
 so that Saint-Hilaire's division was behind Kobelnitz, A'au- 
 damme's behind Puntowitz, Legrand's beliind Sokolnitz. The 
 two corps executed this movement in squares, chequer-wise, 
 reminding Morand of the marches in Egypt amid immovalDle 
 swarms of Mamelouks. For my own part I was no less struck 
 by the novelty than Ijy the magnificence of the spectacle. 
 Nothing could be finer or more imposing than those thirty 
 moving masses, which after two hours' march were extended 
 over a distance of five miles, whUe their arms sparkled in the 
 sun. As for the troops composing them, proud of the leisurely 
 way in which they were executing this retrograde movement in 
 broad daylight, they seemed in that formation to be challenging 
 the lines and columns of the enemy's cavalry, which covered the 
 whole horizon but did not venture to attack us.f 
 
 AVhile the two army corps were thus retiring, our cavalry 
 and artillery filled the gaps ; and on the completion of the 
 movement the cavalry of the Line took up a position behind 
 Grzikowitz, wliich was occupied by one of Bernadotte's divisions, 
 
 * [This name was given by tlie men who had been in Egypt to a hill 
 having a chapel on the top, with a spire suggesting a minaret. Xow called 
 " Napoleon's Hugel."] 
 
 t In the Emperor's fifth note, on p. 42 of General Stutterheim's Relation, 
 he says, "Marshal Soult's corps evacuated Austerlitz at 3 in the morning, 
 and by 7 was in position behind Puntowitz and Sclilapanitz." There are two 
 mistakes here. We did not leave Austerlitz till it was full daylight, ami 
 the 4th Corps never had a single man behind Schlapanitz. 
 
 L 2
 
 148 MEMO IBS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 the other remaining at Schlapauitz ; Friant's division at 
 Nikolsburg was ordered to advance with all speed to Eaigern ; 
 while the grenadier reserve and the Imperial Guard left Briinn 
 and encamped round the Emperor's bivouac, which was on a 
 hillock in rear of the village of Kritschen. In this position, 
 ready to fall back or to advance, but more inclined to the former, 
 unless the enemy made the mistake on which he reckoned, the 
 Emperor resolved to await events. 
 
 Prince Dolgorouki, who had shown himself so arrogant in his 
 interview with the Emperor, wishing to justify in the field the 
 part he had played in diplomacy, snapped up everything 
 which seemed at all conspicuous ; at least, in General Kutusoff's 
 official report, he was credited with the only feat of arms in 
 connection with this movement. He it was who on the 28th 
 .succeeded,-^with a battalion of jdgcrs and another of musketeers, 
 in overcoming 104 infantry who had been left in Wischau — 
 though in that desperate position they had during some hours 
 stopped Prince Bagration's first division. He again it was who, 
 on the evening of the same day, with two battalions of Arkhan- 
 gelgorod musketeers, supported by all the Piussian advance- 
 guard, triumphantly entered the little town of Eausnitz, which 
 we certainly had no idea of holding, and only defended for a 
 moment in order to make the prince pay for what we should 
 ^myhow have evacuated for nothing. This advance brought 
 Bagration's advance-guard to Kovalowitz ; the 4th and 5th 
 <5olumns in front of Austerlitz nearly to Blasowitz ; the 1st, 
 2nd, and 3rd columns took up a position on the heights of 
 Pratzen ; General Kutusoff's headquarters being at Hodiegitz, 
 and on December 1 at Krzenowitz, where the Emperor's quarters 
 ^Iso were. 
 
 In possession of the heights from Posorzitz to the lake of 
 Satschan, and holding a position of an extent proportioned to 
 their strength; having 25,000 men more than we on the ground, 
 with the possibility of having 35,000, the allies, who till then 
 had marched with the caution consequent on their ignorance of 
 our strength and positions, on reaching our outposts could do 
 nothing better than attack us. This was so much the case 
 that, if they had on the 30 th offered battle with an unbroken
 
 PLANS OF THE ALLIES 149 
 
 front, Napoleon would have fallen back to meet his reinforce- 
 ments, to iind <,a-uun(l better suited to his jdans and less to 
 the enemy's. But upon the 28th the Russians especially were 
 convinced that we dared not face them. Tliis opinion w^as based 
 on the fact that, instead of opposing them on the march, we 
 had evacuated all the points wliich they had either attacked 
 or threatened ; had, as they put it, fled from AVischau, Eausnitz, 
 and Austerlitz, and that at night ; had retreated eight miles 
 without halting, and, instead of threatening one of their wings, 
 had concentrated our forces. These signs of hesitation and 
 apprehension, this appearance of backing down, seemed to them 
 a tinal proof that our nerve was shaken and for themselves a 
 sure presage of victory. 
 
 I need not here enlarge upon the three courses which were 
 open to them for attacking us. The first possible plan consisted 
 in turning our right, and taking us in reverse by the W'Ooded 
 heights to the north of the "Sauton": this would threaten 
 our proper line of operations, divide us from the Bavarians, 
 threaten our rear, and cut us off from Ney's and Augereau's 
 corps. This plan, alarming for us, was rejected on futile 
 grounds. The Uussians threw contempt on the second, — namely, 
 an attack on our centre, which could only lead to an ordinary 
 battle and victory. They dreamt of something better ; aspiring 
 to annihilate us at one blow, they expected to attain that end 
 by adopting the third plan. This was that of attacking on our 
 right, by forcing the gaps of Sokoluitz and Telnitz — a plan of 
 which the result could only be either useless or disastrous. If 
 the allies won, instead of separating, splitting up, and cutting 
 off the whole body of troops with the Emperor, they would 
 practically concentrate them, leaving their operations perfectly 
 free for retreat ; while, if beaten, it was they who would be cut 
 up and cut off. And, in their infatuation, instead of falling 
 upon Napoleon before he was prepared, they had not been 
 afraid to waste three days witliin striking distance of him, to 
 manceuvre in full view, not even doing us the honour of keeping 
 it secret, and to refrain from calling up the 10,000 men under 
 General Essen, which would have brought their superiority up 
 to 35,000 men. They intended this corps to combine with that
 
 150 MEMOIRS OF GEKEBAL THIEBAVLT 
 
 imder the Archduke rerdinaud and beat the Bavarians before 
 we could join them, and take us in rear, cutting us off from 
 possible reinforcements. In this way they imagined that they 
 could bring our 80,000 men to action with the 134,000 which 
 they had, including the Archduke's force, and that we should be 
 done for ; and, dismissing the idea of breaking up the mass of 
 our army, they abandoned themselves with enthiisiasm to the 
 idea of surrounding and taking the whole body of troops round 
 the Emperor. 
 
 Possibly, if this plan had been adopted against a general of 
 the calibre of him who conceived it and carried it out, it might 
 have had a chance of success ; but it was just what intoxicated 
 the allies with pride that gave Xapoleon the means of 
 destroying them. 
 
 The " Santon," forming the pivot of our left, bristled with 
 earthworks and artillery ; the allies kept away from it, so as to 
 neutralise our chief means of defence. Our centre was guarded 
 by some difficult approaches ; it was our right only that rested 
 on nothing and offered no obstacle capable of stopping a 
 powerful force. Moreover, the idea that they would find them- 
 selves on the road to Vienna immediately after getting past 
 Sokolnitz and Telnitz elated the allies ; while the necessity of 
 fighting on a line six miles in extent did not check them any 
 more than did the risk in concentrating two-fifths of their 
 troops on one extremity of that line, and to this end denuding 
 the high ground which ought to have been the centre of theii- 
 position. They saw no importance in the fact that on the field 
 of battle everything becomes a question of space and time ; and 
 forgetting, apparently, that they were at hand-grips with the 
 greatest captain of the age, they failed to see that his actions, 
 even when they seemed least considered, were perforce connected 
 with the most profound calculations. 
 
 None of these considerations, I say, modified the elation of 
 the allies. They wasted November 29 and 30, and part of 
 December 1, in substituting fresh instructions and explanations 
 for those issued in the first instance, and in this way allowed 
 Davout time to reach Eaigern with 4,000 men of Friant's 
 division and, I think, a division of dragoons. Finally, at 3 P.M.
 
 FALLING INTO THE TRAP 151 
 
 uu December 1, after passing the morning in recounoissances 
 and outpost tiring, and having let the sokliers have their soup, 
 they began to execute the movement which as it seemed was to 
 acliieve our destruction, and which resulted, as it was bound to 
 <.lo, in that of the allies. 
 
 Thus at Austerlitz, as at Ulm, the Emperor's prevision was 
 *!ntirely fulfilled. Here he deceived the enemy by packing 
 liimself into a trap, as he did there by weakening himself at the 
 most important point.* He also wished for no ordinary victory; 
 and just as at Ulm he had annihilated the Austrian Grand Army, 
 so now he did not wish to come to blows with the Ilussian-s 
 without crushing them. With this view, being the weaker, he 
 would, if the allies had not by a gross blunder compensated 
 i'ur the difference, have refused battle ; but he was happy to 
 accept it when he saw them falling head over ears into the trap 
 tliat he had set for them. 
 
 Towards evening an order of the day announced the forth- 
 coming battle to the army. One phrase especially roused the 
 troops ; that, namely, in which the Emperor proclaimed that, if 
 they justified his expectations, he should confine himself to 
 ■directing the movements ; but, in the contrary event, he should 
 expose himself where danger was greatest. No sooner had the 
 order been read to all the corps than the Emperor passed 
 ■incorjnito and without escort along the front of several 
 i-egiments. He was at once recognised, and was the object of 
 the greatest enthusiasm. Just as he was in front of the 28th 
 a soldier cried, " We promise you tliat you will only have to 
 fight with your eyes to-mon-ow ! " Halting in front of Ferny's 
 brigade, composed of the 46tli and 57th, he asked the men if 
 their supply of cartridges were complete. " No," answered one ; 
 " but the Itussians taught us in the Grisons that onlv bavonets 
 were needed for them. AVe will show you to-morrow ! " 
 
 Between one army excited to this point and another composed 
 of fanatics, the battle of the next day was bound to be decisive 
 and merciless. But the next day was December 2, the 
 anniversary of the coronation. This coincidence, joined with 
 
 * [It will be observed that in each case the enemy was induced actually to 
 commit the mistake which Napoleon appeared to cqramit in the other.]
 
 152 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 the conviction of success, put the troops into such a state of 
 enthusiasm that they wished to give some sign of general 
 rejoicing as an announcement to the Emperor of the celebration, 
 they were preparing for him ; in which they also wanted to let 
 the enemy share, as he had just allowed us to witness those last 
 manoeuvres executed under our very noses, as if to terrify us. 
 Hardly had night fallen* when, by a spontaneous impulse 
 liardly credible, nearly 80,000 men, distributed among a dozen 
 bivouacs, suddenly armed themselves with long poles bearing 
 bundles of lighted straw. They kept renewing them for half 
 an hour, carrying them about and waving them, as they danced 
 a farandoh and shouted " Long live the Emperor ! " Out of 
 the 80,000, 25,000 to 30,000 were to transform this festival 
 field into a field of slaughter ; but it is the way of our soldiers 
 to mingle the gayest with the most terrible images. At the 
 first shouts, and still more at the way in which they were 
 redoubled on all sides, our surpiise made us turn out ; and, as 
 the Imperial Guard was shouting louder than the rest, Morand 
 and I leapt on our horses and galloped to the Emperor's 
 bivouac. What were my astonishment and delight to find 
 there General Junot, whom I believed to be still ambassador at 
 Lisbon. He had galloped from Lisbon to Bayonne, there had 
 jumped into a carriage, and had continued his race without 
 losing a minute all the way to Austerlitz. Excited by his 
 successful journey, he related every sort of crazy performance — 
 laughing like a madman, for example, when he told us how a 
 Spanish postilion, who was galloping with him through a 
 regular hunicane wet to the skin, said, at sight of the white 
 fjelisse with all its embroideries and orders, which he wore as 
 Colonel of Hussars, as wet as his own clothes, " Sir, this is not 
 ambassador's weather." 
 
 On returning to Kobelnitz, about 11 o'clock, I found the 
 order to have my brigade under arms at 3 a.m., to lead it in 
 Iront of the village, and there join the rest of the division. It 
 was a ridiculous order, for the sun did not rise till nearly 
 
 * [Marbot says it was close upon midnight, and that the idea was given by 
 Napoleon's escort, as he went the rounds, lighting some torches to show 
 the way.]
 
 THE MORNING OF THE FIGHT 153 
 
 8 o'clock, and no risk would have been run by letting the men 
 have another three hours' rest ; ])ut in the harness one obeys- 
 and does not argue, though one may think none the less. 
 Kichebourg and I thought it was not worth while going to Ijed 
 for three hours, so we passed the rest of that night — for poor 
 Eiehebourg the last on this side eternity — in X)laying chess. 
 
 Meanwhile the Emperor was receiving hourly reports of the 
 continued movement on the part of the whole left of tlie allied 
 army, so far as could ])e judged from the noise of the artillery 
 waggons, each report being a source of fresh joy to him. At 
 3 o'clock nothing more was heard. It was the hour of rest 
 preceding the shock, but it was also the moment when our 
 divisions were silently assembling in the bright and bitterly 
 cold night. In order to mislead the enemy, they made up the 
 fires which they were leaving. 
 
 The Emperor was on horseback well before daylight. Before- 
 8 o'clock he had gathered round him Murat, Bernadotte, Lanues^ 
 Soult, Bessieres, Oudinot, and Berthier. Though the moment 
 was so important, and the incident so little to the point, I may 
 mention that after the scene in the post-house Lannes had sent 
 a challenge to Soult, and had received no reply. Einding hint 
 there, he said, " I thought you had got a sword, and I have been/ 
 waiting for you." Soult merely answered, " We have got more 
 important matters to attend to to-day." "You are a poor 
 creature ! " retorted Lannes. 
 
 As the sun was rising word was brought to the Emperor that 
 the last of the Ptussian troops, who had passed the night on the 
 Pratzen plateau, were leaving it and moving towards Telnitz. 
 " How long will your troops take to crown the Pratzen plateau ? '' 
 thereupon asked Napoleon of Soult. On the answer that twenty 
 minutes at most would be enough, the Emperor, wishing to 
 turn to advantage a fog which covered the valleys and concealed 
 our troops, added, " Very good; we will wait another quarter of 
 an hour." That time having expired, and every one having 
 received his final orders and instructions, he gave the signal tc^ 
 start. Each man hastened to his post ; he liimself started, 
 exclaiming, " Let us finish this war with a thunderclap " ; and 
 to the cry of " Long live the Emperor ! " repeated by the troops^
 
 154 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TTIIEBAULT 
 
 we linally separated, each to Jo all that lay in Ids power 
 towards making effective the thunderclap announced by him 
 Avho then held the thunderbolt. 
 
 When traversing the Pratzen heights on November 21, — that 
 is, at the moment when the allies were retiring on Olmiitz, and 
 there was reason to think that the time of year and the need of 
 waiting for new troops and resting those whom they had would 
 decide them to suspend warlike operations at least for some 
 weeks to come, — the Emperor had said to the officers of his suite, 
 " Take a good look at those heights ; you will be fighting here 
 in less than two months." On the same reconnoissance, when 
 going through the villages of Grzikowitz, Puntowitz, Kobelnitz, 
 Sokolnitz, Telnitz, and Mdnitz, he had also said, " If I wished 
 to stop the enemy from passing, it is here that I should post 
 myself ; but I should only have an ordinary battle. If, on the 
 other hand, I refuse my right, withdrawing it towards Briinn, 
 and the Eussians leave the heights, if there were 300,000 of 
 them, they would be caught in fiagranti delicto and hopelessly 
 lost." 
 
 On the morning of December 1, when he saw the Pratzen 
 heights covered with Eussians, his words were, " The enemy 
 will have to stay a long time if he waits till I go and turn him 
 out of that ; " but returning to his bivouac about midnight on 
 the same day, and getting confirmation of the news that a great 
 part of the enemy had already left these heights, was in force 
 before Telnitz, and was continuing to mass troops on that point, 
 he cried, " That army is ours to-morrow ! " 
 
 On the very morning of the battle, still equally ready to 
 retreat or to fight, he delayed the attack for a quarter of an 
 hour because Soult told him that it would take twenty minutes 
 to crown the heights ; nor did he give the signal until an aide- 
 de-camp came and told him (a little prematurely) that the 
 heights were abandoned. Half an hour later, to use his own 
 expression, " The Eussians were no longer fighting for victory, 
 but only for their lives." 
 
 These are memorable sayings, as showing that on November 21, 
 that is, when the Emperor crossed the ground for the first time, 
 his unerring glance showed him all that might be done with it.
 
 NAPOLEON'S FOltESIGIIT 155 
 
 On that day he devised the means of getting the Russians to 
 iittack him in that position ami ainiihilating them. The jjoor 
 idea which their performances gave him of the commanders of 
 the allied army furtlicr confirmed liim in the hope of getting 
 them to make the mistakes he wanted, and winning, against an 
 army more numerous than his own and as brave, a victory 
 neither costly nor indecisive. The battle of Austerlitz, with its 
 vast results, one may add with its details, was in his head from 
 the day when he passed Ihiinn. He pushed on to "VYischau, 
 but he only occupied the little town with fom- regiments of light 
 cavahy, intended to serve as a bait, llausnitz and Austerlitz, 
 occupied by army corps, were to be evacuated at the first appear- 
 ance of the enemy, to intoxicate him with the show of success. 
 All the rest of his conduct, the pretended retreat, the haste to 
 send all the plenipotentiaries to Vienna as though they would 
 not be safe even in rear of his army, his personal interview 
 with Alexander's aide-de-camp, broken only after several pieces 
 of impertinence by one of those outbursts which look more like 
 temper than prudence, was intended to raise the spirits of the 
 Ivussian commander by a showing of wishing for peace without 
 fighting. 
 
 As for the positions which he occupied, the " Santon," a 
 pretty steep hillock a little in front of oui' left, was fortified in 
 <jrder to check any desire on the part of the liussians to march 
 on our left ; our centre, being solidly held with all our forces 
 converging upon it, could only be reached by forcing some 
 narrow roads with considerable loss. There remained our right, 
 which had indeed no support, but could not be attacked and 
 still less turned except by making an immense circuit, in which 
 the attacking force would have to spread itself over several 
 leagues, abandon all the heights, and endanger the road to Olmiitz, 
 its true line of operations. Yet the Emperor's aim and his hope 
 was to draw that army against that right. He had Sokolnitz and 
 Telnitz occupied only by the 3rd, together with two battalions, a 
 Corsican and an Italian, from Legrand's division, a few guns, and 
 Margaron's light cavalry brigade ; and it was only after the firing 
 had begun, towards nine in the morning, that he had them rein- 
 forced by 4,000 men of Friant's division. They were admirable
 
 156 MEMOIRS OF GENEBAL TIIIEDAULT 
 
 troops, and twice retook the village of Telnitz ; but all they hac'v 
 to do was necessarily confined to compelling the enemy tt> 
 employ against them as many corps as possible and to deceive 
 him completely as to the aim that the Emperor had in view. 
 Their defeat, it will be seen, was essential, and the success of the 
 allies at that point was the corollary to Napoleon's stratagem, 
 and so effective that, out of the 75,000 men whom he had, to meet 
 104,000 he did not need to bring more than 50,000 into action. 
 
 What has gone before explains the whole battle, and I need 
 only indicate the chief phases of it. The rising sun of 
 December 2, 1805, the sun of Austerlitz, was saluted by the 
 attack upon Telnitz and Sokolnitz, where our troops did 
 wonders against the first three Eussian columns. It lighted 
 up the retrograde movement of Legrand and Friant, who. 
 unable to withstand the masses of their assailants, retired, but 
 in such a way as to draw the Eussians as far as possible front 
 the point where the fortune of battle was to be decided. The- 
 same sun shone upon Saint-Hilaire's and Vandamme's division?! 
 as they marched to the attack, climbing the Pratzen heights 
 disposed as follows: Morand's advance-guard to attack the 
 plateau which commands the southern part of those heights, 
 Vare's brigade and the whole of Vandamme's division to attack 
 the eastern part, and my brigade to carry the village. The 
 Eussians, being attacked when they were themselves attacking 
 and thinking that w^e were determined not to engage, threatened 
 at their centre while they were only acting against the 
 insignificant extremity of one of our wings, losing the heights- 
 which were the key of all their positions, or, rather, having 
 abandoned them to send nearly half their army astray in a 
 direction where presently it would find no enemy to fight, and 
 would be cut off from the rest of the army, perceived at length 
 that they were in a serious situation and made the greatest 
 efforts to retake the Pratzen heights. Four combats, maintained 
 or renewed with desperation for more than three hours, took 
 place at this point, but they could not repair their mistake 
 in having ventured in presence of Napoleon to unguard 
 positions the retention of which meant victory, and they paid 
 for their temerity by a frightful rout.
 
 PROGRESS OF TEE BATTLE 157 
 
 During these comltats the fire hud Ijeeu taken up all alon<; 
 pJie line, while more than 400 guns had in succession mingled 
 their thunder with the musketry of 150,000 men. On our 
 •extreme left, in advance of the " Santon," Marshal Lannes had 
 sustained a hrilliant conflict with Bagration's corps ; he had 
 driven him out of I'osorzitz and forced him back upon llolii- 
 l)itz ; to his right, our cavalry, commanded by jMurat, had taken 
 several of the enemy's batteries, ])ut, in spite of that advantage, 
 ■contended with only varying success against the immense 
 cavalry of the allies until General Kellermann decided the 
 victory by a fortunate and destructive ambuscade. 
 
 The first division of the 5th Corps had fought for possession 
 \jf Blasowitz with the Grand Duke Constautine's reserve, 
 overthrowing it in several successive shocks and capturing its 
 colours and guns. Yandamme's division, reinforced by Yare's 
 brigade, beat all the troops in the fourth column of the allied 
 army, less the four regiments detached against us, and had got as 
 far as Augezd. Finally, Saint-Hilaire's division had succeeded 
 in driving away the enemy's corps opposed to them on the 
 ■southern Pratzen heights, and had pursued them as far as in 
 front of Sokolnitz. 
 
 At all these points, then, victory had declared for us ; the riglit 
 of the allied army effected its retreat on Austerlitz, where their 
 ''3entre and even the Imperial Eussian Guard anived in great 
 •disorder. IMarshal Lannes, who next to IMassena was of all the 
 generals the one who possessed the soldier's eye in the higliest 
 rlegree, together with the flashes of genius which are called inspi- 
 ration and the promptitude which blends the execution with 
 the thought, seizing the possibilities of the situation, imme- 
 /liately marched on the right flank with his first division, and, 
 reinforced by Bernadotte's first division, reached the l*ratzen 
 Jieights in his turn, whither all the cavalry, the Imperial Guard, 
 and the grenadier reserve, who never had occasion to fire a shot, 
 also proceeded. 
 
 Lannes' movement deserves record all the more because he 
 executed it entirely on his own initiative. The Emperor meant 
 .to make honourable mention of it, but thought, uuluckily, that 
 he could attain, this end by putting in his thiitieth bulletin,
 
 158 ME2I0IBS OF GENEBAL TBIEBAULT 
 
 " Marshal Lannes marelied by regiments in echelon as though 
 on the parade-ground." Lannes was offended, because in the 
 report of a battle like that of Austerlitz no personal mention 
 was made of him save in connection with an evolution, and, in 
 spite of the summary tliat " the left under Marshal Lanne.s- 
 charged three times and always victoriously," he left the army 
 straightway and returned to Paris. On hearing of his departure 
 and the ground of it, the Emperor sent Murat after him in all 
 haste to soothe him and bring him back ; but when Murat 
 reached Vienna, Lannes had already left it ; indeed, he had only 
 stopped long enough to write to the Emperor, asking that if he 
 had justified his confidence on the field of Austerlitz the 
 Emperor would kindly remember it with reference to his senior 
 aide-de-camp, Major Subervie, who had remained at Briinn 
 wounded. Three days after that officer received his commission 
 as colonel, and the Emperor, when informing Lannes of this, 
 added, " I count on you none the less if the present armistice 
 does not lead to peace," 
 
 The troops above-mentioned reached the Pratzen plateau just 
 as Vandamme's and Saint-Hilaire's divisions had left them, in 
 pursuit of the Ptussians towards Telnitz and Sokolnitz. The 
 three columns which in the morning had made an analogou.* 
 movement in order to surround us found themselves attacked by 
 us and forced back to these, their last positions. They lost 
 all their guns, remnants only of them getting away, and these, 
 being cut off from the Olmiitz road, were compelled to retreat in 
 the direction of Hungary. Even these remnants would have 
 been lost but for the show of magnanimity which Napoleon 
 managed to get taken for policy and generosity, though others 
 saw nothing in it but pride and vanity if his object really was 
 only to have it said that he had spared Alexander 15,000 men. 
 
 All this generosity, vain-glory, or trickery made some 
 people very angry. At the liead of these was General Van- 
 damme, who exclaimed on hearing of it, " To spare them to-day 
 is to have them in Paris six years hence." Eight years hence 
 they were there. That day ought to have incapacitated the 
 Eussians from playing any military part in Europe for several 
 years to come; yet, great as their losses were, they did not
 
 Jl/F PART IN THE BATTLE loQ 
 
 prevent the Emperor from being, when little more than two years 
 had elapsed, again at close quarters with Eussia, then in alliancii 
 with Prussia. The latter had their Ulm at Jena, but, unhapjiilx , 
 on the plains of Poland Xapoleon found no ]\Iack, no Kutusoti', 
 neither the trap of Ulm nor the hills of Austerlitz, neither the 
 enthusiastic soldiers of the first Grand Army, nor the Russians 
 of 1805 ; and the eagle of vast swoop flapped at Eylau with one 
 wing only, and only rose once more at Priedland to fall again 
 heavily, for good and all. 
 
 To return to the battle of Austerlitz. About 3 P.M. I was 
 wounded, beyond the chateau of Sokoluitz, and the battle was 
 over for me ; nor was it long before it was so for everyone. 
 The firing only lasted another half-hour, and its only object was, 
 on the enemy's side, to render the retreat of his three first corps 
 less disastrous, and on ours to do all the damage possible. 
 Masses of men were taken in the course of this half-hour, and 
 3,000 or 4,000 were drowned in attempting to cross the lake of 
 Satschan, the ice upon which was broken by the fire of twenty- 
 four guns belonging to the Imperial Guard. An immense 
 quantity of artillery was captured, being left undefended, ami 
 the heap of trophies was greater than in any battle of modern 
 times. 
 
 As to the part which I personally took in the battle of 
 Austerlitz, 1 may lay exclusive claim to four military achieve- 
 ments. AVhen at daybreak Marshal Soult gave the word to 
 advance, ]Morand was ordered by General Saint-Hilaire to 
 mount the Pratzen plateau and take up a position there, Yaro 
 was to follow General Yandamme's movement and take orders 
 from him, and I was to drive the enemy out of the village of 
 Pratzen and then to rejoin our advance-guard on the plateau, 
 towards which Saint-Hilaire proceeded simultaneously with 
 Morand. As he had told me that only the enemy's pickets 
 were likely to be in the village, in order to gain time, to save 
 part of my troops the trouble of going out of their way, and to 
 proportion forces to requirements, I had confined myself to 
 leaving the attack in the hands of Colonel Mazas and his 1st 
 battalion ; however, as extra precaution, 1 followed hun with 
 my three other battalions in line of battalions, and it was just
 
 160 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 as ■well I did so. "Whatever General Kutusoff may say in 
 diis naiTative, not only bad the two battalions appointed to 
 occupy the village as the advance-guard of the fourth column 
 bad time to get there, but they had also bad time to pass 
 through the village and lie down flat, so that we might come 
 upon them before we saw them. They sprang up just when 
 Mazas, marching in line, found himself checked by the very wide 
 ravine before the village, and poured such a murderous fire 
 almost point-blank into him that in their surprise and alarm 
 (he whole 1st battalion of the 14th broke and fled. How an 
 officer with his experience of war could have fallen into such an 
 ambush for want of sending forward some scouts to reconnoitre 
 the ravine and find out the Piussians, I do not know. But 
 there was no time to waste on reprimands, so I rode forward, 
 calling to Mazas to rally his battalion. Then, having dis- 
 anounted and ordered the 36th to march on the village and force 
 their way in, I set off, crying, " Long live the Emperor 1 " and 
 charging at the head of the 2nd battalion of the 14th, which 
 deployed as it ran, I flung myself into the ravine where my 
 horse could not have got down, attacked the Eussians with the 
 bayonet, and routed them, avenging on them the losses of the 
 1st battalion. 
 
 Our left being cleared, I followed Morand's movement. He 
 was already being attacked by a force out of all proportion to 
 his own, for with only the 10th Light Infantry he was facing 
 the whole of Kamenski's brigade, which outflanked him to right 
 and left, so that he was in danger of being taken in reverse. 
 Just then Saint-Hilaire hurried up to ask for one of my 
 battalions, and went forward with the 1st of the 14th. Moving 
 at the double, they formed up on the right of the 10th, and 
 restored the balance of the fight. 
 
 I came up almost as soon as they, and was about to join 
 Morand and finish with Kamenski's brigade, which we estimated 
 at 4,000 to 5,000 men, when I perceived four regiments in close 
 order marching towards us from the direction of Krzenowitz ; 
 that is, on our left flank and in rear of Morand's line. On 
 seeing them, I halted the three battalions I had with me, and, 
 being at once rejoined by Saint-Hilaire, we examined the
 
 FRIENDS OR FOES. IGl 
 
 appro.icliinf,' masses through our field-glasses, but could see 
 nothing to hIiow tliat they were the enemy. Soon, however, we 
 lieard their bands, and presently an officer from tliem, having 
 come within shouting distance, called out, " Do not lire ; we 
 are Bavarians." " Hallo ! " said General Saint-IIilaire ; " ^^■hat 
 were we going to do ? " " General," I answered, with a sharp- 
 ness I could not repress, "these Bavarians look to me very 
 suspicious, and the officer, who did not venture to come close 
 up to us, looks still more so." " Would you run the risk of 
 firing on the Emperor's allies ? " he asked. " And how do you 
 suppose that allies of the Emperor would be marching on us ? " 
 He tried hard to make me see how fatal such a mistake would 
 be. I replied that a surprise would be disastrous, adding that I 
 was going to make my arrangements as if they were the enemy, 
 and then go anil have a look at tliem myself In fact, we could 
 not make out either Bavarian uniforms or their commander, and 
 we had heard in the night that a Bavarian corps had already 
 joined. I ordered the 36th to deploy with all speed, resting on 
 Morand's regiment so as to form the pivot about which I might 
 manoeuvre, aud^ placed the 2nd battalion of the 14th in column 
 on the left of my line, so as to have a mass which I could 
 oppose, if necessary, to those which were advancing towards us, 
 and a force with which I could, witliout disturbing my line, 
 meet any cavalry or other corps that might try to surround us. 
 
 Morand was using three of the guns belonging to the division, 
 so I placed the three others between the two battalions of the 
 36th ; but just then Major Fontenay brought us six 12-poun(lers 
 by order of the Emperor, who judged how serious our position 
 was getting. These I placed, three and three, on each wing of 
 the 36th; and, with my line thus bristling at three points, I 
 masked my guns with squads of infantry and galloped oft' at 
 full speed to reconnoitre the newcomers. Morand, who thought 
 quite as seriously as I of the four regiments, had taken the same 
 step, and we met half-way between them and my line. Just as 
 he came up to me an officer belonging to those regiments was 
 joined by one whom I saw come from Kamenski's brigade. 
 They talked together for a minute, and then each went quickly 
 back to whence he came. If I had had any doubts before, this 
 
 VOL. II. M
 
 162 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 incident would have put uu end to tbeni, and I left Morand, 
 saying, " Do not trouble yourself any more about them ; I will 
 see to them." Eeturning to my line, I amended my arrange- 
 ments. I bade Major Fontenay (a cousin of Gassicourt's) load 
 all the guns with round and grape, and to his remark that this 
 Avould ruin them I added, " It will be all right if they last ten 
 minutes." I had them laid for a distance of thirty or forty yards, 
 and had ten cases of grape and ten round-shot laid by each. 
 I repeated to the men the injunction to take good aim before 
 firing, and to aim at the men's belts and the centre of the 
 sections, so as to waste no shots. Having thus utilised every 
 moment, I let the formidable masses approach to the appointed 
 distance, and then my nine guns, abruptly unmasked, and my 
 whole Kne poured in one of the most destructive fires ever 
 seen. 
 
 Without inquiring whether their commander hoped up to 
 the last moment to surprise us, there is no doubt that these 
 regiments thought they were approaching a line without artillery 
 till they found themselves at the muzzles of nine pieces of large 
 ■ calibre, served with incredible smartness, and equally well 
 .aimed, loaded, as I have said, with round and grape. Their fire 
 vied with that of my line, which was the best infantry in the 
 world for standing firm, aiming straight and knocking over the 
 > enemy with perfect coolness. My satisfaction may be imagined 
 when I saw every round tear large square holes through these 
 Tegiments till they retired a flying mass from the attack on my 
 three battalions. I had not lost a single man, and if I had had 
 a brigade of cavalry at my disposal not one of my assailants 
 would have escaped. The regiments were commanded by 
 General Kollowrath, the inventor of the artifice above men- 
 tioned, and he was marcliing with them in person in pursuance 
 of orders just given him by the Emperor Alexander, who was in 
 front of Krzenowitz, exposing himself to real danger in his 
 desire to drive us from the heights. 
 
 1 have always been very proud of the part I played in checking 
 that attempt. By anticipating a shock which we were in no 
 condition to resist, I saved my own brigade and the advance 
 guard under Morand; and in this way we were enabled to
 
 ON THE PRATZEN UE 10 JITS 103 
 
 hold our ground on the Tratzon jjlateau, the loss of wliicli 
 would have been no less fatal than its retention was decisive. 
 It was, indeed, immediately after this that, in conjunction with 
 Morand, we drove Kamenski's hrigade smartly back, and 
 captured two batteries, all ready harnessed, instead of, as we 
 miglit have done, losing all ours. 
 
 On reaching the highest point of the Pratzen plateau, we 
 commanded a wide horizon. Far away to our left we could 
 see Lannes' troops firing at those of Prince Bagi'ation ; between 
 him and us, but still five miles off, Bernadotte's first division 
 were engaged with the Grand Duke Constantine's reserve ; 
 while between* these two groups of comljatants Oudinot was 
 opposed to the greater part of the allies' fourth column — 
 that is, all of them who had not been opposed to us. In our 
 rear, or within supporting distance of us, not a Frenchman was 
 to be seen. The Emperor's narrative says that Le Yasseur's 
 brigade formed our reserve ; but, if so, none of us knew anything 
 of it. If General Le Vasseur had been informed of it he did 
 nothing to let us know, and certainly if General Saint-Hilaire 
 had had any idea of it he would not have waited till now to 
 be reinforced by it ; rather he would ha-s'e called it up at the 
 •double. It seems, however, that it M"as between us and 
 Kobeluitz, but, being concealed by the undulating ground, no 
 one noticed it. jNIoreover, we had no news either of the 
 imperial headquarters nor of Marshal Soult, and it was with 
 a certain anxiety that we became convinced of our isolation. 
 We held the heights, but we had not done with haviniz to 
 defend them. 
 
 Once out of range of our guns, the remains of the regiments 
 we had repulsed had been promptly re-formed; and when 
 Kamenski's brigade, reinforced by two regiments, had restored 
 the l)alance of the fight with us, it was joined by those regi- 
 ments. It had resumed the offensive with desperation, and, 
 in spite of our former success, our position could not fail to be 
 still highly critical. We saw marching on our front a hostile 
 force four or five times stronger than ourselves, while on our 
 
 * [This must refer to apparent position, for Oudinot's place in the Freucli 
 line was between Bernadotte's and Soult's divisions.] 
 
 M 2
 
 1G4 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 right as far as Turas, that is, three-quarters surrounding us, were 
 tifty-tive Eussian battalions with three or four thousand cavah'v. 
 Morand and I never met in after-days without recalling that 
 position. " I have seen plenty of fighting," he used to say ; 
 " I was lucky enough since the time of the Army of Egypt to 
 be present at all the great battles fought by the Emperor ; but 
 I never saw anything like our position there." Indeed, what 
 could become of his three battalions and my three, thus 
 attacked and surrounded, seeing no one to support them, bound 
 to get weaker owing to their losses, in face of troops who were 
 incessantly being reinforced ? The enemy had hurled himself 
 upon us from all sides, and, though we struggled desperately for 
 the ground, we were forced in turn to give way. Indeed, it was 
 only by yielding to the more violent shocks that we kept some 
 sort of dressing among our troops and saved our guns, the 
 loss inflicted by them no longer checking an enemy who seemed 
 maddened by our resistance. At last, after a terrible tussle 
 lasting more than twenty minutes, we had managed to get a. 
 breathing space, and a brisk fire almost at point-blank range 
 had again taken the place of the bayonet, when General Saint- 
 Hilaire called Morand and myself to him and said, " This is 
 becoming unbearable, and I propose, gentlemen, that we should 
 take up some position to our rear which we can defend." 
 Hardly had he uttered the last word when Colonel Pouzet of 
 the lOtli,* behind which we were standing, having heard the 
 proposal, was in the middle of us with one spring of his horse. 
 Taking upon himself to advise without being asked, and not 
 leaving Morand and me time to open our mouths, he burst out, 
 " Eetire, general ? If we take one pace to the rear, we are done 
 for. There is only one way to get out of this with honour, and 
 that is, to put our heads down and go at everything in front of 
 us ; and, above all, not leave the enemy time to count us." 
 This was admirably accurate and honouraljle at once. " Bravo, 
 Colonel Pouzet ! " I exclaimed ; " this is one of the finest 
 
 * This intrepid officer had been in the Imperial Guard. He was a major- 
 general -when he fell at Wagram [sic, but it was Essling], where General 
 Saint-Hilaire also perished. [For Pouzet's death, see Marbot's Memolres^ 
 vol. 11., p. 200.]
 
 BAUD FIGHTING 1G5 
 
 ynoments of your life." We ran Lack to our regiments and 
 redoubled our efforts; and, tlianks to the magnificent attitude 
 of our men, without yielding a foot of ground, we repulsed 
 vopeated charges delivered with fury and with the frightful 
 howls usual to the Eussians. Thanks to this prodigious 
 tenacity, at the end of half an hour, — in which we had lost 
 Colonel Mazas, my poor liichebourg, shot through the wind- 
 pipe, our orderly officer, and many more brave men ; while 
 more were wounded, including General Saint-Hilaire and Colonel 
 Iloudar de Lamotte, wlnle I had two horses killed under me, — 
 •our turn came at length to execute a decisive charge, breaking 
 the enemy's line, capturing three batteries (from one of which 
 I unharnessed a little grey horse and rode him), and becoming 
 for good and all masters of that part of the Pratzen plateau. 
 The 14th and 3Gth had two-thii'ds of their officers killed or 
 wounded ; while of the 236 grenadiers of the 3Cth, seventeen 
 unly remained with the colours in the evening. 
 
 This is the place to record a creditable action. I have said 
 tliat at the moment of that terrible struggle we were without 
 Slews from the headquarters. Just as we had checked our 
 men's tendency to fall back. Colonel de Girardin, aide-de-camp 
 to Marshal Berthier, the adjutant-general, rode up. His duty 
 would no doubt have been fulfilled if, having formed a clear 
 idea of our position, he had gone back and reported it. But it 
 was a fearful moment, and with a devoted courage which, as the 
 last living witness of the fact, I feel bound to record, he 
 remained with Morand and me ; and riding incessantly to and 
 fro from end to end of our lines, brushing the men's knapsacks, 
 as one may say, he gave powerful aid in supporting and cheering 
 them on, and only r|uitted us when we had resumed the 
 otfensive, leaving us with a high opinion of him. 
 
 But how can I speak of our brave men without equally 
 calling attention to the valiant way in which the Ivussiaus 
 fought ? In those terrible shocks whole battalions of them were 
 killed without one man leaving his rank, and their corpses 
 lay in the lines in which the battalions had stood. Up till the 
 last hour of that battle we took no prisoners, except those who 
 contrived to constitute themselves such. It is true we had been
 
 166 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TUIEBAULT 
 
 warned that the Eussians, even when too severely wounded to 
 be able to march, would take up theu' arms again after theu- 
 enemy had gone forward, reload them, and put their con- 
 querors between two fires. Now, in a struggle of such 
 obstinacy, when we always had to do with three or four times 
 our own number, it would not do to run any risk ; one could 
 stick at nothing, and thus not a single living enemy remained 
 to our rear. This melancholy reminiscence has often come back 
 to me, but I cannot think that I am accusing myself in noting; 
 it down. Just as at Naples I burnt the whole Capua suburb 
 and put the inhabitants to the sword, even so on those Pratzen 
 heights I gave orders to take no prisoners and to leave no one 
 in our rear. I had this order carried out because the safety of 
 my troops demanded it, because victory was a matter of life or 
 death for France, because necessity, and consec^uently duty, 
 demanded it. But whenever it was possible to dispense with 
 such a cruel performance of orders, oiu^ soldiers were ready 
 enough to offer generous treatment to those Eussians wliose 
 bravery they admired, as the following anecdote may show. 
 Just as the battle was at its end, 1500 to 1800 Eussians were 
 surrounded on all sides, with the lake of Satschan behind them. 
 They had just seen 3,000 or 4,000 of their own people perish 
 beneath the ice on the lake, and to the fire that was poured on 
 them they made no reply, save by a fire of the most sustained 
 kind. A bayonet-charge would have cost too many lives and 
 was unnecessary, so the artillery was brought up, and every 
 round caused frightful ravages among the poor fellows. It was 
 painful to be driven to sucli an extremity against men who 
 were dying in this heroic fashion, but their obstinacy left us no 
 choice. They held out a moment longer, but they soon began 
 to waver, and almost instantly threw down! their arms. At that 
 moment our soldiers flung themselves in front of the guns, 
 crying out, " Cease firing — they surrender ! " 
 
 To resume my narrative. Our next object was to drive back 
 the troops who were retreating before us towards Telnitz. We 
 reached the hill-side which overhangs the chateau of Sokoluitz 
 towards the east. This chateau was still occupied by the Eus- 
 sians with the advanced guard of one of the corps which hac\
 
 BUSSIAN PLUCK 1G7 
 
 marched on Turas, and were crowning tlie hill opposite to that 
 wliieh we had reached. The division had been fighting wilhoui 
 respite since the morning, and, as I was commanding it in the 
 absence of General Saint-Hilaire, wiio liad left us to get his 
 wound dressed, as I liad no orders and could not by myself cross 
 the Sokolnitz valley, I took up a position with the 10th Light 
 Tnfantry on the right of my brigade, and Le Vasseur's brigade, 
 wluch at last to our astonishment had joined us, on the left, and 
 then I gave the troops the rest they needed. 
 
 We had been there a quarter of an hour when General Sainl- 
 Ililaire came back, bringing the order to carry the chateau and 
 pursue the liussians. While Vandamme was forcing the village 
 of Augezd, and Morand and Le Vasseur resumed their march to 
 turn the chateau on either side, I received orders to attack it in 
 front. The Russians who were on the flanks of the chateau 
 made little resistance, l3ut those who guarded the house and its 
 outbuildings made a desperate defence. Avenues, stables, barns 
 — everything served them for shelter, and everywhere they fought 
 till the last extremity. A great massacre took place there. All 
 had to be vanquished, man by man. I saw some all alone 
 defending themselves as they might have done in the middle of 
 their battalions ; I saw some shot through and through and ready 
 to drop, loading as calmly as at drill ; so we suffered heavily, 
 and the capture of that house, which forms the third action that 
 I can claim on that day, proved to me the truth of the saying 
 that it is easier to kill six Russian soldiers than to conquer one. 
 Finally, having left the chateau behind me, as I was reform- 
 ing my sections on the march in order to get back into line witli 
 Morand and Le Vasseur, and reach the Russians' last fi^htinfr-line 
 simultaneously with them, I saw to my right .1 20 men taking 
 long shots at a battery which was playing upon the outlets from 
 the chateau. This sort of shooting could only be ridiculous, and 
 I put a stop to it. There was a sub-lieutenant there ; I told 
 him to form his men in squads, and then looked round for a 
 captain or major to order him to march with these squads upon 
 the battery, which was on a hillock between the objective points 
 of my brigade and that of Morand's troops. I could not see a 
 captain — officers were getting scarce — and as my columns were
 
 1G8 MEMOmS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 in movement, and the fire of the guns might do them a good 
 deal of damage, while the battery was so near that three or 
 • four minutes would be enough to take it, I resolved to carry it 
 myself, and trotted off with my little force. Although mounted 
 on a small Eussian artillery horse, I went of necessity faster 
 than my men, so that, having got within fifty paces of the guns, 
 I was fifteen paces ahead of them. I was turning half round 
 with the view of calling to them to quicken their pace, when 
 the last round which those guns were destined to fire went off, 
 knocking over a score of my men. The sub-lieutenant of whom 
 I have spoken, one of the finest young men I remember, was 
 killed, and I was wounded by a grapeshot which, after smashing 
 my right shoulder, bruised my breast-bone in two places and 
 went through my collar-bone. At a longer distance it is a 
 hundred to one that I should have been thrown from my horse, 
 Ijut the force of the blow was such that it took all its effect in 
 penetration, and only shook me internally. I thought I was 
 struck by lightning. My first word was, " I am a dead man ! " 
 the next, " Avenge me ! " the third, " I shall never fight again ■ " 
 the fourth, " Well, I've had my money's worth 1 " Such was the 
 succession of thoughts which passed through my mind at that 
 shot. I could still see as though unconsciously my men carry- 
 ing the battery and slaughtering all the gunners, then the 
 Eussian troops who were supporting it broken and pursued as 
 my columns came up, and then everything disappeared for me. 
 I remained for a long time dazed on my horse. Eecovering 
 from this condition, I dismounted, but my right arm did not 
 follow the movement of my body ; it hung swaying over the 
 right side of my horse, and I had some trouble to get hold of it 
 with my left hand and bring it over to my body. 
 
 The ambulance was at Schlapanitz, and I tried to reach it on 
 foot ; but after going a few hundred yards, shot still falling 
 around, my strength gave way. Attempts were made to get a 
 cart at the chateau, but the only thing that could be found was 
 a limber ; but on a vehicle of that kind, at each frightful jolt, 
 as I crossed the deep furrows of the Moravian fields, I could 
 feel my bones rubl)ing and crackling, tearing through the skin 
 as the si^lintered ends rode one over the other. So they made a
 
 WOUNDED ICa 
 
 kind of stretcher \\illi poles, planks, aiul anything that ^vas 
 liandy, and laid me on it. Seeing some poor liussians straying 
 ul)Out close by, I sent for tlicm and made them carry me ; but' 
 some grenadiers of my brigade, several of thern wounded them- 
 selves, caught sight of the Russian bearers and drove them away, 
 in spite of all I could say, declaring that it was their business to 
 carry their general. Just then Marshal Berthier came by and 
 witnessed the scene. It passed into an anecdote, such as people 
 are eager for in these cases, and, though I was the person con- 
 cerned, it got into the Monitcur. In the Emperor's narrative 
 it appears in a modified form as a sentiment of the grenadiers 
 generally : " The honour of our wounded generals belongs to us " 
 — but the fact is as I give it. I was already reckoned among the 
 slain, and, as people are glad enough to make it up with them, 
 the circumstance was regarded, perliaps, as a ground for showing 
 me goodwill. So indeed it struck me when I begged Berthier 
 to tell the Emperor that I had always served him to the best of 
 my power, that on this great day I thought I had done useful 
 service, and that I commended my children to him. 
 
 It was not from Berthier, however, that the Emperor heard of 
 my wound, but from General Bertrand, from whom I have the 
 following fact. At the words, " General Thiebault is wounded, 
 sir," the Emperor asked if I was severely wounded. " Mortally, 
 sir." After a moment's silence the Emperor replied, " Xo man 
 could die at a finer opportunity." Such was the funeral oration 
 which he thought he was uttering over my grave. The thirtieth 
 bulletin announced my wound; the thirty-sixth, dated from 
 8chonbrunn, stated, rather prematurely in my case, that the 
 wounded generals were all on the high road to recovery. 
 
 I was 700 miles away from those dear to me ; I had lost in 
 llichebourg the best friend I had in the army, and the only one 
 who could have morally alleviated my grievous position. I did 
 not expect to recover from my wound. Still, I would not give 
 in to the weakness which I felt was getting hold of me, and to 
 drive away these doleful thoughts I sang till my voice failed, 
 iind then I whistled. An ofticer of the oGth, who had thought 
 it right to stay with me till I found my servant, was so surprised 
 ihat he said, " Why, general, what kind of stuff are you made
 
 170 MEMO IE S OF GENEBAL TniEBAVLT 
 
 of ? " HoM'ever, it was one of my chances of salvation, weak as 
 they were ; I felt that if I let myself break down I was lost. 
 A wounded infantry officer was being carried near me. He was 
 wailing like a child, and at first I made a great effort to endure 
 his groans, but soon anger got the upper hand, and, bidding him 
 go to the deuce, I made his bearers take him further away. 
 
 The surgeon-major of the 4th, Joseph Bonaparte's regiment,, 
 saw me, came up, and put me through a first dressing, which, 
 in spite of the blood I was losing, consisted in making two 
 great gashes at the sjmng of the shoulder, above and below the 
 point of entrance of the bullet. Linen was needed, and Mother 
 La Joie, who had for years been the vivandiere of the 36th and 
 was thought a great deal of in the regiment, came forward with 
 some. I asked for a glass of brandy, which she at once poured 
 out, and I handed her a louis. She burst into tears and gave 
 it me back. I told my father of this ; and my friend Eivierre, 
 when he had a picture painted of the incident, based on the 
 account in the Moniteur, had the good vivandiere put into it. 
 
 At length I saw a man running towards me at full speed • 
 it was my faithful and devoted valet — that same Jacques Dewint 
 who, as the Duke of Abrantes said, served me as no general 
 officer was ever served. A good fellow, no less than a plucky 
 one, hearing that I was wounded, he had been scouring the 
 battle-field to find me. Nothing could have so much comforted 
 me ; and to him I was indebted for a speedy arrival at 
 Schlapanitz, and the diminution, so far as might be, of the 
 horrors of the journey. 
 
 I was placed in the best bed in the best room of the best 
 house in the village, and my wound was regularly dressed. 
 Next day I had to be moved to Briinn, but so weak was I that 
 this seemed difficult. However, a low and roomy carriage was. 
 discovered which, I think, had not been out for a hundred 
 years, numerous mattresses were placed in it, and, with infinite 
 precautions on the part of Jacques and the surgeon, who was 
 attached to me from this time till my anival in Paris, they 
 contrived to get me as far as Ijriinn. My transference from the 
 carriage to the room where the problem of life or death was to 
 be solved for me was even a more difficult business. Quarters
 
 A CRITICAL CASE 171 
 
 had been tuken for me in a deserted bouse, so thai I bad not 
 tbe attention wbicb one never expects in vain from German 
 kindness. For company, tlierefore, save for a few visitors, I was 
 reduced to tbe surgeon, and be was not mucb witb me except 
 at nigbt, being busy all day in tbe bospitals ; but my faitbful 
 Jacques was a real providence for me by bis devoted care. 
 
 Next morning, in order to judge of my condition, and make 
 ready for my first big dressing, tbere met in my room jM. Percy, 
 surgeon -general to tlie Frencb army, and tbe first military 
 surgeon in tlie world, !M. Yvan ; tbe Emperor's private surgeon, 
 JVI. Larrey, cbief surgeon in tbe Imperial Guard, tbe surgeon- 
 major of tbe 8tb Hussars, and my own surgeon. One could 
 not bave more luminaries round one, but it did not appear as if 
 tbey were destined to illuminate a long future for me. Inde- 
 pendently of the fact tbat seven fractures are always serious, 
 especially in tbe region of tbe cliest, it seemed inevitable, in 
 tbe general opinion, tbat, in tbe course of nine incbes wbicb tbe 
 projectile bad taken from its entry in tbe sbouldcr to its exit 
 by tbe sternum, some artery must bave been wounded ; in 
 wbicb case, wben tbe wound cleared, as it would do about tbe 
 tbird day, bnemorrbage must come on and deatb follow imme- 
 diately. So tbey considered tbat I bad not more tban tbirty-six 
 bours to li^■e ; and, wbile dressing me to tbe best of tbeir power, 
 tbey confined tbemselves to bolding out bopes calculated to 
 keep up a few bours' illusion, but to wbicb no one really gave 
 credence. 
 
 At daybreak on December 6 tbe surgeon of tbe 8tb Hussars 
 came in witb tbe air of a man wbo bad not liked to go past my 
 door witbout finding out wbat kind of a nigbt I bad bad. Tliis, 
 together witb tbe way in wbicb, to my answer " !Mucb as usual," 
 be returned " Ab ! that's well " — a surprise wbicb he could not 
 conceal, combined witb a slightly puzzled air, and observations- 
 or turns of phrase, none of wbicb escaped my watchfulness — 
 struck me so much tbat, when M. Percy and his colleagues 
 arrived for tbe dressing, I joked with him about it. He replied 
 in bis kindly and no less persuasive tone, smiling, doubtless in 
 order to make tbe more show of security, " You bave escaped 
 the greater danger of your condition. We feared that some
 
 172 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 artery was injured ; this fear is now set at rest, and it was in 
 •order to learn the true state of the case that I wished to liear 
 news of you as early as possible. Now I reckon on your 
 recovery, all the more so because your moral courage is so 
 remarkable." In trutli, weak as I was, I made a point of 
 getting up every day and walking to my sofa supported by 
 Jacques and my surgeon, so afraid was I of the weakening 
 effects of lying in bed. 
 
 My progress towards recovery, however, underwent many 
 drawbacks, and for some time the ultimate issue was uncertain. 
 I had been fighting death for twelve or fourteen days, when 
 I received a letter from my wife dated on the evening of 
 December 2. She said that she had been in her mother's room 
 at tliree o'clock that afternoon, working near the window and 
 talking over her griefs and sorrows, when a flame like the flash 
 of a gun passed before her eyes. She had cried out at once, 
 .and taken refuge by her mother's side. She added, " The horror 
 which I felt of the Cher at the moment when I was losing my 
 poor brother comes back to my mind. I am not superstitious, 
 but after such cruel misfortunes, and after a fact of that kind, 
 all apprehensions are horrible. I shall not get over the shock 
 it caused me until I have had news from you later than that 
 day." To understand this passage, I should mention that in the 
 previous Septemljer her young brother, who had just joined the 
 -24th Mounted Chasseurs, had been drowned in fording the Dora 
 near Turin. Zozotte was then living at Tours, and on that day 
 had gone to stay with a friend at Saint-Avertin. The two 
 were walking beside the Cher, when Zozotte started as if in 
 fright, covered her eyes with her handkerchief, and only 
 answered her friend's urgent inquiries with the words, " Let us 
 go in ; the sight of the water makes me shudder." Now this 
 repugnance at the sight of water had come on just at the 
 moment when Amedee was drowned, and her letter which I 
 received at Briinn, dated on the day of the battle of Austerlitz, 
 showed an analogous coincidence of presentiment ; it surprised 
 me, therefore, in spite of the curious instances of prescience and 
 second sight which I witnessed both before and afterwards. 
 
 Meanwhile the news reached her, unluckily, through the
 
 MY TIIIRTY-SIXTII BIRTIWAY 173 
 
 Moniteur before she heard it from myself, and slie became 
 seriously ill. Everyone at Tours showed the utmost kindness ; 
 even the postmaster never went to l)e(l lill lie had sent all the 
 letters addressed to her. She also had news of me through the 
 Moniteur, which even announced, prematurely, that I was out of 
 danger. Her first thought had been to come and nurse me, 
 but, luckily, her father required my consent before letting her 
 go, and my doctors were dead against it. M. Percy said, 
 " There are sometimes cases when the last cliance of savini^ a 
 person who is ill is to keep his dearest friends at a distance " ; 
 and, indeed, if I had seen her in the course of the first weeks, 
 the emotion must have killed me. "When I began to mend, 
 there was not sulficient reason for her to make the journey at 
 the worst time of year. 
 
 On December 14, 1805, I completed my thirty-sixth year. 
 When I awoke, Jacques wished me many happy returns, saying, 
 " I shall wish you the same, general, twenty-five years hence, 
 and then I shall remind you of this time." He kept his w^ord, 
 poor man, on December 14, 1830, bringing his two sons witli 
 him ; but he did not long survive the occasion. It seems long 
 a^o to me now, though in 1805 I thought I should never 
 reach it. 
 
 The same day, feeling less oppressed than I had done, after 
 my family letters, I dictated another to General Saiut-Hilaire. 
 It went by one of the Emperor's messengers, and he answered 
 it next day, giving me a fine testimonial to my conduct, and 
 assuring me that the Emperor would take it all into account. 
 Erom all sides, both by writing and by word of mouth, I wa.s 
 told that I was made general of division, and a letter from one 
 about the Emperor congratulated me on it " as a positive fact." 
 It will be seen in the sequel, owing to what influence it came 
 about that this announcement was not confirmed, even by my 
 nomination as grand officer, which would liave been a poor 
 sul)stitute for a division. 
 
 At the end of his order of the day to the army of Austerlitz, 
 Xapoleon had said, " Soldiers, when all that is necessary for 
 the happiness and welfare of our country is achieved, I will 
 take you back to France, and you shall be the object of my
 
 174 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TUIEBAULT 
 
 tenderest solicitude. My people will greet you with transports 
 of joy. It will be enough for you to say, ' I was at Austerlitz/ 
 to bring the answer, ' There is a hero ! ' " These pompous words 
 and the promise of tender solicitude raised higher hopes than 
 were realised. It is the old story of all that is prompted by 
 the enthusiasm of to-day, and has to be modified by the morrow. 
 Personal claims were exaggerated, deferred, forgotten, or 
 modified as predilections or antipathies dictated ; while what 
 related to the method of celebrating the glorious event was 
 subject to new considerations. The Madeleine was transformed 
 by decree into a " temple of renown," in which every marshal 
 present at the battle was to have a statue, every division a 
 bas-relief, on which every general officer was to appear in 
 sculpture ; while special distinctions were reserved for wounded 
 generals. Each officer, non-commissioned officer, and soldier 
 was to see his name engraved on tablets of brass. As we know, 
 the plan was never carried out, and, instead of a vast monument, 
 Austerlitz has its plain stone slab on the Arch of Triumph. 
 
 One hall in the Napoleon Museum was to be devoted to a 
 collection of all the curiosities brought from Vienna. This was 
 never done, and Gerard's picture is the only memorial of the 
 battle that I know of; but the bridge of the King's Garden 
 received the name of Austerlitz, while the square separating it 
 from the garden was called after Valhubert, the only general 
 who died of wounds received there ; and the space in front of it 
 took the name of Colonel Mazas, of the 14th — the first regiment 
 of my brigade — who fell in the battle. But the column in 
 the Place Vendome, cast from the guns captured at Austerlitz, 
 will always be the chief monument to recall to our descendants 
 the part which their ancestors played in that battle. 
 
 To close this series of reminiscences and reflections suggested 
 by the battle of Austerlitz, and to sum up what I have related 
 of it in a few comparisons, it may be said that on the side of 
 Kutusoff and his understudies it was the result of ignorance, 
 incapacity, indecision, and presumption; while on that of 
 Napoleon it was the fruit of rapid inspiration and profound 
 calculation. Kutusoff — for on the field of battle Alexander and 
 Francis were only his lieutenants — ventured to march against
 
 MISTAKES ON BOTH SIDES 175 
 
 the Emperor witliuut haviiifj; either the number or distribution 
 of his forces, nor yet the opportunities afforded by liLs 
 adversary's position ; wlule Napoleon had, so to say, traced out 
 tlie road by which his enemy was to arrive at the destination 
 tluit he foresaw. But wliat assigns to destiny a share in 
 Kutusoffs inaptitude and to luck a share in the other's genius, 
 is that General liuxhoewden, who commanded the three columns 
 that executed the fatal turning movement which formed the 
 basis of Kutusoffs plan, remained for a good hour with retreat 
 open to him ; that is, escaped from the consequences of that dis- 
 astrous idea, and yet he continued the movement imperturbably 
 when it could have no further object or excuse, and only 
 understood his position when it was past retrieving. Yet 
 further, at a moment when no retreat was possible save at one 
 point, the Monitz defile between the lakes of Satschan and 
 Nessel, he pushed on his first column towards another point 
 above, and could not fail to be surrounded and destroyed. As 
 we see, there were mistakes and bad luck on one side, genius 
 and good luck on the other ; valour in all three armies — 
 indescribable enthusiasm among our troops. It took all this to 
 make the battle of Austerlitz. 
 
 Yet does it follow that only the enemy can be accused of 
 mistakes, and that because they were committed with impunity, 
 for the present at least, none can be laid to the charge of 
 Xapoleon ? On the contrary, five can be pointed out, and 
 they are extraordinary enough to be worth calling attention 
 to. To begin M'ith, when we were on the Pratzen heights he 
 <lid not have us supported either by Le Vasseur's brigade or 
 by any battalion of the reserve ; an imprudence all the more 
 serious, since it is impossible to say how it came about that 
 Ave were not twice broken and driven off the plateau. He 
 ought never to have laid himself open to such a check at that 
 point, seeing that if it had taken place the enemy's three columns 
 which were marching to their own destruction would have 
 found themselves again in toucli with the troops, who would 
 have regained possession of the plateau, and nothing could 
 have hindered their junction and the consequent improvement 
 of their position. This was what Alexander was aiming at in
 
 176 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 his efforts to take the heights from us ; and, if it had occurred;, 
 the Emperor's whole plan would have been frustrated, and he 
 would have been forced to retreat. - It will not do to excuse 
 Napoleon by saying that our situation was unknown to him. 
 No doubt he had been misled by the aide-de-camp who came 
 and told him at half-past eight that the enemy's last corps 
 had left the Pratzen heights, when the whole of Kamenski's 
 brigade, the Eanagorski and Eiajski regiments, and the fourth 
 column which was to follow the movement of the first three, 
 were still there. But our tremendous fire could not fail to 
 enlighten him by revealing how hard a struggle we were 
 maintaining ; and, besides, was he under any mistake when he 
 sent us those six 12-pounders? They brought us up before 
 long to a rate of a gun for every 200 men — a proportion which 
 is excusable when one is short of troops, but ought never to be 
 allowed for any other reason, considering the impossibility of 
 saving so much material in the event of a retreat. If only 
 for that reason, Napoleon should have supported us with a 
 reserve. 
 
 If he did not do so, I have always been convinced that it 
 was in order to be able to say, " By the might of my genius " 
 — we had not yet got to the star — " I had in that battle no 
 need either of the second division of the 1st Corps, nor of my 
 grenadier reserve, nor of my guard." It was this bit of swagger 
 which prevented him from taking 15,000 more prisoners ; for, 
 while he was drawing the three columns against his right, 
 in order to cut them off, he ought to have guarded the Monitz 
 defile, the only line of retreat open to the fragments of them. 
 If at that moment he had hurried up his reserves on to the 
 Pratzen plateau, he could have made them take our place in 
 the attack on Sokolnitz, and then have sent us at the double 
 with Vandamme's division, and Vare's and Le Vasseur's 
 Ijrigades, to the Monitz defile, which unquestionably would have 
 delivered into his hands the fugitives of these three columns 
 to the very last man. 
 
 Nor did he support us with any cavalry ; yet, if the enemy 
 at one of our two worst moments had attacked us with a 
 cavalry brigade, we should have been unable to reply, while.
 
 NAPOLEON'S OVERSIGUTS 177 
 
 if we liail had a brigade within reach, we sliouhl have made 
 thousands of prisoners. 
 
 Again, ought he to have left so large an interval between 
 our di\ision and Yandamme's without pLacing troops between 
 them to support whichever required it ? He left them to take 
 their chance of a reverse, and in Saint-Hilaire's case, especially, 
 how little more was wanted for that reverse to happen ! No 
 doubt Napoleon was justified by the event; he split up his 
 attacks, did not reinforce them at the right moment, and yet 
 each of his attacks succeeded and became a victory. But after 
 profoundly studying and considering the subject, and talking 
 it over with many competent officers, we have retained the 
 conviction that in the triumph of genius luck must be credited 
 with its share. 
 
 Lastly, ought not Napoleon to have taken advantage of his 
 victory to incapacitate his enemies, by an unrelenting pursuit, 
 for reappearing on a field of battle for many years to come ? 
 He was so well aware of this that, on returning from his con- 
 ference with the Emperor of Austria, he said, " That man has 
 made me commit a blunder; I might have followed up my 
 victory and captured the whole Austrian and Eussian army. 
 Well, rather fewer tears will be shed." * 
 
 Here I had meant to end, but I cannot leave the subject till 
 I have exhausted it. Of the various narratives, General 
 Kutusoffs is a mere irrelevance; Major Stutterheim's is the 
 work of an honourable man, though it has inevitable mistakes 
 as to our movements. Napoleon did him the honour to annotate 
 it ; but in many points of detail he has not even noticed the 
 errors any more than in the narrative he himself dictated. This 
 was written, revised, and modified at various periods in his study, 
 and is not free from the omissions or inaccuracies which a com- 
 mander-in-chief, who has only a general view, cannot avoid. So 
 far as concerns myself, I have endeavoured to supply the gaps. 
 
 As for ^larshal Soult, who now talks with pride about the battle 
 of Austerlitz, 1 will give the measure of him, if only to let the 
 
 * [It will be observed that Thi^bault seems to know nothing of the 
 
 current belief that the Eussian plan had been communicated to Napoleon 
 before the battle.] 
 
 VOL. II. N
 
 178 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 reader know the value of the biographies "which reckon that 
 memorable battle to his fame. In spite of the critical position 
 in which Saint-Hilaire's troops were for the space of three hours, 
 j\larshal Soult never appeared either to direct them in case of 
 need, to encourage them by his presence, or to judge if it was 
 necessary to reinforce them. Still, I had a doubt remaining as 
 to whether the marshal had not fulfilled his duty as commander 
 of an army corps ; not with General Legrand, who with six 
 battalions had nothing to do but draw the enemy's leading 
 columns astray, and who, as the Emperor himself remarks, 
 remained almost outside the battle ; nor with General Le 
 Vasseur, whose brigade had hardly any fighting, especially in 
 the morning; but with General Vandamme, who, with his own 
 division and Vare's brigade, had kept up such a brilliant fight 
 on the Pratzen heights. 
 
 I could not indeed disguise from myself that General 
 Vandamme was not the sort of man to welcome the presence of 
 a mentor, who would practically have commanded his troops ; 
 but I could not see my way to allowing that in the battle of 
 Austerlitz ^Marshal Soult had fulfilled none of the functions of 
 a soldier or shared the danger of any of the men of his corps. 
 I was told, indeed, that that morning he had complained of 
 inflammation of the eyes, and had put on a green silk shade just 
 when the battle began — not the movement, because he had 
 nothing on his eyes when he started us a little before sunrise. 
 Indeed the sun of December 2, in Moravia, is not very dazzling, 
 whatever legendary splendour it may have borrowed from our 
 victory ; and, besides, in such circumstances one might defer 
 precautions of this kind for a few hours, though even a green 
 silk eye-shade need not prevent a man of spirit from doing his 
 duty in battle. Thus I did not find the green silk sufficient 
 ground to assume anything so serious, and this determined me 
 to inc[uire of Lieutenant-General Vincent, at that time aide-de- 
 camp to General Vandamme, whom he never left throughout the 
 day. He formally declares that on December 2, at daybreak, 
 Marshal Soult came to Vandamme's division and set it in move- 
 ment, as he had just done with Saint-Hilaire's, and that the divi- 
 sion saw no more of him till two in the afternoon, when all its
 
 TI7/J7' DTD MARSHAL SOULT DOl 170 
 
 heavy figlitiug was over and it was entering Augezd. The re- 
 serves, the Imperial Guard, Marshal Lannes with one division, 
 our cavalry, and the Emperor himself were then on the Pratzen 
 heiglits, and the l^attle was coming to an end. Then Marshal 
 tSoult only appeared to convey the order to cut off the Eussians' 
 retreat l)y the shore of the Satschan lake, as he gave Saint- 
 Hilaire, then returning from the field-hospital, the order to 
 attack Sokolnitz. Thus it is clear that Marshal Soult took no 
 personal part in the battle of Austerhtz, unless one can consider 
 the transmission of a few orders at points where fighting was no 
 longer going on as the part of the commander of an army corps. 
 I own it is difficult to believe, and it took a long time and much 
 inquiiy to make me do so. But I wished to verify the suspi- 
 cions which Saint-Hilaire, IMorand, and I had conceived when 
 we did not once see the marshal, whose business was to have 
 been constantly going from one to another of his divisions, to 
 stop with them, to back up the generals. I can still hear the 
 exclamations which ten times over burst from each of us : 
 ^' What ! no news of the marshal ? And is he not going to turn 
 np himself ? " 
 
 There is no way out of it ; and yet Marshal Soult, who no 
 more fought the enemy that day than he fought Lannes, reckons 
 Austerlitz among his titles to fame. The fame belongs by right 
 not to him but to his army. The Emperor made no mistake, 
 and when he gave him a title he did not call him — I will not 
 say Duke of Austerlitz — Lannes would not have stood that — but 
 after any town or village recalling the name of a victory. 
 
 X 2
 
 ISO MEMOinS OF GENEBAL THIEBAULT 
 
 CHAPTEK IX. 
 
 Interview •nitli Soult — Pieturn to Paris — Xapoleon's friendliness — An oppor- 
 tunity lost — Story of a rabbit-shooting — Enemies at Court — Governor 
 of Fulda. 
 
 By January 25 I was able to start for Vienna, Avliere I had to 
 stay for a week ; and at noon on February 4 I arrived at Linz. 
 Marshal Soult was there, but no one of Saint-Hilaire's division, 
 and I determined to dine and go on without seeing anyone. 
 An aide-de-camp of the marshal's, however, announced that he 
 was coming to call on me, so, rather than be under any obliga- 
 tion, I called on him. He received me kindly enough, but I 
 had a right to complain of the way I had been treated in his 
 reports, as a consequence of which my junior had been promoted 
 over my head, and I asked him for an explanation. He seemed 
 embarrassed, and said that no one had done more justice to me 
 than he had. I only said that I did not see what I could have 
 done more than I had done. He said, " General Thiebault, you 
 are quite mistaken if you think I did not specially mention you 
 in my report ; and if you ever become acquainted with it, you 
 will be flattered by the way in which it treats you." " My 
 lord," I said, " you have had a grudge against me for the last 
 six years, on account of my narrative of the blockade of Genoa." 
 He owned that he had been displeased with it, because I had 
 not made him play a part worthy of him. I should have liked 
 to go into details, but he postponed a discussion likely to tire 
 me, and only said, " We will talk of all that at Paris." He 
 never spoke to me again of it. 
 
 My wife and I both reached Paris on February 26. There is 
 no need to describe the joy of our meeting or the kindness of 
 our friends. I was invited everywhere, and Xapoleon himself
 
 A LOST OFPOETUNITY 181 
 
 showed some interest and r,^oodvvill toward nie. I never 
 appeared at the Tuileries without his having a word for me, were 
 it only to ask how my arm was going on. One evening, after a 
 Ijallet performed in the Hall of the Marshals by dancers from 
 the Opera, in presence of the imperial family, some of the com- 
 pany had gone out on the south terrace of the palace, and I 
 among them. The Emperor came up, and, catching sight of me, 
 took me by the left arm and l)rought me in again, saying, "Do 
 not stay there ; night air is no good for wounds." All my friends 
 urged me to take advantage of the opportunity, in the absence 
 of Soult and Berthier, to extract from his justice what disfavour 
 had withheld from me ; 1 )ut my wife, who alone could have 
 overcome my dislike to the step, only confirmed me in holding 
 back. She said once, " Injustice is better than the humiliation 
 of taking as a favour what one has deserved as recompense." 
 So shutting myself in an ill-humour, which was only childish- 
 ness, I lost once again the opportunity which always escapes 
 liim who cannot seize it, and delayed for thirty-two months a 
 promotion which, if I had had it then, would have altered my 
 career. 
 
 At one of the sumptuous receptions which I attended in 
 those days, as I looked at the gold and purple throne which 
 seemed as indestructible as it was brilliant, I suddenly thought 
 of the first time that I had seen Bonaparte, then a major-general 
 on half-pay. It was in that garden of the Tuileries which now 
 was his, near the upper end of the Spring Walk, now the 
 Orange-tree Walk. At that time the little man was living at 
 Paris, supported by the father of Junot, his first aide-de-camp, 
 and had to solicit on his own account what before long was to 
 be obtained only by his favour. That day he was walking with 
 three other persons as unknown as himself, and was only 
 pointed out to us as one of Aubry's victims. From the spot 
 where I remembered him to that where I now saw liim the 
 distance was not more than three or four hundred paces, the 
 ^litference in level thirty feet at most ; yet what vast spaces had 
 lie not had to traverse — what heights had he not had to climb 
 to pass from one to the other ! 
 
 The brilliaucv of his Court was something incredible. Hun-
 
 182 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TUIEBAULT 
 
 dreds of foreign orders were already worn there, beside the star 
 of the Legion of Honour. Personal and hereditary titles were 
 still lacking, but it was felt that this would not long be the 
 case, and the re-establishment of the terms Prince, Lord,, 
 Excellency, for the present filled then- place. Those entitled to 
 them wore the richest costumes, as did equerries and chamber- 
 lains. Of the latter there were a hundred, the posts being 
 occupied by the most notable and wealthy persons in all the 
 countries united under the imperial sceptre. Even the old 
 families of France solicited employment about the Emperor and 
 Empress. But though as Chief of the State he was ready to 
 welcome them, as a soldier he was scandalized to see them thus 
 preferring the livery to the uniform, while as a man he was 
 vexed that they had not been willing to help him in founding 
 the power of which they were now swarming to take advantage. 
 This was what caused him in 1812 and 1813 to institute the 
 Guards of Honour; the sons of the first families in France 
 suddenly received orders to join their corps, and were forced to 
 comply. The same feeling drew from him the remark, so 
 terriljle in its truth : " I opened the ranks of my armies to them 
 and none oflered himself ; I opened my antechambers and they 
 crowded in." 
 
 M. Morin, with whom I made friends during the siege of 
 Genoa, was living with a friend of his named Sibuet. They 
 passed the winter in M. Morin's house at Paris, and the summer 
 in a pretty country-house which M. Sibuet had at Soisy-sous- 
 Etiolles. They pressed us to come and stay with them at the 
 latter place, and we went there in August. I had a conversa- 
 tion there with M. Morin, worth recording on account of the 
 remarkable foresight which it showed on his part when one 
 remembers that it took place eight months after Austerlitz. 
 "VVe were discussing the Emperor's future. Dazzled by our 
 victories, even as Europe and France were, I could see no 
 possible limit to his omnipotence. 
 
 " I admit," replied M. Morin, " that the Emperor is the 
 greatest general of modern times and our armies the first in the 
 world ; but his victories have done more to make him enemies 
 than to add to his fame, and every conquest weakens his
 
 A rnopiiECY 183 
 
 position rather than consolidates it. He can subdue, but he 
 cannot reconcile. Neither liis successes nor his origin Avill be 
 forgiven him. There is not a king but is disgusted at seeing 
 him with a crown; not a people wlio can forgive him; not a 
 nation that is not humiliated by having been trampled on by 
 him ; not a soul wlio is not irritated by his pride or terrified by 
 his ambition. His scheme of re-establishing the Empire, the 
 very names of Grand Army, great nation, proclaim everything 
 small that is not himself or does not emanate from him. He is 
 insatiable, nothing will limit his greed, and there will be no 
 check in the course either of his prosperity or of his disasters. 
 Thus his enemies have only to wait. Just now they are stopped 
 only by their powerlessness ; but their liatred is prolific. Yet 
 I do not say that liis downfall is at hand, only that he is- 
 marching to it. I do not deny even that he may yet increase 
 his deceptive power and raise himself yet higher, but it will 
 only be to fall into a deeper depth. Believe me, all that his 
 building gains in extent and elevation it loses in the solidity of 
 its foundations. In spite of truces, there is a struggle between 
 Europe and him that can only end in destruction, because on 
 one side there are twenty nations, while on the other is a single 
 man. His first reverse will be the signal for a crusade in 
 which Erance herself, weary and exhausted, as l^y that time she 
 will be, cannot fail to be involved. And it is impossible but 
 that he will meet with that reverse, because everytliing comes 
 to an end, and the enthusiasm wliicli deifies him to-day will 
 wear out like the rest. Shall I finish giving you the whole of 
 my mind ? I do not understand how he can have more tlian 
 ten years to reign ! " 
 
 Struck by his own inspiration, M. Morin asked me to bear 
 the terms of it in mind; and now that the colossal power, 
 which his foresight condemned to ruin, is now onlv a memorv, 
 I set his prophecy on record. Alas ! he was only too right. In 
 the rooms which Napoleon occupied at ]\Iunich, in either 1805 
 or 1809, there was a picture of Charles XII. " Take away that 
 portrait," he said ; " it is a man with nothing to show." And 
 w^hat results lias he himself to show ? Or what sort of a com- 
 parison will follow, as far as that goes, if beside Napoleon, who
 
 18-i MEMOinS OF OENEBAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 made France lose all that she had wou, including what she had 
 won without him and before he was heard of, we set Frederick 
 the Great, Mho, as the head of a weak State, alone against all 
 Europe, without finances or population, doubled the might of 
 Prussia, and put her among the leading nations ? Yet who 
 would dare to put Frederick before Napoleon ? 
 
