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 Gen. Count de Segur
 
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 I II
 
 AN AIDE-DE-CAMP OF 
 NAPOLEON 
 
 MEMOIRS OF 
 GENERAL COUNT DE SEGUR 
 
 OF THE FRENCH ACADEMY 
 180O-1812 
 
 REVISED BY HIS GRANDSON 
 
 Count LOUIS DE SEGUR 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 H. A. PATCHETT-MARTIN 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 
 1895
 
 Authorized Edition.
 
 
 
 EDITOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 COUNT PHILIPPE DE SEGUR, general 
 of division, Peer of France, Academician, 
 was born in 1780 and died in 1873. He lived 
 for the greater part of a century, and cut a 
 brilliant figure in war, politics and letters. A 
 private in 1800, he became a general in Febru- 
 ary, 1 8 1 2, and fought continuously up to the end 
 of the Imperial era. He served through all the 
 wars of the Empire on the staff of Napoleon or 
 at the head of picked troops. 
 
 With an equal passion for literary and for mili- 
 tary glory, he occupied his leisure after the peace 
 in writing numerous works, and published in 
 1824 his famous narrative of the Campaign in 
 Russia, which was talked of all over Europe. His 
 most important work entitled History, Memoirs 
 and Miscellanea, in eight volumes, appeared In 1873 
 after his death. It comprises the entire history 
 of Napoleon, and the author's personal reminis- 
 cences. As the title indicates, the book is In two 
 parts: on the one hand we have the principal
 
 ir editor's preface. 
 
 events of that incomparable epoch related and 
 appreciated from the high standpoint of an eloquent 
 and conscientious writer ; on the other, the personal 
 memoirs of the General, the account of all he 
 had done and experienced. 
 
 It is this intensely attractive and dramatic per- 
 sonal record which we publish for the first time 
 in a separate form under the title of Memoirs of 
 an Aide-de- Camp of Napoleon I. 
 
 The author first devotes several pages to his 
 father, Count de Segur, a celebrated ambassador 
 of the great Catherine, who concluded the first 
 treaty between France and Russia, was one of 
 the French combatants in the War of Independence 
 of the United States, a Councillor of State, and 
 Grand Master of the Ceremonies of Napoleon the 
 First, Academician, and lastly a Peer of France. 
 His name will often crop up in the Memoirs of 
 his son. In this introduction the reader will also 
 find narrated several events of the life of the great 
 grandfather of General Philippe de S6gur, Marshal 
 de Segur, the hero of Laufeld and of Closter- 
 camp, War Minister of Louis XVI. during the 
 American war, who received numberless wounds 
 in the most famous battles of the eighteenth century. 
 
 The writer also recounts the first years of his 
 impoverished and proscribed childhood, in the 
 midst of the whirlwind of the Revolution.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I BEGIN the recollections of my life by speaking 
 of my father. Together with a cultivated, lively, 
 copious, acute, and profound intellect, he possessed 
 an unfailing benevolence, a candid honesty, and 
 the gentle gaiety of a happy nature and a pure 
 and satisfied conscience. But whatever might 
 have been his perspicacity, it was impossible for 
 so loyal, so gentle, and so loving a being, preci- 
 pitated, as it were, from another world, from the 
 court of the great Catherine, where he had been 
 Ambassador, into the midst of our Revolutioi;!, 
 to understand its passions until after he had himself 
 suffered from them. The Queen had made him 
 the confidant of her wishes, he believed in them, 
 he had been deeply moved by her sorrow : she 
 had persuaded him that she was open to reason- 
 able concessions. 
 
 In the first instance, he endeavoured to make 
 use of his ties of friendship and relationship with
 
 IV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the heads of the various innovating parties to 
 draw them towards this princess. But it was an 
 impossible attempt. In their rivalry for popular 
 favour not one of these chiefs, carried along- or 
 outstripped by those around them, could answer 
 from one day to another for his own promises 
 or his intentions of the day before. It would 
 have meant isolation and deposition from all that 
 constituted power, entailing on the one hand 
 the animadversions of one's own party, while, on 
 the other, there would be no chance of reo-alnlno" 
 the favour of a Court and an aristocracy implacable 
 in their indignant pride and wounded interests. 
 
 The Queen herself, surrounded by distrust and 
 conflicting passions, was no longer mistress of her 
 own decisions. So that from the very outset, 
 although my father had only undertaken these 
 conciliatory steps towards the liberal chiefs at the 
 desire of this princess, he became the object of 
 her mistrust. It was at the same time a sorrowful 
 surprise to him to find himself suddenly exposed 
 to the malignant rebuffs of those amongst his 
 former friends who, hankering after everything 
 and anxious to grasp back all, appeared to the 
 Queen her most trusty and faithful partisans. 
 
 It nevertheless happened several times that, in 
 the midst of this whirlwind of antagonistic passions, 
 my father's reputation for ability, moderation, and
 
 INTRODUCTION. V 
 
 loyalty, dawned on these unfortunate princes as a 
 means of salvation. On three special occasions 
 amongst others, in their ever-increasing distress 
 did they avail themselves of it; first, when they 
 chose him for their ambassador to Rome, secondly, 
 by offering him the Foreign Office Ministry which 
 he was unable to accept, and lastly by appointing 
 him their Minister Plenipotentiary at Berlin. 
 
 My father did not even start for Rome; the 
 Pope refused to receive him; all union on this 
 side had become an impossibility. As for his 
 mission to Berlin, I had it from himself that he 
 would receive no instructions save from the King 
 and Queen exclusively. Unfortunately this precau- 
 tion was useless. These instructions were entirely 
 of a pacific nature, but whether through dissimula- 
 tion on the part of our princes towards their 
 Plenipotentiary, or that after his departure they had 
 been drawn into another line of policy, the fact was 
 that his devotion was turned against himself and 
 he was sacrificed to it. After having worn himself 
 out in vain efforts, perceiving that he had been 
 tricked and calumniated by those whom he was 
 endeavouring to help, or rather by their blind 
 advisers, he was forced to renounce the attempt 
 to avert the peril which he foresaw would soon 
 overtake them. 
 
 The catastrophe of August loth and
 
 VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the September massacres were then imminent. 
 At the time when this disastrous epoch had 
 actually arrived, disheartened and discouraged by 
 the mistrust of the very Government which he 
 had vainly endeavoured to succour, he had for 
 two months past withdrawn himself seven leagues 
 from Paris, and was at Fresnes, in the home of 
 his brother-in-law, M. d'Aguesseau, where the 
 news of the demagogical profanations of June 20 
 and the cruelties of August 10 reached him, not 
 as a surprise but as an aggravation ot his sorrow 
 for the misfortunes of the vanquished, and his 
 horror at the revolutionary excesses. Soon the 
 atrocities of September 2 and 3 invaded even the 
 retreat where his energies were solely directed 
 towards the preservation of his wife and his three 
 children from this irruption of barbarians. A band 
 of these demagogues were in pursuit of a well- 
 to-do farmer of the neighbourhood, suspected of 
 royalism, and denounced as a monopolist because 
 he was wealthy; these miscreants had caught him, 
 and without any kind of trial, were proceeding 
 to make an end of him when my father came 
 to the rescue, haranguing them with such success 
 that in a sudden transformation, these wretches 
 passed from a murderous frenzy into a no less 
 exaggerated transport of humane enthusiasm. In 
 this fresh outbreak they made the unhappy farmer,
 
 INTRODUCTION. VII 
 
 Still pale, and trembling in every limb, drink and 
 dance with them around the tree of liberty from 
 whose branches they would pitilessly have strung 
 him up only a moment before. 
 
 On his return to Paris during the sinister 'winter 
 of 1792 to 1793, he found installed that Reign of 
 Terror, which stained and dishonoured France, 
 and disgusted her for so long with liberty. It 
 was a style of government for which our new 
 historians who happen to be admirers of Danton, 
 should give him the entire credit, as we shall see. 
 In fact that political invention which he so 
 audaciously boasted of dates specially from 
 his Ministry of Justice and the massacres which 
 he avowedly organized : here is a proof. 
 
 A few weeks after this massacre of priests, 
 women, and inoffensive old men and prisoners, 
 my father happened to meet him. Danton accosted 
 him and entered into conversation, and my father 
 challenged him concerning the horrible events of 
 these two days, saying that he failed to see their 
 motive or their aim, and that he could not understand 
 how he, a Minister of Justice, could neither have 
 foreseen, nor at any rate have checked them. 
 They were at the time walking side by side : 
 Danton stopped short, looked my father straight 
 in the face, and with his too well-known cynicism,
 
 VIII INTRODUCTION. 
 
 replied : " Sir, you forget to whom you are speak- 
 ing; you forget that we are the riffraff, that we 
 have issued from the gutter; that with your opinions 
 we should soon fall back into it, and that we can 
 only govern by the law of fear." 
 
 It may well be believed that after such a declara- 
 tion, conversation was cut short and that my 
 father hastened to leave a monster who was 
 capable of boasting of a system of the most odious 
 crimes which have ever sullied the pages of history, 
 
 A few days later my father was arrested on 
 two occasions. The first time he was torn from 
 the hands of these terrorists by the agency of 
 one of those tender friendships which he so 
 deservedly inspired ; on the second it was his own 
 courage alone that saved him. Brought before 
 the revolutionary committee of the section for having 
 refused to mount guard at the doors of the 
 Temple where the King was a prisoner, he nobly 
 decided on explaining his invincible repugnance 
 in the plainest language to this assembly of igno- 
 rant and infuriated men: "Was it for him, a 
 former minister of this prince who had often 
 showered benefits upon him, to join the ranks of 
 his gaolers, and even possibly find himself some 
 day in the position of being forced to arrest with 
 his own hand the unfortunate monarch whose 
 confidence he had once possessed? Were there
 
 INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 not a thousand other posts in which he could 
 be useful to public order without exciting the 
 deserved mistrust of his fellow-citizens? In any 
 other position he would be able to fulfil his duty 
 without doing violence to sentiments which the 
 consciences of those around him would enable 
 them to realize, and which in his place they would 
 have felt themselves ! " 
 
 Fortunately the courageous frankness of this 
 declaration awoke an echo in all hearts. There 
 was a general acclamation; the spy who had 
 denounced him, perturbed and taken aback, was 
 ignominiously expelled, and my father was brought 
 home in triumph. 
 
 The Girondins, however, already so far removed 
 from their starting point, and guilty withal, were 
 ignorant that in a spirit of faction, and through 
 fear, they were on the eve of being drawn into 
 the commission of the most cowardly and heinous 
 of all crimes. 
 
 It was the beginning of January, 1793, and my 
 father. In the attempt to save the unfortunate 
 Louis XVI., was taking steps which he had no 
 reason for supposing would be fruitless. Indeed, 
 on the very eve of the fatal judgment, he received 
 most reassuring promises from one of the most 
 eloquent of the judges. Vergnlaud especially went
 
 X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 SO far as to indulg-e in certain unbosomings of 
 conscience. 
 
 " What ! he, vote for the death of Louis XVI. ! 
 It was an insult," he exclaimed, "to dare to suppose 
 him capable of such an unworthy action ! " He 
 descanted on its awful iniquity, he pointed out 
 its uselessness, its danger even, and there is no 
 doubt that for the time being this Girondin 
 believed himself incapable of it. But only a few 
 hours after his disavowal, he found himself under 
 the necessity of committing this odious crime, 
 owing to fatal engagements with his party and 
 the terrible impulsion of a revolutionary tribunal. 
 This wretch, after having voted for the death 
 sentence, even voted against any reprieve. 
 
 It was impossible for my father to think of 
 returning to Fresnes whither his brother-in-law, 
 M. d'Aguesseau, had retired. This family gather- 
 ing on a large estate would have excited the 
 ferocious cupidity of these who levied blackmail 
 in places of public resort. Prudence counselled 
 dispersion. He therefore bought near Sceaux 
 and in the village of Ch^tenay, at three leagues 
 distance from Paris, a little "property which became 
 our family retreat. It was there that he gave 
 shelter to my grandfather, Marshal Segur, who 
 had been denounced and proscribed on account 
 of his record of glorious deeds of arms, and of a
 
 INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 seven years' wise, economical, and beneficent admi- 
 nistration at the War Office. 
 
 Very soon the commissaries of the Committee 
 of Public Safety appeared to drag him from our 
 arms. But their brutality faltered at the spectacle 
 of this old warrior covered with wounds! One 
 of them, however, attempted to lay a hand on him; 
 but the astonishment of the illustrious veteran, and 
 his resolute, cold, and imposing- glance arrested 
 the ruffian who drew back and maintained a 
 respectful demeanour during the remainder of his 
 unworthy mission.* He refused, however, to accept 
 my father's self-sacrifice, who offered himself per- 
 sistently either to take my grandfather's place in 
 prison, or to share his captivity. 
 
 It lasted six months: he had been incarcerated 
 
 * Eighty years later, in 187 1, General Philippe de Segur, his grandson, 
 went through the hardships of the siege of Paris and the Commune. 
 Does not the following scene recall to us the moving episode of Chatenay. 
 
 "One day, some delegates of the Commune attired in military uni- 
 form made a perquisition in the general's residence. He preserved such 
 a noble demeanour that it inspired them with respect. After a few 
 words, the confused and wavering delegates renounced the search. One 
 of them, however, as he was leaving, suddenly changed his tone and 
 asked the general to give them some money. Upon which the general 
 also altered his tone and demeanour. " Leave this place," he said, 
 "you dishonour the uniform you are wearing." He no longer spoke 
 as a resigned victim who braves and intimidates his executioners, he 
 spoke like a general to his soldiers. — The miserable creatures went off 
 with bowed heads. They had recognised the voice of the master, 
 some touch of indignant honour had thrilled within them." 
 
 2 (Saint-Rene Taillandier.)
 
 XII INTRODUCTION. 
 
 in La Force and placed in a dungeon where his 
 only bed was a mattress on the ground laid on 
 some stinking straw. The unalterable calm and 
 constant serenity of his mind preserved his health 
 in this cold and wretched prison where he was 
 respected and even tended by his fellow captives, 
 workmen of the lowest class of the people, for 
 there was no distinction of persons among these 
 victims. Fortunately the impudence of the Ter- 
 rorists stopped short at actually leading to the 
 scaffold an old impoverished man who had been 
 maimed in his country's service and on whose 
 possessions there was nothing to confiscate. Not- 
 withstanding which, the impatience of one of these 
 scoundrels, whose cruelty dishonoured his great 
 ability, had already fixed the date of execution 
 when the revolution of the 9th Thermidor settled 
 that of the wretch himself 
 
 As for us, who had remained at Chatenay in a 
 state of consternation, we received the dailv list of 
 the atrocities of the members of the Convention 
 with the names of their victims. Each day 
 brought us news of the agony ot the sweetest, 
 the most beautiful and inoffensive of women, even 
 of children and venerable old men: suffice it to 
 name the Vintimilles, the Malesherbes and that 
 Duchess of Ayen, my mother's sister, herself a 
 mother to the poor, whose death warrant was
 
 INTRODUCTION. XIII 
 
 clamoured for and obtained by Fouquier-Tinville ! 
 
 There were our relatives, our connections and 
 a thousand others, for there were whole sections 
 of suspected persons. 
 
 We were in constant affright. One night at 
 the bottom of our garden we heard the drums beat 
 to arms in the village. The instinct of danger 
 caused us to rush back to the house, and we 
 were not mistaken, consternation was depicted on 
 every countenance. Two commissaries of the 
 Committee of Public Safety had just arrived in 
 the commune. They lost no time in seeking my 
 father. One was a little fair, insipid weakling; 
 the other a great, tall, swarthy scoundrel in car- 
 magnole garb, with the red cap on, a long sword 
 trailing at his side and a pair of pistols in his 
 belt. His mean countenance bore the imprint of 
 coarse and violent passions. He began by bru- 
 tally telling my father that " he had come to 
 arrest him and fling him into one of the Paris 
 prisons where he would not remain long enough 
 to rot ! " He added that the first thing to be 
 done was the examination of all papers, a task 
 which he left to his colleague, as this worthy 
 commissary of the existing government was not 
 able to read. 
 
 Luckily it was already late, our grand com- 
 missary was hungry, above all thirsty, and was
 
 XIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 not such a bad fellow in his cups. So that 
 while his colleague was hunting" through the drawers 
 of every cabinet in the house, we were plying 
 our sans-culotte with drink, and as he appeared 
 to be yielding to our instances, we at last suc- 
 ceeded in mollifying him by representing the 
 despair of our poor mother, and persuading him 
 that an indisposition from which our father was 
 suffering was so serious an illness as to render 
 his removal to Paris an impossibility. This man, 
 who was better than he appeared to be, or than 
 his employers really were, feigned to believe us, 
 and even ventured on leaving my father amongst 
 us, under arrest, with two peasants to mount 
 guard over him and answer for his person. This 
 kindly impulse saved us ; our commissary justified 
 his action in Paris, and my father passed out 
 of notice with no further ill-effects during the 
 continuance of the Reign of Terror than the ever- 
 increasing alarm which the daily reports caused us. 
 Later on, when matters returned more or less 
 to their normal condition, our protector, the sans- 
 culotte, became our protege! But neither money 
 nor work sufficed for him ; he stuck to nothing. It 
 became an impossibility to follow him through the 
 various vicissitudes of his fortunes, which were 
 worthy to be chronicled like Vidocq's Memoirs. 
 I believe, however, that they ended on a house-top
 
 INTRODUCTrON. XV 
 
 where he was wounded while trying to escape 
 from a constable whose bullet did him a cruel 
 though necessary service. 
 
 The first Terror was followed by a second, on 
 1 8th Fructidor. It was then that Napoleon appeared 
 on the scene. As soon as my father discerned 
 this bough of laurel in the midst of the shameful 
 and terrible shipwreck, he seized it and clung to 
 it, and by using every effort, first as a man of 
 letters, then as a legislator, finally as a Councillor 
 of State, succeeded in attaching the whole of 
 France to it. It was he who broke through the 
 silence imposed on the Legislative Body by pro- 
 posing a ten years' Consulate. His work in the 
 home section of the most learned, the most illus- 
 trious of State Councils, past or present, and 
 probably future, was immense! In this department 
 he co-operated with the whole force of his mind 
 and his experience toward the formation of our 
 Codes. 
 
 From that time, proscription being a thing of 
 the past, his merits raised him everywhere to 
 the highest positions. We witnessed him in 
 succession a member of the French Academy 
 in the Republic of Letters ; Grand Cross of the 
 Legion of Honour; Grand Officer of the Crown 
 at Court, and finally Senator in the first of our 
 political bodies.
 
 XVI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 After the fatal day of Waterloo, and his devoted 
 offer to accompany Napoleon into exile, being 
 forced to fall back on his writings as a means 
 of livelihood, our youth owed to this last vicis- 
 situde the best Ancient History that the University 
 of France had ever put into their hands, the history 
 of France up to the reign of Charles VIII. ; three 
 library volumes worthy of a place beside the 
 moral works of Plutarch, and his Memoirs, which 
 in spite of their success and our earnest wishes, 
 his great age, his sufferings, and above all his 
 reverence for the sad fate of Louis XVI. and 
 Marie Antoinette did not admit of his completing. 
 
 In the midst of these labours his excellent 
 reputation was the cause of his recall to the 
 Chamber of Peers where all parties welcomed 
 him, and where he endeavoured to render feasible 
 that form of government which Tacitus had indicated 
 and believed possible. In July, 1830, his dying 
 glance witnessed for the third time the fall from 
 the throne of the elder branch of Kings of our 
 third race. General La Fayette, his nephew, 
 being near to him on his deathbed received his 
 last prophetic words which I also heard, and 
 which events have only too well justified ; but the 
 first misguided raptures of this popular Revolution 
 were still at their height when my father expired. 
 
 Now for my turn !
 
 INTRODUCTION. XVII 
 
 II. 
 
 I had been brought up at home till 1790; 
 then in England up to the beginning of 1792; 
 on return whence, as I have already related, 
 we had to seek an asylum -at Fresnes, where 
 the echoes of the saturnalias of June 20th, the 
 excesses of August loth, and the massacres of 
 September, had invaded our solitude. 
 
 We have seen that with the rise of the revo- 
 lutionary whirlwind, my father, being forced to 
 consider our personal safety, had taken refuge 
 at Chatenay, near Sceaux, three leagues from 
 Paris, with my grandfather, my mother, and three 
 children, of whom I was the youngest. Voltaire, 
 it was said, had been brought up there; I remem- 
 ber that the Abbe Raynal used to come there to 
 see my father. The theories of this historian had 
 Just been put into action, to his apparent disgust, 
 I have heard him regret the exaggerations of his 
 philosophic writings ; reproaching himself for having 
 fed the flames of this horrible bonfire by placing 
 torches instead of lanterns in brutal hands which 
 only made use of them to consume and destroy 
 ever}^thing! This eloquent octogenarian voice 
 pleased my childish ears; I was then unaware 
 that three years previously the same voice had
 
 XVm INTRODUCTION. 
 
 acclaimed and encourag-ed the young artillery 
 officer who was destined to become our Emperor; 
 but who could have predicted that I myself, twenty 
 years later, after having devoted fourteen of the 
 best years of my life to the service of this great 
 man, should perhaps leave on record to posterity 
 some of the features of his history. 
 
 I was twelve years old ; the Reign of Terror was 
 beginning; we were poor and proscribed; everyone 
 had abandoned us, including masters and tutors, 
 and my father remained our sole teacher: It was 
 too much for me; there was too great a dispro- 
 portion between the pupil and the master. At 
 this early age which is that of new sensations, 
 and in the midst of tragic scenes surrounding my 
 weak and sickly existence, my heart alone had 
 singularly and precociously developed itself at the 
 expense above all of my mind, which had remained 
 in its first infancy. The emotions which are often 
 secretive at this age were with me acute, profound 
 and tenacious; but my intellect distinguished or 
 understood Httle, and worked mechanically. I 
 neither grew in body nor in mind. So that instead 
 of being a source of consolation, I only added to the 
 troubles of my family up to the age of seventeen. 
 
 At this epoch, which was that of the Director- 
 ate, some remains of the brilliant world of the 
 1 8th century had survived. Many men of talent,
 
 INTRODUCTION. XIX 
 
 of letters, and of pleasure, had devoted themselves to 
 these relics of the most charming society of modern 
 times. Saved from the shipwreck, they tried to 
 console each other by bringing into this new 
 world, in the midst of the still sanguinary ruins 
 of the old one, the manners of other days, the 
 love of pleasure adorned by a gallant or romantic 
 sentimentality, that of a light and graceful literature, 
 above all of a mordant and mocking conversation, 
 that puerile weapon of ridicule, the only one that 
 remained to serve our hate against the revolu- 
 tionary giant. With it we made a mad onslaught 
 against the axe hanging over our heads and still 
 dripping with our blood, against the scandalous good 
 fortune of hoonsh paz-z^enus, even against the glory of 
 its armies, then victorious over the whole of Europe! 
 
 In this society, my uncle, the Viscount de Segur, 
 was one of the men most noted by the light 
 graces of his mind. It was he who had initiated 
 me into it. My father was of it, but only by 
 one side of his nature — that of a man of the 
 world and a man of letters ; the other side, that of 
 a statesman, a publicist and historian, bound him to 
 political society. Both of them lived by their pen. 
 
 As for me, suddenly transplanted into the seduc- 
 tions of the amiable and joyous world in which 
 my uncle reigned, I was dazzled by it, I was 
 seized with the ambition of sustaining the reputa-
 
 XX INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tion of wit, of courage, and of gallantry of my 
 family. This ambition took possession of all my 
 adolescent faculties : I could see nothing beyond. 
 So that, when at the age of seventeen I was 
 quoted on account of some songs, a duel, and 
 other society successes, I fancied myself to be a 
 complete man of the world, having done all that 
 could be expected of my age and my capacity. 
 
 My education had not been subjected to any 
 method. Accustomed never to begin anything 
 at the beginning, in the same way that I wanted 
 to write books before I had read enough of them, 
 and to be a philosopher before having left the 
 sixth class, I formed my own political opinions 
 on hearsay; I followed the lead of example and 
 sentiment. I shared the hatred by which I was 
 surrounded for a revolution which had ruined and 
 desolated us, and which would even still proscribe 
 us ! There was nothing in this but what was 
 natural, all the more so that it was not the more 
 thoughtful opinion of my father, and that 
 there is often a spirit of contradiction between 
 the pupil and the master. From that time, without 
 examination and confusing all in my indiscriminating 
 aversion, I refused to accept anything from the pres- 
 ent time, I clung blindly to the past, childishly dis- 
 playing in the streets the black collar of the Vendeans, 
 and calling the hero of Italy Monsieur Bonaparte.
 
 INTRODUCTION. XXI 
 
 However, considering all things, good and bad, 
 I was better than the vain and sterile reputation 
 which was the object of my ambition. It was 
 a favourable symptom of my youth that I sought 
 and liked the conversation of serious men older 
 than myself, attaching much value to their esteem. 
 
 As to women, I addressed myself to those 
 whose qualities of heart and mind were the 
 most exacting. However distinguished they might 
 be, my imagination placed them still higher! 
 I religiously worshipped in them, the type of 
 ideal perfection which I had created for myself, 
 and it was in spite of the strict conditions 
 which this type imposed, that I endeavoured to 
 please them. I applied myself to the task 
 without respite, without relief, taking everything 
 seriously ; my mind and heart always on the strain ; 
 playing the lover fervently, laboriously committing 
 many follies, and fancying that my whole future 
 lay in the most ephemeral of successes. 
 
 This exclusive circle, beyond whose limits I 
 seldom passed, was not altogether useless to me. 
 It was dominated by delicate taste, noble and 
 polished manners, benevolence, and the most 
 exalted sentiments; by these alone could one hope 
 to please. Everyone spoke in turn, there was 
 very little scandal, no chatter upon dress or do- 
 mestic economy, one had to contribute an opi-
 
 XXn INTRODUCTION. 
 
 nion on the news, the plays and the books of 
 the day, on the actions and sentiments of the hero 
 of whatever literary work happened to be in vogue. 
 These judgments were controverted neither in 
 haste nor with pedantry, but more or less devel- 
 oped according to their relation with the condition 
 of heart or mind mutually existing between the 
 interlocutors. In short, I was living in the very 
 midst of one of the most select sets of this cele- 
 brated society, which the man of the world and 
 the man of letters of a former day frequented 
 by way of completing himself. 
 
 Too prematurely launched into this career, and 
 proscribed from any other, and at the age of 
 eighteen being incapable of producing anything 
 beyond light verse and vaudevilles, its drawback 
 was its futility; from this my disposition saved 
 me, but at my own expense. We have seen that 
 by nature and education I was of a serious turn 
 of mind ; I therefore rhymed without a vocation, 
 laboriously, expending in the polishing of my 
 couplets the few resources of my mind, and suc- 
 ceeding but poorly. The remembrance of the 
 distaste with which I regarded my sterile vein, 
 that of the ennui, which I experienced above all 
 in summer, lounging in Paris, then empty of my 
 set, wandering without aim or money, badly 
 dressed and worse fed, this remembrance of want
 
 INTRODUCTION. XXIII 
 
 of occupation, of privations, of discontent with 
 myself and my wasted time, long remained in my 
 memory as an unbearable weight. 
 
 The second Terror, that of the i8th Fructidor 
 was then rampant. Prudence as well as poverty kept 
 me at Chatenay where at least I found the neces- 
 saries of life. There, in a neglected but still elegant 
 abode, in the midst of a well-filled and well-selected 
 library, with no society but my own, my enfranchized 
 imagination took fresh flight, and a thousand 
 ambitious dreams in this isolation where nothing 
 disturbed them, carried me out of the real world 
 and transported me into that of illusions. Then 
 with a stick in one hand and a bundle in the other, 
 I took the road or rather the by-way towards 
 the capital; for it was always across the fields, 
 or in the direction of Fontenay-aux-Roses or of 
 Chatillon that I wended my steps, carefully avoid- 
 ing the high road, habitations, passers-by, and all 
 that might interrupt the charm of my solitary reveries. 
 