 We had been a week at Soisy, and I was coming in one 
 morning to breakfast, when we heard a horse gallop up. The 
 messenger brought a letter bearing the stamp of the Emperor's 
 household, in which the chamberlain on duty informed me that 
 His Majesty would see me at nine o'clock the next morning at 
 Saint-Cloud. I had never been summoned like this before, and 
 had nothing to prepare me for this favour, for such it evidently 
 was. Moriu suggested a confidential mission, Sibuet an embassy. 
 We returned to Paris for dinner, and next morning, by three 
 minutes to nine, I was at Saint-Cloud. In the room leading to 
 the Emperor's study I found Murat and a score of persons 
 l^elonging to the household, all in short green coats, trimmed, 
 like theii' three-cornered hats, with gold braid, armed with 
 whips, and hunting-knives hanging from broad belts, waiting to 
 follow him to the hunt. Seeing me, the chamberlain on duty 
 said, " His Majesty was just asking if you had amved." I 
 called his attention to my punctuality, and, knocking at the 
 door, he showed me in. 
 
 The Emperor was standing up in the costume just described. 
 He accosted me with a pleased air, and said that he had just 
 appointed me general of division. After receiving my best 
 thanks, he spoke of my wound, seemed interested to hear that 
 it was in a fair way to get well, and dismissed me no less 
 kindly than he had received me. As I left his study, Murat 
 came up and asked w^hat the Emperor had said to me. 
 " Prince," I replied, " he was good enough to say that he had 
 appointed me general of division." "My dear Tliiebault, let 
 me be the first to congratulate you." Others — Duroc, Savary, I 
 think Le Marois — followed his example. 
 
 I had not got into my carriage again before the Emperor had 
 leapt on horseback and gone off at full speed, all those who had 
 to accompany him racing after. I could not understand this
 
 NAPOLEON'S RADBIT-SnOOTINa 
 
 185 
 
 similarity of taste between Xapoleon, the l)usiest monarch in 
 the world, and his predecessors the Ijourbous, the idlest of 
 existing princes and the most imperturbable sportsmen. Any- 
 how, all through that summer he shot and hunted, and everyone 
 racked his brains to vary his amusements in that line. Like a 
 good courtier, Alexander Berthier was not behindhand. He 
 had the idea of giving the Emperor some rabbit-shooting in a 
 park which he possessed just out of Paris, and had the joy of 
 having his offer accepted. The property possessed everything 
 calculated to make the sport agreeable except rabbits ; but 
 rabbits are common enough, and the marshal, being, as adjutant- 
 general, accustomed to think of everything and provide, con- 
 sidered that he was as right as he could be when he had ordered 
 a, thousand of those animals to be turned down in the park on 
 the morning of the day. An order of that kind is not executed 
 by halves, and not a rabbit of the thousand was wanting. At 
 length all was ready ; the Emperor had been expected, the 
 Emperor had arrived, a splendid breakfast had been served. 
 The accessories made way for the principal business ; the sport 
 began, and Berthier was in high delight at having been granted 
 the honour of giving his master some healthy pastime with the 
 opportunity of distinguishing himself. But how can I tell it or 
 be believed ? All those rabbits, which -should have tried in 
 vain, even by scattering themselves, to escape the shots which 
 the most august hand destined for them, suddenlv collected first 
 in knots, then in a body ; instead of having recourse to a useless 
 flight, they all faced about^ and in an instant the whole phalanx 
 flung itself upon Xapoleon. The surprise was unbounded, as 
 was Berthier's wrath. At once he assemljled a force of 
 coachmen with long whips, and, proud of having found a 
 decisive opportunity of protesting against a cruel word which 
 had escaped the First Consul on the field of ]\Iarengo — 
 " Berthier is not of the stuff of which they say brave men are 
 made " — he darted forward at their head. The rabbits put to 
 flight, Xapoleon was delivered ; and they were looking on the 
 incident as a delay — comical, no doubt, but well over — M'hen, 
 by a wheel in three Itodies to right and left, the intrepid rabbits 
 turned the Emperor's flank, attacked him frantically in the 
 
 /
 
 186 MEMOmS OF GENEEAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 rear, refused to quit their liuld, piled themselves up between his 
 legs till they made him stagger, and forced the conqueror of 
 conquerors, fairly exhausted, to retreat and leave thcni in 
 possession of the field, only thankful that some of them had not 
 succeeded in scaling the rumble of the Emperor's caniagc. and 
 getting themselves borne in triumph to Paris. 
 
 It only remains to explain the phenomenon, and all was 
 revealed as soon as it was known that Berthier's emissary, not 
 aware that there could be any difference between one rabbit and 
 another, had bought rabbits from the hutch inste ad of from the 
 warren. The consequence was that the poor raljljitshadtaken 
 the sportsmen, including the Emperor, for the purveyors of their 
 daily cabbage, and had flung themselves on them with all the 
 more eagerness that they had not l)een fed that day. The 
 laughter which this revelation elicited may be guessed, also the 
 way in which it added to Berthier's despair. In his shame and 
 confusion, regretting the ridicule even more than the fact, he 
 vowed, a little late in the day, that he would not be taken in 
 again. 
 
 I told the good news of my promotion to my wife and my 
 father, asking them to say nothing about it till it was officially 
 notified. My father approved, and said nothing ; but Zozotte, 
 while equally thinking I was right, confided it, from one 
 intimate friend to another, to nearly all the world. Yet a week 
 went by ; I had received nothing. I began to be anxious, and 
 made inquiries of Maret, who was now Secretary of State, only 
 to be taken aback by the answer, " Xothing concerning you has 
 reached me." Murat, with whom I breakfasted next day at 
 i^euilly, could only suggest that the Emperor wished to make a 
 formal distribution of promotions at the festivities which were 
 in preparation to celebrate the peace — an answer that did not 
 satisfy me. It would have seemed simpler and more natural if 
 he had said, " I will speak to the Emperor of it." He advised me 
 to show myself at Saint-Cloud at the audiences after Mass. 
 
 I did this ; but at the first of these the Emperor only nodded 
 to me, and occupied himself in conversation with David the 
 painter ; at the second, the Emperor said to me, " Well, have 
 you received your lieutenant-general's gratuity ? " " Sir, I have
 
 PROMOTION DELAYED 187 
 
 received neither the gi-atuity, of which your Majesty is so good 
 as to speak, nor ha\ e 1 e\eu Ijeen advised of my promotion." 
 He cast a glance at my uniform, and, after standing still a 
 moment, passed on w itliout replying. 
 
 I cannot now understand how 1 failed to understand my 
 position ; but I did so entirely. The truth was that Bertliier, 
 who, with Soult, had hindered my promotion at A'ienna, had 
 returned from Munich the very evening after my audience al; 
 .Saint-Cloud. My a])pointment had come into his hands, and 
 he had taken upon himself not to send it, waiting for a good 
 opportunity to inform the Emperor, who, at the audience jusfc 
 mentioned, knew nothing about this, Murat and Maret not 
 having spoken of my application to them. He did not again 
 speak to me on the subject, which proves that IJerthier had 
 succeeded in getting my appointment revoked or postponed. 
 In my exasperation I vowed not to serve again as general of 
 brigade. 
 
 Some days afterwards Junot arrived from Piacenza, whither 
 he had been sent as governor. I soon called on him, and was 
 excellently received. Dining with him one day, some one 
 pitied me for my wound. " I admit," said Junot, " that 
 Thiebault has had a rough time of it, yet I rather congratulate 
 him than pity him. I would give something to have had the 
 honour of being wounded at Austerlitz." AVhen we returned 
 to the drawing-room, he came up to me and said, " I say, how 
 is it that you are not general of division ? " I told him of 
 ►Soult's dislike to me and of what had happened since. " It is 
 very extraordinary," he said ; " but Soult has nothing to do with 
 it ; he is not big enough to make the Emperor change his mind. 
 I will do something, and let you know the result." That same 
 evening, being with the Emperor, he took an oi)portunity of 
 saying, " I thought Thiebault was general of division ? " 
 " Well," said the Emperor, " so he is." " F.ut, sir," he rejoined, 
 laughing, " he has not received his appointment." " He shall 
 have it." "That is all I could get out of him," said Junot, 
 when telling me what he had done. " It is not quite what I 
 should have liked," said I ; " but, anyhow, he neither retracted 
 nor denied, so I must have patience." I thanked him for this
 
 188 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 new mark of kindness; but though I saw a good deal more of 
 him, and Mme Junot made acquaintance with my wife, I said 
 no more about my position, which daily became more un- 
 pleasant. 
 
 The peace so loudly vaunted and so dearly earned was sud- 
 denly threatened. One heard talk of differences with Prussia, 
 of the bragging of that Power, finally of war. The Army of 
 Austerlitz was still in existence, and its principal corps were 
 soon on the march. I could not yet think of serving, so that I 
 was outside of all the movement. I bade adieu to Murat and 
 gave him my good wishes, but refrained from taking my leave 
 of Berthier ; nor did I appear at the Emperor's final audience. 
 As for Junot, there was no leave to be taken of him, for he 
 remained as governor-general of Paris. 
 
 Jena overthrew the Prussian monarchy more gloriously and 
 more decisively than the Austrian monarchy had been over- 
 thrown at Ulm. The whole Prussian army was annihilated 
 and the King defeated in person. Thus Jena combined all that 
 could adorn a triumph ; and though it did not lead to peace, 
 like Austerlitz and Wagram, or even to a truce like Marengo, 
 it sanctioned a vast annexation, and was therefore second to 
 Austerlitz only. 
 
 By an imperial decree, dated Wittenberg, October 23, 1806, 
 the Emperor ordered that possession should be taken in liis 
 name of all the Prussian states between the Elbe and the 
 Pthine, of the states belonging to the Duke of Brunswick and to 
 the Prince of Orange, and of the territories of Hanover and 
 Osnabriick ; that these countries should never return into posses- 
 sion of the aforesaid princes ; that they should be divided into 
 five governments ; that I was to be governor of the fourth of 
 these, and so forth. 
 
 The duplicate of this decree, signed "Marshal Alexander 
 Berthier," reached me on October 29, with orders to start at 
 once. There was a preliminary question— Should I accept? 
 At first I was inclined to say that, as I had not received my 
 commission as lieutenant-general, I could not accept any mili- 
 tary office. ]\Iy friends expostulated, however; and when I 
 spoke to Junot, he burst out laughing, and said that merely to
 
 GOVERNOR OF FULDA 189 
 
 hesitate was not folly, but insanity. My wife also wished me 
 to accept, and this, added to a consideration of the advantages of 
 the post, finally decided me. Fulda was the seat of my govern- 
 ment, and I set out for that place a fortnight after receiving 
 my orders. 
 
 [General Thicbault held the government of Fulda until May 17, 1807. 
 This part of his career is less likely to interest English readers than that 
 which followed, and we may pass over both his doings at Fulda and a visit 
 to Tilsit at tlie time when the French and Russian armies were fraternizing 
 there. He saw a dinner given by the Imperial Guard to the Russian and 
 Prussian guards. French and Prussians were drinking freely, but he was 
 struck by the abstemiousness of the Russians. He sent his secretary to ask 
 one of the Russian grenadiers why he declined a glass offered by a French- 
 man. The man answered, "Because, if I drank any more, I should be 
 drunk ; and if I got drunk, my Emperor would say I was a pig, and he 
 w^ould not like that." He also saw Bashkirs, with their mail coats and bows 
 and arrows. On his departure from Fulda the inhabitants presented him 
 with a gold sword, in token of esteem. 
 
 The question of his rank still remained undecided. Bertliier was determined 
 to hinder his promotion, and in July he actually received his appointment to 
 command a brigade in one of the divisions of Davout's army corps. This,, 
 however, he succeeded in evading on the plea of not yet being fit for service, 
 and ultimately obtained permission to return to France, coupled with four 
 months' leave of absence to take the waters at Bareges. Meanwhile, the 
 war in the Peninsula was drawing on,]
 
 190 MEMOIBS OF GENEBAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 Early days of Junot — Out of favour — The expedition to Portugal — Entry 
 into Lisbon — Junot's faults as commander-in-cbief— Arrival of the 
 English — Our defeat at Yimiero — Its causes — Convention of Cintra- — • 
 Evacuation of Portugal. 
 
 DUEING the campaign of AiLsterlitz Paris had caused the 
 Emperor great anxiety. Public credit was never lower ; the 
 funds fell to eight francs ; * and it required all the magical 
 .splendour of Austerlitz, with its sudden and decisive conse- 
 quences, to change the situation and restore to France confidence 
 in the present and hope for the future. Many causes no doubt 
 produced this serious state of things ; but the cause to which 
 Xapoleon attributed it in a large degree was the want of energy 
 in the government of Paris during his absence. On starting for 
 the Jena campaign, therefore, he had wished to leave in the 
 capital a man of as much vigour and activity as loyalty, and no 
 •one could better justify his confidence in these respects than 
 General Junot. Tlie result quite met his expectations, and the 
 general's conduct as governor of Paris, added to his former claims, 
 was bound to call for some recompense that could at once pay 
 for the services he had been renderino; and console him for 
 having taken no part in the most recent feats of arms. No one 
 therefore could find it anything but natural and just if the new 
 enterprise which was obviously about to follow the Prussian 
 and Polish campaign was entrusted to Junot, even to the exclu- 
 .sion of all the marshals and of such men as Pteynier, Saint- Cyr, 
 Suchet, or Vandamme. 
 
 Such was at least the ostensible cause for "ivinsr to Junot the 
 -command of the army corps of the Gironde — a corps whose 
 
 * [Napoleon had appropriated 50,000,000 francs out of the deposits in the 
 National Pank, which not unnaturally shook the confidence of depositors and 
 .lenders.]
 
 STOHTES OF JUXOT 191 
 
 destination ^\•a,s not avowed, Imt was id tlie same time undou1)ted. 
 Everyone knew that it was going to become the Army of Por- 
 tugal and concjuer that kingdom, one of the last and the most 
 important of the customers still possessed by England on the 
 Continent. But the selection was enough complicated by 
 secret motives that it was equally a mistake on the Emperor's 
 part and a way of punishing Junot. A mistake, I say, Ijecause 
 Napoleon knew that Junot had not the qualities required for 
 the part assigned to him; and a punisliment, because the 
 command, given in anger and accepted with deep vexation, was 
 at the same time one of those pieces of favouritism which, by 
 exciting the jealousy of rivals, form the misfortune of those who 
 are the objects of them and the delight of their enemies. 
 These main causes had concurred to place Junot in this con- 
 spicuous yet disastrous position, and this leads me to go back 
 to his early history and make a short digression. 
 
 He served at the siege of Toulon as a gunner in the Cote d'Or 
 Eegiment, and distinguished himself more than once l:)y his 
 courage, originalitv, and cleverness. Of the first many anec- 
 dotes were told, notably the following. He was supping with 
 some comrades near the batteries, in a tent which I think they 
 shared, when a shell from the fort fell in the middle of the tent, 
 and was alDOut to burst in the hole which it had made in the 
 ground. Everyone had risen and was running away when 
 Junot, seizing a glass, exclaimed, " To the memory of those of 
 us who are going to perish ! " How far the wine had any 
 influence on the efiect his words produced, I know not ; but all 
 stopped, took up their glasses, and remained motionless till the 
 shell exploded. One fell dead, and the others tossing off their 
 bumpers cried, " To the memory of a hero ! " 
 
 Colonel Bonaparte of the artillery wished to see the author 
 of this freak. He found a young man, full of cleverness and 
 ardour, who had had an excellent education ; and from that 
 time he never lost sight of him. Some days afterwards he had 
 occasion to order a reconnoissance of consideralde danger ; 
 involving a risk of being taken prisoner, Junot offered to under- 
 take it. " Very well," said Bonapeirte ; " l)ut go in civilian 
 clothes — your uniform would expose you too much." " No,"
 
 ]92 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 said Junot : " I will never shrink from the chance of beins killed 
 by a cannon-ball, but I will not run the risk of being hung as 
 a spy." The duty successfully accomplished, Junot rejoined 
 Bonaparte, who was in one of the advanced batteries, and made 
 his report. " Put it in writing," said the colonel, and Sergeant 
 Junot, using the parapet as his desk, rapidly and cleverly wrote 
 out his report in four pages. As he Avas finishing the first 
 page, a round shot meant for him struck the parapet and covered 
 Amter and writing with earth. " Polite of these English," he 
 said, laughing, " to send me some sand just when I wanted it ! " 
 
 These and many other similar feats earned him a reputation, 
 and the representatives of the people appointed liim sub-lieu- 
 tenant, and ordered Colonel Bonaparte to hand him his commis- 
 sion. On receiving it, without a word, he tore it up and threw 
 down the pieces. " What are you doing ? " said his chief. 
 " What a man ought to do that is not the sort to take his 
 epaulettes from those beggars. When you are a general, give 
 me them if you think I deserve them, and you will see how I 
 shall receive them." Soon afterwards Bonaparte, being promoted 
 major-general, got Junot made an officer and took him as his 
 first aide-de-camp. He ought to have remained always Bona- 
 parte's first aide-de-camp. 
 
 When Bonaparte was dismissed by Aubry, Junot and his 
 father contributed largely to his support, the father even selling 
 some land to meet the wants of his son's young general. Aide- 
 de-camp and general also at various times saved each other's 
 life. In this way a friendship grew up, based on an almost 
 fanatical attachment and a devotion without limits, such as it 
 seemed that nothing would weaken. But a man who has risen 
 from an unpretending station to almost superhuman heights 
 does not care to be reminded of his humble origin; while he 
 who wishes to make the most of any claim which such re- 
 miniscences may give him does best to keep them to himself. 
 Unluckily, the desire of publishing them becomes more acute 
 in proportion to the exaltation of the object of them; and 
 certain indiscretions, maliciously reported or even exaggerated,, 
 gave the ex-aide-de-camp the character of a troublesome person. 
 
 Another point was that some people were jealous of Junot,
 
 CHARACTER OF JUNOT 193 
 
 especially Savary, who was a legacy from Desaix to Bonaparte. 
 There was no comparison Ijetween liim and Junot in respect 
 of knowledge or cleverness, though Savary was not without 
 a])ility, nor yet in respect ul' IVankness and affection ; l>ut 
 Savary was second to no one in loyalty, and lie had moreover 
 a power of self-restraint, a demeanour anil Ijehaviour, beyond 
 his rival's capacity. If he had been governor of Paris, he was 
 not the man to play l)illiards in a puldic room in the Champs 
 Elysees, quan-el with the markers, and try conclusions with 
 them with a billiard-cue and get beaten — an adventure adroitly 
 turned to account with the Emperor. 
 
 Again, Juuot's extravagance was sometliiii'4 t'cai'tul, and he 
 had a perfect fever of ganil)Iing. There was a story of a game of 
 houillotic, w lirif the siiikfs w LTc 100,000 francs and 500 francs a 
 counter. In^g'eneral, Junot had no idea of discretion. His nick- 
 name in the army was " The Hurricani',"" and it was not in his 
 nature to use his advantages with moderation. Without being 
 proud, he was vain ; though good-natured, he could be offensive ; 
 his quTcTTIemper was devoid of tact in liandling people of rank 
 and authority. He was fanatically submissive to Xapoleou, 
 but recognised no other subordination. Savary, Le Marois, 
 ClarkeTwere all annoyed by his arrogance ; the last, indeed, he 
 seemed to take pride in insulting and defying. His intrigue with 
 ]\Ime ]\Iurat, however far it went, made another pmverful enemy 
 to aidTTie party of his rivals, besides annoying Napoleon. 
 
 To these causes he was indebted for his post as commander 
 of the first army corps of the Gironde, then as commander-in- 
 chief of a French and a Spanish army, as governor-general of the 
 kingdom of Portugal and lieutenant to the Emperor, with a 
 ministry, an enormous civil list, a vast luxury, and, it may be 
 said, a court. These enabled him to play a part in history, 
 and to attain, in those dazzling days, to the idea of putting on 
 his own head the crown of the House of Braganza, driven from 
 Europe and exiled to Brazil by him. 
 
 Junot's nomination had just come Nvhen I got back from 
 Tilsit, and I went to offer mv congratulations, since one could 
 not speak of condolence. The more furious he was, the more 
 pains he took to make believe he was glad. " It is a fine 
 
 VOL. II.
 
 194 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 errand," he said, " and liiglily confidential. There is not a 
 marshal who did not want to have it, and there is not a 
 general who could not get a marshal's hdton out of it. Besides, 
 I keep my present position as governor of Paris and first aide- 
 de-camp to the Emperor, and therefore the salaries ; * no one 
 was ever hetter treated. . . . But, hang it," he suddenly 
 exclaimed, " why should not you be my chief of staff ? If it 
 suits you, and your wounds will allow of it, I will ask for you 
 at once." " My wounds," I answered, " allow of anything that 
 suits me ; that is, of any duty which a general of division may 
 perform. The duties of chief of staff are not incompatible 
 with that rank, and nothing would suit me better. So you 
 may count on me, though my wounds are not really closed." 
 
 Next day a servant came to tell me to call on him. As 
 soon as he saw me he said, " I have a nasty bit of news for 
 you. Berthier objects to you as my chief of staff on the 
 ground that if you do not need the Bareges waters you have 
 deceived Davout and him, and the Emperor himself." " I 
 have deceived nobody," I said. " No one can force me to serve 
 in my present state, biit also no one can set limits to what 
 I may do in my eagerness to serve under you. These are dis- 
 tinctions which it pleases ill-nature not to make. In short, must 
 I give up going with you ? " " Make another attempt, and 
 make it at once, so as to prevent anyone else from being 
 selected. To this end, you should call on the Prince of 
 Neuchatel when he returns from Saint-Cloud an hour hence." 
 
 I had hardly reached the prince's apartments when he 
 alighted from his carriage, and, as I was in his path, he was 
 forced to receive me. When I urged him to agree to General 
 Junot's request, he said, " Your place is at Bareges or at 
 Tilsit." "My place," I returned, "is wherever I can devote 
 myself to the Emperor's service." This answer was somewhat 
 unseemly ; it struck me in that light, and, in the dilemma 
 between keeping up the kind of vehemence indicated by it or 
 leaving myself in a worse position than before, I added, 
 
 * The post of first aide-de-camp was presently abolished, and the emolu- 
 ments with it; and he was superseded as governor of Paris when he was 
 made governor-general of Portugal.
 
 INTERVIEW WITH BERTJIIEIi 105 
 
 "Prince, your persistent refusal and your severity make one 
 thing clear to me : you mean to punish me for not having died 
 of the wounds that I got at Austerlitz." 
 
 Berthier was not an ill-natured man; he was even good- 
 natured. The ill-temper with which he pursued me was a 
 special and personal matter, not the result of habitual pre- 
 disposition ; and when one had got him alone, he was accessible 
 to a multitude of honourable feelings. My last words, with 
 the odious interpretation I seemed to see implied in his, had 
 unexpectedly called up the annoyances which were the only 
 reward I had received for the lilood I had shed, while they were 
 corroborated by the sight of my arm still in a .sling. He was 
 fairly unseated, and, if he only postponed for six years his wish 
 to make me serve under Davout, the terror of all generals, at 
 any rate, he abandoned the idea of making me command a 
 brigade. Nor could he resist the first impulse which made 
 him take me by the left arm, with the exclamation which also 
 he could not repress, " How can you say such a thing to me ? " 
 To which I replied, "It is more painful to think and say it 
 than to hear it." " Well, well," he rejoined instantly, " it will 
 be all right ; you shall go with Junot." And on August 28 I 
 received my orders to go to Eayonne, as chief of the staff to 
 the " corps of observation in the Gironde." 
 
 On the day before we left Bayonne to march into Spain 
 Junot took me aside and said, "We are going on an errand 
 which is bound to offer advantages, even pecuniary, to the 
 generals who have taken a share in it. You shall not be 
 forgotten, and the campaign shall be worth 300,000 francs to 
 you. This I promise; and, in return, I ask your word of 
 honour not to have anything to do with what is called 
 'business,' or at least to inform me at once, if anyone makes 
 any proposal of the kind to you." "]\Iany thanks, sir," I 
 replied, " for the gratuity you are good enough to allow me to 
 accept. I give you my word of honour as you ask ; and it 
 cost me all the less to do so, that dirty jobs of that kind are 
 neither in my way nor to my taste." 
 
 A note in my Narrative of the Ex'pcditioii to Portugal * 
 * [Readers of Napier will be familiar with this work.] 
 
 2
 
 196 MEMOinS OF GENERAL TEIEBAVLT 
 
 (Paris, 1817) speaks of the enthusiasm with which our troops 
 were received in Spain, especially in Biscay. It proved, no 
 doubt, that the sound of our fame had reached even the villages 
 of Spain, but still more the degree of the Spaniards' dis- 
 content with their government. If our march seemed like a 
 holiday for them, it was a triumph for us. What a contrast 
 was there between their present disposition and the deadly 
 hatred for us which before a year was out animated that same 
 population ! What a disgrace to think that that terrible change 
 was the due meed of a score of treacheries ! And what a 
 terrible lesson in the fact that Spain, at that time without 
 administration, without strength, so to say, playing no political 
 or military part in Europe, became one of the most potent 
 factors in the destruction of that stupendous man who, in his 
 superb disdain for the Spaniards, had thought that he could 
 with impunity bubble them out of their fleet, their army, their 
 capital, their fortresses, and their king ! 
 
 Of our march into Portugal, by way of Vitoria and Salamanca, 
 until we reached Abrantes, I need add nothing to what I have 
 said in my Narrative. Our journey across the Beira from 
 Alcantara onwards was terrible ; General Caraffa's Spanish 
 division lost 1700 or 1800 men from hunger or fatigue, drowning 
 in torrents or falling down precipices. After this, Abrantes 
 seemed to us like a haven of refuge. I need not again relate the 
 details of our arrival, or the exhaustion of our men, who had 
 been marching night and day through inaccessible gorges, living 
 on acorns and honey. I may, however, jot down a few personal 
 reminiscences which would have no place in a military work. 
 
 The country through which we had just been passing was 
 comparable only to a chaos, and the w^eather that we had had 
 on the journey was of the kind to complete the picture. Not 
 only our vehicles but our led liorses had been unable to follow 
 us, so that each was reduced to the tatters which he had on his 
 back and to a single horse, which V)y the time w^e reached 
 Abrantes could not carry him. I had endeavoured to set the 
 example of endurance under hunger, rain, precipices, and sleep- 
 lessness, as well as to devote myself to the care of the sick and 
 the weak. I may even say that in that frightful labyrinth I
 
 now TO GET HOUSES 197 
 
 preserved a laural courage which occasionally dcserled General 
 Junot. At Sobreira-Fonnosa, for exami)le, not having strength 
 to reacli the hovel intended for him, he flung himself into the 
 one marked as my quarters, got upstairs only with us half- 
 carrying him, and on reaching the room in which the staircase 
 terminated flung himself on a pallet and there passed the rest of 
 a terrible night. INIeanwhile, General Delaborde and 1, in spite 
 of our exhaustion, went to work to have the big drum beaten 
 and tires lighted, and set men shouting to collect the poor fellows 
 who had gone astray in the mountains. After such sufferings 
 endured in common, I thought that anything which could 
 soften the remembrance of them ought also to be in common. 
 So when on the morrow of our arrival at Abrantes I learnt that 
 the commander-in-chief had requisitioned all the available 
 saddle-horses, and had given one to each of his aides-de-camp, 
 after reserving three for himself, I felt sure that, as I was totally 
 unmounted, I could not have been overlooked in the distribution, 
 nor yet the few^ staff-officers who had followed me, and of w^hose 
 labour I had not been chary. So I w^ent to the commander-in- 
 chief and said, " Xo doubt I have to thank you for having 
 thought of my aides-de-camp and me in the distrilmtion of 
 horses you have just made." " Xo," he said ; " you are big 
 enough to look after yourself." " Up to now," 1 returned, 
 amazed at the answer, " I have had other things than myself 
 to think of. Besides, as all the horses have been requisitioned 
 by you, 1 do not exactly know where I could have got any." 
 " Get them where you like," he said ; " for my part, I have not 
 so much as a dog to give you." I left him, " riled " to the last 
 degree, but taking note of the licence granted and promising to 
 avail myself of it. Eeaching my ([uarters, I sent for Captain 
 Vidal de Valabreque, and, upon telling him how we were looked 
 after, I asked if he was the man to undertake an errand, not 
 exactly dangerous, but possibly involving some risk. As he 
 did not hang back, I told him to cross the Zezere with twentv- 
 five troopers, go to Santarem, requisition the fifteen handsomest 
 horses to be found there, put them together in a stable, and set 
 a sentry over them as for my sole and only disposal. All this 
 was carried out, but as I got near Santarem the commander-in-
 
 198 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 cliief, mounted as well as his aides-de-camp on nice fresh horses, 
 cantered past me and got there an hour before me. I had not 
 reached the tirst houses of the town when I saw Yidal hurrying 
 towards me. The first words he flung at me were, " General, I 
 am done for ! " He complained that the commander-in-chief, 
 having heard of tlie ren[uisition of horses made by my orders, 
 had been furious with him, and had sent him as governor to the 
 fortress of Castello Branco, with orders to go alone. " And 
 v/hen I observed," said poor Vidal, " that going alone meant ten 
 chances to one of being murdered, he sent word that if I was 
 not off in an hour he would have me shot." I told Vidal to 
 wait for me at my lodgings and went to the general's. He was 
 at table with his staff, and asked me to join them. I declined. 
 He did not say a word about Vidal, but asked me several 
 questions to which I replied in the most laconic fashion. It 
 was clear that I had come for a serious explanation, and that 
 there was no getting out of it. After a silence, and when the 
 meal was over, I asked him for a few minutes' conversation. As 
 soon as the door of the room was shut he said in an abrupt 
 tone, " You want to speak to me about Vidal ? " " Certainly." 
 " I have given him his orders." " Impossible to carry out — 
 even if he were to blame." " Do you think I shall let him off 
 for having made a requisition ? " " There has been no requisition 
 made here but by my written orders, that is, by me." " No officer 
 has any right to execute such orders unless countersigned by 
 me." " In all service matters my signature is yours ; when it 
 ceases to be, I shall no longer be your chief of staff. Besides," I 
 continued, " when in spite of my pressing need you left me 
 horseless at Abrantes, when you told me to get horses where I 
 liked, when my officers and I have been riding for the last two 
 days on wretched crocks, changed at every halting-place, which 
 make us the laughing-stock of the troops, and would make it 
 impossible for us to follow you if you wanted us, have not you 
 given us a right to do what in practice you have rendered 
 inevitable ? " " All right," he replied — " do not let us say any 
 more about it ; do what you like with the horses." 
 
 I hastened to put Vidal out of his perplexity, and he at once 
 took me to the stable where the ol)jects of all this fuss were.
 
 now WE ENTERED LISBON 199 
 
 He liad selected a splendid lot. The finest was at once taken 
 to the commander-in-chief, who accepted it without a word. 
 I took three ; two I gave to the paymaster ; Vidal had two, and 
 the two other staff-officers present, one each ; the other five 
 I restored to their owners. 
 
 The state we were in when we entered Lisbon is hardly 
 credible. Our clothing had lost all shape and colour ; I had not 
 had a change of linen since Abrantes ; my feet were coming 
 through my boots ; and in this guise I took possession of one of 
 the handsomest suites of rooms in the capital. My host, 
 M. Eatton, a Burgundian by birth and one of the wealthiest 
 merchants in Portugal, offered me linen ; new boots were found 
 for me ; I was shaved and cleaned up, and by the end of half 
 an hour, no longer an object of horror to myself and others, I 
 w'as taken in one of M. Eatton's carriages to the commander-in- 
 chief, with whom I worked for seven houi'S on end by the 
 clock. As everyone knows, Juuot took possession of Lisbon, 
 of the army that was there, and of the entire kingdom, without 
 having at hand a single trooper, a single gun, or a cartridge that 
 would burn; with nothing, indeed, save the 1500 grenadiers 
 remaining from the four liattalions of his advance-guard. 
 Fagged out, unwashed, ghastly objects, these grenadiers had no 
 longer strength to march even to the sound of the drum, and 
 yet the commander-in-chief must needs, by way of a demon- 
 stration, walk the poor wearied %vretches all over the town, in 
 pouring rain, for six hours. The rest of the army dropped in at 
 intervals of one or two days in still worse condition, some 
 even falling down dead at the gates. 
 
 Things were gradually got into order, and, as the soldier's lot 
 is, the most luxurious comfort succeeded the most cruel hard- 
 .sliips. M. Eatton and his family treated me with extreme 
 kindness, and after our departure from Lisbon had the honesty, 
 in spite of extreme pressm'e put upon them, to refuse to speak 
 any evil of me. 
 
 General Junot was a man of whims, and you needed to be 
 thoroughly used to his sudden fantastic caprices not to look 
 surprised sometimes. " Did you ever see any of my pistol- 
 shooting ? " he burst out one morning. " No, sir." " Well, you
 
 200 MEMOIBS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 shall." And, indeed, he gave me a very good exhibition of the 
 art. Another day, after dinner, he said in the most imperious 
 tone, " Follow me." We got into a carriage and went down to 
 the harbour. A boat with flag flying was in readiness, and took 
 us off to a handsome Portuguese 50-gun frigate, which had just 
 been thoroughly refitted and had her crew on board. No sooner 
 were we there than Junot had the anchor got up and the sails 
 set, and as there was a pretty breeze we were soon under way. 
 After a cjuarter of an hour of evolutions performed to his order, 
 he told the captain to begin firing both broadsides, and for 
 another quarter of an hour he kept them firing, and made them 
 alter their course back, and so on, in the midst of all the smoke 
 and uproar. The row and the evolutions were fit for a lunatic 
 asylum. We then got into the carriage again and went to the 
 opera. 
 
 Another time. Admiral Siniavin, in command of a Eussian 
 fleet of nine ships of the line in the Tagus, gave a great dinner 
 to the commander-in-chief. Knowing his guest's tastes, he gave 
 orders that when the health of the two emperors was drunk the 
 flagship and the other eight, mostly 80-gun ships, should fire a 
 salute. All the bottles on the table were upset ; the pictures 
 hanging on the cabin bulkheads were shaken from their hooks 
 and fell on the deck ; our vessel cracked all over. Such an 
 uproar was never heard out of the infernal regions. 
 
 Junot's whims were, however, not always so inoffensive. When 
 I found him in one of his surly tempers, it needed all my atten- 
 tion to keep him in check. After one groundless quari'el I had 
 intended to leave the army and go away unbidden. General 
 Loison told him of it, and from that time, though I could not 
 avoid some rough treatment, he never flew out with me as he 
 did with almost everyone. 
 
 Towards the end of Fel^ruary, 1808, I had Ijeen considering 
 that, in the event of a general insurrection and the descent of an 
 English army, we should not have a single place in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Lisbon where we should be in a position to resist 
 superior forces and await either succour or the end of the crisis. 
 I therefore deemed it indispensable to choose a place for general 
 concentration, to fortify and arm it, and to make a store of pro-
 
 FATAL INDECISION 201 
 
 visions for a year ; and I drew up a proposal developin;,^ tliis 
 idea. Eight or ten days after, liaving, as my custom was, left 
 this on the general's desk, I received orders to have the neigh- 
 bourhood of Lisljon explored witliiu a radius of fifteen or twenty 
 miles, with the object I had suggested. I confided the duty to 
 Lieut. Vallier, an officer on the staff, formerly of the engineers, 
 and his report indicated the peninsula of Setubal as fully 
 the best place. It was roomy and liealthy, and, moreover, 
 allowed of our holding the fort of Bugia, and consequently 
 defending the entrance to the Tagus. On the landward side 
 notliing was needed but an entrenched camp. All the warlike 
 stores in the arsenal at Lisbon would have been evacuated on 
 this point, while for provisions the supplies from the Alemtejo 
 would be enough and to spare. All this was undeniable, and 
 was recognised to be so, and it only remained to carry it out. 
 Unluckily, this required a sequence of ideas instead of wliims, a 
 firm will in place of vehemence, a continuous effort in place of 
 hesitation and indolence ; and for that very reason it was im- 
 possible. At first, therefore, the plan was ordered and urged 
 forward — then it was postponed, then forgotten ; and, when the 
 regrets came for the time lost, it was too late to retrieve it. Yet 
 if Setubal had been thus occupied, Lisbon held, Elvas retained, 
 the Emperor would not have taken four months from the date 
 of our evacuation to reach us or raise our blockade, even sup- 
 posing we had still lost the battle of Yimiero, as we never ought 
 to have done. 
 
 For seven months Portugal enjoyed undisturbed peace. Com- 
 merce began to retrieve its losses. Private fortunes li;ul not 
 been touched ; titles, offices, functions, had been maintained ; 
 and the best harvest in the memory of man dispelled all fear of 
 impoverishment or famine. Portugal then seemed to be waiting 
 till its destiny should be settled ; but our want of faith, let me 
 say our treachery, our want of tact, our insolence, revolted 
 Spain, a country naturally as well disposed toward us as any in 
 the world ; while the eternally disgraceful conduct of Dupont 
 and A^edel at Baylen and Andujar put the finishing touch to the 
 annihilation of our authority in the Peninsula. "When the news 
 came that a French army had passed under the yoke to the
 
 202 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 Castilians, the 12,000 or 15,000 Spanish troox^s forming part of 
 the Army of Portugal mutinied, and all whom we could not at 
 once arrest and disarm went Lack into Spain. The Portuguese 
 army, unhappily, followed this example ; insurrection broke out 
 in Oporto, while in the south an English fleet blockaded the 
 Tagus. Finally, an English army, landing at the mouth of the 
 ISIondego, opened a campaign against us, and, serving as a 
 rallying-point to the popular rising, the numbers of which it 
 increased tenfold, it soon left us no alternative save total de- 
 struction or the misfortune of a treaty, which, though its terms 
 were most honoui-able to us, none the less marked a new reverse 
 to our arms, and was in its results nothing less than a disaster. 
 
 Though I have told the story elsewhere, I ought to say 
 something about the military operations which preceded our 
 evacuation, and that, even though it is an effort to do so, I 
 have painful memories to set down regarding General Junot in 
 his capacity as a soldier. Xor shall I really be inconsistent 
 with what I have said in my Narrative respecting that 
 campaign ; for, though what I then said may have put certain 
 people off the scent, it can have misled no military man capable 
 of judging. Pteaders, doubtless, will not find in it the full parti- 
 culars which follow ; but it none the less contains all the facts 
 necessary to support them, that is, a statement of all the blunders 
 made. It will even suggest the significant generalization that 
 all the actions in which the commander-in-chief took no part 
 were creditable in the highest degree, while the battle of 
 Vimiero, where he commanded in person, was, by his fault, one 
 of the most deplorable military events that our annals can 
 recall. Why should I have acted so cii'cumspectly in 1817 ? 
 No doubt I was led to it by my feelings of affection and loyalty 
 towards General Junot, — feelings which account for the pain it 
 gives me to permit myself these revelations, even to-day, when 
 the truth can no longer do him any wrong. Then his death 
 was recent ; I was writing under the Kestoration, and if I had 
 not taken pains, without distorting facts, to cast a veil over all 
 that might lower the part played by a commander-in-chief who 
 under the Empire took his place in history, I should have 
 handed him over not only to the impertinences of the party who
 
 ENGLAND TAKES A HAND 203 
 
 liud '■J4CI11C ulji'uml," but to ihc scoru oi llio Eiiiflish, the allies 
 at tliat time, not of France, but of the Bourbons, who were 
 reigning against the will of France. Now that I am free of all 
 these considerations, and am writing more than twenty years 
 after the deplorable end of a general who, especially as a general, 
 was a kind of enigma,* I can concede nothing further, even to 
 reticence. Besides, there is all the difference in the world 
 between a narrative which was only a copy of my reports to 
 the Minister for War, and memoirs in wliich one is placing 
 oneself at the bar of posterity. 
 
 Before the insurrection in Spain and the revolt in Portugal, 
 the commander-in-chief had displayed the greatest energy. The 
 generals hud been able to maintain their defensive, and then to 
 take the offensive at almost all points with advantage, when 
 200 English vessels, of which we had had information for some 
 time, landed troops, artillery, and stores at Figueira, near the 
 mouth of the JMondego. This convoy was to be followed by 
 others yet larger. No doubt to save Portugal not only good 
 conduct and valour were needed, but genius ; and the loss of 
 it, which now seemed almost certain, was to be imputed in the 
 first place to Junot, but in the second to Napoleon. Junot was 
 to blame for not having, as soon as he reached Lisbon, given 
 effect to the proposal of making an entrenched camp from 
 (^asillas to Setul)al, and then collecting provisions for a year. 
 Tliis would have given time for him to be succoured, and would 
 have caused him to be so ; and it would have prevented the 
 English army from advancing into Spain. As for Xapoleon, the 
 moment he learnt that an English army of from 25,000 to 
 30,000 men was about to be sent to Portugal, he should have 
 got together all the troops that he had at Madrid and in the 
 west of Spain and sent them to Alcantara, so as to keep his 
 hold on both banks of the Tagus. We should have had news of 
 this movement by way of Portalegre, with which town we were 
 always in communication, and could liave reinforced the army, 
 after deducting our sick and wounded, with 24,000 men, 
 including 1200 cavalry, and with a formidable artillery; and in 
 
 * [" Of greater reputation than he could sup])oit'' . . . "at one moment 
 a great man ; at the next, below mediocrity." — Napier.]
 
 204 MEMOIIiS OF QENEBAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 this Avay wc should have rcmiiiiu'd masters of Central Spain, and 
 been in a position to re-enter Madrid and even keep possession 
 of Elvas. 
 
 As it ^vas, we were abandoned, and owed it only to a mere 
 chance that we were not at the most critical moment weakened 
 to the extent of 4,000 men, who by the Emperor's orders had 
 left Lisbon for Cadiz. Too weak to detach a strong body in 
 presence of the English army, fanatically supported by all the 
 forces of Portugal ; unable to remain at lisbon ; having no 
 supports or resources anywhere else ; encumbered by a number 
 of Erenchmen belonging to the administration, and by women — 
 we needed, if we were to escape the necessity of evacuating 
 Portugal, a colossal and decisive success, such as we could not 
 hope for. But there is a considerable difference between taking 
 your chance of a success and missing your chance through 
 negligence. 
 
 Elanked on one side by its fleet,* on the other by a Portuguese 
 army and levies, the English army advanced on Lisbon. Our 
 troops were not concentrated. Loison's division was putting 
 down the insurrection in the Alemtejo, and time had to be given 
 him to rejoin the army. To that end the enemy's march had to 
 be delayed, and at the same time the country on which we 
 might have to light, to be reconnoitred. This duty had been 
 entrusted to General Delaborde, who discharged it most honour- 
 ably. ]\Ieeting the enemy's six columns, 18,000 strong, he beat 
 them at Eorifa by tlie ability of his manteuvres and his choice 
 of positions, though he had only 1000 men to oppose to them.f 
 By favour of this success, he was able to fall back on Mon- 
 tachique, take up a strong position there, and cover Lisbon, 
 while Loison's division made every effort to rejoin him by 
 marches as laborious as might be expected in Portugal in the 
 
 * [Of transports, that is ; and II.M.S. Alfred (74). A fleet could not have 
 acted on that coast.] 
 
 t [Once for all it may be noted here that readers will do well to check 
 French statements of numbers in the Peninsula by Napier, who is never 
 unduly partial to his own side ; also that lattre is not strictly equivalent 
 apparently to our " beat." Delaborde covered himself with credit at Rorica ; 
 but his next halt was ?,0 miles to the rear.]
 
 BEFOUE VIMIERO 205 
 
 month of August. At last that division was aljle to join Junot's 
 troops, and marched with them upon Torres A'edras, where they 
 took up position and waited for ])elabor(le, who had been called 
 back from Montachique. Thus our entire force was concentrated. 
 It amounted to 9,200 men, with wlioni we had to face 16,000 of 
 the enemy, who were in position Ijetween Torres Vedras and 
 the sea, at Lourinham and A'imiero. IVIy Narrative puts the 
 number of the army that opposed us at Yimiero at 18,000, but 
 I was wrong ; not that, as the Emperor thought some time 
 later, that army consisted of 13,000 English and 6,000 Portuguese 
 — there were no Portuguese there — but the Englisli had lost 2,000 
 at llorifa. Well, instead of meeting them with 9,200 men, we 
 might have opposed 13,500, for Loison had left 1,000 of the 
 Hanoverian legion at Santarem ; 2,000 had remained on the left 
 bank of the Tagus ; and 1300 could have been borrowed for 
 the day of battle from the garrison of Lisbon and from the ships. 
 If the English troops, especially their officers, w^ere not in 1808 
 M'orth so much as they afterwards were — as, indeed, the combat 
 of liorifa had brilliantly shown — this was of course no excuse 
 for not equalising the forces when the means of doing so were 
 at hand ; but it was still less a reason for not compensating for 
 such a mistake, as far as might be, by acting with calculation 
 and prudence. There should have been a personal verification 
 of the reconnoissances entrusted to the engineer officers, and 
 operations so far as possible should have been undertaken to get 
 a thorough knowledge of the ground, of the way in which the 
 enemy's forces were distributed, and of the position of his guns. 
 Yet the commander-in-chief ordered an immediate attack 
 without having seen anything for himself, or knowing upon 
 what and against whom he was marching. 
 
 Better to understand how heart-breaking such a course of 
 action was, it should be known that the English rreneral's 
 right, and to some extent his right rear, rested on the sea; 
 that his centre, in front of which a small stream flowed, was 
 established on an isolated mamelon, commandin^r all the 
 approaches, and itself commanded in rear and on the flanks by 
 heights showing a double range of steep escarpments. These 
 were garnished y\\\\x two lines of troops and a double row of
 
 206 MEMOIRS OF GENEBAL THIEBAULT 
 
 batteries of heavy calibre, forming four lines of lire inde- 
 pendently of the mamelon. His left, which, owing to the 
 slope of the ground, was, as it were, buried, from the very fact 
 that the right was advanced some distance beyond the centre, 
 flanked it ; it rested on nothincf did not even reach the 
 slope at the bottom of which Lourinham stands, and was only 
 covered in front by a ravine ending at that slope. Such was 
 the position in which we found the English army, when at 
 A.M. we had cleared the defile of Torres A^edras. That 
 position, about which the commander-in-chief disdained to 
 trouble himself, ought to have been as fatal for the enemy if 
 we did not attack it in front as for us if we did ; and its 
 occupation might turn out to have been at once senseless and 
 disastrous for the English. Senseless, I say, because no one 
 had any right to suppose that he could meet a general capable 
 of being taken in by it, and disastrous because, if instead of 
 running our heads against it we liad turned it, it would, as the 
 sequel will show, have been only a mousetrap. 
 
 The reasons in favour of the system of divisions, and the 
 advantage of keeping the troops of one division together, are 
 well known, especially the importance of making them fight 
 in company, and all under the immediate orders of their own 
 chief. Now, quite apart from the craze which made him 
 march upon the centre of the enemy's position such as I have 
 just described it, Junot on approaching that position ordered 
 General Delaborde to continue his direct movement with his 
 second brigade, while Brenier was to make an independent turning 
 movement round the English left — a disposition which was all 
 the cruder that it required Brenier to go three times as far 
 as was necessary, thus in broad daylight giving the English 
 thrice as much time in which to get ready for him. In 
 this way he was outside of the battle properly so called, while 
 Delaborde, when he arrived within musket-range, found himself 
 on ground upon which it was, so to say, impossible to debouch, 
 where the fire of all the batteries converged, and from which 
 with a handful of people he had to carry positions before which 
 10,000 men would have come to grief. 
 
 As Delaborde was losing heavily without anything to show
 
 JUNOrS BLUNDERS 207 
 
 for it, Juuot suddenly ordered Loisou to support him with his 
 left brigade, while the right brigade was to follow up Brenier's 
 movement. Tii this way another brigade was rendered useless 
 on our right, while on our left another brigade was devoted 
 to useless destruction. Yet even now, if Loison had marched 
 with his right brigade, we should at least have had a general 
 of division, that is, a centre of command at each centre of opera- 
 tions ; while the result of sending him to the ground occupied 
 l)y Delaborde was that on one side we had, with two brigades, 
 two generals of division not likely to agi'ee well, while on the 
 other, with an equal number of troops, we had two generals of 
 brigade who never could agree. 
 
 The arrival of Loison with his reinforcement only caused a 
 most gratuitous addition to our losses. "To get the thing 
 over," as the commander-in-chief said, though in a different 
 sense from that in which he used the phrase, he sent forward 
 the first of the two grenadier regiments forming the reserve, 
 and that unlucky regiment was exterminated before it had 
 fully deployed. The second, under Kellermann in person, 
 followed, and was no less badly mauled. Thus, three of the 
 best divisional generals that France possessed, with six regi- 
 ments, were all together in a place where none of them and 
 not a single man ought to have been ; but, as our position 
 l^ecame every minute more disastrous, the commander-in-chief, 
 followed by me, went himself to this ill-starred ground. The 
 result was that, while two out of our five brigades were " in 
 the air," with no common understanding or action, and indeed 
 were soon recalled, nearly the whole English army being free 
 to act against them, on our left, our three remaining brigades, 
 cut up by artillery fire, were led, besides their brigadiers, 
 by three generals of division, a chief of the staft', and a 
 commander-in-chief, and that in a situation where Xapoleon 
 himself could have done no more than a corporal, — that is, when 
 there was no choice save to die or to retreat. A volume would 
 not hold all that could be said on the subject, and, indeed, the 
 stream did not run dry. Loison and Solignac were foaming at 
 the mouth ; Kellermann, who was entrusted with negotiating 
 after that disastrous scuffle, thought only of bringing them to
 
 208 MEMOIRS OF GENEBAL THIEDAULT 
 
 a successful issue, so convinced was he that under similar 
 leadership we should have no hope save in them. Delaborde 
 was heart-broken, and I was no less so. How often has that 
 worthy general and consummate soldier talked over that 
 deplorable day with me to try and find some explanation 
 of it ! 
 
 The fact is that Junot was a clever man, indeed very 
 clever ; he was a man of education and, when he really applied 
 his reasoning power, a man of sense, and even of great judgement 
 and sagacity. He was now thirty-seven years old, and had 
 had eighteen years' service ; for fourteen years he had been 
 aide-de-camp to the greatest general of modern times, one of 
 those extraordinary men whose every action, every word, was 
 a lesson and an illuminating flash. He had understood that 
 man's battles and campaigns ; he used to repeat his precepts, 
 and, so far as concerned preliminaries, no pupil ever copied 
 his master better. Thus, when the regiments were about to 
 advance, he used to show himself in their front and raise 
 them to the highest pitch of enthusiasm by harangues no less 
 striking than apposite. Eeady to give a hundred lives, if he had 
 them, for victory, he was when kindled witli excitement really 
 splendid ; and thus till he issued his final order — I mean till 
 he split Delaborde's division into two — we were as hopeful as 
 from that moment we were dejected. Some explanation of 
 this amazing action was needed; and some thought that 
 during the breakfast on the grass of which we had just been 
 Xjartaking, at wliich the general had drunk various wines and 
 liqueurs, he had taken too mucli, or, at any rate, too much con- 
 sidering the heat of the day, if not in actual quantity. Others 
 maintained that the sight of the enemy or the smell of powder 
 excited him till he lost the use of his faculties. For my own 
 part, ever since recalling these incidents two years later at the 
 time of the affair at Astorga, where he sent a storming-party to 
 destruction, I have been unable to avoid the thought that the 
 reasons alleged — fumes of wine or dizziness from powder- 
 smoke — must have been complicated by the beginnings of 
 mental derangement. Some such explanation is needed to 
 account for what would otherwise be incredible, namely, that
 
 CAUSES OF OUR DEFEAT 209 
 
 no sooner was the battle over than Junot "ot into a cama^'o 
 with Mrae Foy, whose husband li:ul recently been wounded, 
 and in this way went right through our whole column ; conduct 
 which would have been ollensive after a victory, and after a 
 disaster could not but cause indignation. 
 
 Headlong and fiery, Junot had not the perseverance nor 
 the self-control without which mere fire is impotent. Blindly 
 courageous as a soldier, he had no comprehensive view, no 
 foresight, no inspiration. In any kind of struggle against an 
 enemy, the only thing he understood was the shock ; of tactics, 
 which alone can lead up to and secure a victory, he had no notion. 
 What he omitted to do at the beginning through over-eagerness 
 he failed to do at the end through discouragement. Thus in the 
 battle of Vimiero, as soon as retreat became necessary, Junot dis- 
 appeared without giving any orders to anyone ; while Margaron, 
 yielding to the inspiration of his own courage, continued to show 
 a bold face, and prevent the English from pursuing ; Delaborde, 
 acting on his own initiative, rallied our left and brought it 
 out of action ; and I of my own accord hastened to the riglit, 
 which had lost both its generals, and helped it to effect its 
 retreat. A thousand men like Junot could have marched 
 through hell ; but a thousand like him could not have planned, 
 directed, and won a battle. 
 
 Yet nothing could have been clearer than our right course at 
 Vimiero. Coming in touch with the enemy at 9 a.m., we ought 
 to have spent the remainder of the day in letting the troops rest 
 after their night march, allowing the masses of men who had 
 dropped to the rear to come up and complete the strength of 
 their corps, and learning both the position of the enemy and the 
 distribution of his troops. This would have shown that a frontal 
 attack was ridiculous ; but we should have done everything to 
 cause the belief that such an attack had been determined on, bv 
 throwing up batteries, covering the ground with skirmishers, 
 making a number of feigned reconnoissances leading to as mauv 
 skirmishes, showing the heads of our columns. The.se demon- 
 strations should have occupied the 21st; and at night, leaviuf^ 
 the reserve under Kellermann to look like an advance-Tuard 
 we should have pushed Delaborde's and Loison's divisions, plus 
 
 VOL. II. p
 
 210 MEMOIBS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 600 cavalry under Margaron, and 15 guns, between Lourinbam 
 and tbe enemy's left. Before day we sbould bave been in force 
 on tbe plateau on wbicb tbe Euglisb camp leaned, and tbeir 
 general, liaving lost all bis advantage of position, would bave 
 found bimself at grips witban army wbicb was turning bis flank. 
 In tbat position, wbat could be bave done ? "Would be bave 
 faced us \\itb only a portion of bis force, and, as some bave 
 suggested, bave marcbed witb tbe rest to Mafra, so as to reacli 
 Lisbon 1 )efore us ? In tbat case, tbe body opposing us would 
 bave been eaten up ; our reserve, witb wbicb our communica- 
 tions would bave remained open, would bave taken in flank tbe 
 column on its way to Mafra. We sbould bave flung ourselves 
 on tbeir track ; and as our men marcb better tban tbe Englisb, 
 and moreover were better fed and could stand tbe beat better, 
 we sbould bave eaten up tbat Englisb army, beginning witb tbe 
 tail. Tbe marcb to Lisljon would bave been disastrous, and 
 tbe well-known prudence of Englisb generals rendered it 
 improbable. 
 
 Tbe only course left to tbem would bave been band-to-band 
 resistance ; but we sbould bave arrived in force on a point 
 wbere we could bave found but few troops ; tbese would bave 
 been overtbrown at tbe first onset. To cbeck us or prevent us 
 from cutting off tbe retreat of tbe entire army, it would bave 
 been necessary to bring up fresb troops : but tbe Englisb army 
 being drawn up in a good many lines, several corps of it would 
 bave l)een a couple of miles away, and would bave taken nearly 
 two bours to arrive, out of breatb, in small groups. Tbe fate of 
 troops employed in tbese successive attacks is well known : tbe 
 part wbicb met us first would liave been stopped by us, and 
 followed and barassed by our reserve ; and tbey could bave 
 brought only a few guns into action, for most of tbeir pieces were 
 too lieavy for easy manoeuvring on tbe field. Even tbougb we 
 bad no more tban 9,200 men, tbe Englisb army was bound to 
 bave been l^eaten, if not destroyed, and tbe unboped-for success 
 of wbicb I spoke, realised : Portugal would bave been left to 
 herself, tbe insurrection ended, and all ber resources thrown 
 into our bands. And this result would bave been attained if 
 Junot bad been as good at manoeuvring in presence of tbe enemy
 
 EVACUATION 211 
 
 as at a distance from liiin ; while, if we had acted with 4,000 
 more men, the destinies of the world had been changed. General 
 Junot at Vimiero was the arbiter of the most momentous issues ; 
 and this, independently of the interest attaching to the accurate 
 relation of so important an operation of war, explains the long 
 digression into which I have been drawn. 
 
 It only remained for us to evacuate Portugal. The bases of a 
 convention were arranged on the 23rd, for, in spite of their 
 important success, the English, not knowing when the expected 
 reinforcements might reach them, did not feel secure of their 
 position ; and by the preliminaries we were granted the honours 
 of war. The definitive treaty was signed on the 30th. General 
 Beresford, a man of polished manners, but very firm character, 
 showed great obstinacy in the final discussions before the sig- 
 nature.* However, he showed no more energy and less talent 
 than General Junot, who was all the more superb because it 
 required not a general but a man to save what could be saved 
 in the disastrous circumstances. Thus, thanks to his energy and 
 to some brilliant inspirations, by the force of his reasoning no 
 less than by the vigoiu' of his character, he obtained concessions 
 from the English negotiators which imtated the Portuguese to 
 the last degree. Our situation at Lisbon during the final 
 moments preceding our departure was most alarming. The 
 word was passed of " Death to the French," but I will not recur 
 to those unhappy days. 
 
 Upon the ratification of the treaty, hostages were given on 
 both sides. Colonel Duukin,t now Lord Eussell, member of 
 
 * [General Thiebault's memory, of which he often complains, .seems to 
 have played him false here ; for Beresford did not appear on the scene till 
 September 5, when he came to act as commissioner for executing the 
 Convention.] 
 
 t [This must have been Colonel (afterwards Sir Rufiine) Donkin. He 
 appears from a passage in the report of the Enquiry on the Convention of 
 Cintra, to have been at this time on the staff of the army. He was ]\I.P. for 
 Berwick from 1832 to 1837, but it is needless to say that he never bore the 
 title of " Lord Russel." Perhap-! Thiebault was misled by his unusual 
 Christian name. If he ever translated the Manual for Adjufanfs-general, the 
 work was never published. Thiebault's large work, Manual of Staff Officers' 
 Duties, appeared iu 1813.] 
 
 p 2
 
 212 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 the English House of Commons, was sent to ns in that capacity. 
 He called on me, and said, " General, you are the cause of my 
 being here. I translated your Manual for Adjutants-general 
 into English. In that work you undertook to follow it up by a 
 complete work on the subject, and I am come on purpose to 
 call upon you to keep your word, and to say that there is a 
 translator all ready for you." Nothing could have been more 
 obliging or more worthy of so distinguished a man. I told him 
 that his proceeding made me feel more keenly than ever the 
 duty of fulfilling my promise, and that in fact, if he had thought 
 fit to leave us quiet in Portugal, I should before long have had 
 all the time I wanted for doing it. However, as soon as ever 
 I had leisure again, 1 would employ myself upon a general 
 Manual; but if the opportunity never came again, I should 
 hold him in some degree responsible. We parted on the best 
 of terms with each other. 
 
 One of the articles of the Convention was to the effect that 
 
 all objects of art in the possession of any Frenchman belonging 
 
 to the army should be referred to a commission presided over 
 
 by General Beresford, and that the baggage of all Frenchmen, 
 
 including the generals, should l)e searched.* One day when I 
 
 had been visiting the Castle of Quelus with General Junot, he 
 
 noticed that I was admiring a Virgin in mosaic on lapis-lazuli, 
 
 in a silver frame ornamented with eight angels in high relief. 
 
 It was the gift of a Pope to some King or other of Portugal. 
 
 Unnoticed by me, Junot gave orders that it should be In'ought 
 
 to me, as from him ; and when I got home I found it there. 
 
 As it perforce came within the article, I had it taken to General 
 
 (afterwards Marshal) Beresford, informing him how I had come 
 
 by it. I also noticed that my cases were all ready to be closed, 
 
 and begged him to have them searched. He returned the 
 
 mosaic, with the reply that at the time when I had received it 
 
 General Junot had the right to give it me, and that the gift had 
 
 been ratified by the Commission. Further, he said that no case 
 
 or trunk having my name_on it would be searched by anyone, 
 
 * [No article to this effect will be found in the text of the Convention of 
 Cintra ; but the commissioners did make the French disgorge a good deal of 
 plunder, carried off at the last moment.]
 
 A GOOD CHARACTER 213 
 
 iind that he was charmed to give his personal concun'euce to 
 this mark of public esteem. Pew things in my whole life have 
 more flattered me. 
 
 Nor was this the only gratification I had. By the force of 
 circumstances, and also in accordance with the promise I had 
 j^iven to tlie commander-in-chief, I had kept clear of all 
 speculative affairs ; and this earned me, iluring our last 
 moments, special esteem from the Portuguese and the chiefs of 
 the English army. I have spoken of CJeneral Beresford, who 
 us marshal presently commanded the Portuguese army. The 
 commodore in command of the convoy that was to take us 
 tried hard to get me on his ship instead of General Delal)orde, 
 but that w^as not possible. As for the inhabitants, at a time 
 when Loison had to be protected against them by four 
 battalions and four guns in bivouac at his door, they were so 
 kind to me that I could reduce my guard to twenty-four men. 
 I always went out on horseback, followed by a single orderly, 
 and never out of a walk ; and in that town, hostile as it then 
 was, I never met, I may say, one man, even of the lower 
 classes, who did not take off his hat to me. I can only say 
 that in 1831, the Chevalier Sucliet, brother of the marshal, 
 coming from a dinner-party of Portuguese, and finding me at 
 the Marchioness of Turgot's, told me some most flattering things 
 about the memory of me which still existed twenty-three years 
 afterwards at Lisbon, and about the unanimous testimony 
 rendered to my conduct. General Taviel about the same time 
 said to the Countess of Sugny, " There was only one general 
 wlio did not thieve in Portugal, and it was Thiebault." " I 
 hope," said Mme de Sugny, "that you also exclude yourself 
 from the thieves." " Why, no," he replied : " there were two 
 occasions in which it was just a little too much for me." 
 
 Some goods of a less usual kind that we took l)ack were 
 enwjres, of whom there were many in Lisbon at tlie time of 
 our arrival, and they were scared away l)y it. Several had 
 to thank us for their return to France, and among them I 
 may mention the Count of Novion and M. de Bourmont. We 
 liad found M. de Xovion colonel of the police force ; and 
 the commander-in-chief had been received at the crates of
 
 214 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 Lisbon by detaehments, both on foot and mounted, of that 
 force in their finest array, who had escorted him to his house. 
 The Count had also guaranteed order at Lisbon, and not only 
 had he been able to keep his promise in this respect, but he 
 had also rendered us the greatest services during the whole of 
 our stay. With him he had his eldest son, Edmund, a good 
 and worthy young man, clever, eager, and full of brilliant 
 promise. This young man was nearly always on duty about 
 me, and was of great service ; I loved him dearly, and on 
 many occasions was happy to act towards him as towards a 
 son of my own. He is dead, and has left only one brother, 
 very unlike him. As for the father, there was no attention he 
 did not pay me. Every day he read me his reports to the 
 
 mmander-in-cliief. He drew plans very well, and ga^'e me one 
 Lisbon, executed with the greatest care ; and to him I owe 
 he information given in my Narrative as to the events which 
 preceded our entry into Lisbon. I have there told how an 
 extraordinary council was summoned by the Eegent, and 
 presided over by him; but in 1817, when the Eegent had 
 become King, I did not think I could add one anecdote which 
 I had from M. de IsTovion. I give it here, because it admirably 
 depicts that Dom Joao, afterwards John VI, the incapable son 
 of the poor mad Queen Dona Maria, and also because it 
 explains better than pages of history the state of neglect in 
 which we found Lisbon. 
 
 Now the meeting of the council I refer to had to discuss the 
 grave question, "Is Portugal strong enough to take the risks 
 of resistance and war, or should it accept the occupation, and 
 the Prince Eegent leave his European States ? " The discussion 
 soon became exciting, thanks to the vigour with which one of 
 the council, Dom Eodrigo da Souza, defended the former course, 
 and the most critical moment of the terrible debate had been 
 reached, when the prince struck a mighty blow on the table. 
 At this signal, which seemed to announce an irrevocable 
 decision, all ceased speaking ; and in the midst of that silence 
 the prince exclaimed, " Got two of them ! " It was quite true ; 
 of three flies which had settled in front of him, he had squashed 
 two. As is known, Souza's noble advice earned him exclusion
 
 CONDUCT OF SOME IlEFUGEES 215 
 
 from the couucil ; and tlie prince embarked for Brazil, whence 
 he was only to return to be kinjjf, at his mother's death in 1816, 
 and to reign ten years from that date. But what is explained 
 by the anecdote 1 liave just related, is how the regency and 
 reign of such a prince could not fail to deal a fatal blow to 
 the power of Portugal, and, by the loss of Brazil, reduce her to 
 a mere province. 
 
 To return to the Count of Xovion. When we went away, he 
 could not, considering tlic zeal he had shown on our belialf, 
 remain in Portugal. Besides, he had been nominated major- 
 general in the I'ortuguese service, by decree of the Emperor, of 
 itself a claim to the vengeance of the Portuguese. Tlius he 
 was practically obliged to accept from us, that is from the 
 Emperor, the favour of re-admission to France, which did not 
 prevent him from becoming at the Eestoration one of the most 
 furious of Ultras, and, I deeply regret to say it, arrogant enough 
 to deserve appointment as one of those Grand Provosts who 
 presided over so many judicial assassinations in 1815. 
 
 Another of our refugees wdio deserves special mention is the 
 Count of Bourmont. Upon our entry into Lisbon he paid 
 assiduous court to Junot, and before long he, as well as Mme 
 de Bourmont, shared the commander-in-chief's most private 
 evenings, even those whicli he passed with Mme Foy. That 
 lady was, doubtless, not Junot' s du Barry, but she was even less 
 his La Valliere ; and one can understand that a man like 
 de Bourmont must have had more than one motive for his 
 conduct in regard to her. "When the English army landed, 
 yielding in part no doubt to liis warlike French blood, but also 
 with views which I have no desire to trace, he had asked leave 
 to accompany the commander-in-chief as orderly officer. Then, 
 having doubtless found no opportunity for treachery of a kind 
 to suit him, and perhaps imagining that in this respect he might 
 be more fortunate in France, he applied for an order to return 
 with us, and it fell to me to give him one, as I had done to the 
 Count of Novion. At what price he obtained the honour of 
 returning as a major on the staff, in the service of a country 
 which he never deserved to see again, is well kno%vii ; and 
 what payment he made for the grades of major-general and
 
 216 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 lieutenant-general which in succession he received from the 
 Emperor. A traitor in presence of the enemy, betraying all 
 those who were united under the same flag by a community of 
 honour, one may say, that he justified the saying to which he 
 gave rise : " Between M. de Bourmont's face and a convict's 
 shoulder there is no great difference." * 
 
 Our embarkation began on September 11th. On the 13th 
 the Duke of Abrantes went on board the Nymphc frigate, which 
 was to take him ; Delaborde on board the Aimahle frigate, and 
 I on board the Fyllcc corvette. It was with melancholy feelings 
 that I bade farewell to the fair sky of Lusitania. On the banks 
 of the Tagus we left power, glory, honour, and wealth. But we 
 were escaping from a foreign country, and going to retemper 
 our spirits on our native soil ; while for my part I was about to 
 see my wife again, and delight her with the rich presents I was 
 bringing back, and to realise some, at least, of my dreams of 
 happiness. 
 
 * [Bourmont, after protesting Lis devotiou to Xapoleon, deserted to the 
 allies on the eve of Waterloo, taking, it is said, important information with, 
 him. In 1830 he commanded the expedition to Algiers. 'J'he soldiers had 
 a little rhyme : — 
 
 " Alger est loin de Waterloo. 
 On ne deserte pas sur i'eau. 
 De notre general Bourmont 
 Ke craignons pas la trahison."]
 
 ( 217 ) 
 
 CHAPTER Xr. 
 
 First experience of the sea — A iiij^ht adventure — The storm — Adrift in the 
 Atlantic — Difficulties about landing — Ashore again — To Paris a-^ainst 
 orders — Promotion at last — Back to Spain — A formidable interview — 
 Napoleon's gallop— Governor of Old Castile. 
 
 For the first time in my life I was ;ibout to undergo a sea- 
 voyage. Independently of the emotion arising from my first 
 acquaintance with the most beautiful but also the most terrible 
 of the four elements, I underwent the further impression of 
 travelling on board an English ship, and being practically at 
 the mercy of our implacable foes. Our convoy of forty-five 
 vessels added the interest of a fine sight. 
 
 On the morning of September 14 we set sail, and soon was 
 out of sight of land. "We bore westward at first to clear Cape 
 Finisterre, and then so as not to be caught off a lee shore 
 by the rough weather which threatened at the equinox. We 
 proceeded thus for some days, when a dead calm came on. 
 The sails flapped, the vessels stood still on a sea of oil. It 
 is quite a mistake to suppose that a calm of this kind does 
 nothing l)ut breed ennui : it causes the consumption of pro- 
 visions wliich have been calculated for a shorter ^■oyage, and 
 justifies the saying that you may sometimes go a hundred 
 leagues at sea on a pound of bread, and sometimes not one 
 league on a hundred pounds. Nor is that all ; a convoy of ships 
 becalmed is at the mercy of currents, which, with no counter- 
 acting force, become irresistible, tearing the vessels from 
 their moorings, running them on l)oard of each other and 
 causing most serious damage. We had a proof of this on the 
 seconil day : several of our craft were very seriously injured ; 
 and in spite of all repairs that could be made, they were left in 
 no condition to face the storms that we presently encountered, 
 and perished in them. At length, on the third day there was
 
 218 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TniEBAULT 
 
 again a ripple on the water ; a breeze sprang up, and the order 
 was given to be under way at 11 p.m. 
 
 Just then Lord Stuart,* who showed me such attention at 
 Lisbon, and wished to take me on board his frigate, and 
 expressed so many regrets at not getting me instead of General 
 Delaborde, sent me an invitation to dine with Iiim that day. 
 I went with Fontenay, son by her first marriage of the great 
 lady once Mile de Cabarrus, but better known under the name 
 of Mme Tallien than under that of Mme de Fontenay, or that 
 which she now bears of Princess of Chimay. Fontenay was 
 tall and handsome, a worthy son of his mother in his noble 
 bearing ; besides that, he was an excellent and charming young 
 fellow. He had joined us at Lisbon, and I had taken him 
 with me because he spoke English well, and could act as my 
 interpreter. So I set out in company with him, in a boat 
 manned by a midshipman and four sailors. 
 
 Lord Stuart was charming during the meal, which was 
 excellent and very lively. I sat by him and we chatted. He 
 regretted that he had not one of our military bands on board. 
 I mentioned that of the 86 th, and offered to give him an 
 order authorizing it to leave the transport where it was, and 
 come on board his frigate. He was delighted, and 1 gave him 
 the order. Why did he wait till the next day to make use of 
 it ? He would have saved some lives, for the transport went 
 down with all hands, carrying with her the staff of the regi- 
 ment, the two grenadier companies, and the band. She was 
 one of those that had suffered damage during the calm, and 
 the storm finished her. She leaked all over, the pumps being 
 inadequate, and it was soon only a matter of calculation to 
 say when she would founder. At this critical moment a 
 privateer appeared ; the colonel leapt into a Ijoat, went on 
 board, and besought the commander of the sinister craft to 
 save his unhappy shipmates. Perhaps it was impossible ; 
 anyhow the colonel obtained only a refusal, and was not even 
 
 * [Lord George Stuart, son of the first Marquis of Bute, at that time 
 commanding the Aimable frigate. U"he commander of the Nymphe was 
 Josceline Percy. It is curious that all the three ships in charge of the convoy 
 seem to have been captured vessels.]
 
 A MGJIT ADVENTURE ON THE SEA 219 
 
 allowed liberty to return to his sinking vessel. Bewildered 
 and despairing, he soon saw her sink beneath the waves, with 
 the pick of the regiment that he had been so justly proud of 
 commanding. 
 
 To return to our dinner-party. On leaving the table, we 
 went to play, and, thanks to the punch, the second table 
 absorbed us as completely as the first had done ; so much so 
 that the commodore suddenly exclaimed, "It is a quarter to 
 eleven, and there is no time for you to go back on board the 
 Fylla." During the calm, the two ships of war had kept at 
 some distance from each other and from the convoy, and were a 
 mile and a half apart. The only course to take, therefore, was 
 to remain on board the frigate till daylight; but this looked 
 like nervousness, and I could not show that before the English. 
 The more they foretold danger and displayed fear on my 
 account, the more determined I was to brave even their ovm. 
 element ; and in less than a minute after the corvette's liijht 
 had been pointed out to us, Fontenay, the midshipman, the 
 four sailors and I leaped into the boat and rowed oft'. The 
 boat was small, and only just held us ; but it went all 
 the faster over the waves amid a dead silence, broken presently 
 by a cry from the midshipman, echoed by the four sailors. 
 " What is it ? " I said. " All the lights have just been put 
 out," said Fontenay ; " it is the moment for the vessels to get 
 under way, and our sailors do not know which way to steer." 
 Our crew became uneasy ; indeed everything pointed to our 
 being lost, and on the point of losing not only our own vessel 
 but the whole convoy. We should be left two hundred and 
 fifty miles from land, without an ounce of biscuit, in a boat 
 as big as a cocoa-nut. 
 
 Since then, in reflecting on this adventure, which I have 
 related a couple of hundred times, I have never understood 
 why Lord Stuart took no measures to prevent the danger of 
 which he had nevertheless so fully warned us. Could not his 
 frigate, which sailed at a very different rate from our boat, 
 have approached the Fjilla, before that vessel had her sails 
 set, and allowed us to leave her deck only when there was a 
 certainty of our safe arrival ? Could he not ha"\e given us
 
 220 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 <i lantern, so that we should not get out of sight ; or follow 
 us, so that in the event of our not finding the corvette we 
 might the sooner get back on board him ? Or, lastly, might 
 he not have kept the lights burning till the Fylla should fire 
 a shot to announce our safe arrival ? I thought of a thousand 
 methods which might have been adopted, and no reason why 
 they had not been ; for to explain it by the effect of the wine 
 and the punch upon us all, especially Lord Stuart, though the 
 only conceivable reason, was none the less the most opposed 
 to reason. Anyhow, having nothing to steer by, wTapped in 
 darkness, and abandoned to a fate which to them seemed 
 already upon them, our sailors, giving themselves up to despair, 
 ceased rowing. Aware of the danger, however, I had paid 
 great attention to • our course and remained certain of the 
 direction. It was necessary at the same time to inspire con- 
 fidence in my five Englishmen, who were standing up, 
 lamenting and gesticulating. Fortunately, in times of peril, he 
 who is free from irresoluteness and takes the authority is 
 always sure to be able to enforce it. At my shout of 
 " Silence, and keep your seats," repeated in English by 
 Eontenay, the sailors sat down and were silent. I pointed out 
 the course to follow and ordered them to row on ; they obeyed, 
 and gave way with all their strength. Then I told them 
 that a signal which I would give all seven of us would shout 
 simultaneously. At the first attempt our voices were lost ; 
 there was no echo, hardly any resonance. The second was not 
 more fortunate ; nothing ansM'ered save the sound of our oars, 
 and all hope of safety seemed to be fading away. I kept up 
 the courage of my six companions ; and as my voice had lost 
 none of its strength, they still hoped. Then, mustering all our 
 forces, we sent out a hail still louder than its predecessors, — 
 a hail of distress if ever there was one — and listened, in 
 indescribaljle perplexity. Erankly, this was my last hope. 
 We ought to have taken half-an-hour to cover the distance ; as 
 we had gone fast, we might perhaps have gained five minutes, 
 and we had been going for twenty minutes. Hence our not 
 being heard showed that either we had been on the wTong 
 course, or else that the Fylla had got under way sharp at
 
 JlErORTED DEAD 221 
 
 eleven o'clock, in which case it was all up with us. Thus, in 
 the dismal night and amiil that watery desert, we could hardly 
 draw our breath in that protracted mental agony, when a voice, 
 very faint, but distinguishable, was heard. "VVe felt as if 
 emerging from the grave. It will easily be understood how 
 briskly we strained our throats in reply, and with what joy 
 we heard the voice again, and much louder. Soon something 
 showed indistinctly against a dark horizon ; the lantern of the 
 Fylla was relighted. We had not strayed from our course, and 
 a few minutes later we were climbing up the side of the 
 corvette, which was already under sail. In order to wait for 
 us, when our last shout was heard, she had been obliged to 
 trail up her sails and drop an anchor. A minute later, 
 and we should not have seen her, nor ever been seen again 
 ourselves. 
 
 At daybreak next morning a vessel was signalled. She was 
 the packet from England to Lisbon. She bore up and sent 
 Captain Rodney the London newspapers. In one of them was 
 an article on the battle of Yimiero, ending with the words, " The 
 held of battle remained in our hands, and General Thiebault, 
 chief of the French staff, was found among the dead." * I was 
 furious. The paper was sure to have got to Paris ; the French 
 papers were sure to have given extracts from it, and the article 
 in which I was mentioned was of a kind not likely to be 
 omitted. Thus my wife, my children, and my sister could not 
 fail to have been misled by this news, absurd enough, but for 
 them deplorable. Doubtless Junot's aide-de-camp, de Lagrave, 
 who had started for Paris on September 3, with a copy of the 
 Convention, would have contradicted the news ; but none the 
 less it was barbarous to play such tricks with the repose of 
 families. I ended by getting into a quarrel with the first-lieu- 
 tenant, a disagreeable man ; he was cursing the English generals 
 and admirals, who in his own phi'ase deserved to be cut up with 
 red-hot razors for signing the Convention of Cintra. This 
 ferocious person, however, was the only one I had to complain 
 of. Captain Piodney was an excellent man, and the secoud- 
 
 * [Sir Arthur Wellesley's report of August 21 to Sir H. Burrard seems to 
 have been responsible for this mistake.]
 
 222 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 lieutenant, named White,* was a charming fellow. But that 
 infernal first-lieutenant, a very sea-wolf, practically commanded 
 the vessel, and, as the English way is, he did it very well. All 
 matters relating to cleanliness and discipKne were carried to an 
 extreme. Every day the deck was washed with soap, and the 
 whole vessel cleaned from top to bottom. The discipline was 
 severe to the point of cruelty, the slightest mistake being 
 punished by blows with a rope's-end, administered in the 
 presence of this madman with such severity as to draw blood. 
 The morning was the appointed time for these chastisements, 
 and as three or four took place every day I used to be distressed 
 when I awoke by the cries of the victims. I complained to 
 Captain Eodney, who ordered that all punishments should stand 
 over till I had landed ; and when I left the Fijlla, there were 
 more than seventy out of the crew of 140 awaiting torture. A 
 third of them were foreigners, among them several Frenchmen, 
 who had not ventured to make themselves known, and whose 
 impressment no doubt had been effected with the aid of dis- 
 graceful usage. 
 
 The packet had passed us about an hour, and wrinkles almost 
 imperceptible, but extending farther than the eye could reach, suc- 
 ceeded each other on the water more and more closely. White 
 warned me that this was a sign of an approaching stonn, and that 
 as the ripples came from the north-west in very long lines the 
 tempest proclaimed itself as of great violence. The waves would 
 .strike us with all the impetus given by a course of 3,000 leagues, 
 and would catch us in the Bay of Biscay, the worst berth in 
 the world in bad weather. Some wliales showed themselves, 
 leaping in the distance, and our vessel was presently in the 
 white foam produced by the creatures. At the same time, but 
 much further off, we saw a kind of moving mound which 
 appeared and disappeared. The officers judged that it might be 
 a waterspout, and were a good deal concerned. Finally, about 
 4 P.M., a vast school of porpoises, which always go to meet a 
 heavy storm, were seen coming up, and in fact from the south- 
 east. About six the wind got up, the sea rose, we moved more 
 quickly, and the vessels of the convoy, with all sail set and well 
 * [In the original, * Weith ' ; but the emendation seems obvious.]
 
 HEAVY WEATnicn 223 
 
 filled, formed an imposing picture as tlie sun went down. We 
 were bowling along at 1 do not know how many knots, when 
 the Commodore signalled Captain liodney to go about and 
 bring on a vessel that had droppetl astern. We tacked, ill- 
 pleased enough at the delay, and made sail after the laggard, 
 even tiring a shot to hasten her movements ; but the damage 
 she had suifered during the calm prevented her from keeping 
 up. We took her in tow, but unluckily the storm soon rendered 
 us unalile to continue this assistance ; the unfortunate transport 
 was left to herself, and was one of those never heard of again. 
 
 At midnight the storm redoubled its fury, and again at six in 
 the morning ; and for sixty hours it grew fiercer and fiercer at 
 similar intervals. When night came on, we had been sailing in 
 a convoy of forty-four or forty-five vessels ; day found us all 
 alone, and not a vessel in sight. I do not exaggerate when I 
 say that now and again the waves ran twenty or twenty-five feet 
 higher than the flag at our main-mast, lifting us then to that 
 height to let us down again into the abyss. A corvette is a 
 poor shelter against such waves as these ; being short, she only 
 takes one crest at a time, while a frigate takes two, a ship of the 
 line as many as three ; one pitches therefore twice or thrice as 
 often, and much more roughly, than in other men-of-war, while 
 the rolling is also greater. Till then I had not suflered from 
 sea-sickness ; but at that game I had now to pay up. 
 
 The Fijlla, one of the vessels wliich the English had captured 
 at the burning of Copenhagen, of which they were so proud, was 
 a solidly built vessel, almost new. Nevertheless, on the second 
 day of the storm, all topsails had been taken in, all courses but 
 one brailed up, the guns shifted to the stern, all hatches and 
 portholes closed, and strong cables taken from one side to the 
 other, though the timbers creaked all the same. The creaking 
 was mingled with the noise of the lashing rain, the howling of 
 the wind, or its shrill whistling in the rigging, the crash of the 
 ■waves as they broke against the ship ; anil what struck me most 
 amid ihis fearful uproar was the profound silence of the whole 
 crew, motionless at their quarters, and ready in the event of a 
 catastrophe to do all that lay in the power of men. On the 
 second night T managed to get on deck in the pitch darkness
 
 224 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 and remain there an hour among seventy automatons clinging 
 to the rigging, to which I myself held on so as not to be thrown 
 down or carried away ; and I never felt anything more melan- 
 choly than this silence in darkness. Except for these few hours 
 passed on deck, I lashed myself to my table, so that I could 
 continue to draw up my general report of everything relating to 
 the end of our expedition, and make out the fortnightly states 
 for the time subsequent to the cessation of communications. 
 These documents with their covering letters were copied out 
 fair and got ready to be sent off'. I even added a ballad, of 
 which the music was worth no more than the words. 
 
 One evening about ten o'clock we were together in the 
 captain's cabin, which I shared with him, when a fearful noise 
 was heard on deck and a torrent of water dashed down the 
 companion ladder ; we thought we had foundered, and nothing 
 could look more like it, but it was only a wave which had 
 swept the deck and carried away the hatch. Except that four 
 poor sailors were washed overboard by the wave, we escaped 
 with the fright ; but the pumps had to be manned ; as these 
 brought up only dirty water, they reassured us as to the state 
 of the vessel, as indeed they did every morning. " Upon my 
 word, general," said White, " you have bad luck ; I have been 
 at sea since my childhood, I have twice doubled Cape Horn, 
 and have been in gales in the most stormy seas, but I never saw 
 anything like this one." It cost us, indeed, seven vessels out 
 of our convoy. 
 
 After we had been knocked a])0ut in this way for a fortnight 
 the storm seemed to be going down, and one evening the sky 
 cleared, if not entirely, at least sufficiently to allow of an 
 observation. White was very clever at these astronomic 
 operations ; he ascertained that we had been driven to the 
 latitude of Madeira, or not far from it. Another night we were 
 carried on to the lioches Bonnes, ill-named because they are 
 the only shoal in the ocean and formidable enough. I had 
 been warned of it by the running to and fro and the shouting ; 
 I had seen the captain jump out of his hammock, which hung 
 ojjposite mine, and run on deck in little else than his shirt, so I 
 called Fontenav, from whom I learnt the news, and as I could
 
 SHOUT RATIONS 225 
 
 do nothing to avert the new danger I stayed in ])ed, while 
 Fontenay came every other minute to keep me informed. Thus 
 we tacked, M-e fired broadsides to set us toward the southward, 
 the lead was heaved every moment, and there was some anxiety 
 about what it brought up. Finally, nothing Ijut sand was found 
 on it, and we began again to go ahead. 
 
 When we went on board, we had been told that the passage 
 would take ten days ; I had accordingly brought on board six 
 sheep, thirty-six fowls, two or three hundred eggs, hams, and I 
 do not know wliat besides, as well as two hundred bottles of 
 Bordeaux wine. But as Eodney was very ill-provisioned, my 
 stores were drawn upon till at the end of a fortnight everything 
 was consumed. For three weeks I was reduced to the wretched 
 fare of the vessels ; that is to say, to salt provisions of the 
 roughest kind. Even the wine gave out at last, and we had 
 nothing to drink except the vilest beer. I say nothing about 
 the water, which had become so bad that one had to hold one's 
 nose when using it, even for washing ; besides, it had got so 
 scarce that it was only served out by the glass. Someljody 
 had somehow managed to keep a few morsels of fresh meat, 
 which were used to make us a Last gravy-soup, a nice thing at 
 all times, but all the more valuable at the time when, owing to 
 the danger of fire on a vessel so much tossed about as ours, any 
 hot food had become exceptional. At length we were at table, 
 moored to our chairs ; my plate, well filled, had just been placed 
 in the fiddles, and I was about to carry the first spoonful to my 
 mouth, when the worst sea that we had yet experienced gave 
 the vessel such a shock that I had my soup all over my waist- 
 coat and breeches. To my wrath at losing so rare a treat was 
 added that of having my clothes spoilt and being scalded, so 
 that nothing might be lacking to my disappointment and to the 
 mirth of my good friend Rodney. But what made me furious, 
 above all, was that the sea should have played me such a trick 
 in presence of Englishmen. 
 
 As we approached Quiberon, the place fixed upon for our 
 lauding and for our point of rendezvous in the probable event 
 of our being dispersed, we began to overtake the vessels that 
 had anived before us and to be overtaken by those that had 
 
 VOL. ir. ' Q
 
 226 MEMOIIiS OF GENERAL TUIEBAVLT 
 
 followed. The commodore had collected some on his side, and 
 we found him tacking about to await us. Thus it was with 
 nearly eighty sail that on October 14 we bore for Quiberon 
 Bay. The frigate went ahead, our corvette brought up the 
 rear ; but at that moment the storm came on again so violently 
 that the Fylla, which had been the last to reach the entrance to 
 the bay, was no longer able to get in. She was obliged to stand 
 out to sea, and was about to be cut off from the rest of the 
 convoy, the most unexpected consequence of which would have 
 been that the convoy assembled in the bay would have gone to 
 England as prisoners of war. The explanation is as follows. 
 
 Being off the port, we were beginning to think that we were 
 free from all further apprehension, when we were told that none 
 of our signals were being answered from the shore, whence we 
 inferred that they refused to receive us. However, as Lord 
 Stuart thought it conceivable that the officer in command of 
 the batteries might have sent to ask for orders, he decided to 
 wait for daylight. Hardly had the sun risen when he repeated 
 his signals, but there was no more answer to these than to 
 those of the day before. Accordingly, on the morning of the 
 15th he gave the order to weigh anchor and sail for England. 
 Judge of my consternation and anger when I heard the sound 
 of a fife playing the infernal air to which it is customary to 
 weigh anchor on a man-of-war. I had some influence with 
 Captain Rodney, and so, in spite of the rudeness of the 
 lieutenant, who looked upon us already as prisoners and could 
 not suppress his joy, I persuaded him to stand in towards the 
 frigate that I might confer with the commodore. When we 
 came near enough, a midshipman went on board Lord Stuart 
 with a note, in which, as chief of the staff, and as such repre- 
 senting the commander-in-chief, I requested in the name of the 
 Duke of Abrantes, and on the faith of a treaty which a man of 
 his honour could not infringe, that he would receive me and 
 hear what I had to say. His reply was that the circumstances 
 did not allow him to receive me, that the silence on shore 
 proved that we were not wished to land, that all his vessels 
 were running short of provisions, and that he had no time to 
 lose. He added, however, out of consideration for me, that if I
 
 JIOW TO GET ASnOJiEf 227 
 
 would })oini out uny feasible metliod that would also j)ermit 
 him to start for England in thirty-six hours at the outside, he 
 would adopt it. There were two generals of division there, for 
 Delaborde and Kellermann were on board the commodore, but 
 it had not occurred to tliem to do anytliing to avert the disaster. 
 If the convoy started for England, M'e lost, not only all the 
 horses on board as well as an immense amount of material, but 
 more than iifty general and staff officers, and a whole division 
 became prisoners of war. 
 
 My first idea had been to ask the commodore to set me 
 ashore in the Fyllas gig. I pointed out to him that he had a 
 whole army as hostages for four sailors and a midshipman. 
 But he replied, " Impossil)le " ; and 1 \vas at my wits' end when 
 I chanced to catch sight of a French coaster, which was taking 
 advantage of a lull in the storm to fish under the nose of the 
 English fleet. It seemed like a messenger from heaven, and I 
 told the commodore that after his refusal all I asked was that 
 he would order the Fijlla to capture the little craft, and I would 
 make use of it to go ashore the next night. I added that, if in 
 the course of the following day I did not succeed in landing the 
 troops, he might do as he thought his duty and honour enjoined. 
 
 It may be supposed that I awaited his reply with anxiety. I 
 was in the captain's caljin alone with my aides-de-camp, Vidal, 
 Vallier, and Fontenay, and a few servants, notably Jacques 
 Dewint, who was second to no one in daring. In a state of 
 great exasperation, we all expressed the opinion that death 
 would be ])etter than the captivity with which we were 
 threatened. We settled, accordingly, tliat if we were made to 
 sail for England, and if the frigate, resuming the lead, got out 
 of the way first, we would try to get possession of the Fylla and 
 escape, even if we had to run her ashore. After all, there was 
 a good chance of success in this daring scheme. A third part 
 of our crew^ were foreigners, including several French ; all had 
 been thrashed almost to death for the most trifling reasons ; a 
 good many were ordered for flogging after I was gone. Besides, 
 the captain was a nonentity, the second-lieutenant a young man 
 of no great influence, while all hands trembled at the name of 
 the first-lieutenant and the master. We had kept our side- 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TRIED AULT 
 
 arms and our pistols. Starting from this point, our plan was as 
 follows : — We would call the captain into his cabin, and White 
 also, and lock them in — that was easy; then we would blow 
 out the brains of the tirst-lieuteuant and of the master, and be 
 ready to lire on all who tried to avenge them or take their 
 places. Meanwhile, one of us would be at the magazine, and, 
 while proclaiming that in the event of resistance we should 
 blow up the vessel, I would throw handfuls of gold on the deck. 
 It would be ten to one that all the foreign sailors who were 
 awaiting their turn for a flaying would join us, and that nearly 
 all the English would either be held in check by the fear of 
 being blown up or won over by the gold. If we had succeeded, 
 many of the transports, where there were only ten or a dozen 
 English to four or Ave hundred Erenchmen, would have followed 
 our example. And supposing us to fail, as the fact of not 
 having tried every means to land us in our own country was 
 equivalent to a breach of the Convention, and put us back into 
 the state of war, our rising would thus have been legalised. 
 Eortunately, this desperate attempt was not needed. The 
 commodore's reply arrived and was favourable ; the Fylla 
 shook out her sails, and the English man-of-war, for the moment 
 under my orders, bore down upon the wretched little Erench 
 hooker, whose capture was just then more important to me than 
 if she had been the finest vessel in the British navy or the 
 richest Indiaman. Seeing us coming towards her, she showed 
 her heels, and, owing to her start, had some chance of being 
 able to run ashore and escape us ; but when we came within 
 lanffe, I had a shot fired, and this brought her to. After this 
 fortunate capture we resumed our place in rear of the convoy 
 and waited for night, seeing that by day the little vessel, having 
 been in communication with us, would have been sunk if she 
 had tried to re-enter the harbour. However, on reflection, I 
 had to recognise that, in view of the presence of the English 
 vessels, we must wait for daylight before we could get admission 
 to any of the harbours in the bay. 
 
 Two hours before daylight on October 16, taking my chief 
 valualjles with me, and accompanied by Eontenay and three 
 other officers, all in full uniform, I went on board my coaster
 
 ASnOBE AT LAST 229 
 
 and stood to the eastward, so as not to look as if I wa-s coming 
 from the fleet. At daybreak we all lay down in the hokl of the 
 vessel, and thus entered the harbour, the skipper and two sailors 
 alone being visible. The vessel by my orders lay up close 
 inshoie, and then we showed ourselves. There was a post 
 of thirty men hard l)y, and tlie officer, calling them to arms, 
 tried to hinder our landing. 1 at once leapt from the head of 
 the vessel into the water and ran up to the officer, crying, " Are 
 you m.ad ? " " General," he replied, " we have orders not to 
 admit General iJupont's army." " And how did you find out 
 that we belonged to that army ? " So the riddle was explained. 
 But two things required to be dealt with instantly. We had to 
 get off our dispatches to the Minister for War, and Fontenay, 
 mounting the first screw that could be found in the village of 
 Quiberon, galloped off with them to Paris, w^here, by good luck, 
 lie arrived an hour before the Emperor returned from Erfurt. 
 He carried at the same time the general report which I had 
 drawn up in the middle of the storm, and a letter to my wife. 
 
 The other matter, urgent to the last degree, was the disem- 
 barkation. Stuart had made me renew the undertaking to get 
 it effected within two days. The vessel which had brought me 
 went off at once, followed by all those still remaining in the 
 harbour. The civil authorities were employed to hasten the 
 operation and offer rewards in my name to those who made the 
 greatest number of trips. During the organization of tliis work 
 at Quiberon, one of my officers started for each of the other 
 harbours or landing-place in the bay, so as to set all the 
 available vessels to work. Then I mounted and rode to Auray, 
 called together the town council, sent orders for all the boats 
 and oars in the river to be sent down to the beach with all the 
 men capable of handling them. Then I rode all along the 
 coast, seeing that the work was done smartly ; and, in short, I 
 made such a good job of it that by the evening 15,000 men, all 
 the horses, and the whole of the artillery were landed, and 
 nothing remained on board but some material, to the landing 
 of which Lord Stuart offered no objection. To winil up my 
 connection with the English navy, the only thing left was to 
 send some fresh meat, green vegetables, salad, bread, wine,
 
 230 MEMOIRS OF G ENSEAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 and two jugs of milk to poor "V\Tiite, who \\as sufiering from 
 scurvy. 
 
 General Delaborde was at Am-ay. I went to him and asked 
 for orders, the commander-in-chief having landed at La Eochelle. 
 " Why should I command ? " said he. " Because of your 
 seniority." " Ai'e you not in correspondence with the Minister ? " 
 " Surely." " Then would it not be simpler for you to continue 
 to transmit his orders to us, as heretofore, in the name of the 
 commander-in-chief ? The detail is in good hands. Kellermann 
 and I have decided to do nothing but executive work here, w^here, 
 indeed, we should not be but for you." Therewith he paid me 
 the only compliments that my recent doings were ever to earn ; 
 for with the exception of himself, Kellermann, Margaron, and a 
 few colonels who were present, no one ever said a word about 
 them, while, save to a few friends, I spoke to no one of them. 
 I may add that, good-natured and honourable as w^as General 
 Delaborde's refusal to interfere, it had its compensations for 
 him, seeing that all day and all night were hardly sufficient for 
 my efibrts to get the troops ready with all speed to resume 
 their journey. 
 
 Among the letters which I had received from the Minister 
 for War was one containing these words : " The Emperor forbids 
 any general or other officer, or any person employed in the 
 administrative department, belonging to the Army of Portugal, 
 to appear in Paris. You will bring this order to the knowledge 
 of all whom it may concern, and see that it is strictly earned 
 out." I had been as speedy in forwarding copies of this gracious 
 dispatch as careful to let no one remain in ignorance of it. For 
 my own part, in all cases where they did not affect the interests 
 of the service, I was not accustomed to trouble myself about 
 measures of this kind. Seven times in my life I was destined 
 to take similar liberties ; this was only the fourth, and as may 
 be supposed, not having seen my wife for fourteen months, and 
 eager beyond measure as I was to embrace my children and to 
 mingle my tears with those of my sister for the loss of oui- 
 father, who had died during my absence, I did not hesitate to 
 take this. P>esides, I was still in a sufficiently bad temper over 
 the refusal of my promotion to feel myself justified in not being
 
 INSUB ORDINA TION 23 1 
 
 over-particular ; so I set off for Paris with all the speed in my 
 power. 
 
 I had ii pleasant journey by the banks of the Loire, from 
 Nantes to Tours. On reaching Paris, I was sitting well back in 
 my carriage, to avoid curious eyes, when in the middle of the 
 Bouleviird du la ]\Iadeleine, at two in the afternoon, one of my 
 axles broke. The loafers flocked round at once — one might 
 have said that every paving-stone gave up its man ; but were 
 there none but loafers ? Thanks to Fouche, who, as in treachery 
 so in the matters of spies and information, has " gone better " 
 than anyone else, it was a well-known fact that a secret which 
 three persons shared was no secret to the police. Now I was 
 surrounded not by three persons, but by more than two hundred, 
 and though I at once jumped into a hackney-coach, leaving 
 Jacques to look after the carriage, it was ten to one that some 
 knave had recognised me. 
 
 After this, the only disappointment possible was not to find 
 my wife at Paris ; and, as the fiend would have it, she had the 
 day before heard of the order relating to the generals from 
 Portugal, and, learning that the Duchess of Abrantes had just 
 started for La Eochelle, she had concluded that I, too, should not 
 venture to show myself in Paris, and had thought she would go 
 and meet me at Tours. To crown all, instead of going by 
 Chartres, she had taken the road by Orleans, which she never 
 used to do. I could only wait, and asked for the children. Nais 
 was brought, but as soon as she saw me she ran and rolled herself 
 up in the muslin window-curtains, shrieking when I came near 
 her, and remaining unapproachable all the day. On the other 
 hand, Claire, when brought in by her nurse, showed that she was 
 already quite good and amiable. She let me take her and kiss 
 her, fixing her great blue eyes on me. She had been bom in 
 my absence, the news of her birth reaching me after I had been 
 a few months in Portugal.* Aljout midnight my wife returned 
 and my happiness was complete. 
 
 * Mile Claire Thicbault died April !», 1894, -wbon these Memoirs, which 
 she herself had never read, were passing through the press ; leaviug to those 
 who knew her the memory of a simple and kindly nature, a generous heart, 
 and a d'licate wit. — Ei>.
 
 232 MEMOIRS OF OENEEAL TBIEBAVLT 
 
 On the Monday after my arrival I had been dining witk 
 some friends ; just as we rose from table in came an aide-de- 
 camp from Hulin, Avho then was military governor. Amid the 
 enjoyment of the first days I had quite forgotten my accident 
 on the boulevard. I saw none but friends on whose silence 
 I could count ; and as I went out little, and only in a carriage, 
 I had hoped to escape the police-spies. But at that period of 
 the Empire one did not escape them, and the breakage of my 
 axle had been quite enough to draw attention to me. Hulin's 
 messenger brought a letter from the Minister for War, beginning, 
 " I am much surprised, general, that you have taken the liberty 
 of coming to Paris, in contravention of the Emperor's orders," 
 and ending with an order to return to my post on the following 
 morning — that is, to rejoin the army, which now, a month after 
 its disembarkation, was about to go back to Spain. The first 
 division was, indeed, in pursuance of the orders I had left, on its 
 way from Auray to Bordeaux. 
 
 I had hoped that they would have winked at my coming ; but, 
 though mistaken as to this, I was not taken unawares. One 
 thing calculated to develop my refractory mood was that on the 
 envelope of the letter Clarke had clapped an enormous " General 
 of brigade." Now, if I had not had a centime in the house, I 
 would not have agreed to serve in that capacity. The campaign 
 in Portugal had added still further to my claims and to my 
 irritation ; for the end of it had been that I was the only one in 
 that army who had received neither rank nor money, and I had 
 just saved a division from being taken as prisoners of war to 
 England. So I had vowed never to wear my major-general's 
 uniform again, unless to go and declare that I was giving it up 
 for ever ; that is, to get done with the business by an audience 
 which I was resolved to demand of the Emperor. My income 
 was sufficient to allow me to choose between independence and 
 a humiliating position ; and there was as yet nothing to show 
 that the Emperor would not do me the justice I expected of 
 him. 1 knew that he had been well satisfied with my report of 
 the expedition, and I had heard on good authority that I was 
 to be made general of division and count. All these considera- 
 tions determined mv line of conduct. As the Minister's lettex"
 
 CONSEQUENCE OF A BROKEN AXLE 233 
 
 re(iuircd a written reply by the beiU'er, this went at once, to the 
 ellect that none of the motives fur the proliibitiou could have 
 any application to my case ; that, as regarded the moral effect of 
 our evacuation of Portugal, I could not fail to carry out the 
 views of the government, and that in this respect my presence 
 for a moment in l*aris could not fail to be of use ; that to have 
 gone round by Paris would not prevent me from reaching Bor- 
 deaux at the same time as my effects, for 1 had no orders to post 
 thither, and should have marched like the other generals ; and, 
 moreover, tliat I had been called to Paris by serious family 
 reasons, having had the misfortune while in Portugal to lose my 
 father. "Pinally," I added, "1 stai't next Saturday, because 
 that has always been the day fixed for my departure." 
 
 I felt that the last sentence was indecorous ; but the more 1 
 had restrained myself in the rest of my letter, the less control I 
 had over my final words. My wife was frightened ; but I would 
 not alter it, for I could not let them think I was going next 
 day, and lay myself open to a fresh letter for not having gone. 
 Next morning I went to pitch into Hulin, to whose espionage 
 I ascribed what had happened. I told him that nothing in the 
 world should make me start before Saturday, and bade him go 
 and tell the Minister that, if they pushed things to extremities 
 with me, I would not go at all. Poor Hulin tried to soothe me, 
 with no gi-eat success; but, to cut the story short, I heard 
 no more of the matter from anyone. I have always attributed 
 this moderation to the Emperor's satisfaction with my report 
 forwarded from Quiberon. As soon as he arrived from Erfurt, 
 he had sent for Clarke and said, " Have you any news from the 
 Army of Portugal ? " On his reply, " I have just received a 
 long report from the chief of the staff, which I have not read," 
 the Emperor had added, " Go and fetch it." And he at once 
 fell to, and read once and again the eighty or hundred pages 
 without laying it do\\Ti. Under these conditions it was not easy 
 for Master Clarke to come down heavily on me for a breach of 
 orders which did no harm to anyone. So I had the benefit of 
 his silence, and owed him no thanks. 
 
 On the Saturday 1 duly left Paris. My wife went with me 
 as far as Tours, where we passed two more days together.
 
 234 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 Then we had to part; she to go back to her children, I to 
 return to the Peninsula, I reached Bordeaux on the morning 
 of November 25, and went to call on the Duke of Abrantes. 
 " Here you are at last," he said when he saw me. " Yes, sir, 
 in accordance with my marching orders, which I lay before you, 
 and which fix to-day for my arrival," He began to laugh, 
 " Look at these two papers," he continued, taking them from his 
 desk and showing them to me. " According to one, I have to 
 punish you" — this w^as a sharp complaint of me from the 
 Minister — " according to the other, I have to congratulate you. 
 The first may amuse you — it gives a good picture of Clarke's 
 character ; as for the second, over the terms of which I may 
 embrace you, it confirms your promotion to general of division." 
 Thus for the second time the much-desired step, so anxiously 
 awaited, was gained. My ill-temper was dispelled, and all 
 uncertainties respecting the continuance of my career, now 
 secure, were at an end. It was amusing that the announcement 
 of it should come simultaneously with a fulmination from 
 Clarke, who had doubtless denounced me to the Prince of 
 Neuchatel as he had to Junot, and who must have been annoyed 
 that his denunciation — the ten-thousandth, perhaps, that he had 
 made — should be answered by my promotion. Less pleasant 
 was the letter from his Highness the chief of the staff, dated 
 Burgos, November 19, Here it is : — 
 
 " To Major-General Thiebault, Chief of Staff to the 8th Corps 
 of the Army of Spain. 
 
 " Sir, — I hasten to inform you that the Emperor, by decree of this daj', 
 has appointed you general of division. 
 
 " His Majesty authorizes rae to give you this information provisionally, 
 in anticipation of that which you will receive officially from the Minister for 
 War. 
 
 (Signed) " The Prince of NeuchAtkl, Vice- Constable, 
 Chief of the Staff, Alexander." 
 
 I defy anyone to imagine anything drier, Not a w^ord of 
 courteous opening, and the term " sir " substituted for " general " ; 
 also the title " major-general " retained in the address, though 
 when the letter was written it no longer belonged to me. The 
 tone of the letter portended no more good- will in the future
 
 ACROSS THE BIDASSOA ONCE MORE 235 
 
 than iu the past. Xone the less, 1 had obtiiLned justice from 
 the Emperor, and for the present that must suffice ; and I felt 
 pretty well satisfied, in spite of Clarke's wTath and Berthier's 
 ill-temper. 
 
 This was the last 1 had to do, from a military point of view, 
 with the Duke of Abrantes, one of the three men for whom I 
 have felt most attachment. I have long since forgiven him for 
 not keeping his word about the 300,000 francs, though the fulfil- 
 ment of it would have meant a secure existence for myself and 
 my family. 
 
 I remained eleven days at Bordeaux, getting together the 
 troops who came from Auray with the small number who, like 
 the commander-in-chief, had landed at Eochelle, not to mention 
 the detachments arriving from the depots. Eegiments, brigades, 
 and divisions had to be definitely re-formed, furnished with 
 what they needed, and sent forward to Bayonne. We remained 
 there from the 12th to the 19th of December. The year before 
 we had been kept there for fifty-one days; but we had now 
 many fewer hopes and illusions, many more regrets and appre- 
 hensions. It was no longer a matter of adding laurels to laurels, 
 of giving new life by new triumphs to the lustre of our arms, 
 of adding by dint of conquests to our preponderance in Europe. 
 Now we had reverses to tone down, insults to wipe out ; we had 
 entered upon that road of misfortune which was to lead, at the 
 end of a long and convulsive death-struggle, to the invasion and 
 splitting-up of France, and to the ilownfall of the mighty 
 Empire. 
 
 On December 20 1 crossed the Bidassoa for the fourth time 
 in my life, but this time with no certain destination, and in a 
 position no less false than that in which General Junot found 
 himself. He had become Duke of Abrantes ; but he was no 
 longer senior aide-de-camp to the Emperor, or governor of 
 Paris, or commander-in-chief. As for me, who, when major- 
 general, had been chief of the staff to an army, including Spanish 
 and Portuguese troops, of 51,000 men, in whose doings the 
 whole world took an interest, I now found myself, as lieutenant- 
 general, merely chief of the staff" to a corps of 20,000 men, 
 numbered "8," and so reduced to an obscure fraction of the
 
 236 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 whole that it once had been. For the duke and myself, it was 
 a case of having been exalted to be abased. 
 
 My position soon seemed to get worse, for Junot, whose 
 sympathy alone rendered it tolerable, received orders to leave 
 the 8th Corps and go to take command of the 3rd in Aragon. 
 Por the moment no chief took his place, so that the various 
 portions of the corps, now really a body without a soul, 
 continued their movements under command of General Loison. 
 On January 6 we reached Leon. But all this did not satisfy me. 
 It was too far from the functions I had been performing and 
 those which were left to me. Therefore, as soon as I heard that 
 the Emperor was or was just going to be at Valladolid, I went 
 and told Loison that I was leaving the 8th Corps and going to 
 the imperial headquarters, and I asked him kindly to see to the 
 provisional supplying of my place. " Is all that out of your 
 own head ? " " Yes," I said, and added, laughing, " Acting as 
 my own commander-in-chief, I have just decided on this dispo- 
 sition of my forces, and charged myself with carrying it out." 
 " But do you remember the passage relating to you in the order 
 in compliance with which the duke left the army — ' Your chief 
 of staff will remain with the 8th Corps ' ? " " Quite well." " And 
 you go in spite of that ? " " Certainly." " And to Valladolid ? " 
 "Just as I left Vannes for Paris." "You are playing pretty 
 high ! " I started ; but, by an extraordinary coincidence, on 
 the way I received the very order which I was executing, and 
 all that remained of a step something more than audacious 
 was an act of submission. The promptitude with which I 
 appeared, the lesult of my insubordination, seemed a proof of 
 my zeal. 
 
 I reached Valladolid a little before noon, and went to the 
 march-past, which the Emperor held every day himself. I had 
 hardly got to the ground when he appeared. After the 
 inspection he caught sight of General Legendre, who had been 
 chief of the staff to Dupont's corps. Instantly, with a look of 
 thunder, he addressed him in these words : " You are a bold man 
 to show yourself before me ! " A temble scene followed, in 
 which Legendre vainly tried to find excuses for the conduct of 
 the generals at Baylen. Xapoleon would hear none of them.
 
 ''YOUR HAND DID NOT DltY UP!" 237 
 
 His iuvective became fiercer uiul fiercer, until he ended by 
 saying, " And your hand did not dry up when you took the 
 order to Vedel to lay down his uims: If, iu.i.;((I of giving 
 way to sortlid interest or disgraceful panic, you had fought 
 instead of capitulating ; if you had formed attacking columns 
 instead of deploying ; if yon had kept your troops concentrated 
 instead of breaking them up — you would liave beaten the 
 Spaniards and kept our retreat open. The insun-ection in 
 Spain would not have been so unprecedently successful; 
 England would not have had an army in the Peninsula ; and 
 what a difference in the way things would have turned out, 
 jjerhaps in the destiny of the world 1 " 
 
 As he uttered the last words he turned his Ijack on General 
 Legendre, who at once left the ground and, soon after, 
 Valladoliil. Thus ended that memorable scene, which for any 
 other than Legendre would have ended more than his career.* 
 
 Tliough General Legendre's position and mine were far from 
 being identical, there yet was some analogy between them. I 
 had, indeed, been struck by the fact that in the whole of his 
 crushing peroration the Emperor had avoided all allusion to the 
 Army of Portugal. lie had no doubt honoured me only with a 
 nod, but there had been no frown on his face at the sicht of me. 
 He had even sent for me to Valladolid. Yet I, like Legendre, 
 had l)een chief of the staff to an army which had given up to 
 the enemy the country it was appointed to defend^ find in 
 relying on him for its conveyance back to France had only 
 saved appearances. If I felt quite easy as to anyone re- 
 proaching me with having sacrificed anything whatever to save 
 my filthy gold, I none the less knew that in the matter of 
 theft, extortion, profits or partitions, Portugal left Andalusia 
 no ground for jealousy. I was therefore glad to have remained 
 unperceived at that parade, and not to have to appear before the 
 Emperor immediately after such a ^•iolent outburst of WTath. 
 As I went back to my quarters, I was congratulating myself 
 to my aides-de-camp, when I heard my name called. It was 
 
 * [This, and the following scene between Thiebaiilt himself and Naiwleon, 
 have heeri merely summarized, owiti;:; to considerations of space. The latter 
 has alreiuly been given pretty fully i>y the Duchess cf Abrantes in her il/f mo;>s.]
 
 238 MEMO IBS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 Savaiy, running after me to say, " The Emperor sends orders 
 that you are to be with him in a quarter of an hour." A 
 quarter of an hour was doubtless not a long time in which 
 to appease the wave after such very rough weather, though 
 Frederick II had taught my father that it was enough. 
 Anyhow, I had only to prepare seriously for the audience to 
 which I was summoned. 
 
 One thing I was determined upon ; I would do nothing to 
 injure the Duke of Abrantes with Napoleon. The Emperor greeted 
 me with a simple " Good morning, sir," and continued : " So you 
 capitulated to the English and evacuated Portugal ! " " Sii'," I" 
 replied, " the Duke of Abrantes yielded only to necessity, and 
 he extorted an honourable treaty from people who, if he had 
 been in command of them, would not have gi^anted us even a 
 capitulation." "What passed at Lisbon," he returned, "was 
 only the consequence of what happened at Vimiero. That, sir, is 
 when you ought to have beaten the enemy, and when you would 
 have beaten him if great blunders had not been committed." 
 
 I saw, on the one hand, that he had made up his mind not to 
 pronounce Junot's name, and that his " you " was a turn of phrase 
 with which I need not trouble myself; on the other, that as 
 mistakes had as a matter of fact been committed both on the 
 field of battle and on the way thither, I had better avoid 
 picking up the glove, — that is, defending what was indefensible. 
 We had a long discussion as to the forces at the disposal of 
 both sides. He compared our action unfavourably with that of 
 Soult, who had driven the enemy out of the Peninsula. I 
 pointed out that Soult had as much failed to hinder the 
 embarkation of the English army as Junot to carry the position 
 of Vimiero. He laid his finger on most of the weak spots 
 in our disposition ; and I was amazed to find that he really 
 remembered the contents of my report better than I did myself. 
 I was, however, able in some cases to show justification, in 
 others to demonstrate that measures which it now appeared as 
 if we ought to have taken would, at the time when they could 
 have been taken with effect, have been obviously prematui-e. 
 
 He put a number of questions to me upon the nature and 
 degree of the difficulties which the various provinces of Portugal
 
 "HAVE YOU ANY BEQUEST 10 MAKEV 239 
 
 presented to a hostile force, and took some notes. Here I had 
 no hesitation ; no one at that time knew Portugal better than I 
 did. The new campaign upon which he was about to employ 
 Marshal Soult was the theme of inquiries for wliich he might 
 not have another opportunity. "With regard to the marshal's 
 route, he said, " It is a case of crossing rivers instead of crossing 
 mountains ; " and in fact, in marching within reach of the coast 
 from Galicia to Lisbon, one has to cross the Minho, the Douro, 
 the Vouga, and the Mondego. But, as I observed, if they were 
 more in number and larger, it would be better than going 
 through the Beii-a and Tras os ]\Iontes. "Marshal Soult," I 
 added, " will only have to act along practicable roads ; he will 
 march through a land of plenty ; he will be able to operate 
 everywhere, and in order to cross the three chief rivers lie will 
 have at his disposal the resources of Tuy, Oporto, and Coimbra." 
 He relished tliis reply, which justified his plan, and every- 
 thing made me think that the interview had satisfied him. A 
 few questions served to extract the remaining information which 
 he wanted from me. Then he stopped, and, turning toward me 
 with the manner and tone to which he was so well able to 
 impart~^ii air of kindliness, and to which the power of his gaze 
 and tEe wonderful expression of his mouth gave an indefinable, 
 let me^say in-esistible, charm, he said, " Well, General Thiebault, 
 have you any request to make of me ? " " Yes, sir," I answered ; 
 " the Count of IS'ovion, who was commanding the police when 
 we arrived in Portugal, and who opened the gates of Lisbon to 
 us, and did so much to prevent any resistance being made to 
 us ; whom your majesty appointed major-general ; who during 
 the recent events threw in his lot with us, and retiurned to 
 France with the army — was arrested as an emigre the moment he 
 landed, and is now in prison at Kantes. I consider it my duty 
 to appeal to your Majesty for liis release, and to commend him 
 to your favour." " Can you give me a written statement of 
 what you say ? " he returned, with a half-surprised look. 
 " Certainly, sir." " In that case, let me have your memorandum 
 as soon as it is ready. I am sending a messenger to Paris at 
 four o'clock, and I will see that your request is canied out." A 
 week later the Count of Novion was at liberty. After that, with
 
 240 MEMOIRS OF OENEPxAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 equal kindness, he resumed : " Well, General Thiebaull, have 
 you any other request?" Destiny, sj^iteful destiny, willed 
 that in the teeth of, or on account of, my bad luck, which had 
 already lasted so long, I should look upon myself as having too 
 many claims to condescend to a request. In spite of my five 
 vears in Italy and my services at Austerlitz — although I had 
 been appointed adjutant-general on the field of battle at Naples, 
 and general of brigade under similar conditions at Genoa — 
 honours, orders, titles, and gratuities had not fallen to my share. 
 I had, I repeat, so many claims to put forward that I knew not 
 where to begin; and to be reduced to humble myself was a 
 thing that always scared my pride. Convinced that my service 
 spoke loudly enough, I replied, "No, sir." Instantly the 
 Emperor's brow clouded, and he dismissed me Avith the words, 
 " In that case, sir, I wish you good morning." 
 
 As I passed through the waiting-room, where from the length 
 of my audience — it had lasted over an hour and a half — they had 
 all been thinking that my fortune was made, Savary came up to 
 me and eagerly asked, " Well, what have you got ? " " Nothing." 
 '< "Why, did not the Emperor give you a chance of asking for 
 
 anything?" "Yes, twice." "D it all, that's too much ! " The 
 
 strength of his language meant a good deal, but it came too late. 
 I wished that Savary had given me a hint Ijefore my audience. 
 However, I understood how all that was kind and honourable 
 in the Emperor's first impulses gave way to the pride of power, 
 and this made him tolerate any importunity, any audacity, any 
 want of respect on the part of suppliants, just for the satisfaction 
 of being invoked or prayed to like a deity. These requests and 
 supplications were abasements that had to be submitted to if one 
 would obtain even the best-earned rewards. What was in every 
 sense a matter of mere equity had to be received as a favour, 
 and to him who did not know how to solicit his reticence was 
 imputed as a crime, when it ought to have contrasted favourably 
 with the shameless beggary of others. Anyhow, I missed the 
 last opportunity that destiny offered me of grasping fortune, and 
 perhaps of preventing the misfortunes which ruined the end of 
 my career and made my life torture ; and that because I was 
 not thoroughly imbued with the idea that with all sovereigns
 
 NAPOLEON'S RIDE 241 
 
 you must ask, and a fortiori never refuse; while with Napoleon, 
 in regard to favours, the only thing Heeded was just to fatten.* 
 
 However, the Emperor was not ' inclined ^Eo neglect the 
 interests of his service, and continued to employ me in high 
 functions. The next day, in fact, I was appointed governor of 
 the three Uasque Provinces. Five dtiys lateiTljeiiTg disgilsfed 
 with the condition of Burgos, and finding Vitoria well enough 
 commanded by one of the three generals of brigade whom I was 
 to have under my command, the Emperor, as will be seen, 
 changed my destination and appointed me governor of Ohl 
 Castile. The command M'as important, and involved the con- 
 quest of various difficulties which it took unprecedented efforts 
 and labour to conquer. However, the first order reached me 
 that evening, and on the morrow I was off for Yitoria. 
 
 I was drawing near the last place where I was to sleep 
 before reaching Burgos (on January 17) ; 1 was in my carriage 
 — aides-de-camp, secretary, servants, escort, riding after. My 
 servant Jacques suddenly said, " Here is the Emperor, I think." 
 I was on the point of alighting when I heard some one call, 
 " Who is in that caniage ? " Jacques had hardly time to reply, 
 " General Thiebault," when the party tore past me. Savary was 
 first ; after him came the Emperor, simultaneously lashing the 
 horse of his aide-de-camp and digging the spurs into his own. He 
 was upon that incredible ride in which he covered the distance 
 from A^alladolid to Burgos — some seventy-tivc miles — in three 
 hours mid a half. A good minute after them Duroc and the 
 Emperor's Mameluke galloped by, and at a like distance after 
 them came a guide, exhausted with the effort to make up his 
 lost ground, and four more brought up the rear as they best 
 could. The journey was not more extraordinary for its speed 
 than from the fact that the Emperor accomplished it with as 
 a rule only one person at liis side, in the teeth of the guerri- 
 lleros, who were already organized, and of tlie exasperation 
 prevailing among the proud Castilians. It was Ciesar and his 
 fortune again — a fortune ^^'liTch Loth CVesar and Xapoleon had 
 to pliy for. 
 
 * " I never give unless I am asked ; the Empress herself gets nothing 
 ■without asking for it," said Xapoleon on one occasion. 
 
 VOL. II. E
 
 242 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEDAULT 
 
 At Burgos the Emperor had occupied the Archbishop's palace, 
 and I was lodged in the rooms which he had just left. Every- 
 thing recalled his presence. His bed, in which I slept, had not 
 been made; his table was covered with fragments of paper, 
 pens, and dust ; the chairs were standing about ; half-bnrnt 
 tapers were in the candlesticks. All the disorder said, "For 
 twelve hours this was the centre of the world." "" 
 
 'WTien I was in Massena's division, I had known a major in 
 the 32nd who came, I think, from Marseilles, a regular " Troun 
 de Dious." * In Egypt he had been made colonel — rightly 
 enough, because at the head of a regiment, especially the Pro- 
 ^'enpals of the 32nd, he could be trusted to act with the certainty 
 of a battering-ram. Later on he was made general of brigade, 
 which was less necessary, and, finally, general of division, which 
 was not necessary at all, and governor of Old Castile, which 
 could not fail to be disastrous. This man, Darmagnac by name, 
 having his headquarters at Burgos, asked me to dinner as soon 
 as he heard of my arrival. My aides-de-camp were included, 
 and I went with them. Directly we got there news came that 
 a soldier had been murdered. There was, unhappily, nothing 
 unusual about this. Darmagnac had been sixty days in com- 
 mand at Burgos, and for sixty days pillage and devastation had 
 been going on with a frenzy that can hardly be imagined. The 
 inhabitants were beside themselves with rage and despair, and 
 the scarcity of everything, amounting to famine, increased the 
 epidemics which were eating up our troops. The town was a 
 horrible, the country a pitiful, sight. Instead of coming to 
 terms, peasants and soldiers killed till either side could conju- 
 gate every tense of the verb "to assassinate." But, with a 
 character like Darmagnac's, there could be no idea of remedy 
 or conciliation, only of vengeance, and of a vengeance sure to 
 be fertile of reprisals. Thus, after reading the letter which 
 announced the soldier's death, he began to stride up and down 
 the kind of drawing-room in which he received us, and treated 
 us to the following monologue : — " Poor beggar ! I will avenge 
 you, if it were on a hundred innocent persons. I feel my anger 
 
 * [Provencal for " Tonnerre de Dieu," aa expletive equivalent to the stage 
 Irishman's " Tare and 'ouns."l
 
 A CHANGE FOR THE WORSE 243 
 
 gettinfT the better of me, and blood calls for blood." It would 
 liave been a scene from the transpontine drama had it not been 
 one of real savagery. I "was disgusted, and my aides-de-camj) 
 no less so ; and we were indignant at having to spend two 
 hours with this ex-cook, ignorant as a kitchen-boy, l)rutal as 
 any boor, who treated men as he had l)ccu wont to heat 
 turkeys and rabbits ; a man of the Terror, into the bargain, like 
 Cauuel or Donnadieu, and destined like them to enjoy the 
 favours of the" Eestoration and wear the trappings of tlie 
 Bourbons. 
 
 Next morning my ch.rriage was ready at eight, and the 
 luggage was nearly all in. My people were all mounted, and 
 I was taking a last look at a bivduac fire burning in the little 
 square before the palace, upon which the soldiers in the joy of 
 their hearts had just thrown a whole pianoforte — in short, I was 
 abouT~to get away from that town, the scene of all these 
 abominations, when an imperial messenger, coming from Vitoria 
 on his way to Yalladolid, where the Prince of Xeuchatel still 
 remained, asked for me and gave me a letter from Duroc. It 
 was in these terms : " ]\Iy dear general, the Emperor bids me 
 write and tell you to wait at Burgos for further orders from the 
 Prince of Neuchatel." I shuddered. It meant losing a govern- 
 ment which I liked all the better because my wife could have 
 come to Yitoria at once. I was evidently to replace this 
 Darmagnac, who, if he was leaving everything to be done in 
 the way of good, had done a consummate amount of harm ; 
 instead of l)eing in contact with a population who had so far 
 shown no great hostility, I should have to do with nearly 
 800,000 exasperated and ruined inhabitants, and, instead of 
 living at the gates of France and in one of the prettiest towns 
 of Spain, my residence would be not only in the centre, but in 
 one of its most miserable cities. So it was with a heavy heart 
 that I sent an aide-de-camp to give Darmagnac Duroc's letter 
 to read, and had my luggage again brought indoors, while my 
 horses and I resumed the quarters which 1 had hoped never to 
 see again. 
 
 However, I felt that the Emperor had excellent reasons for 
 putting me in Darmagnac's place ; and to pass the time until 
 
 R 2
 
 2-44 2IEM0IBS OF GENERAL TBIEBAULI 
 
 my appointment was confirmed and escape from useless regrets, 
 I abandoned myself to the pleasures of imagination, which have 
 always done more than reason to make me forget my troubles. 
 From one subject to another I passed to that of the ballads 
 which I loved to hear my wife sing, and thence to that of 
 ballad-music generallv. The idea of writing a little work on 
 the subject came into my head. I fell to, and wrote all that 
 day and part of the night ; and not half an hour after I had 
 finished the Emperor's messenger came back, with orders for 
 Darmagnac to go to Madrid, and for myself a nomination as 
 governor of Old Castile.
 
 f 
 
 C 245 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 My new government — Dishonest practices — Cleansing the Augean stable — 
 Burgos without a garrison — Marshal ilortier — An attack impending — 
 Putting a bdl.l face on it — The last of La Salle. 
 
 As soon as I had received my nomination I visited Darmaijnac 
 to arrange about taking over the government. He asked to stay 
 for three days longer, l)ut I declined to hear of this ; and it was 
 settled that he should call on me next evening in plain clothes 
 with a general report on the state of the province. After leaving 
 liim I went round the town, finding a most melancholy spectacle. 
 Deserted by part of its population, it looked like a desolate 
 solitude — in parts a sink of filth. Famine, ruin, despair, pesti- 
 lence prevailed, with death as the sole remedy. The hospitals, 
 established in deserted convents, were filthv and neglected. 
 The service was utterly disorganized. Passing troops supplied 
 themselves by pillage, and the garrison lived on what they 
 brought in. Force, violence, brutality formed all the law there 
 was, and no redress was to be had even for the gravest crimes. 
 
 Tlie day after my orders came, as I was again going round 
 the town, I saw a peasant holding a letter with which he seemetl 
 not to know what to do. I made him give it me; it was 
 addressed to one Astulez at Palenzuela. I knew that much 
 grain had been and still was l)eiug carried off in that direction, 
 and that this Astulez was one of the agents most frequently 
 employed in operations of the kind. This was quite enough to 
 make me keep the letter, which was written, though not signed, 
 by General Darmagnac's aide-de-camp. Here are some extracts 
 from it : " As you know that if we do not help ourselves others 
 will, it would suit me verv well if vou would send me 200
 
 246 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 fanegas * ou our joint account. I rely on you .... But silence ! 
 We have no need to blame ourselves, since the corn is not for 
 the general. Farewell ; make a good job of it." And by way 
 of postscript : " You will understand that the corn on our 
 account is not to be addressed to the general." So General 
 Darmagnae, speculating on the rise in the price of corn caused 
 I »y his own criminal maladministration, and on the dearth which 
 he had brought about, had been having corn stolen on his account ; 
 ihe thieves had been taking the opportunity of stealing for their 
 own profit, and the aide-de-camp had been going shares with 
 ihem. Chance having revealed this abominable traffic to me, I 
 at once made hue and cry after all grain coming from that 
 ([uarter, and met with no opposition and no risk, since the 
 matter could only come before my tribunal. Thus I had an 
 unexpected resource to meet the first need.f 
 
 With this and a quantity of other information, by the time 
 I received the civil and military authorities of Burgos, I knew 
 enough about the state of affairs to be able to administer to each 
 the reprimand he required. It soon became known to everybody, 
 and especially to the military governor and the commissary, that 
 faults and disorders would no longer go unpunished. After the 
 receptions came the inspection of the troops, and, having called 
 the officers into a circle, I told them how disgusted I was to 
 find that their soldiers had under their very eyes been reaping 
 the fruits of sixty days' plundering ; adding that in future I 
 should hold them responsible. 
 
 The first meeting of the governing body took place in the 
 evening of the day of my installation. I began by saying that 
 I meant to change the state of things. " Your Excellency is 
 undertaking to cleanse a more than Augean staljle," said the 
 respected prefect, Blanco de Salcedo. " I am undertaking 
 nothing," I replied, " that I am not certain to accomplish with 
 your co-operation. It is our business to find the means." My 
 
 * [A trifle over 300 bu.shek.] 
 
 t The original of the letter refern d to was found among the papers left by 
 General Thiebault. Tliere is another postscript : " I enclose a letter for the 
 lieutenant of hussars who is placed at your disposal, and who wiil withdraw 
 when the job is done." — Ed.
 
 .I.V AUGEAN STABLE 247 
 
 hearers were not all convinced, I'ur next day the director of" 
 iiuances, named Casa, wrote to bis chief, Count CabaiTus : " "We 
 have a new governor, who says he is going to change the state 
 of these provinces ; what he is undertaking is beyond liuman 
 power." Six weeks later the same man wrote — I saw the 
 minute of his letter : " What is going on here is something 
 like a miracle." But during those six weeks I had only three 
 times taken off my clothes and gone to bed. 
 
 On leaving Valladolid, the Emperor had entrusted the chief 
 authority to the Prince of Neuchatel. He exercised it, or 
 rather failed to exercise it, for a few days only ; and when he 
 departed to rejoin the Emperor at Paris, he left Marshal 
 Bessieres as commander-in-chief of the army of Xorthern Spain, 
 occupying the whole space between Eodrigo and Irun. The 
 marshal in his turn only stayed in the Peninsula long enough to 
 send off the various corps of the Imperial Guard, and was replaced 
 after an interval by General Kellermann. I had nothing but good 
 to say of either, both understanding that the way to stimulate 
 my zeal was to leave me a free hand. The Duke of Istria 
 approved whatever I did, authorized whatever I proposed, and 
 gave me the means of procuring the funds indispensable for 
 the works I was having earned out. But as soon as I began 
 to incur financial responsibilities, I replaced my governing 
 council, which was no longer needed, by an administrative 
 Junta, composed of the prefect, the director of finance, and the 
 corregidor. Three times a week all business, all expenditure, 
 except the most urgent, was taken three times over, first for 
 proposal, then for discussion, lastly for decision; sometimes a 
 fourth time for revision. 
 
 "With the support of this assembly I was getting ready to 
 reap all the benefits of peace in Old Castile, when suddenly 
 General Ballesteros flung himself into the Asturias with 
 17,000 men. It was said that he meant to wait there, and 
 facilitate the landing of a body of English troops. We were 
 seriously threatened, and Kellermann received orders from 
 Marshal Jourdan, Joseph's chief of staff, to concentrate at once 
 all the troops at Salamanca, Burgos, and Valladolid, and then
 
 248 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 in conjuuction with Ney, who was to come, I think, from 
 Gallicia, to march against Ballesteros. They did in point of 
 fact attack him and drive him out of the Asturias, but 
 the operation phiced me in a most annoying position. In 
 pursuance of the orders received, I had sent my men, to the 
 very last, away. The chief of the staff had indeed advised me 
 that Marshal ]\Iortier, on his way from Aragon to IMadrid with 
 his army corps, had orders to leave me as many men as I had 
 sent away. I thought I might reckon on this compensation, 
 and was, therefore, no less surprised than disgusted when iii 
 reply to my inquiry the marshal said, " I hold the command 
 of my army corps from the Emperor, and no one has any right 
 to break it up. My troops will be commanded only by my 
 own generals, and I declare to you that I will not allow you a 
 single man." " Marshal," I returned, " there is no granting 
 or refusing till a request has been made, and I beg you to 
 observe that that is the case here. It is no c^uestion of myself, 
 but of the authority by whom the orders you have received 
 were issued ; namely, that of the King, the Emperor's lieutenant 
 and substitute in Spain. Burgos is from every point of view 
 the most important place between Irun and Madrid, to say 
 nothing of the fact that it contains 12,000 sick and wounded. 
 Moreover, the construction of a fort, intended to be a citadel, is 
 just begun, and the very workmen want watching. ISTow on 
 the arrival of your first troops every man, even to my very 
 guard, left this place ; and if you leave no one here, there will be 
 no one. As my responsibility does not extend to the use of 
 the only sound arm I have left, it will not be I that will have 
 to account to the Emperor for any disaster that may result 
 from the abandonment of this place." I thought that he might 
 be struck by what I said, and ashamed of what he had said 
 to me, according to the dictum of one of our moralists — 
 "Nothing is so stupid as a clever man in face of sound 
 reasoning." But Marshal Mortier was imperturbable. I always 
 considered this marshal's elevation as an instance of those 
 little ways in which the great ones of the earth are fond 
 of showing their power Ijy misusing it. In spite of the energy
 
 SnORT-TIANDED 210 
 
 he displayed at Krems,* Mortier -was none the less one of 
 the most wretched marshals appointed by Napoleon — for one 
 moment is not enough to make a man. Yet if I speak of him 
 as a poor creature, I do not deny that he may have been a 
 good fellow and a very brave man ; nor is my opinion to this 
 effect founded alone on his feat of arms at Krems, brilliant as 
 that was. ]\Iortier, always Ijrave, was brave at Krems in an 
 exalted degree, and raised to heroism what in another would 
 have been only the courage of despair. However that may 
 be, I was convinced that his ol)stinacy, which he considered 
 firmness, left me no hope, and I jjarted with him, saying, " As 
 you please ; but to-day's messengers will take my reports to 
 Paris and to IMadrid." 
 
 On leaving him, I met Girard, the brilliant officer who had 
 formerly been aide-de-camp to General ]Monnier, and who, being 
 then a general of brigade in the marshal's corps, was provision- 
 ally in command of the division which Suchet had just quitted. 
 He told me that the marshal had spoken to him of his determi- 
 nation not to defer to the King's order, while he himself, using 
 the same arguments as I had done, had ended by proposing to 
 leave me at least one regiment ; but with no result. 
 
 Early the next morning, just as the last division of the army 
 corps was about to march out, I received a letter from the chief 
 of the marshal's staff, informing me that the colonels had orders 
 to leave the post occupied, for it was notorious that I had no 
 one to relieve guard. So Burgos remained in charge of some 
 250 men ; but even then the colonels, finding themselves able 
 to choose the men, left me only 250 sick, who ought to have 
 been in hospital. Por three days and nights these poor fellows 
 were forced to remain in guard-rooms, where several died. 
 
 This state of things had lasted for thirtv hours, when the 
 prefect came running in to tell me that Ballesteros, who had 
 been driven out of the Asturias, but was not pursued, had just 
 arrived with 17,000 men within ten miles of Burgos, and 
 
 * [On the march upon Vienna in 1805, wlien Mortier, with tho divisions 
 of Dupont and Gazan, was isolated un the left bank of the Danube, and had 
 to cut his way through Kutusofl's army, three or four times outnumbering 
 his own force.]
 
 250 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 intended to attack and carry the place with the bayonet next 
 day. " Very kind of him," I said, " thus to postpone what it 
 would be so easy to do at once." Still, while unable to advise 
 the prefect not to take such measures as seemed desirable for 
 himself and his family, I asked him not to spread any 
 alarm. In spite, however, of my precautions, the town was 
 soon in a state of active agitation. I went all over it, and then 
 went to inspect the works at the fort ; that is, to show myself to 
 the numerous Spanish workmen who were employed there. As 
 I went round, accompanied by the military governor and the 
 commissary, I enjoined all the necessary measures to ensure that 
 at the first tap of the drum all the Frenchmen in Burgos, 
 including all in the hospitals who could stand, should be 
 assembled and armed. On my way home I looked in on the 
 commissioner of police, and told him to send some safe men in 
 the direction of Ballesteros' camp, so as to keep me informed of 
 any movements which might go on in that direction. Still, do 
 what I might, I w^as at his mercy ; and in my anger I was still 
 looking after non-existent ways out of it, when a deputation 
 from the inhabitants was announced. 
 
 The deputation w^as composed of honourable men, several of 
 whom were unknown to me, while some were known as no 
 friends of mine. One of these latter was spokesman. He said 
 in efiect that, in gratitude for what I had done for the town and 
 district, the whole population constituted itself my protector. 
 While he was speaking, many thoughts assailed me. If the 
 town was under obligations to me, was it seemly for me to 
 accept the value of them at the hands of the inhabitants ? To 
 allow myself to be protected by people who ought to look to me 
 for protection was a kind of surrender, and I saw that that 
 moment was decisive of my future. As one of the Emperor's 
 generals, I had to account to him for the powers he had entrusted 
 to me, all the more so that the authority which I exercised was 
 his. It was with the manner and tone of one who is offended 
 but tries to check himself that I replied, " And what should 
 make you think that I am in want of a protector ? Gentlemen, 
 I appreciate the motives under which you have acted, but I 
 cannot approve the step you have taken. To begin with, you
 
 PUTTING A BOLD FACE ON IT 2ol 
 
 are mistukun as ru uiy resources ; uiid, further, you know uotbinpj 
 as to the movements of troops which are going on around this 
 town, or of the progress of the troops which are on the point of 
 arriving, and may soon teach General Ballesteros that he has 
 more important business on hand than to trouble himself about 
 IJurgos or me. Lastly, even if he were by any possil)ility to 
 win a few hours' success, I may tell you that the town of Burgos 
 and all that is in it would instantly be blown up. As regards 
 that, I assure you that my measures are taken and my resolu- 
 tion is irrevocable." The immense mass of powder which to 
 everyone's knowledge was at my disposal, and the firm inten- 
 tion which I showed to make use of it, disconcerted my inter- 
 locutors. Thev at once withdrew, doubtless to make use of 
 what I had told them ; for Ballesteros, after remaining for two 
 days in his camp, left it suddenly and marched towards San- 
 tander, without touching what Marshal Mortier had put so 
 completely at his disposal. From a remark of his which was 
 reported to me, I learnt that he had feared universal condemna- 
 tion if I carried out my threat ; and, in fact, he would have got 
 neither glory nor profit by fighting a handful of sick men to 
 take a town which he would probably have been unable to hold. 
 I have spoken of General Suchet ; I said that he had left the 
 division that he commanded in Marshal ]\lortier's corps. He 
 did so because he did not find it suit him to serve under so 
 incapable a chief, because he felt that he had talent to play 
 another part, and, finally, because, having nine years before been 
 lieutenant-general in command of an army, he had no idea of 
 remaining any longer at the head of a mere division. He had 
 given notice of this, and in order to cut the matter short he had 
 resigned his place just when interest was being made at Pai'is 
 for him to get Junot's place in command of the 3rd Corps. 
 Knowing that I was governor of Old Castile, he had come to 
 stay with me while awaiting fresh orders, and had even asked 
 that they might be addressed to me. In this way he passed five 
 days at Burgos, and nearly all his time in my company, for he 
 had been kind enough to accept my table as his own. Express- 
 ing his desire to take a lesson of government in a conquered 
 country, he examined all the measures I had promulgated, dis-
 
 252 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 cussed my motives for adopting them, read my proclamations, 
 visited hospitals, prisons, forts, magazines. He was, above all, 
 struck by the results I had obtained and the affection shown me 
 by the people. Just then an order had been given to the 
 guerrilleros to stop nothing that was travelling in my name or 
 was addressed to me, a compliment which only General Thou- 
 venot and General de Tilly at Segovia shared with me. At 
 length I received General Suchet's appointment to the command 
 of the 3rd Corps. On receiving it, he asked me if I would 
 ■serve ^vith him. " I can offer you," he said, " the command of 
 one of my divisions ; I need not tell you that I should think 
 myself happy to have you, and that it would be no fault of 
 mine if you were not compensated for what you leave." If I 
 could have accepted this kindly offer, which I have so often 
 regretted having refused, I should have gone with an army 
 which not long afterwards became the Army of Aragon, and 
 which was destined to have the only honourable part played by 
 our troops in Spain. I should have served under a chief who 
 was my friend, and who would have given me full credit for my 
 conduct, and at the very least I should have found myself under 
 the command of a deserving man instead of under that of an 
 incapable mountebank like Dorsenne, or a brainless peacock like 
 Caffarelli. But my wife was on the way to join me at Burgos ; 
 I had not the heart to do no more than go and spend eight days 
 with her at Bayonne, and for her sake aloue I remained in that 
 town, which I was unable to make endurable for her more than 
 a month. This was for me the befrinning of a long series of 
 vexations, while General Suchet began those glorious campaigns 
 with which it would have been at once a pride and pleasure to 
 me to be associated. 
 
 It was half-past three in the morning and I was fast asleep, 
 when I was roused with a start by the creaking of my door as 
 it was thrown suddenly open, l)y the disorderly noise of boots, 
 spurs, and a trailing sabre, and by hearing some one shout, loud 
 enough to split my head, " I am sleepy, I am thirsty, I am 
 liungry ! " It was that amiable lunatic La Salle, who had 
 galloped in advance of his equipages to pass a day with me, 
 accompanied only by his aide-de-camp, De Coetlosquet, who
 
 A VISIT FROM A FBIEND 253 
 
 in those days acted as joker and liunioiist to people whose 
 assassin he was one day to become.* Before my servant had time 
 to bring candles, I had leapt out of bed and emljraced poor La 
 Salle, who was on his way to join the Grand Army. Interested 
 in all that could interest me, he must needs visit my quarters, 
 my hospitals, the fort — not like Suchet, for his own profit, but 
 out of pure friendship for me. "Wlien he heard how I had 
 got rid of Ballesteros, he congratulated me on the result which 
 the course of events had given to the base conduct of ^Marshal 
 Mortier, maintaining that if IMortier had left me a legiment no 
 one would have thought of the deputation of which I had made 
 use to con-espond with Ballesteros ; if I had had any troops, I 
 should have thought only of defending myself, and, being too- 
 weak to hold out, I should have been done for. Thus all was 
 for the best in the best of worlds. 
 
 That day gained me another visit — from M. Bccderer, who was 
 on his way from Paris to Madrid. He dine il w iih us, and the 
 meal'mts- iviiiarkable for certain discussions upon high topics, 
 in which La Salle was magnificent. On leaving the table, 
 M. Pioederer took me aside and said, " I was acquainted with 
 General La Salle as the most brilliant of our light cavahy 
 generals ; I knew that he was witty and valiant, but I was miles 
 from crediting him with the high ability which distinguishes 
 him. He is a man of surpassing talent; his mind and his 
 learning are no less deep than l)rilliant ;" nor was there anything 
 exaggerated in this eulogy.f 
 
 * Thiebault always expresses himself with great severity in regard to those 
 who, having served the Empire, were afterwards mixed up in the reprisals of 
 the llestoration. — Ed. 
 
 t [Rcederer, as the French editor points out, took notes of the conversa- 
 tion, and his report of it will be found in tlie Appendix at the end of vol. viii. 
 of Sainte-Beuve's Causer ies du Lundi. Not much tiace appears of the 
 " discussions d'un ordre eltve," hut as a lucture of bright table-talk it is 
 admirable. The friendly dispute between Thiebault and La Salle on the 
 question of the escort is duly recorded. The meeting took place on April 28, 
 some days, therefore, before Xey and Kellerniann entered the Asturias, and 
 some weeks before Ballesteros had left that province and marched \XT^n 
 Santander ; so that the rumour as to that general having been close to Burgos 
 previously to this must have been unfounded. In any case, Burgos would 
 hardly have been on his wny from Ovicdo to San'auJcr, th.ough, knowing tliat
 
 254 JUEMOIIiS OF GENERAL TniKBAULT 
 
 We had hanlly left the table than we must have punch, and 
 that in great bowls in rapid sequence. Then the fun began, and 
 De Coetlosquet's turn came. I do not know how many scenes 
 he performed, or how many Bacchanalian verses he did not sing 
 us, but he acquitted himself to the delight of all. Towards ten 
 o'clock La Salle's equipages arrived ; he had given his orders, 
 and post-horses were harnessed to his carriage. After the most 
 affectionate embraces and wishes which Heaven was never to 
 grant, as he had his foot on the step, " What's all that ? " said 
 he, seeing five mounted chasseurs of the Xassau Eegiment. " It 
 is an escort, which will accompany you as far as Celada." " I 
 told you I wouldn't have an escort " (we had had a dispute on 
 the subject during dinner). "And I choose that you shall be 
 escorted." " Donnerwetter ! " he exclaimed, addressing the 
 ■cliasscurs in German. " If you escort me, I jump on the posti- 
 lion's horse and charge you." So I told the chasseurs to follow 
 him fifty paces behind. 
 
 Thus we parted and he left me, rejoicing in the idea of adding 
 to that harvest of laurels which he had already gathered on so 
 many glorious battle-fields. Exalted by his good luck, he was 
 hastening to a death no less premature than deplorable ; that 
 day was, indeed, the last of his existence for me. Alas ! when 
 the temble bulletin of the battle of Wagram reached me, it 
 brought me the first but also"the last news which I was to 
 receive of poor La Salle. He had died a hero's death, leaving 
 to nie a grief which will only terminate with my life. Yet that 
 loss, no less irreparable for France than for me, was rendered 
 .still sadder by other losses less harrowing but still sad enough. 
 Pouzet, w^hom I had seen so brilliant on the field of Austerlitz, 
 had similarly paid with his blood for the laurels gathered amid 
 the chances of that struggle ; the w^orthy Saint-Hilaire had not 
 survived it; and, lastly, Gauthier, whom 1 loved next to La 
 Salle, and who in respect of "eminence and of valour was in 
 
 the place was defenceless after its troops had been summoned to Kellermanu, 
 he may have detached a force to look at it. But this cannot have been till 
 Ma}"-, so that in any case Thiebaulfs recollections here must have got 
 CO i I fused.]
 
 NEWS OF WAGIiAM 255 
 
 the first rank of the wnrriorf? that Fr;iiM<. r-ver possessed, com- 
 pleted the sum of three wliu made tliii day ff)r me a TTay of 
 Idoodshed and mourninf^; and what lells a tale of incredible 
 injustice is, that that officer, fit as he "was" to do honour to the 
 marshal's baton, died a general of brigade, after holding that 
 rank Tor eight years, to the disgrace ot^ tlio.-»- lo whom the 
 disgrace is due.* 
 
 * [It is curious tliat Thiebault seems to sfienk of Aspern (or Essling), in 
 which Pouzet and Saiiit-Hilaire were killed, as if it was one and the same 
 battle as Wagram, in wliich Gauthier and La Salle fell. It looks as if the 
 defeat had been ke[it dark till it could be reported together with the victory. 
 For La Salle's death and some estimate of him — not quite so admiring as 
 Thiebault's — see jNIarbot's Memoires, vol. ii., p. 263 sqq.l
 
 256 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TBIEBAULT 
 
 CHAPTEE XIIT. 
 
 Bad news from Portugal — Fighting the guerrilleros — Forest and mountain — 
 " The Pass of the Demons " — A prize missed — A cavahy skirmish — 
 Amazons — Overwork — As good as dismissed. 
 
 All at once serious and vexatious news began to spread. 
 Marshal Soult, who had taken upon himself the reconquest of 
 Portugal, after the fashion of a master undertaking a job of 
 which his pupils had made a mess, had, it was said, been 
 attacked, beaten, cut to pieces by Sir Arthur Wellesley, losing, 
 it was further said, the whole of his material and his hospitals, 
 and saving only by a miracle some rags of his army. Doubtless 
 all this required confirmation ; yet it was easy to read in the 
 faces of the Spaniards that we had recently undergone a real 
 disaster in Portugal. Before long, indeed, we had certain 
 intelligence that the marshal had retreated into Galicia, and 
 this was as far as our uncertainty and anxiety had brought us, 
 when General Delaborde, who had been serving in the marshal's 
 army, arrived at Burgos on his way to France. From him I 
 had the following account of affairs. 
 
 As we knew, Marshal Soult had got as far as Oporto. There 
 he halted — an extraordinary thing to do, since, having no rein- 
 forcements to wait for, he should have crossed the Douro 
 without the loss of a day, pursued the English at the sword's 
 point without giving them time to look round, found an oppor- 
 tunity of beating them, and, as the result of his victory, tried 
 to enter Lisbon. This would have been in conformity with the 
 rules of war, and with the dictates of honour and duty. Instead 
 of this, he settled himself at Oporto, scattered his troops, and,, 
 presuming that no one would venture to cross the Douro under 
 his nose, tried to get some advantages for himself out of a state
 
 UlfAT HAPPENED AT OPOPiTO 257 
 
 of thiugs, which in another would have stimulated his zeal, 
 loyalty, and fidelity. 
 
 The Emperor had just escaped a serious overthrow. Thanks 
 to Marshal Massena, a large part of the army had avoided 
 destruction at Essling ; but the bridges over the Danube had 
 been carried awa}'! Tf the situation was short of threatening, it 
 was full of doubt and difficulty, and it seemed as if it might 
 be long before the Emperor would be in a position to attend 
 actively to what was going on in Portugal. On the other hand, 
 the loss in m en and money which the Spanish war was causing 
 us began to grow appalling. To Marshal Soult tlif disagreeable 
 turn~wEcli tliL' Emperor's affairs seemed to l)e taking suggested 
 the idea of profiting by the opportunity to make himself King 
 of Portugal. 
 
 ]Vleanwhile Sir Arthur Wcllcsley, learning that the marshal 
 was taking but little thought about war, but was dreaming, in 
 profound security, of the delights of a throne, concentrated his 
 forces, advanced to the Douro, bringing some boats with him, 
 and succeeded under cover of night in passing some picked 
 regiments to the right bank of the river.* These formed up, 
 concealing themselves in a spacious building to the east of the 
 town. By daylight, 3,000 men were assembled, and they re- 
 mained in concealment while other troops were cros.sing the 
 river further up. At length, about 11 a.m., the English general 
 having assembled all the troops required for his attack on the 
 right bank of the Douro, set them in motion against Oporto, 
 General Delaborde, learning of their sudden appearance, hurried 
 to the marshal to let him know of it. He had just sat down in 
 all tranquillity to eat his breakfast. On seeing the general, he 
 invited him to share it, but soon learnt that there was somethinjr 
 more urgent to be done, namelv, to fifjht the Enfrlish. At the 
 same moment the musketry was heard. The first idea was to 
 defend the town ; but the vigour of the attack was of itself 
 enough to render defence impossible, and other English columns 
 had so manceuvred as to cut off the ganison of the town from 
 the other divisions of the army. Soon all was disorder and 
 
 * [Of course the statements that Wellesley brou<];ht boats with liim, and 
 that the anny crossed the Douro in the night, are equally unfounded.] 
 VOL. II. S
 
 258 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 confusion; though he had a river to cover him, the marshal 
 had been surprised in broad daylight and in his own head- 
 quarters. Xo means remained of saving anything beyond the 
 men and a few horses. It was quite true that everything had 
 been abandoned, — hospitals, treasure-chest, guns, tumbrils, 
 baggage, even the equipages. Even to get out of Oporto cost 
 infinite trouble, and assembling the divisions was yet more 
 difficult, for not one road fit to be called a road remained free. 
 The army had therefore to throw itself into the wildest 
 mountains and take as its road of escape one of the most 
 frightful paths. It would have been all very well if, once 
 engaged in those formidable gorges, the army could have pro- 
 ceeded in security ; but in front of it was a torrent flowing in a 
 deep gully, only passable by one wretched little bridge. This 
 bridge was held by the insurgents ; a hundred men could have 
 barred the passage to a thousand times their number, and it 
 might be destroyed with one stroke of an axe. Yet a failure to 
 take it meant the abandonment of all hope of saving a single 
 man. In default of open force, the only chance lay in the 
 cleverness and daring of one brave man. The choice fell upon 
 Colonel Dulong, and never was a choice, though inspired by 
 terror and despair, more fortunate. Dulong, an intrepid and 
 shifty man, went forward with 500 picked followers, and came 
 in sight of the bridge at nightfall. Lying flat and crawling 
 through the brushwood, he examined the approaches and 
 noticed some carelessness on the part of the men who were 
 guarding it. There was not one on the bank where he was, 
 and a single sentry was on the bridge. Darkness came on ; and 
 then, followed by some fifty of his men, with the rest ready to 
 support him, he went forward, still on all fours, as far as he 
 deemed it prudent. Then he halted and remained lying down 
 till midnight, the right hour for a surprise, had arrived. Then, 
 at the head of his whole force, he flung himself on the guard of 
 the bridge without giving them time to resist, and still less to 
 cut away the bridge ; in this way preserving for France such 
 colours and men as were left.* It was a heroic feat of arms, 
 
 * General Marbot's version [which is merely translated from Napier] of 
 Dulong's feat (Memoirea, vol. ii., p. 373) differs in several particulars from 
 that here given. — Ed.
 
 KING NICODEMUS 259 
 
 and will always honour the memory of a Inuve and excellent 
 officer, M'honi a fatal destiny drove to destroy himself by his 
 own hands, or rather the only hand of which the use remained 
 to him.* Thus Marshal Soult's army made its way out into 
 Galicia. — — — — 
 
 >STTCh was General Delaborde's tale. He ended with a 
 statement which it is painful to record. Marshal Ney was 
 occupying Galicia, and possessed more artillery tTian he 
 needed ; enough indeed to be an embarrassment from its dis- 
 proportion to the number of his troops and their requirements. 
 Marshal Soult asked if he could spare him some batteries, 
 — a request which there were a score of reasons not merely to 
 comply with but to anticipate. Xey did not let him have a 
 single gun. 
 