 Oh! how relieved I felt when no longer dreading 
 a chance meeting, an interchange of greetings or 
 even a glance, I had passed the last house in our 
 village ! With what a transport of joy I at once 
 let loose the reins of my wild imagination ! With 
 what promptitude it carried me off into the world 
 of enchantments, and how in this two hours' jour- 
 ney, it bore me on from one glorious success to
 
 XXIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 another to the very summit of the most brilHant 
 and diverse careers ! I can still look back on 
 those moments as amongst the most fortunate of 
 my existence! The illusion was at times so 
 complete that I no longer knew I was on the 
 tramp, cold or heat, fatigue or poverty, were all 
 alike forgotten. But when the hero of so many 
 enchanting adventures arrived unexpectedly at the 
 real end of his journey, the frontier of Maine was 
 the fatal landmark where so many ravishing illusions 
 suddenly josded each other, were shattered to 
 atoms, and fell to dust. Then, alas! brought face 
 to face with sad reality, the irresistible Alcibiades, 
 the millionaire Croesus, the Olympian winner 
 precipitated from his triumphal car, found him- 
 self on foot, bathed in perspiration, and covered 
 with mud or dust! Everything then became an 
 obstacle to be avoided, a brutal waggoner perchance, 
 or a suspicious official. Lucky if he could 
 profit by some assemblage in which he might 
 pass unperceived, to slink away as a suspect, 
 and escape the ever risky necessity for an ex-noble 
 of exhibiting his passport. 
 
 On my return home, the downfall would become 
 absolute and complete. To the transitory, tender 
 joy of these fleeting moments succeeded the 
 discouraging question: 
 
 "What is to become of you?"
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. — My Vocation i 
 
 II. — My Debut 9 
 
 III._My First Call to Arms 13 
 
 IV. — HOHENLINDEN 22 
 
 v.— The Campaign of the Orisons 31 
 
 VI. — I Rally to the Revolution 41 
 
 VII. — I Accompany Macdonald on his Embassy to Den- 
 mark 49 
 
 VIII. — I AM Entrusted with a Mission to the King of 
 
 Spain 61 
 
 IX. — I am Nominated Orderly Officer to the First 
 
 Consul 77 
 
 X. — The Execution of the Due d'Enghien ... 88 
 
 XI. — The Camp at Boulogne 129 
 
 XII. — The Consecration 136 
 
 XIII. — Preparations against England 143 
 
 XIV. — The Plan of the Campaign of Austerlitz . . 151 
 
 XV. — The Grand Army enters Germany .... 157 
 
 XVI.— Ulm 166 
 
 XVII.— Vienna 20S 
 
 XVIII. — Austerlitz 229 
 
 XIX.— The Siege of Gaeta 265 
 
 XX.— Jena 273 
 
 XXI.— Berlin 298 
 
 XXII. — I AM taken Prisoner 315
 
 XXVI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XXIII. — In Captivity 333 
 
 XXIV. — My Return 362 
 
 XXV.— In Spain 368 
 
 XXVI. — SOMMO-SlERRA. I AM WOUNDED .... 387 
 
 XXVII. — I Present the Standards to the Legislative As- 
 sembly . . 405 
 
 XXVIII. — Intrigues at Paris: Fouche and Bernadotte . 409 
 XXIX. — Napoleon at M. de Chateaubriand's Reception 
 
 INTO THE Academy 425
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 OF AN 
 
 AIDE-DE-CAMP OF THE EMPEROR 
 NAPOLEON I. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 MY VOCATION. 
 
 I WAS nineteen years old, but it seemed that I was 
 not fit for anything, not even to be a clerk in an 
 office, for my writing was too bad. 
 
 Yet that was my last resource. Time pressed, and 
 it was humiliating to remain a burden on my family. 
 I was on the point of resigning myself to my fate; 
 already I was sadly striving to become a very poor 
 copyist when a last journey brought me back to Paris. 
 Directly I had passed the suburbs I noticed that day 
 a singular emotion on the countenances and in the 
 attitude of all the persons I met, which inspired me 
 with a vague hope. 
 
 Revolution was then following revolution ; I foresaw 
 one coming. In my destitute state, and in the midst 
 of the ever-increasing proscriptions, any change could 
 but be a change for the better, as far as I was con- 
 cerned. Disenchanted of my dreams and thrust back 
 by my misfortunes into the world of reality, I for 
 the first time felt one of the great public. Curi(3sity 
 3
 
 2 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 and even a keen interest led me on, drawing me out 
 of my own way, regardless of any risk to myself. 
 Not being able to be an actor in this new agitation, 
 I at any rate wished to be a witness of it. I knew 
 nothing; I did not dare to ask anyone, but was led 
 on by a powerful instinct, which guided me straight 
 towards him whose destiny was soon to control my own. 
 
 It was the very moment when Napoleon at the 
 Tuileries, elected by the Council of Ancients, was 
 commencing the revolution of the i8th Brumaire, and 
 haranguing the garrison of Paris to make sure of it 
 against the Directory and the other Council. 
 
 I was stopped by the garden railings. I leant up 
 against them and gazed eagerly upon this memorable 
 scene. Then I ran around the enclosure trying all 
 the entrances; at last, when I had reached the gate 
 of the draw-bridge, I saw it open. A regiment of 
 dragoons came out, it was the 6th; these dragoons 
 were marching on towards St. -Cloud with their cloaks 
 rolled around them, their helmets on their heads, sword 
 in hand, with that warlike exaltation, that proud 
 determined air which soldiers wear when they approach 
 the enemy, resolved to conquer or perish! At this 
 martial apparition, the warlike blood, which I had 
 inherited from my forefathers, coursed madly through 
 my veins. I had found my vocation ; from that moment 
 I was a soldier, I only dreamt of combats, and disdained 
 any other career. 
 
 Nevertheless, however carried away I might have 
 been, thoughtful, dreamy, and melancholy by nature, 
 I reflected on my own enthusiasm, carefully keeping 
 to myself a resolution so opposed to the whole of my 
 preceding life. Hitherto, in the exclusively aristocratic
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 3 
 
 and anti-revolutionary society which I had frequented, 
 my words and feeUngs had been full of horror and 
 disgust for all that appertained to the revolution; I 
 proscribed it as it proscribed me; I did not except 
 the army itself from this blind aversion. 
 
 I held such a false and sorry opinion of its com- 
 position that I remember in a duel, two 3^ears previously, 
 with young Verdiere, son and aide-de-camp of the 
 General-Commandant of Paris, whilst waiting for 
 weapons, I had not chosen either to give my name, or 
 to sit down at night on the parapet of the Quay Vol- 
 taire beside one of his seconds, for fear that officer 
 should treacherously throw me into the river! I was, 
 however, so little suspicious by nature, that when the 
 quarrel had broken out a minute before in the Vaude- 
 ville Theatre, when it had been a question of choosing 
 seconds, I, alone against three, had asked one of these 
 gentlemiCn to act as mine. I was ignorant at the time 
 that they were officers, but as soon as I knew it I 
 distrusted them. 
 
 However, these worthy young men, who were older 
 than myself, insisted that all should be in regular form ; 
 they even had sufficient confidence and patience to wait 
 in the Champs Elysees, while I went to seek a second 
 among my acquaintances. The meeting took place in 
 the Avenue Marigny, by the light of a gas-lamp, 
 which, before the revolution, my uncle, the Viscount 
 de Segur, happened to have erected on that spot. It 
 was only after having narrowly escaped killing my 
 adversary, and being twice slightly wounded myself, 
 that our duel, which had been interrupted by officers 
 of the police, came to an honorable conclusion. Not- 
 withstanding which, this proof of the loyalty of these
 
 4 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 military men did not alter my state of feeling. I even 
 congratulated myself on having concealed my name 
 and that of my second, having insisted that I should 
 be allowed to go and fetch him by myself, so as not 
 to expose his household to some infamous denunciation. 
 This odious prejudice will show the pronounced tone 
 of my mind. How, then, could I possibly follow the 
 vocation for which I felt this sudden call ? How could I 
 conciliate this love of arms with this aversion for the army, 
 this passion for glory with the hatred for the sole flag 
 under which it could be won? But the sight of this 
 regiment on the march had transformed me from a 
 young dreamer into a man of action, without separating 
 the two in my personality. The first smoothed for me 
 the entrance into the world of reality by adorning it 
 with illusions. My imagination, fertile in projects, im- 
 mediately conceived the idea of implanting my own 
 royalism in this thoroughly republican army. I even 
 ventured to think that I might lead a good number 
 of my fellows to imitate my example; that this germ 
 of an anti-revolutionary army might take root ; and 
 that as one revolution had hitherto trodden on 
 the heels of another, judging of the future by the past, 
 I imagined another might soon take place by 
 which our party might profit. This idea, wild though 
 it might appear, did, however, bring forth something; 
 that is why I speak of it, because I soon gained prose- 
 lytes for its execution. This was some months later, 
 in Switzerland, when I had already gained my step as 
 an officer; conspiracies were then in the wind, they 
 cropped up on all sides; ours, indeed, was almost a 
 conspiracy, but set on foot by a pack of thoughtless 
 young men, whose dream, when discovered, was
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 5 
 
 treated with contempt, which was quite right; it only 
 left us the poorer by our expenditure of money and 
 ideas, to which we resigned ourselves. 
 
 It may seem almost ludicrous, that having entered 
 the army in the hope of persuading it to embrace 
 royahsm, it, on the contrary, drew us into its cause; 
 and having left Paris warm royalists in 1800, we 
 were almost as warm republicans when we returned 
 to it in 1 80 1. This new transformation was due to 
 fraternity of arms and an appreciation of the true state 
 of things on the one hand, and, on the other, to the 
 rebuffs which we experienced at the hands of our 
 former set. A year sufficed to bring it about. But I 
 will return to the order of events which will explain 
 this inconsistency. 
 
 I had imagined that the day of my public enrolment 
 would be that of my departure, that at least the ex- 
 plosion which I dreaded would take place when I had 
 gone, so that I should not hear it; but it happened 
 quite differently. The appeal, rather perhaps political 
 than military, to a picked class of young men who should 
 provide their own arms and horses and equip them- 
 selves, had just appeared. General Dumas, who was 
 a friend of my father, was to organize this body; I 
 was the first to go to him and at once inscribe my 
 name, but under promise of secrecy. It was only 
 when I had taken this first decisive step that I confided 
 it to my father. He approved of it, which is what I 
 had expected. He did more; he was kind enough to 
 keep it a secret whilst smiling at my weakness. 
 
 I nevertheless, on the eve of being severely censured, 
 felt very uncomfortable in those salons where I was 
 still so welcome. It was even worse when I realized
 
 6 .MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 that our organization would be set on foot in Pans, 
 in the very midst of this dreaded society. From that 
 moment m}^ anxiety daily increased; I could not sleep, 
 I was in a perfect fever. At last the fatal moment 
 arrived when I had to go to the Town-hall publicly 
 to sign the act of enlistment. 
 
 It was the 24th Ventose of the year VIII (February 
 1800) when my father took me there, or rather dragged 
 me to the Place de Greve as if to execution, such 
 was my dread of the commotion which was sure to 
 follow. My return to the Fauburg St. Honore which 
 I, as well as the best people of my own set, inhabited, 
 was even worse. The nearer I approached, the greater 
 became my anguish, until, at last, feeling on the verge 
 of giving way, I grew so terrified and indignant at 
 the extent of my own weakness that this fresh shame 
 somewhat restored my courage. A reason for thus 
 losing it when great resolutions have been taken, arises 
 from a natural inclination to see them only on their 
 worst side; one forgets the other, the very cause of 
 one's determination, when on the contrary that is the 
 moment one should turn entirely towards and hold 
 fast to it. My father recalled my wandering wits, one 
 of the greatest services he ever rendered me, without 
 which I do not really know what would have become of 
 my poor head. Anger brought me back to my senses, 
 for I was not spared. One of my nearest and best-loved 
 relatives was the first to pronounce the word disJionour ! 
 The excess of severity set me in revolt; I accepted 
 war. I gave back scorn for scorn ; I shouted louder 
 than my adversaries, even enlisting several of my friends 
 in my cause. These young noblemen, less earnest 
 than myself, or simply following the natural impulses
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 7 
 
 of their age, successively answered to the same call. 
 They were then to be reckoned as of us, and instead 
 of attacking us they had to defend themselves. This 
 was the beginning of the first amalgamation of the old 
 society with the new. We should remember it was not 
 five months since the one had finally proscribed the 
 other. 
 
 However feeble and imperfect this first fusion might 
 be, it was not without importance ; which fact must 
 reflect some importance on the account of it. Doubt- 
 less this happy reconciliation would have taken place 
 without me, but it was through me that it began. 
 That is the reason why Napoleon made me a sub- 
 lieutenant on the gth Floreal of the year VIII after I 
 had served only a few months as a private of Hussars 
 in the volunteers styled '■'■Bonaparte's.''^ 
 
 I had not only bearded my own set, but I had to 
 return to my family at Chatenay to answer for my 
 desperate action to my grandfather, the Marechal de 
 Segur. Arriving in the early morning, I drew near 
 to his bed in the most respectful attitude, " You have 
 " been guilty of disrespect, " he said severely, " to all 
 " the traditions of your ancestors; but the thing is done; 
 " remember that. You have of your own free will 
 " enlisted in the Republican Army. Serve it frankly and 
 " loyally. You have made your choice, and it is out of 
 "your power to go back on it." 
 
 Then seeing me bathed in tears he was a little 
 moved, and with his only remaining hand he took 
 mine, and drawing me to him pressed me to his heart; 
 then giving me twenty louis which was nearly all 
 he possessed, he added : " Here, this will help you to 
 " complete your equipment; go forth, and do your best
 
 8 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP. 
 
 " bravely and faithfully to maintain under the flag which 
 " you have chosen, the name which you bear and the 
 " honour of your family ! " 
 
 Fifty years have passed since then, but I never think 
 of this noble and sad farewell, of this manly and touch- 
 ing blessing, without being moved to the very depths 
 of my being!
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MY DEBUT. 
 
 AT the beginning of the year 1800, the time when I 
 enhsted, our frontiers were on the point of invasion ; 
 and from the Helder to Genoa, all the efforts of Bona- 
 parte had only succeeded in bringing about 150,000 
 men to oppose 300,000 of the enemy. 
 
 It was then that, in the midst of numerous cares of 
 all kinds, steadily following his aim, which was to 
 rally all to his own fortunes, he had made to a 
 hitherto proscribed party of the youth of France that 
 appeal to which I had been the first to respond. It 
 had not been directly addressed to them, it is true; 
 but it was evident that his protection was offered to 
 them, that it opened the ranks of the army to them; 
 and that by calling upon them to equip and mount 
 themselves in a select new corps, he offered them in 
 return the gratitude of the nation. Nothing had been 
 left undone that might draw and appeal to us. Gene- 
 ral Dumas, who had been proscribed by the terrors 
 of '93 and of the Directory, had been entrusted with 
 our formation. This general dated from Louis XVI. ; 
 he was possessed of the pleasant wit, the benevolent 
 disposition and the gentle and attractive manners of 
 the ancient order. It was the same with the chief
 
 lO MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 who was immediately over us in command, Colonel, 
 formerly Count, de Labarbee, a former officer of the 
 royal army. 
 
 Some weeks were necessary for the Paris recruit- 
 ment of our corps, which was first called Volunteer 
 Hussars, then Bonaparte's Lcgiojt, and which only 
 numbered two or three squadrons and a strong batta- 
 lion. As for our duties, whilst we were waiting to go 
 into barracks, they consisted, besides a little sentry 
 duty, in writing and carrying out the orders of General 
 Dumas and in following him. This last service, insig- 
 nificant though it might be, did me a good turn. It 
 happened in this wise. 
 
 Our general, having business to transact with the 
 Director Carnot, a former member of the Convention, 
 at that time Minister of War, happened that day to 
 select me for his orderly. Arrived in the court-yard of 
 the War Office we dismounted, and my duty was to 
 wait there with the horses; but as General Dumas, 
 when starting, had ordered me to follow him, fancying 
 that I must not leave him, I scrupulously dogged his 
 every step in my anxiety to carry out my orders to the 
 letter. In consequence, when he went upstairs I did 
 the same ; I also followed him through the ante-chamber 
 and the reception room step by step, walking imme- 
 diately behind him, and even into the Minister's study. 
 Preoccupied with the business which had brought him 
 there, and having no cognizance of my blunder, he 
 immediately entered into conversation with this per- 
 sonage. General Dumas was between the Minister 
 and myself, with his back towards me; being taller 
 than he, my head rose above his, so that Carnot, 
 astonished to see in the inner privacy of his study
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. i l 
 
 a young soldier standing like a post behind his 
 interlocutor, was not listening to him at all, and with 
 an air of utter astonishment appeared to demand the 
 explanation of such an unheard-of proceeding. The 
 General, on his side, surprised by the Minister's recep- 
 tion of him, and noticing that he appeared much more 
 taken up with something that was going on behind 
 him than with the affair that he had come to discuss, 
 turned back. On seeing me : " What the devil are 
 you doing here? " he exclaimed. I replied by alleging 
 the orders which I had received: then both of them 
 burst out laughing, and gave me the first lesson in 
 my duty by sending me back to my humble post. 
 But as soon as I had gone, this prank of mine natu- 
 rally brought about an explanation, in which General 
 Dumas expatiated upon my voluntary enlistment, the 
 first which had taken place, and on the usefulness of 
 the example which I had set. 
 
 My ingenuous action brought about speedy results; I 
 had attracted attention ; my name was favourably noted, 
 and the rank of sub-lieutenant which I obtained on May 
 ist, 1800, was the happy consequence of this adventure. 
 
 Such are the caprices of Fortune. Her first favour 
 was bestowed on me for a blunder; a brilliant action 
 would perhaps not have done so much for me. I 
 certainly have no cause to complain of Fortune; but 
 since then how many difficulties and dangers have I 
 faced without obtaining as much from her! 
 
 We were soon sent from Paris to Compiegne, then 
 to Dijon, the meeting- place of the second army of re- 
 serve. Napoleon reviewed us there on his way to 
 cross the St. Bernard. From Dijon we went to 
 Carrouge, near Geneva, where we were quartered, the
 
 12 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP. 
 
 victory at Marengo having" interrupted our march. 
 There I met Madame de Stael at a ball where, in 
 remembrance of my father, she was kind enough to 
 dance with me, entering at once into a political con- 
 versation which she soon abandoned ; then, remembering 
 my early efforts, she asked me what I had done with 
 my pen {plume). Absorbed as I then was in the career 
 I had chosen, I pointed to the plume in my shako, 
 lightly saying that I had placed it there, and that I did 
 not think I should ever feel inclined to use it in any 
 other fashion, 
 
 I might even have added that at that moment the 
 thing I feared the most was that I might be forced to 
 take the quill once more into my fingers and again 
 become a man of letters. During our stay in this can- 
 tonment, the news of the armistice of Varsdorf and 
 the thunder-clap of Marengo came to vex and damp 
 our ardour ; it seemed as if the war would come to an 
 end without us.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 MY FIRST CALL TO ARMS. 
 
 SINCE May 6th, the day on which the First Consul 
 reviewed us at Dijon and classed us into the second 
 army of reser\^e, we had, as I have said, advanced 
 a5 far as Geneva. There, whilst constantly receiving 
 accounts of the glorious deeds which were being ac- 
 complished in Italy, we envied the fate of the most 
 humble private who could boast that he had taken a 
 part in them. We looked upon each one of them as 
 a hero. What were we in comparison? When should 
 we be able to recount our exploits and cut a figure 
 in our turn ? These laurels disturbed our rest. After 
 so many wars and so many victories we seemed to 
 think that the race had been won, that we had arrived 
 too late, and that there would be nothing but leavings 
 for us, if any remained ! 
 
 We were quartered near Geneva, at Carrouge, when 
 on some pleasure excursion or other, we committed the 
 unpardonable impertinence of harnessing some of our 
 troop horses to a brake. Returning to our quarters at 
 night, through a narrow street, we suddenly came upon 
 our Colonel! It was impossible to go back. Had we 
 either stopped or passed on our way with a salute, our 
 lapse of discipline must have been taken note of and 
 
 13
 
 14 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 met with exemplary punishment, and we were hesitating 
 in face of the approaching difficulty when one of us, 
 who afterwards became a General, cried out: "Leave 
 it to me, we must bewilder him, I take the responsibility 
 of it!" And immediately seizing hold of the reins, he 
 whipped the horses up to their greatest speed, galloping 
 straight towards our chief with such impetuosity that 
 there was hardly time for him to lean close up against 
 the wall so as not to be run over. "Devil take the 
 young fools ! " exclaimed the colonel ; but every one 
 of us, horses and officers, were already out of his reach 
 before he had time to recognize us. 
 
 It might be useful to recall a more serious adventure 
 of another kind, which will show the danger of making 
 rash acquaintances. While passing through Switzerland, 
 we had in my company a non-commissioned officer, 
 son of a widow who afterwards married a nobleman 
 of one of the best old families in France. This cavalry 
 sergeant was a man of ready wit, without any morality; 
 he always had a string to his bow ready for an emergency, 
 without seeming to know that in justice he deserved 
 it should be drawn against himself, and this is just 
 what would have happened to him, had it not been 
 for me, as we shall see. 
 
 From one vice and another he had dropped into crime; 
 I knew he was a man of no reputation, but beguiled 
 by the charm of his intellect and believing that he had 
 abandoned the error of his ways, I had been led into 
 much too great intimacy with him. On our arrival at 
 Coire, we were quartered in the environs when I was 
 warned by a letter from our colonel that a burglary 
 and the murder of a jeweller had been planned in 
 the very village which we occupied, that this non-
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 1 5 
 
 commissioned officer was the originator of it, and that 
 the police were on their way to seize him. 
 
 On receipt of this news, partly from fear that the 
 honour of my company might be stained by a criminal 
 sentence upon him, partly from pity for the wretch, I 
 made up my mind to warn him, so that he might go 
 and get hanged elsewhere, and otherwise than in the 
 uniform which I was wearing. I went off at once to 
 his lodging, which was on the first floor, in a big room 
 furnished with two benches and a long and narrow table. 
 
 The scene which took place there, which was for a 
 moment very critical, made a deep impression upon me. 
 I found him alone, and immediately, without preamble, 
 informed him of the fate with which he was threatened, 
 warning him that there was only a moment for escape 
 if he meant to avoid it. But dreading a snare, with 
 one bound he leapt over the table which he put between 
 himself and me, and seizing his pistols, raised the trigger 
 and pointed the weapon at me, exclaiming that " I had 
 " doubtless come to frighten him, to drag a confession 
 " from him, to arrest him. But that if I made the slightest 
 " movement he would kill me on the spot ! " 
 
 The smile of pity which he saw on my face, and the tone 
 of my voice when I impatiently repeated that he was losing 
 his sole chance of escape, must have been very convincing, 
 for, transformed all of a sudden, he threw down his 
 weapons, came close to me and took my hands, which 
 he pressed against his heart, swearing eternal gratitude; 
 then putting together a few belongings, he disappeared 
 out of sight so completely that .none of us ever heard 
 anything about him afterwards, neither did the officers 
 of police, whom I found in my rooms when I got back: 
 they had only missed him by five minutes. God grant
 
 1 6 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDP:-DE-CAMP 
 
 that the dangers he ran ma}^ have brought about his 
 reformation, without which I should have on my con- 
 science all the crimes which, thanks to me, he may 
 have committed since that day! 
 
 I myself was at that time denounced and reprimanded 
 on account of a very different plot, a result of the 
 disorder and the agitation of these revolutionary times. 
 I have already described the kind of royalist Utopia 
 by which, after my voluntary enlistment, my conscience, 
 tormented by the change of flag under which I served, 
 had endeavoured to reconcile the contradiction of my 
 aristocratic rancours with the instincts of my warlike 
 humour. 
 
 With this thought ever before me, I had associated 
 myself with some comrades in my regiment, mostly 
 Vendeans, who were animated by a similar spirit. 
 We had initiated a kind of conspiracy whose object 
 was to royalize the army. As to the means to be 
 employed, the least ridiculous of them consisted in a 
 project that the most enterprising amongst us should 
 make an offer to the First Consul to levy a volun- 
 tary corps of 6000 Vendeans, in which we had already 
 assigned our individual positions. We made our ac- 
 complice Pire, now a lieutenant-general, leave Lausanne 
 for Paris. 
 
 This young Breton who was devoid of scruples, was 
 very proud of his brilliant wit, his charming face and 
 figure, and of having escaped the massacre of 
 Quiberon! He had arrogated to himself the principal 
 part in this adventure, and, curiously enough, was at 
 first favourably received by Bonaparte; indeed, had it 
 not been for audacities of another nature, such as 
 offering himself as a candidate for the hand of ]\Iade-
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 17 
 
 moiselle Hortense de Beauharnais, he might have suc- 
 ceeded! But he had taken away with him on this 
 mission the whole of our money. We had filled his 
 purse to the extent of leaving nothing in our own ; so 
 that, a week after, when we had to dine at Lucerne, 
 we spent our last halfpenny in the worst eating-house 
 of the whole town. It was not the custom then to 
 receive daily pay or rations, so that we started off 
 famished the next morning, without the least idea how 
 we should get through the long day without bite or 
 sup. But Fortune protects us in certain phases of life. 
 When we had arrived at our destination and after 
 having had our billets allotted to us, we were, not- 
 withstanding our difficulty, on the point of dispersing, 
 when we were ordered to form in circle around our colonel, 
 who announced to us that, acting on orders that moment 
 received from headquarters, men and horses henceforth 
 should be fed by those on whom they were billeted. 
 We all rushed off at once, and if these poor Helvetians 
 did not find us difficult to please on the point of quality, 
 they must have been rather surprised as to the quantity 
 of our demands, and the haste in which we had at 
 once availed ourselves of this thrice-welcome order. 
 
 We thus traversed Switzerland by long and short 
 stages : it was a fortunate commencement of our travels. 
 But the drawback of a too ardent nature is that one 
 imagines beforehand everything grander and more 
 beautiful than it can possibly be: so that, however 
 admirable nature may be in reality, its most remarkable 
 phenomena appear inferior to the enchanting visions 
 pictured by a too warm and vivid imagination. This 
 is an unfortunate disposition which destroys the charm 
 
 of travel. It did not, however, affect me, when, from 
 4
 
 l8 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 the summit of the Jura, I suddenly perceived the imposing 
 mass of the Alps and that towering Mont Blanc whose 
 wonders had been so often described to me! But in 
 my subsequent travels I can only remember to have 
 been astonished by the dome of St. Peter's at Rome, 
 the fine works at Cherbourg and the burning of 
 Moscow ! 
 
 When, before reaching Coire, we for the first time 
 crossed the Rhine not very far from its source, although 
 then under the fascination of another influence, the 
 narrowness of its stream at this point, the suspension 
 of arms which still lasted, and our distance from the 
 enemy, did not even moderate my wild enthusiasm at 
 the aspect of this famous river; I felt transported with 
 martial pride ; I crossed it proudly, with my head held 
 high and my hand on the hilt of my sword, and when 
 on the other side I felt myself another man ; it seemed 
 to me that I had taken a great stride onwards in my 
 heroic career. 
 