 "And you are returning to France?" I .said to General 
 Delaborde when he ceased. " Yes, my health requires it, and 
 disgust at the state of affairs compels me." "And have you 
 settled what you will say in regard to the marshal and the 
 catastrophe ? " " My mind is irrevocably made up on that 
 head. If I am questioned, I shall tell everything; if not, I 
 shall say nothing." Curiously enough, no questions were 
 asked him ; but Loison, a clever man and a spiteful dog, 
 followed soon after, and went straight to Schonbrunn, where 
 he had an audience of the Emperor on his anival. He told 
 the whole story, but extracted nothing save jokes about Xing 
 Nicolas, or, as the Emperor amused himself by calling Iiim, 
 King Nicodemus. Napoleon, w^ho never liked to have made a 
 mistake, seldom struck at those whom he had raised. In the 
 present case he must either have the marshal shot or laugh 
 at him ; unluckily for himself, he took the latter course.f 
 
 * [Colonel Dulong, then lieutenant-general, committed suicide by shooting 
 himself in 1828.] 
 
 t [The story of the intrigues at Oporto is told by Xapier (Book vii. ch. i.). 
 He briefly puts aside the story of Soult's aspirations t"o royalty as erroneous ; 
 for which he incurs the sarcasm of Mme d'Abraiues. Thiebault's animosity 
 against the marshal makes his testimony of little value, and much of what 
 he says has been omitted ; but it may be noted that Marbot confirms tlie 
 story, on the authority of Soult's generals, and sees no reason to blame the 
 marshal's proceedings.] 
 
 s 2
 
 2G0 MEMOIRS OF OENEEAL THIEBAULT 
 
 As our couversatiou ended, an aide-de-camp from Soult 
 called on Delaborde. He was on his way to the Emperor 
 with dispatches ; and as he would travel faster than the general, 
 he offered to take news of him to Mme Delaborde on his way 
 through Paris. His courtesy and deferential manner did not 
 save him from a volley of banter, which the general's stern 
 look and big voice rendered supremely comic. "What a lot 
 of luck and of trouble you have lost ! " he said. " Your zeal 
 would have earned you at least a chamberlain's place, and 
 1 should never have seen you again without a great gold key. 
 Lucky you had not got it on when the upset came, or it might 
 have hurt you." 
 
 Old Castile had long been unravaged by civil war; no 
 bauds had been formed or had appeared throughout the 
 district iu which I commanded ; but though I had been able 
 to keep a hand on those under me, my influence stopped at 
 my boundaries. The province of Soria, which I had tried to 
 get added to my government, and which I would have 
 guaranteed to keep quiet with two more regiments of infantry 
 and a hundred cavalry, had remained within the territory 
 of Madrid, though too far off to be in touch with the troops 
 occupying the capital. It soon became a focus of insurrection ; 
 guerrilla bands were organized and recruited even within my 
 provinces ; and when they ventured to take the field, they 
 appeared in the Eioja, and reached my communications with 
 A^alladolid, Aranda, and Vitoria. 
 
 One day, as I was sitting down to dinner, a messenger 
 brought word that a band of 500 men had just attacked Celada, 
 a village ten miles from Burgos, the first stage on the road to 
 Yitoria. A quarter of an hour later I was on the way, with 
 four picked companies and the Nassau chasseurs, leaving 
 orders for a battalion of the 118th to follow me. I reached 
 Celada, whence the insurgents had made off at my approach. I 
 halted there to await the remainder of my troops, and started 
 about eleven at night to make a sudden incursion into the 
 liioja and try to surprise the band or drive it back into the 
 mountains of Soria. I had thought it as well to take the chief 
 commissioner of police along with me. While the night
 
 QUEimiLLA WAJiFARE 2G1 
 
 slackened the speed of our troops and even of our own 
 immediate attendants, ^ve let our horses take their own pace, 
 and presently found ourselves some way ahead of the column. 
 Wrapped in our cloaks, we were chatting in Spanish as we 
 went along. At a moment when, luckily, the commissioner 
 was speaking, a man emerged from a thicket, came up to us, 
 and said, " Gentlemen, where are the French ? " It was a 
 scout belonging to the band, left there to report our advance. 
 Seeinfj three men alone on the road at that hour, one of whom 
 was wearing a brown cloak and speaking Spanish, lie had taken 
 us for some of tlieir men. No doubt the incident revealed our 
 imprudence to us, l)ut it gave us an opportunity of which I 
 took advantage. While the commissioner was making some 
 sort of reply, I had seized the man by the throat, and 
 whispered, " Silence, or you're dead." We remained motionless 
 till my advance-guard had joined us, when I had my man tied 
 up. As soon as it had been made clear to him that he was not 
 going to escape, I questioned him. He was an inliabitant of 
 Eioja, and had been, he said, forced to join the troop. He heaved 
 many sighs, and I assured him that his only chance of saving 
 his life was to confess the truth, and reveal the place where 
 the troop was. He named the village where it was to pass 
 the night, some three miles from the point of the road where 
 we were. As he knew^ the way to the place, I told him that 
 he was to act as guide to the detachment, and that on getting 
 near the village he was to march at the head with a few men 
 singing one of the songs of the country to obviate suspicion. 
 Then I promised him that when the expedition was over, in 
 order that he might not be compromised, he should remain 
 bound as though he were a prisoner taken on the road, and I 
 would procure his pardon. This being explained and settled, 
 I formed a detachment of 400 infantry and 20 cavalry, handed 
 the man over to the major commanding, and went on my way 
 towards Santo Domingo, where I arrived about daylight. At 
 noon my detachment rejoined nie ; the men of the l)and had 
 been surprised in their sleep scattered among the various 
 houses of the village. The number of those who had perished 
 was estimated at about 150; the rest had escaped undercover 
 
 i
 
 2G2 MLWOlIiS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 of uight, Lut had left almost all their arms behind. In order 
 the better to disguise the part played by his guide, the major 
 brought back three new prisoners, one of whom, known to be 
 a fanatic, was tried and shot on the spot, while the other two 
 were pardoned by me on condition of not taking up arms 
 again. As for the first prisoner, I gave him some money, and 
 gained one more spy. 
 
 Another time I heard that a pretty numerous band was 
 established to the west of Santo Domingo, in a little town 
 possessing several cloth factories. To drive them out was easy 
 enough ; l3ut to make my M^ay there unexpectedly enough to 
 surprise them, or at least to compel them to fight, was all the 
 more difficult that the little town is covered on the side 
 towards Burgos by a mountain which cannot be crossed in less 
 than sixteen ho^n^s' marching. In order to keep my plan 
 concealed as long as possible, I sent four detachments of 
 300 men apiece to right and left of a village which stands at 
 the north foot of that mountain. These four divisions counter- 
 marched, so as one evening to join the Nassau chasseurs whom 
 I brought up. The village was at once surrounded, and parties 
 were pushed quickly forward on to the first slopes of the 
 mountain, so that no one mij^ht get in front of me. At 3 a.m. 
 we started, and, though we made only the indispensable halts, we 
 did not reach the summit till one in the afternoon. As soon as 
 we caught sight of the valley in which the town stood, I made 
 the men lower their arms and ordered the cavalry to dismount, 
 so that we might not be perceived before it was inevitable. We 
 halted behind some evergreen oaks to conceal our concentration, 
 so that when we emerged into the valley, after half-past seven, 
 we had been seen by nobody. Four hundred men in line 
 marched upon the town in double-quick time ; two columns of 
 like strength followed them. The cavalry, making their way 
 round to the left, gained the rear of the town, and the men of 
 the band, 800 in all, had hardly begun to retreat when we were 
 upon them. They were at once overthrown and charged by the 
 cavalry ; Ijut, as they fled into the mountains, they lost not 
 more than a hundred men. During the night, however, I learnt 
 that the band had retired towards Cavaleda, in order to take
 
 IN THE FOREST 2G3 
 
 refuge in the forest of that name, and I decided to pursue them 
 thither. (Jne league from Quintanar we found an armed 
 Spaniard hidden in a hole, in order to spy on us. He was seized 
 by my scouts, and, as there was no way of saving him, the 
 poor devil was tried on the spot and shot ; which did not prevent 
 the hand from getting warning of our approach and flinging 
 itself into the forest. 
 
 That forest is certainly one of the most extraordinary in 
 ]'2urope. Five miles in breadth and twenty in length, it is shut 
 in among rocks and mountains so high and so steep, that not a 
 tree of it has ever been felled, unless for the needs of the 
 inhabitants of Quintanar or of Palacios de la Sierra. It is 
 therefore such as the ages since the creation of the world have 
 made it, and, as the soil is excellent, nothing can be compared 
 to the beauty of its trees or the thickness of its undergrowth. 
 I had been told that over wide spaces no light could be seen 
 even at mid-day, and I had been told truly. I had been 
 warned that, as nobody had ever had occasion to make a road 
 tlirough it, the smallest vehicles were useless there, and that 
 it was pierced only by narrow paths, which also was correct. 
 Lastly, it had been pointed out to me as the surest and most 
 formidable hiding-place for the guerrilla bands, since one might 
 pass within a hundred yards of 10,000 men without seeing a soul ; 
 while one might be fired at through the underwood almost 
 at point-blank range, without any means of defending oneself. 
 But the more the inhabitants of Quintanar were in agreement 
 as to the danger, the more 1 thought it my duty to face it ; for 
 anything was preferable to the disgrace of having come so far 
 only to turn Ijack. On the morrow at dayljreak, therefore, 
 having provided myself with three good guides, I penetrated 
 into the forest. The impression that fifty men would be quite 
 enough to hold us at their mercy was so keenly felt by our 
 soldiers that, in spite of the inspiration of that virgin forest, 
 the march took place in the deepest silence. Three houi's 
 passed thus, when suddenly the undergi'owth grew thinner, 
 and we beheld a vast space filled with gigantic oaks which 
 stretched their colossal branches all around us. The ground 
 was carpeted with a fine turf, without a plant or shrub, for the
 
 264 MEMOIBS OF GENERAL TIUEBAULT 
 
 giant trees had stifled all vegetation under their shade. Na 
 such temple had ever formed the pride of any druidical rites, 
 and before this wonder of creation a single cry burst from the 
 mouths of all. Here I halted the column, and ordered the men 
 to rest for two hours and cook their food. Eather than raise a 
 sacrilegious hand against the branches in that spot, they fetched 
 firewood from some distance. 
 
 Our march was really of the nature of a bravado. I had 
 undertaken it only to show that there was no place to which we 
 could not penetrate ; nor had I the least hope of catching the 
 ijucrrilleros, or even any wish to try conclusions with them 
 at so dangerous a spot. When evening came on, as I had not 
 traversed two-thu-ds of the forest, I left it, and went in a, 
 northerly direction to sleep at Palacios de la Sierra. Next day 
 I reached Viniegra de Abajo, a fine village enough, standing in 
 a place that looked like the end of everything, and yet com- 
 manded at an immense height above by another village, Viniegra 
 de Arriba. Finding myself in these wild regions where no 
 troops had as yet appeared, I w^as glad to show myself in as 
 many places as possible. I also wished to hear of another band, 
 of which this was the habitual refuge ; and, in point of fact, I 
 learnt from one of my spies that when the chief of this band 
 had become aware that I was coming into the mountains, he had 
 put himself on the further side of masses of rock through which 
 a few torrents alone had cut their way, no man having ever 
 thought of making use of the passage so formed. The spy had 
 added that the band was at that moment resting at Anguiano. 
 " Why," said I, " according to my map, Anguiano is rpite close 
 l^y." " Ten miles away, but they are impassable miles." " The 
 Viniegra torrent passes, however." " ISTo doubt ; but they say it 
 runs between inaccessible cliffs, and falls in cascades, so that 
 its bed is impracticable." "How far is it by a practicable 
 road ? " " Fifty miles," I think my man said. 
 
 Nothing ever attracted me like a feat reputed impossible ; 
 so to get fuller information I sent at once for the corrcrjidor, tO' 
 inquire of him about the course of the torrent, and to know if 
 any attempts had been made to get along it. " There have been 
 such," he replied, " but they have not been fortunate. One
 
 A MOUNTAIN ROAD 20."> 
 
 man only, accompanied by his son, a boy of eleven, did succeed 
 in getting to Auguiano that way, but lie went iifty miles round 
 on his return. He would never try it again, and his account 
 deterred everyone else from imitating him." " Is the man 
 dead?" "Yes, long ago." "And his son?" "He is still 
 alive." " Take me to him." We went to him ; and when the 
 corregidor had explained what I wanted, the son, now an old 
 man, but still with all his wits about him, said with a smile, 
 " An awkward business." He remembered the passage per- 
 fectly, and answered all my questions ; the result being to show 
 me that the most dangerous part of the affair was not having to 
 follow the bed of the torrent, bristling everywhere with rocks 
 that had to be climbed, nor yet the almost continual necessity 
 of w^alking in the water and upon rolling or cutting stones, but 
 having to run the chance of a storm, which in those high moun- 
 tains may get up at any moment. If this occurred, the sudden 
 rise of the torrent would be such that 10,000 men, if caught Ijv 
 it, w^ould perish without a chance of escape for one of them. 
 
 I looked at the sky ; it was clear, and the sun was sinking to 
 a cloudless horizon. We were near the end of July ; the time of 
 harvest is not usually one of storms. It had not rained for a 
 fortnight, and the torrent was nearly dry. I asked if there was 
 a barometer in the village ; there was one, and it marked set- 
 fair. I had it taken with the utmost care to my room, so as to 
 see if it moved, and to be able to consult it up to the last 
 moment, with the certainty that no one had touched it. Then, 
 without coming to an irrevocable tlecision, I ordered the troops 
 to be ready to start at three next morning. 
 
 After a final consultation of my barometer, and finding it 
 unchanged, I went to the front of my lines. There I found the 
 corregidor waiting for me, and some inhabitants who had heard 
 of the plan which I had dared to form were there also, whisper- 
 ing among themselves. All eyes were fixed on me, and the 
 men seemed to be anxiously consulting each other's looks. 
 However, having secured a guide for so long as I should need 
 one, and decided by a splenditl sunrise and the purest and most 
 tranquil air possible, I ordered the drums to beat, and knowing 
 that no one could get in front of me, I cried, " Koad to Angui-
 
 266 MEMO TBS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 aiio ! " The soldiers at once be^au to Liuiiii, aud soon followed 
 me singiug ; for I went iu front of the column with fifty 
 picked men. 
 
 For half an hour we marched over a lovely meadow ; then 
 this suddenly contracted, and an imposing mass of rock offered 
 no passage save by the bed of the torrent. This soon grew 
 more hollow, the banks getting steeper and steeper ; while 
 the stream rolled over with more noise and impetuosity. At 
 last the trees that grew in the cracks of the rocks crossed their 
 dense foliage over our heads, and added darkness to our other 
 difficulties. The songs had ceased, and the only laughter was 
 caused by the falls repeated at every step. As soon as it 
 became impossible to retreat, faces grew gloomy at the thought 
 that we must get out of that before night, if only to escape the 
 deep holes in which there was danger of being drowned. It was 
 weary work to climb without respite to the top of rocks, only to 
 scramble down them again ; the troopers especially, having to 
 take care of both their horses and themselves, were exhausted 
 with opening up the road, and they would have had to give up 
 if I had not had them helped by one hundred infantry, who 
 were relieved every hour. Halts were indispensable, to rest 
 men and animals, and to allow those in the rear to come up. 
 Picturesque, indeed, in the extreme those halts were, owing to 
 the way in which the men grouped themselves on every pro- 
 jecting rock. 
 
 The day passed thus. In spite of everything, three horses 
 )jroke their legs and had to be abandoned, with their loads. 
 However, we were approaching the goal of our foolhardy enter- 
 prise; but night was coming on. Luckily the torrent bed 
 opened out and became less dangerous ; not before it was 
 wanted, for the last mile or so of the march, which for the head 
 of the column had been one of nineteen hours, was done in the 
 night. At last I found myself on the little meadow which on 
 this side lies in front of Anguiano, and is not more than 300 
 yards from it. As I had already enjoined the strictest silence, 
 I re-formed my sections without noise ; though as the soldiers 
 only came up one by one, it was nearly eleven before I had got 
 500 men and three or four drums.
 
 A SUCCESSFUL SURPRISE 2G7 
 
 Tliis M'as all I needed to carry out my bold stroke ; especially 
 as my antagouists were scattered among the houses, the gi-eatest 
 part of them no doubt in bed, and so perfectly secure that it had 
 not occmred to them to set a post on that side of Anguiano, 
 thougli they knew that I w^as about the head-waters of the 
 tonent. Accordingly I left to a held-officer the task of collect- 
 ing the men as they came up, and started wdth those I had got 
 together, marching with arms at the trail and in silence. A 
 hundred paces from the first house we were spied Ijy a sentry, 
 who called to us. No one answered, and he called again ; then, 
 as we only quickened our pace, he fired and gave the alarm. 
 Our drums at once beat the charge, I kept 100 men with me 
 in reserve, while 400 dashed into the village, where they effected 
 a terrible discomfiture. The slaughter was great ; all who did 
 not perish escaped in their shirts and without their arms. Thus 
 my expedition was as successful as it well could be. It cost me 
 only one man lost in the torrent, one killed, and three wounded 
 at Anguiano. I had to remain at the place till the next day, as 
 many men only turned up in the course of the morning. The 
 effect of the march was therefore extraordinary, and the sur- 
 vivors of those insurgents who had paid so dear for taking 
 things so coolly called my route " The Pass of the Demons." 
 
 However, on the day when I left Anguiano, the remains of 
 the band had a kind of little revenge. I had to follow for half 
 an hour a path bordered on the right by vertical rocks, and on 
 the left by the chasm in which the Anguiano torrent flows. 
 This is 200 feet in width, and on its left bank is a hill covered 
 with thick wood. As soon as my column was fairly in the road 
 it received a smart fire of musketry from the other side. It 
 replied, no doubt, and with a brisk fire ; but the assailants were 
 hidden by the branches, and my men could only fire at the 
 smoke. Still, as the column replied by a dozen shots to every 
 one that it received, it may be believed that the other side lost 
 some men. Anyhow, it did not last long, though long enough 
 to cause me a loss of eight killed and wounded. 
 
 As I was approaching Burgos, I was joined by one of the 
 spies whom I kept always going, and who used to huiTy up with 
 news whenever I was on an expedition, never giving me any
 
 268 MEMOIRS OF ENSEAL THIEBAULT 
 
 except in the forest. From him I learnt that the Marquis of 
 Villa-Campo, to whose family I had shown much kindness, 
 though he none the less made war upon us at the head of a band 
 which he had organized, had just been levying contributions in 
 the direction of lieinosa, and was now on his way back to the 
 mountains and intending to sleep in a village some three 
 leagues to my left. At once I changed my direction for that 
 in which he was. Thanks to the guidance of my spy, I seldom 
 left the woods, and avoided villages as much as possible. When 
 I was obliged to go through one, I sent a chasseur forward to 
 the further side, to allow no one to get in front of me ; nor 
 indeed was there any reason why anyone should do so, as 
 nothing was known in the district of Villa-Campo's march. 
 Thus I arrived in sight of the village where he was without his 
 suspecting my approach. He had set guards in military style, 
 and his advanced posts began to fire on seeing us. At once 
 a light company advanced in skirmishing order, supported 
 by another light and two grenadier companies. These went 
 forward in line, followed by two columns formed of the centre 
 companies of the two battalions of the 118th. In this way we 
 came to within 600 paces of the village ; then the charge was 
 beaten, and the Nassau chasseurs tried to turn the enemy's 
 flank. Unluckily at the back of the village was a pretty thick 
 wood, and the cavalry was of no use. However, with my four 
 picked companies I overthrew the rear-guard of the band, 
 pursuing it some distance into the wood ; but I was not able 
 to come up with the main body, which had a quarter of an hour's 
 start of me and retreated at the double. 
 
 However, night was coming on, and there was no object in 
 pursuing ; it was indeed an unimaginable piece of luck in this 
 one expedition to have caught and beaten the only three bands 
 which were disturbing the peace of Old Castile. Finally, after 
 killing about thirty of Villa-Campo's men, on returning to the 
 (juarters whence I had driven him, I saw the house on lire. My 
 first idea was to set it down to some soldiers of my column, 
 and I at once told off a fatigue-party of fifty men to help in 
 putting it out. But the inhabitants showed so little zeal, and 
 the corrcgidor seemed so resigned to the loss of the house, which
 
 ALWAYS BEATEN, NEVER CONQUERED 269 
 
 he said could not be saved, that it was left to Imru ; and next 
 morning -vvlien I left the village at dayljreak the ruins were still 
 smoking. 1 had not the least suspicion that I had been the 
 victim of a trick, of which the explanation is as follows. 
 "When the first shots gave M'arning of mv approach, the Marquis 
 of Villa-Campo perceived that he would not have time to get 
 his treasure away. He would barely have been able to load his 
 mules, and the loaded mules would have had no chance of 
 escaping us, had he even sacrificed his whole band in theii" 
 defence. So he sent them off, as if they were loaded, and had 
 the casks containing the 250,000 francs that he had levied, 
 thrown into the cellar. IMeanwhile the owner of the house 
 moved everything out of it that he could, and, under promise of 
 compensation, set it on fire. I was completely tricked, seeing 
 in the fire one of those accidents only too common in war, and 
 in the conduct of the inhabitants only a proof of apathy and 
 resignation. Yilla-Campo's treasure therefore remained intact 
 under the cellar- vaults ; and it was only some days after my 
 return to Burgos that I learnt how I had been taken in, and 
 wliat mirth my lack of penetration had excited. It was too 
 much pleasure not to be worth paying for ; so I had the corre- 
 f/idor arrested and sent to prison, with the five principal inha- 
 bitants of the village. I also imposed a fine of 25,000 francs, 
 and gave notice that if they were not paid within a week, the 
 village would be burnt to the ground. 
 
 Always beaten, never ecin(|uered, and when broken up at once 
 reconstituting themselves, these bauds had begun to hold the 
 Eioja and tlie suiTOunding districts to ransom. I established 
 new ganisons and increased the old ones, relieving them fre- 
 quently, so that I had troops constantly moving about the 
 province. On one occasion I had started before daybreak, and 
 on the strength of some information which turned out to be 
 false had gone to Xajera. It was a hot day in August, and 
 when we had reached the place we had travelled nearly thirty 
 miles. The troops were exhausted, so occupying the town with 
 my cavalry and two grenadier companies I made the rest of my 
 infantry bivouac along the stream under a row of fine trees. 
 
 AVe had been there two hours and a half; I had finished
 
 270 MEMO IBS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 dinner, and I was about to agree to the wish of the officers and 
 men to pass the night there, when I saw from the balcony of 
 the house where I had alighted some Spanish horsemen showing 
 themselves beyond the stream on the little hill which is crossed 
 by the road to Logrouo; gradually their number increased, 
 and soon there were some sixty of them, who fell to black- 
 guarding us, and that from so short a distance that we could 
 hear them plainly. Captain Hagen, of the JSTassau chasseurs, 
 an intrepid officer as ever was, a very Ajax in build and in 
 daring, cried, " General, give us leave to go and chastise those 
 ruffians." Some troops have to be led in order to stimulate 
 them ; but these chasseurs, the Grand-Duke's own guard, 
 needed my presence only to restrain them. They were, in 
 fact, a picked corps : no man was admitted without paying 
 1,000 florins caution money, and the only punishment known 
 was expulsion. They were no less steady than brave, and I 
 know of nothing in the world that one might not have attempted 
 with them. I did not wish to send them into danger, to reply 
 to insults which affected me but little. What concerned me 
 more was to see in this neighbourhood some well-mounted and 
 equipped troopers, who must certainly be the advance-guard of 
 a body of Spanish cavalry. As it was impossible to find out to 
 whom they belonged, I called my men to arms. The colonel 
 of the 118th objected that his soldiers were tired — a reason that 
 could no longer be accepted ; so, as soon as my chasseurs were 
 mounted, I started at the head of them, bidding the infantry 
 follow me with all possible dispatch. 
 
 The Spanish troopers no sooner saw me issue from Najera 
 than they made off, not, however, getting out of sight, but main- 
 taining a distance of 500 or 600 yards between themselves and 
 me. ITow and again, those who were best mounted would halt, 
 and, waiting till we were within hearing, would fling fresh 
 insults at us and bolt at full speed. For my own part, neither 
 quickening nor slackening my pace, I contented myself with 
 trotting after them, and in this way they drew me on to little 
 more than half a mile from Logrono, to the beginning of a wood, 
 whither I had at once made up my mind to advance. Then I 
 suddenly saw 800 Spanish cavalry drawn up in line, all well-
 
 TO FIGHT OR NOT TO FIOIIT 271 
 
 mounted, equipped, and armed, forming under the light of the 
 setting sun a picture no less fine than impressive. 1 halted my 
 little troop, and advanced witli my aides-de-camp, and with 
 Hagen and the major of the chasseurs, a cool but none the less 
 firm officer, in full view of the legion. The insults began again, 
 and were poured forth most furiously by two young Amazons, 
 splendid with embroidery, beautiful as angels, ferocious as 
 demons. ^Mounted on dainty horses, they came and challenged 
 us in a hundred ways, even firing their pistols at us. Hagen 
 was foaming at the mouth. " For Heaven's sake, general," 
 said he, " let us charge, and it will be very bad luck if I don't 
 bring back one for you and one for me. You shall have first 
 choice." I laughed, but it was really no matter for joking : we 
 were in presence of eleven times our number ; nor had we to 
 deal with a collection of peasants, but with genuine cavalry, 
 with regular troops, disciplined and quite fresh, while we had 
 already done thirty-five miles in the heat of the dog-days. We 
 could not even get at them in line, seeing that the ground 
 which lay between us and them was full of pits, and did not 
 allow us to pass more than four abreast. I had no great desii'e 
 to make a mess of it, and I cared about it all the less that the 
 walls of Logrouo and the roofs of the houses were covered ^ith 
 people, and our struggle was about to be witnessed by the whole 
 population. My infantry was five miles to the rear, and there- 
 fore I could expect no support. Yet, on the other hand, the 
 thought of having come three leagues to overtake this force and 
 then not to dare to attack it was humiliating, at a moment 
 when in the presence of so many spectators no means had been 
 spared to challenge to a combat ; and, moreover, would there 
 not be a risk of my prudence looking like timidity to my 
 German chasseurs who were spoiling for a fight ? So I took the 
 major aside. "Never mind Hagen's nonsense," I said; "you 
 know your men better than I do ; you are an officer of experi- 
 ence and: ability ; you understand my position in regard both 
 to myself and to the Duke of Nassau ; now what is yoiu* opinion 
 as to the possibilities ? " " As your Excellency asks for my 
 opinion," he replied, " it is that we shall beat them." 
 
 This was decisive. I made my troopers dismount, half of
 
 272 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 them at a time, iu order to tighten their girths, adjust their 
 liridles, and let their horses get l)reath. This took a quarter of 
 an hour, during which the Spaniards continued to blackguard 
 us. Then the trumpet sounded, and we emerged from the wood. 
 A perfectly ferocious yell arose at once from the whole Spanish 
 force, while the chiefs and other officers, aided l^y the two ladies 
 whom I have mentioned, caracoled in front of their men, stimu- 
 lating them with voice and gesture. We started at a walk, 
 rhen trotted, and, continually quickening our pace, were soon at 
 full gallop, and fell upon the horsemen with a general cheer. 
 Having made the double mistake of waiting for us halted and 
 formed in a single line, they were broken in an instant. A 
 panic set in among them : a hundred or so to our left, who 
 were cut off from the main body, fled headlong towards 
 Logrouo ; the rest made off at full speed to the mountains, 
 ridden down and sabred by us. After pursuing for a quarter of 
 an hour, I halted with my aides-de-camp and orderlies, and then, 
 sending one of the Nassau officers forward with orders to bid 
 the major fall back on me, I went towards Logrono with the 
 intention of waiting for my infantry; but the corregidor and 
 some of the leading people were already on their way to present 
 me with the keys of the town, on a silver dish, and to invite me 
 to enter. Thus I took possession of an enemy's town, in which 
 undoubtedly the r/uerrilleivs had their associates, attended only 
 by my aides-de-camp, four orderlies, and my valet. 
 
 I was at the mercy of the inhabitants ; but I showed 
 sternness proportionate to the dangers of my position. Thus 
 an hour passed ; a very long one. The next three-quarters 
 were no less so, seeing that I had no news of either my 
 infantry or my cavalry. Night came at last, and I was getting 
 pretty uneasy at the delay, when I heard the drums. But 
 what had become of the cavalry ? It was allowable to fear 
 that it had got entangled among the mountains in its pursuit 
 of the Spaniards, and fallen into an ambush ; so that when by 
 the time it did turn up I was properly anxious. That madman 
 Hagen had taken it along in a charge of six or seven miles, 
 in the course of which it had killed or wounded some sixty 
 men, itself losing only three wounded, who were being brought
 
 OVEBWORKED 273 
 
 liack in a cart. "And tlie Lidy that you promised me?" I 
 said to Hagen. " Ah ! general," he exclaimed, " I was witliin 
 two paces of her for a whole hour, but my horse was too 
 blown to let me catch her, and I had not the heart to fire, even 
 to bring her down. Anyhow, I gave her a bit of my mind, 
 and she will remember me." 
 
 This brilliant little affair delivered Old Castile from the 
 corps of Spanish cavalry which had come I know not whence, 
 and did not reappear. As may be supposed, I highly eulogized 
 the conduct of my chasseurs, and even wrote to the Grand 
 Duke, who allowed me some honours for them. For my own 
 part, all the thanks I got for these raids \vas an expression 
 from General Kellermaun of his satisfaction at seeing me 
 back ; for he thought it useless to pursue the rjuerrillas into 
 the heart of the mountains, where the roads had to be guarded, 
 and the removal of the troops deprived these for the moment 
 of their regular protection. He was wrong, however. In every 
 conquered country, and above all in Spain, if you want to 
 maintain your authority you must impress people's minds; 
 and thus the breaking up of the guerrillas, on which the hopes 
 of the Spanish partisans relied, had a considerable moral effect 
 within my government. 
 
 About this time overwork began to tell on my health ; I 
 became subject to hallucinations, which, while not preventing 
 me from distinguishing real objects, used to call up, sometimes 
 for a period of twenty-four hours together, the most unreal 
 and often the most fantastic images. To give an idea of 
 them, I will mention one. In one corner of my room I saw 
 a carpet of turf forming itself It spread and became a 
 charming meadow, which was presently surrounded by mag- 
 nificent trees. Gradually a whitish spot developed in the 
 middle of the meadow ; it grew, took the hue of flesh and 
 blood, and in a few moments presented to my view a magni- 
 ficent woman. As I gazed in a sort of rapture, the fair body 
 became covered with spots, turning into wounds, from each of 
 which emerged so hideous a monster that in horror and fear 
 I turned away. I was in truth reduced to the state of the 
 neophytes whom the Egyptian priests used to prepare by long 
 
 VOL. II. T
 
 274 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 fasting and maceration to receive the impressions they wished 
 to give them. If my mind had shared in the disorder of my 
 imagination, or any other senses in that of my sight, it would 
 have been insanity. 
 
 AVheu this crisis was at its height I had written to Jourdan, 
 the chief of the general staff, giving an account of my con- 
 dition, and explaining the impossibility of my attending 
 personally for some time to the reports sent him from Burgos. 
 The reply to this letter was that the King had learnt with 
 regret that the state of my health did not allow me to con- 
 tinue my functions as governor, and that he had consequently 
 selected General Solignac to succeed me. Even in the case of 
 a Darmagnac, this ill-concealed dismissal w^ould have been 
 scandalous ; in my case, no name was bad enough for it. On 
 the part of the King it was sheer impudence, for he w\as 
 misusing a power which he had no right to claim. I had 
 been appointed by the Emperor, and could be removed only 
 by him. But for the weakness of my condition, w^hich did not 
 allow me to master my temper, together with the tendency 
 I always had to take advantage of every opportunity of seeing 
 my wife once more, I should have appealed to the Emperor, and 
 Solignac would have left Burgos without having time to make 
 a mess of the authority which he so scandalously misused. 
 But I acted otherwise, and I was wrong. A few hours after 
 Solignac's arrival I gave up my functions ; but I had held a 
 meeting of the governing committee, and handed over to the 
 prefect 27,000 francs which remained out of the fund which 
 the Duke of Istria had put at my disposal for public works. 
 " Hang it," said Solignac, when I told him why I had called 
 the meeting, " it would have been much simpler to hand it over 
 to me." That w^as precisely w^hat I did not want to do. 
 
 After settling this matter, and thanking all present for the 
 w^ay in w^hich they had helped me, I bade them farewell ; 
 and at daybreak next morning, without waiting for orders or 
 leave, and forgetting the possible effect on the Emperor's 
 temper of abandoning his service and letting the King of 
 Spain trample on his sovereignty, I started on my return to 
 Erance, or rather to Paris.
 
 ( 275 ) 
 
 CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 Tardy amends — !My work undone — To Paris — Napoleon and Llarie Louise 
 — Treatment of an old hero — How to subdue the Spaniards —La Fayette 
 redivivus — Back to Burgos — Unpleasant position. 
 
 As I entered Tolosa I noticed two carriages ; reaching them, I 
 saw the Duke and Duchess of Abrantes emerging from the house 
 where they had passed the night, and ready to continue their 
 journey towards Burgos. The surprise was equal on both sides ; 
 as for the duke, after I had handed the duchess into her 
 carriage, he took me by the arm, went back with me into the 
 room where he had slept, and, embracing me, said, " I know 
 how you defended me to the Emperor, and I want to tell you 
 how much I am touched. It is you, to whom I did not keep 
 my promise, who alone have shown yourself my friend, while it 
 is the people that I heaped with kindness and loaded with 
 money who slander me in a hundred ways." As he said this 
 he stretched out his hand, and as he grasped mine his eyes 
 filled wdth tears. Both his outburst and the suffering of which 
 in such a man it gave evidence moved me equally. 
 
 At Irim I halted for a few days for the following reason. I 
 had written to my wife from Pancorbo to tell her what had 
 befallen me, and announce my departure for Paris. Upon 
 reflection, I had added a postscript to this effect : " Feel the . 
 ground as to the effect produced by my supersession, and which 
 may be produced by my amval, and send me an answer at once. 
 I will wait for it at Irun." I had to wait eleven days for the 
 letter, and I learnt from it that the Emperor had been as much 
 displeased by the selection of General Solignac as by my super- 
 session, and that orders were on the road to give that general 
 another employment and send me back to my post. My wife 
 
 T 2
 
 276 MEMOIRS OF QENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 further announced that she was starting in consequence of these 
 orders, with a view of at least passing a few days with me at 
 Bayonne. 
 
 No doubt my pride was flattered, both by the reason for these 
 orders and by their nature. I was as thoroughly avenged as I 
 could be by the snub inflicted upon Marshal Jourdan, General 
 Solignac, and the King ; but the orders could not repair the 
 mischief done, nor restore to me what I had lost. There are 
 some things which cannot be begun over again, and among them 
 were the efibrts which I had made ; all the more so that a few 
 days had undone their result. The discouragement of the men 
 who were devoted to our cause was only equalled by the 
 exasperation of our enemies, as letters received from Burgos 
 left in no doubt. The soldiers were compensating themselves by 
 fresh excesses for those which they had so long been prevented 
 from committing. Solignac's rough ways had upset all my 
 organization, making the present evils irremediable, the future 
 inevitable. The precautions that I had taken for the safety 
 of the troops were neglected, on the ground that they indicated 
 fear, and that under his command nobody ought to fear anything. 
 However, others than I must see to the re-establishment of 
 my system ; it was quite enough for me to have succeeded 
 Darmaguac. Consequently, the sole effect produced by my 
 wife's letter was to inspire me with a desire of anticipating the 
 orders announced in it. I started immediately, after taking 
 the precaution of -v^Titing to the Prince of ISTeuchatel to the 
 effect that, though I might have referred the matter to him, that 
 is to say, have disregarded the order in virtue of which General 
 Solignac had been sent to Burgos, I had thought that the 
 respect due to the King and the inconvenience of setting up a 
 contest of authority in the eyes of the Spaniards should decide 
 me to obey; that, as my position at Burgos was no longer 
 tolerable, I had left it for Irun, where I had been awaiting 
 orders for twelve days ; but that, as none had reached me, I 
 should lose no time in coming to Paris to give account of my 
 conduct, and to receive any orders with which the Emperor 
 might deign to honour me. 
 
 Having thus arranged for my flight, I decided to ride the
 
 NAPOLEON'S MARIilAGE 217 
 
 distance from Irun to Bayonne, whore my equipages were to 
 rejoin me. They arrived twenty hours after I did ; while 
 awaiting them, I had looked out for a carriage to take me to 
 Bordeaux ; I discovered and hired one so light that I could draw 
 it with one hand. As soon as it was possible to harness it 
 I leapt into it, with my aide-de-camp Vallier, while Jacques 
 hastened forward to order the horses. In this way, thanks to 
 liberal " tips," five-and-twenty hours sufficed me for the journey 
 from Bayonne to Bordeaux — a feat at that time unprecedented, 
 for in those days the wheels would sink into the sand up to the 
 axle, and one usually took more than forty hours over the journey. 
 I expected to have met my wife on the way, and, as may be 
 supposed, I carefully examined all the carriages that passed me, 
 and made inquiries at every post-house. On arriving at the 
 entrance to Bordeaux a clerk at the barrier handed me a note, 
 in which my wife informed me that she had been obliged to 
 halt there by an attack of fever. Fortunately, she was better, 
 and in a couple of days I started with her for Paris. 
 
 One circumstance was as useful to me as I could have wished ; 
 it was just at this moment that the Emperor's marria,!:r<; ^\•i(ll 
 Marie Louise was taking place. Generosity is an ornameuL to ' 
 good Ibrtuuc, and gives a sanction to its greatness, so that one i 
 can venture on a good deal with a fortunate chief. My impunity, j 
 to which after all I was getting accustomed, was a proof of this. 
 As a matter of fact, as people had other things to do than to 
 pick a quarrel with me, they spoke to me only of the justice 
 with which I had recently been treated, and how completely 
 I seemed to ignore it. 
 
 On the day of the great ceremonies of that august alliance, 
 when the daughter of the ancient Caesars allied herself to the 
 modern Ceesar, seeming for ever to unite the eagle of France to 
 the eagle once of Eome, afterwards of Germany, I was seriously 
 unwell ; but, as soon as I had at all recovered, I thought it my 
 duty to go and pay my respects to their majesties while they 
 were still at Compiegne. I stayed there three days, with the 
 idea of having an audience of the Emperor or an explanation 
 with the Prince of Neuchatel ; but this was impossible. The 
 hours during which the Emperor was visible were taken up
 
 278 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TRIED AULT 
 
 ■with State affairs aud intercourse with the high personages who 
 suiTOunded him. As for the Prince of Neuchatel, he was 
 always the first to go to the palace and the last to leave it, and 
 was quite unapproachable. Thus, except for one dinner with 
 Massena and another with Duroc, my days were passed in 
 attending the Mass in the morning, the receptions and pre- 
 sentations later in the day, and the general circle in the 
 evening. 
 
 My second day was ending in this fashion. I happened to be 
 in the card-room at the end of the apartments devoted to the 
 receptions. The Empress was playing her game ; kings, arch- 
 dukes, princes, foreigners of the highest rank, and a host of 
 illustrious Frenchmen were following the Emperor with their 
 eyes and watching his least movements, while he exchanged a 
 few words with one, honoured another with a nod, went from 
 one table to another, and addressed remarks more witty than 
 polite to the ladies. 
 
 Having gone round and got back to the door which separated 
 the card-room from that which preceded it, he passed through, 
 and in an instant a vast crowd poured after him. Lounging 
 along, he reached the centre of the room. Then he halted, 
 crossed his arms, stared at the floor a couple of yards from his 
 feet, and remained motionless. The kings, the Archduke Ferdi- 
 nand, uncle to the Empress, and the other eminent personages 
 who were following stopped at once ; some backed, others 
 moved aside, all drew closer together, until a widish circle was 
 formed round the Emperor, he standing in the centre motionless. 
 Everyone copied his immobility, no one broke the silence. At^ 
 firsf people even avoided looking at each other ; but gradually 
 eyes were raised and everyone looked about him. Another few 
 moments, and the glances assumed an interrogative air, as if all 
 were asking themselves to what this bit of acting was the 
 prelude, the tacit inquiry in presence of so many foreigners of 
 that rank making all the French people ill at ease. And, in 
 truth, such a sudden lapse into contemplation, no less eccentric 
 than out of place, might for the first two or three minutes have 
 been attributed to a need on the Emperor's part of working out 
 some important idea which had unexpectedly occurred to him ;
 
 A SNUU FOR MASSL'XA 279 
 
 but when five, six, seven, eight minutes had passed, no one 
 could discover any meaning in it. Yet it remained clear that, 
 in the case of a haughty master at a moment when he thought 
 fit to maKelo singular an exhibition of himself, the thing to do 
 was to do notliing. Unluckily, Marshal Massena, who hap- 
 penecl to be in the front row, while I was just behind him, 
 formed a diiferent opinion. Indeed, I have always been con- 
 vinced that, being as he was a man on the field of battle of 
 happy inspiration and accurate observation, and lacking all these 
 advantages at court, he thought he would be doing a service 
 to IN apoleonljy affording an opportunity of putting a natural 
 ending~to"a ndiculous scene, the most ridiculous of its kind that 
 I ever saw. He did not understand that, by furnishing a chief 
 to whom his own reputation was an insult "with the means of 
 snubbing him, he would at the same time give him a way of escape 
 by slmjily suljstitutiiig a piece of cruelty for a piece of affectation. 
 Consequently, at a moment when not a soul had any idea of 
 moving he left his place, went into the circle which a malevolent 
 genius seemed to have traced in order that he might come to 
 seek an afi"ray there, then advanced slowly towards the Emperor. 
 Astonishment and curiosity were depicted on all faces, though 
 mine could have expressed only fear. However, we had not 
 long to wait, for scarcely had the marshal uttered a few words 
 in too low a tone to be heard, than, without raising or turning 
 his eyes, indeed without moving, the Emperor said clearly, in 
 a voice of thunder, " AVhat business is it of vours ? " and the old 
 marshal, who, in spite of his renown and his rank, had been 
 humbled in the faro of all Europe, instead of departing at once 
 and going hom e to hide his shame, returned to his place without 
 ans wering, j ind to my complete amazement returned to it 
 backwards. 
 
 Never" have I felt more mortified, never did the despot in 
 Kapoleon appear to me in a more arrogant and shameless light ; 
 for it was an insult, no less gratuitous than cruel, to Erance in 
 the person of one of her oldest and most illustrious defenders. 
 As for Napoleon, after awarding such a prize for great services, 
 he continued to act the statue for a few moments longer ; then, 
 as though waking from a dream, he raised his head, uncrossed
 
 280 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 his arms, cast a searching glance on all those around him, turned 
 round Avithout saying a word to anybody, and re-entered the 
 card-room. At a sign from him the Empress threw down her 
 cards and rose, all the games ceased, and everybody stood up. 
 As he passed Marie Louise he said to her in a sufficiently dry 
 tone, " Come, madam," and walked on while she followed him 
 three paces behind. As he approached the door of the inner 
 room it opened, and, as soon as the Empress had passed through 
 it, it shut on them. It was not yet half-past nine, but Napoleon 
 was coughing a good deal and seemed wearied. Such is the 
 picture which I shall never cease to have before my eyes ; I am 
 still wondering what it meant. 
 
 Next day the Prince of Neuchatel came up to me as we came 
 out from Mass, and the following conversation took place. 
 " The Emperor means you to go back to Burgos." " "What was 
 an honourable selection will now be only a chastisement." 
 " How so ? " " The government is no longer in the state to 
 which I brought it." " All the more reason for going back there." 
 " What I did there cannot be recommenced, and what has been 
 destroyed cannot be repaired." " Zeal will furnish you with 
 means, and the Emperor counts on yom\g ; besides, once the 
 insurrection is stamped out, all will be safe." " Stamped out ? 
 — yes ; but it keeps increasing and spreading." " And for that 
 reason we are going to put an end to it by doubling the forces." 
 " No doubt more forces are indispensable, but that's not what 
 will finish this war." " What do you mean ? " " That in order 
 to conquer the Spaniards you have got to convince them." 
 " You' have got to beat them and reduce them." " To beat them 
 is easy, but how are you to reduce people who have information 
 about everything, are never betrayed by anyone, show nothing 
 but skirmishers, never masses of men, whom an army cannot 
 get at, while individuals or weak detachments escape them only 
 by miracle ; against whom you cannot manoeuvre, who resist no 
 more than they ^'submit, and who, favoured by the most broken 
 ground, limit their warfare to alarms, excursions, surprises, and 
 assassinations." " People only continue a war when they do 
 not ~have to pay the expenses of it ; the way to sicken the 
 Spaniards of it is to make them pay dear. Populations
 
 MASSENA'S FOREDODINGS 281 
 
 offer so much hold that it is impossible for us not to succeed 
 in curing them of rebellion." " Panalicism puts aside repug- 
 nance as well as interest ; the fanaticism of the Sj^aniai'TIs Is at 
 once ])(iliti(al, national, and religious. Day and iiiuht a hundred 
 thousand apostles are ]iix';u]iin'_f it furiously to ignorant enthu- 
 siasts, sober, resigned, brave men. And again a strug^^h- d" this 
 kincT ,^ i t looks like lasting, demoralizes troops and loii-liens 
 the people. So few commanders understand it that it is bound 
 to occasion many mistakes ; lastly, armies are used up while 
 populations renew themselves : it is like the hydra devouring 
 and springing up afresh." " The Imperial Guard will siuce'ed 
 in giving" an account of all these dilhculties." "With that he 
 left me ; half an hour afterwards I was on my way to Paris, 
 and I hastened to return to my wife, wondering whither 
 the pride and blindness of all these people was going to lead 
 them, 
 
 A few days after this, I went to pay my respects to Massena. 
 I found him alone, w^alking ahout his room. He was in an 
 excitable state, and, as he never minded what he said before me, 
 he let himself go. Marshal Jourdan's portrait had just been 
 removed from the Hall of the Marshals; and he said some 
 things'about its removal that were no less forcible than to the 
 point. "We spoke of other soldiers who had been ill-treated ; 
 and, hoping to calm him, I said in reference to one of them, 
 " It was an unlucky job about him." Thereupon he seized my 
 arm and shook it, saying, " And how do you know that there 
 won't be an unlucky job about me before six months are out ? " 
 In truth he was struck wdth the notion that the object of the 
 rude and harsh treatment to which he had been exposed was to 
 place him in so irksome and unpleasant a position that he 
 would be unable to decline the task which was intended for him, 
 or even to attach any conditions to his acceptance of it. And the 
 command of the Army of Portugal, at the head of which Soult 
 had just received a most well-deserved and smarting defeat, a 
 command given to Massena without the means of making it a 
 success immediately realised his foreboding in the most 
 cruel manner possible. He started at once; I not till three 
 weeks later.
 
 282 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 One last remiuiscence is connected with tliis visit to Paris. 
 I was buying something at a bookseller's when I saw a man 
 enter whose face, figure, manner, and voice struck me. It was 
 M. de La Fayette, whom I had not seen for sixteen years, and 
 then onlylu~uniform ; so that at the first moment I failed to 
 recognise him in the plainest clothes and with no decoration. 
 Besides, I had been told that he was dead, so that it was a 
 complete surprise for me. We chatted for some time. " Why 
 are you not in the Senate ? " I asked him. " I declined tcTbe,^^ 
 he answered ; " this government is too arbitrary for me to take 
 any share in it ! " Yet, my dear Marquis (I said to myself as I 
 leftliim), under this government w^hich is too arbitrary for your 
 taste you are living in freedom in spite of your opposition, 
 while in the days whose freedom you regret, if when you threw 
 yourself into the arms of the Austrians they had sent you back 
 to your own country instead of shutting you up for five years at 
 Olmiitz, it is a hundred to one that your brethren and friends 
 would have cut your head off; while a good many patriots who 
 w^ent further than you only escaped by a miracle the sword of 
 their own chosen government. 
 
 But the time w^as come for me to set out for Burgos. Though 
 I often dawdled about getting off, I never did so w^hen I had 
 once fairly started ; I went straight to Bayonne, only stopping 
 there for one night. While I was on my road, the Emperor had 
 returned to Paris, and brilliant parties were being given in 
 honour of the new sovereiirn, on whom France relied for a sue- 
 cesser to the mighty Empire. But these marks of public 
 rejoicing were marred by one portentous disaster — I mean the 
 burning, on July 1, of the ball-room which Prince Schwarzenberg, 
 the Austrian ambassador, had built on to the house occupied by 
 him. In connection with the grief that resulted from this fatal 
 event, one terrible coincidence struck everybody. Just as the 
 marriage of the Archduchess ]\Iarie Antoinette had been the 
 occasion of an alarming tumult, so that of the Archduchess 
 Marie Louise seemed to form its counterpart. Some supersti- 
 tious presentiment caused that fire to be regarded as marking 
 the end of the Emperor's good fortune. When I heard at 
 Burgos of the disaster, I confess I could not help feeling a touch
 
 GOVERNING UNDER DIFFICULTIES 283 
 
 of this weakness; but, at the first moment, all my fear and 
 anxiety was fixed on my wife, who was to have been at the ball. 
 The newspapers came twenty-four hours sooner than the letters, 
 and I passed a night of horriljle expectancy ; but the letter came 
 at last. A sliglit indisposition had prevented Zozotte from 
 going to the ball, where she had arranged to meet the poor 
 Princess of La Leyen, who actually did lose her life there. So 
 she had been in no danger ; but everyone thought that she had 
 been there, and she added in her irrepressibly comic fashion : 
 " My drawing-room has never been empty since the burning. 
 People come in crowds to know if I have not something about 
 me that has been roasted." 
 
 Painful as it was for me to reappear at Burgos, discouraging 
 as it was to recommence a task that had once been done, I was 
 back again there. The Emperor had spoken, and all wills 
 submitted to that omnipotent 'voice. "With resignation to it, 
 my zeaThad returned, and, by dint of meditating on what might 
 still be possible, I had devised measures for spreading sound 
 views and inducing their acceptance, calculated in my judgement 
 to win back the country. Yet I was none the less very anxious. 
 For the success of my efforts I needed an absolute authority, as 
 the only way to create resources, enlighten the inhabitants, 
 punish or reward individuals ; but this authority no longer 
 existed. The title of governor, though borne upon my 
 instructions, was now only a worthless stamp. The Imperial 
 Guard had preceded me into Spain ; its headquarters, which I 
 thought were to be at Valladolid, were at Burgos ; and as the 
 general in command of it could take his orders only from one 
 of the colonels-general of the same corps, he had been invested 
 with the supreme authority, and lodged in the rooms where 
 I had had my quarters, which was enough to put me out of 
 currency. Moreover, though my junior, he was my superior 
 officer. As a crowning disaster, this officer was General 
 Dorsenne — a splendid man, once the sumptuous lover of 
 ]\Ime d'Orsay. His foppery made him ridiculous, but the 
 Emperor liked him for his swagger and pluck — very good
 
 284 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 qualities in an officer of liussars ; but what is an arm with no 
 head to direct it in the case of a commaiicler-in-chief ? A single 
 interview was enough to leave me no doubt as to Dorsenne's 
 character and his value. From that moment there was no more 
 to be said ; I had no longer a position. I had no notion of 
 squabbling over the rags of authority ; and as * the Guard was 
 to settle finally all the difficulties of the war in Spain,' I 
 renounced every kind of initiative. 
 
 Just as the Prince of Neuchatel had been unable to compre- 
 hend that in order to conquer the Spaniards you needed to 
 convince them, so it was thought that a rod of iron would 
 answer for everything, and that it would be possible to subdue 
 by terror the most fearless people" in the world, and tEe most 
 capable of taking reprisals on conquerors who did not shrink 
 from such methods. Though " brigands," " vile and abject 
 rabble," were thought good enough names for the gucrrillcros, 
 and it was implied that they were highly honoured by being 
 killed, the Imperial Guard, with its reputation for invincibility 
 derived from so many victories, must needs be matched against 
 these nobodies. Of course everything fled before it ; but that 
 very flight, while a necessity for the guerrillas, served them in 
 the tactics which they had adopted against us. What was their 
 game ? To kill. Well, it cannot be denied that a hundred 
 shots fired in a volley often fail to wound a single man ; while 
 ten shots fired individually kill or wound several. Besides, 
 with them it was no longer a case of combats limited to a 
 certain time ; it was a continuous struggle, without rest or 
 respite. No opportunity for trap or ambush was missed; 
 advantage was' taken of every hour of the day, every kind of 
 weather, every position, and it always ended in the pursuers 
 becoming the pursued. They never killed or wounded many 
 men at any one time ; but, as their blows were constantly 
 renewed, the only possible end was to use up, with nothing to 
 show for it, a picked army whose preservation was of so great 
 importance. Then anger stepped in, and caused random arrests 
 of inhabitants in their own houses, or poor fellows found in the 
 fields. They were then questioned; and whether they were
 
 DOESENNE'S MET HODS 285 
 
 unable or unwilling to say anything, or did not give satisfactory 
 answers, they were put to the torture. One major, Dorsenne's 
 worthy aide-de-camp, was especially well-suited for horrors of 
 this kind. He generally began by tying up the wretched 
 people by their thumbs; then he had them hoisted up and 
 jerked till their bones were dislocated. Old men and priests 
 were thus put an end to. Those who survived w^ere taken to 
 the dungeons of Burgos, which for them meant condemnation to 
 death without trial. 
 
 Dorsenne had put up three huge gibbets on a hill in full 
 view of The house which I had furnished, and which he 
 occupied ; and on these the bodies of three alleged accomplices 
 of (juerrillcros were always hanging. One morning there were 
 only two, the family of the third victim having carried off 
 the body in the night in order to bury it. Dorsenne at once 
 ordered the military governor to have a man fetched from the 
 town prison and hung on the gibbet which was disengaged. 
 The governor was a Swiss colonel named Traxler, a kind- 
 hearted and brave man. His hair stood on end at the receipt 
 of this order ; and thinking that there must be some mistake, 
 he hurried off to the general to have it cleared up. He was 
 received wdth the utmost harshness ; the order for the assassina- 
 tion was repeated, and that so angrily, that lacking courage to 
 resist, he resigned himself, went to the prison, made the best 
 selection of the unhappy victim, and sent him off, uuconfessed it 
 may be added, to the gallows. Then in perfect despair he came 
 to me, and, with tears, told me w-hat had been done. I was 
 disgusted, as I well might be ; but if some strong language 
 escaped me, I abstained from any criticism. Indeed, what was 
 there left to say? If before obeying Traxler had consulted 
 me, my answer would have been that the order was a crime 
 in which he ought never to take part, and an insult to 
 himself to which the only proper answer was the resignation of 
 his post. 
 
 This was the kind of man to whom the Emperor had 
 entrusted not only the destinies of that important part of 
 Spain, but also the fate of nearly a million of men, and
 
 286 MEMOIES OF GENERAL TBIEBAULT 
 
 interests of appalling moment. He could not have made a 
 greater mistake, for the Guard were, of all troops, unques- 
 tionably the least adapted to this kind of warfare ; a kind 
 which iSTapoleon never understood, and thought he could finish 
 as he had finished his wars with Austria, Prussia, and Russia. 
 In those cases to beat a general was to vanquish a sovereign ; 
 here, in order to reduce Spain, it would have been necessary 
 to beat the whole country in the person of each one of its 
 children.
 
 ( 287 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Massona in Portugal — His difficulties — The Couut of Eiion— Genera 
 Claparede — 1 am made Governor of Salamanca — The Duchess uf Abrantes 
 — Canouville — Fighting the guerrillas and tempting their chief — Torres 
 Vedras — Massdna and Wellington — Evacuation of Portugal. 
 
 As I have said, ]\Iarshal ]\Iassena had preceded me into Spain. 
 l\'Tien I reached Burgos, it was a fortnight since he had passed 
 through the pLace, and he was preluding his Portugal campaign 
 by the sieges of Eodrigo and Almeida. Alike as a Frenchman, as 
 a devoted friend to the marshal, and as one interested in seeing 
 the English army which had forced us to evacuate Portugal 
 driven out in its turn, I was led to draw up a statement of my 
 ideas as to the most suitable mode of regaining that kingdom. 
 The occupation of it was essential if we were ever to retain 
 any but a very precarious footing in Spain; and I made out 
 the plan of campaign which I published in 1817 among the 
 documents at the end of my Narrative of Junot's expedition. 
 As soon as I had finished it, I sent it to the Prince of Neuchatel 
 and Massena. The latter thanked me, the former confined 
 himself to an acknowledgment; but as I afterwards learnt 
 from Canouville, one of Berthier's aides-de-camp, the plan was 
 at once taken to the Emperor, who, after two perusals of it, 
 asked for it to read it once more, and did not return it. Thus 
 the Emperor was in possession of all the conditions necessary 
 to success; namely, that in that country what was wanted 
 was an expedition, not a campaign ; that it should be 
 undertaken with sufficient forces to be checked by no obstacle ; 
 and that we ought to be in a position not merely to beat the 
 English army, but to drive it into the sea, retaining the power, 
 after striking the gi'eat stroke, of sending half or two-thii'ds of 
 our force back to Spain. What conclusion is to be drawn
 
 288 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 from his action in the teeth of this demonstration ? That he 
 expected ]\Iassena to work mii'acles ? But the marshal was no 
 longer at an age, nor had he the health, for that sort of thing. 
 It was known that he was but a survival of himself, and that 
 he had become one of those heroes of the past who ought not 
 to be exposed to the caprices of that fortune of which he had 
 once been the brilliant master. Must we then admit that 
 the Emperor could face without much repugnance the notion 
 of failure, were it only as a diminution of the glory which 
 Massena had won by his own efforts? This view had its 
 supporters ; though it was a possible answer to them to say 
 that before long there was an idea of giving the marshal a force 
 nearly equal to that which I had thought necessary, namely 
 100,000 men. On the other hand, one is compelled to re- 
 coo-nise that the manner in which the collection of these was 
 prescribed revealed more charlatanism even than dishonesty; 
 for it must have been quite plain to those who gave orders 
 to that effect that they could be only partially executed, and 
 that, given as they were only when Lord Wellington had had 
 time to complete the lines of Torres Vedras, which saved 
 Lisbon, they were no longer of avail to produce the end 
 desired. 
 
 As a matter of fact, what was done to reinforce Massena's 
 army ? The decision was taken to arrange for it simultaneously 
 both by adding to it Marshal Soult's army corps, and by the 
 creation of a new corps which was to join the Prince of Essling 
 at Santarem by the right bank of the Tagus, while Soult, coming 
 from Badajoz, was to cross that river also in a line with San- 
 tarem, and join him similarly.* But here, again, the Emperor 
 neglected to sow in such a way as to produce a good crop. He 
 had spoilt the expedition by not giving Massena at first the 
 
 * I speak witli full knowledge of the facts, since Berthier, being unable to 
 communicate with Massdna, kept me informed of all intelligence that came 
 and all orders that were given with regard to the Army of Portugal. He sent 
 me for instance a translation of everything relating to it in the English 
 newspapers. In this way, too, he sent me copies of all the orders given to 
 Marshal Soult; notably that which directed him to make for Santarem by the 
 left bank of the Tagus.
 
 MASSENA'S DIFFICULTIES 289 
 
 means of bringing it to a prosperous end, and by placing under 
 his orders both Marshal Ney, one of those men who can take 
 their orders from none but themselves, and the Duke of Abrantes, 
 who, having comn*anded our Army of Portugal, was for this 
 reason no less than from his own character an awkward subor- 
 dinate. And now he might have felt that, if in the interest of 
 his country Massena was capable of rising superior to his just 
 indignation, Marshal Soult would act only in pursuance of his 
 own culpable hostility ; for, when his worse feelings were once 
 called into play, nothing could be hoped for from him on the 
 score of obedience, patriotism, or even honour. Everything had 
 to be sacrificed to rivalry and ambition by this man, who in the 
 course of eleven years of marshal's rank, or even merely as com- 
 mander of an army corps, never succeeded in doing honour to his 
 profession by any feat of arms.* Marshal Soult, therefore, found 
 reasons for not going further than Badajoz, and the non-execu- 
 tion of that part of the Emperor's plan rendered the rest of it 
 nugatory. In this way, by letting off the English army, Soult 
 paved the way for the series of disasters which led to our ex- 
 pulsion from the Peninsula and to the invasion of the South 
 of France. 
 
 I return to the subject which gave rise to this digression ; 
 namely, to the plan of campaign which I drew up for Marshal 
 Massena. Once it was finished. General Dorsenne not beinff 
 more disposed to give me work to do than I was in the humour 
 to do it for him, I had nothing demanding my attention, for I 
 was in very truth governor in imrtihus. Meanwhile, thanks to 
 the confidence placed in me by the inhabitants, no detail of 
 the brutality and barbarity which went on remained unknown 
 to me; so wishing to deaden both the depression caused by 
 
 * Out of respect for established opinion, I have often investigated the 
 marshal's career to see upon what his reputation rests. No one could ever 
 quote to me anything but Austerlitz, Coruuna, and Toulouse. As -we have 
 seen, on the occasion of the first he had ophthalmia, and never showed him- 
 self on the field. [For English readers who have been accustomed to think 
 that Marshal Soult was beaten at Corunna and Toulouse, it is perhaps 
 imnecessary to reproduce General Thiebault's arguments against reckoning 
 those battles to his credit.] 
 
 VOL. II. ■ U
 
 I 
 
 290 MEMOIRS OF GENEEAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 inaction, and my regrets for the good I might have done, I clung 
 for salvation to the work of compiling my General Manual for 
 Staff-officers. I have mentioned how I had kept this work in 
 view, and how in Portugal I had been urged to do it by Colonel 
 Donkin. So I set to work on that treatise, which but for this period 
 of unexpected inaction I should never have had an opportunity 
 of writing. The disasters which followed so rapidly rendered 
 the popularity obtained by the Manual of little advantage to 
 me, but the edition was rapidly exhausted. I did not take any 
 trouble to have it reprinted, though the last copies of it were 
 sold at 25 or 30 francs apiece, and it was bought and used for 
 the training of staff-officers in Paris, London, Berlin, and 
 St. Petersburg. 
 
 Meanwhile, Marshal Massena having reached Santarem pretty 
 rapidly found himself, as I have said, checked before the formid- 
 able lines of Torres Vedras, defended by the English army and 
 the whole Portuguese army, as well as the militia and part of 
 the population. Not only was he unable to force them, but he 
 would not even have remained in front of them with impunity 
 had not the strength of his character and the power of his name 
 rendered it possible for him to hold for some time a position 
 which no other could have held for a week. It was then that 
 the Emperor at last comprehended that it was possible to pay 
 too dear for the pleasure of tarnishing the glory of a soldier 
 who still held a great military reputation. As I have said, he 
 had given orders to have it reinforced by Marshal Soult's corps, 
 which never came, and by the newly-formed corps under the 
 Count of Erlon.* In this latter there was no one who knew 
 Portugal, but it was felt, nevertheless, how necessary the know- 
 ledge of it had become ; and the Emperor, who punished me for 
 not having begged his favours, did not at least deprive me of 
 the honour of deserving what I was not allowed to have, and 
 bethought himself of me to supply what was lacking to the 
 commander of the new corps. 
 
 The Count of Erlon was certainly one of the most estimable 
 men I'ever knew, but so thoroughly established was the opinion 
 
 * [Better known, perhaps, as General Drouet. He was son to the famous 
 postmaster of Vareunes.] — -
 
 ' ' THE COUNT OF ERLON 291 
 
 of his weakness as a general that, without noticing it, everybody 
 spoke of him as the Count of Erlou, nobody as General d'Erhjn.* 
 It shoukl be added that he did himself perfect justice, and being 
 consistently with his excellent nature quite incapable of making 
 " side " do duty for a total lack of talent, he adopted every 
 useful proposal with perfect good humour, never appearing to be 
 hurt by one's taking the initiative, and never trying to claim 
 what did not belong to him, even though it took effect only 
 under his name. I might, therefore, be regarded as necessary 
 to that army corps, and the Emperor ordered that I should be 
 employed as chief of the staff to it. This was indeed putting 
 my loyalty to a pretty severe test, for it was bringing me down 
 from the Duke of Abrantes to the Count of Erlon, and from an 
 army in which I had been the second personage to a corps which 
 only formed the quarter of an army. But there was appended 
 to my orders the following, written on note-paper in the hand 
 of the Prince of Xeuchatel : " The Emperor bids me tell you, 
 General Thiebault, that on this occasion he counts upon your 
 zeal in his service and your devotion to his person." Hesita- 
 tion was impossible, and in no case should I have hesitated ; 
 besides, it was a question of substituting war for inaction, and 
 of leaving a hateful man, who could not fail to be as glad of my 
 departure as I was glad to be no longer a witness of his atroci- 
 ties, for one whom I esteemed. I was about to rejoin Marshal 
 Massena, from whom I could not fail to obtain a position which 
 was certain to suit me in permanence, while I was equally certain 
 of it in the event of the Duke of Abrantes replacing the marshal. 
 In presence of a man of a thoroughly good nature one has 
 spontaneous sympathies and unexpected points of contact which 
 serve to shorten the preliminary stage. My first visit to the 
 Count of Erlon proved this ; it lasted nearly three hours, and 
 when we parted we had reached a degree of intimacy and 
 confidence which with some chiefs scarcely results from several 
 years of intercourse, while with others it never comes into 
 existence. Attached to the Count of Erlon was an officer of 
 
 * In the same way Louis XVIII, of ^vitty and spiteful memory, said one 
 day in my presence to the Count ' of La Eoche-Aymon,* *' Good morning, 
 general," and to General Lauriston, " Good morning, marquis." 
 
 u 2
 
 292 MEMOIBS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 whom equally I coiild not speak too well. This was Colonel 
 de Salaignac, a deserving man, possessing much more ability 
 than his general, and in consequence of this superiority coming 
 very near to commanding the army. I do not know what 
 opinion he held of me, hut he at once subordinated his influence 
 to mine ; and as it was impossible to have better intentions than 
 he, while in that respect his general was inferior to no one, 
 and I could claim equality with anyone, we found ourselves 
 from the first day in perfect agreement. The initiative of pro- 
 posals devolved on me, and the licence allowed me went so far 
 as to permit me to take upon myself arrangements beyond my 
 authority. As no proposal which I had occasion to make was 
 rejected, and no order that I gave was repudiated, there was no 
 longer any limit to my efforts, seeing that such treatment has 
 always been enough to convert my zeal into enthusiasm. The 
 9th Corps had been rather scratched together than formed, the 
 troops composing it had been collected on the march, the 
 admiriistrative officials and generals had joined it how they 
 could. So far as regarded the organization of the service, 
 nothing had been done when it arrived at Burgos. Nevertheless, 
 when it reached Salamanca, it was all ready to march upon 
 Ciudad Eodrigo, and afterwards to take up a position between 
 Santarem and Almeida. The rainy season was over ; we could 
 not fail to find some resources ; moreover, every soldier was 
 certain of entering Portugal with bread and four days' biscuit ; 
 lastly, each division was to be followed by a herd of cattle. 
 We were thus about to leave Salamanca fully convinced of a 
 prompt junction with ]\Iassena, when on the eve of the day 
 fixed for our departure I was seized with one of my attacks of 
 inflammation of the bowels. I was therefore obliged to remain 
 at Salamanca, and allow the Count of Erlon to go without me^ 
 sincerely attached as I was to him, and deploring the necessity 
 of leaving him just when I was about to be most useful. 
 
 An incident, serious in itself, scandalous in its consequences, 
 took place almost immediately owing to my being out of the 
 way. A consequence of the mixture of inadequacy and 
 kindness which made up the Count of Erlon's nature was that 
 with him power did not result in authority. He might be
 
 GENERAL CLAPAUEDE 293 
 
 exactly compared to some material which needs a lining stronger 
 than itself, and, unluckily, the aide-de-camp's solidity was by no 
 means sufficient to redeem the commander-in-chiefs want of 
 backbone. "When the army reached Burgos, I had found that 
 some officers had reached the point of getting orders given as 
 they liked and of disregarding when necessary the orders that 
 they had received. One of the things that I had the greatest 
 ■difficulty not to establish in principle, but to put into practice, 
 was inducing the general to discuss with me all the orders to 
 be given, to give them only through me and to insist on their 
 punctual execution ; that is to say, to back me up on this point 
 in such a way as to prove to the subordinates that they had a 
 commander. But as soon as I w^as no longer there Salaignac 
 %vas left powerless, and General Claparede, who commanded the 
 first division of the 9th Corps, was quick to draw a splendid 
 profit from my absence. He succeeded, in fact, in persuading 
 the Count of Erlon that in order to secure his route it was 
 advisable that he, Claparede, should be ordered to cover the 
 right ; that is, to beat and drive across the Douro all the insur- 
 gents or partisan corps who w^ere on the left of the river in the 
 direction of Coimbra. The order, drawn up by himself, gave 
 him full powers of action, without any restriction as to the time 
 he was to remain separate from the army or the distance which 
 he was to keep from it ; communications soon ceased, for he 
 kept too far off" for orders to reach him ; he fought for his own 
 hand. On the strength of hypothetical engagements, such as 
 can be invented with impunity in a popular war out of a few 
 shots fired in the air or against w^alls, he levied enormous con- 
 tributions of which he never rendered any account, and he 
 sucked a parish dry before leaving it to make his profit out of 
 another. In this way he made money enough to meet the 
 extravagance and luxury of the remainder of his life, without 
 any hindrance to his road towards the House of Peers, of which 
 he is at this day an honoured member. 
 
 By order of the Count of Erlon, as indeed by the fact of my 
 rank and position, I had, on remaining behind at Salamanca, 
 received the command not only of all the men belonging to the 
 four army corps then in Portugal, so far as they were included
 
 294 MEiMOIIiS OF GEXERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 in detachments which had ah-eady arrived or were expected, 
 but also the chief command of the district. Just when I was 
 getting quite well again the Duke of Istria, Bessieres, arrived at 
 Valladolid. He commanded in chief the Army of the North of 
 Spain, with a territory extending from Irun to Alcantara, and 
 composed of Navarre, Biscay, Old Castile, and the province 
 of Valladolid, being four out of the six governments formed in 
 Spain. Having heard that I was at Salamanca, he TVTote in 
 haste to inquire as to the circumstances which kept me there. 
 I replied that it was the result of illness, but that I was ready 
 to rejoin the Count of Erlon and Marshal Massena as soon as 
 possible, with the detachments intended for the Army of 
 Portugal which had successively arrived at Salamanca. By 
 return of messenger I received from him an autograph letter to 
 the effect that, as d'Erlon had joined Massena, the reasons 
 which had chiefly caused my nomination as chief of staff no 
 longer existed ; that it was well known that I had only accepted 
 the post from a laudable point of self-devotion, and that it could 
 not suit me to retain it ; that for his own part he could not 
 forget what I had done at Burgos, and that he accordingly 
 offered to create for me a seventh government, composed of the 
 provinces of Toro, Zamora, Salamanca, Ciudad Eodrigo, and 
 Almeida, which he much hoped I should accept. He would 
 undertake to obtain the Emperor's approbation, and he thought 
 the post would suit me all the better from being of importance ; 
 since, although governor, I should be de facto commander of the 
 advance-guard of the Army of the North. The detachments 
 would be taken on by General Gardanne. 
 
 Thus I found myself a governor for the third time. I have 
 just said what was the effect on me of kind treatment ; and if 
 the Duke of Istria, the third and last commander-in-chief under 
 whom I was to congratulate myself on serving, had shown 
 unlimited confidence in me, I was bound to do as much in 
 respect of zeal by way of justifying it. 
 
 By a fresh piece of good luck I was even better backed at 
 Salamanca by the Spanish authorities than I had been at Burgos. 
 The excellent prefect of the latter place, Blanco de Salcedo, had 
 been no less recommended by his intelligence and devotion
 
 GOVERNOR OF SALAMANCA 295 
 
 than by his personal qualities ; but the prefect of the seventh 
 government, named Cacaseca, was even superior to him as an 
 administrator — I may almost say as a man. Active, honest, 
 firm, able, he knew with incredible accuracy the amount of 
 supplies that the smallest hamlet of Estremadura could furnish ; 
 he was acquainted with the special points of every functionary 
 and of the chief persons under his administration ; and for 
 every duty — hostile as the mass of the inhabitants were — he 
 couldilay his hand on the right man to : undertake it. Thus 
 he never required or enjoined anything that was not fair or 
 possible, and I never gave an order that was not carried out. 
 We went along in undisturbed agreement, in consequence of 
 which order combined with economy to lighten the burdens as 
 far as that was possible, and, in spite of the presence of so 
 many troops, to maintain a balance between requirements and 
 resources. In spite of all obstacles, his orders brought all that 
 was required punctually to the day, without its being once 
 necessary to have recourse to military execution, or even to hold 
 one of those councils which had been so useful to me at Burgos. 
 But, indeed, 1 do not know whom among the local authorities 
 I had not reason to praise. 
 
 I had not long been holding the seventh government when 
 General Foy arrived at Salamanca,* having, by miracle, escaped 
 two Portuguese corps and the bands of Don Julian Sanchez, one 
 of the two or three most formidable guerrilla chiefs in Spain, 
 with the loss of only ten stragglers out of his small escort. He 
 was bearing dispatches for the Emperor, and orders for General 
 Gardanne, who had been left behind lq Spain with a view to a 
 mission, about which, from the time that I took possession of 
 the seventh government, he had no further occasion to trouble 
 himself. Now he was to rejoin Massena with all the troops 
 that he could collect, intended for the Army of Portugal. 
 
 This Gardanne was not the general of whom I spoke in 
 connection with the Eoman campaign, who was called Moustache 
 Gardanne. He had before this died of vexation, in conse- 
 quence of an unjust reprimand given him by some marshal or 
 
 * [This would be about the middle of November 1810,]
 
 296 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 other,* and, above all, of the uselessness of the remonstrances 
 addressed by him to the Emperor, upon whom that brave 
 officer had claims which ought never to have been overlooked. 
 The General Gardanne of whom I am now speaking — a small, 
 lean, weakly-looking man — is the one who, at the beginning of 
 the blockade of Genoa, behaved so finely in the action of the 
 20th Germinal before Varazze, when he was in command of Mar- 
 bot's division, and had his leg smashed by a bullet. At Tilsit 
 he had been intended by Napoleon for a mission to the Shah of 
 Persia ; later on he became governor of the imperial pages ; and 
 now, still as general of brigade, he was employed in the Army 
 of Portugal. I had no less regard for him in private life than 
 as a distinguished soldier, and, though he could not at that 
 moment get together more than about 2,000 men, I felt the more 
 at ease about his operation from the fact that Massena was 
 master of both banks of the Zezere ; that the Portuguese General 
 Silveira, who had threatened General Foy, was at that moment 
 marching towards Coimbra; and that, consequently, there was 
 nothing on General Gardanne's road which could endanger him. 
 My amazement, then, may be imagined when, ten days after his 
 departure, I heard that, after losing 1,000 men, who were never 
 heard of again, he had returned to Piodrigo with his troops 
 utterly disorganized. To confirm this deplorable news, he 
 arrived at Salamanca. I hastened off to him. " Great heavens ! " 
 I said, " what is the meaning of your retreat — effected in this 
 manner, too ? " " General, when I got near the Zezere I found 
 an enormous force in front of me." " An enormous force ? " 
 " Yes, general — the united army." " Marshal Massena was 
 between you and it." " It had, apparently, turned his flank." 
 " But that's impossible." " It is true, however." " And you 
 saw that army ? " "I saw the advance-guard of it." " And 
 you ascertained its presence by an action ? " "I did not think 
 it right to commit myself so far." " An advance-guard action 
 in a country of that kind commits nobody to anything. At all 
 
 * [General Antoine Gardanne died at Breslau in 1807. The one here in 
 question (Claude) seems to have been employed again, if he be the Gardanne 
 whom Marbot (vol. iii., p. 37G) refers to as serving ia Eugene Beauharnais' 
 army in 1813. lie died in 1818.]
 
 GENERAL GAUDANNE'S BLUNDER 297 
 
 events, you reconnoitred the advanced posts of the advance- 
 guard that you saw ? " " No, general ; it was useless. The 
 inhabitants assured me that I was in presence of the enemy's 
 army ; that the French had evacuated the left bank of the 
 Zezere ; and that the bridge of Punhete had been carried away 
 by a flood." "And you took their word for it?" "They 
 all told the same story." "And you withdrew without any 
 verification ? " "I should have been lost if I had stayed, seeing 
 that I was on an island which I had to make haste to get 
 out of." At the word "island," I looked at him without 
 answering, and he went to fetch his map to show it me. 
 Presently, the island appeared to be only a peninsula, formed 
 by the Tagus* and two affluents near their source, which finally 
 made it clear to me that the poor man had gone out of his 
 mind. That day's messenger took the report which I had to 
 send upon this serious matter to the Prince of Neuchatel and 
 the Duke of Istria. Without concealing what I thought of 
 Gardanne's condition, I confined it to the simplest statement 
 of the facts. But all the moderation that I could put into it 
 did not prevent me from receiving by the return messenger a 
 crushing paragraph to be put into the general order of the day, 
 containing poor Gardanne's dismissal, with orders for him to go 
 back to France and go home. Grieved as I was at seeing so 
 cruel an ending to so honourable a career, I went at once 
 to impart to him the order that I had received, and ask him 
 to leave Salamanca before daylight, so that he might not be 
 there when the severe treatment meted out to him became 
 generally known. He yielded to my wish, and I had a sad 
 parting with him. 
 