 A little further on we found ourselves at the ex- 
 treme limits regulated by the armistice; and I placed 
 my vedettes at the foot of the glacier named the Splugen. 
 Going up to the source of the Rhine from that point, 
 other sensations took possession of me. Beyond Thusis 
 a deep gorge brings one to the rather wide but not 
 deep bed of a torrent whose transparent waters, flowing 
 over a slaty bottom, appear black as those of the 
 Styx. This forms the approach to the Via -Mala, a kind 
 of gate or entrance to Hell, a gigantic relic of chaos, 
 where, for about two leagues, the road runs along by 
 an abyss. This road is cut out, partly on one side 
 and partly on the other of the two flanks of an immense 
 rock separated in half, forming an enormous narrow
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I, 19 
 
 opening at the bottom of which the compressed waters 
 of the Rhine precipitate themselves with fearful clamour. 
 Very often the cornice narrows off on account of the 
 steepness or of some abrupt turn of the rock. It is 
 then necessary to cross from one side to the other on 
 narrow bridges formed of trunks of pine trees thrown 
 across the abyss: worm-eaten, gaping apart, and 
 trembling under the horses' feet, swayed about by the 
 leaping torrent which roars as it breaks on its bed of 
 rocks. Its course is so impetuous, its bounds so 
 violent, that, notwithstanding the depth of the gulf, 
 the water dashes up in a mist which envelops the 
 traveller, who is almost deafened by the tumult of 
 these cataracts, although they are too deep and almost 
 too narrow to be seen. 
 
 It is by this long opening that the village of the 
 Splugen is reached. It was late when I arrived at 
 this poor hamlet; I should have stopped there if only 
 out of curiosity, so as not to lose this opportunity of 
 climbing to the top of the Alps. But I was seized 
 with an unaccountable disgust ; the poverty of the 
 inhabitants, the barrenness of this uncultivated country, 
 the isolated appearance of these regions almost lost 
 in the clouds, several weary days of travel and the 
 oppression of these upheaved masses, the very sky 
 itself darkened by a coming storm, all conspired to 
 repel me. I was wrong, as a traveller, and, above 
 all, as an officer of the advance-guard, whose object 
 should be to see everything, and carefully reconnoitre 
 everything, to consider in their different relations 
 every means of entrance and exit, and to acquire 
 every possible information concerning the country 
 through which he is passing.
 
 20 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 But I only remained at Splugen long enough to 
 place my picket; after which, in spite of the storm, 
 the rain, and the gathering darkness, followed by an 
 orderly, I took a half turn and re-entered the Via-Mala, 
 in spite of the remonstrances of the inhabitants who 
 warned me in vain of my imprudence. I was only 
 too well aware of it, after a quarter-of-an-hour's march, 
 when I was quite deafened by the wind, the tumult 
 of the storm, and the roaring of the torrent; when, in 
 addition to the icy rain falling from the sky which 
 one could hardly perceive between the two rocks, the 
 lowering clouds which enveloped us, and the thick 
 mist which rose up from the depths of the precipice, 
 the darkness of night came on and we were forced 
 to dismount so as to know where we were going and 
 not to fall back into the gulf. We stopped short in 
 consternation; it would have been wiser to have 
 returned to Splugen, and we hesitated, but vanity and 
 a love of sensation prevented me from retracing my 
 steps. 
 
 The only thing we could then do was to walk on 
 slowly with the bridle over our arms, one hand on 
 the rock and the other hand feeling for the ground at 
 each step. But words cannot depict the anxiety of 
 the moment whenever the road failed us, and we had 
 to guess at these bridges thrown across from one rock 
 to another, to avoid the crevasses and thus to cross 
 the gulf. Every moment we stopped to call out to 
 each other, fancying that in the midst of the tumult 
 of the torrent and the tempest, we had heard the sound 
 of a fall into the abyss! Frequently'' our hand and 
 our feet touched nothing but space. Then, throwing 
 ourselves back against the rock, we remained in a
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 2 1 
 
 state of terror, dreading our next movement, almost 
 motionless on the ledge, and nearly determined to 
 remain there until day-light should show us the way 
 out of this peril, which we had braved without rhyme 
 or reason, and which could only have entailed blame 
 and ridicule upon us had it come to a fatal issue. 
 
 Then recovering our courage, pressing close to the 
 rock, and leaving our horses to find their own way, 
 we would make fresh attempts in different directions; 
 the one who had the best luck would call to the other, 
 and thus we got on little by little. At last, after four 
 hours of mortal anguish, the storm having gone down, 
 the sky being lighter, the air fresher, and the roar of 
 the cataracts sounding further off, we found ourselves 
 on more open ground. We had left the Via-Mala 
 behind us; our horses had followed us, and a faint 
 but welcome light revealed to us a humble chalet, in 
 which we took refuge. The next day we got back 
 to Coire, whence, Moreau having exchanged our 
 regiment with Macdonald for a battalion of greater use 
 in these mountains, we pursued our way by Feldkirch 
 into Suabia, and having there rejoined the army of the 
 Rhine, we were reviewed by our new and celebrated 
 general-in-chief.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HOHENLINDEN. 
 
 THE armistice having, however, been extended, Mac- 
 donald, general-in-chief of the army of the Grisons, 
 and General Dumas, the head of his staff, had taken 
 advantage of it to come as far as Augsburg to confer 
 with Moreau. Fortunately for me, my regiment was 
 passing through the town on the very day of this 
 meeting, and General Dumas detained me, presented 
 me to the two generals-in-chief, and got Moreau to 
 invite me to the dinner which he was giving to Mac- 
 donald; a splendid banquet with covers laid for fifty 
 guests, a repast of the conquerors served by the con- 
 quered at the enemy's expense, to the sound of martial 
 music, in a palace of which we had taken possession, 
 the guests being the most celebrated generals of the 
 day in the full splendour of their youth and ardour, 
 dazzling with gold and glory. I had never seen 
 anything like it before and was quite fascinated. I 
 began to understand that to the illustrious memories 
 of our old aristocracy had succeeded other glories and 
 other memories, which would be ineffaceable from that 
 moment; that we should date afresh from a new era 
 which had left its stamp on the age, and had already 
 laid the deep foundations of a new society. I learnt
 
 AN AIDE-DE-CAMP OF NAPOLEON I. 23 
 
 later that this meeting had not been altogether devoid 
 of political motives : one of the principal being the 
 jealousy which the ever-growing power of the First 
 Consul inspired in these generals. Napoleon's own 
 anxiety was aroused by it; for he had learnt that in 
 the midst of the banquet this distrust had found vent 
 in a biting sarcasm against one of his sisters; he had 
 even been informed that this sally of one of the 
 generals-in-chief had been well-received and loudly 
 repeated and commented upon by his colleague. 
 
 Besides an ambitious rivalry, there was a feeling of 
 sincere republicanism at the bottom of this spirit of 
 opposition, although but a pale reflection and an almost 
 worn-out impression, it is true, of the former proud and 
 patriotic traditions of this army. There might still be 
 found amongst them some of those Spartans of the 
 Rhine, as they were then called, volunteers of the early 
 years of the republic, martyrs to the cause of liberty 
 and national independence, for which they had sacri- 
 ficed themselves with a devotion free from all personal 
 ambition, or hope of fortune, or advancement, or even 
 of glory. After having braved every danger, they had 
 been known hundreds of times to refuse the highest 
 positions, to reject them one after the other, and proud 
 of their rigid republican probity, to pursue their way 
 in nakedness and hunger, enduring the most cruel 
 privations, and, even as conquerors, remaining poor in 
 the midst of all the rewards which victory offered; an 
 heroic war of citizenship which was very far from being 
 a mere calling, in which these elect few, privates, of- 
 ficers, generals, warriors by patriotism and not merely 
 by profession, had no other thought than to spend 
 themselves altogether to ensure the public safety, and
 
 24 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 to return to their homes poor and simple citizens. 
 
 But after 1796 and 1797 when in this very army of 
 the Rhine the spirit of conquest had succeeded to this 
 former exaltation of the defensive virtues of the country, 
 it had all become modified by the continuance of war, 
 by the fascination of celebrity, and the contagion of 
 acquired fortunes. Even in 1800, at the time when I 
 entered it, there remained but few of these primitive 
 men who were so entirely patriotic and devoid of pri- 
 vate interest: they might be recognized by the sim- 
 plicity of their attire and their manner of life, by the 
 independent and austere seriousness of their attitude, 
 as well as by a certain air of haughty, bitter, and 
 contemptuous surprise at the sight of the growing 
 luxury and ambitious passions which were taking the 
 place of the ingenuous and disinterested devotion of 
 the early republican enthusiasms. 
 
 The luxury of this dinner, which I had recently 
 attended, and of the greater part of the uniforms worn, 
 contrasted strongly with these austere remembrances, 
 and yet in the body of this very army some traces of 
 them might still be discovered in its honest discipline, 
 especially opposed to every kind of pillage, in the 
 simple and popular manners, in the good fellowship 
 and tone of equality visible not only amongst com- 
 rades but also towards the general-in -chief. 
 
 Without effort, and without even being aware of it, 
 I had impressed Macdonald favourably, but the impres- 
 sion might only have been a transient one without 
 General Dumas, who turned it to account, as we shall 
 see presently. After the cessation of the armistice, 
 about a month later we left our cantonments to assem- 
 ble under the command of d'Hautpoul. This general
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 25 
 
 had become famous through a thousand dashing actions 
 in the midst of which a short and subhme harangue 
 of his was frequently quoted. When his division was 
 on the point of rushing on the enemy he dashed past 
 it at a gallop, exclaiming: "Carabineers, brave carabi- 
 neers, pierce their ranks! Cuirassiers, drive through 
 them! Hussars, hack at them ! " and giving at the same 
 time himself the order and the example, he was obeyed 
 instantly. 
 
 His intrepidity, however, must have been rather 
 more habitual to him than his eloquence, for with us 
 his inspiration was less happy. " Hussars, " he said, 
 " we're going to march upon the enemy. Forwards ! 
 
 and let not one of you turn tail, otherwise" his anger 
 
 at this very supposition having made him lose the 
 thread of his discourse, in order to give himself time to 
 pick it up again he began a string of such hearty and 
 sonorous oaths that, seeing us all burst out laughing, 
 he turned his back abruptly on us, with this fine con- 
 clusion : " otherwise, otherwise he will be too late for 
 the wedding ! " 
 
 A few days after we arrived at the outposts through 
 a long file of men, who had been wounded in the 
 early actions which had preluded the battle of Hohen- 
 linden. 
 
 As for me, my campaign was to come to an end at 
 Hohenlinden, We had just arrived on that snow- 
 covered field which was on the point of becoming so 
 famous, when, conjointly with the news that Macdonald 
 had chosen me for his aide-de-camp, I received the 
 order to join him in Valteline. Thus to leave my 
 regiment and the army on the very eve of a great 
 battle was an impossibility: I obtained an extension
 
 2 6 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 which the vivacity of my colonel very nearly caused 
 me to repent. 
 
 Our chief was then M. de Labarbee, a man of fifty 
 or thereabouts, perhaps less, for at my age, that of a 
 mature man always strikes one as more advanced than 
 is really the case. It was that former captain of the 
 Rochefoucauld Dragoons, renowned for his wit, his 
 height, his martial bearing and his herculean strength, 
 above all for an unexampled dexterity in all bodily 
 exercises, and for a temerity on all occasions and in all 
 places which was as audacious as it was lucky. 
 
 It was well known that before the Revolution and 
 the war, he had braved the anger of a whole band of 
 officers, and had extricated himself brilliantly from 
 the quarrel; it was a garrison dispute which occurred 
 in a cafe that had been taken possession of by their 
 set, who had made a regulation that officers of any 
 other corps who should go there would not be allowed 
 to pay for anything they ordered. 
 
 M. de Labarbee, feeling insulted by this pretension, 
 refused to submit to it, and as no one dared to receive 
 payment from him he began to break everything in 
 the place; then, ordering a bucket of lemonade to be 
 brought to him, he gave it to his horse to drink, 
 saying : " As it was the officers of the king's regiment 
 who paid, there was no reason why he should stint 
 himself" After which, he had quietly awaited the 
 result, following it up by several duels, which all ended 
 favourably. 
 
 Then came the Revolution, then the emigration and 
 the war which rapidly gained him a colonelcy. It was 
 at this time, finding himself one day in presence of 
 the Austrian cavalry, he ordered the line which he
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 27 
 
 commanded to remain motionless, and springing for- 
 ward, sword in hand, rushed on the enemy's Hne 
 which he broke through, then turning back, and 
 making a path for himself through the ranks of the 
 enemy, returned, covered with blood, to his own men, 
 and calmly again took up his position at their head. 
 
 It may well be believed that a warrior of such a 
 character and of such vigour would submit himself 
 with difficulty to any discipline, above all to the rules 
 of military administration. Thus it happened that when 
 on leaving Dijon, a member of the commissariat w^ho 
 was inspecting our humble corps, had disapproved of 
 a certain conveyance which the colonel had ordered 
 for the baggage, we saw him, for all reply, seize hold 
 of the commissary, lift him in the air and turn him 
 round like a feather and then deposit him head-foremost 
 in the waggon, saying : " that he would now be in a 
 position to appreciate its usefulness" ; then, dropping 
 him on his feet, "that he hoped he might always be 
 able to get through his inspections as quickly and 
 easily. " 
 
 In another review that took place at Lucerne, w^hen 
 our then general, an unfrocked monk whom he despised, 
 passed before him, instead of saluting him with his 
 sword he provoked him by brandishing it around his 
 head in a menacing fashion. 
 
 Such was our colonel! Amongst us youngsters, our 
 beardless youth reminded him of his own mature years. 
 This displeasing comparison very often annoyed him, 
 a fact which I perceived on the eve of the battle of 
 Hohenlinden, when we met the enemy and heard their 
 bullets whistling round us. I was the youngest of 
 them all, and, proud to be at the head of my platoon.
 
 28 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 I was rejoicing in this first sound of war when he 
 exclaimed, on perceiving me: "Ah! ah! M. de Segur, 
 you hear those bullets, they will teach you that there 
 is no difference between you and me here, and that 
 to-day we are all of the same age ! " 
 
 Moreau had made our division, which was d'Hautpoul's, 
 pass over rapidly from right to left in a forced night 
 march of great cold and severity. We formed the left 
 flank of the centre of the army, on which side the 
 great day of the morrow was, as far as concerned our 
 division, of little importance. But it was not so for 
 myself personally. When we were encamped at the 
 close of the day, our colonel, who was better lodged, 
 and who had presumably dined better than we had, 
 came to visit us on horseback. I got in his way without 
 knowing it, and he roughly thrust me aside with a 
 kick. I protested at this treatment, but he continued 
 his course, without looking back or stopping, and 
 without condescending to make the slightest apology! 
 
 As for me, almost rooted to the spot and speechless 
 at such an unexpected aggression, my imagination 
 was all the more active. I passed the night partly 
 in fits of rage and partly in helpless outbursts of tears. 
 Towards daylight, happening to see the colonel walking 
 alone across the plain, I hastened onwards and offered 
 him my resignation, explaining that as that would put 
 me on an equality with him, I should then make use of 
 my right to ask satisfaction for the insult which he had 
 offered me. Either M. de Labarbee did not remember 
 anything about it, or had not recognized me when he 
 pushed me away the evening before. He seemed so 
 utterly surprised, and looked me over from head to 
 foot with a glance of disdain so eloquent with the
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 29 
 
 exclamation of the Cid : " To seek a quarrel with 
 me ! AVhat has made thee so vain ? " that, could 
 Daguerre have fixed that glance instantaneously by 
 his new method, I think he would have been able to 
 reproduce the verse word for word on my feeble 
 body. He, however, said nothing more than this, 
 that I could not resign without dishonour, in the face 
 of the enemy. I retorted that I considered myself 
 already dishonoured by his violence, and that as soon 
 as I had satisfied this urgent need of reparation, I 
 would again enlist as a private under another chief. 
 
 But he had too good a heart and too much sense 
 to take advantage of his position and did not carry 
 the matter any further, but called around him several 
 officers, to whom he nobly related the inadvertence 
 of which he had been guilty, begging them to bear 
 testimony to his confession, and making this generous 
 and complete reparation in the most honourable and 
 flattering manner. There I recognized at once the 
 officer of the ancient regime; for nobody was better 
 or more pleasant company when he chose; he was 
 only otherwise by fits and starts. The rest of that 
 day was giv^en up to an engagement which was 
 decided by the centre. As for us, our poor part in 
 such a great victory only consisted in a few manoeuvres 
 and skirmishing, followed by camping-out on the ice ; 
 after which, having been sent to take Moreau's orders, 
 and breakfasting with him at Nymphenburg I returned 
 by long stages, alone and penniless, but at the coun- 
 try's expense, to join General Macdonald in Valteline. 
 
 During this journey I again revisited Suabia, Coire, 
 the Via-Mala, and that Splugen which I had so little 
 appreciated. Indeed, I had almost passed it again without
 
 30 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP. 
 
 seeing it; it was apparently my fate, whether by my 
 own fault or not, to lose the opportunity of noticing 
 this gigantic land-mark between the north and the 
 south of Europe. But I had been ill for several days, 
 and my weary eyes almost overlooked it; I was in 
 such a weak condition that after having fastened me 
 on my mule, I heard my travelling companions say 
 to each other that the journey over the glacier would 
 make an end of me, and consider what they should 
 do with my remains when on the other side of the 
 mountain. But the very reverse happened; the air 
 of the glacier renewed my strength, the crisis was a 
 favourable one. When we had reached the other bank 
 of the Lake of Chiavenna I was hoisted up on a waggon 
 horse whose horribly hard trot, which would have killed 
 me nowadays, set me quite to rights again. Such is 
 the privilege of youth! And thus I arrived completely 
 convalescent at Macdonald's headquarters.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE CAMPAIGN OF THE GRTSONS. 
 
 MACDONALD was at that time a prey to great 
 anxiety. The hard task which he accomplished in 
 the midst of these glaciers was that of overcoming the 
 severity of the season, the dangers of these regions and 
 the resistance of the enemy. His army hardly numbered 
 40,000 men, and it had to scale the triple summit 
 which separated it from the valleys of the Adda, the 
 Oglio, and the affluents of the Adige ; whence falling 
 on Trente, it should take possession of the upper course 
 of this stream and that of the Brenta itself. 
 
 The armistice was on the point of termination, when, 
 starting from the valley of the Grisons, Macdonald 
 began by throwing out across the still practicable 
 Splugen, 3,700 men under d'Hilliers in Valteline. He 
 himself took up a position at Rinecks, thus drawing 
 the attention of the enemy to this opposite side, as 
 much by his own presence there as by the important 
 entrenchments which he extended from Constance up 
 to Feldkirch, their object being at all risks to cover 
 his retreat into Switzerland. 
 
 At the same time he pushed on reconnoitring bodies 
 towards the sources of the Adda and the Albula, to
 
 32 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 Bormio, Avos and Lenz and all the issues of the 
 Engadine. 
 
 Having thus protected his left flank, he quickly turned 
 back towards the right with the residue of forces which 
 he could dispose of; and remounting the Rhine up to 
 its source, he rapidly passed through Coire and Thusis, 
 entered the Via-Mala, road of ill-luck, and arrived at 
 the foot of the Splugen. This meant braving the very 
 heart of winter, the very stronghold of famine, and all 
 the horrors of Alpine chaos on the mountain-tops in 
 the very worst season of the year. 
 
 It is fourteen leagues distance from Thusis to Chia- 
 venna, but this short jovirney necessitated one of the 
 most formidable conflicts with this cruel country in 
 the whole of the war. All necessary precautions had 
 been taken, sledges were sufficient for the dismounted 
 guns ; but there were no baggage mules for the 
 stores, so that it was necessary to load every soldier, 
 already more than hampered by the weight of his 
 knapsack, his cartridge pouch, and his arms, with 
 five days' provisions and ten packets of cartridges. 
 
 This attacking party was divided into four columns. 
 For several leagues beyond Thusis the first defiled be- 
 tween two high rocks so close to each other that the 
 men could hardly see the sky ; there was no foot-hold 
 but an ice track, a dark, narrow, and slippery ledge 
 cut out of the rock on the edge of a gulf, intersected 
 in several places by rickety wooden bridges, by which 
 they crossed from one side to the other of these two 
 masses, with an abyss of 300 feet beneath them and the 
 double mountain over their heads. Torrents rushing 
 down the precipices, icicles of a thousand shapes, and 
 avalanches which broke down the infrequent pine-trees
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 33 
 
 and the insufficient railings, were the least of the 
 obstacles on this Via-Mala passage to Splugen. The 
 column arrived at Splugen on November 26th, having 
 to scale the glacier in front of them, which ascent was 
 begun on the 27 th. In the good season three hours 
 are sufficient to reach the hospital, but at this time 
 they did not know whether it might not take them the 
 whole day. During the first hour, the left bank of 
 the torrent which they were following was a guide to 
 them and the fatigue was endurable ; but when they 
 had reached the head of the valley, an ascent of 60 
 degrees in the gradient, which took an hour-and-a-half, 
 exhausted their strength. The top was reached, 
 however, the mountain was conquered and they found 
 themselves at the parting of the waters of the north 
 and of the south of Europe ! The cold drove them on, 
 and having recovered breath, they resumed their way 
 through two glaciers separated by a space of 400 me- 
 tres: guides placing land-marks in the road which the 
 workers swept for them, sixty dragoons of the loth, 
 with General la Boissiere at their head, trampling down 
 the snow. 
 
 It was hoped that before night they would reach 
 the hospital where the highest plain begins, when 
 suddenly the wind rose in the east. They were im- 
 mediately enveloped in thick clouds of snow and 
 pulverized ice, but persevered on their way until an 
 enormous avalanche about a hundred feet in diameter 
 detached itself from one of the summits with the 
 rumbling and velocity of a thunder-bolt. It carried off 
 the head of the column. Thirty dragoons disappeared 
 with the horses which they were leading; they were 
 borne down into the torrent, flung against the rocks 
 5
 
 34 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 and buried under the snow. The general was marching 
 on a Httle distance ahead, which saved him; he was 
 almost the only one left, and half-frozen, and in a fainting 
 condition, was carried by the mountaineers to the 
 hospital. As for his column, which was almost entirely 
 separated from him, it had to stop short; a mountain 
 of snow had filled up the path, and being unable 
 either to advance or remain stationary they retraced 
 their steps towards Splugen. 
 
 On the next day, the 2Sth, the remainder of this 
 cruelly mutilated company of dragoons with Cavaignac, 
 colonel of the regiment, were the first to offer to start 
 anew. But the storm continued, and this tempest even 
 lasted to December ist, the guides declaring that the 
 glacier would be rendered impracticable for a fortnight. 
 Macdonald, however, who was still at Coire, sent word 
 to hasten the march, for the provisions were giving out, 
 and it was necessary to get on as quickly as possible 
 to avoid famine and stoppage. 
 
 But on December ist, a fine frost having set in. 
 General Dumas, the head of the army staff, took ad- 
 vantage of it, overcoming the opposition of the moun- 
 taineers and the mountain itself. The account of his 
 arrangements is remarkable ; under his orders the best 
 guides with four of the strongest oxen of the country 
 walked abreast, breaking a way through the snow, 
 which forty labourers, who followed, cleared away. 
 After them a company of sappers continued the work 
 which was finally accomplished by two hundred foot 
 soldiers marching in solid ranks of six abreast Then 
 came the cavalry, then the artillery, and lastly the 
 baggage animals with their escort. 
 
 Silence had been enjoined, and was observed as
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 35 
 
 Strictly as at manoeuvres. Thus they advanced through 
 this deep cutting, but the progress was so slow- 
 that it was nearly night before they reached the 
 hospital. Several men were frozen ; some soldiers and 
 horses went beyond the track and were buried in 
 the snows which hid the precipice. A sea of snow a 
 quarter of a league in depth had then to be crossed, 
 on which the least wind might raise waves capable 
 of burying the whole column. After this there was 
 another danger to brave in the descent of the Cardinel, 
 a road winding on itself and precipitating itself by a 
 spiral and almost perpendicular zigzag into an abyss 
 600 feet deep; then came the little plain of Isola, 
 and Campo Dolcino, when night fell and arrested fur- 
 ther progress. 
 
 During the descent several men turned giddy and 
 several mules lost their footing ; they rolled mutilated 
 from rock to rock, their cries being audible for a few 
 moments, and then they disappeared. 
 
 During the two following days the same weather 
 favoured the march of the second and third columns. 
 On December 5th it was Macdonald's turn, and the 
 fourth and last passage, but the evil genius of these 
 high places had regained his sway. A deluge of snow 
 filled up the cutting that General Dumas had opened 
 up, and the numerous landmarks that had been placed 
 there were hidden or carried away by the storm, which 
 the mountaineers refused to face. Macdonald, however, 
 grew angry and obstinately resumed the march. His 
 guides, and even his grenadiers, were several times 
 daunted, and retraced their steps, but he persisted, 
 walking at their head, with the plummet in his hand, 
 insisting on the great masses of snow being opened
 
 36 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 up as he passed through, and the guides and soldiers 
 in spite of the increasing hurricane were forced to 
 follow him. 
 
 He succeeded at last, but his column was on several 
 occasions cut in two at various points, and separated 
 from him by banks of snow. The 104th half-brigade 
 which had been entirely scattered took days to reunite. 
 Many sledges and their burdens were abandoned, 
 indeed on this last day many soldiers were maimed 
 by the cold: a hundred and ten men and more than 
 a hundred mules and horses perished altogether. 
 
 On December 6th, two-thirds of the army of the 
 Grisons had passed the flow of the German waters up 
 to the sources of the Italian waters. They filled the 
 Valteline. 
 
 But there still remained the passage, from glacier 
 to glacier, of the valley of the Adda into that of the 
 Adige. First came the ascent of Aprica, which is 
 perhaps less elevated, but more winding, steeper and 
 more rugged than even the Splugen. Not so many 
 men perished there, but more horses, especially the 
 baggage animals ; hampered by their burdens they 
 could not turn round with sufficient quickness in the 
 sudden bends of the path, which, rising and descending 
 almost perpendicularly, wound in steep zigzags between 
 the rocks ; many of them rolled down the precipices. 
 
 Having reached the valley of Camonica the advance- 
 guard attempted the Tonnal. But the passage was 
 defended by 50,000 Austrians who had intrenched them- 
 selves behind the ice, and twice in spite of the most 
 determined and intrepid assaults, our Generals Vaux 
 and Vandamme, were obliged to give way after having 
 reddened the glacier with blood needlessly spilt. On
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 37 
 
 his side Macdonald vainly endeavoured to turn the left 
 flank, and to arrive upon the Sarca beyond one of the 
 forts of the Tonnal. Here it was nature alone, unaided 
 by the enemy which opposed them ; for no passage 
 could be found practicable. 
 
 Then, reinforced by 2,000 Italians, the general-in- 
 chief descended the Og"lio as far as Visogne. The 
 news of the passage of the Mincio by our army of 
 Italy had rendered him most impatient. When he 
 announced it to us, he asked his soldiers, now almost 
 equal to mountaineers, if they would allow themselves 
 to be passed by their comrades, who had been victorious 
 in the plains, and, with an unerring instinct, judging 
 our ardour by his own, he carried us straight on to the 
 San-Tyeno. This mountain is unapproachable by artil- 
 lery, and even the cavalry had to turn back by the 
 Lake of Iseo, As for us, even after the Splugen, the 
 glacier astonished us: it is so elevated, so steep, so 
 full of the rudest difficulties, that even for infantry it 
 is necessary to open a passage through enormous 
 blocks of ice by hewdng out steps with axes. We were 
 obliged to make use of our hands as well as our feet 
 and to hold on by the tails of our horses to reach the 
 summit. At last, from crest to crest, from ravine to 
 ravine, crossing without stopping night or day and at a 
 quick march, twenty-five leagues of slush and ice, w^e 
 passed the enemy, the advance posts, in short every- 
 thing; and on January 8th, 1801, ascending the summit 
 of the Michelsburg, we flung ourselves on the Adige, 
 forcing the passage, and snatching from the Austrians 
 the town of Trente. 
 