 Now what was the enormous force before which General 
 Gardanne had, not withdrawn, l)ut rim away, without giving 
 himself time even to collect his troops, abandoning the whole 
 number of men who were scattered about in their craze for 
 marauding, to which a large number always devote themselves 
 when a column is badly led ? One shudders to say that that 
 
 * [Sic, and the Duke of Wellington seems to agree, but it is hard to see 
 how Gardanne can have reached the Tagus in the time. The Zezere must 
 be meant.]
 
 298 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 force, that united army — if, indeed, he did see anything, which 
 I doubt, seeing that I have been assured that he never got near 
 the Zezere — was, and could be nothing but one of the marshal's 
 posts. Thus, it must have been some fifty of our own troops 
 before whom General Gardanne fled. It was in fear of these 
 fifty men that he abandoned 1,000, who, scattered as they were, 
 had been massacred by the inhabitants, or by the Portuguese 
 guerrillas, and he had actually reached his object when he 
 missed it in the most disastrous manner. 
 
 By coming to live at Salamanca I had put another 
 150 miles between myself and my wife ; but I was lucky 
 enough to find some people there with whom I could at least 
 talk of her. Among these I may mention the Duchess of 
 Abrantes. The presence of that lady at Salamanca was 
 certainly extraordinary ; but it was due to a domestic difficulty, 
 the settlement of which had involved the condition that she 
 should accompany her husband as far as she could go with 
 him, and, in the event of her being obliged to remain behind, 
 should fix her residence only in some place assigned by him. 
 It must be owned that the conditions could not have been 
 more rigorously earned out. The duchess followed the duke 
 to Eodrigo, being within a month of her confinement. Being 
 compelled to remain, she gave birth amid all the disorder of 
 a siege, under every circumstance of privation, and with a 
 frightful epidemic raging, to a son, who is now called Alfred, 
 but was then named Roderick.* As this seemed an impossible 
 place of abode for her, she started for Salamanca as soon as 
 she was able to travel, which was soon after my arrival there ; 
 and I do not know that she would ever have reached it but for 
 me. I had received information of her coming ; and simul- 
 taneously, that Don Julian, at the head of his terrible force of 
 insurgents, had formed the plan of carrying her off in the forest 
 of Matilla. She was to be already at Alba de Yeltes, and the 
 very next day her inadequate escort would be face to face with 
 the redoubted leader. There was not a moment to be lost ; I 
 at once sent two columns to right and left of Matilla, ordering 
 the commanders to be past it before daylight, and giving them 
 
 * [He fell at Solferino, in 1859.]
 
 THE DUCHESS OF ABR ANTES 299 
 
 instructions to keep near the road and to join the escort of 
 the duchess, as soon as a shot was fired. Lastly, I set outi 
 myself with two squadrons of cavalry to meet her. When 
 I fell in with her, night was coming on, and she was just 
 entering the forest. It was a dramatic moment; but I said 
 nothing about the danger she had been in or my precautions, 
 and attributed my sudden appearance to the desire of meeting 
 her sooner. As soon as I had seen her sun'ounded with 
 troops I took my leave and returned to Salamanca, where I 
 received her next in the least uncomfortable house that the 
 town could boast. 
 
 To have the society of so distinguished a lady was an 
 unimaginable piece of luck at the far end of Estremadura. 
 Any^vhere her company was desirable, but it was inestimable 
 among the Spanish provincial ladies, the smartest of whom 
 came in point of education and manners nowhere near ladies' 
 maids in a good f\imily with us. Here then was a person as 
 amiable, literary, and brilliant as our age could produce ; here 
 was one of the leading hostesses of Paris transported into the 
 midst of a population which seemed to belong to days long 
 gone by. Besides her social qualities, she was a lady whose 
 firm'ness of character was equal to her merits; of which I 
 hasten to give a proof 
 
 Don Julian continued to keep the province in a state of 
 trepidation ; Portuguese detachments from Silveira's corps had 
 shown themselves on the left bank of the Agueda, and I 
 deemed it useful to march against them with such forces as 
 I could dispose of I reported this to the Duke of Istria, 
 and called upon Mme d'Abrantes to let her know of my 
 approaching departure and convince her of the necessity of 
 moving to Valladolid. " Salamanca," I said, " can no longer be 
 safe for you, since I am taking away all my troops, except the 
 men required for the defence of the fort; and in that there 
 is no place where you could be lodged. Moreover, I must tell 
 you that all the guerrillas have their eye on you, attracted by 
 the ransom which they would be sure to get ; and it would be a 
 match between them who should make prisoners of you and 
 your son. So take advantage of the moment when I can
 
 300 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 assure your safe journey as far as Valladolid. If you wish, I 
 ■will state all this in writing; my respect for you and my 
 attachment to the duke make it a duty." She was not to 
 be moved by anything I could say or do ; she had only left 
 Eodrigo for want of food and shelter ; when she announced to 
 the duke that she was going to Salamanca, she had promised 
 him not to leave that town without him, and she was determined 
 ■ to keep that promise happen what might. If she could at a 
 ^ pinch have one room in the fort, it would quite satisfy her. 
 Lastly, thanking me for my advice, and for pressing her to 
 accept it, she begged me not to leave a single man more at 
 Salamanca on her account. 
 
 One must have been there to appreciate all the courage 
 that this resolution implied ; and I was much struck by it. By 
 thus placing herself above the considerations which would have 
 swayed any other woman, the duchess rose superior to her 
 sex, and showed that she was able to place her strength of 
 mind on a level with all the other qualities of which the 
 world has formed its opinion, and to which posterity will 
 render homage. After all, my proposals to the Duke of Istria 
 had no more result than those I had made to her. He did 
 not sanction my departure, and Salamanca did not lose its 
 garrison. 
 
 The duchess concerned herself a good deal about religion, 
 and was compiling a commentary on the Apocalypse. She did 
 me the honour of thinking that my soul was not entirely that 
 of a reprobate, and undertook my conversion. At first I 
 thought it was a whim, but she persevered in it. One evening 
 in particular, which I finished alone with her, she carried the 
 matter so far that I felt it on my conscience to be causing 
 her to waste so much trouble on me. When I went home, 
 about eleven o'clock, I put my hand on a copy of one of 
 my proclamations to the Spaniards, which contained a highly 
 orthodox passage. This I sent her at once, with a letter in 
 which I complained that she had made me melancholy by her 
 remonstrances on my lack of piety. I added that indeed I 
 did not always show myself to be guided by the highest light ; 
 but if she would be good enough to cast her eye over the
 
 CANOUVILLE 301 
 
 enclosed proclamation, she would see evidence that at all 
 events at certain moments I found my way back to the right 
 path. "You are incorrigible," she said, with a smile, when I 
 met her next morning ; and there was no more talk of religion 
 between us. 
 
 One evening, just as I was finishing my game of chess with 
 the duchess, a servant announced M. de Canouville. An instant 
 of silence testified to our astonishment and our curiosity ; after 
 which a piteous voice besought food and admission for a j)Oor 
 worn-out and famished traveller. Then as a face worthy of the 
 voice came through the doorway, that face, which indeed was 
 that of Jules de Canouville, was greeted with a general shout of 
 laughter. With an instinctive movement everyone rose and 
 went towards him, with exclamations appropriate to the doleful 
 get-up of this dandy of the court, this most fashionable of the 
 young men of the day, to the mud with which he was covered, 
 to the disorder of his dress, to his beard, which nowadays would 
 be too short, but at that time was regarded as untidy. After 
 the first outburst and many repetitions of his name, after dis- 
 connected words uttered at random, everybody having ejacu- 
 lated in his own way and in different keys, " Canouville ! — you I 
 — he ! Is it possible ? — how ? — why ? " — it became possible to 
 frame a sentence, and a dialogue on the whole as comic as the 
 entrance was succeeded by something resembling a conversa- 
 tion. After having told us that he was the bearer of dispatches 
 for the Prince of Essling, with orders to discover an army 
 which in Paris was supposed to be lost, he came to the real 
 motive for his journey, and repeated to all of us twenty times 
 what he declared he could not tell anybody once, what every- 
 body knew, what he was all on fire to tell us. Being aide-de- 
 camp to the Prince of Neuchatel, he had recently^become the 
 lover~of Pauline Bonaparte, Princess Borghese. In order to put 
 a stopfo the intrigue the Emperor had had this duty entrusted 
 to hirQ~"with orders to start at once, and the crazy fellow, in 
 order to get back quickly, had galloped without rest or respite. 
 While^he related the details of his adventure he mingled ttem 
 with alas's and sighs fit, as the duchess said, to blow the 
 candles out.
 
 S02 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 Nothing equally melancholy could have been more comical 
 or more lively. His supper was another comedy, for complain- 
 ing all the while that he was being left to starve, he did not 
 hear or did not notice when his meal was announced, and at the 
 table, where he took his position like a man ready to eat up 
 everything, he went on talking and forgot to eat. At midnight 
 I wanted to retire, but he begged me not to go without him, and 
 it was striking one when I succeeded in getting him to adjourn 
 the meeting. At the duchess's door such of the party as had 
 remained till then separated ; I thought that he also would take 
 his leave and make his way to wherever he was staying, but he 
 stopped, and resuming his lamentable voice there in the middle 
 of the road, said to me, " General, would you have the heart to 
 desert an unhappy young man ? " " Surely not," I replied ; 
 " and if you do not breakfast or dine with the duchess, I am 
 sure I hope that you will look upon my table as your own." 
 " But for to-night ? " " For to-night ? Why, you're going back 
 to bed and to sleep." "What bed?" "Why, hang it, the 
 bed at your lodging." " I haven't got any lodging." " What, 
 didn't you get a lodging when you arrived ? " " No, general, 
 and if you desert me I don't know what will become of me ;" 
 and, roaring with laughter, I took him along to my house. 
 
 There we had another display. When I ordered my servant 
 to get a bed made for him in my sitting-room, he went on, 
 " General, you are so kind." " Well ? " " Well, I am too un- 
 happy to sleep alone." " Oh, indeed ; you don't want to sleep 
 with me ? " " No, general, but pray have a bed made for me in 
 your room," and I did so. Instead of going to bed, I had to 
 hear the whole story of his happiness and his misfortunes, a 
 panegyric of the excellent qualities and the charms of the 
 princess, and the confession of his passion for her. The poor 
 lad had lost everything, his heart and his head alike ; vdih. the 
 exception of a few minutes my night was equally lost, but one 
 does not often have a more amusing one. However, I did get 
 to bed, and finally to sleep. As for him, when I woke up he 
 had gone out ; by eight in the morning he had presented himself 
 sit the duchess's, and had her woke up to get a letter from her 
 to the duke. She sent answer that he was mad ; indeed, I had
 
 TEE FOUL on N LOVER 303 
 
 given him the day before all the reasons to show that as com- 
 munication with the Army of Portugal was interrupted it would 
 be no use for him to continue his journey, and that he must 
 wait for a more propitious moment to discharge his errand. 
 After he had left the duchess I saw him again ; he wanted to 
 push on at least as far as Ciudad Eodrigo or Almeida, but I 
 made him see that even if he got there, which appeared im- 
 possible without an escort — and wdth that I had no excuse for 
 furnishing him — he would be none the less cut off from the Army 
 of Portugal ; while if, contrary to all proljability, a column of 
 that army succeeded sooner or later in cutting its way through 
 to one of those towns, it would not go away without communi- 
 cating with me and receiving my orders and dispatches, so that 
 there would be nothing gained for his errand by leaving Sala- 
 manca. " But in that case," he returned, " what would be the 
 good of my staying here ? My dispatches will go just as well 
 with yours as by themselves. And what impropriety would 
 there be in my handing them to you ? " "I should not 
 receive them." " And if I left them on your desk ? " " Well, I 
 should have to have them taken up. But you would not get 
 any receipt for them ; you would remain responsible for them, 
 and I should report the matter." 
 
 No one can imagine what these simpletons after Berthier's 
 sort were, charming young people, all in good style and possessed 
 of some fortune, in some cases of sufficient distinction and 
 position to attain to anything, and of whom none ever played 
 any part unless in ladies' boudoirs. Canouville was one of the 
 most agreeable of them. He got more and more excited till he 
 persuaded himself that he would be bearing an important piece 
 of news if he went to Paris and said that it was impossible to 
 communicate, although I represented to him that twenty 
 dispatches of mine had informed, and were still informing, the 
 Prince of Xeuchatel of the fact. Although I repeated to him 
 that it was ridiculous to ride 600 or 700 leagues in order to get 
 a blowing up and perhaps something worse, he declared that for 
 him an hour passed at Paris was worth a whole lifetime. Finding 
 this a sublime reply and reason, he departed on the strength of 
 them, crossed all the north of Spain without taking a siugle man
 
 304 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 to escort him, reached Paris at night, was run down at once, and 
 forced to decamp at daybreak. Three weeks had not passed 
 when he came back very melancholy, and begged me to give 
 him back his dispatches.* 
 
 After these trivialities I come to more serious matters, namely 
 to the events connected with my government of Estremadura. 
 Salamanca was crowded up with detachments, squadrons, and 
 battalions which were collected there to join Marshal Massena. 
 Orders could no longer reach them, and thus I was in a position 
 to handle more than 18,000 infantry and nearly 1700 cavalry. 
 I considered how to make them useful, and the only way which 
 presented itself to me was to employ them against Don Julian, 
 who was alone within my reach. As regarded forces, although 
 his amounted to 6,000 or 7,000 men, I had eight times as many 
 as I needed to beat him. But the difficulty was to get at him, 
 and do something more against him than execute the movements 
 of which the guerrillas were everywhere the object, and which 
 generally ended only in seasoning them while tiring the troops.. 
 In order, therefore, to guard myself beforehand against any 
 reverse, I began by reinforcing my garrisons, and increasing the 
 escorts of my convoys and messengers, while neither placing nor 
 leaving a single man in the country. I even made a show of 
 believing that the war of insurrection could be ended only by 
 the help of justice and persuasion, and remained inactive. The 
 Spanish authorities, those who took the Erench side, and even 
 some of my own officers, complained of my system ; while Don 
 Julian's partidas, who were supreme in the country districts, 
 and pressed me closer and closer, congratulated themselves on 
 it. At last the Duke of Istria wrote to me about it ; but the 
 only answer he got was, "As for the fifth paragraph of your 
 letter of yesterday, I entreat you to allow me to keep the 
 contents of it perfectly dark." 
 
 While everyone was thus attributing to me every intention 
 
 * [The rest of the story will be found in General Marbot's Memoires, 
 vol. ii., p. 445. Canouville, with the dispatches, reached Massena at Guarda 
 about the end of March, some two months after he had originallv been sent 
 from Paris. He appears to have been killed in the following year at the 
 battle of the Moskowa.]
 
 JIAIiETING THE GUEIililLLAS 305 
 
 except the light one, I had completed my an^angements. Sud- 
 denly one day, ten columns, each of 1,000 men, issued at mid- 
 night from Salamanca, Ledesma, and Alba de Tormes, while 4,000 
 who had gone out the day before under pretext of reinforcing 
 the ganisons of (,'iudad Eodrigo and Almeida, having slept at 
 Matillas, broke up suddenly into four columns, acting in concert 
 with the others. In pursuance of their orders two of these 
 columns passed along the Tormes, one to the east, one to the 
 west of Salamanca, destroying all boats and guarding or breaking 
 down all bridges, while the other twelve flung themselves into 
 the wooded mountainous country which lies between that river 
 and the Agueda, tracking Don Julian's scattered bands in every 
 direction through their cover in the woods, and diiviug them 
 out into the plain, where nine columns of cavaliy, which had 
 imexpectedly anived under General Fournier, cut them to 
 pieces. Two of the bands were surprised in the villages 
 occupied by them, and destroyed ; others suffered more or less ; 
 and such was their loss and terror that nearly 2,000 men made 
 their submission, abandoning Don Julian. He had another 
 1200 killed or wounded, and was reduced to 3,000 men, and 
 those a good deal shaken. 
 
 Unprecedented as was such a success against the guerrillas, 
 it coiTesponded only to the first part of my plan. When Don 
 Julian's consternation was at its height, one of the emissaries 
 whom the prefect had given me, a man of great tact, had 
 approached him and said, " I was talking about you yesterday 
 to the governor." Thereupon he reported an alleged conversa- 
 tion, in the course of which I was supposed to have expressed 
 my regret that a man of Don Julian's worth, of such high 
 capacity and noble courage, should consent to serve so deplor- 
 able a cause and increase the misfortunes of his country, when 
 he might have contributed so powerfully to bring them to an 
 end. Everybody would render him the justice he deserved, 
 and the governor more than anyone. Having enlarged on this 
 theme, my man added, " If, then, you will rally to the only 
 cause which can bring happiness to Spain, and leave a side 
 on which you will never be considered anything more than the 
 head of your peasants ; if, in short, you arc willing to play a 
 
 VOL. II. X
 
 306 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 part worthy of yourself aud take advantage of your good fortune 
 in still being able to set a good example, the governor will 
 undertake to get you appointed major-general" — this had been 
 arranged with the Minister of War — " to get a ribbon given you " 
 — this was known to be the object of his highest ambition — " to 
 have a regular corps of 6,000 men, infantry and cavalry, organized 
 under your command — to keep you near him — to retain within 
 this government only so many French troops as may be neces- 
 sary for garrison purposes, and to entrust you with the carrying 
 out of such orders as may be given to the small towTis and 
 villages, which will make you the second person in these 
 provinces." This proposal astonished him. He was flattered 
 by the offers made and touched by what he was told about my 
 personal esteem for him. What he knew of my character, my 
 conduct, of the manner in which I treated the Spaniards, added 
 still further to his confidence ; in short, shaken as he was by the 
 terrible lesson he had just received, he entered into negotiations 
 with the prefect, who was quite the man to bring this important 
 business to a good conclusion. 
 
 It was just at this time that General Foy retui'ned from Paris, 
 making forced marches to rejoin Marshal Massena. He re- 
 quired for his escort both the remains of the force which General 
 Gardanne had so unexpectedly and unluckily shown himself 
 incapable of leading, and the whole of the remaining troops 
 which belonged to the Army of Portugal. This reduced me to 
 about one-third of the force which I had hitherto had at my 
 disposal, and that at a somewhat inconvenient moment 
 however, the loss of 12,000 men going to the front is less 
 weakening than the arrival of 40,000 in retreat. A reinforce- 
 ment of this size, taken to the Army of Portugal just before the 
 news came that a fifth corps was about to follow it, combined to 
 support the idea that the Portuguese would be beaten and the 
 English compelled to re-embark. This idea discouraged any 
 hostile attempt on the part of the Spaniards, and, consequently, 
 strengthened my position more than the reduction in the 
 number of my troops injured it. The negotiations between Don 
 Julian and myself were not interrupted ; still, as there were 
 necessarily many points to be discussed, and as Don Julian of
 
 NEGOTIATING WITH DON JULIAN 307 
 
 course needed time to win over his most influential officers as 
 he had been won over himself, several weeks elapsed. At 
 length we had come to an agreement under all the heads. Don 
 Julian had succeeded in assuring himself of the concurrence of 
 nearly all his people. The terms of the agreement were drawn 
 up, and we had only three days to wait for the meeting of all 
 those who were to sign it with us. I was rejoicing, therefore, 
 at the success of a plan conceived by myself alone and con- 
 ducted with the greatest secrecy and good fortune, the aim of 
 which was to employ Spaniards in fighting Spaniards, with the 
 moral conquest of Spain as its possible result. I was even 
 considering the ways and means not only for putting forward the 
 re-organization of Don Julian's troops, but of levying a second 
 Spanish division, and making plans to employ these troops, 
 mixed with some French corps, in reducing the neighbouring 
 provinces. Indeed, I know not whither my sanguine schemes 
 were not leading me, when the news arrived that the Army of 
 Portugal, pursued by the English and Portuguese, was in full 
 retreat and fiilling back on the province of Salamanca. Here 
 was an end to all my dreams. A few days later there arrived 
 Marshal Ney, returning to France, and the eldest son of 
 Marshal Massena, on his way to Paris, ostensibly to cougi-atulate 
 the Emperor on the birth of the King of Piome, Ijut mainly to 
 bear the marshal's report upon the evacuation of Portugal. As 
 it chanced, they met at my house, when Marshal Xey did me 
 the honour to call upon me on his arrival. Both confirmed the 
 terrible truth by melancholy details. 
 
 The mere announcement of that terrible retreat had restored 
 to the insurgents the hope of seeing their cause triumphant. 
 Besides that, some men of Don Julian's band had soon found 
 plenty of money upon some soldiers of the Army of Portugal 
 whom they had killed, and greed put the finishing stroke to 
 their elation. All those who had laid down their arms took 
 them up again. Assassinations and skirmishes besjan atrain. 
 Such an overthrow, no less unforeseen than decisive, put me out 
 of the running just at the moment when I was about to play an 
 important part. I may add that I held my peace with regard 
 to it. I mentioned it only to the Duchess of Abrantes at 
 
 X 2
 
 808 MEMO IE S OF QENEBAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 Salamanca, and later on to the duke, while I reported it only 
 to the Duke of Istria. To impart it in any other quarter would 
 only have looked like swagger. 
 
 As is well known, w^hat made Massena's retreat necessary 
 was the impossibility of living any longer on the banks of the 
 Tagus ; but it is less well known under what circumstances the 
 army was reduced to famine, or how want of food, by making 
 retreat inevitable, caused the failure of that expedition, the last 
 of the three which we were to make against Portugal. My plan 
 and Dulong's for the campaign of 1810 had made it clear that, 
 in order to attack Portugal again, it was necessary to act with 
 sufficient troops to get possession of the country and of Lisbon 
 by forced marches ; that is to say, to make it impossible for 
 anything or anybody to stop us. If this advice had been 
 followed at once, success might have been regarded as certain. 
 But although the Emperor knew^ those plans, and, as I have 
 said, after reading mine wanted to read it again, the 2nd 
 Corps, under General Pieynier, w^as not put into communication 
 with the Army of Portugal till July 10, before which date it 
 had been reduced to the 6th and the 8th Corps, and was in no 
 condition to pass the Coa. Besides this, it was considered that, 
 as a preliminary to his entrance into Portugal, Massena ought 
 to take Ciudad Ptodrigo, which surrendered on July 10, Port 
 Concepcion, which was evacuated on the 22nd, and Almeida, 
 which, thanks to its powder-magazine blowing up, capitulated 
 on August 24. These delays, which were forced upon Marshal 
 Massena, and in no way depended on his own wish, allowed 
 time in Portugal for completing the means of resistance which 
 might have been anticipated and prevented if the previous 
 operations, which occupied nearly four months, instead of being 
 reserved for the Army of Portugal, had been entrusted to some 
 corps from the Army of Spain. Of these months, lost by us. 
 Lord Wellington was able to take colossal advantage. He 
 received a fresh division of English troops, he increased the 
 Portuguese army, he doubled the militia and summoned the 
 whole country to arms, he had the crops burnt, which if we 
 had come sooner we should have found standing ; he prevented 
 the sowing of the land, and caused whole masses of the popu-
 
 TOItRES VEDBAS 309 
 
 lation to leave their homes, even in some of the most considerable 
 towns, like Viseu or Coimbra — extreme measures, and frightful 
 enough to be matched a thousand leagues away by the burning 
 of Moscow. Moreover, taking advantage of local conditions, 
 formidable enough in themselves, he had time to arm and com- 
 plete the lines of Torres Yedras — a series of natural curtains or 
 abysses which he bastioned with 114 redouljts. These were 
 revetted on the front and flanks as well as at the gorge, and could 
 no longer be carried with a rush, nor could any impression be 
 made on them except by cannon-shot. They could be retaken 
 only by breaching and assault. These works, testifying to great 
 ability, were completed by inundations, by vertical escarpments, 
 by trenches, abattis, chevaux-de-frise, and pitfalls, and were 
 supplemented before Lisbon by two other lines of works, to the 
 strength of which 25,000 workmen were daily adding. This 
 threefold place of arms, this new Gibraltar, of which Lisbon and 
 its fort became the citadel, was defended by 30,000 English and 
 as many Portuguese troops, by the militia, and, as a reserve, by 
 a population of 400,000 souls ; and, further, by the inhabitants 
 and refugees who had taken shelter in the towns and villages 
 within the lines. Lastly, Lord Wellington, with his boundless 
 prudence, going so far as even to admit the possibility of our 
 reaching Lisbon in spite of all these obstacles, had assembled 
 thousands of vessels there, partly loaded them, and was prepared 
 to send on board all that he required, including provisions. 
 
 In face of these defensive forces, what was our position for 
 the attack ? Almeida and Eodrigo having been taken under 
 Lord Wellington's nose, the Army of Portugal, after a further 
 delay of twenty days, which I have never understood, had left 
 the former place on September 15 to plunge in with half the 
 necessary force — action which, as I have said, can only be 
 explained on the part of those responsible for its inadequacy, 
 either by an absurd confidence due to the intoxication of the 
 moment, or by intentions rather antagonistic to the marshal's 
 reputation than suited to the interests of France. 
 
 On the 27th took place the unlucky affair of Busaco, which 
 may be imputed to the ignorance of the Mai-quis of Alorna and 
 the other Portuguese who had been given to the marshal to
 
 310 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 enlighten him as to roads and localities. It might have been 
 avoided if, instead of attacking the front of that formidable 
 position, they had followed the road which turned it, and which 
 a peasant pointed out the next day. That failure cost us 
 364 prisoners, 521 killed, and 3,160 wounded. These last 
 reached Coimbra with the army on October 2, and were 
 massacred there on the 7th.* 
 
 On the 6th the army moved, always driving Lord Wellington 
 before it, to Pombal, and on the 11th to Alcoentre, whence 
 the marshal employed the 12th and 13th in reconnoitring for 
 himself the whole front of the lines of Torres Vedras, and in 
 collecting information from w^hich he learnt their full strength. 
 He had at his disposal for the attack of this unattackable 
 position some field-artillery and 50,000 to 55,000 men, while he 
 would have required a battering-train to demolish the redoubts, 
 and for the attack of such works a force two or three times as 
 numerous as the defenders. 
 
 The position was hopeless, and the expedition, as it had been 
 devised, had failed. It had failed from the slowness with 
 which the Army of Portugal had been collected, by the time 
 wasted in siege, but, above all, by the insufficiency of the force 
 employed. What can be said further ? If the lines of Torres 
 Vedras, which there were no means of forcing, were not 
 attacked, it was equally impossible to withdraw, because retreat 
 would have worn the look of flight, and would have brought the 
 Anglo- Portuguese army into Spain. Yet how was the retrograde 
 movement to be avoided in a country M-here nearly all the 
 
 * The poor creatures had been placed in some neighbouring convents under 
 the charge of a deputy-inspector-general, two commissaries, two doctors, 
 twenty-two surgeons, eighteen officials ; all these shared the fate of the 
 wounded, Tlie crime remained unpunished ; it ought to liave been avenged 
 by the burning of Coimbra, and a village for every man. A war of armies 
 has its laws, a war of peoples has none. [This falsehood as to the massacre 
 of the wounded at Coimbra by the Portuguese, which every French writer 
 seems to repeat, has every time to be " nailed to the counter." Napier 
 expressly states that Colonel Trant succeeded in repressing the disonler before 
 more than ten lives had been lost, and gives a letter, signed by several French 
 officers (including the very deputy-inspector-general here mentioned!), ia 
 which Trant is tlianked for his care of the prisoners.]
 
 MASSENA AND WELLINGTON 311 
 
 resources had been destroyed, and from which the popuhition 
 had fled, leaving famine behind it, while the only thing to be 
 found was, so to say, earth in which to bury the dead ? To face 
 so perilous a situation, two things were needed in a very high 
 degree — inspiration and energy ; and Marshal Massena realised 
 all that could be expected of his character and genius. 
 
 He resolved therefore to make Santarem his centre, and, in 
 order to subsist his army in that position, he organized a system 
 by which part of the army should scour the country to a 
 considerable distance and bring in whatever provisions had 
 escaped destruction ; he had mills and bakehouses set up, the 
 hands for them being supplied by the army, which also 
 furnished ironfounders, carpenters, blacksmiths, for the repairs 
 necessary to the material. This involved the erection of work- 
 shops, the training of workmen where deficient, the manufacture 
 of tools, and the demolition of useless houses to provide iron 
 and timber. He succeeded, ultimately, in building boats, 
 throwing a bridge over the Tagus, even making powder; and 
 by the help M'hich he obtained especially in the artillery corps, 
 and also in the various regiments, he was able to hold out for 
 nearly five months, and thus solve what might have been 
 considered an insoluble problem. His stay there was of itself 
 a memorable event, only to be recorded with admiration.* 
 
 Meanwhile, as Lisbon could not be the prize of a sudden 
 rush, the marshal had devised two plans fur making himself 
 master of it. The first consisted in trying to draw Lord 
 Wellington out of his lines, beat him in a pitched battle, cut him 
 off from Lisbon by forcing his left, break up the combined army, 
 and, once master of the open country, to march on the works, 
 which could no longer be defended, antl upon the capital, which, 
 thrown upon its own resources, would be imable to ofter any 
 further resistance. The other was to blockade Welliufiton on 
 the side of the Alemtejo, as he was already blockaded on the 
 right bank of the Tagus, by occupying the whole left bank to 
 the mouth of the river ; leave no subsistence within his reach 
 on either bank, and reduce by famine the population of Lisbon, 
 
 * [Napier, it will be remembered, more than once expresses a similar 
 opiniou.]
 
 312 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 including that of the towns and villages within the lines, and 
 the English and Portuguese armies. To feed such numbers by 
 sea, at the mercy of a gale of wind, would have been very 
 difficult ; and, besides, batteries placed on the Tagus might sink 
 or burn nearly the whole of the vessels employed in the service. 
 The English would then be reduced either to evacuate Lisbon, 
 when the object would be gained and the lines become useless, 
 or to march upon the marshal in order to beat him off, taking 
 their chance of attacking him in his entrenched camp, or else 
 to offer battle in the open field. In order, however, for the 
 execution of this plan to be possible, it was necessary that 
 fresh troops should come to occupy the left bank of the Tagus, 
 and, of course, that they should arrive while the Army of 
 Portugal was still able to live in its position at Santarem. It 
 was for the purpose of carrying out this new plan of campaign 
 that General Eoy had been entrusted with the duty of sub- 
 mitting to the Emperor, besides his dispatches, this scheme 
 which I have just explained, and that Marshal Soult had been 
 ordered to proceed to Santarem, where Massena had already 
 succeeded in erectiner a bridge. 
 
 This last news, I mean the order given to Marshal Soult, I had 
 learned both from General Eoy and by a letter from the Prince 
 of Neuchatel, who, as I have said, considering that of all the 
 troops in Spain I commanded those that were nearest to the 
 Army of Portugal, thought it well to keep me informed of the 
 projected operations, and sent me all the news that was then to 
 be had of that army.* General Eoy confided to me fully the 
 arrangements decided upon by the Emperor with regard to the 
 operations that the army was to carry out, and these all the 
 more deserve to be recorded that the failure to carry them out 
 was a cause of our disasters, which would have been avoided if 
 the Emperor had only been more severe with his marshals, and 
 had hung Soult after his treasonable conduct at Oporto. 
 
 Having lost all hope of seeing Lisbon taken by a rush, the 
 Emperor had taken his stand on Marshal Massena's plan, that is, 
 
 * [A letter of Napoleon's to Berthier, dated February 6, 1811, given in the 
 Appendix to vol. iii. of Napier, shows that this was done by his special 
 order.]
 
 FRESH PLANS 313 
 
 on the double idea, either of procuring the evacuation of that 
 city by famine, or of continuing to hold the English army iu 
 check and push it backwards ; iu order, so to say, to strengthen 
 the hands of that party in England which blamed the expedi- 
 tion. To this end he had decreed : Eirst, that the Army of 
 Northern Spain, under the Duke of Istria, the district of which 
 comprised all the country between France, the territories of the 
 armies of Aragon and the Centre, Portugal, and the sea, and 
 contained the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th governments, should if 
 necessary assist the Army of Portugal, and act as reserve 
 to it: Secondly, that the 9th Corps should continue to hold 
 the line behind that army, so as to combine with it and back 
 it up : Thirdly, that his Catholic Majesty should employ part of 
 the Army of the Centre in maintaining the communications 
 between Madrid and the Army of Portugal, by way of Alcan- 
 tara : Fourthly, that after the capture of Tortosa, he should send 
 fresh reinforcements to the Army of Portugal : Fifthly, that in 
 the meantime Marshal Soult with the 5th Corps should proceed 
 as far down the river as Santarem, in order that Massena might 
 be free to operate with two of his army corps on one bank of 
 the Tagus, and with three on the other. In this way Lisbon 
 would no longer be able to draw provisions from the Alemtejo, 
 and our army would be fed from the resources of that province, 
 the granary" of Portugal. 
 
 In discussing this subject with me General Foy said, " You see 
 the Emperor's intention is that before all things we should hold 
 on to Santarem, construct tetes-dc-pont on both sides of the Tagus, 
 continue to harass the enemy, and, in order to maintain that line 
 of action, live on resources from the left bank of the Tagus, thus 
 incidentally depriving Lisbon of them. Meanwhile, in the event 
 of being forced to quit Santarem, we should establish ourselves 
 on the ^Mondego ; every position which would be effective to hold 
 the English army in check being suited to his wish and to the 
 interests of his policy. But," added General Foy, "if we do 
 quit Santarem all is lost, seeing that it is impossible to subsist 
 the army behind the ]\Iondego, and I could not succeed in con- 
 vincing the Emperor of that." " So much the worse," said I ; 
 *' and further, if Marshal Soult's co-operation is necessary to
 
 314 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 enable Marshal Massena to remain at Santarem, you may reckon 
 on an early retreat." Of this he seemed no less convinced than 
 I. " But," 1 resumed, " you have just left the Emperor. Even 
 though it be only semi-official, a letter from you in such circum- 
 stances cannot fail to have something official about it ; and if I 
 were in your place, in order to have a clear conscience I would 
 write to Marshal Soult, inserting one of the Emperor's own 
 phrases, which you remember with such extraordinary accuracy." * 
 He adopted the idea ; but as he was just about starting when 
 our conversation took place, he promised to write the letter on 
 reaching Ciudad Eodrigo, and sent it to me open in order that 
 I might acquaint myself with it and copy it out before forward- 
 ing it. In point of fact I received it on January 25, and sent it on 
 by the same day's messenger, but, as the copy which my aide-de- 
 camp made of it shows, it lacked vigour, and I told General Eoy 
 as much. Accordingly, being pressed by a dispatch from Massena 
 which reached him at Almeida, and pushed on by my remarks and 
 my urgency, he wrote a second letter to Marshal Soult, dated 
 the 27th. This was worth a good deal more, although it pitched 
 its requirements in a lower key, no doubt from a fear of seeing 
 none of them complied with. This letter, the dispatch of which 
 I hastened as much as I could, bore with it but a very feeble 
 hope on our part ; for if we had our doubts as to the efficient 
 co-operation of Northern and Central Spain, we felt sure from 
 our knowledge of Marshal Soult's character, of his jealousy and 
 rancour, that he would manage to slip out. What he did, I may 
 add, was as follows. 
 
 He was at Seville when he received the order to proceed into 
 Portugal. On receiving it he did in point of fact leave Seville 
 without delay, but he left two battalions there, a faulty arrange- 
 ment, seeing that nothing more certainly paralyses a movement 
 or more certainly leads to great losses than the division of troops 
 
 * General Foy once said to me : "I never forget anything, and I have so 
 mucVi memory left that I would, with a certainty of winning, back myself to 
 ■write down, without stopping, every place where I slept during my twenty 
 years' service." All his great speeches in the Chamber were delivered 
 by heart, and he knew them much better when he had dictated them than 
 when he had written them himself.
 
 SOULT'S MISTAKES 315 
 
 into small parcels, and, moreover, these two battalions Imd 
 nothing; to jiruard at Seville other than the National Guard of 
 that town. Having brought aljout this first split, he went to 
 attack Olivenza, which surrendered after nine days' siege, Ijut 
 this necessitated a second split ; that is to say, a second garrison. 
 Having taken Olivenza he marched on Badajoz, and began a 
 fresh siege, during which he fought on the banks of the Gevora 
 one of those battles the result of which against Spaniards can be 
 neither doubtful nor glorious, except indeed in a case like that of 
 Kellermann, near Alba de Tornies, when, with two regiments of 
 dragoons, he beat the entire army of the Duke of Parque. As 
 for the siege of Badajoz, it lasted fifty-four days, ending only on 
 March 11 ; that is to say, forty-three days after the date of 
 General Foy's second letter, and five days after famine had 
 compelled Massena to commence his retreat. From these figures 
 it may be calculated that if he had marched as he ought on 
 Santarem without these fancy stoppages, he would have been 
 fifty days sooner in co-operation with Marshal Massena ; and if 
 he had co-operated entirely with him, I mean by coming up 
 with his whole force, the Army of Portugal would have been 
 saved. But having, as we have seen, left two battalions at 
 Seville and a garrison at Olivenza, having lost I do not know 
 how many men at the Gevora,* being obliged to place a garrison 
 in Badajoz, and detach others to escort his prisoners, he would 
 only have joined the marshal with fragments of his army. One 
 may further rely upon it that, if after the capture of Badajoz the 
 Army of Portugal had still held its ground at Santarem, he 
 would have discovered fresh sieges to undertake, fresh battles to 
 fight, fresh occasions for detaching troops — in short, fresh oppor- 
 tunities for wasting time and for leaving men on his route. But 
 wUl it be maintained, according to the rules of ancient warfare, 
 that before advancing it was necessary to secure his rear ? 
 There was no reason for this with the Spaniards, no justification 
 for it in a war in w'hich one's rear could never be secure, no 
 object in it when he was on his way to join a powerful army. 
 I ask again, Did the question of the Peninsula lie at Seville, a 
 
 * [Nearly 2,000, says Napier, in the two sieges and in the battle.]
 
 316 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 Badajoz, at the Gevora, or even at Olivenza ? It lay at Lisbon, 
 and in the defeat of the principal English army and its expul- 
 sion as a consequence. This -^ould be rendered certain by the 
 immediate junction of the 5th Corps, and a fortiori by that of the 
 two army corps under Marshal Soult, and it would have brought 
 about the pacification of Spain and of Portugal ; the insurrec- 
 tion of which countries, at Cadiz and in the west alike, was ulti- 
 mately sustained by the English troops alone. In this decisive 
 situation, therefore, Marshal Soult showed himself as much to 
 blame as at Oporto he had shown himself incompetent, and one 
 may say of him that he betrayed all those who trusted in him. 
 This is the man in regard to whom Madame d'Abrantes was so 
 far deceived as to uphold his cause against Marshal Massena. 
 
 To go back to Massena. The return of General Foy, so far 
 from diminishing his perplexities, had added to them. His 
 plans came back to him, their adoption confirmed by the 
 Emperor's order; but the more essential it was that they 
 should be carried out by Marshal Soult, the more he feared they 
 would not be. Nor, indeed, was it long before he was certain ; 
 and in order to leave no doubt, the guns at Badajoz, which 
 could be heard from Punhete, completed the revelation of the 
 shameless way in which the main operation was being sacrificed 
 to subsidiary undertakings.* Meanwhile he was getting near 
 the end of his resources. Little remained but a reserve of 
 biscuit, prepared for the sustenance of the army in the event of 
 its having to be led back to Spain through devastated provinces. 
 The rations had been cut down some time ago ; everything that 
 could be swept up within four or five days' march was eaten. 
 In this state of affairs they had reached February 18. On that 
 day General Loison gave a final breakfast to the commander-in- 
 chief, the commanders of the three army corps. General Solignac, 
 and General Foy. Massena took advantage of this meeting to 
 ascertain the opinion of the generals as to the best thing to do, 
 if it became impossible to remain at Santarem ; it was, in fact, 
 a kind of council of war, held without having recourse too 
 obviously to that sign of distress. It appeared that there were 
 
 * [Napier quotes General Pelct a.s taking practically a similar view of 
 Soult's proceedings.]
 
 BETREAT INEVITABLE 317 
 
 two courses open : one was to march on the Mondego, and this 
 was in conformity with the letter of the orders received ; the 
 other was to throw themselves into the Alemtejo, where the 
 army could live and prolong the war in Portugal, and this 
 seemed to agree better with the Emperor's intention, seeing 
 that without provisions they could only reach the ^londego to 
 leave it at once and return to Spain. However, the former 
 movement would cover Spain, while that on the Alemtejo 
 would leave Spain wholly uncovered, and leave Lord Wellington 
 free to march as far as Salamanca, and get possession of the 
 whole of Spanish Estremadura. Thus it was on these two 
 courses that the discussion took place, as it were, casually. The 
 majority were of opinion that they ought to hold out to the last 
 extremity, reducing the rations still further, and if necessary 
 drawing on the reserve of biscuit, so as to wait for Soult as long 
 as possible, and also to await a final decision for which they had 
 referred to the Emperor on January 20, and which it was 
 calculated might be expected about May 1. The marshal 
 agreed so far as concerned further waiting, but rejected the sug- 
 gestion as to the reserve of biscuit, the last resource which 
 might save him from the most frightful consequences — perhaps 
 even from the loss of half of his army. The agony was 
 therefore prolonged, by unheard-of efforts, for another seventeen 
 days. Then all was over ; the last word was said. The guns of 
 Badajoz continued to roar, and it was necessary to submit to 
 evacuating Portugal. Thanks to Massena's foresight, all was 
 ready for that step. But Lord Wellington, too, was ready to 
 follow, seeing that he knew our situation as well as we did our- 
 selves. It had, indeed, become inconceivable to him how a situa- 
 tion could be prolonged which his army could not have endured 
 for a week, and which our men had been bearing for 141 days. 
 
 I am not writing the history of that campaign in Portugal ; 
 but having been in a position to know the principal events of 
 it, I have not hesitated to record them in these reminiscences, 
 the more so since they rectify numerous errors, and brand 
 simdry discreditable calumnies. Secondary matters have had 
 to be omitted, and I need merely caU to mind the series of 
 reconnoissauces and combats connected with Massena's march 
 from Almeida to Santarem, the long halt which he made ther e
 
 318 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 and the learned and ably calculated dispositions, thanks to 
 which he was always in a position, in spite of the enemy's 
 superiority, to check any enterprise of Lord Wellington's over 
 so large a field. I confine myself similarly to mentioning his 
 retreat from Santarem to Eodrigo, the ability with which he 
 made use of the precepts of the art of war, turned to account 
 the resources of his genius, and drew profit alike from his own 
 daring, the might of his name, and the prudence — one might 
 say the timidity— of his adversary. Wellington limited his 
 audacity and eminent genius to the business of taking advan- 
 tage of our misfortunes and mistakes ; and he gratuitously 
 threw away three-fourths of the advantage secured to him by 
 his superior forces and by the good fortune of never having to 
 wait for a piece of useful information. 
 
 The retreat of the Army of Portugal gave occasion for only 
 one noteworthy action; and this took place at Sabugal on 
 April 3. It might have been avoided if General Eeynier had 
 had faith in Massena's foresight ; but in the conviction * that 
 he had in front of him only a fraction of the Anglo-Portuguese 
 army, he let himself be brought to an engagement with nearly 
 the whole army, and unluckily was not aware of it till about 
 11 A.M., when the fog cleared off and he found himself out- 
 flanked and attacked in front by forces which he could not 
 resist. Unluckily, too, the 2nd Light Infantry and the 36th of 
 the Line, having won a momentary advantage, gave way to 
 their impetuosity and lost more than they ought to have done. 
 Thanks to the return of General Eeynier's coolness, a vigorous 
 resistance and clever manoeuvre saved his corps, and it was 
 able to effect a retreat in the most imposing style, with a loss 
 of only 250 killed and wounded, while the enemy, though 
 remaining in possession of the field of battle, lost far more 
 heavily in Erskine's and Picton's divisions.! 
 
 Almeida being victualled for six weeks, Marshal Massena 
 
 * [He was perfectly correct, as a matter of fact. NothiDg like the whole 
 Anglo-Portuguese army was ever engaged, and at first Eeynier had to deal 
 with one battalion and four rifle companies,] 
 
 t [The total loss of the allies was 200 killed and wounded. Napier puts 
 that of the French at 300 and 1200 respectively : probably too high. 
 Picton's division was hardly in action at all : so its loss cannot have 
 been great.]
 
 PORTUGAL EVACUATED 319 
 
 decided to give his army a much-needed rest. Leaving the left 
 bank of the Agueda to the enemy, he distributed his corps as 
 follows : the light cavalry at Alba de Yeltes, the 9th Corps at 
 San jMuiios, the 2nd at Ledesma, the 8th at Toro (which took 
 the Duchess of Abrantes away from Salamanca), the 6th at 
 Alba de Tonnes and Salamanca, at which place the general 
 head([uarters were fixed, and the heavy cavalry between the 
 Tormes and the Douro. The 0th Corps went to the Army of 
 the South, under Marshal Soult. It was madness (n -o on 
 employing that marshal, who served only for his own hand; 
 but the latter years of the Empire offer the most anuiziuf 
 mixlufe of genius and insanity.
 
 320 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAVLT 
 
 CHAPTEE XVI. 
 
 Between two marshals— A Gascon— The University of Salamanca— Fuentes 
 do Onoro— Massena's last fight— Incidents of government— Chambure's 
 feat— On the march again— Marmont in command— Fuenteguinaldo 
 and Aldea da Ponte— Small thanks. 
 
 Fkom the moment of the arrival of the Army of Portugal within 
 my government, my position became difficult in the extreme. 
 I had had a presentiment of this, and had confided it to the 
 Duke of Istria, to whom I had written : " The return of the 
 army makes all administration impossible. Eequirements will 
 be out of all proportion to resources; waste and disorder of 
 every kind will go on, and all efforts will be powerless. Do 
 you wish to remain responsible for such a dismal state of 
 things ? or do you not think that it would be more seemly to 
 abandon the seventh government to the Army of Portugal ? " 
 The duke adopted this idea at once, and wrote to Massena ; but 
 Massena was not the man to be led off on a false scent. He 
 replied : " The Army of Portugal is not a territorial army. Its 
 business is to face the English army, and fight it wherever met 
 with. It has retreated to Salamanca in order to save Eodrigo, 
 and if possible, Almeida, and to cover the Army of Northern 
 Spain itself ; and therefore it ought to be fed by the Army of 
 the North, since Spanish Estremadura is part of that army's 
 territory." All this was sufficiently well-grounded to be un- 
 answerable, and we had to submit ; I to keep things as regular 
 as still was possible, and the Duke of Istria to send convoys of 
 money and provisions, for which I at once formed a committee 
 of management. If my position became painful, I owe to the 
 Duke of Istria my compliments for doing all that he could to 
 lighten my burden. "Whatever I did, suggested, or asked, was 
 sanctioned, confirmed, and adopted; and when I insisted on
 
 MASSENA'S WEAKNESS 321 
 
 Laving my responsibility for tlie smallest details covered, I 
 received a letter in these terms : " I approve all that you have 
 done, are doing, or are going to do. (Signed) Tlie Marshal 
 Duke of Istria." 
 
 The first sitting of our committee was marked by a scandal. 
 Cleneral Lamothe had collected forty or fifty cattle, and dared 
 to ask that they should be bought of him for the consumption 
 of the army. " During the campaign," he said, " I was much 
 out of pocket for my spies, and I want the value of these cattle 
 to recoup me to some extent. As the Army of the North has 
 now to feed the Army of Portugal, it has got to buy my herd." 
 We were very angiy, and I ordered the beasts to be at once 
 sent back to their owners ; but before anyone arrived to take 
 them, the general had sold three-fourths of them cheap to some 
 peasants. 
 
 One mornin g, when I went to pay my respects to Marshal 
 MassenaTT found him with the wife of a captain of dragoons, 
 ^vhoTiad become liis mistress, and wlio had been with him all 
 through the campaign. I had heard of this folly and regretted 
 it, since it had the worst possible effect in the army ; * besides, 
 the niarslial was really old enough to be able to dispense with 
 this kind of camp furniture. My interest in him and his 
 reputation made this person's presence painful to me, and it 
 was awkwardly enough that I allowed myself to be presented 
 to the fair dame, who was in truth nothing much to look at. 
 " I say, Thiebault," he said, after a few words had passed, / 
 " when are you going to give us a dinner ? " " AVhy, sir, when- * 
 ever you like," was my answer to this unexpected question. 
 " All right ; the day after to-morrow." " And whom may I ask 
 to meet you ? " And he filled up five-and-twenty places. The 
 lady had the place of honour. Could I have acted otherwise 
 towards the marshal, considering gratitude and old memories ? 
 
 However, I was glad to be in a position which gave me an 
 opportunity of again showing him respect, though unluckily it 
 gave rise to a dispute which caused me real unhappiuess, inevit- 
 able as it was. One day, when I had just^received from the Duke 
 
 * [See General Marbot's Memoires, vol. ii., chap. 33, for some details as to 
 this.] 
 
 VOL. II. Y
 
 322 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 of Istria 300,000 francs for the insatiable demands of Massena's 
 army, tlie marshal sent for me and said, " ]\Iy dear general, 
 here is a statement of 80,000 francs aixears of pay due to me. 
 Kindly have them paid to me out of the fund that you have 
 just received. On this occasion I reckon upon your old friend- 
 ship." The perspiration stood on my forehead. " Prince," I 
 replied, " this fund is destined for a special purpose ; it belongs 
 to the subsistence of your army." " It belongs to its wants," 
 he returned, with an air of surprise and impatience ; " and what 
 is owed to me forms part of its wants." " If you had taken over 
 the command of these provinces, it would have been for you to 
 judge of these distinctions, and no one would have been more 
 forward or more happy than I to carry out your orders in this 
 as in all other things. But you chose that they should remain 
 under the Duke of Istria, and he is now the sole arbiter." " I 
 undertake to get it confirmed, and what you do will be right." 
 " I am distressed beyond words, but what I ought not to do 
 will not be done by me." " And it is you, Thiebault — you that 
 refuse to pay me this ? " Each " you " went through me like a 
 knife. It broke my heart to have to refuse anything to that 
 great soldier who had so many claims to my reverence, whose 
 least words had been such absolute orders to me, whom I loved 
 as much as I respected him ; never did my conscience exact a 
 more painful sacrifice. I may add that, owing to the way in which 
 the marshal at last raised his voice, it was heard by persons in 
 the adjoining rooms, and the scene became public property. 
 The paymaster who had charge of the 300,000 francs was told 
 of it, and an expression which I had actually used to the 
 marshal was repeated to him : " Pray, sir, instead of asking me 
 for what is impossible, send your secretary with a few grenadiers 
 to the paymaster, and bid him exchange your statement, duly 
 receipted, against the 80,000 francs due to you." And this 
 paymaster, Jullien by name, who has now retired to Blois, and 
 liimself reminded me of the incident a few months ago, was 
 seized with such a panic at the idea of the adoption of this 
 means, which could not compromise him in any way, and 
 which the marshal did not adopt, that he left Salamanca at 
 once and fled to VaUadolid.
 
 A BIT OF GASCONADE 323 
 
 Meauwhilo the time wliich the marshal had thought it right 
 to devote to resting his army had expu-ed. It became necessary 
 to think about the provisioning of Almeida, and to endeavour 
 to throw back the Anglo-Portuguese army into the rocks of 
 Portugal. Accordingly, and in pursuance of the Emperor's 
 orders, he called upon the Duke of Istria for the co-operation of 
 1500 cavahy, fifteen to eighteen guns, and a division of infantry 
 as reserve, the whole to be drawn from the Army of the North ; 
 then he broke up his cantonments and proceeded in person to 
 Ciudad Eodrigo. Two days after his departure, the Duke of 
 Istria turned up at Salamanca about eleven in the evening. He 
 was perishing with hunger, and I ordered supper for him ; and 
 as he was tired, he let me put him up. " You see, ray dear 
 Thiebault," he said, " I am come in person and of my own 
 proper motion to fight under the orders of the senior and the 
 most renowned man of my rank." " The example, sir," I said, 
 " is worthy of you, and after such dismal precedents as we have 
 had you could not better serve the Emperor than by setting it." 
 " And for that reason I am come, like a French cavalier, at the 
 head of a handful of heroes." At these words I looked at him ; 
 it did not need his accent to remind me of his origin, and I 
 feared to detect some second thought concealed behind his 
 chivalrous gasconade. Next moment he betrayed it by sajdng 
 that to collect the infantry division of which Massena had 
 spoken would have taken too much time. 
 
 Arriving thus, as a marshal in command of 1500 cavalry and 
 six guns, he hoped by this bit of bounce to put me off the scent 
 of his settled intention not to lend the division which he had 
 promised. Now for an operation which was to last a week, if 
 an important action was foreseen in the course of it, a solitary 
 marshal, even with his plume, could hardly be regarded as 
 equivalent to a division ; and when it was a question of 
 stopping the English army from folloNving us, or to roll them 
 back in a decisive battle, what coidd be more obvious than to 
 set the division of Seras in march, and even reinforce it with 
 1500 of the Guard from Valladolid and 1,000 men from my 
 government ? P>ut so simple a conception did not fit in with the 
 rival ambitions of the marshals. These marshals, even when the 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 Emperor in creating them had lowered the value of his own 
 creations by the commonplace selections he made, gave him at 
 first nothing but satisfaction, so long as he required only fine 
 names, fine titles, fine clothes, and fine fortunes. His court was 
 brilliant, and sixteen marshals' batons might well seem a 
 subject for pride in it ; but when he wanted men, he found 
 himself less well provided, and able men like Massena and 
 Lannes, who deserved their promotion, had been insulted by 
 association with unworthy colleagues ; those who would have 
 deserved it no less and had not obtained it were furious, and 
 those who obtained it without deserving it were drunk with 
 pride, and thus became even less worthy than before. 
 . In every way the Emperor had succeeded only in making 
 malcontents, and in giving rise to the jealousies, hatreds, and 
 conflicting ambitions which ended in such treasons in the 
 service, in such derelictions as those of which the wars in 
 Portugal and Spain furnished examples. This explains the 
 conduct of the Duke of Istria towards Massena. In spite of all 
 his good personal qualities, he was no more able than others far 
 less well-disposed than himself to make up his mind to aid the 
 military success of a chief who, though equal to him in rank, 
 was his superior in merit. 
 
 To return to the gasconade under which he masked with some 
 effrontery his refusal to co-operate effectively, no sooner had I 
 heard it than I saw that a refusal of this kind would jeopard 
 the last warlike operation which the Army of Portugal was to 
 attempt against the English army. I had at first congratulated 
 the Duke of Istria on the generous way he had come to put 
 himself under Massena's orders ; but when I learnt the nature 
 of the betrayal concealed under this apparent generosity, I could 
 but hold my tongue. Perhaps my silence may have seemed 
 too significant ; but I was unable to get out a word. 
 
 Anyhow, the trifling reinforcement so pompously heralded 
 was not to arrive till the next day. The duke passed that day 
 at Salamanca, and, wishing to take advantage of his presence to 
 get something out of him in the interests of my government, 
 I presented to him the officers of the ganison and the head of 
 the administrative department; also the Spanish authorities,
 
 REVIVING AN UNIVERSITY 325 
 
 ending up witli the Eector and Dean of the university. 
 When these hist appeared, I took occasion to speak oi" the 
 ancient glories of the university of Salamanca ; the disastrous 
 effect that the war had had upon it, and the fame which would 
 await anyone who could succeed in restoring it to its former 
 position, and bring its statutes into harmony with modern re- 
 quirements, pointing out that no one was in so good a position 
 to do it as himself. 
 
 The Duke of Istria was pleased by the suggestion, and after 
 addressing some complimentary words to the authorities, and 
 praising this new proof of my zeal, he asked what he could do. 
 " Why," I said, " you can order me to hand you on your return 
 from Eodrigo a general memorandum on the subject, and allow 
 these gentlemen to hope that you will consider it." " Cer- 
 tainly," he said ; " I promise them to do what is in my power, 
 and you as well as they may rely on my word ! " 
 
 My object in the proposal was of course to produce a moral 
 effect on the inhabitants, and to win partisans to my side who 
 would take an interest in the preservation of order and the 
 maintenance of my authority; but the memorandum I had 
 undertaken to draw up involved no small labour. As my days 
 were wholly occupied, I had to give up my nights to it, and 
 for the necessary information I decided to apply to the re- 
 maining members of the university. We used to meet at ten 
 in the evening ; I questioned them and noted down such in- 
 formation as they could supply on the spot, while they 
 undertook to make any researches that were necessary in 
 archives and elsewhere, and bring me written reports. In this 
 way twelve sittings finished the work ; and when the Duke of 
 Istria returned to Salamanca, a fortnight after his departure, a 
 statement of the present condition of the university, with a 
 scheme for reviving it, the whole filling two hundred folio 
 pages, was to his astonishment duly laid before him. lie was, 
 however, presently superseded as a punishment for his conduct 
 in the short campaign, and his place was taken by Dorsenne, 
 from whom nothing in that line was to be expected. So the 
 only result of my labours was the translation of my report into 
 Spanish and its presentation in a printed form to King Joseph,
 
 326 MEMOIRS OF QENERAL TIJIEDAULT 
 
 his ministers, and other persons concerned. I was also granted 
 an honorary doctor's degi'ee, a compliment paid to no one else, 
 save, a little later, to Lord Wellington. 
 
 Meanwhile the last operation of the Army of Portugal had 
 been going on. Massena had left Salamanca on April 25. On 
 the 26th he was at Eodrigo ; on April 30 he received the 6th 
 and 8th Corps, arrived the day before, and on May 1 the 2nd 
 and 7th. These four corps made up 35,000 men, including 
 1800 cavalry ; * but they had only twenty guns. The Duke of 
 Istria, arriving on the 2nd, brought the number present under 
 arms to 36,600 ; and as he brought thirty teams for the artillery, 
 and six guns with their teams, it was possible to increase the 
 number of pieces by sixteen. On the same day the marshal 
 issued an energetic order of the day ; and leaving to Clauzel's 
 division — I forget for what reason — the duty of guarding the 
 communications betM'een Eodrigo and Salamanca, he crossed the 
 Azava to give battle to an enemy occupying entrenched 
 positions, with 30,000 English, 35,000 Portuguese, and all Don 
 Julian's ;partida posted at Nava de Aver.f 
 
 The affair began l)y an attack on Fuentes de Oiioro on the 
 morning of the 3rd. That village was carried, and its occupation 
 cut the enemy's line in two ; but three English divisions 
 occupied the high ground at the back of it, and one of these 
 charged into the village and retook it. It was again attacked 
 by Ferey's brigade, supported by four battalions from Max- 
 chand's division, and again occupied by our troops. A desperate 
 struggle for it was maintained throughout the day ; towards 
 night we again lost the upper part, but remained in possession 
 of the lower village. 
 
 During the night of the 3rd, Lord Wellington, seeing the 
 
 * [The 2nd, Gth, and 8th Corps contained over 37,000 under arms ; and 
 there were 7,800 cavalry, of whom Xapier estimates that 4,000 were in the 
 field.] 
 
 t [This is of course an enormous exaggeration of the numbers of the 
 allied armies. The total English force on the Coa did not amount to 24,000, 
 and some were blockading Almeida. The entire number engaged, including 
 Don Julian, was estimated by Xapier at about 35,000. The Duke of 
 Wellington, however, puts his total force, inclusive of those forming or 
 protecting the blockade, at under 30,000.]
 
 FUENTES DE OSORO 327 
 
 necessity of not allowing us to regain i)Ossession of the higher 
 part of the village, filled all the liouses with troops, garnishing 
 M'ith them the walls and the neighbouring rocks, so that the 
 marslial judged it too costly to force the enemy at that point. 
 He accordingly employed the day in reconnoitring the front and 
 flanks of his positions. As a result of this, the army was by 
 tlayljreak on the 5th in the position of having refused its right, 
 M'ithout losing hold of Euentes de Onoro; then, having by a 
 magnificent movement turned the enemy's right tlank, it 
 became master of the faiiiy accessible ground lying between 
 Nava de Aver and Pozo Yelho, and was in a position to take 
 Wellington in flank and rear, and throw him back into the 
 cul-de-sac formed by the Coa, the Agueda and the Douro. In 
 this situation, among the crags with which the banks of those 
 torrents bristle, the English army would have been certainly 
 lost, its only means of retreat being one small bridge hardly 
 practicable for horses. The opening of the fight at Pozo Velho 
 was worthy of the way in which the manceuvre had been con- 
 ceived. General Maucune with his brigade attacked that 
 position, routed the English division which held it, killing 
 300 men, taking 250 prisoners, and entirely overthrowing it. 
 Soon afterwards, the English 50th * regiment was cut to pieces ; 
 the enemy was walked back a league, and the movement was 
 distinguished by some fine cavalry charges. General Eouruier, 
 among others, drove in the lines and broke the squares ; 
 supported by Watier's brigade, lie overthrew all that came in 
 Ids way. In the middle of one of these scuftles an English 
 general f had already surrendered, and his whole regiment had 
 been taken, when by bad luck General Fournier's horse was 
 killed, and this disaster w^is at the same moment accompanied 
 by another. General Montbrun had surrounded three English 
 squares, and they would have been captured if General Mermet's 
 division had, as it should have done, followed up the movement ; 
 
 * [Marbot says the 51st ; but neither of these regiments appears to have 
 been present. No regiment lost so severely as the language employed by 
 both writers would iini)ly.] 
 
 t [Colonel Hill of the Guards. " Tout son corps " must bo taken to mean 
 fourteen men, the number captured with him.]
 
 328 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 but for want of tliis co-operation they escaped. However, these 
 little disappointments need only have caused a few moments' 
 delay ; the inequality of forces * seemed to have disappeared in 
 face of the marshal's compensating ability, and the Anglo- 
 Portuguese army was on the brink of a frightful disaster. But it 
 has to be said, painful and humiliating as the remembrance may 
 be, that when victory was secure and all that remained was to 
 finish defeating the enemy, when the men, elated in the highest 
 degree by the ability of the dispositions and the result of their 
 brilliant charges, asked for nothing more than to come to close 
 quarters, and were panting to emulate each other in working 
 wonders, French generals refused to fight. As a result of that 
 incredible disobedience, which Massena had no longer the energy 
 required to punish by blowing out the brains of one of the 
 generals who were defying his authority — as a result, too, of that 
 unwearied good luck which has made the Duke of Wellington 
 a hero, and in the eyes of a few silly people a great man t — our 
 troops stood still with success before them and recoiled from 
 victory ; just at the moment, too, when General Ferey was re- 
 capturing the upper part of Fuentes de Oiioro, which, owing to 
 the inaction of the rest of the army, he had to abandon afresh. 
 
 As we had failed to profit by the movement which had 
 brought us in rear of the enemy's right wing, he had recovered 
 all the advantage of his superiority in numbers, and of his 
 position, favourable almost everywhere to the defence. His 
 whole army was once more rallied and united ; one night was 
 enough to make all the assailable points of his line bristle anew 
 with entrenchments, and no further attempt was possible. The 
 marshal had, however, two reasons for remaining in presence 
 of the enemy — the one to show that he held possession of the 
 field of battle, the other to carry out the Emperor's orders in 
 regard to Almeida ; namely, to blow up the defences, spike the 
 guns, and destroy everything which might be of use to the 
 enemy from a military point of view. In order to ensure the 
 execution of this he had to hold his ground, and to that end 
 
 * [" The enemy never had such a superiority of numbers opposed to th& 
 British troops as in this action." — Duke of Wellington.] 
 
 t [" Wellington n'eblouissait personne, mais il nous battait." — Lanfrey.}
 
 massMa'S retreat 320 
 
 liave the means of meeting any attack on the part of the enemy. 
 Ifaviug only five cartridges per man still left, he decided to 
 send General Lamothe to llodrigo for ammunition, -which in 
 point of fact an-ived that evening. As fur Almeida, the marshal 
 sent orders directly hy letter to General Brenier, who com- 
 manded that fortress, adding, " Give me notice that you have 
 received this letter by firing at ten o'clock to-morrow evening 
 in the direction of our position, four salvos from twenty-five of 
 your heaviest guns, at intervals of five minutes. Having 
 executed your orders, withdraw Ijy Barba de Puerco." To 
 write the letter was easy enough, to get it delivered was less 
 so. The promise of 6,000 francs to the man who would manage 
 to do so, produced three volunteers. All three were accepted ; 
 three copies of the dispatch were made, each on a piece of paper 
 two inches by one ; lastly, the bearers were told to swallow 
 them if they could not get them through, and, if captured, to 
 pass themselves off as deserters. The three men set out at 
 eight in the evening; only one got in, a man named Andre 
 Tillet of the 6th Light Infantry. At ten in the evening of the 
 7th the four salvos were fired. In the course of that niglit, 
 after worrying the enemy with constant reconnoissancoe, the 
 marshal left Pozo Yelho, and brought all his force back in front 
 of Puentes de Oiioro, making Lord AVellington believe that the 
 attack was to be renewed upon his centre or left flank, and 
 forcing him to keep his troops under arms all day. 
 
 On the 9th the marshal maintained his position, continuing 
 to harass the enemy, who did not venture to leave the rocks or 
 his entrenchments, with fresh reconnoissances ; and by the 
 morning of the 10th he was in full retreat, followed by the 
 enemy, whom by this movement he drew away from Almeida.* 
 The garrison of that town was therefore likely to be saved, and, 
 in fact, he had the satisfaction of hearing at midnight a mu filed 
 and prolonged report, announcing that the fortifications were 
 destroyed. Soon he learnt that General Brenier and his 
 garrison had succeeded in joining the 2nd Corps before day- 
 
 * [This seems to be quite incorrect. The English were at least unconscious 
 of the operations supposed to be giving them annoyance, and Wellington did 
 not pursue Massena. The escape of the Almeida garrison was due to a blunder.]
 
 330 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEDAULT 
 
 light, iu this way the only orders which the Emperor had 
 jnven to the marshal had been carried out. 
 
 On the 11th Massena heard that Marshal Marmont, who had 
 arrived on the 7th under colour of replacing Ney at the head of 
 the 6th Corps, was really come to take over from him the 
 command of the Army of Portugal. He handed it over to him 
 at once, and departed for Paris the same day. 
 
 This was IMassena's last feat of arms in his last campaign. 
 Xow was he, during that expedition, below his level ? Some 
 people have felt able to say so ; no one has proved it. And in 
 point of fact, from the beginning of the campaign, he was 
 constantly disserved : first by the Emperor, who only gave him 
 half the troops required for success, and, to assist him, men 
 who knew nothing of subordination, while making him delay 
 four months in an expedition which ought to have been rushed 
 through ; secondly, by those who had to guide him, and who, 
 headed by the Marquis of Alorna, led him all astray at Busaco ; 
 then, as has been explained, by Marshal Soult ; lastly by his 
 generals, above all by Eeynier, one of the most able men whom 
 we had left, Init who at Sabugal took no notice of his warning 
 and previsions, and at Pozo A^elho forgot his own past and his 
 position as a French general, and never fired a shot. Yet those 
 very actions of Fuentes de Onoro and Pozo Velho, which recall 
 the desertion of his generals, recall also the daring with which, 
 in spite of his age and infirmities, Massena assailed a greatly 
 superior force, and the genius which was able to conceive and 
 carry out a manoeuvre calculated to neutralise the advantages of 
 position and numbers, and snatch victory out of "Wellington's 
 hands, destroy the English army, and restore Portugal to us. 
 
 Massena then showed himself in Portugal a chief no less 
 clever and daring than in old days. The facts are there to 
 prove it, and all that we can justly say is, that while morally 
 equal to himself and worthy of his past, he was physically 
 much enfeebled ; and that in order to maintain his flashes of 
 genius he perhaps lacked that elevation of his powers — those 
 supreme spurts of energ}', which at times succeeded in forcing 
 destiny itself to change in spite of the treachery of men and 
 circumstances.
 
 AN UNSOUGHT HONOUR 031 
 
 However, when Massena was gone, the Duke of Istria 
 returned with his escort to Yalladolid, where to my misfortune 
 and that of the army, he was, as I have said, replaced by 
 General Dorsenne. Marshal jMarmont, who replaced Massena, 
 took up his position at Plasencia with the three corps of the 
 Army of Portugal, in observation of the Anglo-Portuguese 
 army. The Duke of Abrantes and Generals Loison and 
 Solignac returned with others to France ; I remained at 
 Salamanca, at once as governor and as commander of the 
 advance-guard of the Army of the North, while the Count of 
 Erlon, with his corps reduced to six regiments, crossed the 
 Tagus, and in conjunction with the 5th Corps helped to raise 
 the siege of Badajoz, which Marshal Beresford was investing 
 with 15,000 Portuguese and I know not how many Spaniards. 
 
 The course of the to-and-fro movements connected with 
 Massena's latest operation had l^rouglit the Duke of Abrantes 
 with his army corps to Salamanca. As soon as I heard of it I 
 had ^mtten to offer him board and lodging with me, which he 
 accepted both coming and going. As he was leaving me, he 
 said, " I say, are not you a count ? " " Xothing in the way 
 of favours," said I, laughing, " falls to my account." " What, 
 have you neither title nor endowment ? " " Neither one nor 
 the other." " That is absurd ; it can only be due to forgetful- 
 ness. However, I shall not forget." Three weeks afterwards I 
 received from the arch-chancellor the announcement of my 
 nomination as baron, which I found more absurd than forget- 
 fulness itself. My first idea was not to accept a title which 
 carried no endowment, but I was told so often that I was going 
 to create a fresh cause for complaint by advertising my contempt 
 for a title which emanated from the Emperor, and I was so 
 much lectured on the subject, that I accepted it, thougli without 
 thanking anyone or even acknowledging the letter announcing 
 it. Nor, though it would only have cost me 300 francs, did I 
 apply for the usual patent, or take any further steps in the 
 matter till 1830. Then a decision mms given to the effect that 
 whoever had not taken out his patent of nobility at the end of 
 six months would forfeit his rank ; and as there was a good 
 deal of ditference between not caring for the title and bein"-
 
 832 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TUIEBAULT 
 
 officially declared to have forfeited it, I went through the 
 business, though the fees in similar cases had by that time risen 
 to 500 francs. Thanks to my neglect, the Eevolution of July 
 took place before the patent was made out, and in order to get 
 it it was necessary to take the oath of allegiance to Louis 
 Philippe. This I have not done up to the day when I write 
 these words, July 2, 183G, so that I have no more patent than 
 if I had not paid the expenses. 
 
 The Army of Portugal having taken position in front of 
 Plasencia in order to cover Madrid and operate on the flank or 
 rear of the Anglo-Portuguese army if that should cross the 
 Agueda, and the cavalry of the Army of the North having 
 returned to Valladolid, a period of repose and expectation 
 seemed to be opening, and I found nothing to think about 
 except the needs of my troops and the observation of the 
 enemy. Having my time free, I made an effort to smooth over 
 the traces of all these disorders, confiscations, and devastations, 
 to restore some balance between requirements and resources, 
 lastly to comfort the inhabitants by showing some marks of 
 interest in their condition. Under the first head the difficulties 
 had greatly increased. In point of fact, Lord Wellington's 
 army being collected between the Agueda and the Tagus, did 
 not allow of my drawing anything from that part of Estre- 
 madura ; while Don Julian, who had established himself afresh 
 between the Agueda and the Tormes, interfered with our 
 smallest consignments, all the more actively because he needed 
 to get his negotiations with me forgotten. He was overlooked 
 and kept up to the mark by the Marquis of Espafia, whom the 
 Cadiz Junta, not thoroughly trusting Don Julian, and not 
 wishing to leave him to himself, had sent with superior 
 command into Estremadura. 
 
 Being unable to carry out plans which these difficulties 
 rendered impossible, I started with what remained possible. I 
 devoted myself to making tranquillity reign at Salamanca, to 
 putting justice on the side of conciliation, and to getting all 
 interests respected. The city was kept perfectly clean and 
 lighted ; all the houses were numbered, and the names of
 
 LOCAL IMPROVEMENT 333 
 
 streets and squares put up. As I had done at Burgos, I forbade 
 further interments in the churches ; and on the strength of a 
 measure passed to that effect by the Council of Castile in 1799, 
 I devoted to burials a large piece of ground belonging to some 
 monks, and to make things complete I had hearses and 
 mourning coaches built, and brought all the management of 
 funerals within the functions of the town council. 
 
 When I was at Salamanca in 1801, the Bishop, Don Tavira, 
 had been fruitlessly attempting to open up the view between 
 the episcopal palace and the cathedral ; that is, to form a hand- 
 some square in place of the hideous houses and narrow, filthy 
 street which lay before those two buildings. Ten years later, 
 having all the authority at Salamanca in my own hands, I 
 remembered this and resolved, mere infidel that I was, to carry 
 out a project over which the Fenelon of Spain had been 
 baflied. But in order not to be stopped in my scheme by the 
 complaints w^hich would certainly be raised by the members 
 of the chapter — to whom the houses belonged — I made 
 all my preparations wdth the greatest secrecy. Then I pub- 
 lished my decree, founding it on sanitary grounds, on the 
 wish constantly expressed by the inhabitants of Salamanca, on 
 the authority of one of the most justly honoured prelates in 
 Spain, and so forth. I gave the canons, or their lessees, five 
 days to clear out of the twenty or thirty houses to be pulled 
 down, and ordered that a valuation of the property should 
 be made within two days, that it might be entered on the 
 public debt. 
 
 No sooner was my edict published than a deputation of the 
 most prominent members of the chapter came to me demand- 
 ing that it should be recalled or postponed. I received this 
 demand as I generally received such, and they decided to 
 appeal to IMadi'id ; but they had to send a special messenger, 
 and they had only three and a half days left — a time in which I 
 knew that it was impossible for the matter to be considered in 
 council and an answer to be brought back. By the third day 
 an ofticial valuation had been made, the canons refusing to be 
 parties to it ; and four days after publication of the notice, the 
 demolition began, at 4 a.m., under the superintendence of an
 
 334 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TRIED AULT 
 
 engineer officer ; two local masons and six soldiers working at 
 every house. Some of the canons who lived in the houses 
 declined to stir ; but foreseeing this, I had put on a double 
 number of hands to their houses, and it may be guessed that 
 they cleared out with some promptitude. It was as well that I 
 made haste, for two days later an order came from Madrid to 
 suspend the proceedings, but by that time there was nothing 
 more to do but to clear uj) the rubbish. Opposition ceased 
 when there was no more interest in keeping it up, and I ended 
 by getting the sanction of Madrid, just as, except for a few 
 canons, I had the applause of Salamanca. No sooner was the 
 square marked out than it received my name, and an order 
 of the town council confirmed what the public voice had 
 demanded.* The: order was formally presented to me, and, 
 having thus become the godfather of the square, I was naturally 
 led to beautify it. 
 
 One evening, as I was walking outside the Valladolid gate 
 with Vega, the excellent chief commissioner of police, dis- 
 cussing some matter of public utility, the prolonged tinkle of a 
 little bell diverted my attention. The commissioner told me 
 that it was the distress-bell of a little convent, inhabited by 
 Trappist nuns vowed to perpetual seclusion and isolation. 
 They lived only on provisions bestowed by the charitable, and 
 sometimes they got forgotten. When their hunger became too 
 acute, they rang the bell that we heard. It may have been 
 going on for an hour, and I walked quickly towards the convent, 
 Vega following me. He rang ; the wicket was opened and he 
 announced the governor, adding, " Open, by his orders." Hasty 
 steps told us that the one who had first spoken to us was rapidly 
 retreating ; a few minutes of perfect silence followed. Then a 
 fresh voice questioned us again, and received the same answer. 
 At the w^ords, " But who are yoio ? " the commissioner declared 
 himself; the door creaked on its hinges and opened. I passed 
 the threshold beyond which eternity commences, pain forms 
 the whole of existence, and death the sole remedy, and, crossing 
 a sort of little lobby, followed a low narrow passage black with 
 age, which received its light only from a cloister used as 
 * [It is now the Plaza del Collegio Viejo.]
 
 A TliAFPIST CONVENT .']35 
 
 cemetery, overgrown with l)rainl>les, save where phices liad 
 been cleurcd for recent graves, and surrounded by cells, very 
 coffins, dark and stifling. From one side of this cloister opened 
 a little churcli with no ornament but an altar of worm-eaten 
 wood, in the centre of which a lamp, throwing out a flickering 
 flame, seemed to be lighting up the way to annihilation. 
 Finally I found myself in presence of ten or a dozen women, 
 or rather spectres. Shod in sandals, without stockings or linen, 
 clad in rags of black serge, with veils of the same material 
 falling to the waist, these poor creatures seemed of no age 
 and of no human shape. Their sepulchral voices, weak from 
 want of food, their look of annihilation and misery, their forms 
 still living and vegetating on the brink of the gi-aves which 
 themselves had dug. That place, w^here every complaint is 
 a scandal, every regi'et a blasphemy, every sigh a crime, filled 
 me with indescribable sadness. 
 