 Without taking breath, Macdonald, at Levico, seized 
 on the one hand the sources of the Brenta and on the
 
 38 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 other, pushed forward towards Pietra the vanquished 
 who were descending the Adige. 
 
 Here we witnessed the audacious and even 
 haughty spirit of Macdonald, and his frank and proud 
 glance, which was often tempered by satirical gaiety, 
 become transfigured by keen delight, when the south 
 wind brought us the sound of firing which appeared 
 to respond to the volleys of his advance-guard: this 
 could only be the firing of Brune's army. 
 
 The enemy which we were following, however nu- 
 merous it might have been, was thus surrounded in 
 the narrow and deep valley of the Adige, between 
 Macdonald who was descending, and the left wing of 
 the army of Italy which was mounting it. Thus so 
 many difficulties, so many obscure and inglorious con- 
 flicts with nature, were at last to be crowned by one 
 of the most striking acts of this war; for, in fact, the 
 cannonading we had heard came from General Moncey, 
 the commandant of Brune's left wing. The enemy 
 between two fires comprised Laudon and those very 
 200,000 Austrians who by the efforts of the front of 
 Macdonald's left wing on the upper Inn and the upper 
 Adige, and his rapid manoeuvre on the right, had been 
 forced to abandon the Tyrol. They hastened to take 
 refuge near their army of Italy, and found them- 
 selves surrounded and attacked in front and at the 
 rear at the very moment they had hoped to reach it. 
 
 But Moncey, who was a kind-hearted man, was also 
 of too anxious a nature. His responsibilities excited 
 him too much. This disposition of mind had no doubt 
 been aggravated under the odious government of the 
 Terror which insisted on its generals being victorious, 
 under penalty of losing their heads. Laudon took
 
 I 
 
 i OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 3g 
 
 advantage of it; feeling himself caught as it were in 
 a trap, he had recourse to stratagem. He announced 
 to Moncey the false news of an armistice. Moncey 
 hesitated; on the one hand, the position of the enemy, 
 retrenched within the Pietra seemed formidable to him, 
 on the other hand, the same south wind which had 
 borne to us the sound of his firing had unfortunately 
 prevented him from hearing ours; so that not knowing 
 we were immediately behind Laudon, he was unaware 
 of the full extent of this general's difficulty, and did not 
 sufficiently distrust him. Moved at the thought of the 
 bloodshed which would ensue, and having obtained all 
 that he had desired, the conquest of Pietra and cession 
 of Trente, the unfortunate general hesitated no longer, 
 but signed the suspension of arms which was demanded, 
 and the too-lucky Laudon, at the very time when he 
 would have been forced to lay down his arms, profited 
 by this respite, escaping from the valley of the Adige 
 into that of the Brenta, through an almost impracticable 
 defile. 
 
 The Pietra being thus abandoned and the enemy 
 dispersed, the astonished advance-guard of the army 
 of Italy found itself face to face with ours. Moncey, 
 at one and the same moment, perceiving Macdonald, 
 and recognising that he had been the victim of a 
 stratagem of war, that his credulity had caused him to 
 lose one of the most important results of the campaign, 
 and that he would become the laughing-stock of three 
 armies, was confused and humiliated and utterly crushed 
 by his mistake. The same disposition of mind which 
 had led him into the error almost caused him to kill 
 himself in despair. This mystification had entailed on 
 Alacdonald the loss of the entire fruits of his adroit and
 
 40 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP. 
 
 difficult manoeuvre ; yet he forgot it all to console him. 
 As for Brune, who still openly proclaimed himself a 
 Terrorist, he was less generous: in his anger he replaced 
 Moncey by Davout in the command of the left wing, 
 but Davout nobly refused to take advantage of his 
 misfortune; under the necessity of obeying, although 
 he came to Pietra it was only to place himself under 
 the orders of his unfortunate former comrade.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 I RALLY TO THE REVOLUTION". 
 
 MACDONALD, either through foresight, or on 
 account of his haughty and somewhat suspicious 
 character, accused Brune not only of not having seconded 
 his difficult march with sufficient promptitude, but of 
 having purposely defeated its aim by stealing a march 
 upon him in Trente with his left wing. He was, above 
 all, indignant at having been treated merely as one 
 of his lieutenants when he involved him in his armistice. 
 His displeasure even extended to the First Consul. 
 Why had he deceived him as well as the enemy by 
 only giving him 14,000 men, when he had promised 
 him 30,000? Why had he assigned him the least 
 brilliant and the most trying share in these dangers 
 and struggles with the natural difficulties of the under- 
 taking? Why had he, in a manner, placed him under 
 the orders of Brune ? What a humiliation it would 
 have been had he not forestalled in Trente by a 
 few hours, the general's left wing! His inadequate and 
 harassed army would have overcome nothing but the 
 glaciers, and issuing forth devoid of glory, would have 
 been forced to receive from the hands of Brune as a 
 reward of so many hardships this rich cantonment won 
 by a last march of almost fabulous rapidity.
 
 42 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 With such dispositions on the part of our chief, one 
 can imagine the quarrelsome and hostile spirit which 
 animated our headquarters. A few days only had 
 sufficed to restore our young troops, when the armistice, 
 a threatening symptom of peace, aroused our impatience, 
 which found vent in a thousand remarks, the impru- 
 dence of which at such a time was not sufficiently 
 taken into consideration. 
 
 " What could we do with a peace which would only 
 " profit the Director ? Each army would then only have 
 "fought for itself! By what right should his guides, 
 " his guards, his armies of Egypt and Marengo with 
 " their renown in direct rivalry to ours, blazon it forth 
 "on their banners above every other? M^ould it be 
 "permitted that the conquerors of Naples, of Zurich, and 
 " of Hohenlinden, that Macdonald, Massena, and Moreau 
 "himself, all our generals-in-chief in short, should become 
 "the subjects and the footstool of Bonaparte?" 
 
 These sentiments, not openly avowed by all, were 
 fermenting in all hearts, inflamed by the most jealous 
 of passions, the love of glory, and envious equality; 
 and the pride of our generals with whom we all united 
 in a feeling of indignation at enforced submission to 
 another general-in-chief, formerly their companion in 
 arms and their equal. 
 
 Such passions menaced the rising power of the 
 First Consul, and were eagerly fed by every breath 
 borne to us from the capital by private letters and a 
 pernicious press, rousing into being a still more 
 violent passion, which, in addition to the others, 
 especially in the army, excited universal discontent. 
 There, above all, the war of the Revolution had been 
 a war of caste and classes. This plebeian army had
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 43 
 
 there attained glory and position in opposition to the 
 French aristocracy and all the foreign aristocracies, 
 whose patrimony these positions had been from all 
 time. Generals, officers, nearly all dated from 1792, 
 The remembrance of their humiliations under the 
 Monarchy was still alive. Whatever pride and strength 
 they might feel in their illustrious acquisitions, these 
 were yet of recent date, and they had been contested 
 and endangered within a year by the triumphs of the 
 Coalition. They knew that in the eyes of the nobility 
 of the whole of Europe, they were considered only as 
 an army of parvenus, possessing no other right than 
 that of victory. 
 
 This was w^here the sting lay. In these days when 
 time has confirmed results, when the fusion has taken 
 place, and the decreasing struggle has altered its 
 nature by being transformed from that of the poor 
 against the rich, or rather that of those who possess 
 nothing against those who possess something, there 
 still remains enough of that jealous distrust to enable 
 one to realize how keen it then was. 
 
 Into the midst of this burning focus of self-love and 
 self-interest, pride and honour, the news came from 
 Paris of the proposals of the Pretender, the return 
 of the emigres, and their reception at the hands of 
 Madame Bonaparte. There was a general outcry. 
 The feeling of irritation became so strong at head- 
 quarters that, for having made an appeal to the 
 national generosity in favour of the most inoffensive 
 of these exiles, I was warned in conversation that 
 I was becoming a suspect, and that my presence in 
 the ranks of my comrades would be intolerable. 
 
 Such was the general perturbation of mind, the
 
 44 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 germ of which was already perceptible when we 
 learnt the outrage of the 3rd Nivose followed by the 
 transportation of the Terrorists. This criminal attempt 
 had not met with the indignation which it deserved; 
 it had even been made to appear ridiculous, party 
 spirit being so excited. The independent and jealous 
 pride of the chiefs was aroused by this disposition of 
 mind; it hoped something from it. We know what 
 were the bitter fruits it produced: it was fatal to 
 Moreau four years later; it checked the career of his 
 best lieutenants, and for the space of eight years it 
 arrested that of our general himself. Otherwise this 
 was less serious at Trente than at the headquarters 
 of the army of Germany, thanks to the merry life we 
 led there, to the composition of the army, and also 
 to the refined and elegant habits, the noble sentiments, 
 and the constant cheerfulness of Macdonald's happy 
 nature. 
 
 It was then that I understood the Revolution. For 
 the first time I saw its strongest and deepest roots 
 revealed to the light of day. My youthful affections 
 had been wounded by the passions which surrounded 
 me, they thrust me back upon myself, self-contained 
 as I already was by nature, and rendered my position 
 most difficult, but the situation was not altogether 
 unprofitable. In the midst of this plebeian army so 
 justly proud of itself, I was able to gauge the double 
 folly of royalist and above all aristocratic pertinacity: 
 the first under the Republican banners seeming to me 
 a treachery; whilst, as to the second, I felt amongst 
 so many older, more experienced, and wiser warriors 
 than myself, that these exclusive pretensions of birth 
 were not only dangerous, but even unjust and
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 45 
 
 ridiculous. From that moment I accepted the Revo- 
 lution as an accomplished fact, founded on right, 
 demanding our adherence as a matter of good sense 
 and equity, in the best interests of our country and 
 even those of the old nobility itself 
 
 Having once acquired this conviction, traced out 
 this route, and chosen this part, I remained constant 
 to it ; I desired to serve it, by drawing with me old 
 PVance, that is to say, the greatest number of nobles 
 possible, so as to hasten the fusion, and prevent the 
 possibility from henceforth of any return to the pro- 
 scriptions of the Convention and the Directorate. This 
 idea took strong hold of me, and from that moment 
 it has persistently inspired my intercourse, my actions, 
 and even my simplest words. 
 
 This was especially the case when, by way of 
 encouraging myself in a course in which all the actors 
 had changed parts, I used constantly to count over and 
 recapitulate the names of colonels and generals of the 
 old nobility who, in spite of the proscriptions, were then 
 serving in the line regiments of the army and who 
 should strengthen my position in it. These were Cau- 
 laincourt, d'Hautpoul, Grouchy, Fully, Rochambeau, 
 d'Hilliers, Macdonald, etc., etc.; I only forgot one of them, 
 the one to whom I owed my own call, and who was soon 
 to become our most powerful protector. I mean the 
 First Consul! But through the inconsistent impulses 
 natural to my age, blindly yielding to the influence 
 of the atmosphere around me, I saw in him nought 
 but a temporary usurper, my general's enemy and 
 that of Moreau, who was shortly to be overwhelmed by 
 the weight of universal hatred. 
 
 For all that, this dominating idea of mine may appear
 
 46 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 somewhat deep-rooted and tenacious to have emanated 
 from the brain of a young sub-lieutenant of twenty. 
 But it must be borne in mind that I felt isolated 
 and almost a suspect; I was poor, dreamy, and pas- 
 sionate ; ultra sensitive as far as concerned both myself 
 and others; constantly observing them and myself, 
 judging them after my own pattern, and fancying that 
 I was much more an object of observation than was 
 really the case. 
 
 My mode of life at Trente was economical, prudent, 
 and studious. My inclination to take everything seri- 
 ously, my deeply impressionable nature which neces- 
 sitated some management, without causing me to fall 
 out with my comrades, yet kept me aloof from them. 
 
 One of them only the other day was reminding me 
 that they had seen nothing in this studiously busy 
 isolation of mine beyond a marked taste, nay, a strange 
 and precocious passion for work, which they respected 
 even while complaining of it; so that in the midst of 
 a thousand pleasures and frivolities which the armistice 
 left these excitable and lively youths — perhaps rather 
 too fond of play — the leisure to indulge in, my only 
 pursuit by day was study, and my only amusement 
 by night was to play chess with a Colonel Dimbowski, 
 an old Pole who was a master of the game and whose 
 sole endeavour was to teach me enough to render me 
 able to hold my own against him. My studies for- 
 tunately trended in the right direction, either through 
 the influence of General Dumas and that of my father's 
 letters, or from a feeling of shame at my own ignorance 
 concerning the spirit, the aim, the localities and events 
 appertaining to our campaign. 
 
 At that time we were all lodged together in the
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 47 
 
 vast Gothic palace of the Bishop of Trente. I got 
 Macdonald to entrust me with his correspondence, and 
 his instructions to his generals, which I used to carry- 
 off to my third story, where, once again fired by my 
 early passion for work (though now for a more posi- 
 tive and useful object), I seriously embarked on my 
 double career of soldier and historian. I used to make 
 extracts from all these documents; I steeped myself 
 in their essence, which helped me to the understanding 
 of the questions I would put to our chiefs, and a 
 thorough survey and study of the plan of campaign. 
 Having got thus far, and our departure drawing nigh, 
 I carefully packed up my precious treasures, little 
 thinking how soon I should have occasion to make 
 use of my work at Copenhagen ; that later on it would 
 see the light in Paris, and be one of the very means 
 which caused me to be selected to serve on the soe- 
 cial private staff of Bonaparte. 
 
 So far was I then from seeking to attach myself to 
 this great man, that I did not even desire to do so. 
 His actions, nevertheless, should even then have revealed 
 him to me as the protector and reconciler, whose 
 powerful succouring hand might alone draw together 
 and amalgamate the old and new elements of French 
 society. But at my age, without a guiding light or 
 mentor, I could not do otherwise than go astray. 
 Where is the sub-lieutenant of twenty who reads or 
 cares to read the daily publications? Yet at that age 
 one rashly begins to write a literary work without 
 any preconceived plan, in the same way that one forms 
 an opinion, or even takes a part in the politics of the 
 day, on hearsay, without reflecting on the consequences. 
 This study was more difficult in the army than any-
 
 48 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP. 
 
 where else. So that when, after the Peace of Lune- 
 ville, I, being the youngest, was left behind with orders 
 to escort the guard and baggage of General Macdon- 
 ald's headquarters to Lyons, across the upper part of 
 Italy, I was in utter ignorance of the events which 
 were even then taking place in France.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 I ACCOMPANY MACDONALD ON HIS EMBASSY 
 TO DENMARK. 
 
 THE generals-in-chief who had returned to France, 
 at the time of the peace, had been obHged to 
 descend from the heights of command, and could 
 with difficulty reconcile themselves to this species of 
 downfall : they endured impatiently the rapidly growing 
 supremacy of one amongst them who had formerly 
 been their comrade and their equal. They criticised 
 and blamed everything loudly, especially the Concordat. 
 This spirit of revolt was beginning to extend even as 
 far as to the Consular Guard which Lannes commanded. 
 The discontented pride of these generals was ever 
 growing, and it increased by the support of many war- 
 riors, whose fame, proceeding almost entirely from the 
 north, felt itself aggrieved by the more popular glory of 
 the south, which clung to those who had conquered under 
 Bonaparte. Thence resulted two rival camps — two 
 armies which were almost enemies. Following on the 
 perils of a foreign war, which had been overcome, arose 
 the necessity of forestalling those of this jealous rivalry 
 in our own ranks — this smouldering intestine war. 
 With this aim in view, especially in the case of Moreau, 
 honours were bestowed, praise lavished, and family 
 
 6 49
 
 50 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 alliances set on foot; in fact, every kindly means of 
 conciliation was made use of; but this general's oppo- 
 sition has already been seen. With the others, for 
 instance Bcrnadotte, St. Cyr, Brune, Augereau, and 
 Macdonald, Napoleon employed more efficacious means. 
 Missions of various kinds, some warlike, others both 
 warlike and diplomatic scattered them abroad. Bcrna- 
 dotte was sent out in command of the armies of the 
 west, and to St. Cyr was given the command in wSpain 
 of the French Division which had been sent out against 
 Portugal. Lannes and Brune were dispatched, the one 
 as ambassador to Lisbon and the other to Constantinople. 
 As for Macdonald, whose free and sarcastic speech, 
 whose proud and independent character, and whose 
 friendly relations with Moreau rendered him somewhat of 
 an obstacle, even before his return to France in the 
 early months of 1801, he was destined for Denmark. 
 Denmark held the key of the Baltic. By virtue of 
 its position as an advance post of the armed neutrality 
 of the kings of the North which was threatened by 
 the English fleet, and determined to defend itself, it 
 demanded a general from us. Macdonald's mission to 
 this distant court was therefore represented to him as 
 being less of a diplomatic than of a military nature. He 
 was to carry to this extremity of Europe the glory of 
 the French arms, and his aides-de-camp, his staff, and 
 his engineers and artillery officers were to accompany 
 him to the spot. Macdonald only accepted this mission 
 on the condition that he should be called back as soon 
 as it ceased to be of a warlike nature, consequently 
 having immediately started from Trente for Paris by 
 way of Verona, Milan and Turin, he left me orders, 
 as the youngest of his aides-de-camp, to bring back
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. . 51 
 
 to France his headquarters and two companies of infantry 
 and cavalry which were to escort it. Fortune thus 
 favoured me, in that during my first year of service, I had 
 seen the south-east of France, Switzerland, the South 
 of Germany and the whole of the Alps; I was now 
 going to see the north of Italy; I had taken part in 
 a great battle, in the war of the plains, in that of the 
 mountains; finally, I was only returning to Paris to 
 leave it again, and to see, in a two-fold aspect, the east 
 of France and the north of Europe. 
 
 On my arrival in Milan I paid a visit to General 
 Moncey who was the commander-in-chief there, and 
 I found his appearance was quite in harmony with his 
 position. He had a grand bearing, was of fine stature, 
 with a noble countenance, and grave and stately 
 manners. To this exterior aspect, however, and a noble 
 heart was joined a mind ever over-anxious ; caring too 
 much for the praise or blame of others, he over-rated 
 those who opposed him, so that he added to his real 
 difficulties by having to encounter those he created 
 for himself in his adversary. 
 
 I am still astonished when I think of the longevity 
 of this marshal, that his anxious disposition and irritable 
 conscience, which the least responsibility excited beyond 
 expression, should not have worn out his life. A breath, 
 a trifle, put him into a fever. He was in that condition 
 at this very moment, notwithstanding the general esteem 
 in which he was held, and the favour of the First Con- 
 sul; and this was due not only to the recollection of 
 his unfortunate armistice of Pietra, but also, in spite 
 of the Treaty of Luneville, to the anxieties of a command 
 which, however, had become of quite a pacific nature. 
 A quarter-of-an-hour's conversation thoroughly revealed
 
 52 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 to me this uncomfortable condition of mind, which never 
 gave him an instant's peace. I was astonished at it 
 then, and forty-one years afterwards, I cannot understand 
 how, perpetually a prey to such wearing emotions, it 
 was possible that he could still be in existence! 
 
 A year after my first departure, during the second 
 fortnight in May, I returned to Paris and found myself 
 once more with my family. The return of summer, 
 coincident with my own, had driven my former set out 
 of Paris. This was one difficulty the less for me; the 
 trial, however, would in any case have been of short 
 duration, for on arrival I received the order to be 
 ready to start off again. I heard that Macdonald, on 
 his return to Trente, passing by Nevers, had learnt 
 there the assassination of Paul L, and the disaster of 
 the Danish fleet, burnt by Nelson in the roadstead of 
 Copenhagen, and of the forced submission which had 
 been the consequence; that fancying his mission was 
 then without an object, he had considered himself 
 released from it; but that Napoleon had persevered, 
 alleging as a pretext, the possibility of arousing 
 from this double disaster the armed neutrality of the 
 kings of the North ; and that, in order to decide him 
 to go to Denmark, he had held out the flattering bait, 
 after a short stay in this post, of the ambassadorship 
 of St. Petersburg. Macdonald already was at great 
 expense, busy with the necessary preparations for so 
 important a destination. The First Consul, who never 
 neglected the slightest detail, had remembered the 
 brilliant reputation which my father had left behind 
 him at the court of the great Catharine: and he insisted 
 that I should be diplomatically attached to this embassy. 
 On June ist I received my nomination; and soon after,
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 53 
 
 in the capacity of junior attache and aide-de-camp, 
 I started with iMacdonald. It would have been impossible 
 to present for the first time to the north of Europe a 
 more illustrious or worthy representative of the pure 
 glory of the arms of the Republic. This journey was a 
 continual triumph for Macdonald, in \vhich we had even 
 more than our proper share. The multitude pressed 
 after us on every occasion ; Macdonald showed himself 
 generous even to prodigality, above all, towards any 
 needy Frenchman whom he met on his way. We 
 saw Leipsic, Dresden, and Pilnitz, that celebrated 
 starting-point of the war of the Revolution. We were 
 presented to the Elector, a worthy prince, though of 
 a methodical character, so much the slave of etiquette 
 that it followed him, so they said, into the very interior 
 of his palace, even into the arms of the Electress ! 
 We used to make a joke of it then : our native 
 revolutionary thoughtlessness and want of method 
 made merry over the superabundance of it possessed 
 by this people ; to-day, some of us may think it would 
 have been better had we been more like them. We 
 may even regret that we did not possess those wise, 
 regular, and orderly habits which the difference in our 
 national characters does not allow of our imitating. 
 
 We were detained some days in Berlin. I there 
 received from the princes and princesses of this court, 
 and still more explicitly from many of their followers, 
 much testimony to the deep esteem in which they 
 held my father, his history of the late King of 
 Prussia (truthful though it was), and the expression of 
 their regrets that this prince had followed opposite coun- 
 sels to those which my father had tendered him during 
 his last diplomatic mission. It may be remembered
 
 54 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 that this mission had preceded the war of 1792, which 
 it had not been able to prevent. 
 
 Concerning the non-success of their first campaign, 
 one of the former aides-de-camp of this deceased monarch 
 endeavoured to make excuses for it in this wise: 
 according to him, the orders given to the Duke of 
 Brunswick had not been carried out. Frederick WilHam 
 II. had not intended at Valmy to stop short at a mere 
 cannonading. His idea had been to attack and engage 
 the enemy. But the Duke of Brunswick, remembering 
 only too well that the king had been his pupil, had 
 paid no heed to his instructions. This officer also owned 
 to me that, misled by our emigres, they had only 
 expected a mere military march, in the course of which 
 the various inhabitants, and our army itself, should have 
 hastened to rally round the Prussian flag. He thus 
 accounted for the fatal proclamation of the Duke, the 
 disappointment of this general, and the discouragement 
 which had resulted from it. 
 
 Our sojourn in Denmark, lasted for six whole months. 
 But Macdonald in each dispatch renewed the demand 
 for his recall, in the last clamouring for it so imperiously 
 that it was obliged to be conceded. 
 
 This sojourn, however, worked for my good; it even 
 exercised over my future a fortunate, unexpected, and 
 decided influence. If I allude to this with complacence 
 I beg to be excused. These details overbalance the 
 futile reputation which I had gained by the songs 
 which I used to scribble heedlessly on the margin of 
 the archives of our legation, and which did not bear 
 favourable testimony to any serious pursuit of study. 
 At the age of twenty, little excuse is perhaps needed 
 for some frivolous amusement hi the midst of real
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 55 
 
 work; but my own self love, and the necessity of 
 leaving a good example behind, induce me to say that 
 it would have been wrong to judge by appearances 
 only ; that in reality I employed my time satisfactorily, 
 and if the result had been more fortunate than I had 
 any reason to expect, at any rate I deserved it to a 
 certain extent. In the daytime, with Macdonald and 
 elsewhere, at table or in society, I used to seek the 
 society of the most famous people, listening to them, 
 and asking them as many questions as my youth war- 
 ranted, thus trying to collect as many notions as 
 possible on the country, the things and the men amongst 
 whom I found myself; then at night, before setting to 
 work on my summary, I would joyfully enrich my 
 note-book with the booty which I had been acquiring. 
 I did even more; having once begun my hoard, I 
 became greedy; using every effort to add to it. I even 
 dared to carry my ignorance to the most distinguished 
 savants. The professors, amongst them a Frenchman 
 and the celebrated Nybourg himself, treated me with 
 indulgence. This savant who was pallid, ill, and 
 enfeebled by hard work, had already nearly lost his 
 sight; the least light dazzled him. It was, therefore, 
 when night put a stop to his work that I used to seek 
 him out to converse with him. I would enter, groping 
 my way to his inner den, where I could hardly see 
 him by the feeble light of a solitary candle, in the 
 midst of folios and dusty MSS. which surrounded him, 
 and with which his room was crowded. Our conver- 
 sations would sometimes distract his attention from 
 them, and this intercourse was good for both of us; 
 I acquired scientific instruction from it, while he gained 
 rest: which was what each of us needed.
 
 56 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 Up to this time the news of our successes and 
 reverses had exercised a remarkable influence on this 
 cold and distant people. The Danish Government 
 had thought it best to give way to it. Should we 
 succeed, the astute Bernstorf would slightly loosen the 
 reins on the neck of the people; should the Coalition 
 get the upper hand, he would gently tighten the curb. 
 
 Nevertheless, the taste for our Revolution in this country 
 had been so keen, and had so Minded their discernment, 
 that during the Terror, Robespierre, not only in the eyes 
 of the Danish bourgeoisie, but even amongst the aristo- 
 crats and the Duchess of Augustenburg herself, had 
 passed for a great man ! His discourses had been read 
 with enthusiasm : his victims had been condemned as 
 justly-punished traitors, his downfall had been lamented ! 
 However gross may have been this error it was a long 
 time before the people saw more clearly. 
 
 In looking over my notes, I find in addition to these 
 observations — several of which are now out of date — 
 some more trivial anecdotes on the mental state of the 
 reigning king, who, however, reigned as little over his 
 kingdom as over himself; his senses were not quite adrift, 
 but he had unshipped the rudder which had guided 
 them. His nonsense was sometimes rather funny. It 
 was told of him that one day leaning up against a 
 chair in the family circle, after having contemplated 
 them all in silence, he suddenly exclaimed : " It must 
 "really be confessed that we form a charming party. 
 " My daughter is bandy-legged ; my son is exactly like 
 " an albino ; my brother is a hunchback ; my sister 
 "squints; and I am a madman!" Then extending his 
 observations to the then reigning sovereigns: "For 
 " the matter of that, " he continued, " my more distant
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 57 
 
 " family connections are not much better ; my cousin 
 " George of England is the most demented man in his 
 " kingdom ; my brother Paul of Russia has a touch of 
 " it, I think ; my colleague of Naples is not much better ; 
 " my little cousin of Sweden promises to be as bad ; and 
 " to return to myself, I am about the maddest of the 
 "lot;" then, noticing that one of his courtiers was clasp- 
 ing his hands and lifting his eyes to Heaven: " Well, 
 " what do you expect from that? You will not deceive 
 " the One above and may as well leave Him alone, " he 
 added. 
 
 There had been some scandal about the wife of his 
 brother (who was, as we have seen, a puny and mis- 
 shapen prince,) and a courtier of herculean stature. 
 The latter one evening felt a smart tap on his shoul- 
 der, upon which he turned round. " I beg your par- 
 " don, " cried the king, bursting out laughing ; " but I 
 " really took you for my own brother ! " 
 
 Other scandal-mongers accused the Prince Royal of 
 sacrificing too much to his military position, but of 
 only bringing to bear on this expensive mania the 
 restricted views of a corporal. It is true that in the 
 frequent reviews which we witnessed we had often 
 seen the prince, who was otherwise very good- 
 natured, get into a rage with his grenadiers, abuse 
 and even beat them, then himself taking a place in 
 the ranks, mark step with his cane over his shoulder, 
 and make himself a perfect laughing-stock. One day 
 when he was submitting to his father's approbation and 
 explaining to him the economy of a plan of financial 
 reform, the king, without answering, got up and began 
 gravely to march up and down with his cane over 
 his shoulder, saying: "Right, left! right, left!" then,
 
 58 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 stopping in front of his son: "That's the kind of thing 
 that is too expensive, sir!" he retorted; however, as 
 the prince insisted, the king gave way; but recognis- 
 ing that his son was as mad as himself, he signed 
 " Christian and Company. " 
 
 On October nth, Colonel Duroc, an aide-de-camp 
 of Bonaparte, arrived. His mission was to Berlin 
 and St. Petersburg principally, then Stockholm and 
 Copenhagen. My wish to add to the contents of my 
 note-book led me to seek him out without any ulterior 
 idea. The young men of those days accustomed to 
 risk everything for glory, and living in the midst of 
 new and rapidly-rising reputations and constant illus- 
 trious self-sacrifices, either Royalist or Republican, 
 were not self-interested. I was like them in this respect, 
 and even more so owing to the family conditions in which 
 I had been brought up, and had no ambition beyond 
 that of being highly considered. On this occasion I 
 thought of nothing but winning the esteem of this 
 individual. His reserved and scrutinizing attitude gave 
 me little encouragement at first; besides I looked, and 
 was, so young then that he did not notice me much 
 amongst so many older people; but it happened for- 
 tunately on the second day of his arrival, that amidst 
 a small circle to whom Duroc had addressed some 
 questions upon the Danish fleet and army, I alone 
 was able to answer them. Thereupon, either from 
 curiosity or surprise, he continued by taking me aside 
 and entering into conversation ; when, as may well be 
 believed, I was not backward in exhibiting my new 
 acquirements. The result was that Duroc sought 
 me out in his turn; and that, flattered by his notice, 
 I offered him a note of all the information I
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 59 
 
 had collected which would be likely to render his mis- 
 sion more effectual, and which he accepted. 
 
 On the day of his departure, October 1 5th, I guessed 
 by the manner in which he wished me good-bye, and 
 by the friendliness of the officer who accompanied 
 him, and who pressed me to join him very soon in 
 Paris and enter the Guides regiment in which he was 
 a captain, that I had acquired the esteem and friend- 
 ship of the illustrious traveller. I, however, soon 
 forgot this, seeing in the incident nothing beyond the 
 desire of rendering himself generally agreeable ; but 
 I had made more way than I thought, and this 
 interview was fated to exercise the most powerful 
 influence on my destiny. Duroc had carried away a 
 pleasing and even affectionate remembrance of our 
 meeting, a feeling which he lost no time in imparting 
 to the First Consul and which was not to be subse- 
 quently effaced. Such is the importance of creating a 
 favourable first impression ; a success which a studious 
 youth easily acquires on account of the surprise which 
 is inspired by the contrast of a steady desire for work 
 at an age when pleasure is more attractive, and to the 
 indulgence which is naturally extended to youth. 
 
 Not having anticipated any special results, I returned 
 on his departure to my habitual life of quiet observation, 
 without knowing that it had already borne all possible 
 fruit. 
 
 My thoughts too, were soon to be entirely centred 
 in the news of a sad and unexpected loss: this was 
 the death of the Marechal de Segur, my grandfather, 
 who was taken from us on October 8th, 1801, 
 by a fit of the gout. JNIacdonald, however, more and 
 more disgusted with his new career, could see no
 
 6o MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP. 
 
 object in his mission but his own removal from the 
 capital ; and in truth it had no other. Thus on September 
 5th, 1 80 1, irritated by the evasions by which Talleyrand 
 responded to his demands for a recall, he wrote 
 him a rude and threatening letter, which needlessly 
 occasioned a complete breach ; for the minister, in a 
 dispatch dated the previous night (December 4th), had 
 at last sent him his letters of recall. These he received 
 on December i oth and at once acted on them ; leaving 
 Copenhagen on the 23rd he brought us back in the 
 first month of 1802 to Paris, where Duroc had only 
 preceded us by some weeks.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 I AM ENTRUSTED WITH A MISSION TO THE 
 KING OF SPAIN. 
 
 IN the midst of the first feeling of melancholy plea- 
 sure with which I revisited my people for the second 
 time after our cruel loss, my six months' absence, and 
 my trying voyage at such a bad time of year, I per- 
 ceived that my father, Macdonald, and the First Consul 
 had determined no longer to look upon me as a soldier. 
 I saw that my letters, my observations of the country 
 which I had just left, and, above all, the kind report ot 
 Duroc, my rank of junior attache, and my father's own 
 renown as a diplomatist, had caused me to be con- 
 sidered for the future as marked out for that career. 
 It was opposed to my own inclinations and the general 
 feeling of the day, to the impressions which I had received 
 from the example of Macdonald, and the attraction 
 which the career of arms had always had for me from 
 my childhood. 
 
 Having, therefore, made my choice between my two 
 commissions of junior attache and sub-lieutenant, when 
 Macdonald joined us for the purpose of paying our 
 homage to the First Consul, I begged him to introduce 
 me only in my position of aide-de-camp to Bonaparte. 
 
 6x
 
 62 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 But he took no notice of it; and when my turn 
 came I was introduced as a junior attache. 
 
 This took place in the chamber now known as the 
 Throne-room in the Tuileries. Bonaparte stopped short 
 on hearing my name coupled with the designation of 
 junior attache and looked at me fixedly and his coun- 
 tenance which was grave that day assumed a bene- 
 volent aspect as he answered : " Yes, I know that he 
 shows much promise. " But although I saw this great 
 man for the first time at close quarters, I was not so 
 dazzled as I might have been, on account of the hostile 
 sentiments held at headquarters, and having made up 
 my mind not to tie myself in any way, I ventured to 
 contradict him and answered, " Citizen Consul, if I 
 show any promise, it is not for diplomacy, but for 
 the military career." This boldness surprised and dis- 
 pleased him : being then all for peace and negotiations, 
 it ran counter to his views for me; he resumed his 
 severe aspect and in a blunt and abrupt manner rudely 
 turning his back upon me, answered: "Very well! 
 you will have to wait for war." 
 
 As may be imagined, I came away from this 
 audience with a very poor opinion of the kind feeling 
 of the First Consul. But that was not all ; we were 
 descending the grand double staircase which the 
 Swiss Guards defended on August loth, now no 
 longer in existence, when Macdonald, who never 
 missed an occasion for a joke, stopped short and 
 turned round to compliment me on " my successful 
 " debut with General Bonaparte, and the speedy 
 " promotion which such a favourable reception should 
 "lead me to expect." I replied that he was the cause 
 of it, having against my wish introduced me as a junior
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 63 
 
 attache ; but that I consoled myself for this misfortune 
 because it kept me attached to his person. " Not at 
 all," he answered, "I cannot keep you ; the regulations 
 only allow me three aides-de-camp, and you make 
 the fourth." Then becoming serious, as he saw me 
 overwhelmed by this unexpected blow, he added: 
 " Never mind ; till something better turns up I will 
 attach you to Beurnonville. " He was his friend, and 
 I made no objection, but I felt annoyed because I 
 saw in this an underhanded means of binding me to a 
 diplomatic career which Beurnonville himself then 
 preferred to that of arms. In this false position I 
 employed my leisure in the studies necessary to my 
 position, and in correcting my precis of the campaign 
 of the Grisons which I had been urged to publish. 
 On the other hand, finding myself once more amidst 
 my old set, I tried to cultivate it at the same time as 
 the new ; but there had never been any real fusion ; 
 they were still two inimical camps and more antagon- 
 istic than ever. 
 
 In spite of the advances of Madame Bonaparte, the 
 generous and conciliatory policy of the First Consul, 
 and our own example, the old aristocracy, still rooted 
 in the past and entrenched in hatred and disdain, only 
 lived on its recollections, and fed itself with vain 
 hopes. Everything was an obstacle, both in form and 
 idea, everything jarred between the world that the 
 Revolution had created and the society of the ancien 
 regime. 
 
 The latter was accustomed to look upon as paramount 
 all the little refinements of good society, the exquisite 
 politeness of conventional forms and ceremonies, and 
 the urbanity, grace, and indefinable charm, whose
 
 64 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 distinctive and minute shades characterized the social 
 code of the women of a former day. To these 
 refined manners of the old society, the unformed 
 and boorish ways of the men of the new were alien 
 and intolerable; that alone, without the overturning of 
 rank, power, and fortunes would have rendered any 
 amalgamation impracticable. One should not therefore 
 be astonished that this former society chose to include 
 the First Consul, and the remarkable men with whom 
 he was surrounded, in its general aversion for the 
 revolutionaries whom he had brought to their bearings. 
 The army itself was included. Its immortal deeds were 
 in their eyes but ephemeral accidents or mere triumphs 
 of brute force; a kind of barbaric, false, and illegitimate 
 glory, and the honours acquired by this glory, a 
 usurpation of ancient and imprescriptible rights. These 
 were the very natural sentiments held by the remain- 
 der of this cruelly decimated party, which, with no 
 following, was still animated by this spirit of caste, 
 the most persistent of all forms of party spirit on 
 account of its close ties of society and family, its 
 hereditary habits of domination and punctilious code 
 of honour, its pride and its exclusive pretensions which 
 had become a second nature made up of all those 
 passions which act the most powerfully on the heart 
 of man. 
 
 This is not a criticism of the aristocracy ; rather would 
 it be its eulogy, provided it were not exclusive and 
 as much as possible kept pace with the times. In fact 
 what other body so old, so cruelly vanquished and 
 dispersed, would have been able to remain as faithful 
 and constant to its traditions, and present so inflexible 
 a resistance to such great misfortunes!
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 65 
 
 As for me, with the strong conviction that this 
 resistance was as unjust as it was out of place, having 
 broken from them and seeking a standpoint elsewhere 
 I made a very bad choice: whether in my indignation 
 at their rebuffs and at the reception of the First Consul, 
 or from a spirit of military camaraderie, intensified 
 by the republican hostility against Bonaparte of 
 Macdonald and Moreau, under whom I had first seen 
 service, I became almost a revolutionary. Neither the 
 advice of my father, his nomination to the Legislative 
 Assembly on January 31st, 1802, the lieutenant's com- 
 mission which I received on April 5th, nothing of this 
 could at first win me over again. 
 
 Paris was then full of various army staffs, impatient 
 of their inactivity and irritated by what they called the 
 dictation and the usurpation of the First Consul. They 
 dubbed as anti-revolutionary the measures in favour of 
 the e7fiigres and the re-establishment of Catholic worship. 
 I listened to their outcry without sufficiently disap- 
 proving its bad tendency ; on April 8th, in Notre Dame 
 I witnessed their indignation at the Te Deum being 
 sung for the Concordat which had been signed eight 
 months before. I did not sufficiently protest on that 
 occasion against the reply of Delmas to Bonaparte: 
 " Yes, a fine monkery indeed ! It is a pity that it was 
 short of a million of men who got killed to destroy just 
 what you are endeavouring to bring back again ! " 
 
 The brutal impertinences which several of the other 
 generals permitted themselves to utter in the Tuileries 
 and even within ear-shot of Bonaparte, displeased me 
 to a certain extent, but did not sufficiently excite my 
 disgust; I must admit also that in the cathedral my 
 attitude was not the least irreverent of any; I even 
 7
 
 66 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 remember, on the return of the procession which 
 passed by the Palais Royal near a group of officers 
 amongst whom I was standing, the contemptuous airs 
 with which we acknowledged the many salutations of 
 the First Consul, and which certainly were not calculated 
 to please him. 
 
 In my position, and with the aim I had in view, all 
 this was absurd, A coarse remark of Moreau had 
 the effect of first opening my eyes to the false step 
 which I had taken. Calling on him one moi-ning in 
 the Rue d'Anjou-St,-Honore, when Grenier, Lecourbe, 
 and he were conversing upon the French army in the 
 time of Louis XV,, I was listening to his remarks, 
 ordinary as they were, (for his speech, like his manner, 
 was very common,) as if they were oracles, when either 
 forgetting or choosing to ignore my descent, he spoke 
 in filthy and contemptuous terms of all the generals 
 of the ancient regime without any exception. This 
 insulting slight caused me to colour up. I was even 
 then wearing mourning for my courageous grandfather, 
 and retired immediately, all the more indignant because 
 it was impossible for me to make any reply to this 
 abusive brutality, 
 
 I never saw this general again until curiosity led 
 me to one of the cross-examinations which he was 
 undergoing at the Temple, but though still very indig- 
 nant with him, I had sufficient consideration for his 
 disgrace not to let him perceive me. 
 
 There was nothing of that kind to tear from Beur- 
 nonville or Macdonald, still on my return home I could 
 not help comparing this hostile scurrility with the 
 grandeur of soul of Napoleon, who had taken advantage 
 of the fete of July 14th, 1801, to collect the scattered
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 67 
 
 remains of Turenne and celebrate their reception in 
 the InvaUdes. His efforts to rehabilitate and to rally- 
 around him all the proscribed persons who had fallen 
 victims to the revolutionary government were brought 
 under my notice; but even more to the point, I was 
 reminded that during my sojourn in Denmark, having 
 learnt that my grandfather, from whom he had received 
 his first commission, was living in great poverty, he 
 alleviated the hardships of his last days by a pension, 
 and when the old warrior went to the Tuileries to 
 thank the First Consul, he was splendidly received, 
 Bonaparte actually going to meet him. During their 
 short interview he treated him with the utmost deference, 
 going as far as the head of the staircase with him, 
 and insisting that the guard should present arms and 
 the drums beat, so that the full military honours 
 might be given to him which were due to the then 
 abolished rank of marshal! So great a contrast of 
 petty meanness and ill-will with the generous consi- 
 deration and marks of esteem shown to my grandfather 
 and to our aristocratic renown, profoundly touched my 
 wounded soul. My eyes were opened. I recognised 
 in Bonaparte the true support I had been seeking, 
 which seemed to present itself for the succour and 
 possible rehabilitation of the remnant of the society 
 of former days. Nevertheless, tired of my uselessness 
 and feeling myself in disgrace with Napoleon for my 
 anti-diplomatic prejudices, I had just demanded active 
 work in my new rank in the i gth regiment of dragoons 
 commanded by Caulain court, when I learnt that the 
 First Consul was furious against him on account of a 
 plot which had been set on foot in this very regiment 
 in relation to the Concordat. It was a false report,
 
 68 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 but had been received as a true one, in consequence 
 of which, a squadron of this corps composed of the 
 malcontents was on the point of being sent to San 
 Domingo. 
 
 At that juncture I received a note from Duroc dated 
 the 4th Prairial of the year X (May 24th, 1802). He 
 begged me to go to Malmaison at midday as the 
 First Consul was anxious to see me. I was to be 
 introduced by the aide-de-camp on duty, as Duroc was 
 sorry that he was obliged to be absent and therefore 
 could not undertake to present me himself. 
 
 Certainly there was nothing in such a communication 
 to alarm me, but young and vivid imaginations are 
 subject to see things in a certain light and are not always 
 remarkable for good sense. I fancied, insignificant as I 
 was, that the coincidence of my request to enter the igth 
 regiment with the breaking out of the spirit of sedition 
 in that regiment had drawn upon me the anger of 
 Bonaparte. I therefore arrived at Malmaison with the 
 conviction that I should be severely reprimanded to 
 begin with, and then threatened or ordered to take 
 my departure for San Domingo. My surprise may be 
 imagined when on the contrary, after a truly paternal 
 reception, I could perceive nought but the most fascinating 
 benevolence imprinted on the features of this great 
 conqueror which had appeared to me so formidable at the 
 Tuileries ; and when I heard his voice, which had seemed 
 so rough, say in an accent as sweet as a caress, " that 
 " he was going to give me a mission in Spain in conse- 
 " quence of the satisfactory reports that he had received 
 " of me, that I should have ostensibly to deliver a letter 
 "to the king from him and one to the 'Prince de la 
 " Paix ' which should be done in secret, without General
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 69 
 
 " St. Cyr, our ambassador, knowing anything about it, 
 " these two individuals not being on friendly terms ; but 
 " for the rest, Citizen Talleyrand would give me all 
 "necessary instructions." Then walking up and down 
 with me once or twice the length of the long study 
 which looked upon the garden and the court-yard of 
 the castle, and ran the entire width of the building, 
 he added several kindly words as to the confidence he 
 reposed in me, and sent me away with the same air 
 of amiability with w^hich he had received me. 
 
 On my arrival at Malmaison I was like a hedge-hog, 
 only thinking of defending myself; when I left I was 
 astonished, charmed, and enthusiastic. The next day 
 I was still more astonished when M. de Talleyrand, 
 in giving me my instructions, my dispatches, and my 
 passport presented me with 10,000 francs. I had never 
 possessed more than my month's pay, which had always 
 been anticipated, in spite of the economy which my 
 position imposed upon me. 
 
 It was a far cry from Madrid to Copenhagen where 
 I had been formerly. My sojourn in the one capital, 
 however, was the road by which I reached the other. 
 However great the distance and contrast of climate, 
 it seemed to me less than the difference of character 
 and habits in these two peoples. My journey too was 
 full of incidents and accidents which I had no right 
 to attribute to chance alone. We all knew very well 
 that the esteem of the First Consul could only be won 
 on two conditions ; success and promptitude. I there- 
 fore spared neither money nor health to accomplish my 
 task quickly and well, but at my age and with my 
 character the one was easier than the other. So that 
 if I could not reproach myself on the score of speed,
 
 70 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 we shall see that as far as concerned the result of my 
 mission, its success was due entirely to chance. 
 
 I found Madrid almost deserted; the Court was at 
 Aranjuez on the Tagus. I at once betook myself there 
 to call on General St. Cyr, our ambassador. This 
 general's appearance was in harmony with his already 
 famous military renown : tall, and manly, with a serious 
 and noble countenance, and manners of a calm and 
 imposing simplicity. He received me with cold dignity 
 and presented me the next day to the King and the 
 Queen. Their reception of me was gracious and even 
 flattering on the part of the Queen; and on that of the 
 King, although somewhat measured and studied as 
 well as incisive, just what I should have expected 
 from the good nature of a sportsman King who was, 
 however, a chaste, pious, honest, and benevolent prince, 
 though without any education, and entirely governed 
 by his wife and by Godoi his favourite, an individual 
 who was so obnoxious to the whole of Spain that, 
 from that moment, he and the Queen sought refuge 
 from his hatred in the powerful friendship of the 
 First Consul. 
 
 Godoi was not present at this audience, perhaps 
 because St. Cyr was. I had not been informed that this 
 general, of austere virtue, of inflexible principle, and 
 most exemplary disinterestedness, except where mili- 
 tary glory was concerned, detested the favourite. For 
 the matter of that, my secret instructions might have 
 told me as much; and Napoleon, who was more politic 
 than his ambassador, was not, like him, above making 
 use of this inevitable intermediary to attach Spain 
 to the destinies of France. 
 
 As for me, in haste to deliver Napoleon's mysterious
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 7 I 
 
 letter to this "Prince of Peace, "* on the very next day I 
 issued forth early from my lodgings, the first which, 
 since my arrival in Spain, I had not found utterly 
 intolerable. But by an unheard-of thoughtlessness, 
 while wishing to accomplish discreetly this secret part 
 of my mission, I chose the very hour, the very place, 
 and garb which could not fail to attract attention to 
 my proceedings. It would have been but a necessary 
 precaution to go at night, wearing a dress coat, at the 
 time when I might find the prince alone; instead of 
 which it was in broad day, in my uniform, and at a 
 public audience that I presented myself at this favourite's 
 residence. 
 
 It was only when I found myself in a long gallery, 
 in the midst of a crowd of applicants, that I became 
 conscious of my oversight, but there was no time to 
 repair it. The prince was absent. During a mortal 
 half-hour of suspense I remained there as if caught in 
 a trap, cursing my folly, and trying to slink imnoticed 
 through the crowd; not daring to look anybody in 
 the face and fearing that amongst these strangers 
 some Frenchman might accost me, imagining that all 
 eyes were fixed on the sorry figure which I cut, and 
 on my unlucky uniform. However, what I had so ill 
 begun I finished better, that is to say more fortunately 
 than I deserved. Growing bolder, I sfipped through 
 the crowd to the door by which the prince must 
 enter, and seeing a valet de chambre there, I decided 
 on announcing who I was in a whisper to him, with 
 
 * "The Treaty of Basle (July 22) which does credit to the good sense 
 of Godoi, won for him the honorary title of 'Prince of Peace', the 
 only title which he ever really deserved." 
 
 ( Translator's Note.)
 
 72 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 the result that as soon as Godoi arrive J, I was ushered 
 alone into his presence. I remember that the room 
 in which he received me was bare of furniture, but 
 filled with a remarkable display of boots and shoes 
 of all kinds. 
 
 He was a man with a round, good-looking but 
 insignificant face, tall and vigorous in stature for this 
 country, but already tending to fatness. I found very 
 little dignity in his manner, he gave me the kind of 
 reception that one grants to the emissary of a patron. 
 In his lavish civilities, he invited me to dine with him 
 that very day, but being now very much alive to my 
 imprudence, which was causing me inward qualms, I 
 pointed out to him that such an invitation must reveal 
 our interview, and that to keep the secret it would 
 be much better that I should appear to be a perfect 
 stranger to him. Understanding this necessity, he 
 accepted my excuses. As there was no other issue 
 from the room than the one by which I had entered, 
 I was obliged to appear for the second time in the 
 long audience chamber whence I made my escape by 
 quickly losing myself in the crowd and edging towards 
 the door; then taking a roundabout way to get home. 
 I hastened to divest myself of the tell-tale uniform 
 and helmet which I had so imprudently elected to 
 wear. 
 
 From that moment and during the whole week that 
 I was waiting at Aranjuez for the answer to my dis- 
 patches, anxious and aghast, I do not believe that 
 Machiavelh himself would have thought of so many 
 subterfuges and insidious ways and words by which I 
 endeavoured to find out if our ambassador had any 
 suspicion of my ill-planned visit; with this end in view
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 73 
 
 I used to ask him, or ask others in his presence, a 
 thousand questions about the appearance of this prince 
 as if I had never seen him; I feigned only to know 
 him through the general's eyes, and to share all the 
 aversion with which the favourite inspired him. In this 
 constant state of anxiety, fearing any moment to find 
 that the ambassador had learnt my unlucky interview, 
 I used to come back again to make sure almost as 
 soon as I had left him. This was very nearly the means 
 by which it was found out. One day, while out walking 
 together we met this object of my constant fear riding 
 in his carriage: the enmity between the favourite and 
 the general had then reached such a pitch that they 
 were no longer even on bowing terms, when behold the 
 prince, with his head out of the window, flourishing his 
 hand to me in the most friendly manner! At this, St. 
 Cyr, utterly astonished, eagerly wanted to know what 
 it meant, and I, feigning even greater surprise than 
 himself, pretended and affirmed that the salutation which 
 I took care not to acknowledge, could not possibly be 
 meant for me, inwardly cursing the prince the whole time. 
 After all these hypocritical efforts on my part, my 
 consternation can easily be imagined when St. Cyr the 
 next day receiving me with much composure of manner, 
 began to question me concerning a part of my instruc- 
 tions, which, he said, I had kept secret from him. 
 At these words, fancying that my duplicity had been 
 unmasked and my mission defeated, I felt as if my 
 blood was turning to water. But I managed to contain 
 myself in spite of my extreme anxiety, affecting the 
 most ingenuous astonishment, and begging him to 
 explain himself, as if it were a matter of impossibility to 
 know what he meant. It was lucky I did so, for in real-
 
 74 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 ity neither of us had understood the other. I perceived 
 this as soon as he owned that he had suspected me of 
 an understanding with Lucien Bonaparte, and of having 
 been entrusted with secret communications for the 
 secretary of this brother of the First Consul of whose 
 presence at Aranjuez I w^as completely ignorant. Re- 
 lieved of an immense burden, and delighted to find 
 the ambassador so far from the right track, I felt so 
 strong in being able to tell the truth, and denied 
 this erroneous imputation with such convincing eagerness 
 that St. Cyr restored me to his full confidence. 
 
 It was thus that I atoned for the thoughtless act 
 which I had committed, but my success cost me some- 
 thing, nevertheless. I had been so preoccupied by it, 
 that giving way too much to the discontented ambas- 
 sador, so as to deceive him the better, I was led to 
 neglect proper forms and ceremonies as he did: con- 
 sequently he sent me off, not only without taking leave 
 of the Prince but of the King himself, so that I did 
 not receive the valuable present which, according to 
 custom, he would have bestowed upon me. I gave this 
 up without regret; but what was much worse was to 
 have lost such an opportunity of studying this Court, 
 of putting myself into communication with the favourite, 
 of investing my journey with more importance, and of 
 leaving behind me at Aranjuez a better impression of 
 my tact. One of my instructions had thus cost me 
 more than it need have done, but eager minds possess 
 the great drawback that having once thrown themselves 
 into an undertaking they are only able to see one 
 side of it. 
 
 But I had unconsciously given myself a great deal 
 too much trouble. My usual good-luck did not need
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 75 
 
 all these out-of-the-way precautions from which my 
 conscience and my self-love still suffer. We are told that 
 there is a Providence for drunkards, the same, I think, 
 holds good as regards youth, which is an intoxication of 
 another kind; my good-luck had served me to the 
 extent that in this great audience of the " Prince of 
 Peace " I had not been noticed by any agents of our 
 embassy; because the uniform which I had chosen so 
 inopportunely to wear was fortunately a dragoon uni- 
 form exactly resembling that of the same branch 
 of the service in the Spanish army; so that with my 
 oval face, and my dark hair and complexion, I had 
 probably been taken for a Spanish officer. 
 
 On my return, which was even more rapid than my 
 journey out, I noticed among other things the sensation 
 that the name of Bonaparte produced in this foreign 
 country, the mere sound of it causing all obstacles to 
 vanish, and all gates to fly open, even those of the 
 Spanish custom-house! 
 
 In its substance, and its results, my mission had been 
 prosperous, and satisfactory to the First Consul. He asked 
 me very few questions, which was again fortunate, for 
 I had not made sufficient preparation by brief but well 
 digested notes to be able to give my replies desirable 
 weight. This should never be neglected in such cases, 
 as a matter of conscience, for the greater good of the 
 mission in the first place, and one's own subsequently. 
 
 However this may be, on the second occasion when 
 I saw Napoleon, at one of those public audiences in 
 the Tuileries which used to follow his frequent reviews : 
 " You have accomplished your mission well and quickly, " 
 he said kindly ; " take a holiday and don't worry your- 
 self; you shall yet make the tour of Europe!"
 
 70 MEMOIRS. OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP. 
 
 I had not long to wait, it is true, for a new mark 
 of his good-will. But during that short time I was 
 very near forfeiting it by the publication of my Precis 
 of the campaign of the Grisons, my Copenhagen work. 
 This precis, exact in detail, but defective as to style, 
 was a glowing eulogy of Macdonald, in which Brune 
 was not spared. As a matter of policy, I should not 
 have done this, but it would have been ingratitude on 
 my part had I allowed such a feeling to sway me, 
 out of consideration for my new protector and at the 
 expense of the first, so the book appeared. It came 
 to my ears that it had been spoken of ill-naturedly 
 to the First Consul, who exclaimed with some temper 
 in presence of Rcederer : " What are these young en- 
 thusiasts troubling their heads about? the only effect is 
 to revive the quarrels between the generals ! " Fortu- 
 nately Rcederer, who was a friend of my father's, took 
 my part; so highly praising both work and author 
 that he restored me, as we shall see, to a higher place 
 than I deserved in the esteem of Bonaparte.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 I AM NOMINATED ORDERLY OFFICER TO THE FIRST 
 
 CONSUL. 
 