 However, having saluted the poor things respectfully, I said 
 in Spanish to one who was a few paces in front of the others, 
 "It is the desire, sister, to render you more speedy help that 
 brings me into your presence." She merely bowed, and I 
 exclaimed, " Tell me at what moment you w^ill require food ? " 
 "None of us has eaten since yesterday," she replied; and 
 informed me that their nutriment was limited to bread, dried 
 fish, vegetables, and oil, I sent Vega off at once to fetch on 
 the back of a porter what was wanted to meet such urgent 
 wants ; and I announced that I should not leave the convent 
 till the provisions came. 
 
 While waiting I got full information about all that concerned 
 the dwellers in the place ; their tenible rule, their numbers, 
 how much stuff was required to clothe them fully, their daily 
 consumption of food, their other wants, including those of 
 their chapel. "VMien the provisions came, and I took my 
 leave, I promised not to forget them, requesting them not to 
 forget me in their prayers. Having thus become the objects of 
 my special care, they not only had bread, flsh, and fresh vege- 
 tables brought to them every morning, but were provLsioned 
 with dried tish and vegetables, with salt and oil, and received 
 any quantity of black serge to repair or renew theii- dismal
 
 S3G MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TUIEBAVLT 
 
 garments. Just before I left Salamanca, I sent them a double 
 allowance of provisions and commended them to the care of the 
 prefect. 
 
 After these administrative reminiscences, as I may call them, 
 I note some facts as to the relations of my government with 
 the army. They have no great historical value, but the reader 
 may take them for what they are worth. General Eeynaud 
 had lately become governor of Ciudad Eodrigo, in succession 
 to one Cacault ; and having some important requests to make 
 of me in respect of the needs of the place, it occurred to him 
 to send his aide-de-camp, Chambure, with the letter, in order 
 to get things more properly and thoroughly done. 
 
 In my case this means was superfluous. I was sorry that 
 General Eeynaud had adopted it without my authority, and 
 I evinced some fear as to Chambure's safe return. He besrsed 
 me to have no anxiety on that point, for with the 400 men of 
 his escort he would back himself to face all Don Julian's forces. 
 I knew his valour, but that was not enough to reassure me. A 
 thousand infantry and 200 cavalry were therefore ordered out 
 to support Chambure as far as Matilla ; but as they could go 
 no further, I ordered him to fall back with them if he heard 
 that Don Julian had collected his bands. Before his departure 
 could give rise to rumour, he left Salamanca one evening at 
 eleven, reaching Matilla next morning at daybreak. There his 
 force rested for two hours. After passing the village, some of 
 Don Julian's horsemen show^ed themselves a long way off, and 
 soon disappeared. Another five miles was covered in perfect 
 tranciuillity ; but having gone that distance, Chambure's advance- 
 guard found itself attacked by two columns of a thousand men 
 each; and the fire becoming very lively, he deemed that an 
 immediate retreat on Salamanca was indispensable. He began 
 to retire in perfect order, but his retreat was already cut off by 
 two columns similar to those in front, and all Don Julian's 
 cavalry. 
 
 Thus he was enveloped by forces ten times greater than his 
 own, and any other than he would have been done for. But 
 while a quarter of his people checked with a brisk fire the 
 advance of the two columns that had barred the road, he
 
 A CUBE FOR WOUXnS 337 
 
 himself, at the head of the remaining 300, charged all those in his 
 rear, overthrowing all whom he could get at. He did wonders, 
 killing and wounding three times as many of Don Julian's 
 people as he lost of his own ; Init he was reduced to 200 men 
 and himself severely wounded iu butli arms, most severely in 
 the left. By this time the 1200 men who had supported him, 
 and who had orders not to leave Matilla for three hours after 
 his departure from it, marching on the sound of his fire, saved 
 him with the remnants of his column and returned with him 
 to Salamanca. On hearing of his disaster and his arrival, I 
 w^ent to see him, expecting of course to find him in very low 
 spirits. He was in despair, and, say what I would, I could not 
 get him out of the notion that this unlucky encounter had 
 broken his career and ruined his future. I had to report the 
 affair to the Prince of Neuchatel, and so pained was I by 
 Chambure's condition that it inspired me, in composing my 
 dispatch, to finish by requesting the Cross of the Legion of 
 Honour for him. I based my request on his honourable 
 antecedents, on conduct M'hich partook of heroism, and upon 
 his state of despair, which indicated that the life of this brave 
 officer depended on the granting of the favour. I did not, 
 however, disguise from myself how little could be hoped for 
 from such a request, for the Emperor's way, as is usual with 
 conquerors, was justifiable enough indeed, both in itself and on 
 the score of example, to reward successes and punish reverses. 
 It was, therefore, with no less joy than surprise that I received 
 hj return of messenger poor Chambure's nomination as member 
 of the Legion and the cross bestowed on him. 
 
 At once I went to his house. Luckily, he was lodged with 
 an excellent lady, who had three very pretty daughters, no less 
 good than their mother. They helped to dress his wounds, and 
 looked after him as if he had been their son and brother. 
 Thus, before going to his room, I always used to look in upon 
 the ladies to learn how he was. That day I was struck by 
 their sadness, and, in point of fact, they said that his depression 
 was becoming extreme, and that the doctor and surgeon, who 
 liad just left him, were growing uneasy. "Senorita," said I to 
 the eldest of the young ladies, " will you help to save his 
 
 VOL. II. Z
 
 338 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 life ? " She seemed eager to do so, and I continued : " Take 
 this cross and ribbon and conceal them in your hand. Then 
 go casually into his room, and, under the pretext of seeing 
 something to be put to rights in his bandage, get near him, 
 fasten the ribbon to his shirt without his noticing it, and 
 leave his room immediately." She fulfilled her task admirably. 
 As for Chambure, owing to his dejection he at first noticed 
 nothing, and it was not till he was alone that he caught sight 
 of something red on his shirt. Being unable to use his arms, 
 he called. At that moment I appeared, followed by his 
 hostesses. With a smile, I said, " Well, what is the matter 
 with you ? What can you want more, when you have received 
 the prize of your devoted service, and it has reached you, too, by 
 the hands of a charming young lady ? " " Add — when I owe 
 it to you," he replied, in an excited tone. Indeed, he was 
 beside himself; it was a real crisis, which restored his tone 
 and saved him. All the same, he remained crippled in his 
 left arm, but was able to continue in the service and distinguish 
 himself. How he did at Dantzig is well known.* He was 
 made colonel at the Eestoration and died in 1830, I have 
 never known a more energetic man. 
 
 Talking of Don Julian, one of my spies brought the news 
 one day that that terrible chief was assembling his bands to 
 surprise the garrison of Avila during the next night but one. 
 That garrison had been furnished by the Army of Portugal, and 
 so had nothing to do with my government ; but it consisted of 
 Frenchmen, and the question was how to convert a possible 
 success on the part of our enemies into a certain failure. This 
 was more than enough to stimulate my care ; but what was to 
 be done ? Avila was twenty-four leagues away, and I had not 
 time to get there with my troops. Nor could I without orders 
 abandon my position and leave Salamanca for four or five days 
 at the mercy of Don Julian, or it might even be of an English 
 division. Still less could I send a weak detachment. Failing 
 any help, I must at least manage to convey information and 
 put the commandant on his guard. Others might have been 
 content to send this by a spy ; but I did not like to stop short 
 * [See General Marbot's Memoires, vol. iii., p. 370.]
 
 HOW TO SEND DISPATCHES 339 
 
 at this means, as nothing could be less depended on than the 
 arrival of a man of whose conscientiousness, moreover, I had 
 no firm guarantee. 
 
 In this state of uneasiness I went to the prefect and asked 
 liim for the names and addresses of two of the wealthiest and 
 most determined among our enemies at Salamanca. Then 1 
 went home and wrote my dispatch to the governor of Avila. 
 This, when rolled up, was as thick as a crow-quill. While I 
 was wTitimj, the richer of the two men whose names the 
 prefect had given me was, by my orders, brought to my house. 
 As soon as he was shown into my study, I said, " Sir, you 
 are one of the greatest enemies that we have at Salamanca." 
 
 " I, governor ? I assure you " " Well, never miad the fact 
 
 of it. You have the reputation of it, and that is enough for 
 the commission I have to give you. You see this little roll. 
 Take it. It is a letter for the governor of Avila. Within 
 twenty hours it must be in his hands, and within forty the 
 receipt for it in mine." " But, governor, how is that to be 
 done ? " " That is no aftair of mine. But from this moment 
 you are in the custody of two gendarmes who will not lose 
 sight of you. If the orders are not literally carried out, I 
 send you to General Dorsenne as a traitor ; and you will 
 understand that the least thing which can happen to you will 
 be to be escorted into France and shut up there till the 
 peace." The name of Dorsenne took him aback, and not 
 without reason. To restore his spirits I rang. The two 
 gendarmes entered, and, having already received their instruc- 
 tions, collared him and led liim home. As he was going, I 
 assured him that it was the first and last time that I should 
 employ such methods towards him. Thu-ty-eight hours later 
 I received a reply to my letter. Don Julian's attack took 
 place, but no one was taken by surprise, and he was beaten off 
 with loss. 
 
 Meanwhile, Ciudad Eodrigo, which had been besieged for a 
 mouth past, was getting to the end of its provisions and 
 needed revictualling. Covered to the eastward by inaccessible 
 rocks, it was blockaded on the north by Don Julian, on the 
 south by the whole Anglo-Portuguese army, to the west by an 
 
 z 2
 
 3-10 MEMOIRS OF ENSEAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 English division holding both banks of the Agueda — that is> 
 by 50,000 troops in all. It was dependent on the Army of the 
 North, but that could not put more than 20,000 men in move- 
 ment ; and, naturally, this seemed an insufficient force for an 
 operation which involved the covering of an immense convoy. 
 The Army of Portugal, 24,000 strong, received orders, there- 
 fore, to join the Army of the North for the operation of 
 revictualling. It was, in fact, all the more interested in the 
 matter from the fact that, if once the enemy became masters of 
 Eodrigo, the position of the Army of the North on the Tormes 
 would be rendered very precarious, while no motive for holding 
 Plasencia, no possibility even of so doing, would be left to the 
 Army of Portugal. 
 
 The Army of the North consequently assembled at Salamanca. 
 It was composed, first, of Seras' former division, the first of 
 that army of which I received the command while remaining 
 governor of Estremadura ; second, of Souham's, the second divi- 
 sion ; third and fourth, of two divisions of the Imperial Guard ; 
 fifth, of a brigade of the Guard forming the reserve ; sixth, of a 
 cavalry division under General Watier ; seventh, of fifty guns. 
 
 On the morrow of its arrival at Salamanca, General Dor- 
 senne reviewed this army, small in number but in splendid 
 condition, and in the evening he assembled at his house all 
 the generals belonging to it. I learnt from him that my nevf 
 division had a detestable fault — that of disorderly marching, 
 " Do what General Seras would," said he, " he found it 
 impossible, on the march, to prevent his corps from leaving 
 half their people behind." " That, however, is a breach of 
 order which it is easy to prevent." " Easy ? " he rejoined, with 
 a grin ; " you'll have something more to tell me about that." 
 " I should be surprised if it were to be anything but good," 
 replied I coldly, " for no troops ever marched badly under 
 my orders." " Besides," put in General Dumoustier, " we will 
 help each other ; and, as I do not wish your men to have the 
 trouble for nothing, please announce to your division that 
 I will pay one napoleon per head for every straggler that it 
 brings back to me." And we agreed upon the same price for 
 any that his division might bring back to me.
 
 now TO STOP STnAOOLING 341 
 
 The departure of my division, marching at the head of the 
 tirmy, was fixed for 7 a.m., and I gave orders that it should be 
 under arms at six. I arrived at the same moment, inspected 
 them, and was very sharply down on the smallest matters. 
 Then I called together all the tield-ofhcers and captains of the 
 nine battalions composing the division, and, having said to them 
 how much it grieved me to have to begin with finding fault, I 
 told them of the reputation that their troops had, and an- 
 nounced my determination to change it from that day forward. 
 To this end I ordered steps to be taken which I had found 
 successful on a former occasion — for instance, that no man 
 should leave the ranks except at the hourly halts, and then 
 only from absolute necessity, and not without handing his 
 musket to his right or left hand man, and without being 
 accompanied by a corporal, who was not to lose sight of him ; 
 that colonels and majors should keep always riding to and fro 
 from rear to front of their regiments and back again, and that 
 nine sergeants and eighteen corporals, under a captain and a 
 lieutenant, should follow the division and rummage all houses, 
 coppices, and so forth, near which it passed. In order to enforce 
 my regulations, I made a rule that any battalion from which a 
 single man had succeeded in remaining in the rear should 
 march for an hour in sections, while the officer commanding his 
 company should be put under arrest. 
 
 In spite of these measm'es one man of the 31st succeeded in 
 escaping the vigilance of his officers. He was arrested by my 
 squad of non-commissioned officers, and his battalion, no less 
 than his captain, underwent the threatened penalty. It was a 
 good lesson. I was careful to keep my division in such order 
 that, if a hostile corps had dropped from the sky, it would 
 have found me all ready to fight. Xo division marched as 
 well as mine, and the result was that, in the evening, I was 
 able to ask General Dumoustier how much I owed him ? I 
 was complimented all round, and even General Dorsenne, 
 happening to ride past me about three in the afternoon, had 
 called out as he galloped by, " It's impossible to lead troops 
 better. General Thiebault ! " 
 
 On September 21 the Army of Portugal came into line with
 
 342 MEMOIFiS OF GENERAL THIEDAULT 
 
 us on the other side of San Munos ; 46,000 to 47,000 infantr}% 
 marching with 3,000 or 4,000 cavalry and eighty guns, did not 
 leave much opening for Lord "Wellington, who accordingly did 
 not stir. Thus the revictualling of Eodrigo took place without 
 any opposition, and w'as completed at nightfall on the third day 
 after our leaving Salamanca. 
 
 After that, what more was there to do ? We might either 
 confine ourselves to the revictualling and retire at once, or else 
 cross the Agueda during the night and fall upon the Anglo- 
 Portuguese army at daybreak. Neither of these courses was 
 adopted, and w^e passed the night and the following day in 
 consuming, with no advantage whatever, since we were cul- 
 pably inactive, 60,000 rations of the provisions which, of all 
 things in the world, ought to have been most carefully 
 economised. While deploring this halt, which its uselessness 
 rendered absurd, and while saying to ourselves that with other 
 commanders it would perhaps be all up both with the English 
 army and with Lord Wellington's unintelligible reputation, we 
 had made up our minds to this new bad luck, and were con- 
 ceiving nothing save a prompt return to our respective posi- 
 tions, when we received the order to cross the Agueda at day- 
 break the next morning, and to follow the Army of Portugal, 
 which was to take the lead. 
 
 In spite of thirty hours' delay, imder circumstances in which 
 the loss of a single hour ought to have been made a crime, fate 
 still offered us the possibility of a conspicuous success. The 
 wise and prudent Wellington had not thought that we should 
 march upon him. He had made no arrangements with this 
 view, and, by our march on Fuenteguinaldo, two of his 
 divisions, particularly that of Craufurd,* were cut oft' from the 
 rest of his army and forced to throw themselves into the 
 valleys which lay between our left and the Agueda. Out of 
 those valleys, thanks to the rocks through which the torrent 
 
 * [The " two divisions " jirobably mean the 60th and 74th regiments, 
 which got separated from the rest of the 3rd division, and had to cross the 
 Agueda and make their way for some distance up tlie right bank, and 
 Craufurd's light division, wliich was ]5osted in observation beyond the 
 Agueda, and got back to the main army later by tlie same route.
 
 INCAPACITY AND NEGLIGENCE 343 
 
 dashes itself, and which render them impracticable, there is no 
 possible exit, and the English divisions which had got into 
 them could only be saved by carelessness on our part. And in 
 truth, a single reconnoissance on the left bank of the Agueda, 
 and on our left, would leave those two divisions at our mercy. 
 But among us there was no less incapacity and negligence than 
 there was pride and vanity ; Lord Wellington was no less lucky 
 than he was unskilful and improvident, and the two divisions, 
 concealing themselves while we marched forward — the two 
 divisions whose destruction would have disabled the Anglo- 
 Portuguese army from acting for some time to come, and might, 
 perhaps, have been for us the beginning of a series of successes 
 — emerged from theu' retreat during the night, passed between us 
 and Ciudad Eodrigo,* and rejoined Lord Wellington unmolested. 
 In no condition to resist us, even if he had had all his forces 
 united, and having no chance at all when deprived of two of 
 his divisions, he manoeu\Ted with some luck through the 
 whole of that day. He threatened our right, causing me to 
 be sent to a point w^here, by the time I got there, no one was 
 to be found. His cavalry, supported by two divisions of 
 infantry,! held their ground against General Montbruu long 
 enough to give us the impression that it was a serious engage- 
 ment, Imt not long enough to compromise him. Thus our 
 illustrious chiefs were so much taken up with what was passing 
 in front of us, and on our right, that it did not even occur to 
 them to trouble themselves with what might be taking place in 
 rear of our left ; to which fact, as I have said, two divisions 
 owed their escape. 
 
 Owing to the false movements which that day I was caused 
 to make in order to fight an enemy who wanted only to gain 
 the time that he made us lose, and kept drawing us to one 
 point only to get us away from another, I was the last to reach 
 
 * [This is hardly correct. The French army was by this time across, 
 i.e. on the left bank of the Agueda. Craufurd, as has been said, made his 
 way back by the right bank, passing behind the French, but in no sense 
 between them and Ivodrigo. Itather they had passed between him and 
 that place.] 
 
 t [If, as seems probable, this refers to the combat at El Bodon, the " two 
 divisions " were the 5th and 77th regiments.]
 
 314 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 the position which our two armies had taken. It consisted of 
 two hillocks, on one of which the Imperial Guard and its 
 enormous artillery was extended in three lines, lighted up by 
 the last rays of the sun, and offering, I may observe, a splendid 
 picture. 
 
 In front of this position was a detached hillock, still occupied 
 by the English troojDS, which certainly ought to have been 
 taken as soon as we had come up. General Dorsenne had, 
 however, arranged otherwise. On my return, after hearing my 
 report on the English corps which I had driven in, he said, 
 " You see that hillock ; it is the position for the advance-guard 
 of the two armies, and I have reserved it for your division. So 
 you will turn out the enemy's corps, which is still there, and 
 establish yourself on it." Night was coming on and there was 
 no time to lose. When my first brigade came up, I marched 
 on the hill at the head of my light infantry, and, fortunately 
 carrying it without much trouble, I bivouacked there with 
 my troops. 
 
 As we had thus taken the place of advance-guard, I thought 
 that we should resume our attacking movement at daybreak, 
 putting our time to all the better use for having already wasted 
 a good deal of it. Accordingly, I was at the front of my lines 
 well before daybreak ; Imt I was wrong again. Six, seven, 
 eight, nine struck, and I had no news of anyone. At length 
 Marmont and Dorsenne appeared at the head of their gorgeous 
 staffs, and my troops at once stood to their arms. Hardly, 
 however, had these gentlemen come up than they dismounted 
 and began to examine through their field-glasses the English 
 camp covering Euenteguinaldo. I had known it by heart for 
 the last two hours, and the proper way to examine and recon- 
 noitre it now would have been to march upon it, across the two 
 miles that separated us from it. However, if from a military 
 point of view nothing could have been more unsatisfactory, 
 there was a doleful comicality about the scene. " Yes," said the 
 marshal, making efforts to see what was not there through a 
 telescope supported on an aide-de-camp's shoulder — "yes, my 
 information is correct ; the right of the English line rests upon 
 an impracticable escarpment." Thereupon I again took up my
 
 TIIROUan THE MARSIIAUS GLASSES 345 
 
 own glass, which was an excellent one, and could discover no in- 
 dication of such an escarpment. General Dorsenne was equally 
 unable to see it, and told the marshal so. He made no answer, 
 l)ut continued, " That camp is covered with revetted works." 
 After exchanging one or two words and looks with me, General 
 Dorsenne further observed that it was all he could do to see a 
 few places where the ground had been thrown up. At length 
 the marshal finished his examination, adding, as though no one 
 else had spoken, " And, as I;^was informed, those revetted works 
 are armed with lieavy guns brought from ^Vlmeida, so there is 
 nothing to be done." Thereupon he called for his horse and 
 made no answer to General Dorsenne, who assured him that he 
 did not share his opinion. Before riding off with the marshal, 
 Dorsenne said to mu : " 1 mean to have another go at him, but 
 I wish first of all to have the opinion of all the divisional 
 generals in my army, so I shall have them all to dinner with 
 me, and I reckon on you." 
 
 The meal took place at the bivouac, a handsome cai'pet being 
 spread on the ground, and covered with pies and other cold food 
 of the best kind, served on silver dishes. We dined standing 
 up, but that was not enough to give the luxurious repast a 
 sufficiently military character. The end of the meal coincided 
 with that of the day, and then General Dorsenne collected 
 Souham, Dumoustier, Eoguet, \Yatier, and myself under a gi'eat 
 ilex, and, after a few words of explanation, asked our opinion as 
 to the alternative of attacking the Anglo-Portuguese army or 
 retreating. AVe replied that all discussion of the point seemed 
 to us useless ; that our opinion, as the regrets we had expressed 
 might shoM-, was unanimous and decided, that we all deprecated 
 the misfortune of losing a second day in so deplorable a fashion, 
 and that, without stopping to consider what the marshal pro- 
 fessed to have seen and heard about the strength of the English 
 camp, Ave ought, in order to retrieve what still might be 
 retrieved, to march upon the enemy an hour before daylight the 
 next morning. "I am delighted to hear you," returned 
 Dorsenne. " Your opinion is mine. I shall maintain it with 
 all my power and repeat my proposal to the marshal to under- 
 take myself the attack which he does not care for." He left
 
 346 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 US. Hardly had lie gone to the marshal when Montbrun cam e 
 out from him, and, seeing us under the oak, came up to us, 
 saying, " "What on earth are you doing there ? You look like 
 conspirators." "Well," I returned, "we are conspiring, but it 
 is in behalf of the honour of our arms." " Oh, come ! " he 
 answered ; " after all these campaigns, and all these years of 
 lighting and glory, the honour of our arms does not depend upon 
 an affair at Fuenteguinaldo." " It depends," retorted Watier, 
 " upon not missing a chance of an important victory which is 
 more than necessary to us." " The essential point," continued 
 Montbrun, " is that we should not lay ourselves open to a false 
 move. The English camp cannot be attacked, and the final 
 proof of it is that Wellington is awaiting us there. Now to 
 run into danger without any result is not the way to be done 
 with him." " AVe are still in hope," said Dumoustier, " that 
 the marshal will go back upon that opinion, which we do not 
 believe to be yours." He tried to maintain that it was his. 
 We made no further reply and he left us. Half an hour after- 
 wards General Dorsenne came back. We ran to meet him, 
 but his first words were, "We are to retreat." None of us 
 made any answer. " I have done what I could," he continued, 
 " but with no result. All the same, I had the best of the 
 argument, so long as we consider the question only from a 
 military point of view. But directly I declared to the marshal 
 that I should attack alone, and that he might find himself 
 responsible for the consequences, he said : ' Pray do you know 
 what private instructions the Emj^eror has given wdth regard to 
 that English army — whether it suits his policy that it should be 
 destroyed, or whether, on the contrary, he has not an interest in 
 keeping it in Spain, on account of the position which he holds 
 with the English Parliament, so long as he has English troops 
 in front of him.' When the question became political and 
 ceased to be military, and when the marshal observed that as 
 our orders were limited to the revictualling of Kodrigo, we 
 became doubly responsible for everything unconnected with 
 that operation, I insisted no longer. Thus," concluded General 
 Dorsenne, "we withdraw. The Army of Portugal starts first, 
 marching on its rear. The Guard will go at eleven this evening.
 
 THE ENGLISH WJTIIDJRAW 347 
 
 General Souham at midni^^dit, while you, General Thicbault, 
 will march at 1 A.M. and cover the retreat of tlie two armies 
 M'ith your division, and the cavalry under General Watier." 
 This was the end of it. It will never lie lli(jroughly known 
 how much mismanagement there was in the.se Spanish affairs. 
 
 Whenever I had an important movement to carry out, I was 
 always on the ground more than an hour before the time. It 
 is, indeed, the only way in wliich one can be sure of removing 
 all difficulties, of anticipating omission, neglect or delay, of 
 stimulating the slothful, of rewarding the diligent ; in short, of 
 securing that everything is in good order. I>y half-past eleven 
 I was on the front of my lines, and, as I walked about, Avas 
 watching the English camp-iires, when suddenly one of them 
 went out. This struck me. I watched more closely, and 
 thought I saw a good many others dying down. I spoke of it 
 to my aide-de-camp A'allier, who was beside me. He formed 
 the same opinion. Turious at the part that we were playing, 
 and fearing that for the second time in my life I might be in 
 danger of having to beat a retreat, an idea which I could not 
 l)ear, I sent with all speed for a captain of the light company 
 of the 31st — a good officer, at once courageous and sensible. 
 I told him to call his company to arms, and, as soon as it was 
 ready, I made the men take off their sacks, leaving a few men 
 in poor healtli or bad marchers to guard them, and said to the 
 officer, after making him compare his watch with mine : " It is 
 now a quarter to twelve. You will march upon the fires which 
 face the road, with your men in light order, as they are. You 
 will reach those fires in three-quarters of an hour. You will 
 ascertain whether the enemy is still occupying his camp or has 
 left it, and, in an hour and a quarter, you will come back to me 
 at this place. You understand of course that you must in no 
 case run any risk, and, at the least appeai'ance of resistance, you 
 must retire and fall back with the battalion which I shall send 
 to back you up." He started. The minutes passed slowly, and 
 I anxiously scnitinised the English fires, "which meanwhile 
 continued to diminish in number and in brightness. At length, 
 before an hour had elapsed, my captain hurried up to me, 
 crying out : " The cam is abandoned, and there is not au
 
 348 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 Englishman left in Fuenteguinaldo." " Follow me," I replied, 
 and ran off in my turn in order to reach, as soon as possible, the 
 house where General Dorsenne lodged. He was mounting his 
 horse when I told him my news. At first he would not 
 believe it. I had to explain to him what I had done, and to 
 call forward the captain who had just come from Fuente- 
 guinaldo. He was amazed. " Halt your divisions," said he to 
 me, and I replied that no one had stirred. He at once went off 
 to the marshal. The disillusion was great, and I am by no 
 means sure that the little lesson which I had given their 
 Excellencies was to their taste. In order to leave an opening 
 for a little swagger I was directed to march with my two 
 divisions on Fuenteguinaldo, and aides-de-camp galloped off to 
 fetch Souham and the Imperial Guard and the whole Army of 
 Portugal back with all speed. The last-named troops were only 
 overtaken at the gates of Eodrigo, and had to march back 
 twenty miles. That w^as the way the men were knocked about, 
 just as the opportunities which fortune still offered were missed, 
 by men who were too incapable to owe such opportunities to 
 their own combinations or to any feeling for their duty, but 
 who none the less rose to honours and fortune. I may add that 
 on reaching Fuenteguinaldo I hastened to verify the marshal's 
 statements, and found that the impracticable escarpment was a 
 slope gentle enough for cavalry to gallop up, that the revetted 
 works consisted in an entrenched camp barely marked out, and 
 that, as for great guns, there was so far no place in which a 
 4-pounder could be mounted.* 
 
 How is this incredible way of performing military duty to be 
 explained ? Alas ! in the present instance the blame cannot be 
 thrown on incapacity. Marmont was no doubt not a great 
 warrior, still less a great leader of men, but he was surely 
 soldier enough to understand that the English general, not 
 having foreseen that we should cross the Agueda, would have 
 been broken up and annihilated, if we had marched boldly 
 upon him on the night when we reached Eodrigo. He knew 
 equally well that at Fuenteguinaldo that general, being separated 
 
 * [There was a little more than this, but the works were by no means 
 strong.]
 
 AT FUENTEGUINALDO 349 
 
 from two of his best divisions, would again have been beaten if, 
 instead of looking at him with field-glasses at nine o'clock, we 
 had attacked him at daybreak. No, the answer to the question 
 must be found exclusively in Dorsenne's vanity and Marmont's 
 pride. The Army of the Xorth was a stronger and liner force 
 than that of Portugal ; its artillery was more numerous, Ijetter 
 horsed, better served ; and there seemed no doubt that on the 
 field of battle it would play the leading part. But this army 
 was commanded by a lieutenant-general, that of Portugal by a 
 marshal of the empire ; and the general said, " I am as much 
 a commander-in-chief as the marshal is, and no one but myself 
 shall dispose of my troops or command them." Thereupon the 
 marshal had no idea of exposing himself to the risk of having 
 to play a part second to that of a general of division ; and 
 neither had so much patriotism or loyalty to a master who had 
 heaped them with favours, or so much honourable feeling as 
 would have enabled him to sacrifice these wretched personal 
 considerations to the safety and glory of the army, and be done 
 once for all with the English army, thus preventing the disasters 
 which ended in our being driven out of the Peninsula. 
 
 But to return to Fuenteguinaldo. After so benevolently 
 losing two of the finest opportunities for beating the English 
 army, first in detail, then all together, it was thought as well to 
 devise some means of converting into a ground of boasting, 
 what ought only to have been spoken of with shame and 
 confusion, and making it possible to print : " The enemy did 
 not accept battle. He fled before our eagles. We have hurled 
 him back into the rugged rocks of Portugal," and suchlike 
 rubbish. In pursuance of this object, though nothing was to be 
 gained by a demonstration of that kind, I was ordered to 
 advance with my two divisions to Aldea da Ponte, a village 
 just short of the point at which the lofty mountains and deep 
 gorges of the Beira begin, and thence to attempt a reconnoissance 
 in the direction of Alfayates, by the road on which the English 
 army was retiring. General Watier led ; I came up with him 
 at Casilla de Flores, where he had halted ; and as I equally^ 
 needed a halt to re-form my corps, which had got disordered in 
 passing through a marshy wood where the enemy's lU'tillery
 
 350 MEMOIRS OF G ENSEAL THIEBAULT 
 
 had quite spoilt the ground for mine, I bade him continue his 
 movement on Aldea. Before I had collected more than my 
 first brigade, an aide-de-camp from General Watier came with 
 the news that Aldea was occupied by some English infantry, 
 and that the cavalry division was taking a position at the 
 further end of the defile which terminates three-quarters of a 
 mile short of the village. At once I went off to rejoin Watier, 
 leaving orders with the rest of my division to follow with all 
 possible speed. 
 
 Independently of the defile which precedes it, in which it 
 would have been easy enough to stop us, the village of Aldea 
 was readily defensible. Built in a narrow gorge through which 
 a torrent floWvS, it was flanked to the south by strongly marked 
 wooded hills, and to the north by sharp and impracticable rocks. 
 If these northern and southern points which command the 
 village had been held by troops, I should have been forced to 
 wait for my artillery and for the rest of my division. But as 
 the village alone was occupied, this could be only by a single 
 regiment. At once, in spite both of the infantry which 
 backed the position to the south-west, and of large masses of 
 cavalry which covered a plateau towards the north-west beyond 
 the village, I resolved to carry it without waiting for my 
 troops. Accordingly, having deployed the 31st Light Infantry 
 by battalions, I ordered the colonel to turn the right of the 
 village with his first battalion and the major commanding the 
 third to turn it by the left, while I myself at the head of the 
 second advanced at the double along the road which passes 
 through the place, and carried it. I was not mistaken ; there 
 were only two English battalions there, and the fear of being 
 cut off induced these to retreat prom.ptly, so that we occupied 
 the place in double-quick time without loss or trouble.* 
 
 As soon as I was in possession of the village, I ordered 
 General Watier to seize the xilateau of which I have spoken ; 
 and with his 1800 cavalry he drove from it the 3,000 Anglo- 
 Portuguese horse wlio were there, and established himself on it. 
 My right flank being thus covered, and steps taken to secure 
 
 * [Xapier, it will be seen, is mistaken in supposing that Aldea da Pontc 
 was taken possession of by cavalry only.]
 
 ALDEA DA PONTE 351 
 
 the position we had won, I advanced with the three battalions 
 of the 31st along the road to Alfayates, which a little beyond 
 Aldea turns to the south, and captured the first bank through 
 which that road passes from the troops defending it. But 
 having got so far, I found that I had in front of me not merely 
 some thousand skirmishers, l)ut two lines of infantry, eight 
 guns in position, and behind these, crowning a second line of 
 banks, a whole line of battalions in close order, 10,000 
 infantry in all.* To meet this force, I had 1300 men engaged, 
 but the ground bristling with scattered rocks sufficiently pro- 
 minent to cover them, my men found shelter behind which they 
 could, with a good deal of damage to the enemy, maintain 
 a combat, which, in spite of a brisk fire, cost them a very 
 small loss. 
 
 However, in this position I was running a very real danger ; 
 namely, that Lord Wellington, who was commanding in person 
 this strong rear-guard composed of picked troops, the right of 
 which extended beyond my left, might think of taking advan- 
 tage of his superior forces, and masking his movement by help 
 of the wooded hills, might suddenly bring 5,000 or 6,000 men 
 round by my left, seize the defile of Casilla, and thus cut off 
 my retreat. Foreseeing this possibility, I hastened to post the 
 whole of my second brigade so as to baffle any movement of 
 this kind ; and iDcing secure on that side but in no position any 
 longer to hope for anything from an attack, I resolved to go on 
 simply keeping in touch with the English rear-guard, and in 
 readiness to assume the offensive in the event of fresh troops 
 joining me in time, or of the enemy making any movement 
 of which I could take advantage. Two hours passed, and I 
 received neither orders nor reinforcements nor intelligence ; the 
 expectant attitude to which 1 was reduced could not fail to 
 betray my weakness to the enemy, and 1 had no doubt that he 
 would try to make me withdraw, lioth as a sort of revenge and 
 in order to continue his retreat in peace. In fact his fire 
 increased, and I went back to the colonel of the 31st. Alone 
 with him, I reached the front of his skirmishers, and presently 
 
 * [This imposing appearance ^vas presented by one brigade (Pakenham's) 
 of the 4th division.]
 
 352 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 I pointed out to biiii those attacking columns of about 1,000 
 men each forming in rear of the enemy's skirmishers and ready 
 to advance covered by them. " General," said he thereupon, 
 " I shall want reinforcements directly." " This attack," I 
 rejoined, "heralds another which Avill be too much for you, 
 even with such reinforcements as I could detach in your favour. 
 Your part, therefore, will be limited to holding your ground 
 long enough to do the enemy all the damage possible, but not 
 long enough to endanger yourself ; when you are compelled to 
 retire you will do so, but at the ordinary pace only, upon the 
 second line now formed l)y the Neuchatel battalion and the 
 artillery, which I am going to reinforce with a battalion of 
 grenadiers.* I at once gave an order to this effect, and was on 
 my way towards the plateau occupied by the cavalry, when I 
 was stopped half-way up the bank, on the reverse side of which 
 the three battalions of the 31st were still fighting, by General 
 Watier. He was looking for me to say that the enemy's 
 3,000 cavalry, who since he had dislodged them had neverthe- 
 less continued to show a front to him, had just been joined by 
 an infantry division with a battery of artillery.f 
 
 All this showed that, as I had foreseen, I was about to be 
 attacked both in front and in flank ; so I communicated to 
 General Watier the dispositions I had made with a view to 
 such an attack, and added : " Call in your advanced squadrons, 
 and be ready to pass to the rear of Aldea before your move- 
 ment can hamper the infantry or the artillery, basing your 
 estimate of time upon the fact that, if no fresh troops join us, 
 the enemy will be where we now are in half an hour's time." 
 Hardly had the half-hour elapsed when the three battalions of 
 the 31st were descending, in good order, the bank which the- 
 enemy was recapturing from them. Thinking that this move- 
 
 * I had posted the Xeuchatel battalion and my five guns in reserve 
 between the village and the cavalry, so as to form a second line which the 
 grenadiers could reinforce if required. It was in a i)Osition to sweep the 
 entrance of the Alfayates road and support my cavalry in an emergency. 
 With a view to contingencies I had also detached the picked battalion to 
 cover the left flank of tiie cavalry and the right of the 31st with which 
 I meant to act. 
 
 t [The 7th Fusihers supported by two Portuguese regiments.]
 
 TEE ENGLISH REPULSED 353 
 
 ment in pursuance of orders given beforehand was a defeat, 
 he charged the three battalions ; but at that moment I passed, 
 with the Neuchatel battalion and the grenadiers, through the 
 intervals between them, and pushed him back upon the bank, 
 and while my five guns proceeded to hold him in check there, 
 the two battalions which I was leading threw themselves back, 
 moving by the left, on the village of Aldea. In this way 
 the fire of the 31st, which, in pursuance of its feigned retreat, 
 had been drawn up in the second line, and now reappeared for 
 a moment in the first, was unmasked, and the enemy's advance 
 was stopped. At that moment General Watier's cavalry 
 reached the rear of the village and formed a third line. Two 
 of my guns followed at once, to take up the second line in 
 rear of the village, and were soon joined by the other three 
 and by the 31st, which thus passed once more into the second 
 line, leaving the Neuchatel and grenadier battalions to show 
 in the first. These retrograde movements had allowed the 
 enemy to continue the attack, and to bring up a battery with 
 which he played upon us. Then, protected by its fire, he 
 marched resolutely to capture the village. But he found me 
 strongly posted in three lines, within a space proportioned to my 
 force, and \\ith my wings resting on good positions. His rush 
 carried him up to my first line, which was barring the village, 
 and it repulsed him. Eeinforced by fresh troops, he returned 
 almost immediately at the double. At that moment two 
 battalions were detached from my second brigade, and, charging 
 the right flank of the attacking columns with the bayonet, 
 helped me to throw them back upon the bank which I had 
 abandoned to them. By the time that they reached it again 
 they had lost all desire to renew the fight. 
 
 I was very proud of having taught these English how far 
 they had failed to recognise the advantages which Aldea da 
 Ponte might offer for defence, and in point of fact their last 
 attack was a mistake from the moment when I had baffled 
 their devices, just as it had been a mistake, and a principal 
 mistake, to abandon the village, unless indeed Lord "Wellington 
 hoped that, carried away by a first success, I should let myself 
 go in pursuit of him without securing my rear. As everything 
 
 G 
 
 VOL. ir. 2 A
 
 354 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 indicated that the combat was at an end, I re-formed my 
 lines, after which I allowed the men of my division to make 
 their soup. 
 
 Such was the action of Aldea da Ponte. I have related it 
 in detail, not so much because I was in sole command there * 
 as because, being conducted like a well-played game of chess, 
 it was one of those combats of manoeuvres in which everything 
 has been calculated and foreseen, until there is no room for 
 hesitation, till no movement can be made without a motive, 
 no orders given that have not been explained beforehand and 
 cannot be justified. It was a combat during which none of 
 my troops had occasion to step out, except to march on the 
 enemy, while not a single section of my force was endangered ; 
 in which 5,000 French, less than 2,000 of whom were really 
 engaged, contended for five hours against 17,000 English or 
 Portuguese, manoeuvring all the time within little more than a 
 square mile of ground against a chief with the reputation of 
 a great captain, baffling liis calculations and escaping his traps, 
 to remain, at the end, masters of the village we had captured 
 from his troops ; which cost us 150 men, including 120 wounded, 
 while, as we were told by some prisoners, it cost the enemy 
 500 and a general officer.f Lastly, and this is unanswerable, 
 it was a combat with which my troops were delighted, and in 
 regard to which General Dumoustier, with his imperturbable 
 frankness, said in my presence to General Dorsenne, thanks to 
 whom I was always on bad terms with all members of the 
 Imperial Guard in Spain, " From the hill on which I was 
 posted I followed all General Thiebault's movements with my 
 field-glass, and I declare that he manoeuvred in presence of the 
 enemy as one might do on the parade-ground." 
 
 Meanwhile, at the moment when I was re-forming my lines 
 after the battle, and General Watier was beginning his movement 
 
 * [It is extremely interesting, it may be added, to compare all this detailed 
 description with Napier's briefer account of these operations. In the main 
 features they agree, but the divergencies on particular points are enough to 
 show how little either side in a battle knows about the other.] 
 
 t [The total loss of the allies in the three days' operations was only 300. 
 No general seems to have been among them.]
 
 GENEBAL SOUHAM'S PROPOSAL 355 
 
 on Casilla, General Souliani turned to me. " My dear general," 
 he stammered, from his height of six feet one or two inches, 
 \vith the assurance natural in speaking to a man whom he had 
 nearly had for his aide-de-camp eighteen years before, " make 
 your division stand to their arms again quickly, and let us 
 attack the enemy again." I divined his motive. As the senior 
 general of division employed in our armies, he could not be in 
 a fight anywhere without playing his part. He was only just 
 coming out of disgrace, and, in order to obtain the favours 
 which he coveted, he needed to fire a few rounds. But these 
 considerations, very strong for him, had nothing to do with my 
 duty ; therefore, without even taking notice of the fact that I 
 could not act with him without putting myself under his orders, 
 nor come under his orders without cjivinij him the credit of 
 what I had just done by myself, I replied, " Xight is coming 
 on, the enemy is retreating across mountains, where one can 
 only hope to succeed by flank movements which cannot be judged 
 or carried out save by daylight ; so nothing more can be done. 
 My troops are tired ; they have just been fighting for five 
 hours and on the march for nineteen. Besides, they are 
 hungry, and are just putting into the pot the last meat which 
 they will eat between here and Salamanca ; therefore they will 
 not stir any more." " Very well," he replied. " I am going 
 to ask General Watier for a brigade." " His division is under 
 my orders," said I, " but tell him that he is free to do what he 
 likes." He did in fact apply to that general, and got neither 
 a 1)rigade nor a regiment ; then he acted for himself, and, with 
 his four grenadier battalions and the two guns he had with 
 him, he marched upon the enemy's last remaining vedettes, 
 fired five or six rounds at them, followed them for a quarter of 
 a league, skirmishing in the most useless manner, and returned 
 to l)ivouac I do not know where. His part in the aftair could 
 not, and did not, exceed the proportion of a mere amusement ; 
 still it was enough for a long story to be made about it in 
 Dorsenne's report, where I was only slightly mentioned, and 
 for him to be made count and receive an endowment, while I, 
 though I had been the only one of the generals in the Ai-my 
 of the Xorth who had really fought, and had fought too with 
 
 2 A 2
 
 356 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 some advantage, got no remuneration but hard words. Doubt- 
 less, in order to avenge himself for the way in which I had 
 given the lie to his assertions before Fuenteguiualdo, and had 
 shown the ridiculous nature of the retreat on which he had 
 insisted, Marshal Marmont, who went the next day with 
 General Dorsenne as far as Aldea, thought iit to say that my 
 fight of the day before had been a blunder. The phrase was 
 after all regarded as it deserved to be, and quickly forgotten, 
 and I only recall it to show the arrogance of one of those men 
 whom their title of marshal forbade to allow any merit in others 
 than themselves. 
 
 So much for these melancholy recollections. The presence 
 of Dorsenne and Marmont was as useless at Aldea as at bottom 
 my movement itself had been ; in fact, there was nothing 
 more to be done but to withdraw. The two armies fell back, 
 and Marshal Marmont returned to Plasencia, while Dorsenne 
 went back to Valladolid by way of Eodiigo and Salamanca. 
 The result, however, of three days so deplorably wasted was 
 that the English army was not destroyed, and more than 
 200,000 rations of the provisions which had just been convoyed 
 to the besieged in Ciudad Eodrigo were eaten.
 
 { 357 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XYII. 
 
 Reprisals and remonstrances — Rodrigo in straits — Relieved for the time — 
 A hazardous march — Fall of Rodrigo — Advance of Wellington — 1 leave 
 the Peninsula. 
 
 My division nuinljercd only 3,200 bayonets, far too small a 
 number to furnish even the garrisons required within my 
 government, to say nothing of holding the country against Don 
 Julian, or rather against the Marquis of Espaua, who had been 
 placed in general command of all the partidas of Estremadura. 
 
 Eodrigo therefore received a special garrison, and a brigade 
 from Souham's division was detached to reinforce me. Un- 
 luckily, it was commanded by General Bonte, than whom no 
 man was ever worse named, for he had no good points. He was 
 for ever complaining, until I was forced to ask the commander- 
 in-chief to remove General Bonte and his brigade from my 
 government. In their place came a brigade of the Guard imder 
 General Mouton-Duvernet. Fresh annoyances arose from this 
 change, since, owing to the pride of the commanders and the 
 pretensions of the most junior officers, all who served in the 
 Guard had always to be placed in an exceptional position. Thus 
 Mouton-Duvernet was specially charged to act against Don 
 Julian, or, as was then said, to destroy him. It was an al)surd 
 idea, but anyhow he lost no time about taking tlie field, sur- 
 prised an outpost, took eight of Don Julian's men prisoners, and 
 had them shot on the spot. 
 
 Next day I received a letter of eight pages from the ]\Iarquis 
 of Espaiia. He began by saying that my father's honourable 
 reputation, and the opinion which I had caused people to form 
 of myself in those provinces, had convinced him that they 
 would not be the scene of acts worthy of cannibals. Xeverthe-
 
 358 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 less, one Mouton-Duvernet, the offsjjiing no doubt of the sties 
 of the Eevolution, had just repeated one of those crimes that are 
 unknown among civilized peoples. Immediate vengeance had 
 been taken, and eight French soldiers, selected from the pri- 
 soners in his hands, had just been shot in the same place where 
 the eight Spaniards had been, and similar reprisals would be 
 taken whenever occasion was given for them. The marquis 
 added that he knew the independence of the officers of the 
 Guard ; he did not blame me personally for what they had done, 
 but he warned me none the less that he was in a position to 
 bring whatever he pleased to the knowledge of my Emperor, 
 including the contents of his latter. He ended with the formula, 
 " May God preserve you for many years, but outside of Spain." 
 I wrote an answer at once, but, not liking to send it without 
 Dorsenne's consent, I referred it to him. He judged that such 
 communications were useless, and explanations might be embar- 
 rassing for the Imperial Guard, and the Marquis of Espana's 
 letter had to go without a reply. 
 
 Unluckily, his indignation was just. At first we might fairly 
 have considered the guerrillas as bands of insurgents or brigands, 
 and in that way treat them as outside the law ; but one cannot 
 so treat a whole nation, and from the moment wLen the whole 
 Spanish nation took up arms against us the character of the 
 partidas had changed. The rights of special repression which 
 we claimed to draw from our qualities of auxiliaries to King 
 Joseph were fallacious enough. Joseph, the first and the last of the 
 name, had no people ; while the Spanish people, who had their 
 own king, no matter whether free or in chains, and England and 
 Portugal as their allies, constituted a belligerent State. The 
 massacre of prisoners would therefore have been butchery, even 
 if it could have gone unpunished, but, since we were at their 
 mercy in this matter, barbarity was coupled with crime, since 
 the murder of Spaniards involved the murder of Frenchmen. 
 After this affair, Mouton-Duvernet, whom, by the way, I did not 
 suspect of having acted of his own free will, could not stay 
 longer at Salamanca; he was recalled to Valladolid, and his 
 brigade replaced at last by troops who took their orders only 
 from me.
 
 ItODRIGO IN STRAITS 359 
 
 In the account I have given of the revictualling of Kodrigo, 
 we saw two armies making useless demonstrations for five days 
 in a country without resources, until, by consuming part of the 
 provisions which they brought, they had destroyed nearly all 
 the profit of their operation. We have seen them missing the 
 opportunity of crushing the English army, and by this neglect 
 anticipating the criminal mismanagement by which, a few 
 months later, their commanders, Marmont and Dorsenne, put 
 Eodrigo into the hands of Lord Wellington. The result of all 
 this was, that at the end of two months Eodrigo was on the 
 point of running short of bread. My reports had given warning 
 beforehand of the necessity for a second revictualling at an 
 early date. I had pressed the matter more and more, till I got 
 to the point of renewing my importunities every day ; but, 
 instead of attending to Eodrigo, no one even answered such of 
 my letters as referred to that place. Yet, though in itself a 
 place of little importance, at that moment it played a decisive 
 part. If we remained masters of it, we compelled the English 
 army to tarry in the barren mountains of Beira ; while, if the 
 place once fell into the hands of the English, Lord Wellington 
 could establish himself in Estremadura and carry the war into 
 the north of Spain. Nevertheless, I suddenly learnt that 
 General Dorsenne was making arrangements for an excursion 
 into Navarre, and that he was going to take with him all the 
 available troops, so that from Salamanca to Pampeluna there 
 would not be a single battalion left to support me in case of 
 necessity. 
 
 At this juncture the measure was filled by a disaster no less 
 serious than unexpected. General Eeynaud, who was in com- 
 mand at Eodrigo, having still a small herd of sheep and cattle, 
 thought he might send them during the day into the pastures on 
 the left bank of the Agueda, a little more than half a mile from 
 the fortifications. He even deemed it possible to go there 
 himself every morning, with the double object of taking a walk 
 and seeing how his herd was looked after. But I^on Julian, 
 ever intrepid and ever indefatigable, very soon discovered a way 
 of making repentance follow upon this over-confidence, and one 
 fine day he carried off herd, escort, and general. Thus Eodrigo
 
 360 MEMOIBS OF QENEBAL THIEBAULT 
 
 suddenly fouud itself without fresh meat, without a governor, 
 and almost without bread. The event was the more melan- 
 choly that in General Eeynaud we lost a commander who was, 
 so to say, wedded to the fortress, who took delight in his adven- 
 turous position, and, being no less capable than energetic, 
 allowed us, in the event of an attack, to look for a resistance 
 which would have been impossible with anyone else. I received 
 the disastrous news by express messenger, and at once sent a 
 messenger to General Dorsenne, carrying the original document 
 that I had received, and a dispatch in which I called loudly for 
 his attention to a fortress which was our last stay ; for it alone 
 prevented the Anglo-Portuguese army from emerging into Spain, 
 beating the Army of Portugal, and compelling the Army of the 
 Xorth to evacuate the province of Salamanca. 
 
 Dorsenne was at table when he received my dispatch. It did 
 not prevent him from finishing his dinner in peace. When the 
 meal was over, he imparted its contents to M. Volland, the 
 commissary-general of his army. Pressed for his opinion, Vol- 
 land answered sharply, " '\Vliy, there can be no hesitation. You 
 must return with all speed to Valladolid, and proceed to Pv-odrigo 
 with all the troops and provisions that you can collect, calling 
 upon the Army of Portugal to aid you as before." A sardonic 
 smile was Dorsenne's only reply; it was called forth by the 
 idea of putting me to the test of an awkward position. He 
 therefore continued his journey, did not reinforce me with a 
 single man, did not even ask that the Army of Portugal might 
 so much as make a demonstration ; but in lieu of all this wrote 
 me a letter to bid me revictual Kodrigo and replace General 
 Eeynaud. " The provinces of my government could furnish 
 provisions and all necessary means of transport. The operation 
 must be feasible; and my talents, with the zeal that we 
 should all have in the Emperor's service, would suggest to me 
 the measures adopted to ensure success and the preservation 
 of the troops entrusted to me." 
 
 When I read this letter my hair stood on end. It was impos- 
 sible to conceive such an enterprise without the destruction of 
 all whom I could employ in it ; while, if a disaster occurred, a 
 way had been left open for saying that the operation had been
 
 A HAZARDOUS DUTY 3G1 
 
 desired only in so far as it was feasible, and power was reserved 
 to ascribe the most fatal results to such or such a step, which I 
 should not have taken, l)ut which would have l)een presumed 
 after the event. In this way I was made responsiljle both for 
 the place of which the loss seemed a joke, and for the troops in 
 whose company I appeared to be doomed to sacrifice myself. 
 
 And what means of action had I ? No doubt my government 
 could find the necessary provisions and transport. So far as 
 regarded a substitute for General IJeynaud, some false informa- 
 tion had brought to Salamanca General Barrie, whose destina- 
 tion M'as the Army of Portugal, and I at once laid hands on him, 
 much to his consternation. But in the matter of forces, I had, 
 after deducting the gamson of Ilodrigo, 4,500 infantry, six guns, 
 and rather over 600 cavalry, with which to meet the Anglo- 
 Portuguese army nearly 45,000 strong, not to mention Don 
 Julian, who was occupying the fifty miles between Eodrigo and 
 Salamanca with 5,000 to 6,000 men. Moreover, I could not 
 denude either Salamanca or Alba de Tormes, nor yet the road to 
 Valladolid ; so that, in fact, the total of the troops available for 
 the revictualliug of Eodrigo amounted to 2,800 or 2,900 infantry, 
 four guns, and GOO cavalry. 
 
 In these circumstances my first thought was that, loss for loss, 
 it was better to be lost fighting even hopelessly, than not 
 fighting at all ; and I decided that, happen what might, I would 
 try this operation. My second thought was, that being unable 
 to effect anything by force of arms, my only hope lay in rapid 
 movement and in artifice. But on what artifice could I rely to 
 deceive the enemy as to an important assemblage of transports 
 and provisions, when this could have only one object ? How- 
 ever, as each hour of delay only prolonged useless tortures, I 
 made up my mind ; and as my only hope lay in what was called 
 " Lord "Wellington's prudence," I vncote to the prefect that 
 12,000 men marching with twelve guns and 1,000 cavalry were 
 coming to take up a position at Frades, where they were to be 
 subsisted by means of convoys leaving Salamanca every two 
 days, and that he must therefore within twenty-four hours 
 collect a quantity which I named of sheep, oxen, grain, and 
 flour, and at once organize a system of replacing them at Sala-
 
 362 MEMOIRS OF QENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 manca. I added that I should verify the execution of the first 
 part of the order next day, and the replacement in a week. 
 
 A quarter of an hour later the prefect called on me. When we 
 were alone, he said, " Governor, I am sure you would not play 
 any trick on me ; I have had a letter from you that makes me 
 anxious." " I was ahout to come and tell you what I could not 
 have written." And, in truth, he was an able and devoted man 
 without whom nothing could have been done in the country, 
 and whose zeal deserved to be encouraged by marks of confi- 
 dence and sympathy. " I am much obliged to your Excellency," 
 he replied ; " so Trades — • ? " " Is Eodrigo." And I handed 
 him Dorsenne's letter. As he returned it, he said, " That is an 
 errand which makes me shudder for you." " Zeal and secrecy," 
 I continued. " You may count on both." " I do so, and shall 
 start the day after to-morrow." 
 
 What complicated the difficulties of the operation was that 
 we were entering? the rainv season, and the torrents were swell- 
 ing, rendering it very difficult, if not impossible, to march. 
 When I woke the next morning, a sound which I feared to 
 explain struck my ear. I leaped out of bed ; it was raining in 
 torrents. I dressed hastily, and was starting for the prefect's 
 when he arrived. He said, " I understand your anxiety ; and 
 if I cannot dispel it, I can give you some clear notions. To- 
 morrow you will not be able to pass any of the three torrents 
 between this and Eodrigo. If the rain stops before midday, you 
 may be able to get off in two days ; if it last till evening, it will 
 be no good attempting anything." It cleared about midday and 
 became fine. 
 
 With an enemy who had all the population on his side, and 
 knew all our movements beforehand, while able to conceal his 
 own with a facility that was our despair, twenty-four hours' 
 delay might be fatal. However, I gave out that I had heard 
 that the movement of the troops on Trades was to be postponed 
 one day, and at the same time that a detachment of the Imperial 
 Guard under General Dumoustier was to arrive next day at 
 Salamanca. Having taken all possible precautions, and made 
 my plans to meet every possible contingency, I left Salamanca 
 at 6 A.M., and was at Matilla by half-past eight ; starting again
 
 BODBIGO ItE VICTUALLED 363 
 
 with my troops and my convoy, which had reached that place 
 by a circuitous route, at nine. As we could only go the pace of 
 the oxen, and the torrents were still hard to cross, it was three 
 in the morning before we reached the forest of Alba de Yeltes, 
 where we bivouacked. Teams, pack animals, oxen, were all 
 exhausted, and needed seven hours' rest ; and it was 3 p.m. by 
 the time we were at the point where the woods and mountains 
 end, and the plain, some four miles wide, which lies in front of 
 Eodrigo, begins. Then I halted the bulk of my force, and, with 
 my GOO cavalry and one picked battalion, myself led the convoy 
 to the glacis, whence the carts and animals were sent back as 
 fast as they were unloaded. The troops bivouacked there, and 
 not a single officer was allowed to enter the town. My unex- 
 pected appearance, and the execution of the revictualling opera- 
 tion with a handful of men, caused an indescribable astonish- 
 ment, and a joy which the inhabitants did not share. 
 
 At seven in the evening, accompanied by the principal officers 
 of the garrison, I took General Bame all over the place ; and at 
 eight I called together the same persons and the Spanish autho- 
 rities, and installed him with all the pomp I could manage, as 
 successor to General Eeynaud. Then I held a council, at 
 which I drew up all the orders and instructions which the 
 circumstances could require; and by three in the morning I 
 was with my troops again and on the march for San Muiios. 
 We covered the nine Spanish leagues which divide that place 
 from Eodrigo, almost without a halt ; passed through it, and 
 at once took up the position which lies to the north of it, so as 
 to place the torrent between the enemy and me, ami myself 
 between Salamanca and him. Eodrigo victualled, and my 
 troops out of danger, my task was accomplished. It was high 
 time, for two English divisions were already marching on San 
 Muiios, but too late ; they did not halt till they knew I was 
 beyond it. Thus as General Earrie wrote to me : " Two hours' 
 delay in your march, or mistake in your calculations, and you 
 were lost." 
 
 Emboldened by this movement of a part of the English 
 army, Don Julian harassed my rear-guard, which had been
 
 o64 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 strengthened. It faced about, and he received a lesson which 
 sufficed to rid us of him.* 
 
 I returned to Salamanca at 9 P.M., after eighty-seven hours' 
 absence. The true cause of my departure had become known, 
 and I was welcomed with an outburst of joy. Indeed, they 
 had believed me lost ; and I hardly understood my own escape. 
 Everything had been accomplished without the loss of a sack 
 of corn, an ox, a man, and that against the luckiest man that 
 ever was — a man whose business it was to hinder the revictual- 
 ling at any price, who was there for that purpose, and in a posi- 
 tion to do it ten times over. The prefect of Salamanca main- 
 tained that it was one of the most fortunate operations that had 
 been carried out in the Peninsula. 
 
 General Dorsenne's only remark was, " I was sure that you 
 were in no danger save from the bad roads ; " which drew from 
 one of my aides-de-camp the following reflection : " It must want 
 a zeal like iron to stand such an ill-conditioned chief." How- 
 ever, I had a compensation. The Marquis of Espana, exaspe- 
 rated at the way in which Eodrigo had been relieved, and per- 
 haps irritated by the trap into which his lieutenant Don Julian 
 had fallen, wished at least to see if some blame could be thrown 
 on my procedure. He assembled the mayors of all the villages 
 which I had passed through, to hear any complaints they had 
 to make against me or my troops : but he found on the evidence 
 of these men, whose instinct was to accuse us, that I had been 
 
 * [Napier, it would seem, imagined that Dorsenne had undertaken au 
 expedition on his own account, and that it wa.s his rear-guard with which Don 
 Julian came in contact. Thiebault's narrative makes it clear that he has 
 expanded one expedition into two. As to the revictualling of Eodrigo, his 
 words are worth quoting, as showing that the bad weather cut both ways. 
 " A large convoy was collected at Salamanca by General Thiebault, who spread 
 a report that a force was to assemble towards Tamanes, and that the convoy 
 was for its supjxjrt. This rumour did not deceive Wellington, but he believed 
 the whole Army of the North, and one division of the Army of Portugal, 
 would be employed in the operation, and therefore made arrangements to 
 pass the Agiieda, and attack them on the march. Heavy rains rendered the 
 fords of the Agueda impracticable. Thiebault seized the occasion to intro- 
 duce his convoy, and, leaving a new governor, returned on the 2nd of Novem- 
 ber, before the waters had subsided."]
 
 THEEATENING TIDINGS 365 
 
 the first to enter every village, the last to leave it ; that not a 
 fowl, not a cabbage, not an egg had been touched ; that no inha- 
 bitant had an act or a word to complain of. His inquiry had 
 to suffice him, and he ended with a phrase which had been said 
 before, reported by two mayors to the prefect, who at once 
 informed me of it : " It is impossible to manage troops better." 
 liodrigo being provisioned for five months, I was Ijeginning to 
 think that I should not have to trouljle myself aljout the place 
 for a long time, when I heard that Lord Wellington had given 
 orders for the construction of fascines and gabions in large 
 c[uantities. I at once reported the matter, expecting of course 
 a prompt answer, but I received none. Meanwhile, every day 
 confirmed the news with the addition of fresh details, and 
 by every messenger I forwarded the corroborative information 
 I had received, but always without result. At the end of a 
 fortnight, anxiety was added to indignation ; and though in no 
 way obliged to do so, I sent an abstract of all the reports 
 forwarded by me to General Dorseune to Marshal Marmont, 
 whose headquarters were still at Plasencia. His army was in 
 presence of the English army and threatened its light fiank ; it 
 could prevent the English from crossing the Agueda and attack- 
 iuir llodritfo, which stands on the right bank of that river ; but 
 my second appeal had no more success than my first, nor did 
 I succeed in shaking the confidence of either of their two 
 excellencies. 
 
 In the meantime the facts reported to me became even more 
 urgent, nor did they leave any further doubt that the attack of 
 Eodrigo had been resolved upon. Thereupon, quite as much to 
 shelter my own responsibility as to omit nothing that could 
 prevent a great misfortune, I took upon myself to address to 
 the Prince of Neuchatel an abstract of all my dispatches to 
 Dorsenne and Marmont ; placing it, though this was unusual, 
 at the end of my fortnightly states. I had just sent off the 
 third of them when M. de Ifichemont, the marshal's senior aide- 
 de-camp, arrived at Salamanca, coming from Plasencia to join 
 the marshal at Valladolid. He had been sent to judge for 
 himself of the situation of the provinces through which he 
 passed, and to inform me that the sLxth and seventh govern-
 
 366 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 ments had just been made over to the Army of Portugal. " It 
 is a great pity," said I, " that all this was not done a month 
 ago ; they might, with advantage, have taken some thought for 
 Eodrigo." " For Kodrigo ? " he replied ; " you may be quite easy 
 about Eodrigo, general." Something more than astounded by 
 his confidence, I showed him my reports, but nothing could 
 persuade him. At last he took me aside and said : " No one 
 could ])e on better terms than the marshal is with Lord 
 Wellington ; they are in constant communication and often write 
 to each other, and there are few days on which we do not know 
 what is going on in the English army. Well, general, the 
 preparations of which you speak, and which are to some extent 
 real, have no other object but to lead us into making false 
 movements. The English army is not ready for any important 
 operation, and will undertake none before the spring." I saw 
 that he would not hear reason ; and when he departed, after 
 telling him that the statements on which he founded his 
 opinion would not change mine, I gave him a letter confirming 
 the contents of all that had preceded it, and begged him to lay 
 it before the marshal. He undertook to do so with the air of 
 one deferring to authority. 
 
 Beaching Valladolid at seven, he found the two commanders- 
 in-chief still at table ; my report amused them, and I formed 
 the subject of their pleasantries till ten o'clock. When at 
 length their Excellencies had just parted in high good humour 
 at my ridiculous obstinacy, one of my staff officers, sent off post- 
 haste, arrived with the news that the whole English army had 
 crossed the Agueda, and that after nightfall a division of it 
 had approached Eort Marmont,* which must have seemed 
 supremely humorous. It had filled the ditch with the fascines 
 about which we had just been joking, and had carried the fort 
 with the bayonet. In the course of the same night the parallels 
 which we had made two years previously had been re-opened with 
 great ease, siege batteries had been at once mounted, and the 
 guns were heard without intermission. 
 
 My messenger's tale caused the scene to change ; faces were 
 drawn up otherwise than with laughter, and, amid a general 
 
 * [This appears to be the fort better known as San Francisco.]
 
 FALL OF RODEIGO 367 
 
 turmoil, officers started for all the points at which there were 
 available troops, and handed tliem the order to proceed by 
 forced marches to Salamanca. Before daybreak the armies of 
 the North and of Portugal were in movement ; my messenger 
 was sent back to me in all haste, with a letter from the marshals 
 saying that within a week 60,000 men and 100 guns will be 
 under the walls of Eodrigo. In a postscript were the words, 
 " Herewith a note for General Banie : promise 6,000 francs to 
 whoever brings a receipt for it." But these belated efforts were 
 useless. Master of Fort Marmont, making his way by our 
 parallels which he had only to sweep out, making use of the 
 very platforms of our old batteries, re-opening with ease the 
 l^reaches that we had made. Lord Wellington was able in thirty- 
 six hours to assault, and, while he was storming the place on 
 one side, Don Julian, who knew it perfectly and had corre- 
 spondents in the town, escaladed it on the other, so that it was 
 taken with incredible rapidity.* The news of the surrender 
 reached me just as Marshal ]\Iarmont entered Salamanca in 
 advance of his columns, and I treated him to it just as he 
 alighted. General Dorsenne, who was following him at the 
 distance of a league, learnt it at the gate of the town, and 
 retired with his troops. 
 
 This apparent serenity, or rather this inexcusable carelessness 
 on the part of the two chiefs with regard to Eodrigo, must be 
 explained as follows. Feeble as General Dorsenne's capacity 
 may have been, and with whatever vanity Marmont may have 
 relied on himself, neither one nor the other can have believed 
 that my reports were unfounded. But the two commanders 
 < letested each other. ]\Iarmont, whose reasoning about war was 
 as brilliant as his practice was bad, was offended at seeing a 
 divisional general so mediocre as Dorsenne playing a part equal 
 to his own ; while Dorsenne, taking his own grenadier's courage 
 
 * [The siege began on January 8 by the capture of Fort San Francisco. 
 Nothing, however, was heard of it at Salamanca till the 15th, ami then the 
 information must have been very imperfect, for the place was not finally 
 taken till the night of the 19th. Nor did Don Julian take any hand in the 
 affair, for he was in observation on the Turuies. The escalade referred to was 
 effected by Pack's Portuguese.]
 
 368 MEMO IE S OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 for the qualities of a commander-in-chief, thought much more 
 of himself than of Marmont. Each of the two wished some 
 great misfortune to happen to the other, and was watching for 
 an opportunity of helping it to come to pass. Thus, with regard 
 to Eodrigo, Marmont said to himself, " Until General Dorsenne 
 has handed over to me the command of the sixth and seventh 
 governments he is responsible for the place ; and if he loses it 
 for M'ant of calling in my help, it will be a fault of which it 
 will be no concern of mine if he never recovers." Dorsenne, on 
 his side, could say, " I am about to hand over these provinces 
 to the marshal ; a fortress like Eodrigo cannot be taken with a 
 rush. I shall have preserved it so long as I had any concern 
 with it. Consequently, it is the marshal who will be responsible 
 for it." But the place fell at the very moment when one was 
 giving up the territory and the other receiving it, so that they 
 were both responsible for that too disastrous event. 
 
 It is, of course, needless to say that the fall of Eodrigo was a 
 heavy blow to any energetic inclinations on my part, and a final 
 discouragement in the exercise of my command. All that I had 
 done and devised for the good of the country seemed doomed to 
 perish, and I could not bear to see so much effort end in 
 nothing. As for the marshal, I was a standing reproach to 
 him, while he was for me only a chief who recalled deplorable 
 memories. I was convinced that he would be glad to see me 
 depart ; but in this I was mistaken. As a general in the Army 
 of the North, I had done the commander-in-chief of the Army 
 of Portugal the wrong of having Ijeen three times in the right ; 
 but, as a general in his army, he looked upon me as a man 
 to whose zeal Fuenteguinaldo, Aldea da Ponte, the second 
 revictualling of Eodrigo, bore testimony. Moreover, it would 
 not be easy to replace me without detriment to Salamanca, 
 where the inhabitants showed much regard for me. Thus, when 
 I presented myseK to the marshal a few hours after his arrival, 
 he bade me sit down, and said, " Of course, I need not assure 
 you, General Thiebault, that you retain under me both your 
 government and the command of your division." " I beg your 
 excellency's pardon, but I belong to the Army of the Xorth, 
 and I start to-morrow to rejoin its headquarters." " When the
 
 I LEAVE SALAMANCA 3G9 
 
 Emperor handed these provinces over to jne," he said, with an 
 air of surprise, " he equally made over to me the generals 
 commandinff in them, especially those who are, like you, in 
 command of the troops which are left with me." There was 
 no reply to this, and yet I did reply, " My orders are to serve 
 with the Army of the North, and I am obliged to adhere to 
 them." He saw that my mind was made up, and added, with 
 some annoyance, " At least, I suppose that you will remain 
 long enough to give some instructions to your successor ? " " In 
 that case," I replied, " 1 wall remain till the day after to-moiTOw " 
 — and thirty-six hours after his arrival I had left Salamanca. 
 
 Before long, General Dorsenne w\as replaced in the command 
 of the Army of the North by General Caffarelli, and the head- 
 quarters of that army had been moved to Vitoria. My first 
 visit to my new^ chief did not give me a very high opinion 
 of his ability, but in other respects I had no fault to iind 
 with him. He gave me to understand that, in the event of his 
 being called away by any exigencies of his duty, he would leave 
 the temporary command to me ; nor was it long before an 
 occasion presented itself of putting this into effect. Although 
 Lord "Wellington took months to do what a man worthy of his 
 good fortune would have done in a few days, he could not help 
 profiting at last by his advantages and by all that our generals 
 were good enough to do for the benefit of his reputation. 
 Accordingly, he marched on Salamanca in order to turn us out 
 of that province. ]\Iarshal Marmont, whose headquarters were 
 now established at A^alladolid, brought up his cantonments, 
 marched to the Douro, and manoeuvred in front of Lord 
 Wellington, with sufficient ability to check him and compel 
 him to manoeuvre in his turn. This was all the more fortunate, 
 since the Army of the Centre was on its way to attack the right 
 flank of the Anglo-Portuguese army. Now, if ever, was the 
 time to be content with holding it in check, to do everything 
 to prevent its retiring, and to remain in a position to follow it ; 
 but if Josepli camo up and beat Lord Wellington in concert 
 with ^Marshal Marmont, it would be the King who w^ould 
 naturally play the chief part. Now Marmont, w^ho at the first 
 revictualling of llodiigo let the English army oft" rather than 
 VOL. II. 2 B
 
 o 
 
 70 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 sliare with Dorsenne the credit of defeating it, had no more 
 desire to leave all the merit of a great action to Joseph. 
 Consequently, having been rejoined by a weak division of his 
 army, and taking no thought of the fact that the enemy had 
 received a still more considerable reinforcement, he resolved, 
 single-handed, to attack an enemy before whom he had been 
 forced to fall back behind the Douro. He recrossed that 
 river, by which he had been covered, marched back to the 
 Tormes, traversed it between Alba and Salamanca, reached the 
 Arapiles while Lord Wellington was waiting for him, and 
 fought, no less criminally than unfortunately, the battle in 
 which, according to the English newspapers, we lost twenty-five 
 guns, several eagles, and 15,000 to 18,000 men. 
 
 Having won this victory. Lord Wellington was in a position 
 to complete the destruction of the Army of Portugal, but the 
 inconceivable slowness of his operations saved the remnants 
 of that army, and allowed time for marching to their aid. 
 With this object General Caffarelli advanced with 10,000 to 
 12,000 men, and started so hastily that, while leaving me in 
 chief command of the Army of the North, he had no time to 
 give me any instructions. 
 
 About this time I had a last gleam of hope for the glory 
 of our arms. Dispatches came from the Minister for War, 
 dated August 22 and 20, to the effect that "the arrival of 
 the Prince of Essling to command the Army of Portugal, with 
 reinforcements which are on the march, is about to change the 
 aspect of affairs ; " and " the arrival of the Prince of Essling 
 with 10,000 men is about to give the Army of Portugal the 
 accession of troops demanded by it." Erom these dispatches 
 it appeared that Marshal Massena was resuming the command 
 of that army, and this at once suggested to me the idea of 
 obtaining a division in it, and leaving that perfect Bedlam, 
 the Army of the North. Unfortunately, the announcement 
 was premature, and Massena did not accept the appointment. 
 His son-in-law^, General Eeille, was appointed in his place, 
 while I continued to wait at Yitoria till the hour of my 
 deliverance struck. About the end of the year the twenty- 
 ninth bulletin from the Grand Army reached us, and we learnt
 
 THE LAST OF THE PENINSULA oil 
 
 the disasters that had bufallcn il. 1 applied lu ihc MiiiLsler 
 for War fur a post in that army ; and, as at that time most 
 generals were seeking employment elsewhere, my M'ish could 
 not fail to be granted. J had at the same time demanded 
 six months' leave on lull jiay, and I received it, by return of 
 messenger, on January 24, 1813. A regiment of Polish 
 lancers on their way back to France reached Vitoria the 
 same day, and I started with them the next day but one. We 
 made our way with considerable difficulty, and at great risk, 
 to the frontier. We were blockaded for three days by Mina's 
 forces in the town of Villareal, escaping only by the fortunate 
 circumstance that General Dumoustier was at Vitoria, and 
 obtained permission from Caft'arelli to send his first brigade 
 to our aid. General Mouton-Duvernet, who commanded it, 
 protected our march till we were in sight of Tolosa, and other 
 troops escorted us almost to the Bidassoa, marching all the 
 way under a continual fire from Spanish skirmishers. 
 
 Thus I left the Peninsula for the last time after seven years 
 in successturrpnssed in it. Though I left behind me many nieii 
 who'~were attached and even devoted to me, and was well- 
 esteemed by many who had fought with me, the farewell of 
 the Spaniards was conveyed to me in the fire of musketry. 
 
 2 n 2
 
 o 
 
 72 MEMOIRS OF GENES AL THIEBAULT 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 A Lilliard-matcli for liberty — I join the Grand Army — Marshal Davout and 
 his ways — The turn of the tide — Blunders and disasters — Futile 
 marching — A useless engagement. 
 
 PiE-ENTERiNG France after an absence of more than thirty 
 months, while the world was yet ringing with the disaster that 
 had befallen iis, deeming onr canse almost lost in the country 
 which I was leaving, and which in five years had devoured the 
 equivalent of what the snows of Eussia had just annihilated in 
 five weeks, I could not fail to gather the opinion of the depart- 
 ments through which I passed. Everywhere in the country 
 was grief and terror, in the towns apprehension and discoi^Eent, 
 while I found Paris ringing with complaints, and yet we were 
 far from knowing the extent of our losses. The full horrors of 
 the retreat were as yet unknown, and people clung, especially 
 in the country districts, almost superstitiously to the hope that 
 those who did not return were no worse than prisoners. In 
 Paris, indeed, people knew too much to be able to allow that 
 Cossacks could have become humanized ; a few moderate spirits 
 alone came anvwhere near the truth, and this truth, though 
 less appalling than the legend which had already sprung up 
 about that terrible campaign, was cruel enough to induce the 
 examination and criticism of the mistakes that had been 
 made, and people's exasperation increased as they reckoned up 
 the worst of them. Enthusiasm had given place to a severe 
 and unjust estimate ; some people, through self-esteem, others 
 through patriotism, were hurt or humiliated at finding only a 
 man where they had been accustomed to see a hero and a 
 demi-god. In the first flush of this reaction friends no longer 
 hesitated to foresee new mistakes and new disasters, while
 
 A BIUJAIin-MATCn 373 
 
 enemies let themselves run riot. Ainung the latter was my 
 friend Eivierre, who yielded to no one in the fury of his 
 Bourljonism. lieing so clever a man as he was, lie had 
 proclaimed his hopes a little too spitefully and prematurely, 
 and had l)een arrested and taken to La Force, whence he 
 came out just as I returned from Spain. A good many other 
 arrests of the same kind had been made ; this was a distinct 
 return to the days of persecution, but, as in Eivierre's case, the 
 matter really turned only upon a remark, and as he was a 
 charming and kindly fellow with many friends, Savary, who 
 then was Minister of Police, was attacked by all kinds of 
 people demanding the release of the prisoner. Considering the 
 hazardous state of atiairs, Savary thought it his duty to appear 
 inexorable, and it was only a circumstance of the most trivial 
 kind that decided him to aljate the sternness of his rigorous 
 methods. Our common friend Lenoir, happening to dine with 
 him, made the same request to him as they left the table, and 
 could make no impression ; but the conversation led them into 
 the billiard-room, and Lenoir, always a quaint and original 
 person, was inspired by the occasion, the consciousness of 
 his own skill in the game, and Savary's claims to be a great 
 performer, with the idea of replying to his refusal as follows : 
 " Well, let us leave it to luck to be the arbiter of his 
 liberty, and agree at least to play for it the best of three 
 games." Savary began by laughing; then, rather than allow 
 that he was afraid to lose, he ended by accepting the challenge. 
 Never were games better fought, but at length Lenoir won, and 
 Eivierre left La Force. 
 