 AFTER having refused with scorn the offer of the 
 chateau of St. Cloud as a pubhc gift, to be his 
 own private property, Napoleon spent six millions of 
 francs in restoring it as the property of the nation, and 
 had just taken up his abode there ; but we still found 
 it difficult to accustom ourselves to these successive 
 appropriations of royal residences. The sonorous word 
 Republic, under the dictatorship of the man of genius 
 pleased our imaginations, and it was besides an ac- 
 complished fact, cemented by victory, peace, and 
 public prosperity; but a usurping king was extremely 
 distcisteful to us. Amongst the greater number this arose 
 from pride and a spirit of independence, but as far as 
 concerned myself, these feelings were complicated by 
 remembrances which these signs or preliminaries of 
 usurpation too directly wounded. I had sacrificed them 
 to enrol myself with the nation, and it was repugnant 
 to me to appear to abandon the cause of the whole to 
 take the part of one. 
 
 This was the state of things when, three months 
 after my return from Spain, I received a short note 
 
 from Duroc on October yth, 1802, ordering me to go 
 
 77
 
 78 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 the next day to the chateau of St. Cloud at noon 
 precisely. I do not remember how I learnt that this 
 was with a view of attaching me to the special staff 
 of the First Consul, but I remember very well that 
 my first impulse was to hesitate to obey; but in spite 
 of this swagger, which was a combination of royalist 
 and republican feeling, the fact remains, that with my 
 father's support I found myself the next day at the 
 hour named in the gallery of Mars at St. Cloud, where 
 Duroc presented me to Bonaparte. The much too 
 flattering words which that great man let fall on this 
 occasion, while overwhelming me with astonishment, 
 had the effect of attaching me once for all to his 
 person. " Citizen Segur, " he said, in a loud voice, 
 before a crowd of senators, tribunes, legislators and 
 generals, "I have placed you on my private staff; 
 "your duty will be to command my body guard. 
 " You see the confidence which I place in you, you 
 "will respond to it; your merit and your talents will 
 "ensure you rapid promotion!" 
 
 As much delighted as surprised by such a flattering 
 reception, in my agitation I could only answer by a 
 few words of gratitude and devotion, which Napoleon 
 received with one of his indescribably gracious smiles; 
 continuing his way through the crowded assemblage 
 of personages of more or less note, he went on to the 
 gallery of the chapel in which he heard mass. Intoxi- 
 cated with joy and gratified pride beyond the bounds 
 of expectation, and feeling as if I trod on air, I 
 walked up and down these brilliant chambers as if 
 taking possession of them, turning back and again 
 stopping on the spot which even at this lapse of time 
 I can still see before me, the spot where I had just
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 79 
 
 listened to such expressions of esteem and regard, 
 meditating upon them, and repeating them over a hundred 
 times. It seemed to me as if they associated me, as 
 if they identified me, with the renown of the Conqueror 
 of Italy, of Egypt, and of France! I do not know 
 what that autumn day was really like, but it has re- 
 mained in my memory as the most beautiful, the most 
 glorious day that ever shone upon me in my life. I 
 was nevertheless abashed, and alarmed at the thought 
 of the necessity of justifying the good opinion, however 
 premature, of so great a man. Thus, when I returned 
 to Paris to my father's humble abode, it was only with 
 blushes and under my breath, that in telling my story 
 I could repeat these words of praise which must have 
 appeared almost beyond belief. I considered myself 
 then the sole usurper, feeling how unworthy I was 
 of such praise. 
 
 The routine of my new duties was not difficult. It 
 consisted in parading in the courtyard of the Tuileries 
 the relieving guard, in giving it the parole and coun- 
 tersign, and in commanding and superintending for four- 
 and-twenty hours every third day all the guards on duty. 
 But my first contact with these picked troops was not 
 such an easy matter. The guard of that day, men of 
 gigantic stature and great vigour, in the full prime of 
 life, struck me at once with the admiration which is 
 inspired by the fame of irresistible troops, and with the 
 veneration due to soldiers justly proud of ten years 
 of hard work and victory. In the face of such men 
 what was a life of twenty-two, a few missions, and 
 two campaigns ? It was not, I confess without a painful 
 effort to overcome my justifiable modesty that, new 
 to the work as I was, I appeared before their ranks
 
 8o MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 and was able to assume that air of assurance and tone 
 of authority which military command exacts. 
 
 That first moment once over, the rest was easy 
 enough; I had only to live amicably with the officers, 
 and to control their mess, and it may be believed that 
 I had no difficulty in acquiring their confidence and 
 friendship. The difference of origin and education 
 between us was no obstacle ; and I might even remark, 
 in spite of the war of classes which was then in its 
 first heat, I have always felt that with some manage- 
 ment, an illustrious name, instead of being a hindrance, 
 becomes an advantage. This, like all others, doubtless 
 possessed its drawbacks, and it was necessary to 
 forestall them. If indeed it be wise and prudent to win 
 forgiveness from one's equals for a superiority acquired 
 by merit, it is still more necessary to prevent the 
 jealousy which is inspired by a transmitted distinction 
 only due to the accident of birth. The best means 
 and the most natural were not to pride oneself upon 
 it and to appear quite unmindful of it ; but as those with 
 whom one was brought into relation were constantly 
 thinking of it themselves, if one displayed a kind and 
 unaffected benevolence, and the evidence of an internal 
 conviction that personal merit should always take 
 precedence of other considerations, there remained but 
 one difficulty to overcome; that which has been im- 
 posed, from all time, by the possession of a more or less 
 illustrious name, entailing the necessity of proving, 
 that, without priding oneself foolishly upon it, one 
 bears it worthily, and that one is deserving of the 
 notice and the consideration which it attracts. 
 
 Deeply imbued with these sentiments which were 
 born with me, being transmitted from my father, I
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 8 1 
 
 soon made friends with all around me. AVith regard 
 to the modification of my opinions, and their conformity 
 to my present position, which was a matter of duty, 
 this transformation was naturally effected. Everyone 
 knows how a picture may take different aspects according 
 to the point of view from which one looks at it, and 
 what a variety of opinions and impressions it produces. 
 This influence, brought to bear upon politics, is still 
 more powerful. I was no longer contemplating the 
 situation of public affairs and the great man who 
 controlled them, from a humble and obscure corner, 
 and through the medium of an atmosphere laden with 
 envy and discontent, but from the very centre of 
 attraction of this powerful pbnet which drew France 
 and the whole of Europe in its wake in a trail of 
 dazzling light. I soon felt myself absolutely under 
 this domination. 
 
 Besides, how prosperous had become my position, 
 living an intoxicating life of delight in the midst of 
 glorious trophies, under the eyes of a hero who was an 
 object of continual admiration, in the very aureole of 
 that glory which from henceforth should irradiate my 
 path. Dreams, realities, all concurred to this end. No 
 epoch was ever more splendid for Paris. What a 
 happy and glorious time ! That whole year has left 
 on my memory the impression of a realization of the 
 most brilliant Utopias, a spectacle of the finest galas, 
 and that of a grand society restored to all good things 
 by the presiding genius. 
 
 The First Consul in his more personal surroundings 
 had initiated many ingenious amusements, and given 
 the signal for an almost universal joy. True, his 
 household was divided into two parties, but, kept in
 
 82 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 check by the firmness of their chief, they remained in 
 the shade. These were on one hand the Beauharnais ; 
 on the other, Napoleon's own family. The marriage 
 of Louis Bonaparte with Hortense de Beauharnais on 
 July 17th, 1802, appeared to have put an end to these 
 differences, so that peace seemed to pervade everything-, 
 a domestic peace which was not one whit more durable 
 than the other peaces of this epoch. But at first this 
 alliance, and several other marriages among'st the 
 younger members of Napoleon's family, increased the 
 general cheerful disposition of mind by the addition 
 of their honeymoon happiness. The well-known attrac- 
 tions and wit of the sisters of the First Consul, the 
 many graces of Madame Bonaparte and her daughter, 
 and the remarkable beauty of the young brides who 
 had just been admitted into this fascinating circle, 
 above all, the presence of a real hero, gave an 
 indefinable charm and lustre to this new Court, as yet 
 unfettered by etiquette, or any other tie than the 
 former traditions of good society. 
 
 Our morning amusements at Malmaison consisted 
 of country-house diversions in which Napoleon used 
 to take part, and in the evening of various games, and 
 of conversations, sometimes light and sparkling, some- 
 times profound and serious, of which I still find records 
 in my note-book. The Revolution, philosophy, above all 
 the East, were the favourite topics of the First Consul. 
 How often, as night drew on, even the most youthful 
 amongst these young women, losing all count of time, 
 would fancy they could see what he was describing, 
 under the charm of his admirable narratives so vividly 
 coloured by a flow of bold and novel illustration, and his 
 piquant and unexpected imagery.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 83 
 
 One evening at St. Cloud, when he was describing 
 the Desert, Egypt, and the defeat of the Matnekikes, 
 seeing me hanging on his words, he stopped short; 
 and taking up from the card-table, which he had just 
 left, a silver marker — a medal representing the combat 
 of the Pyramids — he said to me : " You were not there 
 in those days, young man." "Alas, no," I answered. 
 "Well," said he, "take this and keep it as a remem- 
 brance. " I need hardly say that I religiously did so, the 
 proof of which will be found by my children after me. 
 
 Such was his usual amenity; concerning which I 
 remember that one day when our outbursts of laughter 
 in the drawing-room were interrupting his work in the 
 adjoining study, he just opened the door to complain 
 that we were hindering him, with a gentle request 
 that we should be a little less noisy. 
 
 The other amusements of his household consisted 
 in private theatricals, in which his adopted children 
 and ourselves took part. He sometimes would encou- 
 rage us by looking on at our rehearsals, which were 
 superintended by the celebrated actors, Michaud, Mole, 
 and Fleury. The performances took place at Malmaison, 
 before a select party. They would be followed by 
 concerts, of Italian songs principally, and often by little 
 dances where there was no crowding or confusion, 
 consisting, as they did, of three or four quadrille sets 
 with plenty of space between each. He would himself 
 dance gaily with us, and would ask for old-fashioned 
 tunes, recalling his own youth. These delightful evenings 
 used to end about midnight. 
 
 This was the origin of those absurd reports that the 
 First Consul used to take dancing lessons, or strike 
 attitudes copied from various actors. His own per-
 
 84 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 sonal share in these diversions, on the contrary, would 
 only last for a few minutes, after which, he would 
 return to his work or to serious conversation. 
 
 Our morning diversions at Malmaison were the first 
 to come to an end, owing to the license which a dis- 
 tinguished artiste introduced into them ; the others 
 which were always under proper restraint, went on 
 during the autumn of 1802, and the following winter. 
 They were hardly even interrupted by the journey of 
 the First Consul to Rouen, to the field of the battle 
 of Ivry and on to Havre, w^hich he thenceforth called, 
 the port of Paris. But after that, the multiplicity of 
 affairs, and the serious complexion which they assumed 
 by the hostile attitude once more taken up by England, 
 rendered these pleasant recreations inopportune. Then 
 ensued the gradual elevation of the First Consul and 
 the increase of his entourage, which imposed stricter 
 etiquette, greater differences of position, and diminished 
 the informal charm of the domestic circle. 
 
 Another incident cast some restraint on the freedom 
 of our amusements. I am anticipating what occurred 
 in 1803 so as not to come back upon these details. 
 The preparations for an impending war had taken the 
 First Consul to the sea-side in Belgium. During his 
 absence the young people of his household had parti- 
 cipated very innocently, but perhaps with too little 
 circumspection, in the pleasures of the capital. Dinners, 
 excursions into the country, and theatre-parties were 
 the order of the day, even including certain thought- 
 less visits to public balls and dancing places where 
 the presence of young women of such high position 
 could not fail to be remarked and talked of. It is 
 true that these were but giddy escapades of school-
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 85 
 
 girls who had only just come out of the hands of 
 jMadame Campan ; but their husbands were away and 
 they took fright at certain malicious reports, and how- 
 ever false and exaggerated these may have been, 
 they made an impression on the too suspicious dispo- 
 sition of Louis Bonaparte. This was the beginning of 
 his jealousy which existed for a long time without any 
 real grounds. I am ignorant if the First Consul was 
 worried with complaints on this subject, but as a matter 
 of fact, on his return we were at once scattered abroad 
 on various missions, and suddenly transformed from 
 idlers into workers. 
 
 A little before the rupture of the Peace of Amiens, 
 the First Consul had invoked the intervention of Alex- 
 ander and Frederic ; he sent General Duroc and myself 
 into Prussia, at the same time as Colbert was dis- 
 patched to St. Petersburg. We fell in with Colbert by . . . 
 at night on the high road and there our meeting was 
 marked by an adventure sufficiently comical for me to 
 yield to the desire of relating it. 
 
 This colonel and the officer who accompanied him 
 had just been left on the highroad by their postilion 
 who, according to German custom, had taken his 
 horses out while he refreshed himself at the inn. After 
 waiting about a quarter of an hour, Colbert's officer, 
 in his impatience, sprang out of the carriage, and a 
 few minutes after Colbert did the same. The two of 
 them thus dashed into the inn, one on the heels of 
 the other, in the darkness ; and both in a towering rage 
 happened to meet in a dark passage, swearing in such 
 good German, that each took the other for the tardy 
 postilion. Under this impression, cane in hand, and 
 clutching one another by the collar, they belaboured
 
 86 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 each other with growing fury till the host and the real 
 postilion rushing to the fray, candle in hand, our two 
 friends, rather the worse for mutual blows, perceived 
 their mistake a little too late. 
 
 I now saw Berlin for the second time, but we only 
 remained there three days. Duroc, being very explicit 
 with the king, was successful ; but doubtless following 
 instructions, in the quarter- of- an -hour's visit which we 
 paid to one of the ministers whom we knew to be 
 against us, his manner was so cold and silent that, 
 fancying I was in his way, I got up after saying a 
 few words and went to look out of the window. Never- 
 theless, as the same silence continued with added 
 significance I drew near again, upon which these two 
 personages separated without a word, as they had begun. 
 
 One of the remembrances of this short journey which 
 still remains with me is the admiration which I felt for 
 the beautiful and witty Queen of Prussia when I had 
 the honour of being admitted alone to her presence, 
 thanks to the memories which my father had left behind 
 him. I can still see that princess reclining on a costly 
 couch, a golden tripod by her side, and a veil of 
 oriental purple lightly covering, but not concealing, her 
 elegant and graceful figure. There was such harmonious 
 sweetness in the tones of her voice, such winning and 
 sympathetic fascination in her words, such grace and 
 majesty in her demeanour that in my momentary 
 confusion I almost fancied I was in presence of one 
 of those enchanting apparitions depicted in the fabulous 
 stories of ancient times. Could I foresee that three years 
 later this very queen, in warlike garb, would be 
 flying before our squadrons, and that at the close of 
 the battle of Jena, I myself carried on by a last charge
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 8/ 
 
 into the centre of Weimar, should have been very 
 nearly taking her prisoner? 
 
 Since then in 1840 during my last journey to 
 Berlin, as envoy of the King of the French, when 
 I was taken by M. de Humboldt to the mausoleum 
 in the park of Potsdam consecrated to the memory 
 of this princess, I recognised her at once in the beautiful 
 marble monument representing her again in a recumbent 
 position, but on her bed of death, from which my eyes 
 long fixed on her image could not detach themselves 
 without tears.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE EXECUTION OF THE DUG D'ENGHIEN. 
 
 WHILST England in terror was exhausting her- 
 self in preparations of defence, whilst Pitt 
 clutched back the Prime Ministership, whilst Pichegru, 
 escaped from exile, offered to betray us to him, 
 and Dumouriez to hand over our former plans of 
 invasion; our strongest forces, as if of their own accord, 
 had all massed themselves on the sea-board. The hand 
 which set these springs of war in movement did it w^ith 
 such ease and power, that at the same time it went 
 on with the admirable work of administrative and ju- 
 diciary regeneration in France, as if still in time of 
 peace. On January 15th, 1804, Napoleon initiated the 
 fifth year of his Consulate by presenting the Chambers 
 with the Civil Code, then he fixed the public debt at 
 fifty millions ; he also founded the system of credit, 
 and, by the institution of indirect taxation relieved landed 
 property, which he also freed from incumbrances in 
 spite of the war. 
 
 Extending over a thousand details, both inthe museums 
 and the civil and military libraries, the impulsion of 
 the same hand is manifest in the active and intelligent 
 care which re-established order in them, collecting from 
 all parts the highest works of art, of science, and of 
 
 88
 
 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP. 89 
 
 letters, and stores of precious manuscripts, whilst a 
 hundred engineers, exploring the whole of the French 
 and the allied territory, carried our topographical know- 
 ledge to a fresh degree of perfection ; the marvellous 
 and simultaneous execution of works of so varied a 
 nature exalting to a higher pitch the enthusiasm of 
 France. 
 
 But what each one of us, intimate witnesses of Bona- 
 parte's private life, owes to his memory, (without deny- 
 ing his ambition, which from that time was evidently 
 tending towards supreme power), is to bear testimony 
 to the grandeur of his thoughts, wholly and incessantly 
 directed towards the public welfare; to his active 
 benevolence; to the gentleness, economy, and simpli- 
 city of his private life; the constancy of his attachments 
 to those about him, and his calmness of mind in the 
 midst of a thousand acts of treachery and the secret 
 dangers by which his steps were surrounded. 
 
 For each moment revealed some new perfidy, or 
 disclosed some fresh trap set for his life. The more 
 he devoted his genius to the welfare of France and 
 the more grateful she showed herself, the more did the 
 rancour of his enemies find vent in atrocious designs. 
 
 It was at this time, during the autumn of 1803, at 
 St. Cloud, that the charge of his personal safety de- 
 volved almost entirely on myself Amongst the officers 
 who seconded me, those of the picked gendarmerie 
 frequently confided to me their causes for anxiety. 
 At one time it would be the discovery of a projected 
 ambush on the road to INIalmaison, when someone 
 was to have spnmg into the carriage of the First 
 Consul. At another that of a mine tunnelled under 
 part of the road to St. Cloud on some selected spot
 
 90 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 on his passage where a planned obstacle should arrest 
 his course; another time our night rounds discovered 
 an assassin standing on a block of marble placed near 
 the lintel of the window of Napoleon's study — the 
 one which opened on the terrace of the Orangery — and 
 leaning close up against the statue erected on this 
 pedestal. 
 
 One day amongst others, one of these officers who 
 seemed rather more anxious than usual, asked me if 
 I had not remarked through the window of the Salon 
 de Mars, my usual post, a man broadly and strongly 
 built, with eyes overhung by dark brows, with a 
 sinister expression and a massive head sunk into his 
 shoulders. This description answered to that of Georges 
 Cadoudal. It was even said that this chief of con- 
 spirators had come himself to reconnoitre on this side, 
 whence an easy access could be obtained on the ground- 
 floor to the apartments of the First Consul. I then 
 remembered having seen a somewhat similar figure 
 hanging about the place, but at that time the conspiracy 
 of Cadoudal was rather a supposition than a certitude. 
 It was not known then that on August 22nd, 1803, 
 a vessel of the English royal navy had landed on our 
 shores this Chouan general with some of his accom- 
 plices; that in December, 1803. and in January, 1804, 
 MM. de Riviere and de Polignac, Pichegru, and other 
 plotters had followed on the steps of Georges; and 
 that all of them, to the number of about forty, had 
 met together and were concealed in the capital. 
 
 England in her astonishment was for the first time 
 alarmed on her own account. Her government, in its 
 gfowing anxiety, after having armed her on all sides, 
 had listened to every proposition which had been made
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. gi 
 
 for her safety, even to the most unworthy of all, an 
 assassination! Neither premeditation, nor payment of 
 agents, nor preliminary steps, nothing, in fact, was 
 wanting to the odium of so criminal a project: and 
 this is how little by little it unfolded itself under our 
 own eyes in all its naked horror. 
 
 Whilst our emigres, with double pay from England, 
 were awaiting secret orders from the English Cabinet 
 and the Prince de Conde to assemble on the banks of 
 the Rhine, where, by an unfortunate chance, the Due 
 d'Enghien happened to be (January 14th, 1804), other 
 French exiles, most of whom had come from London 
 or Brittany, to the number of about a hundred conspi- 
 rators, were to find their way to Paris. The plan was 
 that the latter, who were to have been paid with a 
 million of English money that was seized on the person 
 of Georges Cadoudal, the moving spirit of the plot, 
 should disguise themselves in the uniforms of our Guard, 
 take up their position on the road to St. Cloud or 
 Malmaison, attack the First Consul in the midst of his 
 escort of about a dozen men, and kill him in this ambush. 
 
 This murder on the high road had been glorified 
 by the name of combat, a gross subterfuge so blindly 
 accepted by the Comte d'Artois that he sent his aides- 
 de-camp to win their maiden spurs there, and even 
 his second son, the Due de Berry. The latter whom 
 his youth rendered excusable, only escaped this crime 
 and its consequences in the very town in which he 
 was one day to be the victim of an equally odious 
 crime, because, at the moment when he was landing 
 at the foot of the cliff which his comrades had already 
 ascended, a signal warned him that the plot had 
 missed fire.
 
 92 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 As for results, the mistake had been made of reckon- 
 ing on the French army. This error on the part of 
 the exiles arose from the attitude and the ever-increasing 
 hostile observations of Moreau and his party upon the 
 First Consul. It had even been expected that this 
 general would have been gained over to the plot, and 
 have espoused the cause of the Pretender through 
 Pichegru, one of the conspirators and a former friend 
 of Moreau, who had been summoned from London to 
 Paris by Georges Cadoudal. In this Georges and the 
 Comte d'Artois had been misled by a report of Lajolois, 
 a cashiered officer who was their go-between — the 
 report of a spy, and therefore an exaggerated one. 
 It is known, however, that Moreau's only participation 
 in this plot was his cognizance of it, not daring to 
 take any steps himself, but leaving the work to others 
 and waiting till they had got rid of the First Consul ; to 
 whose position as Chief of the Republic, he even had 
 for a brief period the ridiculous pretension to aspire. 
 
 But on the side of Napoleon, the fact of the existence 
 of such close danger was unknown, in spite of the 
 arrest of some Chouans whose actions had tended to 
 arouse suspicion. It was only known that Drake, the 
 English Minister in Bavaria, whose confidence had 
 been gained by a secret agent of Bonaparte, was 
 exciting our malcontents to profit by a crime which 
 he seemed to have foreseen ; and it was vainly con- 
 jectured how it had come to pass that the approaching 
 death of the First Consul and the restoration of the 
 ancient dynasty were proclaimed throughout the whole 
 of Europe. Thus passed the autumn of 1803. Even 
 towards the end of January, 1804, when the winter 
 had brought us back to Paris, there had been no
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 93 
 
 change in the usual occupations of the First Consul. 
 
 It was the beginning of February. Duroc, the 
 governor of the palace was absent, and Caulaincourt 
 had taken his place. I was on duty, and was fast 
 asleep in my camp bed when about an hour after mid- 
 night I was aroused by being roughly shaken ; quickly 
 sitting up, I perceived this general near me. "Get 
 up, " he said : " The parole and the countersign 
 "must be changed immediately, and the duties must 
 " be carried out as if in presence of the enemy. You 
 " understand me ; there is not an instant to lose. " 
 
 I obeyed by immediately forming patrols and rounds 
 in the chateau, in the garden, and the neighbourhood, 
 arranging them in such a proportion that each sentry 
 would have to reconnoitre at least three times in every 
 minute. The duties were carried on in this manner for 
 several weeks until the crisis was over. The reason of this 
 alarm I will proceed to show. We have seen that the 
 First Consul, although only vaguely anxious up to this 
 moment, had suspected a plot, and that several men 
 who had laid themselves open to suspicion had been 
 arrested. But it was not yet known that amongst 
 these were five of the conspirators. During the night 
 of January 8th, Napoleon who had awoke at two o'clock 
 in the morning according to his habit, had asked for 
 the various reports of his ministers. His lucky star 
 threw out a ray upon the interrogatory of these five 
 prisoners to which little importance had been attached, 
 and as soon as his eyes fell upon it he was seized by 
 a sudden inspiration, and ordered that judgment should 
 take place. 
 
 It would seem, however, that here his good fortune 
 was dubious; the first two indeed had been acquitted.
 
 94 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 and they were really the most guilty. Two others 
 who had been condemned merely as spies had sub- 
 mitted to the death penalty without betraying their 
 cause. The fifth of them, named Ouerelle, also con- 
 demned to death, was on the point of carrying his 
 secret with him into the next world, when he demanded 
 a pardon in exchange for revelations which were made 
 to Murat in the first instance, and which appeared most 
 unlikely to be true. It must here be remembered that 
 P^ouche, who had become a senator, was no longer a 
 minister; that his suppressed office had been merged in 
 that of the minister of justice, and that the ill-governed 
 police had been perfectly blind in the moment of 
 danger. 
 
 Querelle was only able to denounce the first land- 
 ing, that of Georges six months before, on the cliff of 
 Biville, which he had ascended like the smugglers by 
 means of a rope secured to a projection in the cleft 
 of the rocks, whence from one hiding-place to another, 
 he had at last managed to get to Paris. But once 
 set on the track. Napoleon did not lose it. He roused 
 Real, then head of the Police, he took council with 
 Fouche, and he availed himself of the activity of Savary, 
 the colonel of gendarmes of his guard, so that two 
 other landings were soon disclosed. As for the names 
 of the conspirators, the only one then revealed was that 
 of Georges, nothing was known beyond their number, 
 and that their aim was to assassinate the First Consul. 
 This was the cause of the nocturnal alarm in the 
 chateau of the Tuileries and the sudden precautions 
 which I had been ordered to take. 
 
 It was then that Danouville was seized at one of 
 the halting places used by Georges and his accomplices
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 95 
 
 and in desperation he hanged himself in the Temple. 
 This suicide confirmed the gravity of the plot with- 
 out throwing any light upon it, until on February 12th, 
 Bouvet de I'Ozier, another conspirator who had just 
 been arrested, endeavoured to strangle himself as 
 Danouville had done. But Bouvet was succoured in 
 time to be restored to life and misery, in his first 
 cries involuntarily uttering the name of Pichegru ; then, 
 making up his mind as to what course to pursue, he 
 brought a formal accusation against the implicated 
 Moreau of having with his irresolute republican ambition, 
 betrayed the royal cause to his own profit. 
 
 It was thenceforth known that after Lajolois had 
 been sent to England and had returned with Pichegru, 
 a first interview between Georges, Pichegru, and Moreau 
 had taken place on January 26th on the Boulevard of 
 the Madeleine ; then a second with Pichegru, at Mo- 
 reau's own residence, and finally a third at Chaillot, 
 at the abode of Georges Cadoudal. The sorry part 
 that Moreau played in this conspiracy may be suffi- 
 ciently indicated by an exclamation of Pichegru : 
 "That b. . . ." he exclaimed as he left him, "is also 
 " ambitious ; he wants to 1 eign, a man who would not 
 " be able to govern France for twenty-four hours ! " 
 
 It was in this wise also, that a second supreme cry 
 of baffled disappointment revealed the reason why the 
 conspiracy had not broken out at the proper time. Georges 
 had said that day in a fit of discouragement when he no 
 longer foresaw any favourable result to the Bourbons 
 from the murder of the First Consul: "Usurper for 
 " usurper, I prefer Bonaparte to this Moreau ! He has 
 " neither head nor heart ! " Nevertheless it is certain 
 that even then Georges, unaware that he had been
 
 g6 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 discovered, was persisting in the project to get rid of 
 the First Consul. 
 