 ()n the day after my arrival, which happened to be Sunday, 
 I went to the palace, attending the morning audience after Mass 
 and the Empress's reception in the evening. At the morning 
 audience the Emperor asked me, " How long have you been in 
 I'aris ? " " Since yesterday, sii', and in the full hope that your 
 ^lajesty will deign to make use of my zeal." He looked at me 
 kindly, gave an approving nod, and replied, " I shall bear you 
 in mind." But, good heavens ! Avhat a difference between these 
 receptions and the last at which 1 had been present at Com- 
 l^iegne! What had become of the kings, the archdukes, the
 
 374 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 foreign princes, the ambassadors — even the aml)assador of 
 Austria? All that luxury, all that glory, the homage of the 
 world had disappeared ; the Emperor was gnrave, Marie Louise 
 embarrassed, all faces gloomy, and, if a few people made an 
 effort to smile, it was by the help of grimaces that signified 
 more than ever the sincere expression of the sentiments which 
 they were intended to conceal. 
 
 On March 21 I received from the Minister for War an order 
 to post to Mainz, and be there by the 26th. Being delayed 
 by indisposition, I was not able to start till that day. Up till 
 then, whenever I left my wife, the pain of parting from her had 
 been, in a way, alleviated by dreams of glory and hopes of 
 sharing in new victories ; but at the time of which I am 
 speaking these had altogether vanished. Like so many others, 
 I had the impression that fortune was weary of Napoleon. 
 France still obeyed his call, but it was only w'ith reluctance 
 that she now delivered up to him her gold and her children. 
 The legislative body was alienated ; the Senate, too weak to resist, 
 was, for that very reason, incapable of giving support. Our 
 commerce was annihilated, the produce of our fields — wine 
 especially — was valueless, suffering was universal, individuals 
 were in mourning ; the finest army that France had ever put in 
 the field was destroyed ; our very frontiers were HI- defended by 
 wretched recruits against the veterans of Europe thirsthag for 
 vengeance. Thus, to whatever hopes I might endeavour to 
 cling, I did not escape the most cruel apprehensions. A divi- 
 sional general of some reputation, I looked back with regret uporL 
 the feelings which had inspired the obscure soldier of 1792, 
 and it was in a melancholy mood that I journeyed towards 
 ]\Iainz, and reached that town on the evening of the 29th. 
 
 I expected to find my orders there ; none had yet come, and 
 several days w^ent by in painful expectation, all the more 
 wearily because I might have passed them happily in Paris. 
 Everything was making ready for the reception of the Emperor, 
 and I had some hope of obtaining employment in a corps that 
 would fight under his eye. But by the same messenger who- 
 announced his arrival for the next day I received orders from 
 the Prince of Neuchatel to take command of the third infantry
 
 WITH THE GliAND ARMY 375 
 
 division of the Grand Army, consisting of the sixteen third 
 l)attalions of the regiments belonging to the 1st Corps, and to 
 proceed at once to Wesel, where it was being organized. ()\' 
 course this destination, which put me on a footing with many 
 celebrated generals, was bound to give me some pleasure ; but 
 the 1st Corps, which just then became the 13th, was that of 
 Marshal Davout, and Wesel brought me near Hamburg, where 
 his headquarters were. Thus my request to leave the dullest 
 and least estimaljle commanders in the Army of Sp;dn resulted 
 only in bringing me under the orders of the most detestable 
 commander in the Grand Army. 
 
 My first duty at Wesel was to take part in the trial of Count 
 Beutinck, accused of having fomented an insurrection in his 
 little state of Varel. Le Marois, who was then governor-general 
 of the district, acting under instructions from the Duke of Feltre, 
 Minister for War, wished for a conviction and a capital sentence, 
 and General Lemoine, who presided over the court, did his best, 
 under pressure from Marshal Davout, to secure them ; but, by a 
 majority of five to two, the Count was sentenced merely to 
 imprisonment until the conclusion of peace, without confiscation 
 of goods. 
 
 On May 31 1 received orders to join my division at Bremen, 
 and by a later dispatch I was put in supreme command of all 
 the district between the left bank of the Elbe, from Harburg to 
 Cuxhaven, and the frontier of Holland. I reached Bremen on 
 June 6, but my stay there and my command of the district in 
 question were short, for within a week the Prince of Eckmiihl 
 summoned me with all my troops to Hamburg, to take the 
 chief command in that place, pending the arrival of General the 
 Count of Hogeudorp. I reached Hamburg towards noon on 
 the 13th ; and thinking that it was as well, considering the 
 marshal's character, to pay my respects to him with some 
 promptitude, I alighted at his door before even taking any 
 steps about my t[uarters. All the communications I had had 
 from him so far had been expressions of content, and I expected 
 a good reception. My disappointment was therefore great 
 when I saw his brow pucker, his eye grow gloomy, his face 
 sullen. With one hand he raised his spectacles, with the other
 
 376 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 he rubbed bis bald head. Before, or rather without, any 
 greeting, but in a very angry tone, he addressed me with these 
 words : " So you let off a traitor ? You were to have made a 
 much-needed example of Count Bentinck, and you preferred to 
 make the case into a triumph for the Emperor's enemies ! " It 
 may be supposed that my surprise soon gave place to indigna- 
 tion. Neither of us would yield a point, and, while he went on 
 adding to his odious assertions, I repeated till I was hoarse : 
 " The sentence depended on the facts, not on me. Four 
 conscientious men deem it an honour to have shared mv 
 opinion, just as I deem it an honour and a consolation to have 
 shared theirs. I explained myself pretty plainly beforehand as 
 to what ^\'ould be the result if he were brought to trial, and 
 if I had l)ehaved otherwise I should look upon myself as an 
 assassin." They could hear us shouting all over the house and 
 even in the street; it was scandalous and disgraceful. This 
 scene lasted half an hour; it might have lasted ten times as 
 long -without our coming to an understanding. I was talking 
 of honour and conscience to a man who in this case had no 
 notion of what either one or the other was. So I took 
 advantage of a moment when, instead of answering me, he 
 liegan to puff, to say, " Prince, I have no lodging, and I must 
 go and look for quarters." " Your lodging is taken," he said, 
 " and the governor will show it you." After which, as I was 
 taking my leave, he said, " You wdll come and dine with me, 
 and I wdll talk about the orders that I have for you." May 
 I remark that he never said another word to me about 
 Count Bentinck ? That ugly budget was exhausted, but a 
 good many other budgets of controversy were to be filled 
 before long. 
 
 An hour later I was with General de Laville, a man dis- 
 tinguished in all ways and an excellent officer, whom I had 
 known when he w\as on the Duke of Istria's staff at Salamanca. 
 " What a devil of a fellow your marshal is ! " said I, when we 
 were alone. " I own that it is a serious matter to serve with 
 liim," he replied; "he forms prejudices easily, and never gets 
 over them. Xo considerations of humanity have the least 
 value for him. For instance, he is a good husband and father.
 
 MAIiSIUL DAVOUT u<7 
 
 and in his own home hardly has any will of his own ; yet he 
 would without hesitation sacrifice his wife and children in the 
 performance of what he thought his duty. He is quite paternal 
 to the men, kind to the subalterns, hut strict with commanding 
 officers, and often more than harsh with the generals. This has 
 what has made him the most enemies ; but there is nothing to 
 be done with him ; it is an affair of character first, then of 
 habit." " Well," I said as I left him, " if to what your official 
 position allows you to say we add private information, it will 
 be clear that, in order to be worthy to serve under him, one 
 ought to have killed one's father and mother." 
 
 A few days afterwards I got on the same topic with General 
 Dumonceau, under whom I had served as a captain when we 
 attacked the lines of Breda in 1794. Though he spoke with all 
 possible moderation, it was clear that he pitied me for taking 
 his place, and that General Fezensac, one of his brigadiers, 
 agreed with him in congratulating himself on leaving the 
 13th Corps. 
 
 At dinner-time a score of persons assembled in the marshal's 
 drawing-room ; he came in himself just as I entered, but he 
 l)egan at once to walk up and down, and, as he said nothing to 
 anyone, no one spoke save for a few brief remarks. We sat 
 down almost immediately, but at table he showed no more 
 disposition to converse. For this he had several reasons ; being 
 a very commonplace person, he had nothing to say, and, as no 
 one else cared to start a conversation which he did not keep up, 
 it was limited to a few inconsecutive sentences. Being a great 
 eater, he had something else to do than talking, and, sitting at 
 his right hand, I was amazed at the amount he swallowed. 
 Finally, having the ardour of a fanatic for everything connected 
 with his duty, he meditated about his course of action even 
 during his meals, and rarely lifted his great head, but kept it 
 over his plate, while his eyes only strayed in furtive glances. 
 After dinner I went with the marshal into his study, and he 
 told me that to the command of my di^■ision he was adding the 
 government-in-chief of Hamburg. He gave me information 
 about the place — in some measure no doubt too minute — but 
 none the less important. While swamping himself with details,
 
 378 2IEM0IIIS OF GENERAL TBIEBAULT 
 
 he furnished to anyone who was capable of selecting and 
 classifying them the materials of rapid information and means 
 to complete it. I repeat, he had neither elevation in his views 
 nor breadth or depth in his ideas, bnt whatever was within his 
 range he knew with a precision which, though consistent with 
 some disorder, kept him well informed of everything. As may 
 be supposed, everything relating to the question of keeping an 
 eye on the inhabitants, that is to say, to the employment of 
 spies, was very fully dealt with. 
 
 On the 23rd Count Hogendorp arrived to take my place, and 
 the same day I received orders to leave Hamburg next day 
 and go to Lubeck, as governor of the town and country and 
 commander of the advance-guard of the army. 
 
 During this time an armistice existed which was ultimately 
 prolonged until August 15. On that day a messenger reached 
 me with the information that hostilities would recommence on 
 the 17th and orders to leave Lubeck in two hours with all the 
 French and Danish infantry and artillery. I was to pass the 
 night at Oldersloe and to start the next day for Wandsbek, there 
 to await further orders. At the same time, any statement as to 
 an evacuation of Lubeck was to be contradicted ; various officials 
 were to remain there as well as all gendarmes, custom-house 
 officials, and the whole of the Danish cavalry. 
 
 Everything that could be got ready in view of a sudden 
 departure had been so, but some things must not be done before- 
 hand for fear of arousing suspicion, while others, from their 
 nature, cannot be. Among these was the distribution of five 
 days' provision for the troops ; the provisions were ready, but the 
 distribution of them had to be organized, which, with twelve 
 Ijattalions, could not be done in a moment. Besides, the day 
 happened to be Sunday, and at three in the afternoon on Sunday, 
 unless repeated orders have been given for each man to remain 
 at his post, a certain amount of dispersion is inevitable. Further, 
 it was raining in torrents, and nothing causes so much delay 
 as bad weather. Lastly, as my ordinary dispatches, reaching 
 me at nine o'clock that morning, had informed me that up till 
 then there had been no news of the armistice being denounced, 
 I did not expect to receive any marching orders that day ; I was
 
 FUTILE max(euvi:es 370 
 
 tlierefore no less perplexed than astonished, l)ut I was struck 
 with the idea that there must be some important reitson con- 
 nected with this abrupt order for a retrograde march, and, l)y 
 doing everything imaginable to hasten their departure, the troop.s 
 were able to be started between five and six that evening. 
 
 I must mention one among the arrangements which I had to 
 make in carrying out the marshal's orders, because it gives so 
 good a picture of him. AVhen communicating various arrange- 
 ments to the prefect, I was to order him at the same time to 
 bring up immediately all the money that was to be found in the 
 countin'4-houses, and to inform the inhabitants that there would 
 be no more amnesty for acts of revolt, that we should henceforth 
 be as severe as we had hitherto been merciful, and that they 
 would no longer get off ^vith a fine. The terms " amnesty " and 
 " mercy " were comic in the extreme in the mouth of the prince, 
 who had exceeded all the limits of severity ; and, however dear 
 they had paid, the inhabitants were far from having hitherto 
 got off with fines, seeing that 644 of them had been banished 
 and a good many shot. One last phrase in the marshal's order 
 respecting them was no less ridiculous : " Let them give their 
 good wishes," he said, " to whom they please, but they must 
 confine themselves to that." This was one way of securing 
 friends for his sovereign, and that in a city which then formed 
 part of the French Empire. 
 
 After a forced march through the rain, and across country by 
 ground all poached with three days' downpour, my troops were 
 weary when I reached Oldersloe at 4 A.:\r. on the 16th. At six 
 we were on the march asiain, and reached Wandsbek towards 
 evening. So far as troops went, I found there only the third 
 and fourth battalions of the 33rd Light Infantry ; General Del- 
 cambre, however, the commander of my second brigade, a man 
 whom for all reasons I was glad to have in my division, was 
 waiting for me. He handed me an order to proceed to the 
 camp at Glinde with the whole of my second brigade, giving me 
 information at the same time which showed me clearly enough 
 that we were marching by way of Laueuburg towards the 
 Stecknitz. 
 
 I thought I must be dreaming. The Stecknitz, a kind of
 
 380 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 natural canal, joining the Elbe at Lauenbiirg, runs into the 
 Trave a short league above Lubeck. It has a course of about 
 seventeen leagues, a distance about equal to that between Lauen- 
 burg and Hamburg, whence it followed that, in order to arrive 
 the last with exhausted troops at a point which I might have 
 been the first to reach without any trouble, and with my batta- 
 lions in good condition, simply by following directly the course 
 of the Stecknitz, I had covered superfluously the whole distance 
 from Lubeck to Wandsbek. Will it be said that the enemy 
 was manoeuvring in such a way as to compromise me ? But, in 
 the first place, the marshal should have known that the number 
 and quality of the enemy's troops were not of a kind to render 
 him very dangerous, and that, as I could be supported by the 
 Danish corps, I ran but little risk ; in the second place, if this 
 combination did not offer enough security, and if the marshal 
 was afraid that I mi':Tht be overmatched, oucjht he not to have 
 sent me the ten battalions left at Hamburg, or else march as far as 
 Oldersloe with his whole force to meet me, in order to manoeuvre 
 in strength upon the enemy's right, which would have been 
 sufficient both to check him and, as we soon proved, to make 
 him retire ? But neither Delcambre nor I could admit that in 
 itny case it would have been other than absurd to send us off 
 along bad roads upon a useless retrograde march which caused 
 me to send 110 men into hospital, cost my troops 2,000 pairs of 
 shoes, and caused serious damage to my artillery, even if the 
 movement had been justified by the circumstances ; that is, to 
 collect us with a view to a grand combined movement. But the 
 latest reports had confirmed the successive withdrawals of many 
 of the enemy's corps which we might pursue, so that on that 
 point the marshal could have no uncertainty. To allow of any 
 on other points, it must be supposed that he was unaware of the 
 respective situations of the armies, and of the operations with 
 which the Emperor calculated on opening the new campaign ; 
 but this cannot be admitted, as a few words on the Emperor's 
 position and plans will suffice to show. 
 
 The Emperor's assailants amounted to 600,000 men, of whom 
 500,000 had been brought up. To meet these he had 300,000, 
 not reckoning the 100,000 so deplorably distributed among
 
 THE TIDE TURNED 381 
 
 fortresses, 21,000 left in liavaria with Augereau, 37,000, in- 
 cluding 12,000 Danes, under Davout — all wasted forces which 
 w'ould have enabled him to collect 400,000 men under his com- 
 mand. No doubt he had won with greater odds against him ; 
 but all was changed. Our once invincible soldiers were now 
 only weakly children, plucky enough no doubt, but devoid of 
 strength or experience. In front of them they had the picke<l 
 veterans of the world, kindled to fanaticism by popular exaspe- 
 ration, while at the same time France was by her cries for peace 
 chilling the zeal of her last defenders. Our chiefs reserved all 
 their vehemence, all their energy, for complaints of the war ; 
 while those of the enemy, emboldened by our disasters, could 
 not keep up with the incitements of their hatred or with their 
 desire for vengeance. It seemed, too, as if the enemy's generals 
 had acquired by a long series of defeats what many of ours had 
 unlearned in the days of prosperity. Napoleon himself was no 
 longer what he had been. Besides, the arena of this gigantic 
 struggle had increased in an alarming fashion. It was no 
 longer the kind of ground of which advantage could be taken 
 by some clever, secret, sudden manoeuvre, such as could be 
 executed in a few hours or, at most, in one or two days. 
 Napoleon was not overlapped as at Austerlitz ; he could not 
 turn his enemy's flank as at Marengo or Jena, or even wreck an 
 army, as at Wagram, by destroying one of its wings. Bernadotte 
 to the north with 100,000 men, Blucher to the east with 
 140,000, Schwarzenberg to the south with 100,000, while 
 presenting a threatening front, kept at such a distance as to 
 leave no opening for one of those unforeseen and rapid move- 
 ments which, deciding a campaign or a war by a single battle, 
 had made Napoleon's reputation. The man was annihilated in 
 presence of the space. Again, Napoleon had never till then had 
 more than one opposing army to deal with at one time ; now he 
 had three, and he could not attack one without exposing hi.^ 
 flank to the others. Once more again, all these masses obeyed 
 the impulse, the thought of one man ; and by a supreme stroke 
 of destiny it was a Frenchman — one, too, without the apparent 
 pretext of such men as Bernadotte or Langeron — who impresseil 
 this military coalition with the stamp of his genius. History
 
 '382 ME MOWS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 will reeouiii I ho infamy of ]\Ioreau by recording the advice 
 with which he guided our enemies' march, more disastrous as 
 it was to us than all the forces heaped against us. I have 
 already referred to that advice, but it was -so faithfully followed 
 by those to whom it Mas addressed, and played so important a 
 part in our disasters, that I will venture to repeat it. He bade 
 them expect defeat wherever the Emperor gave battle in person, 
 and make their arrangements to mitigate and repair the disaster ; 
 to avoid as far as possible coming to an engagement with him, 
 that is, with his Guard or his picked corps and commanders, 
 and with this object to retreat when he advanced and follow 
 when he retired ; to attack and fight his lieutenants whenever 
 they could get at them ; and, lastly, when these had been beaten 
 and enfeebled, to unite all the forces possible to those already 
 ■existing, to march against him, snatch victory from him no 
 matter at what cost, and allow him no further respite. 
 
 Such was the formidalile plan of that fatal campaign, and 
 nothing which could contribute to its success was lacking- — 
 blunders, bad luck, defection, baseness. Yet it must be said 
 that the blunders of which the bad luck and defections were the 
 consequences emanated, and could only have emanated, from 
 Kapoleon. It has been said that his plan for this second 
 campaign of 1813 was the occupation of Berlin by the combined 
 armies of Davout and Oudinot, of Breslau by the Army of 
 Lusatia under Ney, and of Prague by the Grand Army, com- 
 manded by himself. But can it be supposed that with an army 
 thus divided in the presence of colossal forces, and forming a 
 salient angle more than sixty leagues wide at the base and of 
 more than 110 leagues in the side, a single man of those who 
 reached Breslau would ever have returned ? However, we 
 have no evidence that all these expeditions were to go on 
 simultaneously, and it may be allowed that Napoleon wished to 
 conduct abreast only those to Berlin and Prague, and that was 
 indeed too much. 
 
 Anyhow, he opened with a false movement, but succeeded, 
 nevertheless, in getting Blucher out of the way. He did not, 
 however, beat him, and foimd himself obliged to leave him 
 idone before he had been defeated. Arriving before Dresden,
 
 BLUNDERS AND DISASTERS 383 
 
 which Mureau and Schwarzenber^' — relying on his Ijein^,' at a 
 distance — were l)esieging, he won a victory, rendered all the 
 easier by the absence of Klenau's corps, in which Moreau's 
 death avenged his country on liiin and called an anathema down 
 on the traitor's very memory. 15ut bad luck and Idundering 
 had already borne their fruit, ^lacdonald, puffed up Ijy the 
 command of 80,000 men, who never ought to have been 
 entrusted to him, began by infringing his orders, which were to 
 do no more than hold Blucher. In spite of his generals' advice, 
 he attacked liiiu, was crushed and secured, or, at least, hastened 
 tlie junction of the three ho.stile armies which he was commis- 
 sioned to keep apart. Oudinot left Bayreuth on August 19 
 and 20 to march on Wittenberg, left the road to Torgau, which 
 he should have followed on the 21st, and on the 22nd, having 
 sent the 4th Corps towards Blankenfeld, the 12th towards 
 Ahrensdorf, and the 7th towards Gross-Beeren, was defeated 
 at the last place by Bernadotte, who, with his 100,000 men, 
 needed only to force the centre of the army in order to beat it. 
 O^'ing to the enormous blunder of checking the movements of 
 Mortier, JMarmont, and Saint-Cyr, before ascertaining whether 
 the corps most in advance and most endangered had halted and 
 secured its rear, Vandamme, who commanded it, proceeded to 
 Kulm and remained there, again contrary to the wish of his 
 generals. There he was surrounded by the whole of Schwarzen- 
 berg's army and taken with half his corps. Finally, Napoleon, 
 not enlightened by Oudinot's disaster as to the danger of 
 breaking up his army, and not understanding that nobody could 
 take his place, and that the part of all his lieutenants together 
 should be limited to giving him time to reach any spot where 
 a. serious engagement was to be fought, sent Xey to replace 
 Oudinot, and ended only in connecting the name of Eohrbruck 
 with a new disaster, for which, though it resulted chiefly from 
 the treason of two Saxon divisions and the refusal of two of our 
 cavalry divisions to tight. Napoleon is none the less to blame. 
 In truth, we were being pushed by fate towards the abyss, and 
 were now marching only from mismanagement to misfortune, 
 and from misfortune to humiliation. 
 
 To resume my own story, which I interrupted at the point when,
 
 384 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 on arriving at AVandsbek, after an exhausting march from 
 Lubeck, I received orders to proceed the same evening to the 
 camp at Glinde ; but my troops, who were following me, could 
 not reach Wandsbek till nine, and they would come so utterly 
 wearied that it would have been impossible to make the men or 
 horses do another twenty miles. I confined myself therefore, 
 while reporting everything to the marshal, with sending on 
 General Delcambre and two battalions of the 33rd to that 
 camp, where he only arrived, and that with extreme difficulty, 
 at two the next morning. I did not start until the next morning 
 was well advanced. 
 
 On the 17th I was ordered to proceed with my second brigade 
 to Bergedorf, in order to support General Pecheux in a recon- 
 noissance on Lauenburg; l3ut, as I was better placed for this 
 purpose at Glinde than at Bergedorf, I was obliged to make a 
 fresh retrograde movement. I was utterly puzzled ; but all 
 these inexplicable movements were explained the next day, 
 when the marshal appeared at Bergedorf, and our movement on 
 Lauenburg was finally decided upon. 
 
 I arrived before that place on the 19th. The enemy had 
 covered it with redoubts, and was occupying it with 1800 men 
 and ten guns. An attack was at once resolved upon, and, as 
 the redoubts faced the road which we w^ere following on the 
 right bank of the Elbe, the marshal ordered the two first 
 battalions of the 30th to carry them — an order which was 
 carried out with the vigour and confidence of the most veteran 
 troops. With shouts of " Long live the Emperor ! " a charge of 
 the bayonet in a few moments placed in our hands the redoubts, 
 the place itself, all the enemy's artillery, and 400 prisoners, 
 forming with 100 killed a loss of 500 men; while, thanks 
 to the rapidity of our attack, our own loss amounted only to 
 two killed and seven wounded. So far the result was good 
 enough, though it might have been better. The force entrusted 
 with the defence of Lauenburg was enclosed within a triangle 
 formed by the Elbe, the Stecknitz, and us. It was not strong 
 enough to cut its way through our columns, and, in order to 
 retire, it had neither boats nor bridge across the Elbe — only a 
 single bridge across the Stecknitz. We ought to have reached
 
 MARCHING AND COUNTERMAnCIlING 385 
 
 that bridge at the same time as the redoubts, and two battalions 
 would have been enough to cut off the retreat of 1300 men. 
 As it was, the bridge remained clear and they escaped ; when 
 I received orders to pursue them, they had got half an hour's 
 start, and I could not catch them, the marshal not having 
 discovered that I could not do it without 500 cavalry. And 
 this was all. 
 
 This first action, which might have been better managed, was 
 not followed up. Hardly was it finished when scattering and 
 indecision l^egan afresh. Never did a commander dislocate 
 divisions and regiments more grotesquely. To mess his troops 
 al)out was a mania and a passion with him, thanks to his 
 perpetual condition of mental indigestion. AVith him one never 
 knew what orders were or were not given. Not only did he 
 break up divisions, but he detached generals of brigade in such 
 a way as to make them independent. Thus I never saw 
 General Gengoult after he unquestionably formed part of my 
 division, nor did I catch a glimpse of a single man of the 61st. 
 
 As I have said, we were not marching in order to fight the 
 weak forces left in Mecklenburg simply with a view of keeping 
 us amused. We were marching, as we knew, in order to join 
 Marshal Oudinot, whose business was to beat Bernadotte's army 
 and capture Berlin. As that marshal was to advance by the 
 left bank of the Elbe, my only uncertainty was whether we 
 should go forward towards Domitz to threaten the rear of 
 Bernadotte's army and force him to divide it, or cross the 
 Elbe in order to effect our junction on the other side of 
 Magdeburg before Oudinot had been compelled to fight ; or to 
 constrain Bernadotte to detach a large body against us before 
 he could put his whole force in action against Oudinot. It 
 must be further observed that, operating as we were with 27,000 
 French and 12,000 Danes, we could not afford to make a 
 false movement or lose a day. On the evening of the 20th I 
 marched on Boizenburg, which I had reconnoitred during the 
 previous night, and which the enemy had evacuated, with- 
 drawing in the direction of Wittenljurg. As I have said, the 
 ascertained aim of our march being given, it had seemed to 
 me impossible but that we should either follow our road as 
 
 VOL. II. 2 c
 
 3SG MEMOIRS OF GENEBAL TIIIEDAULT 
 
 quickly as possible towards Berlin, by marching on Domitz, or 
 cross the Elbe to join Oudinot at Magdeburg. I was therefore 
 stupefied when I received an order to turn aside from both 
 these directions in order to go off in one opposite to the wake 
 of the enemy, whom I had pushed in front of me as far as 
 Zahrensdorf. I thought at first that the object of this move- 
 ment was to draw the enemy away, and I was expecting to have 
 to turn back again and to resume my march to the succour of 
 Oudinot, when I got an order to continue our march in the 
 contrary direction ; that is to say, by Mastow on Goldenhow. 
 The marshal took the head of my advance-guard. If he had 
 not been present, I should have been more likely to get 
 ten guides than one, and to march with my advance-guard, 
 verifying my direction at every step. But, as the marshal 
 took this place, I confined myself to keeping at the head of 
 my column, and, knowing his Excellency to be careful in 
 the extreme about details and precautions, I contented myself 
 with making my division march after him. 
 
 However, it happened that marching in front even of the 
 scouts, never halting, and putting the troops out of breath 
 with the labour of following him, the marshal forgot what he 
 was doing on the high road to Wittenburg, and did not take 
 the cross-road leading to Mastow, only finding out his mistake 
 when he was three or four hundred yards past the turning- 
 He returned on his tracks furious and pitched into me, 
 saying that I ought to have attended to my orders only, and 
 seen that they were carried out. I replied that as he was 
 marching at the head of the column I did not think it per- 
 missible for me to criticise his leading, which seemed to me to 
 override my previous orders. We had a pretty lively scene — 
 the second and last I had with him. After all, it was not 
 worth so much fuss, for the marshal's mistake had only caused 
 a few moments' delay. 
 
 Having got on to our right road, we presently entered a 
 forest, and soon came to a brook too muddy to be forded. 
 There was a wooden bridge over it, to which the enemy had just 
 set fire. But for the 30th we should have been stopped at that 
 point the whole day ; but that regiment, always worthy of its
 
 THE MAItSJTAL LEADING 387 
 
 old (lays in the armies of Naples and Eome, extended to right 
 and left of this bridge, and wliile its fire kept the enemy at a 
 distance three companies from it dashed through the flames 
 and succeeded in crossing the l^ridge. Once masters of the 
 further bank, they dislodged some squadrons of the enemy's 
 cavalry, and even pursued them eagerly. Thanks to this 
 daring performance, carried out entirely without orders, for 
 there was no time to give any, the fire was put out, and we 
 proceeded. 
 
 Our road was winding and sandy ; marching became laborious. 
 The guns and especially the reserve battery of 12-pounders ad- 
 vanced with indescribable slowness, and, as the marshal went 
 always at the pace of his horse, tlie column soon occupied twice 
 the space it should have done. These prolongations of a column 
 have always annoyed me. Not only do they lead to straggling 
 and bad discipline, but they always involve the risk of exposing 
 the troops to a sudden attack. All my life long I have devoted 
 myself to preventing them, and on this march I was all the 
 more vexed because we were in presence of the enemy, entangled 
 in woods which we did not know, and which had not and could 
 not have been reconnoitred. The fir-trees offered no obstacle, 
 and we might at any moment be attacked, with no warning 
 save from the scouts whom I had thrown out on my flanks, and 
 I had not been able to place them more than a short distance 
 off. Now if any disaster, any serious loss, or even any Tiseless 
 scuffle took place, the blame would have fallen on Thiebault's 
 division ; that is, on its general. It was all very well swearing 
 privately to General Delcambre, but I could not go and tell 
 the marshal, " You are leading like a lunatic." The truer the 
 remark, the less welcome it would be. However, as the under- 
 wood gradually got thinner in a way to make me think the 
 end of it was coming, I galloped forward to take my chance of 
 begging for a halt. Just as I came up with the marshal, 
 emerging from the forest, some sixty of the enemy's cavalry 
 appeared, crowning a wooded hill which faced us half a mile 
 away; and the way in which they were prancing seemed to 
 show that they were supported. 
 
 Save for the officers and sergeants, our troops, as I have said. 
 
 o p o 
 
 aJ \^ ^J
 
 oo;j 
 
 88 MEMOIRS OF GENEBAL TIIIEDAULT 
 
 consisted of recruits who bad had ouly thes'3 three days' expe- 
 rience of Avar. The infantry had had little instruction, the 
 artillery still less, while the cavalry had nothing of that arm 
 but the name. By the marshal's fault, the column was spread 
 over a distance at once absurd and dangerous, doubling the 
 time required for deploying. At last we emerged upon a little 
 plain with a bill in front of us, on which we saw that the enemy 
 had battalions and batteries in position. The first necessity 
 impressed upon us was to avoid everything that could shake 
 troops as raw as ours ; then we ought to have halted the head of 
 the column, closed up the infantry and artillery, and deployed 
 the 30th as ]iest we could by solid battalions, while the cavalry, 
 marching through the wood, parallel to the rest of the column 
 and flanked by the light infantry, was advancing to the edge of 
 the forest in such a way that the troops who wore arms might 
 debouch simultaneously and in good order, for which purpose 
 the occupation of the forest was an advantage to us. 
 
 These simple precautionary steps, which I am almost ashamed 
 to point out, having been taken, there would have been plenty 
 of time to see whether we should do better to attack the corps 
 in front of us on the hill, or limit ourselves to a defensive 
 combat with no particular result. The first course was evidently 
 the best. When we came out into the plain, we had to our left 
 a great space of enclosed ground surrounded with walls, and on 
 one side resting upon the forest; to our right a little wood, 
 thrown out like an advanced sentinel on to the plain. To throw 
 some skirmishers into the enclosed ground, to take possession of 
 the opening, occupying it in force and making it the point of 
 the first movements, then, covered by our artillery fire, to march 
 on one of the enemy's wings — this was the obvious plan, and 
 easy to execute. What did the marshal do ? Without having 
 experienced and shared the astonishment and vexation of allVho 
 witnessed it, one would not venture to say that, at sight of the 
 sixty prancing troopers, the marshal, instead of giving me his 
 orders, or even discussing what had better be done, fell to 
 rushing about and shouting like a man beside himself, " There 
 is the enemy ! Where's the infantry ? Where's the cavalry ? 
 AVhere are the guns ? " — on which all the aides-de-camp galloped
 
 SLACK FJQIITJyO 389 
 
 off to bring the troops up at full speed. It was enough to shake 
 and demoralize veteran troops ; and if an officer of what rank 
 soever had done anything of the sort, the marshal would have 
 cashiered hini on the spot, and he would have Ijcen right a 
 hundred times over. But what was worthy of this opening was 
 that, as each battalion emerged panting from the wood, it was 
 immediately l)roken up, and, without any need, one company 
 was thrown into the little wood, another into the enclosed 
 ground, a third sent forward to skirmish, the result being that, 
 with the exception of the 111th, three of whose JjattaUons 
 remained entire, the other seven present were all in companies, 
 shuffled like a pack of cards. The men who had fallen behind 
 did not know where to find their companies. During the action 
 they did what they liked, and, as almost our whole force was in 
 the front line, we had not a single man in reserve. Luckily, the 
 enemy was no less weak in numbers than in quality. He only 
 brought up four guns, and they fired as badly as ours. I never 
 saw a slacker combat. 
 
 Such as it was, it had been going on for an hour, and nothing 
 enterprising had l^een done, when six squadrons charged those 
 of our troops who were forming a kind of line Ijetween the 
 enclosed ground and the wood. It was a ridiculous charge, and 
 the squadrons were repulsed as they deserved to be, but the 
 fourth battalion of the 111th, making it clear at last what we 
 might have done, formed square at the double, pursued the 
 cavalry, flung it back upon the hill, attacked a battalion of the 
 enemy with shouts of " Long li\e the Emperor ! " broke it, 
 and forced it to retire upon the guns which were playing on 
 us. It was a brilliant manoeuvre, and did all the more honour 
 to Major Lesbrossier, commanding the battalion, that the marshal, 
 who looked on without seeing anything and commanded without 
 giving any orders, had not sent any orders to him ; nay, instead 
 of supporting him by a forward movement, instead of taking the 
 hill, and perliaps the guns, he confined himself to recalling the 
 battalion. About three quarters of an hour later, while the 
 musketry was continuing along our front, and every round from 
 our guns was driving me wild by the badness of its aim, from 
 1500 to 2,000 cavalry suddenly came rov.nd the little wood and
 
 390 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIIIEDAULT 
 
 fdll upou oiir horse. They woukl have broken it, and even 
 reached the reserve park and the equipages, had not seven or 
 eight companies of different battalions posted at the outer edge 
 of the little wood, and one battalion of the 111th, the right of 
 which rested on the forest, helped to check them. At nightfall 
 the enemy retired ; we did not send a single man to reconnoitre 
 the hill which he had occupied, and passed the night on the 
 ground where we had halted at sight of him. 
 
 In ^iew of the possibility of a surprise, it was urgent to 
 disentangle the inconceivable muddle which the marshal had 
 made of all the regiments, and to re-form them, for the com- 
 panies had been so scattered that there was no one left as 
 intermediary between the general and the captain. It was no 
 easy matter, especially with night coming on, to put a little 
 order into the chaos ; but I wished to see all my corps re-formed 
 Ijefore anyone rested, and, in order to leave no one any excuse 
 for shirking, and to get the field-officers to help the captains, 
 General Delcambre and I set the example. I had been on 
 horseback since daybreak. At night I had dismounted, and it 
 was midnight before order was restored. Worn out, dead beat, 
 I had just thrown myself on some bundles of straw which had 
 been spread for me under a shelter of branches in the little 
 wood where I had fixed my bivouac, and I had hardly fallen 
 asleep, when an aide-de-camp woke me to say that the marshal 
 vras asking for me. It was a long half-mile from my bivouac 
 to that of the marshal, in the middle of the enclosures. The 
 night was dark, the ground uneven. The aide-de-camp, who 
 thought he was certain of the right way, mistook it, and made 
 me go twice the distance, and when I got there his Excellency 
 was snoring like a cracked organ-pipe. Thinking that a 
 summons of this kind must have a serious reason, I woke 
 General Cesar de Laville to inquire what the marshal wanted 
 of me. He had no idea. " Well," said I, somewhat irritated, 
 " wake him." He called him, pushed him, shook him. At last 
 the marshal opened his eyes. At the words, " Here is General 
 Thiebault, whom you sent for," he raised his heavy head, and, 
 having at last got into a sitting position, he opened his eyes 
 wide, suddenly shut them again, then, looking at me drowsily,
 
 HIS EXCELLENCY'S SLUMBERS 391 
 
 muttereil, " IIuw does tlie public spirit of the troops stand ? " 
 ■" The public spirit ? " I returned ; " do you mean the spirit of 
 the troops ? " 1 was about to add that their spirit was as good 
 as could be, but the marshal had already fallen back in a lump 
 •on his straw. General de Laville, as much perplexed by tMs 
 .al)snrdity as I was in a bad temper at having licen sent for 
 to listen to it, advised me to lie down between him and the 
 marshal and wait till he woke, as the sole means of ever finding 
 out what was wanted of me. I agreed, even yet not believing 
 that after such a hard day I should have been made to come so 
 far at one in the morning without a grave reason. However, 
 when at daylight the marshal recovered such senses as he had, 
 it turned out that he had nothing at all to say to me, except that 
 we were to march again at seven in the morning — information 
 Avhich any drummer might have brought. 
 
 The next day, August 22, wq moved on to Wittenburg, and 
 the day after to Schwerin, where we remained till September 2 
 Avith no apparent object, and, save for a few reconnoissances, 
 doing nothing. On some of these two battalions with fifty 
 cavalry were employed, under the command of Colonel Holtz, 
 of the 111th, and General Delcambre. Happening to be at 
 the camp of the 111th on August 31, I saw the marshal and 
 his escort coming. " I am going to reconnoitre myself," said 
 he. From %vhat I had heard of reconnoissances made in his 
 company, thinking too that some amusement might be afforded 
 Jjy an operation of this kind executed by a man who could 
 not see a bit, I was curious to see what sort of job he would 
 make of it; so I proposed to go with him, and we started. 
 Instead of following a road, we went across country, skirting 
 a wood which was habitually full of Cossacks. This detail the 
 marshal knew as well as I did, and some people would have 
 paid attention to certain knolls which lay along om* road. 
 We, however, did not trouble ourselves about such a small 
 matter, but continued to gallop straight ahead, like wolves. 
 "We had gone good live miles in this way when the marshal 
 caught sight of a poor pedlar, going along with his box of 
 wares on his back, and made a dash at him. 
 
 Meetings of this kind were his delight. It is impossible to
 
 392 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TIIIEBAULT 
 
 imagine anything more minute than his questions, more horrible 
 than his threats, more cruel than the means he employed. 
 Whatever ausM'er the poor wretches might give, they were 
 carried off and locked up, while, in spite of their tears, their 
 prayers, their despau', what became of them and their goods 
 Heaven only knew. The marshal was always inclined to 
 suspect the worst ; and as with him suspicion was tantamount 
 to proof, all these poor devils were spies, and only escaped 
 with their lives by miracle. In the present case, two troopers 
 at once took off the man's load and brought him up. All 
 this time the marshal had been looking in an absent way at 
 each of his companions, ending with me. " It would be a 
 funny prize for the Cossacks," he said to me; "just one officer 
 of every rank " — which was true — from himself to a sub- 
 lieutenant, and even to a sergeant and a corporal in command 
 of the escort. "Your Excellency is well aware," I said, 
 " that the capture would not be complete. You are admirably 
 mounted, and I not badly; but our suite would not share 
 that advantage." He dropped the joke, and taking me for 
 interpreter began his questions. The first personal inquiries 
 the man answered clearly ; but when I asked him if he had 
 seen any troops where he had been, of what country and 
 what arms, who commanded them, where the Crown Prince of 
 Sweden was, if there was any talk of a battle, what was said 
 about the result of it, nothing could be extracted from him 
 but " Ich weiss nicht — icli hale nichts gcsehcn." " Oh ! he knows 
 nothing, he has seen nothing, has not he ? " returned the 
 marshal in a rage. " Tell him that that is because he does 
 not choose to know, and has been paid to say he has not seen. 
 He is not prowling about Schwerin for trade ; he is a spy, 
 and I shall have his package burnt and himself shot." These 
 threats only produced a fresh denial. " Tie him to a horse's 
 tail and bring him along ! " roared the marshal, putting his 
 own horse into a trot and taking the road back to Schwerin. 
 But to tie up the man, who would have struggled, somebody 
 must have dismounted ; four or five minutes would have been 
 lost, and we should have to make up our minds to going 
 rather slowly. Taking him uj) on a horse would have had the
 
 INACTIVITY 393 
 
 same result, and cii'cumstanees led to his Ijeing left behind — 
 that is, escaping ; for just then the marshal seemed to perceive 
 that he was not on very secure ^Tound. From a trot he 
 rapidly passed into a full gallop. Never did an escort kee]> 
 closer to the person it was escorting. The two generals, the 
 six staff-officers, the troopers and all formed a single group 
 round the marshal ; but before long I was his only companion. 
 We reached the camp at the full stretch of our animals. 
 That we had escaped was a wonder, for we had gone more 
 than a mile beyond a forest which was a haunt of the 
 Cossacks, and I do not know how it came to pass that our 
 retreat was not cut off. 
 
 On September 2, in the midst of perfect tranquillity, Davout 
 got the first news of Oudinot's defeat at CJross-Beeren. It 
 might have been thought that he would also have been told that 
 Ney had taken Oudinot's place, and was going to try his luck 
 once more against Bernadotte ; in which case our co-operation 
 was more called for than ever. But my orders were to start at 
 two o'clock and cover the retreat of the army, returning by 
 another road to the point where we had started. 1 marched by 
 Gadebusch to Eatzeburg, where the marshal's headquarters were 
 fixed, and there found orders to take all the reserve park at 
 that place, and retm-n by MoUn to Lauenburg. Here I found 
 General Gengoult and the 61st, and for the first time had all my 
 division under my orders. I took up a position with them ou 
 the right bank of the Stecknitz and on the heights of Biichen, 
 across the Schwarzenbek road, and not far from Lauenburg and 
 Boizenburg.
 
 394 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEDAULT 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Eetreat — After Leipzig — Hamburg blockaded— Bernadotte's scheme and 
 what became of it — Firing on the white flag — Restoration of the 
 Bourbons — A snub for a royalist — Back to France for the last time. 
 
 The instruction of my division made daily progress, and the 
 campaign, short and miserable though it had Ijeen, had accus- 
 tomed the men to war. I had fourteen battalions under my 
 command ; and when I remembered what Massena had done in 
 1797 with a division of almost similar strength, I thought I 
 might profit by the lessons of that great captain to extend the 
 field of possible strategic calculations, and began to think over 
 all the combinations, whether for attack or defence, of which 
 the ground admitted. But it was written that never again 
 should I have an outbreak of zeal, a hope of success, an oppor- 
 tunity of showing what I could do, without its being snatched 
 from me. I had accordingly enjoyed my enviable position for 
 barely fifteen hours when I received orders to hand over the 
 command of my troops to General Vichery, in exchange for his, 
 and go and resume command at Lubeck. 
 
 I could recall nothing in my conduct during our inroad into 
 Mecklenburg which could justify a snub, if my recall to 
 Lubeck w\as to be regarded as such. I had, as the marshal 
 ■desired, carried out the evacuation of Schwerin in such a way 
 that the enemy did not become aware of it for twelve hours ; 
 and the marshal had ^vritten to express his satisfaction. There 
 was, therefore, nothing to account for his taking a step dis- 
 agreeable to me ; nor, indeed, was he the man to gild a pill. 
 "With him, the absence of blame was equivalent to praise, 
 so I could but take as good value the words of the order whicli 
 implied that I was sent there because I was wanted there. 
 Still, I was none the less dissatisfied with the change, and
 
 AT LUBECK AGAIN 305 
 
 determiued to have it out with the marshal Ijefure I proceeded 
 to Lul)eck. He merely paraphrased his order, and added, 
 " You know the country hy heart. You are appreciated ai 
 Luheck. No one will be so useful there as you." 
 
 When about to mount on my way back, I met General 
 Loison. He was furious, and his wrath was no less energetic 
 than eloquent. Of all the generals 1 have known, Vandamme 
 and Loison were the two who spoke most fluently and forcibly. 
 " If you see me here again," he said, "it is not the marshal's 
 fault. If I had followed his orders, my division would have 
 been lost. To have evacuated Schwerin without securing my 
 retreat is disgraceful — infamous ! But," he resumed, in the 
 sardonic tone habitual with him, "what can you expect 
 of a chief who cannot be made to see that he would have 
 sacrificed me ? " 
 
 I reached Lubeck on September 6, and occupied myself with 
 the defences of the place and other matters, including the 
 execution of the marshal's orders to send vast quantities of pro- 
 visions to Hamburg. Before long I began to be more con- 
 cerned with the fear that the marshal might give the enemy 
 time to cut off his retreat, and even form the idea of shutting 
 himself up in Hamburg. The recent disasters had made it 
 obvious that the time had more than come to give up the 
 system of dispersing troops which had been so fatal to us. It 
 was urgently necessary for us to fall back, either to unite with 
 the Emperor or to cover his flank. Xothing, however, gave any 
 indication that the marshal troubled his head about the matter, 
 but it was so important that it was a positive duty to take some 
 kind of initiative. The perplexity was to know how to enter 
 upon questions of such a delicate kind with so touchy and rough 
 a man. Loison was the only person who, from his seniority, his 
 power of ready and nervous expression, and the kind of habit 
 of free speech which he had retained, could undertake at a pinch 
 to bring the marshal to discuss what the interest of the army, of 
 the Emperor and of France enjoined, and I resolved to have 
 some talk with him on the subject. I obtained leave to go to 
 Eatzeburg on the morning of the 22nd ; three hours later I was 
 with Loison. We had an exhaustive discussion of the subject
 
 ,390 2IEM0IBS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 which had brought me, and we decided that he shouhl allow me 
 time to talk to the marshal about the matters which formed the 
 pretext for my excursion, but that at the moment of my leaving 
 him, he, Loison, should take my place, and that I should not go 
 back till I heard the result of his confidence. All this was 
 carried out, but Loison could do nothing. " I do not interpret 
 orders, and I form no opinion as to intentions," had replied this 
 creature, as we called him. "The Emperor has ordered me to 
 keep Hamburg, and I shall defend that place till the last 
 extremity; besides, so long as Magdeburg, Hamburg, and 
 Dantzig hold out, the Emperor has lost nothing." " But," 
 returned Loison, " do not circumstances seem to you sufficiently 
 serious for you to set forth your doubts and ask for fresh 
 orders ? " " The Emperor does not need anybody's advice ; as 
 for orders, I wait for them — I never invite them." Seeing it was 
 impossible to produce any impression on the marshal's well- 
 tried obstinacy, I thought I might at least press the matter 
 upon Loison. " Do not you yourself," I rejoined, " think that 
 you ought to ^\^:ite to the Prince of Neuchatel, telling the 
 marshal when you have done it ? " " Oh, dear, no ! Let them 
 settle the matter — it concerns them more than us. You will see, 
 however, that we shall end by being blockaded at Hamburg, 
 and that for want of food we shall be captured without honour 
 or glory." 
 
 On October 18 the battle of Leipzig took place. The terrible 
 news of this last gigantic struggle which ISTapoleon was to wage 
 reached us with all the rapidity which our enemies secured in. 
 the spreading of it. If anything, even at that moment, had 
 happened to the marshal, Loison would have taken command of 
 the army ; in two days we could have fallen back upon Hamburg, 
 and by the 25th w^e might have been at Bremen with over 
 30,000 men ; the whole garrison of Magdeburg might have joined 
 us, and we could have retired either to Wesel or to Antwerp. 
 But Napoleon's madness was complicated Ijy Davout's stupidity. 
 All the fires of the infernal regions would not have sufficed to 
 enlighten the marshal upon what was obvious to everybody, and 
 the question which everyone was uttering all around him, 
 " "What business have we to be here ? " was for him only
 
 AFTER LEIPZIG 397 
 
 evidence of iuatlciiuacy and cowardice. Imj)erturbable in his 
 thick hide, he still remained convinced that so long as 
 Magdeburg, Dantzig, and Haniljurg held out, the Emperor had 
 lost nothing ; douljtless, too, he still dreamt no less confidently 
 of the throne of Poland as the reward of the fresh services 
 which he fancied himself to be still rendering, when he was 
 consummating Napoleon's ruin. 
 
 On November 2 the order of the day informed the troops 
 that, communications with Wesel being cut, the corps could no 
 longer rely on their depots, and that the generals must at once 
 hold inspections to ascertain the state of clothing and shoes. 
 On the 4th I received a dispatch containing orders to go at once 
 to Hamburg, where I should receive further instructions. The 
 command of the troops and the governorship of the country 
 I- was to hand over to General Lallemand. 
 
 I cannot refrain from the admission that since the collapse 
 of Leipzig my ideas had undergone a change. The army which 
 the Emperor had succeeded in remaking had been split up, 
 beaten, and cut to pieces till it had no longer a fifth of its 
 number with which to face enemies elated by victory. Could 
 France, in spite of her exhaustion and with all the. confidence 
 and dash gone out of her, still undertake a national war ? Such 
 a war could have no result unless protracted, and of this the 
 strength and fury of our enemies allowed no hope. Lastly, 
 considering that Napoleon could not have any more losses or 
 commit another mistake without lieing done for, while the 
 allies could still commit plenty with impunity, I despaired for 
 the first time of the success of our arms and the safety of our 
 country, while the possible interests of my family took, for the 
 first time in my life, the first place in my thoughts. At the 
 moment of shipwreck the individual separates himself from the 
 crowd until nothing remains which he is not ready to sacrifice 
 to his own interests. 
 
 To return to the command which liad l)een forced upon me 
 at Hamburg. As the result of the personal feelings which had 
 suddenly taken possession of me, I could only resign myself to 
 it by force, and, resigned as I was, I wished for some further 
 opinion than my own to decide what I had to do. Accordingly,
 
 398 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 after having made all mv arrancrements for leaviiifr Lubeck the 
 next morning, I went off in the evening to Eatzeburg, incognito, 
 to see Loison, whom I thought I had better consult as to what 
 I owed to my rank and to myself. " Confidence for confidence," 
 said he, " I have had something to do with this decision ; and, if 
 I did not advise it, I at least suggested it, for it was not the 
 marshal's own idea. But you may be sure that he has adopted 
 it so fully that he will not abandon it, and what greater mark 
 of confidence would you have him show you or to whom could 
 he show it better than to you ? Our safety or our destruction 
 will not depend upon musketry or cannon-shots, now that the 
 marshal has left us no other part to play than that of garrison- 
 ing a useless town. They will not attack us in Hamburg with 
 36,000 men to defend it, nor will they burn a town of that 
 importance. "We shall not, however, be delivered unless we 
 can wait till some one comes for us, and no one will come unless 
 we are worth an effort. So we must manage to live there and 
 to keep enough men to make a good show. The M^hole question 
 of our future is, therefore, \\Tapped up in that of subsistence, 
 and this cannot remain in the charge of a commissary-general 
 and his subordinates. None of the existing officials are capable 
 of the task, and the marshal came back from Hamburg in much 
 perplexity where to find a man possessing zeal and intelligence 
 as well as strength of character and rank sufficient to make an 
 impression ; in naming you I put an end to his uncertainty." 
 There was no more to be said, and on the next day but one 
 I was at Hamburg. My thoughts on the way thither were 
 melancholy enough as I reflected on the recent events, attended 
 as they had been by the annihilation of all our glories. I made 
 an effort to review them without undue favour or severity. 
 jSTapoleon was too gigantic to admit of the one and too much 
 identified with France to justify the other. My conclusion was 
 that if General Bonaparte, the Bonaparte of Italy, Egypt, 
 Marengo, had passed judgement on ISTapoleon's campaign of 1813, 
 he would doubtless have approved its opening, but would have 
 condemned, and have been shocked at, the whole sequel of the 
 operations. If one may exhaust this fancy by applying it to 
 subsequent events, one might say that Bonaparte would have
 
 IN COMMAND AT HAMBURG 390 
 
 found himsolf again on the plains of Champagne, l)ut have 
 failed to recognise himself immediately afterwards ; while at 
 Lio^^J) Quatre Bras, Waterloo, Paris, Lorient, he would have 
 deemed himself to have outlived his own identity. 
 
 Thus I journeyed, sorely discouraged, towards Hamljurg, 
 while the heroic remnants of the Grand Army were illustrating- 
 their disastrous retreat to the Ehine by one more victory at 
 Hanau. I was only to leave that city under the standard of 
 the lilies borne Ijy princes mounted on Cossacks' horses — 
 princes who, in their desire to stifle liberty, were to do for 
 licence all that Napoleon, while respecting equality, had done 
 for authority. 
 
 [The details of tlie blockade of Hamburg must be passed over for want of 
 sjiace ; nor are they calculated to interest the general reader. It may be 
 mentioned that General Thiebault was president of this "Committee of 
 Svibsistence," with special charge of the stores of grain, flour, etc. ; and was 
 also in command of the defences on the north-east front of the town. The 
 Elbe front was under the charge of General Vichery, the south-west 
 front imder that of General Loison, Avho also looked after the distribution of 
 provisions. Food never ran short, nor were there any military operations of 
 importance. The theatre was open and operas were often given, the princijial 
 performer being Mme Fodor-Mainvielle, who afterwards had some reputation 
 in Paris. After the performances it was Davout's custom to hold a council 
 of his generals and other officials. Thiebault describes one of these :] 
 
 The marshal walked up and down the room without saying 
 a word, the rest of the company being seated round the room 
 on chairs, a little distance apart. He looked at no one, 
 and made no movement save occasionally to lift one hand 
 to his bald head and scrub it vigorously, apparently with the 
 object of stimulating his always refractory thoughts. Then he 
 would stop in front of one of us, push his spectacles up on his 
 forehead, and ask a question. A few words would be exchanged, 
 and he M'ould resume his w^alk. When, as usually happened, 
 he had no subjects for discussion and no orders to give, he 
 would fall foul of either the commissary-general of the 13th 
 Corps, or the prefect, Baron de Breteuil. In the case of the 
 former, we were only distressed by the marshal's bad manners ; 
 but M. de Breteuil was an excellent man, in general esteem, 
 and it made one indignant to see the marshal plant himself
 
 400 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 in front of him and say, " Xow, M. de Breteiiil, of what use 
 are you ? Pray tell me what I can do with a prefect ? A 
 ilrummer would be of more use to me. You eat the soldiers' 
 l)read and do nothing for it." The baron was too polite to put 
 him to confusion with any of the obvious repartees, and did 
 not like to go so far as to say, " I am paying my share for your 
 blunders " ; but his attendances became fewer and fewer. 
 
 However, if he made an exhibition of others, he sometimes 
 made one of himself. I remember one of these meetings when 
 he afforded us a most perfect comedy. I quite forget what the 
 business was, but an order had to be drawn up. After re- 
 stating the subject ten times over, eliciting a good many 
 observations or objections wliich he perhaps understood, 
 perhaps did not, which he forgot, remembered, or distorted, 
 and finally making up his mind, he wished to dictate the order 
 — did dictate it, indeed, but in such a fashion that when the 
 secretary read what he had just written there was no sense in 
 it. Even the marshal himself noticed this, and cried, " That's 
 not it! Tear up what you have written, and take another 
 sheet of paper." A fresh dictation followed, which came to 
 rather less than the first. The third was even worse. At 
 first we had looked at each other out of the corners of our 
 eyes ; presently some furtive smiles played on our lips. At 
 the third test of our gravity we began to Ijite them. Then 
 the marshal stopped, and, pointing to the table, said to me, 
 " General Thiebault, sit down there. You know what I mean ; 
 but you know too that out of every twenty things I say 
 nineteen are always stupid." I hastened to the table to avoid 
 exploding, and, bending over my paper to conceal or suppress 
 my feelings, I drafted for him the order which he meant to 
 give. He signed it, and so this most ridiculous but most 
 diverting meeting ended. That speech was a lasting joy 
 <lurin<T the rest of the siege, and long afterwards. Loison, 
 AVatier, and I never met without the first speaker saying, 
 " But you know quite well that out of every twenty things I 
 say " — and another would complete it straightway — " Nineteen 
 fire always stupid." 
 
 I relieved some of the tedium of the siege by finishing a
 
 HAMBURG BLOCKADED 401 
 
 novel which I had begun to ^\Tite in Spain,* and by having 
 my portrait painted by the professor of painting at the 
 Hamburg Academy. Two years ago I heard that this portrait 
 was still in the private room of a member of the Hamburg 
 Senate. 
 
 Meantime, while shut up in Hamburg, we were depriving 
 France of so many defenders. The marshal continued to 
 appear quite satisfied with the course he had taken, and his 
 mistakes lasted until the arrival of a spy, who had been 
 delayed overlong outside the town, bearing a letter from 
 the Minister for Wtir. At that moment Loison was with the 
 marshal. The fact of his being present when the dispatch 
 was received, made it necessary to confide in him, and, besides, 
 the marshal was quite capable of not suspecting the nature of 
 the message sent him with so much difficulty and danger. It 
 is possible even that he expected compliments on his deter- 
 mination and on his conduct. Anyhow, when alone with 
 Loison he began to read the dispatch aloud. After that there 
 was no stopping, and Loison had to be put in possession of the 
 whole of Clarke's composition, enjoining in very harsh terms 
 a retreat which had now become impossible. It began with 
 these words : " What are you doing at Hamburg, marshal, 
 while the enemy is at the gates of Paris ? " The marshal 
 seemed quite cast down. Loison, who on the former occasion 
 had not been able to vanquish his self-willed pride, and induce 
 him to take the step which he was now blamed for not having 
 taken, was obliged to cheer him up by representing that no 
 one could hold him responsible for the non-execution of orders 
 that he had not received, and that the only thing to be done 
 now was to make the best of the irrevocable. 
 
 One extremely important recollection is connected with this 
 period. Bernadotte was dissatisfied with the way in which the 
 heads of the Coalition treated him. In spite of his own 
 victories, and the part he had played at Leipzig, he was afraid 
 that, after having helped to dethrone Napoleon, he might be 
 turned off the throne of Sweden. His armv was no lontjer in 
 
 * [No inentit.)!! of this novel is to be fuuml in the list of Tliiebault's 
 published works.] 
 
 VOL. II. 2 D
 
 402 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 the front line, but was dragging along in the rear of the armies 
 which had crossed the Ehine. This was an ignominious 
 position, and moreover it was dangerous, and, under the 
 influence of fear or ill-humour, suggested to him the idea of 
 collecting under his command all that was left of our garrisons 
 in the north or on the Elbe and Ehine, uniting them with his 
 own troops, and raising the standard against the Coalition. 
 Then, returning to France at the head of his own Swedes and 
 100,000 French saved by him, he would take the hostile 
 armies in rear and annihilate them ; afterwards, as his reward 
 for this great service, taking the place of Napoleon on the 
 throne of France. But, in order for the execution of this 
 plan to be possible, it would have to be adopted by Marshal 
 Davout, since not only had he the strongest force imder him, 
 but also because he was the only person of sufficient rank and 
 reputation to carry with him the other commanders of army 
 corps and fortresses. But where was anyone to be found who 
 would venture to approach the marshal with a plan of this 
 kind ? How was he to be got at ? 
 
 Now the person to whom Bernadotte applied for this im- 
 portant business was one Eainville, formerly an aide-de-camp of 
 Dumouriez, now a hotel-keeper at Altona. He accepted the 
 post of go-between, went to Hamburg, and called upon Loison. 
 Feeling strongly the seriousness of our position, and considering 
 the profound impression which Clarke's letter had made upon 
 the marshal, who had been reprimanded by an obscure general 
 of division for his conduct as commander-in-chief, Loison 
 advised Eainville to carry out his errand, promised to support 
 the proposal if the marshal consulted him, and added that, as 
 no one belonging to the army could take the initiative in such 
 a matter, he, Eainville, as a naturalized Dane, was the only person 
 who could undertake to open the subject. Thus encouraged, 
 Eainville presented himself to the marshal. He began by 
 what was merely an introduction ; but, when it became 
 necessary to touch on the real subject of his errand, he 
 suddenly began to think of the marshal's short way with 
 people, his fancy for executions of this kind, his terrible 
 provost-marshal, and I know not how many instances of
 
 BERNADOTTE'S SCHEME 403 
 
 persons shot without trial. Terrified by the idea that his 
 fate depended on a moment of ill-temper, on a whim, on 
 policy, and shuddering at the idea of taking his life in las 
 hand against such an adversary, this diplomat, whose daring 
 was not equal to the excellence of his catering, ran away from, 
 rather than look his leave of, the marshal, and left Hamburg, 
 hardly giving himself time to tell Loison, who was waiting to 
 hear the result of the confidence, that the marshal's character 
 and reputation had prevented him from breaking silence. 
 Thus vanished that hope, if such it might be called. 
 
 As the news became more grievous, Loison's anger against 
 Eainville increased. When we heard of the abdication, he 
 spoke of the errand which Eainville had not had the courage 
 to discharge, and the marshal exclaimed, " Eainville is an 
 ass ! " But this proved nothing. It requires more foresight 
 and judgement than Marshal Davout possessed to seize the 
 right moment for such plans. At present he was the Emperor's 
 enthusiastic servant, and before he would have changed sides 
 it was necessary, as indeed he showed, that he should have 
 seen no further chance of escape, eitlier by victory or by a 
 treaty, and that he should have been in no danger of being 
 compromised, not only by having rejected Bernadotte's proposal, 
 but also by not having shot his enemy. These considerations 
 mitigated the regret w^hich Eainville's pusillanimity or prudence 
 caused me. 
 
 There were also insurmountable difficulties in the way of the 
 execution of that scheme. Bemadotte, no doubt, would have 
 played a heroic and decisive par^vhich would have iilfii(iti(.Ml 
 his name for ever with that of France if he had undertaken, on 
 her behalf alone, what he had planned U^ do f(U- liiniself. In 
 that case he would have been certain of success against the 
 allies, but not sufficiently so against Xapoleon, who would 
 never have forgiven him for saving France from the perils, the 
 misfortunes, the disgrace into which he had himself drafjtied 
 her. But it was not in Bernadotte's nature thus to win the 
 title of "the greatest citizen of the world" any more than it 
 was in Napoleon's nature to recompense such a service. 
 Bemadotte thought only of himself. He only wished to ex- 
 " ^^ ' 2 D 2
 
 404 MEMO JUS OF GENERAL TBIEBAVLT 
 
 change the throne of Sweden for the possible reversion of the 
 cro-vvTi of France, and from the moment that he appeared 
 merely as an ambitious usurper he was not of sufficient calibre 
 to take the place of his rival. Eeduced thus to a mere dream 
 of ambition, the only chance for Bernadotte's plan seemed to 
 me to have been that a majority of the heads of the Coalition 
 mi"ht have been willinci; to sacrifice their resentment against 
 him in order to get rid of Napoleon. But then the " King of 
 Eome " came to the front ; the Emperor of Austria would have 
 been all the more disposed to support the rights of his grandson, 
 as promising a prolongation of his daughter's regency, and 
 France would have as much preferred a Napoleon to Bernadotte 
 as she w^ould have preferred a Cossack to one of the leaders of 
 the Emigration. If I may judge of others from myself, we 
 should have been only too glad for Bernadotte to get us out of 
 Hamburg and take us back to the aid of France; but, once 
 within touch of the armies that were covering Paris, no power 
 on earth could have prevented us from joining them. 
 
 When day broke on May 9, 1814, the enemy's lines on the 
 Harburg front were draped wdth white flags. No sooner did 
 the marshal hear of this than, in spite of the rumours which 
 were spreading and gaining credit, he gave orders to fire on 
 these flags. In less than a quarter of an hour they were all 
 down; and if some men in the army maintained that the 
 hoisting of these w^hite rags was a dodge to deceive us and sow 
 dissension among us, the greater number were by no means 
 reassured. Moreover, fresh flags soon appeared, out of range 
 of our shot, and this seemed significant. We began to think 
 that it might not have been wise to knock over the first lot, 
 if what they portended really came to pass. Anyhow, this 
 manner of teasing us went on till one in the morning of the 
 10th, when we w^ere ordered to meet at once at the marshal's 
 for a communication of the highest importance. We went, as 
 may be supposed, with promptitude, and found him striding 
 about, his agitation so natural that it w^as clear something 
 extraordinary had happened. As soon as the last general of 
 division had arrived, the marshal said, "Gentlemen, the 
 Emperor has abdicated on behalf of himself and his family.
 
 THE WHITE FLAG 405 
 
 France returns to the sway of the Bourbons." After a silence 
 which no one interrupted he proceeded : " This news is certain. 
 A relation of my own whom the provisional government at 
 Paris has sent with a message to me has just brought it, 
 together with an order to communicate it at once to the troops, 
 to make them take the white cockade, recognise Louis Xavier 
 de Bourbon as king under the style of Louis XVIII, and to 
 make the anny sign an act of allegiance. On this table lie 
 copies of the Monitcur relating to these events ; read them and 
 then we will confer." Therewith he left us, and we devoured 
 rather than read everything connected with these two gigantic 
 events. In half an hour the marshal returned, and, as he 
 seemed to wish to know what we thought of the terrible news, 
 and no one else was in a huiTy to reply, I spoke as follows : 
 " One cannot give an opinion upon accomplished facts over 
 which one has no power. As for Louis XVIII, let us hope the 
 best of his wasdom. As for Napoleon, if we had escaped the 
 disaster which, owing to him, is now come upon us, we should 
 have undergone it next year ; or, if we Iiad escaped it next year, 
 we should have undergone it the year after. Since the disaster 
 was bound to come sooner or later, better to-day than to-morrow 
 — the abyss is not so deep." A kind of " agreed " was expressed 
 in the faces and the gestures of the majority of the bystanders. 
 
 "We did not break up till six in the morning. It was 
 decided to send an address from the generals to the king, and I 
 was commissioned to prepare it. At nine we met again, and 
 I read my draft. "That will do," said the marshal, and the 
 rest agreed. The duty of conveying it to Paris was entrusted to 
 General Delcambre. 
 
 On May II General Foucher of the artillery amved at 
 Hamburg, with the title of lioyal Commissioner to the 
 13th Corps. He brought the news that the Prince of Eckmiihl 
 was succeeded in the command of it by Lieutenant-General 
 Coimt Gerard. His supersession, as well as the choice of 
 General Foucher for the mission, astonished and distressed us. 
 Foucher had no services nor merit of any kind, and his selection 
 could only be the result of an intrigue. The supersession of the 
 marshal, too, seemed q^uite uncalled for. He might have at least
 
 406 MEMOIBS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 been allowed time to declare himself. This insult to a man 
 before he had been put to the test was an offence to the whole 
 army, and seemed to us all the more serious that it gave 
 evidence of a contempt for all good manners, a hostile disposi- 
 tion towards the army, and a precipitation betokening more 
 passion than wisdom. What guarantee remained to generals 
 and subalterns alike when one of their chiefs of highest rank 
 ■was condemned unheard ? 
 
 The marshal gave us a dinner next day, and could not well 
 
 avoid inviting Foucher. In the course of the meal this general 
 
 by favom- of the Emperor carried his ostentatious royalism to 
 
 5 the point of saying, "I should be prouder of being appointed 
 
 (lieutenant by Louis XVIII than I am of having been ap- 
 pointed lieutenant-general by Bonaparte ! " The w^ords were 
 J received with cries of " Oh ! oh ! " and I noticed them by 
 saying, "Anyone who makes a remark of that kind can have 
 ; nothing to be proud of in any of his steps." Everyone looked 
 at him, but his silence showed that the cap fitted. After dinner 
 everyone avoided him, and he presently took his leave. 
 
 Before parting from the marshal, we decided, as a protest 
 against the insult that had been offered him, to give him a dinner 
 at Eainville's. At first we settled not to ask Eoucher, but he 
 heard of it, and persuaded Vichery, the only one of us who was 
 on terms with him, to speak for him. Vichery succeeded in 
 getting an invitation for Foucher, but this only saved His 
 Majesty's Commissioner from one snub to inflict another upon 
 him ; such an one, indeed, as no other would have borne. He 
 was placed a long way from the marshal and hardly noticed. 
 
 After dinner, on our return from Altona, we betook ourselves 
 to the theatre. I was in my box with my aides-de-camp when 
 General Cesar de Laville came in. " Would you believe it ? " 
 said he, unable to refrain from laughing — "after all that has 
 passed. General Foucher carried his familiarity so far as to go 
 to the prince's box. But he will not have anything to boast of, 
 for hardly had he entered when the prince got up, went to him, 
 and said, ' General, you can only have come here to bore me or 
 to insult me. If it is to insult me, I am a lieutenant-general 
 like yourself; if it is to bore me, I declare to you that, as I am
 
 THE GLOltY DEPABTED 407 
 
 here to amuse myself, if you do not go at once I will kick you 
 out ! ' And he went without a word. He did right, for the 
 marshal was about to take him by the shoulders and turn him 
 out." In order to prolong the joke, I made my way at once to 
 the marshal's box, going in as though I were looking for General 
 Foucher, with the remark that I thought I had seen him enter. 
 No more was wanted to smooth everyone's brow, except the 
 marshal's, which was not to be smoothed so easily. 
 
 General Gerard anived on the 24th, and the mar-shal departed 
 on the 26th, marching with the first column, which I also 
 accompanied to the lihine. After the gnratuitous outrage that 
 had been done to him, and from the day when his supersession 
 was announced, though I had never before appeared in his 
 house except when sent for or invited, I went every morning to 
 pay my respects to him, and I continued to do so till we 
 reached Diisseldorf on June 10. Xext morning I took my final 
 leave of him, and I never again set foot in his house as long as 
 he lived. Leaving him to march on, I went to Paris by post. 
 
 The Ehine, our natural frontier, lately ours by conquest, was 
 Prussian ; Prussians were still guarding French fortresses, and 
 it was with a shudder that I saw them at home where we had 
 lately been. When I reached Valenciennes and found myself 
 again in France, it seemed to me that I was in a land bestowed 
 on us by charity or left as a loan at high interest. If I saw 
 French soldiers again, their noble standards had disappeared 
 with our military renown, and the white flag, the white 
 cockades, for me so far from spotless, appeared" to me only as 
 stained with defeat and disgrace.
 
 40S MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Our new rulers — "A halt iu the mud" — The Duke of Orleans — The 
 Hundred Days — The Bourbons' last defender — Napoleon's return — The 
 final collapse — Gassicourt's story — The end of our greatness. 
 
 . Twenty-three years of terrible wars, begun with so much 
 heroism, carried on so unflinchingly and gloriously, ended by 
 blunders so great and disasters so appalling, had produced 
 
 J fatigue, exhaustion, disgust, anger. There had been an 
 unanimous wish for peace, and peace had been obtained, but in 
 the calm of repose the sentiment of honour resumed its rights. 
 Having come to ourselves, we could fathom the depth of the 
 abyss into which we had been hurled, and measure the dis- 
 tance from the giant whom we had lost to the man who took 
 his place. Great errors, doubtless, had marked and had brought 
 about the end of his mighty reign, but with him there had 
 been great hopes and a future in view, while those who figured 
 in his place offered neither security nor hope. No one could 
 venture to expect anything from a family in which the "only 
 man was a woman, and which was driven astray by the rage 
 for vengeance. Then what forebodings did we not reach when 
 our thoughts stayed on the heir to the crown of Louis XVI, 
 and on those who seemed certain to be his successors ; the first 
 of these a prince who, in his youth, had scandalized the world 
 by his profligacy and extravagance, whose conduct during the 
 war had made his own partisans proclaim "ETs cowardice. 
 
 The opinion to this effect, which was manifest in 1814, was, 
 as is well known, justified by the future. Xo one remained 
 more strange to France and her affairs than Charles X. His 
 reply to a man who pointed out to him that the encroachments 
 of the priests were opposed to all the interests of France is
 
 THE NEW RULERS 409 
 
 well known : " It is a question of my salvation and not of 
 France." As for his sons, or those \vlii) wriv i illcil so,* — one an 
 imSeciIe, the oth er a b oor — they played their parts in sucT a 
 way as"to afford means to judge alike both of their dangerous 
 dispositions and of their profound incapacity to do anything 
 except become unpopular in France. 
 
 The man who had contributed jnost to their restoration, and 
 who made the most efforts to keep them within proper limits, 
 so that he might be able to keep them on the throne, in the 
 hope of reigning in their name, was M. de Talle^Tand. Having 
 lost the Emperor's favour, and offended by l)uing kept out of 
 public aftairs, he hoped to find in the Eestoration a means of 
 appeasing his vengeance and playing a great part. The story ' 
 told with reference to his disgrace is that his treachery having 
 been proved by authentic documents, which The "Emperor had 
 under his hand, the Emperor sent for him with a view to his 
 confusion and utter ruuiY Fut having be[:nn T)y~ovenvIierming 
 him Witli reproaches and insults, and ha^'ing shouted loud 
 enougH to be heard, he deemed him sufficiently punished, or 
 perhaps" thought it as well, with such a man, to leave some 
 opening for reconciliation, and so sent him away without touch- 
 ing on the real reason of his wrath. This crafty personage, 
 perceiving from the inquiring and spiteful looks of those before 
 whom he had to pass on his way out that they were searching 
 in his face for traces of the tempest which he had passed 
 through, said, " What a pity that so great a man should be so 
 ill-ljred ! " — and the laufjh was again on his side. '"^" 
 
 Or~a truth, the good advice and the pretty wit of M. de 
 Talleyra"nd~c6uld not save princes who, as !N"apoleon said, had 
 in five^nd-twenty years of deserved misfortune learnt nothing 
 and forgotten nothing. They insulted the army, they dis- 
 missed all the respectable officials, they snatched away all 
 that could be snatched from a nation that had already been 
 
 * It is well known that the father of the Duke of Berri was supposed to 
 be the son of the postmaster at Agen, a sturdy fellow employed as a counter- 
 jumper at Bordeaux. Certainly there was nothing of the Bourbon about the 
 Duke of Berri ; he was strong and thick-set, heavy-shouldered, short-neckeil, 
 with neither dignity, grace, nor elegance, wit or good manners.
 
 410 MEMOIBS OF GENEBAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 despoiled. Less than this would have been the ruin of 
 Napoleon at the height of his power and renown. Discontent 
 became general, and everyone became the mouthpiece of it. 
 One day an emigre, entering the Tuileries, stopped in front of 
 the sentry and said, " Well, you're satisfied now — you get your 
 advances to the day, whereas under Bonaparte everything was 
 in arrear, even to your pay." " And suppose we liked to give 
 him credit ? " retorted the soldier drily, as he turned his back. 
 General Lamarque's phrase to a Bourbonist who was boasting 
 aboutn^he repose which he enjoyed, "This repose is only a 
 halt in the mud," is not less expressive, and forms a terrible 
 pendanf to the remark made by an Englishman to M. de la 
 Ptoserie : " You would not have got the Bourbons if we had had 
 anything worse to give you." '" 
 
 However reserved one might wish to be in taking part in 
 the new political events, it was necessary either to give up 
 everything and cease to live at Paris, or to follow all the 
 generals and marshals who went to the palace, and begin by 
 seeing the Minister for War, on whom we were dependent. 
 That ministry was occupied by General Dupont. Personally, 
 he had always shown me kindness, nor did'T suppose that he 
 would have any reason for ceasing to do so ; but when I heard 
 of his appointment I had not been able to escape the disagree- 
 able impression which it had made on our army. The post had 
 been offered to Count O'Connell, but he refused it because, as 
 he said, it ought not to be held save by a general with an 
 honourable record in the wars of the Eevolution and of the 
 Empire, a condition which General Dupont had ceased to fulfil 
 at Baylen. It was, accordingly, with a painful feeling of 
 antipathy that I called upon him, and the consciousness that I 
 was ill at ease deprived the general himself of the ease which, 
 In fact, he could only have in the presence of men who had no 
 feeling for the honour of their country. The audience, therefore, 
 was short and unimportant. 
 
 My presentations to the king and the other members of the 
 royal family offer nothing worth recording. I need only say 
 that Monsieur* received us with inconceivable grace, as one 
 * [That is, the Count of Artois, afterwards king as Charles X.]
 