 At the first news of such unexpected comphcity, an 
 exclamation of astonishment broke from Napoleon. 
 " Moreau ! " he cried. " What ! Moreau in such a 
 "plot! He, thus to destroy himself, the only one 
 " who had any chance against me ! I have indeed a 
 " lucky star ! " However, he would not allow himself 
 to be led away during the days of February 1 3th and 
 1 4th, but refused to have him arrested. " No, " he 
 replied ; " he is a person of too much importance, I 
 " have too great an interest in his culpability ; public 
 " opinion would fasten upon this ; I must have other 
 "proofs, above all that of Pichegru's presence here." 
 
 It was not long before these were laid before him. 
 Pichegru had a brother in Paris, an ex-monk, who 
 having been suddenly sent for and interrogated, con- 
 fessed in his agitation that he had just seen this general. 
 Therefore, in the night of the 14th to the 15th a 
 council was held and emissaries were dispatched to 
 seize Moreau in his country-house. He was arrested 
 on the 15th, about eight o'clock in the morning on the 
 bridge of Charenton, as he was coming back from 
 Grosbois, and was taken to the Temple. 
 
 Here, in spite of the revolutionary horrors which 
 surrounded the first steps of Napoleon, his relations 
 with the immoral government of the Directorate ; the 
 Machiavellian necessities which the government of two 
 conquered countries, the one corrupt, the other bar- 
 barous, and that of France during five years had 
 imposed upon this conqueror; finally, in spite of the 
 frictions of contested authority, and the disgust so often 
 inspired by the spectacle of human nature unveiled
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 97 
 
 before our eyes, one is glad to recognise in the first 
 impulse of this great man, the pure and noble emotions 
 of his early youth, those of the generous conqueror of 
 Mantua and Wurmser, those of his youthful heroism 
 at once antique and chivalrous. 
 
 Up to this time, Moreau had never shown him 
 anything but repulsion and hostility. Oftentimes had 
 this general met his advances with disdain. In his 
 manner he affected not to recognise the authority of 
 the First Consul ; in his speech he described Bonaparte 
 as a usurper, and although perhaps at first unjustly 
 suspected of complicity with Pichegru, he was now for 
 the second time discovered in the very act of associa- 
 tion with this traitor. This appeared so revolting that 
 in the Council a military commission was proposed 
 and prompt and vigorous measures were enjoined. 
 Either on the grounds of justice or policy, Napoleon 
 opposed this, and no praise is due to him for doing 
 so ; but he did more : forgetting all his own griev- 
 ances and compassionating so great a downfall, 
 he held out a generous hand to his adversary. He 
 did his best to draw him out of the pit by sending 
 Regnier with a proposal that before the examination 
 came off he should divulge everything to him alone in 
 a secret interview which would put an end to the 
 whole matter. 
 
 But Regnier was very unfit for this delicate mission; 
 he accomplished it coldly, was received in the same 
 manner, and at once substituted the official interrogatory. 
 Moreau, on his side, whether from want of heart or 
 mediocrity of mind, did not seem to appreciate his 
 position, nor the extent of his culpability, nor theuse- 
 lessness of his disavowals. The depositions of his accom- 
 9
 
 gS MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 plices had been kept from him. He entrenched himself 
 in haughty denial, and Napoleon finally decided on 
 leaving him to the hands of justice. 
 
 On that day in the course of my duty, I followed 
 the First Consul from his study to his Council of State, 
 where acting on Regnier's report, he had made up his 
 mind no longer to have any reservations in the matter. 
 On leaving the Council his agitation was extreme. I 
 remember that as we walked back through the guard 
 room, he turned towards me and exclaimed in a loud 
 and singularly excited voice which the grenadiers could 
 not fail to overhear: "Moreau! Moreau is of the plot. 
 " Here are the proofs. " At the same time he showed 
 me while waving them in the air the papers with 
 which his hands were full. 
 
 From that moment the facts were public property; 
 Moreau, Georges, Pichegru, and their accomplices were 
 accused of attempting the life of Napoleon, and of high 
 treason against France. There followed a unanimous 
 cry of indignation, and protestations of devotion from 
 public bodies and the heads of the different arras of 
 the service; but a part of the army, especially those 
 staffs which had taken part in Moreau's triumphs, 
 persisted in believing in the jealous hatred of the 
 First Consul rather than in the complicity of the victor 
 of Hohenlinden. This opinion found an echo in the 
 Chambers and amongst the people. 
 
 Moreau being arrested, accused, given up to justice, 
 and defended by public incredulity, it became more 
 than ever necessary, in proof of the accusation, to get 
 hold of his principal accomplices ; yet neither Pichegru, 
 nor Georges, nor Riviere and the Polignacs were 
 seized. Thus compromised with the Revolution itself
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 99 
 
 by the Counter-R evolution, Napoleon grew indignant, 
 and decided on sparing no means to bring the truth 
 before the eyes of the whole of France. The jury was 
 then suspended, the harbouring of conspirators was 
 declared to be a crime of high treason, and their 
 denunciation was decreed under penalty of six years 
 in fetters. The garrison and the whole of the guard 
 were then simultaneously placed on a war footing; 
 descriptions of suspects were given to them ; all barriers 
 by land and water rigidly closed were entrusted to 
 their vigilant supervision, and Paris, completely sur- 
 rounded by night and day •with posts, bivouacs, and 
 stationary or movable vedettes was given up to the 
 strictest investigations of the police. 
 
 Nevertheless, for twelve days longer all these pre- 
 cautions were of no avail. Pichegru constantly followed 
 and frequently tracked, yet found every night (and 
 this even through the commiseration of Barbe-Marbois 
 which was condoned later on by the generosity of the 
 First Consul) some brief bvit safe refuge. It was only 
 on February 28th that betrayed at last, and discovered 
 asleep in a house of the Rue Chabannais by six picked 
 gendarmes, he was taken. The struggle was severe, 
 and was only ended by violent pressure on the most 
 tender part of his body causing him to become 
 unconscious. 
 
 As for Georges Cadoudal, tracked as he was escaping 
 in a vehicle on March 9th about seven o'clock in the 
 evening, pursued and captured in the square of Bussy, 
 he killed two men before giving himself up to the 
 populace who threw themselves upon him. He did 
 not denounce anybody, but compromised his associates 
 as well as himself by declaring frankly that he had
 
 lOO MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 come to Paris to attack and kill the First Consul. 
 The scene was becoming more and more tragic. 
 The conspirators, assassins and others, when they had 
 been arrested had been found provided with passports, 
 armed with daggers, and with English gold upon them. 
 Another of them had escaped from justice by committing 
 suicide. The principal conspirators, eager to free them- 
 selves from the odious charge of an attempt at assas- 
 sination by a confession of an attempt at counter 
 revolution, declared unanimously that they had only 
 been waiting for the presence of a prince of the 
 Bourbon blood in Paris itself to put it into execution. 
 Savary and his special gendarmes had been at their 
 pains for nothing, when on the look-out for the landing 
 of the prince on the cliff at Biville. On the other 
 hand, double-faced spies had handed over to the First 
 Consul the correspondence of those English residents 
 most accessible to France. These, without exception, 
 incited not only to revolution, but to the murder of 
 Bonaparte. It was averred that Drake at Munich, 
 Smith at Stuttgart, and Taylor at Hesse-Cassel were 
 paying with the same English gold that had been 
 given to the conspirators who were despatched from 
 London to France, the armed exiles whom they were 
 calling to our frontier. Lastly, in spite of his father's 
 advice and the entreaties of his most devoted officers, 
 the Due d'Enghien persisted in remaining in Ettenheim. 
 From these headquarters, two hours march from France, 
 he replied by letter: " There where danger was, was the 
 " post of honour for a Bourbon. That, at this moment, 
 " when the order of the Privy Council of His Brittanic 
 "Majesty had summoned the emigres in retreat to the 
 " banks of the Rhine, he could not, whatever might
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. loi 
 
 " happen, abandon these worthy and loyal defenders of 
 "the French monarchy." 
 
 How could it be believed that the prince was ignor- 
 ant of this plot which had been known to the public 
 for over three weeks ! He should have recognised the 
 significance attached to his presence at the very gates 
 of France, together with other exiles who were paid, 
 armed, and assembled by the orders of England, and 
 to what suspicions of complicity he thus rendered him- 
 self liable! 
 
 Each day, however, revealed to Napoleon more 
 clearly the murderous intentions of his adversaries. 
 He was enraged at seeing himself thus placed by them, 
 as it were, beyond national law, outside the pale of 
 European civilization and exposed to the most atrocious 
 and perfidious attempts upon his life; his indignation 
 increased with the arrest of the aides-de-camp of the 
 Bourbons, who were associated with Georges, and the 
 confessions of the latter brought it to fever heat. 
 
 Being disappointed in his expectation of seizing the 
 chief of the conspirators in Normandy, he turned his 
 thoughts towards the Rhine. The confirmation of the 
 presence of the Due d'Enghien in Ettenheim was 
 brought to him through a report of the gendarmerie 
 which also included a General Thumery. This name 
 pronounced German fashion (Thoumeriez) was the 
 finishing stroke. For it caused him to believe that the 
 prince was accompanied by Dumouriez. It was also 
 said that the young Duke had already made several 
 appearances in France; some said in Strasburg only, 
 others, in Paris itself. 
 
 On hearing this the First Consul was thoroughly 
 exasperated. "What," he cried, as Real entered,
 
 I02 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 " you did not tell me that the Due d'Enghien was 
 " only four leagues from my frontier ! Am I a dog to 
 " be killed in the street ? Are my murderers sacred 
 "beings? Why was I not warned that they are as- 
 "sembling in Ettenheim? My very person is attacked. 
 „ It is time that I should give back blow for blow. 
 " The head of the most guilty amongst them must atone 
 "for this." 
 
 Several days previously, his indignation had found 
 vent in similar remarks, and he had decided on his 
 course. Cambaceres overheard this last outburst and 
 considered it a mere sudden fit of anger, but when 
 he endeavoured to allay it, he was met with a crushing 
 reply. Immediately after this, following upon a sitting 
 of the Privy Council composed of the Grand Judge, 
 Fouche, Talleyrand, and the two Consuls, whose 
 objections were overruled, Caulaincourt, and Ordener 
 were sent, the one into Strasburg, the other to seize 
 the prince at Ettenheim, which was very unfitly desig- 
 nated his headquarters. 
 
 On March i6th half-an-hour after mid-night, Fririon, 
 Ordener, and thirty dragoons of the 26th, and twenty- 
 five gendarmes, crossed the Rhine at Rheinau, which 
 is almost opposite Ettenheim. The gendarmes were 
 commanded by Chariot, the head of their squadron, 
 and it was he who two months later almost on the very 
 spot, narrated to me the following details. 
 
 They had left in reserve on the left bank three 
 squadrons of dragoons of the 26th. During their rapid 
 and silent march they passed through three sleeping 
 villages without attracting any attention. Day was 
 breaking when they arrived at the gate of Ettenheim. 
 Ordener and his dragoons posted themselves there.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 1 03 
 
 Chariot entered the town with his gendarmes. Pfers- 
 dorf, one of his non-commissioned officers, who had 
 gone down the day before to reconnoitre the place, 
 acted as guide. They marched straight to the house 
 which the prince was occupying, and without hesitation, 
 according to a pre-arranged plan, the commandant and 
 twenty gendarmes spread themselves out in the street 
 under the windows, whilst four other gendarmes, 
 scaling the garden wall, took up their positions in the 
 yard on the other side of the building. The prince 
 was living there with two aides-de-camp and eleven 
 servants. He had 2,000,000, and 3 to 400,000 francs 
 in a cash-box. His firearms were all at hand ready 
 primed, there were sixty charges in all. 
 
 Hardly was the place surrounded when, as the boots 
 of the gendarmes resounded on the pavement and 
 their weapons jingled, a window was opened and 
 someone cast a rapid glance around, then the aide-de- 
 camp, Grunstein, rushing in to the Due d'Enghien, 
 said to him: "You are surrounded." Upon which the 
 prince, jumping out of bed, seized a repeating rifle, and 
 seeing through the window the French commandant 
 pass by, he took aim at him and was on the point of 
 firing. Twenty windows from which a volley could ha,ve 
 been fired all looked out upon the street; there was 
 only a step to take to fly and escape to the mountain ; 
 but at that decisive instant. Chariot drew himself up 
 ana said in a loud voice : " Gentlemen, we are in 
 " force ; no resistance, it would be useless. " But the 
 fatal shot would have been fired, thus beginning a 
 conflict in which all the chances, according to the 
 commandant himself, would have been against the 
 assailants, when the prince's evil genius caused Grun-
 
 104 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 Stein to put his hand on the prince's pistol and turn 
 away his aim, saying : " The odds were too great, " 
 and that he saw that any resistance would be vain. 
 The same fatality led the duke to follow this fatal 
 advice and allow himself to be disarmed. 
 
 The door having been opened, they then took pos- 
 session of the place, seizing all present with their 
 arms. Chariot, however, when in presence of the duke 
 demanded his name. " You should know it, " was the 
 answer. The demand being repeated, he added, " Surely 
 " you have the description of me ? " The bailie * had 
 just appeared upon the spot to whom the commandant 
 repeated the same question, and this magistrate after a 
 first refusal, ended by naming the prince. 
 
 At this juncture cries of alarm were heard. The 
 instructions given attached so much importance to the 
 taking of Dumouriez, that at this sound. Chariot, under 
 the guidance of Pfersdorf, left his illustrious and 
 unfortunate prisoner, to hasten to the house which 
 this general was reported to occupy. The first person 
 whom he met was the grand master of the hunt at 
 Baden whom he got rid of by evasive replies. But 
 the alarm was growing and one of the inhabitants 
 running in haste to the church, cried out "Fire! Fire!" 
 and was on the point of ringing the alarm bell when 
 the commandant perceiving him, caught him up, and 
 striking him with his sword, made him desist from the 
 attempt. A little further on a group of inhabitants, 
 moved with indignation at the sight of armed French- 
 men on their sovereign's territory, were assembled; 
 these he calmed by saying that " the exiles alone were 
 
 * This Scottish word, and the office it denotes, is the exact equiva^ 
 lent of the French "bailli," — Translator's Note.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 105 
 
 " wanted. The French Government was on friendly 
 " terms with their prince of which they would shortly 
 " be assured ; their duty was to remain quiet. " He 
 received no further interruption, but instead of Dumou- 
 riez, he only seized the General Marquis de Thumery, 
 whose ill-pronounced name had occasioned the mistake. 
 
 On his return to the duke, he interrogated Grunstein, 
 whom the prince, forgetful of himself, endeavoured to 
 defend; saying to the commandant: "But for him, I 
 " should have killed you ; you owe your life to him. " 
 Then no doubt regretting he had given himself up, he 
 fell into a condition of silent melancholy ; when his 
 papers were being seized, he laid both hands over 
 them saying: "Do not be surprised, sir; you see here 
 " the correspondence of a Bourbon, of a prince of the 
 " blood of Henry IV." And perceiving that the letters 
 of the Princesse de Rohan would not escape scrutiny, 
 he added : " I hope you will be as discreet as possible 
 "in all that does not concern the government." When 
 he had drunk this bitter cup to the dregs, and the 
 gendarmes came to report their failure in the real 
 object of their search; perceiving with surprise that 
 it had been Dumouriez, he proceeded: "I give you 
 " my word of honour that he is not here. It is possible 
 " he may have been taken with his majesty's instruc- 
 "tions for me: but I have neither seen him nor do I 
 " know where he is. " 
 
 The unfortunate prince was then obliged to let 
 himself be led away as a prisoner in the midst of our 
 men, with Generals Thumery and Grunstein, Lieutenant 
 Schmide, two abbes, a secretary and three servants. 
 Thus escorted, he passed through Ettenheim on foot 
 as far as the gate of the burg where he was received
 
 Io6 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 by Ordener and placed in a hastily harnessed labour- 
 ers cart, when the journey back to the bank of the 
 Rhine was proceeded with. Perceiving an encampment 
 of cavalry on the way the prince exclaimed : " It looks 
 " as if great importance is attached to my arrest. But 
 "might is right, and you will be justified." When 
 crossing the river, he said in reply to Ordener: "Why 
 " should I have returned to France ? To be a colonel there? 
 "I could have no existence but with the Austrians." 
 Then addressing commandant Chariot : " This expedi- 
 " tion must have been conducted very secretly. It sur- 
 " prises me that I was not forewarned, for I was beloved 
 " at Ettenheim. To-night you would not have found 
 " me. Only yesterday the Princess of R . . . . begged 
 " me to depart, but I put it off, thinking that you would 
 " not have time to arrive in the night. I am sure that 
 " she will come, and will want to follow me; she is very 
 "much attached to me; treat her well." 
 
 Chariot added that two battalions and a battery 
 were in position before Offenburg on the right bank 
 of the Rhine; that Caulaincourt was in command of 
 them ; that he had orders to seize a Baroness de Reich, 
 but that was all he knew. Long afterwards Caulain- 
 court often declared his ignorance of what had been 
 going on, a fact which was indeed quite in accordance 
 with the absolute secrecy observed on similar occasions 
 by the First Consul. We were always equally reserved 
 amongst ourselves. We would suddenly leave our fami- 
 lies without their having any idea as to our destination, 
 and this was so thoroughly understood that no one 
 ever dreamt of asking us any questions on the point. 
 
 We found other troops under arms at New-Brisach. 
 As soon as we had landed on the left bank, the prince
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 107 
 
 was placed in a carriage, taken to Strasburg, and shut 
 up in the citadel. 
 
 He remained there two days under the charge of 
 the head of the squadron, Chariot, without being 
 entirely cut off from his companions in misfortune. 
 This officer has affirmed to me that in the whole of 
 the correspondence so unexpectedly seized, there was 
 not a single word, or the least trace of any connivance 
 of the prince in the Paris plot. The commandant could 
 discover nothing further than the evident proof of a 
 concerted meeting of exiles on the right bank of the 
 Rhine, and of many communications with the left bank. 
 
 This unhappy prince could hear the sound of the 
 river flowing by the prison to which he had just been 
 taken. This stream alone separated him from the 
 honours due to his rank, his liberty, his safety, and a 
 young and beautiful woman whom he loved, and to 
 whom, the report ran, he had secretly united himself 
 in spite of his family. The thought of all he had lost, 
 which was yet so near, led him to attempt an effort 
 to recover it. Finding himself alone with the com- 
 mandant, he said : " Do you not feel any compunc- 
 " tion in thus seizing one of your former princes?" — 
 "No, Sir," answered the officer of the g-endarmerie, 
 "I obey legitimate authority." — "However," retorted 
 the prince, " there is the Rhine ; it rests with you to 
 " set me on the other side of it, and your fortune is 
 " made. " But the commandant answered shortly that 
 it was not his way of thinking, and ordered him to 
 go into the next room. The prince then, resigning 
 himself, added : " Shall I remain in prison for the 
 " rest of my life ? I much esteem Bonaparte, and look 
 " upon him as a great man ; but he is not a Bourbon,
 
 Io8 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 "he has no right to reign over France, he ought to 
 " give back the crown to my family. " 
 
 The next day, however, he seemed to have a darlv 
 presentiment of the cruel fate which awaited him. " I 
 " ought to have killed your husband, " he said to the 
 wife of the commandant, " I had a right to do so. I 
 "was defending my liberty; I shall probably repent ot 
 " not having done so. " As she exclaimed at this, he 
 continued : " It would have been your fault ; why not 
 "have sent a note to warn me?" — "And how could I," 
 she answered, " when I knew nothing about the matter?" 
 
 The Due d'Enghien was not mistaken: Madame 
 de Rohan came in tears, begging permission to see 
 him, and to be allowed to go to Paris, no doubt to 
 throw herself at the feet of the First Consul ; but the 
 commandant sent her back to Schee, the Prefect, who 
 told her that she would not see the prince and that 
 she might not go beyond Saverne. Replying to a 
 remark that was addressed to her, she said, " Yes, I 
 " know that there were many papers found upon him. " 
 Nevertheless, it must be again repeated, there was not 
 a single one that related to the conspiracy of Georges. 
 
 Amongst these documents the attention of the com- 
 mandant had been attracted by a letter dated in 1792 ; 
 This was from the Duke's mother, a Bourbon princess 
 of a curious turn of mind, who was then in favour of 
 constitutional principles; in this letter she urged the 
 young duke to return to France. " Why not have 
 "listened to her?" he said to the prince. — "My obe- 
 " dience, " he replied, " was not due to her but to the 
 " king alone. " Then, irritated by these interrogatories, 
 by his position and his bitter recollections, he gave 
 way to anger for the first and only time, recalling
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 109 
 
 the murder of Louis XVI., of the Queen, and Madame 
 Ehzabeth, and cursed the French Revolution. With 
 the exception of that one moment, the commandant 
 often told me that during these two days, in the midst 
 of such overwhelming misfortune, the prince had shown 
 a politeness which was entirely free from pride though 
 replete with dignity ; that his whole demeanour inspired 
 the greatest consideration, and kept persons at a re- 
 spectful distance, and that at the most trying moments, 
 even on being awoke to receive the announcement 
 that he must leave the citadel, he maintained the same 
 calm and firmness. To the very last when his three 
 officers were sobbing as they wished him farewell, he 
 spoke regretfully of leaving them . " My friends, " 
 said he, " I grieve that I can no longer do anything 
 " to help your fortunes. " 
 
 Such was, word for word, the commandant's account 
 of the first part of this woful catastrophe. He wound 
 up with these words : " I put the prince in General 
 Ordener's carriage, and he left by post for Vincennes." 
 
 He arrived there March 20th, at five o'clock in the 
 afternoon; at midnight he was awoke and interrog- 
 ated by d'Hautencourt, captain adjutant-major of the 
 special gendarmerie. 
 
 Two hours after midnight he appeared before a 
 military commission, presided over by General Hulin. 
 The audience was composed of an aide-de-camp of 
 Murat, some officers and some gendarmes. The prince 
 was without counsel. He related that he had spent 
 two years at Ettenheim, staying on there out of love 
 of sport. He frankly declared that he was ready to 
 make war with France in concert with England; but 
 he protested that "he had never had any relations
 
 no MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 " with Pichegru, and was glad of it, after all the in- 
 " famous reports as to the way in which he wanted to 
 "make use of him, if indeed they were true." As in 
 his first examination, he finished by demanding to 
 communicate with the First Consul: both by word of 
 mouth and by letter: "Being persuaded," he said, 
 "that Napoleon would not refuse, out of consideration 
 " for his name, his rank, his way of thinking, and the 
 "horror of his situation." 
 
 But the aide-de-camp, who was colonel of this special 
 gendarmerie, had just assumed the command at Vin- 
 cennes on the previous evening, and did not allow 
 this request to reach the ears of the First Consul. He 
 had presided over and hurried on the judgment; he 
 now hastened its execution. This was left to d'Hauten- 
 court, and the imfortunate prince was hurriedly led to 
 the castle moat, where he was shot, and buried in a 
 grave that had been already dug. 
 
 Witnesses of the event assert, but I have not been 
 able to verify the fact, that it was then about five 
 o'clock, that the judgment had hardly been drawn up 
 and signed, and that the judges were still deliberating 
 whether they would send the letter of the prince to 
 the First Consul, when Savary, breaking in upon them, 
 transfixed them with horror by saying to Hulin: " What 
 "are you doing here? All is over; he no longer 
 " exists, there is nothing more for you to do ! " 
 
 Then only were the castle gates opened and Murat's 
 aide-de-camp returned to his general, and found him 
 still in bed at six o'clock in the morning. He expati- 
 ated on the frank and manly replies of the prince in 
 spite of the efforts of the judges to point out how 
 dangerous they were, and then described the judg-
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. Ill 
 
 ment and its immediate execution in spite of his 
 request to be allowed to see the First Consul. The 
 aide-de-camp himself told me that at this point he was 
 interrupted by the sobs of Murat and the tearful ex- 
 clamations of Caroline Bonaparte : " Ah, this is too 
 " dreadful ; leave off, say no more, you cause us too 
 " much pain ! " 
 
 During this fateful night, I happened to be on duty 
 at the Tuileries. The arrival of the prince was not then 
 known in Paris, the report of his arrest beyond the 
 Rhine only then being bruited about, although it 
 was known to the Royalists. The first intimation I 
 had had of it was by a chance expression of a 
 woman of their party whom I met on the evening of 
 March 20th. Feeling convinced, as I was by many 
 previous examples, of the magnanimity of the First 
 Consul, I had replied, that if the fact was true, it was 
 because he wanted to create an opportunity of retali- 
 ating by an act of generosity, on the odious attempts 
 that had been made against his life. Either doubting 
 the truth of this fact, or preoccupied with other things, 
 I returned to ray post, with no further thought of the 
 rumour which was quickly becoming public property. 
 It was still unknown at the chateau of the Tuileries, 
 but no one was then residing there, and in any case 
 the greatest reserve was always maintained there. 
 
 At nine o'clock the next morning as I was on my 
 way to General Duroc to give an account of the 
 twenty-four hours' duty, I met on the grand stair- 
 case the adjutant-major of the special gendarmerie. 
 As usual he was coming to join me to hand in our 
 reports together. Astonished at his livid pallor, at the 
 distortion of his countenance, and the disorder of his
 
 I I 2 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 dress, I asked him the reason of it. "Ah!..." he 
 cried with an oath, " there is nothing to wonder at 
 "after the fearful night I have passed!"— " Why, what 
 " has happened then ? " said I, and stopping short, he 
 retorted: "A thunder-bolt has fallen during the night." 
 
 This exclamation alarmed without enlightening me; 
 but when I entered the reception room, General Duroc 
 not yet being down, I found Hulin, very red in the 
 face and very excited, pacing up and down in the 
 greatest agitation. This colonel of the guard was a 
 tall and very stout man; soon he was joined by the ad- 
 jutant-major, when I overheard Hulin exclaim several 
 times : " He did quite right, it is better to kill the 
 devil than to let the devil kill you." I then felt con- 
 vinced that a catastrophe had happened. 
 
 Not knowing of the prince's arrival at Vincennes, I 
 could hardly have conjectured that it concerned him. 
 Nevertheless, in my anxiety, drawing near to Hulin, 
 I hazarded the remark : " They say the Due d'Enghien 
 " is arrested ! " — " Yes ! and dead into the bargain ! " 
 he answered abruptly. Duroc having then come in, 
 we drew round him, and after having given in my 
 report, in reply to a brief and almost inaudible inter- 
 rogation, d'Hautencourt answered: " He was shot in 
 " the moat at three o'clock in the morning, " then drawing 
 from his pocket a little parcel a few inches square, 
 soiled and crushed up as if it had been carried about 
 a long time, the adjutant-major added: " When the last 
 " moment had come, he drew from his bosom this paper 
 " and begged me to give it to the princess. It is the 
 
 " hair of ! " these last words were said with an 
 
 affectation of carelessness which froze me with horror 
 from head to foot. I felt myself growing pale; the
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 113 
 
 ground seemed giving way beneath me. It being then 
 time for me to go off duty, I retired in unspeakable grief. 
 