 MEETING AN OLD FRIEND 411 
 
 might receive amnestied criminals ; and that Madame dis- 
 played all the harshness apjuuj^iiiilu towards^rehels whom one 
 still hopes to see punished. One prime suceeetled, amid all 
 the iKtsiuiings and meannesses of the Court, in preserving his 
 dignity and commanding esteem. While Louis XYIII, the 
 Count of Artois, the Duke of Berri, even the Prince of Conde, 
 by tfiS^aid of foreign swords, had been doing all they knew 
 to find^'ways of carrying out their plans for the destruction 
 of lib'erty, which they had not been able earlier to realise, the 
 Duke"of Orleans formed an exception which public opinion 
 gratefully recognised, and his past conduct was imputed to 
 him "as so much in his favour. The story of his wanderings 
 and travels is well known. He returned with a great stock 
 of observations and recollections, which formed fresh stores 
 for his incredible memory. No man ever gained so much 
 accomplishment from misfortune. It a\uuLI be ditUcult to 
 express what I felt on first meeting him again. All our old 
 relations and the wonderful vicissitudes of the intervening 
 period came before me in a rapid vision, and the kindness with 
 which he received me, siu-passing all I could have hoped, 
 added to the impression. After referring to the events at 
 Tournai (but not to his unfortunate note, of which I on my side 
 said notliing), and expressing his regrets for the death of my 
 father, he questioned me as to my intention of seeking further 
 employment. Again my stupid awkwardness, as on all other 
 occasions when I was questioned about myself, showed itself, 
 and, instead of telling him what was no less simple than easy 
 to say — that the possibility of entering his ser\dce would exceed 
 any hopes that I could frame — I merely answered that I had 
 not yet made up my mind. I learnt afterwards from M. 
 Pieyre that not only might I easily have become aide-de-camp 
 to the duke, but that he had even thought of suggesting it, 
 and the only obstacle was the way in which I had held aloof. 
 
 Meanwhile, Xapoleon was watching from Elba the course of 
 events and calculating the progress of the general exasperation. 
 In order to take action, he was waiting only for the dissolution 
 of the Congress of Vienna and the dispersion of the sovereigns 
 there assembled. But an incident, disastrous in the highest
 
 412 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 degree, compelled his premature departure from Elba. I refer 
 to the rebellion of the Count of Erlon and the march of that 
 general on Paris.* On March 7, 1815, I had gone to bed at 
 half-past one, after executing the deed of conveyance of a 
 property ^^•hich I had just bought at Eichelieu, in the depart- 
 ment of Indre-et-Loire. On waking seven hours later I heard 
 that Napoleon had landed. My consternation may be imagined. 
 I did not, certainly, reckon myseK among the partisans of the 
 Bourbons, being too much of a Frenchman to attach myself 
 to people who were not Frenchmen at all. At the same time, 
 though I had deeply lamented the Emperor's fate, I had not 
 sufficient confidence in him to rejoice at his return. Even 
 granting that he succeeded, could I believe that the result 
 would be anything else than that one man would have his 
 revenge, not that there would be any return of good fortune in 
 the interest of the country? Lastly, as concerned myself, I 
 had no reason to expect from him any more advantages than I 
 had obtained in the days of his greatness and prosperity, when 
 favours and rewards were so freely distributed. The Bourbons 
 caused me no regret ; Napoleon offered me no hope. Devoid 
 alike of ambition and of desire for revenge, solitary in my 
 feelings as in my thoughts, I remained outside of the delirium 
 that possessed France, no less than of the terror which reigned 
 at court. 
 
 Under the pretence of taking part, in an emergency, in the 
 defence of the capital, independently of a few troops, bands of 
 assassins were fetched to Paris from the south and from La 
 Vendee. It was a fresh edition of those wretches from Mar- 
 seilles who, in 1792, had brought about the 10th of August, 
 .and massacred the poor creatures with whom the prisons of 
 Paris were crowded. It was a justification by the Bourbons 
 themselves of the most hideous deeds of the Pievolution. 
 
 * [As the result of an intrigue set on foot by Fouche in the interest of 
 the old revolutionary party, Generals d'Erlon, Lefebvre-Desnoettes, and the 
 brothers Lallemand were to bring troops from the north-east of France, 
 where they were in command, to Paris. D'Erlon, as a matter of fact, did 
 not leave Lille, except to escape prosecution, but the others got as far as 
 Compiegne a few days after Napoleon landed.]
 
 THE HUNDRED DAYS 413 
 
 There was, indeed, no difference, except one of words, between 
 the crimes for which under Charles IX the pretext was Catholi- 
 cism, under the Convention patriotism, under Louis XVIII 
 the destruction of the Liberals and the Bonapartists. Just 
 as at the very worst epochs lists of victims were made 
 out by districts, so, in addition to a few men like the Duke 
 of Bassano, who were important enough to make their removal 
 desirable as soon as possible, and for whose benefit special 
 attempts at assassination were devised or made, the generals, 
 with a few exceptions, were placed on the lists in a body. 
 I was warned that I had not been forgotten. But crimes of 
 this kind, when intended to take effect too widely, usually end 
 in a muddle, so that in the present case two or three nights 
 of danger seemed the worst that I had to expect. Thanks to 
 my friend Eivierre de I'lsle, I had a hiding-place in the office 
 of the Iving's household, and could be almost sure of being 
 warned of the day when I had better sleep away from home. 
 After all, this general execution came to nothing, because it 
 could not do otherwise. Schemes of this kind, when once got 
 wind of, never end in anything but general contempt. 
 
 Events progressed with gigantic steps. Beaching Grenoble 
 with his weak escort, in a moment, owing to the spontaneous 
 impulse of La Bedoyere and his regiment. Napoleon got posses- 
 sion of that place, with all the troops there, and of all the 
 population of Dauphine. Proceeding to Lyons, he found a 
 fresh army there, and there, regarding his colossal undertaking 
 as accomplished, he resumed the sovereign authority, and issued 
 those two famous decrees, dissolving the chambers, summoning 
 the meeting of the Champ de Mai, and all the rest. Every- 
 thing rallied to his call. With the swoop of an eagle he 
 traversed the space which divided him from Paris, and took 
 possession of the capital, whence, as well as from the rest of 
 the kingdom, the friends of the Cossacks had fled before him. 
 
 The King had appointed Marshal Macdonald commander-in- 
 chief of what he was pleased to call his iirmy, with Belliard as 
 his chief of staff. It was not a fortunate selection. His 
 courage was not of the catching kind, and he himself would 
 have chilled the most enthusiastic. "When I called upon him.
 
 414 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 on his return from Lyons, I could not get a serious word out of 
 him. He greeted me with a peal of laughter and with the 
 words, " Well, here we are in a pretty mess. Deuce take me 
 if I know how we shall get out of it 1 " — and other witticisms of 
 the same kind. 
 
 March 19 was a Sunday, and I thought it was my duty to 
 go to the palace. I went there accordingly with the feeling 
 which takes one to the bedside of a dying man. I even took 
 I part in the cheers with w^hich Louis XVIII was greeted at the 
 moment of his leaving the chapel. Thinking that I had done 
 I all that etiquette demanded, I was about to leave the palace 
 " and go home when Marshal Macdonald informed me that I was 
 to take the command ^ all the troops who were about to be 
 sent towards Charenton. I was specially ordered to have 
 a bridge constructed with all speed, below the junction of the 
 Seine and the Marne, to serve as a means of communication and 
 of retreat for the troops encamped at Yillejuif, where the head- 
 quarters were to be placed. I was to defend this bridge, and, 
 if necessary, to blow it up as well as Charenton. Like the man 
 in the Fourheries de Scapin, I constantly repeated to myself, 
 " What business have I in this accursed galley ? " However, 
 I said 'nothing, and went to Belliard immediately to get his 
 orders. At about eight in the evening I got off with my old 
 aide-de-camp. Major Vallier, and reached Charenton, where I 
 took up my headquarters in the least ill-looking house that 
 I could see. I found that such troops as were there, amounting 
 to 5,000 or 6,000 men, were totally untraiaed, clothed in rags, 
 shod with slippers, and had for head-covering anything that 
 could answer the purpose, including some red nightcaps. Such 
 w^ere the troops with which I had the King's orders to fight and 
 vanquish Napoleon. At length the mayor appeared. His 
 devotion to the cause lacked nothing except results. He had 
 been asked for a thousand rations — not one had been delivered. 
 He was to have supplied one hundred w^orkmen for the con- 
 struction of the bridge ; more than seventy were wanting, and 
 my threats of military execution did not succeed in producing 
 another score. I demanded four vehicles to go to Vincennes for 
 provisions and cartridges, and it was past nine on the 20th before
 
 THE BOURDONS ON THE DEFENSIVE 415 
 
 I got one. Towards eleven in the evening, the night being 
 dark and rainy, I was at the place wliere the bridge was being 
 thrown, not so much over the river as into it. However, by 
 encouraging the engineer oflicer in charge of the work and his 
 men, I was presently aljle to feel sure that the bridge would be 
 finished by ten the next morning, and had just drawn up and 
 sent off my first report to Marshal Macdonald, when General 
 Eouget de Lisle, brother of the author of the "Marseillaise," 
 one of the two major-generals who were to join me, arrived 
 with Colonel AUouis, who was to act as chief of the staff in 
 my division. At half -past two came Colonel BoUleau of the 
 artillery, with orders to stop the work on the bridge at once, 
 to destroy what had been done, and to send away the workmen. 
 All this without any -^Titten order and without a word for me. 
 With anyone else than Boilleau, I should have taken no notice 
 of the order, but I knew him well and had confidence in him ; 
 so that I merely made him write out and sign in the name of 
 the commander-in-chief a statement of the order which he had 
 brought. Just at eight o'clock I received a note from my 
 friend EivieiTe, who had promised to keep me informed of 
 anything that might affect my conduct ; it was in the following 
 words : " The King and the Eoyal Family went off at midnight. 
 Great agitation prevails in Paris. I think all is lost." This 
 news I kept a dead secret. I had my orders, and I thought my 
 duty was to carry them out. I therefore continued my prepara- 
 tions for defending the bridge of Charenton. A fresh letter came 
 from Paris. This was from my second major-general, saying that 
 he thought it of no use to join me. Then my chief of staff asked 
 leave to go home to see how his wife was. I gave him per- 
 mission, and two hours afterwards I received a letter from him 
 saying that, if I waited at Charenton for orders from those who 
 had sent me, I should have to wait a long time. He was not 
 coming back, and he advised me to return promptly. I showed 
 this letter to General Pouget, M'ho laughed over it with me, but 
 thought no more than myself that his task was accomplished. 
 We stayed because we thought that the disappearance of the 
 sovereign is the disappearance only of a man, and not of the 
 authority which he represents, and that, if this authority has not
 
 416 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 been transferred by a legal surrender of power, it cannot be dis- 
 regarded by soldiers who are careful of their honour and their 
 duty. We remained therefore, but by no means pleased with 
 Marshal Macdonald, who had returned no reply to three reports 
 which I had sent him. 
 
 About 1 P.M. the 7th Cuirassiers crossed the bridge of 
 Charenton and drew up in line in rear of that village, with its 
 right on the road to Paris, in a silence unbroken at the shouts 
 of " Long live the King ! " which the royal officers and volunteers 
 had raised at sight of it. The colonel made his men dismount 
 and came to me. He did not know what was going on at 
 Villejuif, only he told me that all the troops who had been 
 collected at that point were recrossing the Seine and the Mame, 
 and that those who w^ere expected had been countermanded. 
 He added in a tone of annoyance, "I received by word of 
 mouth the order that I have just executed. I was, indeed, told 
 that I should receive fresh orders here ; but I cannot recognise 
 any that do not come from Paris, and, if in an hour's time I have 
 not received any, I shall go myself to look for them." To 
 which outburst of temper I made no reply. 
 
 Hearing about half-past three that a fresh regiment of 
 Cuirassiers — the 4th — was coming, I went to meet it. As it 
 entered Charenton some volunteer officers renewed their shouts, 
 which were taken up energetically by the colonel of the 4th, 
 and more or less vigorously by seven or eight officers and as 
 many troopers. Passing through the place, the 4th drew up in 
 line in front of the 7th, but no man of either corps left the 
 ranks, and the colonel remained in front of his regiment. After 
 this had lasted an hour. Lieutenant- General Girardin arrived. 
 We conversed ; there was no doubt that the left banks of the 
 Seine and the Mame were abandoned. Girardin had orders to 
 collect his division at Saint-Denis. One brigade had gone 
 there direct, and he was to proceed thither with the second, 
 consisting of these two regiments of cuirassiers. He summoned, 
 therefore, the commanders of those two corps and informed them 
 of the movement they were to make. The colonel of the 4th 
 said he was ready, but the lieutenant- colonel of the 7th said that 
 his colonel was in Paris, and he himself was forbidden to stir till
 
 THE LAST CHEER FOR THE KING 417 
 
 he returned. " By whose orders did your colonel go to Paris ? " 
 asked General Girardiu. " I do not know." " The only com- 
 mander," said the general, " is the one who is present. That 
 your colonel is to blame will be no excuse for you. His absence 
 is a dereliction of duty ; it puts him out of the command and 
 leaves you in charge. Thus, as your regiment forms part of my 
 division, you will sound to horse and follow the 4th." " Very 
 sorry, general, but when my colonel went off to get news he 
 required my word of honour that the regiment should not budge 
 till he came back. I may regret that I gave my word ; but he 
 received it, and I cannot go back from it." " Then you refuse 
 to obey my orders ? " "I have no choice." " General," cried 
 the colonel of the 4th, " an officer who allows himself to give 
 such an answer ought to be put under arrest on the spot ! " 
 The lieutenant-colonel looked at the new speaker and smiled. 
 The smile, which struck me, meant that the 7th would no 
 more allow such an arrest than the 4th would execute it ; and 
 General Girardin was too sharp to misunderstand it. He 
 merely added, "In circumstances where each man is the 
 arbiter of his own conduct, each man must take his o^m share 
 of responsibility. As for me, I have done my duty." There- 
 upon he ordered the 4th and 7th to mount. The 4th obeyed, 
 and at the word " ^March ! " followed General Girardin, all 
 trumpets sounding. The colonel once more cried, " Long live 
 the King!" which only three or four voices, not including 
 Girardin's, took up, showing that the regiment would not go 
 very far. The 7th remained dismounted, motionless and in 
 dead silence. 
 
 This scene was a final proof of the perplexity of my position. 
 I was now the only person holding out for the King either 
 around or in Paris; but, in spite of my own feelings, in the 
 midst of the general collapse I was determined to behave as 
 I should have done in my own cause, and as if I still retained 
 some assurance of success — that is, without posturing, with- 
 out hesitation or weakness. Then I paid a last visit to my 
 advanced posts, shifting their positions and encouraging them. 
 How often have I said to myself since, that if by any chance 
 Napoleon had taken that road and come up to the bridge of 
 
 VOL. IL 2 k
 
 / 
 
 418 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 Cliarenton I should have opened fire and blown up the bridge \ 
 It would have made no difference ; but in the cruel position 
 into which fate had brought France a soldier's most sacred 
 duty was a strict observance of his orders. A phrase of my 
 wife's expresses exactly what I then felt. I was talking 
 once of my position on that 20th of March, and some 
 general had exclaimed at the necessity to which I had been 
 reduced of giving orders to fire upon JSTapoleon and his escort 
 if they should appear by the road which I was bidden to 
 defend. Zozotte said, " You forget, general, that honour must 
 come before opinion." Such was indeed the problem set to 
 my conscience as a soldier. I was doomed to carry out against 
 a giant, against one whom I had so much admired, the orders 
 given me by pygmies whom I disdained ; but, to quote Zozotte 
 again, " What is the use of being on bad terms with one's 
 conscience when one has always to live with it ? " 
 
 So I would have fired on Napoleon — in which case nothing 
 would have remained but to run after Louis XVIII. A 
 momentary exile would have jjlaced me, like others, in the 
 Chamber of Peers; all my tribulations under both Bourbon 
 reigns would have been laid to rest and my misfortunes 
 avoided. Yet I should have felt a regret, perhaps a remorse, 
 which fate has happily spared me. 
 
 At six o'clock orders came to return to Paris, and I set out 
 at once. In the Eue de la Grande Pinte I was taken for 
 Marshal Ney, and cheered ; two hundred paces further my 
 white cockade got me hooted. I did not, however, like to take 
 it off till I was at home, and so made my way by imfrequented 
 streets to the Eue Caumartin, where I lived. That same 
 evening I took my report to Marshal Macdonald's house. They 
 had no news of him, and advised me to send my packet to 
 Lille. I do not know if he ever received it. 
 
 When I left Marshal Macdonald's, with the feeh'ng of havino- 
 settled my last account with the Bourbons, I became the play- 
 thing of an irresistible force dragging me towards the Tuileries. 
 It was a quarter-past nine. Napoleon had just arrived, and 
 at least 20,000 persons were crowding the approaches to the 
 Pavilion of Flora, the staircase, and the apartments, which last
 
 NAPOLEON ONCE MORE 419 
 
 I thought I shouhl never reach. When I did get there the 
 shouting had ceased, but everyone was talking at once, till 
 you could not make yourself heard. For some hours the 
 people formed the only court of the chief whom France had 
 once more raised on her shield. Suddenly Napoleon reappeared. 
 There was an instantaneous and irresistible outburst. At sight 
 of him the transports rose to such a pitch that you would 
 have thought the ceilings were coming down ; then, as after a 
 thunderclap, every man came to himself, quivering with ecstasy 
 and stammering like a man intoxicated. Catching sight of 
 me in the middle of the throng, the Emperor uttered my name 
 with 'a nod and a kindly smile. He could read my emotion 
 in my face, and yet it was hardly three hours since T had 
 been a soldier of the Bourbons, with my guns turned against 
 him.'' Xow, however, I seemed to have become a Frenchman 
 once more, and nothing could equal the transports and the 
 shouts witli which I tried to show the part I was taking in the 
 homage rendered to him. 
 
 Never did Napoleon exercise a greater moral influence than 
 at that moment. If the return from Waterloo was to complete 
 the "melancholy work of the return from Moscow, the im- 
 pressibii made by this return from Elba was worthy of that 
 produced by the return from Egypt. Unhappily, the weaker 
 he grew, the more he fell a prey to his vanity ; and, just as by 
 negotiating at Moscow he had allowed time for the army from 
 Turkey to fall on his rear, or as by negotiating at Dresden he 
 had allowed time for the Kussians and Prussians to double 
 their' forces and bring them to the front, so by waiting at 
 Paris to write a letter to the kings of Europe, which none 
 of them would receive, to make a Constitution which deprived 
 him of 200,000 men, to make a display at the Cliamp dc Mai 
 and play at memories when present realities were crying 
 aloud, he gave the coalized forces time to attack him with 
 600,000 troops. 
 
 The boumlless enthusiasm which marked the opening of the 
 
 Hundred Days resulted in a general disposition to merriment, 
 
 and at first people gave way to it with all the less restraint that 
 
 it seemed to be a guarantee of the happiness of which it was 
 
 o p o 
 
 w iLi ^
 
 420 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 really the result. But the laughter and exultation came to an 
 end. People became grave because bad news kept coming in ; 
 discontented because they foresaw that Napoleon would not 
 realise the hopes which he had given to France ; uneasy 
 because everything pointed to a new and terrible war. In this 
 situation, where all impressions were strongly felt, three events 
 produced a profound sensation, and were regarded as presages 
 of misfortune. 
 
 The first was the death of the Prince of Neuchatel. The 
 story told at first was that "Ee had been flung from a window in 
 the palace of Bamberg — whither, not daring to appear before 
 Napoleon after being captain of the King's Guard, he had 
 retired — by the ofiicers of a regiment passing through the town, 
 in revenge for the death of a young man who had been tried 
 and shot by his orders at Schonbrunn in 1809, My own belief, 
 after all possible inquiries, is that Berthier had gone to the 
 top of the palace to see these troops pass, had got on to the 
 outer sill of an attic window, and there had been struck by 
 apoplexy, a common malady in his family, and fallen down. 
 
 The second event which shook public secm-ity was the news 
 that Napoleon's letters to the sovereigns of Europe had not 
 been received, showing that the allied sovereigns did not deign 
 to notice him, but left him to the Congress. The third was the 
 defeat and deposition of Murat, and the counter-revolution at 
 Naples ; a misfortune for Napoleon and a subject of sad presenti- 
 ment for Prance. 
 
 Meanwhile preparations went on for the ceremony of the 
 Champ de Mai. On May 31 a great platform had been 
 constructed in front of the Ecole Militaire; the Champ de 
 Mars was filled with troops, and the sun, flashing on 60,000 
 bayonets, seemed to make the vast space sparkle. It was a 
 superb scene, and I can still see Hortense sketching that imposing 
 picture. Beside her were her two young sons, not less notice- 
 able for their beauty than for the elegance of the hussar 
 uniforms they wore. These children, for whom, considering 
 the situation of the King of Eome, it seemed possible that a 
 vast future might be in store, were condemned by inexorable 
 fate, the one to a premature death, the other to an even more
 
 THE EVE OF WATEIiLOO 421 
 
 terrible end, had not Louis Philippe saved him from the 
 penalty to which his outrage at Strasburg rendered him 
 liable.* 
 
 A dafs for the throne had been constructed projecting towards 
 the Champ de Mars, on which Napoleon took his place, followed 
 by his brothers Joseph, Lucien, and Jerome. Throwing back 
 his mantle with a dignity and grace which recalled the lessons 
 of Talma, he delivered a discourse which, in spite of some 
 extremely happy and adroit phrases, was imperial rather than 
 French. From that day Paris presented the twofold appearance 
 of a camp about to be struck, and a vessel with its decks clear- 
 ing for action. Not long ago hundreds of leagues divided 
 Paris from the front of our lines ; now the guns were about to 
 thunder only sixty leagues from the Seine. 
 
 The time necessary for the troops, which had been present at 
 the ChamjJ dc Mai, to arrive at their destination expired on 
 June 10, and everything proclaimed the immediate departure of 
 Napoleon. The following day was Sunday, and 1 attended the 
 last "Mass which he heard at the Tuileries and the last audience 
 which he was to give there, I never took my eyes from 
 Napoleon, and the more I studied him the less cburdT succeed 
 in seeing him as he had been in the days of his strength "and 
 his greatness. Never has the impression which the sight of 
 him ma^e upon me at the moment when destiny was about to 
 pronounce between the world and him, ceased to be present 
 to me ; his look, once so formidable and piercing, had lost its 
 strength and even its steadiness; his face, which I had often 
 seen, now beaming with kindness, now moulded in bronze, had 
 lost all expression and all its forcible character ; his mouth, 
 compressed, contained none of its ancient witchery; his very 
 head no longer had the pose which used to characterise the 
 conqueror of the world ; and his gait was as perplexed as his 
 demeanour and gestures were undecided. Everything about 
 him seemed to have lost its nature and to be broken up ; 
 the ordinary pallor of his skin was replaced by a strongly- 
 pronoimced greenish tinge which struck me. A prey to the 
 
 * [General Thicbault did not foresee the coup d'etat, still less Sedan, or the 
 final clause might have been omitted.]
 
 422 MEMOIRS OF Q ENSEAL TEIEBAULT 
 
 darkest forebodings, I left the palace where I was never to see 
 him again, and returned to my house full of wishes which I did 
 not believe. 
 
 My division was to be collected and encamped near Mont- 
 rouge, where my headquarters were established, together with 
 those of the Count of Valence. As the troops were not to 
 begin arriving before the 20th, I had continued to sleep at my 
 own house, merely going to Montrouge two or three times with 
 the count to make sure that everything required by the troops 
 would be ready. On the morning of the 20th I was making 
 my arrangements to go and settle myself there, when I heard 
 some one striding through my dining-room and drawing-room, of 
 which the doors were open, and beheld Captain Viennet coming 
 to the threshold of my bedroom ; with perturbed countenance 
 he halted at sight of me, threw up his arms, and cried in a voice 
 of terror, " All is lost ! " walking about the while like a man 
 whose reason is overthrown. It was thus that I heard of the 
 disaster at Waterloo and the return of ISTapoleon to Paris. 
 
 In moments of misfortune it is always that which is most 
 to be dreaded that seems most probable, and, in spite of 
 myself, my anxiety turned upon the line which the Chamber 
 of Deputies' would take. I went, therefore, to the lobby of the 
 I House. Everything was in a state of tumult and buzz, men 
 going in and out, disappearing and reappearing, talking to 
 people of all kinds, who, like the deputies themselves, looked 
 as if they had been bitten by tarantulas. At that moment all 
 disunion, any change of authority, might be fatal, and yet when 
 I left the Chamber I could no longer doubt that this was the 
 melancholy spectacle which the majority meant to give us. 
 From the Chamber I went to the Ministry of War to find out 
 what was to become of the first corps of the reserve. I learnt 
 that the troops which were to compose it were receiving fresh 
 orders, that our appointments were regarded as null and void, 
 and that so far our part was over before it had begun. I 
 hastened to inform the Count of Valence of this. 
 I ' Next morning at nine o'clock I was at the Elysee. The thought 
 that the foreigner was advancing on the heels of our soldiers to 
 I defile France a second time with his presence kindled me with
 
 LAST WORDS WITH NAPOLEON 423 
 
 a sort of patriotic frenzy, and took me back almost involuntarily 
 towards the man in whom, to my eyes, the sole hope of safety 
 was embodied] Dn entering the palace, I was struck by the 
 solitude which prevailed ; the gallery was deserted ; not more 
 than a dozen or fifteen persons were in the room to which it 
 led. I had scarcely entered when a door opened close to the 
 place where I was ; Napoleon appeared. I made two steps 
 towards him, and, bowing more deeply than usual, I said, 
 " Allow me, sir, to lay at your feet the expression of a devotion 
 no less profound than respectful." " It is France of which we 
 must think at this moment," he replied. " More than ever," I ' 
 returned, " it is in your person that one must show pity for her." 
 He looked hard at me, turned his eyes away, and passed on to 
 some one else. I withdrew, and these were the last words that 
 I was to exchange with that extraordinary man. 
 
 One secret, painful to recall, impossible to omit, belongs to 
 the last period of the Hundred Days. I owe my knowledge of 
 it to my old intimacy with Cadet Gassicourt. I have kept it 
 religiously ; and if I now cease to consider it as a secret, it is 
 because the only two men who had a personal interest in it 
 have long ceased to exist, and it has passed into the domain of 
 history. 
 
 All those who knew Gassicourt are aware that to a face 
 at once handsome, kindly, and far more noble than that of his 
 royal father,* he united perfect style and manners. He had 
 found it necessary to separate from his wife, but, as this 
 involved the sacrifice of an income of 30,000 francs, he decided 
 to recoup himself by starting a druggist's business under the 
 name of Cadet, well known in the profession, since his reputed 
 father had been in that capacity primus inter pares. The 
 name of Cadet was a guarantee of success to start with ; Gassi- 
 court's own superiority did the rest, and the result justified 
 his hopes. The Emperor had occasion for a druggist attached 
 to his person ; Gassicoiirt was selected, and at once had rooms 
 assigned to him in the Tuileries and in each of Xapoleon's 
 residences. He made the campaign of "Wagi-am with the 
 imperial headquarters, and after it he was decorated and 
 * There can hardly be any doubt that Gassicourt was a son of Louis XV.
 
 / 
 
 424 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL THIEBAULT 
 
 appointed Knight of the Empire, which made him the first drug- 
 gist who had ever been invested with a feudal title. Lastly, 
 on the return from Elba he hastened to resume his service 
 with Napoleon. 
 
 Such was his position when, in the first days of June, he was 
 
 sent for to Napoleon's study. After a few words as to the 
 
 serious position of things, and the chances of a reverse which 
 
 must not be survived, or a captivity which could not be 
 
 endured, he received, under the injunction of the strictest 
 
 secrecy, orders to prepare with his own hands a dose of infallible 
 
 poison, put into the smallest possible compass. In order that 
 
 it might be perfectly concealed and constantly within reach, 
 
 he was to place it in a locket that could not be opened except 
 
 by some one who knew the trick of it. In consternation at 
 
 such an order, Gassicourt implored Napoleon to allow him a 
 
 few words. They were uttered with all the marks of violent 
 
 emotion, were listened to kindly, but remained without effect. 
 
 The order therefore was executed, and shortly before Napoleon's 
 
 departure for Waterloo Gassicourt placed the locket containing 
 
 , the terrible dose in Napoleon's own hands. In the night of 
 
 'l the 21st of June a fresh order summoned him in all haste 
 
 I to the Elysee. Napoleon had just swallowed the poison, but, 
 
 ; hew ideas having changed his determination, he called upon 
 
 Gassicourt to prevent its action. Terrified as he was, his hair 
 
 standing on end, in a cold sweat, Gassicourt nevertheless did 
 
 all that was humanly possible. Vomiting was at once induced, 
 
 and sustained by means of copious draughts, and he was able 
 
 to hope that the assimilation of the poison had been prevented. 
 
 Yet, when relating these facts to me three years after Napoleon 
 
 had gone to St. Helena, he could not avoid the dread lest the 
 
 poisoning might have consequences. When there was talk of 
 
 Napoleon's sufferings, he shuddered at the idea that they might 
 
 be the result of it ; and when Napoleon was dead, and it was 
 
 known that his death resulted from a lesion to the stomach, 
 
 he said to me ten times if he said it once, " Some particles of 
 
 the poison cannot have been extracted, and thenceforward 
 
 sooner or later death was inevitable." 
 
 On July 4 our unfortunate army abandoned the capital and
 
 OUTNUMBERED, NOT OUTMATCHED 425 
 
 reti red behin d the Loire. On the 7th the enemy's troops 
 polluted Pans for tEe~second time, and on lluit day of shame 
 and grief I held no coramnnif utiim with anyone. On August 8 
 Napoleon left France. After his momentary resurrection it 
 waslike a second death, in which, in spite of the harm which 
 he had done us, we felt that we shared. Five years later 
 he was to die for Ljood and all, lcaviii'_; (lie Asdild widowed of the 
 highest greatness it had known ; the dead giant left a void 
 which the future will not fill. A mighty meteor, setting on fire 
 all that he met on his scintillating track, he still lights up the 
 world which he has quitted. If he was the splendour of his age, 
 he is, above all, the glory and honour of the human race, the 
 pride of creation. Like the sun, he had his spots, but to him 
 alone can be applied, without appearance of unseemliness, the 
 motto of Louis XIV — " Ncc plurihus impar." 
 
 TUE END.
 
 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES. 
 
 Abrantes, Duke of (see Junot) 
 Abrantes, Duchess of, i. 284, 28G ; ii. 
 
 231,274, 298-302, 31G (see Permon) 
 Abrial, i. 475 
 Alexander, Emperor, ii. 145, 1G2, 
 
 174, 175 
 Alezze, D', i. 331 
 Allouis, Colonel, ii. 415 
 Alorna, Marquis of, ii. 76, 309, 330 
 Alquier (member of the Committee 
 
 of Public Safety), i. 166, 167, 171 
 Alvinzy, i. 284, 287, 290, 298 
 Anissou-Duperon, i. 234 & note 
 Aoust, Marquis of, i. 90 
 Arcambal, i. 432, 434 
 Argond, General, i, 228 
 Armagnac, D', i. 32 
 Artois, Count of (see Charles X) 
 Aspre, Baron d', ii. 33 
 Aubry (member of the Committee of 
 
 Public Safety), i. 252, 305 
 Audouin, Xavier, i. 174, 222, 224 
 Auersperg, General, ii. 141 
 Augereau, Marshal (Duke of Casti- 
 
 glione), i. 268, 282, 283, 287 ; ii. 
 
 124, 149 
 Aumont, Duke of, i. 74 
 
 Bacheb, Dr., i. 6, 25, 270; ii. 51, 52 
 Bagration, Prince, ii. 144, 145, 148, 
 
 157, 163 
 Bailly, i. 73 
 
 Bajalich, General, i. 312, 314 
 Balland, General, i. 88, 207 
 Ballesteros, General, i. 247, 249, 251 
 
 Bancal, i. 161 
 
 Bar, i. 219, 220 
 
 Baraguey d'Hilliers, i. 346 ' 
 
 Barnave, i. 95 
 
 Barras, i. 259, 264, 267, 454, 459 ; 
 ii. 18 
 
 Banc, Mme, i. 110, 125 
 
 Barri6, General, ii. 3G1, 363 
 
 Bart, M., i. 35 & note, 66 
 
 Basire (member of the Committee of 
 Public Safety), i. 166, 171 
 
 Bassal, i. 348 
 
 Bassano, Duke of (see Maret) 
 
 Uattaglia, Countess of, i. 330, 333 
 
 B ivastro, ii. 36 & note 
 
 Beauflremont, Prince of, i. 25 
 
 Beauharnais, General, i. 268 
 
 Beauharnais, Eugene, ii. 114 
 
 Beaujolais, Count of, i. 57, 59 
 
 Beaulicu, General, i. 209 
 
 Beaumarchais, i. 36 
 
 Bcaume, i. 143-146, 148, 152, 159, 
 17G 
 
 Beaumont, General de, i. 326 
 
 Beauvau, Mile de, i. 94 
 
 Belliard, General, ii. 413 
 
 Belluno, Duke of, i. 305 
 
 Bentinck, Count, ii. 375, 376 
 
 Beresford, General, ii. 211-213, 331 
 
 Bcrczin, M., i. 12 
 
 Bernadotte, Marshal (Prince of Pon- 
 tecorvo. Crown Prince of Sweden), 
 i. 325, 326 ; ii. 14, 1 8, 124, 142, 147, 
 153, 157, 3S1, 383, 335, 401-404 
 
 Berri, Duke of, ii. 409 note, 411
 
 428 
 
 INDEX OF PBOPER NAMES 
 
 Berruyer, General, i. 257 
 
 Berthier, Cesar, ii. 116, 118 
 
 Berth ier, Leopold, i. 405, 469 
 
 Berthier, M, (father of Itlarshal Ber- 
 thier), ii. 101 
 
 Berthier, Marshal (Princj of Neu- 
 chatel), i. 269, 271, 280, 337, 343- 
 351, 356-359, 363, 458 ; ii. 18, 21, 
 25, 42, 43, 45, 58, 147, 153, 169, 
 185, 187-189, 194, 195, 234, 243, 
 247, 276, 278, 280, 284, 287, 291, 
 297, 374, 420 
 
 Bertrand, General, ii. 169 
 
 Bessieres, Marshal (Duke of Istria), 
 i. 305 ; ii. 124, 153, 247, 274, 294, 
 297, 304, 320, 324-326, 331 
 
 Bethune, Duke of, i. 61 
 
 Beurnonville, Marshal, i. 160, 161 ; 
 ii. 1 
 
 Bezenval, M. de, i. 92 & note 
 
 Billaud-Yarennes, i. 127, 128 
 
 Bitaube, i. 1, 26, 30, 120-122, 167 ; 
 ii.51 
 
 Blache, Countess de la, i. 25 
 
 Blucher, ii. 381-383 
 
 Bodard, i. 475 
 
 Boessiere, La, i. 50, 51 
 
 Boilleau, Colonel, ii. 415 
 
 Boisgelin, Mgr de, ii. 91 
 
 Bonaparte, Jerome, ii, 421 
 
 Bonaparte, Joseph, i. 344; ii. 170, 
 191, 192, 325, 358, 421 
 
 Bonaparte, Lucien, ii. 21, 86, 421 
 
 Bonaparte, Napoleon, i. 42, 259-264, 
 267, 279, 281, 284, 287-289, 291- 
 294, 296-300, 303-306, 309, 320, 
 322, 326, 336, 342, 343, 350, 356, 
 357, 377, 380, 415, 469; ii. 13-23, 
 32, 35, 43-45, 50, 52, 54-56, 59, 
 60, 97, 105, 107, 111-115, 117, 
 119, 120, 123, 124, 128, 145-158, 
 163, 169, 173-191, 236-244, 257, 
 259, 278-280, 285, 286, 290, 312- 
 314, 324, 330, 337, 373, 374, 380- 
 383, 396-398, 404-406, 411-413, 
 418-425 
 
 Bonaparte, Pauline, ii. 68, 301 
 
 Bonnamy, General, i. 408, 409, 415, 
 
 454 
 Bonnaud, General, i. 236, 242, 244 
 Bonneuille, President de, i. 25 
 Bonte, General, ii. 357 
 Borghese, Princess, i. 360 
 Bosquille (attorney), i. 204 
 Bouille, De, i. 98,"'l01 
 Bourcard, General, i. 397 
 Bourmont, ii. 213, 215, 216 
 Boursac, Yiscount de, i. 25 
 Brassac, Countess, i. 25 
 Breissand, Major, i. 370 
 Brenier, General, ii. 329 
 Breteuil, Baron de, ii. 399, 400 
 Broglie, Prince of, i. 95; ii. Ill 
 Brondes, Mme, i. 205 
 Broussier, Colonel, i. 422, 423, 432, 
 
 436-438, 444, 446-448, 451, 452, 
 
 454, 459, 461, 471-473, 475 
 Bruix, Admiral, ii. 62, 64-60 
 Brune, General, i. 306, 311,322,314, 
 
 368,382; ii. 45-47 
 Brunswick, Duke of, i. 135 
 Bruyeres, i. 351, 352, 360 
 Buffon, Count, i. 17 
 Buhotte (paymaster), i. 381 
 Burthe, i. 271, 274, 276, 278-282, 
 
 291, 319, 321, 328, 329, 331-340, 
 
 359 ; ii. 30 
 Buxhoewden, General, ii. 175 
 
 C- 
 
 ■ (Casabianca), General, i. 
 
 380, 381, 384, 386, 390, 394, 395, 
 
 399-406, 411-413 
 Cadet, M., i. 6, 46 
 Cadet de Chambine, i. 47 
 Cadet de Gassicourt, i. 6 note, 46- 
 
 50, 122, 124, 167, 178, 198, 254, 
 
 256-258, 339, 340 ; ii. 51, 122, 
 
 423 & note, 424 
 Cadet de Lima}-, i. 47 
 Cadet de Vaux, i. 47 
 Cadore, Duke of, i. 305 
 Caffarelli, General, ii. 252, 369-371 
 Calvin, Colonel, i. 370-374 
 Cambaceres, i. 252 ; ii. 17
 
 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES 
 
 429 
 
 Cambrai, Archbishop of, i. 00 
 
 Cambray, General, i. 221, 46'J 
 
 Carapana, i. 347 ; ii. 29 
 
 Camus, i. IGl 
 
 CanoUe, General de, i. 153-155 
 
 Canouville, Jules de, ii. 301-304 & note 
 
 Cauuel, i. 209 
 
 Caruot, General, i. 219 
 
 Caron-Berquier, i. 168 
 
 Carrere, General, i. 306, 316 
 
 Carteaux, General, i. 261 
 
 Caux, Viscount de, i. 179 
 
 Cayla, Mme du, i. 94 & note 
 
 Cerutti, i. 30 
 
 CeiToni, General, i. 344 & note, 345 
 
 note 
 Ceva, Duchess, i. 360 
 Chabot (member of the Committee of 
 
 Public Safety), i. 166, 171, 311 
 Chaffaux, Captain, i. 181, 222, 244 
 Chambure, ii. 336-338 
 Chamfort, i. 30, 120, 121 
 Champeaux, Colonel, i. 353 
 Championnet, General, i. 381, 383, 
 
 394, 395, 397, 406, 409, 411, 419, 
 
 430, 433-436, 452, 453, 455, 458- 
 
 461, 469-473, 475, 476, 480 ; ii. 
 
 2,16 
 Chancel, General, i, 137, 205, 216-220 
 Cbanteloup, i. 458, 459, 471 
 Charbonnier, General, i. 206, 208 
 Charette, i. 256 
 Charles X (Count of Artois), i. 25, 
 
 41 & note, 61, 74, 83, 100; ii. 
 
 94, 403, 409, 410 & note 
 Charles, Archduke, i. 303-305, 311- 
 
 314 ; ii. 142, 143 
 Chartres, Duke of (see Louis Philippe) 
 Chaufifard, i. 490 
 Chaussard, i. 144 
 Chenais, M., ii. 94 
 Chenais, Ehzabeth ("Zozotte"), ii. 
 
 94, 115, 117, 121, 122, 172, 181, 
 
 182, 186, 231, 233, 252, 276, 277, 
 
 286, 418 
 Chenier, i. 253 
 Chete', Lieutenant, i. 404, 405 
 
 Chigi, Princess, i. 360 
 Chinon, Count of, i. 17 & note 
 Choiseul, Viscountess of, i. 25 
 Cico, Archbishop de, i. 105 
 Ciairon, Mile, i. 48 
 ClapaiMe, General, ii. 293 
 Clappier de Lisle, i. 37, 68, 70, 72 
 Clarke (Count of Hunebourg and 
 
 Duke of Feltre), i. 209, 232, 305 ; 
 
 ii. 232-235, 375 
 Clauzel, General, ii. 326 
 Clavier, M., ii. 51, 58 
 Clement, i. 362. 
 
 Clement de la Ronciere, Major, i. 476 
 Clootz, Anacharsis, i. 113 
 Coburg, Prince of, i. 157, 182-184, 
 
 191, 209, 211, 236 
 Coccei, Chancellor, i. 11 
 Coetlosquet, De, ii. 252, 254 
 Colli, General, ii. 7 
 CoUoredo, Count, i. 211 
 Conde, Prince of, ii. 411 
 Conflans, De, i. 287 
 Constantine, Grand Duke, ii. 143, 
 
 157, 163 
 Couchaud, Captain, i. 464, 466, 467 
 Courier, Paul Loui.s ii- 51 
 Coutard, Major, i. 419, 423, 462, 464, 
 
 474, 490 ; ii. 25-27, 33, 34, 42 
 Craufurd, General, ii. 342 & note, 
 
 343 note 
 Cuningham, Mr., i. 19 
 Custine, General, i. 176, 184 
 
 Daboville, Captaik, i. 190, 191, 
 
 197, 205 
 Dallemagne, General, i. 347-349, 
 
 354-356, 370 
 Dalmatia, Duke of (see Soult) 
 Damas, ^larshal, i. 397, 408, 410 
 Dampierre, General, i. 140, 183, 184 
 Danican, General, i. 257, 261-263 
 Danton, i. 122, 125, 128 
 Darmagnac, ii. 242-246 
 Dath, Captiun, i. 180, 382, 403, 464, 
 
 477, 479, 488, 489 ; u. 34, 44 
 Dauuou, i. 347
 
 430 
 
 INDEX OF FROPER NAMES 
 
 Dauphin (Louis XVII), i. 87, 102 
 Daure, i. 286, 327, 337, 360, 366 
 Davout, Marshal, ii. 29, 124, 142, 
 
 150, 194, 375, 381, 396, 401-405 
 Decres, ii. 119 
 Delaborde, General, ii. 197, 204-209, 
 
 213, 227, 230, 256, 257, 259, 260 
 Delcambre, General, ii. 379, 380, 
 
 384, 387, 390, 391, 405 
 DeliUe, Abbe, i. 30, 31 
 Delmas, General, ii. 8, 90 
 Delost, ii. 69, 70, 82 
 Delpech, ii. 69, 70 
 Deney, Lieutenant, ii. 8 
 Denon, i. 10 
 Desaix, General, i. 209, 349, 363- 
 
 368 ; ii. 43 
 Desjardin, General, i. 218, 222 
 Deslon, Dr., i. 6, 21-29 
 Despinoy, i. 209 
 Desportes, ii. 86-88 
 Desrosiers, Mme, i. 50, 63, 203 
 Devaus, Adjutant-General, i. 170 
 Dewint, Jacques, ii. 170, 172, 227, 
 
 231, 241 
 Dietrich, Mayor of Strasburg, i. 109 
 Doazan, M., i. 70, 76, 77, 81 
 Dolgorouki, Prince Sergius, i. 9, 20 ; 
 
 ii. 145, 148 
 Dombrowski, General, i. 363, 432 
 Donnadieu, i. 209 
 Donzelot, General, i. 223-229, 231, 
 
 233-235, 239-241, 249, 363, 367 ; 
 
 ii. 91 
 Doria, Prince, i. 382 
 Dorsenne, General, ii. 11, 252, 283- 
 
 285, 289, 325, 331, 339-341, 344- 
 
 846, 348, 349, 354-356, 358-360, 
 
 362, 364 & note, 365, 367-370 
 Drouet (member of the Committee 
 
 of Public Safety), i. 166 
 Drouet, General (see Erlon) 
 Dubois-Crance, ii. 20 
 Ducos, ii. 18 
 
 Ducrest, Ce'sar, i. 57, 135 
 Dufresse, General, i. 437, 446, 454, 
 
 459, 460, 475 
 
 Dugommier, i. 209 
 
 Dugua, General, i, 326 
 
 Duhem (member of the Convention), 
 
 i. 189 
 Duhesrae, General, i. 412-414, 416- 
 
 426, 431-433, 436, 438-442, 444, 
 
 446-448, 452, 454, 461-464, 468- 
 
 475, 479 ; ii. 27, 340 
 Duhoux, General, i. 257, 261 
 Dulong, Colonel, ii. 258, 259 
 
 note 
 Dumas, Alexander, i. 284-286 
 Dumas, General, i. 283, 284, 286, 
 
 330 
 Dumonceau, General, i. 246, 248, 
 
 250; ii. 377 
 Dumoulin, Major, i. 334, 336 
 Dumouriez, i. 135, 136, 139, 156- 
 
 161, 249 
 Dumoustier, General, ii. 340, 341, 
 
 345, 346, 354, 362, 371 
 Dumuy, General, ii. 117 
 Dunkin (or Donkin), Colonel, ii. 211 
 
 & note, 290 
 Dupaty, M., ii. 64, 69, 70, 76, 81, 
 
 82 
 Duperre, General, ii. 65 
 Diiphot, General, i. 344, 347 
 Dupin, i. 188, 204 
 Duplessi-Bertaux, Captain, i. 130, 
 
 131 
 Dupont, General, ii. 229, 410 
 Dupuy, General, i. 286, 293, 328, 
 
 329, 334-336 
 Duquesnoy (member of the Conven- 
 tion), i. 189, 198, 219, 220 
 Durcc, i. 270 ; ii. 43, 107, 241 
 Dusaulx, i. 168 
 Duthd, Mile, i. 40 
 Duvignau, General, i. 255 
 
 IilBLE, General, i. 410, 432, 477 
 Eckmiihl, Prince of (see Davout) 
 Iilgalite, General (see Louis-Philippe) 
 Elgin, Lady, ii. 110 
 Elgin, Lord, ii. 109, 110, 112 
 Enghien, Due d', i, 179
 
 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES 
 
 431 
 
 ErloD, Count of, ii. 290-294, 331, 
 
 412 & note 
 Erskine, General, ii. 318 
 Espaua, Marquis of, ii. 332, 357, 358, 
 
 3G4 
 Essen, General, ii. 149 
 Essling, Prince of (see Massena) 
 Etchegoyen, D', ii. Ill 
 
 Fabeen, ii. 51 
 
 Fabvre, Captain, i. 274, 275, 279, 
 
 333, 338, 381, 384, 387, 400, 
 . 403 
 
 Fargues (senator), ii. 112 
 Faria, Abbe, i. 28 
 Favras (see Maby) 
 Fayix)ult, i. 347, 458, 460, 471, 473, 
 
 475 
 Feltre, Duke of (see Clarke) 
 Ferdinand IV (King of Naples), i. 
 
 397, 408, 410, 431, 463 
 Ferdinand, Archduke, ii. 125, 142, 
 
 278 
 Ferey, General, ii. 326, 328 
 Ferino, General, i. 225, 227 
 Ferny, General, ii. 151 
 Ferrand, General, i. 218 
 Fezensac, De, i. 32 ; ii. 377 
 Flavigny, Adjutant-General de, ii. 
 
 92, 93 
 Flesselles, De, i. 69, 70 
 Floreut, i. 347 
 Fontenay, De, ii. 218, 219, 224, 225, 
 
 227, 228 
 Fontenay, Major, ii. 161, 162 
 Foote, Commodore, i. 479 
 Forceville, Colonel de, i. 153 
 Forest, General, i. 461 
 Foucault, Mme de, i. 25 
 Fouche, i. 10 ; ii. 231, 412 note 
 Foucher, General, ii. 405-407 
 Fouquier-Tinville, i. 239 
 Fourcroy, i. 178 
 Fourueau, M., i. 58 
 Fournier, General, ii. 305, 327 
 Foy, General, ii. 127, 209, 295, 306, 
 
 312-316 
 
 Foy, Mme, ii. 209, 215 
 Franceschi, Major, ii. 35,41 
 Francis II, ii. 174, 177 
 Francccur, Captain, i. 180, 215 
 Frederick the Great, i. 8, 16, 18, 42; 
 
 ii. 184 
 Frederick William II, i. 16, 19, 50 
 Frehot, ii. 76 
 Friant, General, ii. 148, 150, 155, 
 
 156 
 Fririon, General, ii. 107 
 Fronsac, Duke of, i. 17, 18 
 
 Galland, Db., L 23, 24, 50, 107, 
 
 108 
 Gambs, General de, i. 417, 418 
 Ganteaimie, Admiral, ii. 117 
 Gardanne, General ("Moustache"), 
 
 i. 49, 377-381 ; ii. 21, 88 
 Gardanne, General Claude, ii. 294- 
 
 298, 306 
 Garnier (member of the Committee 
 
 ofTublicSafety), i. 166, 169 
 Gassicourt (see Cadet) 
 Gassine, Major, i. 403 
 Gauthrin, Major, i. 445 
 Gautier, General, ii. 29, 34, 254 
 Gelin, Captain, i. 387 
 Gengoult, General, ii. 385, 393 
 Genlis, Mme de, i. 57 note, 145-151, 
 
 153, 158 
 Gerard, Marshal, i. 251 ; ii. 405, 
 
 407 
 Gerard (painter), ii. 174 
 Girard, General, i. 225, 226, 418, 
 
 422, 453 ; ii. 249 
 Girardin, Colonel de, ii. 165, 416, 
 
 417 
 Girardon, Colonel, i. 367, 438 
 Giraud, i. 138 
 
 Gohier, ii. 15, 18 ■ . 
 
 Goris, Colonel, i. 464, 465 
 GiJttmann, Major, i. 153, 169 179, 
 
 211 
 Gottmann, liltienne, i. 180 
 Grasset, i. 76, 12^, loO, 131, 132, 
 138
 
 432 
 
 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES 
 
 Gravina, Duke of, i. 456 
 Grouchy, General, ii. 7, 8 
 GrouveUe, i. 30, 140, 141, 170, 
 
 171 
 Grumko, Count, i. 326 
 Guibert, i. 360, 362 
 Guieu, General, i. 300, 302, 312, 314, 
 
 346 
 Guillaumet, Lieutenant, i. 413 
 Guillemardet, i. 264 
 Guiminal, Captain, i. 370 
 Guines, Duke of, i. 1, 34 ; ii. 61 
 Gyulai, General, ii. 145 
 
 Hagen, Captaik, ii. 270-272 
 
 Hainchelin, Mnie, i. 1 
 
 Hamilton, M. (stepfather of Baron 
 
 Thiebault's first wife), i. 173 note 
 Hannache, Count of, i. 28 
 Hardy, M., i. 349, 350 
 Haugwitz, Count, ii. 145, 146 
 Hector, Adjutant, ii. 42 
 Henin, Prince of, i. 25, 45 
 Henry of Prussia, Prince, i. 8, 9; 
 
 ii. 50 
 Hoche, i. 209, 230, 231, 329 
 Hoffmann, i. 7 
 
 Hogendorp, Count of, ii. 375, 378 
 Holtz, Colonel, ii. 391 
 Hortense, Queen of Holland, ii. 420 
 Houdar de Lamotte, Colonel, ii. 127, 
 
 165 
 Houdetot, General d', ii. 65, 68 
 Hulin, General, i. 179; ii. 232, 233 
 
 Ingbakd (member of the Committee 
 
 of Public Safety), i. 166, 171 
 Istria, Duke of (see Bessieres) 
 
 Joachim, Captain, i. 485 
 Joly, i. 6 ; ii. 88 
 Jordan, Andr^e, i. 9 
 •Jordan, Auguste, i. 10, 38 
 .Jordan, Charles, i. 10 
 Jordy, General, ii. 127, 128 
 Josephine, Empress, ii. 16, 17, 114, 
 118 
 
 Joubert, General, i. 288, 291, 294- 
 296, 300, 397, 475 ; ii. 5, 6, 11 
 
 Jourdan, Marshal, i. 209, 218-220, 
 238 ; ii. 247, 274, 276, 281 
 
 Jourgniac de Saint-Meard, i. 126 
 
 Jouy, i. 143 & note, 147-151, 153, 
 173 & note, 175, 186, 187, 189, 
 191-205, 253-255, 366 
 
 Julian, Don, ii. 298, 299, 304-307, 
 332, 336-339, 357, 359, 361, 363, 
 364, 367 
 
 Junot, Duke of Abrantes, i. 270, 295 
 & note, 296, 297; ii. 43, 52, 54, 
 55, 70, 98, 99, 101, 102, 104, 152, 
 170, 187, 188, 190-195, 198-200, 
 202, 203, 206-212, 215, 234, 235, 
 238, 274, 289, 291, 331 
 
 Junot, Mme (see Duchess of Abrantes) 
 
 Kamenski, Marshal, ii. 160, 163, 
 
 176 
 Kellermann, General, i. 136, 286, 
 
 302, 303, 406, 410, 446, 451 ; ii. 
 
 157, 207, 227, 230, 247, 273, 315 
 Iverbourg, ii. 70 
 
 Kienmayer, General, ii. 144, 145 
 KUmaine, General, i. 191, 337 
 Kleber, i. 209, 356 
 Kniazewitz, Colonel, i. 406, 407, 457 
 Knoring, i. 360 
 Kollowrath, General, ii. 162 
 Krieg, General, i. 267 
 Kutusoff, General, u. 144, 148, 160, 
 
 174, 175, 177 
 
 La Bedoyere, ii. 413 
 
 Lacombe-Saint-Michel, i. 395 
 
 Lacroix, General Pamphile, ii. 50 
 
 Lacue'e, Colonel, ii. 124 
 
 La Fargue, i. 114, 234, 235 
 
 La Fayette, i. 73, 74, 76, 80, 82, 83, 
 
 86, 87, 91, 96, 97, 110, 117, 135 ; 
 
 ii. 282 
 Lagrange, General, ii. 104 
 Lagrave, De, ii. 221 
 Lagrec3, Michele, ii. 59 
 Laharpe, i. 268
 
 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES 
 
 433 
 
 Lahaye des Fosse?, I^Ime, i. SI 
 Lahure, Colonel, i. 377, 378, 406 
 La Leyen, Princess, ii. 283 
 Lallemand, i. 274, 279 ; ii. 4, 397 
 Lally-Tollendal, i. 73, 74 
 Lamarche, General, i. 184 
 La Marliere, General, i. 177 
 Lamarque, i. 161 ; ii. 82 & note, 
 
 410 
 Lambesc, Prince of, i. 65 note 
 Lanieth, i. 95 
 
 Lamothe, General, ii. 321, 329 
 Lande, M. de la, i. 19 
 Langeac, Count of, i. 340 
 Langeron, Marquis of, i. 229 
 Lannes, Marshal (Duke of !Monte- 
 
 bellu), ii. 119, 124, 142 & note, 146, 
 
 147, 153, 157, 158, 163, 179 
 La Pieveillere, i. 355, 454, 475 
 Larive, i. 48 ; ii. 53 
 Larrey (chief surgeon in Imperial 
 
 Guard), ii. 171 
 La Salle, De, i. 287, 288, 290, 300- 
 
 303, 323, 353, 360, 366, 367 ; ii. 
 
 34, 75, 79, 80, 252-254, 255 note 
 La Salle, Mme de, i. 287 ; ii. 79 
 Latour, Dr., ii. 122, 123 
 La Tre'moille, General, i. 397 
 Laubert, i. 457, 460 
 Launay, De, i. 69 
 Lauriston, Marshal, ii. 142 
 Laville, General de, ii. 376, 390, 391, 
 
 406 
 Lebrun, M, (assistant-tutor to the 
 
 children of the Duke of Orleans), 
 
 i. 57 
 Le Brun, Major, i. 130, 133, 139 
 Le Bruu (Consul), ii. 17 
 Le Clerc, General, i. 306 ; ii. 62, 68, 
 
 77, 78, 82, 95 
 Le Cocq, i. 76 
 Le Due, Abbe, i. 93 & note, 94, 
 
 95 
 Legendre, General, ii. 236, 237 
 Legrand, General, ii. 155, 156, 178 
 Lemaire, JL, i. 349 
 Le Marois (the brothers), i. 255 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 Le Marois, General, i. 270, 291 ; ii. 
 
 193, 375 
 Lemoine, General, i. 406, 410, 417, 
 
 422, 424, 427, 431, 432, 457 
 Lenoir, i. 64, 66; ii. 51,373 
 Lenormand d'£tiolles. Mile, i. 143 
 Leoben, i. 350 
 Le Roy, i. 485, 486 
 Lesbrossier, Major, ii. 389 
 Le Toumeur, i. 254, 255 
 Le Vasseur, General, ii. 163, 167, 
 
 175, 178 
 Lichtenstein, Prince, ii. 145 
 Liebert, General, i. 233, 234; ii. 90, 
 
 91, 93, 95, 105, 115 
 Loison, General, ii. 200, 204, 205, 
 
 207, 209, 213, 236, 259, 316, 331, 
 
 395, 399, 400-403 
 Longchamps (Promenade of), i. 40 & 
 
 note, 41 
 Longchamps, i. 253, 254 
 Loos, Princess de, i. 20 
 Louis XIV, i. 43 
 Louis XVI, i. 42, 44, 61, 63, 78, 79, 
 
 82, 83, 85, 88, 90, 97, 99, 100-103, 
 
 108, 110, 117, 118, 122, 141, 142 
 Louis XVIII, i. 92, 93, 96, 100, Idl, 
 
 108 ; ii. 405, 406, 411, 414, 415 
 Louis-Philippe, i. 57, 59, 95, 135, 
 
 145, 157, 160, 163, 285 ; ii. 332 
 Loyseau, M., i. 167, 168 
 Lucchesini, Marquis, ii. 56 
 Liickner, Marshal de, i. 109 
 Lusignan, General, i. 295, 307-309, 
 
 312; ii. 10 
 Luzerne, De la, i. 104, 105 & note 
 
 Macdonald, Marshal (Duke of 
 Tarentum), i. 382, 383, 386, 389, 
 390, 394, 395, 406-409, 430, 432, 
 458-461, 468, 469, 471, 476-478, 
 483, 490 ; ii. 1, 2, 383, 413-416, 418 
 
 Machemin, Lieutenant, i. 155, 156, 182 
 
 Mack, General, i. 397, 406, 407, 431, 
 433-435; ii. 124, 134 
 
 ^Macquart, General, i. 208 
 
 Mahy de Favras, i. 91-93 
 
 2 F
 
 434 
 
 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES 
 
 Maillard, i. 127 
 
 Maisonneuve, General, i. 222 
 
 Maissemy, De (Director-General of 
 the Library), i. 104, 105 
 
 Mandat, i. 117, 118 
 
 Maraize, De, i. 176, 177 
 
 Marat, i. 123, 128, 188 
 
 Marbitzky, M. de, i. 26, 27 
 
 Marceau, i. 209 
 
 Marchand, General, ii. 326 
 
 Maret (Duke of Bassano), i. 305 ; ii. 
 121, 186, 187, 413 
 
 Maret (prefect), ii. 123 
 
 Margaron, General, i. 52, 221 ; ii. 
 127, 155, 230 
 
 Marie-Antoinette, i. 42-44, 87, 88, 
 102, 118 
 
 Marie-Louise, Empress, ii. 277, 278, 
 280, 282, 374 
 
 Mariette, Mile, ii. 30 
 
 Marnaont, Marshal (Duke of Kagusa), 
 i. 270, 305, 435 ; ii. 11, 124, 142, 331, 
 344, 348, 349, 356, 359, 365, 367-369 
 
 Massena, Marshal (Prince of Essling), 
 i. 209, 268, 280, 287, 290-296, 300, 
 302-304, 306-322, 325, 326, 335, 
 337, 342, 343, 346-355, 357-359 ; 
 ii. 4, 11, 12, 24, 25, 27-29, 31, 35, 
 36, 38, 40-47, 49-51, 55, 57, 83, 90, 
 106, 118, 257, 279, 281, 287-292, 
 249-296, 301, 308, 311-324, 326, 
 330, 331, 370 
 
 Matera, Colonel, i. 382 
 
 Mathieu, General Maurice, i. 407- 
 410, 430, 432 
 
 Maucune, General, ii. 327 
 
 Maulevrier, Count of, i. 257, 261 
 
 Maupertuis, i. 11 
 
 Mazas, Colonel, ii. 127, 141, 159, 160, 
 165, 174 
 
 Mechin (controller), i. 458, 471, 475 
 Mejean, Colonel, i. 423, 450 
 Melas, General, ii. 11, 31, 32, 42, 44 
 Menard, General, i. 286, 306 
 Menou, General, i. 253, 257-259 
 ]\Ierlin of Douai, i. 151, 252, 358, 
 454, 459, 475 
 
 Mermet, General, ii. 327 
 
 Mesmer, i. 23, 25 
 
 Mesny, ii. 75 
 
 Metsch, General, i. 397, 407, 408 
 
 Metternich, Count, ii. 60 
 
 Meulan, Count of, ii. 78 
 
 Meyer, General, i. 218 
 
 Michaud, General, i. 225 
 
 Micheroux, General, i. 397-401, 404, 
 
 405, 417 
 Millin de Grandmaison, i. 105 
 MioUis, General, ii, 42 
 Mirabeau, i. 72, 73, 95-98, 104 
 Miranda, i. 158 
 
 Mireur, General, i. 352, 354, 367 
 Moliterno, Prince, i. 432, 446 
 Moncey, Marshal (Duke of Conegli- 
 
 auo), ii. 9 
 Monge, i. 347 
 Monnet, General, ii. 78, 79 
 Monnier, Colonel, i. 286, 295, 337, 
 
 399, 406, 411-413, 417, 418, 423- 
 
 426, 438-441, 461 ; ii. 249 
 Montalembert, Count of, i. 340 
 Montalembert, Mme de, i. 340, 341, 
 
 349 
 Montbrun, General, ii. 327, 343, 346 
 Monte Hermoso, Marquis of, ii. 83 
 Montesquiou, Family of, i. 32 
 Montesson, Duchess of, ii. 60 
 Montlezun, Count and Countess of, 
 
 i. 32-34 
 Montlezun, Family of, i. 32 
 Montmorin, De, i. 126 
 Montpensier, Duke of, i. 57, 59 
 Morand, General, ii. 125-128, 130, 
 
 131, 152, 156, 159, 161-165, 167, 
 
 179 
 Moras, Captain, i. 237 
 Moreau, General, i. 236, 237, 475; 
 
 ii. 1, 2, 5, 7-9, 18, 19, 24, 46, 83, 
 
 97, 105-108, 382, 383 
 Morel, Mme, i. 49 
 Morin, M., ii. 35, 36, 182-184 
 Mortier, Marshal (Duke of Treviso), ii. 
 
 54, 55, 124, 142, 248, 249, 251, 253 
 Motte, General, i. 306, 312, 313
 
 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES 
 
 435 
 
 Moulin, ii. 14, 18 
 
 Mouton, General (Count of Lobau), 
 ii.34 
 
 Mouton-Duvernet, General, ii. 357, 
 358, 371 
 
 Mliller, Captain, i. 408 
 
 Murat, Marshal (King of Naples), i. 
 255, 262, 270, 291, 354, 307 ; ii. 43, 
 49, 108-110, 124, 125, 129, 130, 
 141, 142 note, 144, 146, 147, 153, 
 157, 158, 184, 186-188, 420 
 
 NANsouTy, General, ii. 100 
 
 Necker, i. 64, 91 
 
 Neuchatel, Prince of (see Berthier, 
 
 IMarshal) 
 Ney, Marshal, ii. 11, 124, 149, 259, 
 
 289, 307, 330, 382, 383 
 Nivet, Major, i. 190, 193, 194, 197 
 Nolli, Baron, i. 420, 423, 426 
 Novion, Count of, ii. 213-215, 239 
 Novion, Edmund de, ii. 214 
 
 O'CoNNELL, General Count, ii. 109- 
 
 112, 410 
 O'Connel], Countess, ii. Ill 
 Ocskay, General, i. 307, 312, 313 
 ( )dier. Commissary, i. 404 
 Odiot, Lieutenant, i, 130, 131 
 Olivier, General, i. 461, 462, 468, 473, 
 
 474, 476, 480-484, 489 
 O'Moran, General, i. 137, 139, 142, 
 
 143, 145, 146, 148, 152, 153, 175, 
 
 187, 205, 220 
 Orange, Prince of, i. 183 
 Orleans, Duke of, i. 53, 61, 64, 83; 
 
 ii. 411 
 Orleans, Mile (Citizeness ililgalite), i. 
 
 145 
 Orsay, Mme d', ii. 283 
 Ottoboni, Countess, i. 360 
 Oudinot, Marshal (Dukeof Pteggio), ii. 
 
 25, 30, 38, 124, 153, 163, 382, 383, 
 
 385, 393 
 
 Padua, Duke of, i. 305 
 Papafava, Countess of, i. 327 
 
 PapilloD, Dr., i. 490 
 
 Pardiac, De, i. 32, 34 
 
 Paris, Deacon, i. 35 & note 
 
 Parque, Duke of, ii. 315 
 
 Paul I, Emperor of Russia, i. 3 
 
 P^cheux, General, ii. 384 
 
 Penieres (member of the Convention), 
 
 i. 192 
 Percy (surgeon-general), ii. 171, 173 
 Perignon, General, ii. 7, 8 
 Permon, Mile Laure, ii. 53 
 Perrin of the Vosges, i. 192, 193 
 Petriconi, Captain, i. 381, 403-405 
 Pichegru, General, i. 230, 231, 236, 
 
 238 ; ii. 108 
 Picton, General, ii. 318 
 Pietramaggiore, Marquis of, i. 419 
 Pieyre, M., i. 53 ; ii. 411 
 Pignatelli, Prince, i. 431 
 Pille, General, i. 254 
 Pinon, General, i. 203 
 Pinon, M., i. 49 
 Pinon, Mme, i. 50, 167 
 Piquet, Captain, i. 389-393, 403-405, 
 
 464, 474, 490 
 Pius VI, i. 344 
 Plaiita, General, i. 419 
 Plantrose, M. de, i. 64 
 Pocholle, i. 162 
 Poinsot, General, ii. 48 
 Point, General, i. 422 
 Pommereul, General, ii. 91, 115 
 Pouzet, Colonel, ii. 164, 254 
 Precari, Giovanni, i. 419 
 Preval, General, i. 93, 270 ; ii. 6, 7, 
 
 41, 99, 100 
 Provera, i. 298 
 
 QuiNETTE, i. 101 
 
 Ragusa, Duke of (see Marmont) 
 Eainville, ii. 402, 403 
 Rampon, General, i. 306 
 Rapp, i. 362 
 Ratton, M., ii. 199 
 Ray, Count of, i. 200 
 Rccamier, Mme, i. 41 
 
 2 F 1>
 
 436 
 
 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES 
 
 Eegnac, Marquis de, i. 5 
 
 Keille, General, i. 270, 355 ; ii. 28, 29, 
 
 142, 370 
 Kewbell, i. 355 
 Key, General, i. 295, 297, 348, 354, 
 
 408, 430-432, 454, 475 
 Eeynaud, General, ii. 336, 359-361, 
 
 363 
 Keynier, General, ii. 308, 318, 330 
 Kichebourg, Captain, i. 381, 390, 391 ; 
 
 ii. 48, 69-71, 76, 81, 86, 90, 96, 
 
 101, 131, 132, 137, 153, 165, 169 
 Richelieu, Duke of, i. 18 
 Eichelieu, Marshal de, i. 17-19 
 Richelieu, Marechale, i. 19 
 Richemont, Colonel de, ii. 365 
 Rivarol, Count of, i. 30-32 
 Eivierrede I'Isle, i. 50, 64, 124; ii. 
 
 51, 57, 118, 123, 170, 373, 413, 
 
 415 
 Robespierre, i. 94, 178, 224, 240 
 Rodney, Captain, ii. 221-223, 226 
 Eoederer, ii. 253 & note 
 Eoguet, General, ii. 345 
 Eohan, Cardinal de, i. 90 
 Rohan, Ferdinand de, i. 90 
 Eoserie, de la, i. 125-127, 142, 207 
 Eoubaud, i. 309, 311 
 Rouget de Lisle, i. 109, 110 
 Eouget de Lisle, General, ii. 415 
 Rouvelet, i. 273-275, 279, 281, 333, 
 
 334, 338 
 Rouziers, i. 242, 250 
 Rovere (member of the Committee of 
 
 Public Safety), i. 166, 171 
 Royer-CoUard, Mme, i. ] 47 
 Ruffo, Cardinal, i. 457, 461, 468, 472, 
 
 478 
 Rusca, General, i. 398, 400, 401, 403, 
 
 405, 411 & note, 416, 418, 421- 
 
 425, 480 
 
 Sacqukleu, Captain, i. 182 
 Saint-Cyr, General Gouviou, i. 359, 
 363, 364, 367, 368, 371, 382, 383, 
 458; ii. 7, 9, 10 & note, 75 
 Saint-Farre, Abbe de, i. 57 
 
 Saint-Georges, Chevalier de, i. 50-53 ; 
 
 ii. 51 
 Saint-Germain, Count of, i. 62 
 Saint-Hilaire, General, ii. 126, 128- 
 
 131, 13G, 138-140, 147, 156, 157, 
 
 159, 161, 164, 165, 167, 177-179, 254 
 Saint-Just, i. 207 
 Saladin, i. 162 
 Salafon de Vigearde, i. 49, 50, 56, 64, 
 
 107, 124 
 Salaignac, Colonel de, ii. 292, 293 
 Sale, March* sa di, i. 288, 289 
 Salm, General, i. 480 
 Salverte, Kusebe, i. 32, 256, 257, 339 
 Sanchez (see Julian) 
 San Filippo, General, i. 397 
 Sauterre, i. 109 
 Sapt, Mme, i. 13, 14 
 Sarrazin, General, i. 473 ; ii. 2 
 Satur, Chevalier de, ii. 19 
 Saulanne, Captain & Mme, i. 221 
 Savary (Duke of Rovigo), i. 10, 226, 
 
 362, 363, 367 ; ii. 65, 67, 68, 145, 
 
 193, 241, 373 
 Scheel, Count, i. 482 
 Scherer, General, i. 340-342, 471, 
 
 474, 475 ; ii. 1 
 Schipari, General, i. 461 
 Schwarzenberg, Prince, ii. 282, 381, 
 
 383 
 Sebastiani, Marshal, ii. 69 
 Segur, Philippe de, ii. 128 
 Seras, General, ii. 340 
 Sercey, Mile Henriette de, i. 145, 146 
 
 153 
 Serurier, Marshal, i. 268 ; ii. 17 
 Sieyes, i. 267 ; ii. 14, 18, 21 note 
 Sillery, Mme de (see Genlis, Mme de 
 Silveira, General, ii. 296 
 Simon, Captain, i. 216 
 Siniavin, Admiral, ii. 200 
 Sol, Captain, i. 226 
 Solignac, General, i. 257, 262, 270- 
 
 282, 291, 331-339, 360; ii. 207, 
 
 274-276, 316, 331 
 Solms, Count of, i. 26 
 Sombreuil, De, i. 69
 
 INDEX OF PnOPER NAMES 
 
 437 
 
 Sombreuil, De (son of above), i. 
 98 
 
 Souliam, General, i. 23C, 237 ; ii. 
 341, 345, 347, 348, 355, 357 
 
 Soult, Marshal (Duke of Dalmatia), 
 i. 306 & note, 357 ; ii. 11, 40, 51, 
 12'J, 124-12G, 133, 139, 140, 142, 
 144, 140, 153, 154, 159, 177-179, 
 180, 187, 238, 239, 256, 257, 288- 
 290, 312-314, 316, 317 
 
 Sozzi, De, i. 3-5, 36, 46, 47 
 
 Sozzi, Mile de, i. 1, 3 
 
 Sprechporten, General, ii. 56, 57 
 
 Stadion, Count, ii. 145 
 
 Stael, Mme de, ii. 60 
 
 Stoss, Professor, i. 9 
 
 Stoss, Fritz, i. 10, 11 
 
 Stuart, Lord George, ii. 218 & note, 
 219, 226, 229 
 
 Stutterheim, Major, ii. 177 
 
 Subervie, Major, ii. 147, 158 
 
 Suchet, Chevalier, ii. 213 
 
 Suchet, Marshal (Duke of Albufera), i. 
 286, 337; ii. 6, 31, 40, 41, 249, 252 
 
 Suffren, M. de, i. 90 
 
 Sugny, Countess of, ii. 213 
 
 SuUeau, F. L., i. 114 note 
 
 Suwarrow, General, ii. 1, 5, 9, 11 
 
 Talleyrand, ii. 409 
 
 Tallien, i. 252 
 
 Tallien, Mme, i. 41 
 
 Talma, ii. 53 
 
 Talon, Judge, i. 94 
 
 Tarentum, Duke of (see Macdonald) 
 
 Taviel, General, ii. 213 
 
 Tavira, Don, ii. 333 
 
 Texier, ii. 69, 70, 77, 81 
 
 Texicr, Mme, ii. 59 
 
 Thabaud (member of the Conven- 
 tion), i. 254 
 
 Th^r^, i. 353 
 
 The'roigne of Mericourt, Mile, i. 115, 
 116 
 
 Thiebault, Mme (mother of Baron 
 Thiebault), i. 1, 2, 14, 19, 22, 40, 
 49, 104, 105, 141. 224 
 
 Thiebault, Mme (wife of Baron Thi(5- 
 bault) (see Chenais, Elizabeth) 
 
 Tlii(5bault, Mile Claire, ii. 231 & note 
 
 Tliiebault, Edward, ii. 121 
 
 'i'hiebault, Dieudonne (father of Ba- 
 ron Thiebault), i. 1, 3, 4, 6, 9 note, 
 17, 19, 21, 24, 34, 36, 46, 90, 95, 
 105, 119, 140, 141, 144, 145, 148, 
 152, 159, 161, 162, 223, 240, 267 ; 
 ii. 49, 186 
 
 Thierri of Ville-d'Avray, Baron, i. 34, 
 126 
 
 Thiers, i. 82 note, 145, 357 
 
 Thouvenot, General, i. 135 ; ii. 252 
 
 Tilly, General de, ii. 252 
 
 Toussaint-Louverture, ii. 95 
 
 Trant, Colonel, ii. 310 note 
 
 Treilhard (member of the Conven- 
 tion), i. 151, 189 
 
 Trenis, ii. 59 
 
 Trinquallye, Captain, i. 408 
 
 Turgot, Marchioness of, ii. 213 
 
 Turrel, ii. 93, 94 
 
 Vachot, General, i. 228, 229 
 Valence, Count of, i. 158, 160, 206 ; 
 
 ii. 60, 61, 422 
 Valette, General, i. 347, 367-371, 
 
 374, 375-377, 380, 381 
 Valette, M. de la, i. 64 
 Vallier, Lieutenant, ii. 201, 227, 277, 
 
 347, 414 
 Vandamme, General, ii. 45, 147, 156- 
 
 159, 167, 178, 383, 395 
 Vare, General, ii. 126, 127, 156, 157, 
 
 159, 178 
 Vaulgrenant, Count of, i. 50 
 Vaux, Baron de, i. 357, 358 
 Vauxcelles, Abbe de, i. 24 
 Vernet, Carle, i. 53 
 Vial, General, i. 354 
 Vicenza, Duke of, i. 305 
 Vichery, General, ii. 394, 399 
 Victor, Marshal (Duke of Belluno), i. 
 
 209 
 Vidal de Valabreque, Captain, ii. 197, 
 
 I'JS, 227
 
 438 
 
 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES 
 
 Vidaud de la Tour, De, i. 35, lO-i 
 
 Viennet, Captain, ii. 422 
 
 Vigearde, De, i. 110, 111, 116, 123, 
 
 124, 129, 131, 137, 139, 199, 203 
 Vignolle, General, ii. 48 
 Yilla-Campo, Marquis of, ii. 2GS, 
 
 269 
 Villaret, Colonel, ii. 34 
 Villatte, General, i. 209 ; ii. 29 
 Vincent, Lieutenant-General, ii. 178 
 Vinternier, General, i. 207 
 Yintimiglia, Prince of, i. 54 
 Vismes, De, i. 70, 77 
 Volland (commissary-general), ii. 360 
 Voltaire, i. 11, 12 
 
 Walthek, Majob, i. 375 
 
 Wast (paymaster), ii. 30 & note, 31 
 
 Watier, General, ii. 327, 340, 345- 
 
 347, 349, 350, 352-355, 400 
 Watrin, General, i. 480-483 ; ii. 9-11 
 
 Weirother, General, ii. 144 
 
 Wellesley, Sir A. j ^^^^ Wellington) 
 
 , Lord / 
 
 Wellington, Duke of, ii. 256, 257, 
 288, 297 note, 308-311, 317, 318, 
 326, 328, 329, 332, 342, 343, 351, 
 353, 359, 365, 367, 369, 370 
 
 White, Lieutenant, ii. 222, 224 
 
 AVilliams, Miss Helen Maria, i. 120 
 & note, 121 
 
 Winch, Mme, ii. 51, 58 
 
 Wouillemont, General, i. 402-405; 
 ii. 33, 42 
 
 Wrede, Marshal, ii. 124 
 
 Wiirmser, i. 298 
 
 York, Duke of, i. 182, 191, 209, 
 
 248 
 Yvan, Dr., ii. 171 
 
 ZuELO, Cardikal, i. 453, 477 
 
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