 And yet I knew this adjutant-major well for a 
 worthy and excellent man, usually humane and gentle, 
 but either through being taken out of his sphere, or feeling 
 biassed by his colonel in his dependent position, what 
 a sudden transformation was here ! This is the danger 
 which exceptional circumstances create for those whom 
 a beginning of dearly -bought prosperity keeps in a 
 state of subservience, lacking the superior associations 
 whose verdict they might have stood in fear of, 
 accustomed to obedience as a duty, and whose obscur- 
 ity obviates the necessity of having to reckon with 
 history. Even amongst men brought up in the midst 
 of social safeguards such as these men did not possess, 
 does not history show us many for whom under similar 
 circumstances these safeguards were all too insufficient? 
 Add to these considerations, which apply equally to the 
 judges and to those who put the judgment into execu- 
 tion, surprise, haste, the habit of obedience, an appearance 
 of legality, and that fatal mistake as to the complicity 
 of the prince in Georges's odious plot, a mistake which 
 was confirmed by the exclamation of Hulin which I 
 have just repeated. 
 
 Unhappy prince ! His warlike heroism and chivalrous 
 youth should have rendered impossible even the bare 
 suspicion that he could be an accomplice in the con- 
 templated assassination of Bonaparte! — Yet innocent of 
 this crime, he had been its victim. 
 
 On my arrival home, hardly knowing how I got there, 
 
 so absorbed and dismayed was I by this tragic event, 
 
 I threw myself into a chair at the foot of my father's 
 
 bed, saying : " The Due d'Enghien has been shot during 
 
 10
 
 114 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 " the night. We have returned to the horrors of '93. 
 " The hand which drew us out of them now thrusts us 
 " back. Is it possible to remain any longer associated 
 "with such deeds?" My father said nothing; he was 
 completely dumbfounded and could not believe me. ] 
 related to him the events which I have just narrated, 
 and in his horror, he, like myself, made no allowance 
 for the causes that had provoked this vengeance. He 
 was also of opinion that after this sanguinary beginning, 
 no supreme ruler would be sufficiently master of him- 
 self to stop short in such a baneful course, and that 
 one ought indubitably to dissever oneself from it. 
 
 It was, however, too important a step to decide on 
 without knowing thoroughly all that could have led 
 to the cruel deed. My father, who was then a coun- 
 cillor of State could better than any other, obtain such 
 information. During the three following days which 
 he devoted to this object, shut up in my room, deplor- 
 ing that fatal night, and perpetually haunted by the 
 horrible spectacle which was ever before my eyes, 
 I remained completely crushed ! Justly proud up to that 
 moment, of the great man whom I served, I had made 
 a complete hero of him ; I felt convinced that no reason, 
 whether of policy, of personal security, or of vengeance, 
 would prevail against the generosity of his character, 
 and the details which I shall proceed to give — the 
 fruits of careful research on my part — will show that I 
 was not entirely mistaken, and that the generosity 
 which had been obscured by a first movement of anger, 
 would regain its sway when too late, and when a fatal 
 chance had rendered it powerless to be of any avail. 
 
 Nevertheless, the first news which my father was able 
 to bring us, extenuated but slightly the impression
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 115 
 
 which the too premeditated violence of this cruel coup 
 d'etat had produced upon us. After tlie instructions 
 given to Ordener, Napoleon had been afraid of him- 
 self; having withdrawn to Malmaison during the whole 
 of the following week, he had turned a deaf ear to 
 the intercessions of Josephine ; and although he knew 
 that there was nothing in the papers seized upon the 
 prince in any way implicating him in the murderous 
 attempt, he none the less persevered in his own angry 
 conviction. In vain had Murat, then commandant of 
 Paris, declined to obey his orders of March 20th and 
 refused to take any part in this act of vengeance; 
 with unmoved inflexibility he had taken all upon him- 
 self, he had even dictated every detail and signed it 
 himself— the names of the military judges, the order 
 to pronounce judgment at a single sitting, and to exe- 
 cute it at once, whatever it might be. Finally, he had 
 selected, to ensure the following-out of his instructions, 
 the only one amongst his aides-de-camp whom he knew 
 to be capable of unhesitatingly obeying such orders. 
 
 It was said, it is true, that he had thought better of 
 it that evening, and had despatched orders to Real to 
 submit the unfortunate prince to an examination which 
 would doubtless have saved him ; and that this council- 
 lor of State, shut up in his own room, had only received 
 the order at five o'clock in the morning, when the 
 execution had already taken place. This extenuating 
 fact was not only true but altogether probable ; indeed 
 I had myself one evening, just a little before this sad 
 time, been the bearer from St. Cloud to Paris of urgent 
 orders for General Berthier, which I was only able to 
 deliver into the minister's own hand after a night jour- 
 ney of eight leagues, having to drag him out from an
 
 I 1 6 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 almost inaccessible retreat. Real, during that unhappy 
 night had apparently shut himself up in the same 
 manner. Our days and even our nights were so over- 
 whelmed with work that it was sometimes necessary, 
 for the sake of breathing time, to steal a few hours 
 rest from the service of the First Consul. 
 
 Thus it was quite true that a blessed feeling of 
 remorse had moved the soul of Napoleon at the last 
 moment. We must therefore trust, for the honour of 
 him who was entrusted with this message of succour, 
 that he was unaware of its full importance ; otherwise 
 he would surely have religiously fulfilled his mission 
 to Real, as I did mine to Berthier, in a case when 
 promptitude was not so indispensable. 
 
 Another fact attests the truth of this. When Savary 
 arrived at Malmaison about seven o'clock in the morning 
 with his terrible story, the First Consul, interrupting 
 him as soon as he had begun to speak, asked: "Had 
 he not seen Real?" On his reply that he had just met 
 him at the barrier, going to Vincennes, the First Consul 
 fell into a sombre and silent reverie broken by such 
 evident agitation, that for a long time neither his 
 secretary nor his aide-de-camp dared to interrupt it. 
 Doubtless in his eyes this was a decision of fate, which 
 he resolved upon accepting, and afterwards with Cau- 
 laincourt, Fontanes and others, both his words and his 
 silence were in conformity with this belief. 
 
 I can also give the substance of another narrative 
 of this disastrous event which I held from King Joseph, 
 whom, as will be seen, I attended eighteen months 
 later as aide-de-camp at the time of the conquest of the 
 kingdom of Naples. Real's narrative is included in 
 it; it too positively confirms all that I myself knew,
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOT.EON I. 117 
 
 heard, and saw, it is attested to by too many witnesses, 
 most of whom I knew, for the possibility of any doubt 
 as to its truth. 
 
 On the eve of the fatal deed which had been but too 
 truly commanded by him in the first instance, the First 
 Consul fell back into a state of indecision. He was 
 hesitating between many urgent entreaties, and the 
 advice of a minister who was the only one believed 
 to have been opposed to them, when Joseph, intervening, 
 tried to recall him to his role of moderator, of centre 
 of attraction, 'of key-stone of the arch' between all 
 parties; then reminding him that it was entirely due 
 to the encouragement of his victim's father that he had 
 chosen the artillery and refused the navy, (a choice of 
 such influence upon his destiny) he did not leave him 
 till he felt sure of having won him over to clemency. 
 The result of this was the counter-order which was 
 that very evening dispatched to Real, as Real himself 
 declared, but an unhappy fatality had ordained that 
 this councillor of State, having been twice awoke 
 during that cruel night to receive missives of no im- 
 portance, had impatiently locked himself up in his 
 room, and only opened the letter of the First Consul 
 several hours after it had been received, towards five 
 o'clock in the morning at the very moment when the 
 murder was being committed; so that, as we all knew 
 later, when his carriage crossed that of Savary at the 
 barrier of Vincennes, he returned horror-struck at the 
 irreparable consequences of his unfortunate slumber. 
 That was why, when Josephine cried out in horror: 
 " Alas, my friend what have you done ! " Napoleon 
 replied, " The wretches were too quick ! " and on the 
 other hand, when alone with Joseph, he allowed
 
 Il8 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 himself to indulge in a furious burst of anger against 
 Real, whom he unjustly accused, on account of his 
 revolutionary antecedents, of having purposely delayed 
 to obey his counter-instructions. Then, recovering 
 himself, he said to his brother : " After all, one must 
 " make the best of things. That very likely if he had 
 " been assassinated by the agents of the prince's 
 " family, the prince would have been the first to show 
 " himself in France, sword in hand, to profit by it. That 
 " it was for him henceforth to bear the responsibility of 
 " the event ; that to throw it upon others, even justly, 
 " would too much resemble an act of cowardice for him 
 " ever to allow himself to be suspected of the weakness." 
 In the course of the first Council of State which 
 soon followed this catastrophe, my father heard the 
 First Consul after a violent tirade against rumours, and 
 the modern violations of sanctuary, say : " That he knew 
 " how to make France respected. That he respected 
 " public opinion only so long as it was not founded 
 " upon error. That he despised its caprices and that when 
 " it swerved from the right way, all governing men 
 " like himself, instead of following it, should enlighten it, 
 " that he would have commanded the judgment and 
 " public execution of the Due d'Enghien, who was guilty 
 " of conniving with the agents of England, of taking 
 " arms against France, of secret understandings with our 
 " frontier departments, with the object of inciting revolt, 
 " and lastly of complicity in the plot which had been 
 " laid against his life, if he had not feared giving the 
 " partisans of this prince the opportunity of compassing 
 " their own destruction ; that Riviere and the Polignacs 
 " had not been seized amongst these, but in obscure 
 "hiding-places; that besides, the Royalists were quiet;
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. I I C, 
 
 " that he asked nothing more from them ; that anyone 
 " was at liberty to cherish regret ; that those who pre- 
 " tended to fear general proscriptions did not believe in 
 " them ; but that as for himself, he would not spare any 
 " guilty persons. " 
 
 All these counts of accusation which he heaped up 
 upon his victim were true, except the last, that of 
 complicity with Georges Cadoudal, the only fact which 
 could have explained, without justifying, so cruel a 
 vengeance. Bonaparte may have believed in this com- 
 plicity, but it never really existed. The prince probably 
 was cognizant of the plot through public rumour, but 
 at that time it had missed fire, and the prolongation of 
 his stay within reach of the Rhine was thus devoid of 
 any motive to justify the suspicion to which he fell a 
 victim. 
 
 It was evident therefore that, irritated by the succes- 
 sion of attempts against his life, the First Consul had 
 resolved to put an end to them by a decisive blow. 
 If any excuse could be found for such a barbarous 
 act, it was in his real conviction, through a fatal con- 
 currence of circumstances, that he was obeying political 
 necessity, the right of personal defence, and that he was 
 only punishing a conspirator; a fatal error, proving 
 more than ever, that one should never constitute one- 
 self judge of one's own cause, and that protectionary 
 measures should be respected, so as not to run the risk 
 of defending oneself against an attempted crime by 
 the commission of another crime. 
 
 Let us trust that the feeling of remorse which caused 
 him to send Real to delay the execution of his first 
 decision may have extenuated its horror in the eyes 
 of God, as well as in the eyes of man.
 
 I20 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 Thus also should history judge it As for us, in our 
 ignorance at the time, the accusation brought against 
 this unhappy prince seemed likely to be only too true. 
 Looked at in this light, however fearful may have been 
 the blow struck at Vincennes, was our much provoked 
 chief the only, or the most guilty, one? It was, neverthe- 
 less another circumstance which influenced our decision. 
 
 On one side we knew that Caulaincourt was a butt 
 for royalist animosity. They accused him of, and held 
 him responsible for, the arrest, the judgment, and the 
 execution, although he not only did not know of it, 
 but was away from Paris at the time. The denials of 
 his friends, his own despair, his fainting fit at the First 
 Consul's when he learnt the murder, and the bitter 
 violence of the reproaches which he addressed to Bo- 
 naparte when restored to consciousness by Bonaparte's 
 own efforts, were not enough for them. They de- 
 manded his resignation and exacted it in proof of denial 
 of his participation in this sanguinary action. 
 
 On the other hand, my father noticed that several ex- 
 Jacobins who had united together were triumphantly 
 applauding this first retrograde step that Napoleon had 
 taken in their own atrocious path. What were we to do 
 in the midst of these two inimical parties? To satisfy the 
 one, must we give up to the other, the ground which 
 had been so fortunately taken back from the Terror- 
 ists? It was in Bonaparte alone that we had trusted 
 to draw France and ourselves out of the revolution- 
 ary abyss. Up to that moment this hope had been 
 magnificently realized. Four years of benefits, and of 
 an admirably generous and restorative administration, 
 had attached us to his fortunes; should we then, at his 
 first step in a contrary direction, however deplorable
 
 OF TPIE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. I2I 
 
 it may have been, abandon everything? Should we, 
 by being the first to draw back from him, give him 
 up to, and even push him into the hands of the most 
 dangerous of these parties, whose influence had been 
 combated by our co-operation? 
 
 Why should we pre-suppose a sanguinary future? 
 Fear alone could have drawn the First Consul into 
 such a course; and we know that after the explosion 
 of the infernal machine of the Royalists on the 3rd 
 Nivose, interrupting one of his councillors, who 
 had asked : " Are you not afraid, Citizen-Consul ? " — he 
 had answered: "I, afraid! Ah! If I were afraid, it 
 " would be a bad day for France. " 
 
 This political crime might therefore remain a soli- 
 tary one, and as our future and that of the whole 
 ot the healthy-minded party in France depended on 
 the First Consul, why should we give way to despon- 
 dency? His hitherto unsullied rectitude of conduct 
 had, it is true, suffered a lapse; he had slipped away 
 from us, but that was all the more reason why we 
 should strengthen our grip and endeavour to regain the 
 ground that had been lost. If he played us false again, 
 we could then take counsel together as to our future 
 course. 
 
 Such was the exact direction to which our thoughts 
 tended during many days of anxiety, sadness, and 
 discouragement, but having once decided on a line of 
 action, I urged my father to make an attempt to 
 restore Caulain court's courage and that of our friends 
 which had no doubt been shaken like our own. 
 On the following Sunday (I think it was March 25th), 
 we were all to meet at the Tuileries, and we promised 
 each other that, while not attempting to hide our
 
 122 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 sorrowful reprobation, we would endeavour to conform 
 our words and action to the resolution which we had 
 taken. 
 
 There was a considerable gathering of all the autho- 
 rities that day at the palace. We had only been able 
 to communicate our own feelings to a few friends, and 
 yet without any pre-arrangement we were all in complete 
 accord. Caulaincourt maintained a firm and steadfast 
 demeanour, but, with his drawn mouth, his jaundiced 
 complexion, and his contracted features, he seemed to 
 have aged by ten years, and was indeed hardly 
 recognisable. He became even paler when I pressed 
 his hand, but remained motionless as a statue. 
 
 A little further on, I met the same d'Hautencourt 
 whose remarks to Duroc had offered so cruel a contrast 
 to his agitated manner. In reply to my questions he said 
 that the last words of the unhappy prince had been: 
 " I must die then at the hand of Frenchmen ! " Having 
 asked him one last question which I could hardly 
 enunciate: "He died as a hero," was the reply. 
 
 At this juncture Bonaparte re-appeared amongst us, 
 passing through the silent crowd who made way for 
 him on his road to the chapel. There was no change 
 in the expression of his countenance. During the 
 prayers of the mass, 1 watched him with redoubled 
 attention; and there, before God, while I seemed to 
 see the bleeding victim of a hurried death finding a 
 refuge before the supreme tribunal, in the anguish of 
 my heart, I waited for some sign of remorse, or at 
 least of regret, to manifest itself on the features of the 
 author of the cruel deed ; whatever, however, may have 
 been his inward feeling, not a trace of it was visible ; 
 he remained perfectly calm, and, through my own
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 123 
 
 tears, his countenance appeared to me as that of a 
 severe and impassive judge. 
 
 After thus seeing him before God, I wanted to see 
 him before men, and to this end I attached myself to 
 his steps during the audience which followed. His 
 manner was at times calm though constrained, at others 
 gloomy, but rather more accessible than was his wont. 
 He walked slowly up and down and from side to side 
 of the large rooms with a more measured step than 
 usual, appearing desirous of observing in his turn, 
 stopping every few steps, and allowing persons to 
 gather around while he addressed a few words to 
 each. All he said had reference directly or indirectly 
 to the night of the 20th to the 21st of March. He 
 was evidently sounding opinions, expecting or even 
 provoking replies which he hoped would be of a satis- 
 factory nature. He only got one meant to be flatter- 
 ing, but so clumsily expressed that he cut it short by 
 turning his back on the speaker. It was a kind of 
 involuntary accusation of having repaid an attempt at 
 murder by a murder. The various groups which 
 formed around him from time to time, listened to him 
 with watchful curiosity, in a dejected and embarrassed 
 attitude, and for the most part in a silence of evident 
 disapproval. 
 
 His haughty and severe demeanour, though at first 
 inclined to expand, became more and more sombre 
 and reserved. Withdrawing into himself, he tried 
 to convince himself that political necessity had absolved 
 him; that excepting the manner of the deed, in all the 
 rest he had right on his side ; which was false. 
 However, he had attained his aim, as from that moment 
 there was an end to all royalist conspiracies.
 
 124 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 He retired abruptly from this audience greatly dis- 
 satisfied, but inflexible; without appearing or being 
 any more disturbed by the unanimous disapproval 
 than he was on other occasions hereafter when the 
 subject was introduced, and in his last moments at 
 Saint Helena. 
 
 But the horrors of this terrible drama had not yet 
 reached their termination. Between eleven o'clock and 
 midnight on April 5th, Pichegru added a fourth suicide 
 to them. It was that of one of Napoleon's former profes- 
 sors at the College of Brienne ; and whether on account 
 of this connection, or because at that time he was 
 less irritated against those of his enemies to whom the 
 Revolution had given birth than to those of the old 
 order, the First Consul had promised him not only an 
 unconditional pardon, but complete rehabilitation and 
 the governorship of Cayenne. The unfortunate man 
 however, either in weariness or utter disgust of a 
 life which treachery had disgraced, after some hesita- 
 tion, preferred to make an end of it. He freed himself 
 from the shame of living or the fear of yet meeting 
 with his just deserts, by slowly strangling himself in 
 his bed, by means of a stick which he had twisted into 
 his silk necktie. He was thus found the next morning 
 with a volume of Seneca lying by him, open at the 
 page describing the suicide of Cato. 
 
 Six weeks later, Fate, which was then all in Bona- 
 parte's favour, for the second time led one of Napoleon's 
 bitterest enemies to this very prison in the person of 
 Captain Wright, the Englishman who had landed 
 Pichegru and his accomplices on our shores. 
 
 At last the preliminary inquiry of the great trial was 
 concluded. Moreau had persisted in protesting his inno-
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 125 
 
 cence during forty-four days till he was confronted with 
 three of his accomplices, and the confession of his interview 
 with Georges and Pichegru was dragged from him. 
 
 Forty-six accused appeared before justice on June 
 loth. They were tried under every condition that 
 could be favourable to them, before a numerous public, 
 and in the midst of eager and even seditious manifes- 
 tions on the part of military men of all grades who 
 were ardent partisans of Moreau. In spite of his 
 flagrant culpability the judges hesitated, and, at last, 
 some other influence being brought to bear, or with 
 a show of equity they adopted half measures. Moreau 
 was found guilty, but excusable, and condemned 
 only to two years' imprisonment. Four of the others, 
 whether justly or through pity, were awarded the same 
 sentence. Twenty-one were acquitted, and twenty 
 condemned to death. 
 
 We were then at St. Cloud. On learning the sentence, 
 the generals about the First Consul gave vent to their 
 rage in furious exclamations that it was a denial of 
 justice, an act of revolt. There was even talk of proceed- 
 ing to some extraordinary measures against the con- 
 demned, the judges, and even against Paris itself, which 
 was declared unworthy to be a capital and the residence 
 of the head of the government. They would have desired 
 Moreau's condemnation to death, knowing very well, 
 it is true, that Napoleon would have commuted it, but 
 indignant that the prevaricating tribunal should have 
 robbed him of the opportunity of doing so. 
 
 As for Napoleon, however angry he may have felt, 
 he managed to contain himself. He agreed with Moreau 
 to purchase his estates which were considerable, and 
 insisted on his exile to America.
 
 126 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 He pardoned eight out of the twenty who had been 
 condemned to death. We even noticed that when 
 granting the Ufe of Armand de PoHgnac to the 
 prayers of Madame d'Andlau and this conspirator's 
 wife, he was much moved, and mingled his tears 
 with theirs. 
 
 One of the consequences of this plot was, together 
 with the prorogation of special tribunals, the re-establish- 
 ment of Fouche as Minister of Police. Napoleon dis- 
 trusted him: he set a watch on him and increased the 
 counter police. One of these offices was entrusted to 
 his aide-de-camp, Lavalette, who was also to make 
 himself acquainted with the contents of letters. He 
 told my father that he learnt more through these 
 agencies, and especially through the cures than by any 
 other medium, and added with regard to Fouche, that 
 he had reinstated him not so much to know everything 
 that was going on, as to have the appearance of 
 knowing everything. 
 
 I meant to pursue this tragic event to the bitter 
 end. But it had already brought in its train another 
 of the highest importance. For the space of four months, 
 that is to say from the commencement of February 
 1804, and on the first outbreak of this conspiracy, many 
 addresses had openly demanded the re-establishment 
 of the throne and the foundation of a new dynasty. 
 On March 27, the entire Senate in acknowledging 
 reports of the criminal correspondence with the English 
 agents of the Lower Rhine, replied to Bonaparte: "It 
 " was you who drew us out of the chaos of the past ; 
 " you cause us to bless the benefits of the present; 
 " protect us against the future. Great man, finish your 
 "work, make it as immortal as your own glory."
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I, 127 
 
 The reply of the First Consul to this official advance, 
 was measured : " He would consider it, " he said. 
 Consequently the State Council was consulted on the 
 establishment of a hereditary government. Twenty 
 out of twenty-seven councillors approved of it. But as 
 they had not agreed about the guarantees, my father 
 proposed that each should send in a separate vote with 
 its grounds duly set forth. His was for the Empire 
 with a constitution resembling the English Charta as 
 much as possible. 
 
 On May i8th 1804, the Second Consul brought 
 forward the project oi Senatus-Consultus, which created 
 the Empire and the almost absolute power of Bona- 
 parte; this project was at once adopted, and by unani- 
 mous consent, minus two votes that were null and void, 
 and three against it. The latter met with the same 
 treatment as the others at the Emperor's hands, and 
 it is worthy of note that when the names of the can- 
 didates to senatorial office were laid before him, he 
 was indignant not to see any of those who had voted 
 against the Empire. 
 
 This was a unique epoc^ in our history. We were 
 living, as it were, in a rarefied atmosphere of miracles ; 
 on that 18th of May, especially, a day of intoxicating 
 splendour and triumph. The senate had hardly passed 
 its vote for the Empire, before all the members, tumul- 
 tuously following on the steps of the Second Consul, 
 came in a body to St. Cloud in a burst of enthusi- 
 asm. Napoleon being proclaimed Emperor, then sent 
 them back to closet himself with Cambaceres, settling 
 then and there the transformation of the Italian Re- 
 public into a kingdom; the inauguration of the Order 
 of Honour ; negotiations with the Pope to come over
 
 128 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP. 
 
 and consecrate him himself; and pending his arrival, 
 the invasion of Eng-land. 
 
 France, being consulted, declared that she desired 
 the Empire, and Napoleon for Emperor, in one loud 
 response of 3,524,254 voices! Truguet was the sole 
 admiral of the fleet who refused to accept it ; if there 
 were any dissentients in the army they kept silence: 
 when the accession of the First Consul to the Empire 
 was proclaimed in its ranks, it was received with 
 unanimous acclamations. One colonel of infantry alone, 
 a man of splendid stature and of well-known merit 
 turned round and in bold accents exclaimed : '' Silence 
 in the ranks! " This was Mouton, afterwards a marshal 
 and Count de Lobau. Napoleon's reply to this repu- 
 blican manifestation did not tarry. It was worthy of 
 each of these brave spirits; for shortly after, the colo- 
 nel received with his general's brevet that of aide-de- 
 camp to the Emperor. 
 
 It is known that the principal motive alleged for the 
 creation of the Empire was to discourage attacks on 
 the life and temporary power of Bonaparte by making 
 this power hereditary in his family. So that to restore 
 the Republic or the old monarchy, there would not be 
 one man alone to strike down but an entire dynasty. 
 Thus, as always happens with abortive plots, like that 
 of the 3rd Nivose which, having doubled the power of 
 Napoleon, had the effect of soon after causing him to 
 be made Consul for life, this one made him Emperor, 
 even before sentence on the conspirators had been 
 pronounced, and in spite of the murder of Vincennes!
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE CAMP AT BOULOGNE. 
 
 THE army at that time better organized, clothed, 
 discipHned and trained than it has ever been since, 
 had been placed on the most formidable footing: 
 150,000 men, 58 French ships of the line, 12 Batavian 
 vessels, and 1800 armed transports were to be kept 
 in readiness to invade England. On July i8th Napo- 
 leon suddenly re-appeared at Boulogne-sur-Mer, in 
 the midst of his camps and his flotilla. His first words 
 to Marshal Soult on arrival were : " How much time 
 "do you require to be ready to embark?" — "Three 
 "days, Sire."— "I can only give you one, " retorted the 
 Emperor. — "That is an impossibility," answered the 
 ]\Iarshal. — "Impossible, Sir!" exclaimed the Emperor, 
 "I am not acquainted with the word; it is not in the 
 " French language, erase it from your dictionary." He 
 at once indeed prescribed such measures as would 
 ensure the possibility of embarking within twenty- 
 four hours. 
 
 But on the morrow, whether from his usual success 
 in overcoming great difficulties, or from the know- 
 ledge that he had so often proved himself right, even 
 when the wisest were opposed to him, he was carried away 
 
 by too great confidence. Thus good fortune and 
 II 129
 
 I30 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 even experience itself may lead us astray. That very 
 day, his mind being entirely on his fleet, he in- 
 sisted that all sails should be set, and on exercising 
 it under the eyes of the English squadron, in spite of 
 menacing skies and against the advice of a rear- 
 admiral. As the one persisted in his opinion, the other 
 got into a fury, and his violence was such that the 
 sailor, with a hand on the hilt of his sword, thought it 
 necessary to hold himself upon the defensive. The 
 Emperor, however, who was incapable of personally 
 laying hands upon him, caused him to be disarmed, 
 and paying no attention to his advice insisted that the 
 vessels should put out to sea. What the rear-admiral 
 had foreseen, took place. Napoleon, it is true, gained 
 a victory over the English by driving away their 
 squadron and taking one of their vessels, but was 
 conquered by the storm in which he had refused 
 to believe. He himself very narrowly escaped, and 
 four of his vessels perished. Then recognising his two- 
 fold error, he did his best to retrieve it; in the first 
 instance by spending the whole night in the tower of 
 Heurt in efforts to succour his ship- wrecked mariners, 
 and secondly, tacitly acknowledging his own error by 
 forgiving the admiral's, and causing him to forget his 
 first hasty movement of violence. 
 
 During the following twenty-five days he gave up 
 his attention to his gigantic plan of invasion, which 
 we shall soon see in its entirety, and to his various 
 camps before which he paraded for the first time as 
 the Emperor. He inspected the broad road-ways and 
 the drainage canals which had been executed by his 
 orders, a work which not only preserved the sanitary 
 condition of the camps, but facilitated the means of com-
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 131 
 
 munication between them and the surrounding country. 
 His active and ingenious soldiers had beautified their 
 huts by laying out numerous gardens adorned with 
 flowers, with inscriptions in his honour, obelisks and 
 pyramids which were generally surmounted by the 
 laurel-crowned bust of their Emperor. He would mix 
 with them freely, entering into every little detail of 
 their comfort and bestowing with discrimination his 
 praise, his favours, and any well-merited advancement, 
 thus provoking their utmost enthusiasm. 
 
 But the climax was on August 15th, his fete day. 
 This anniversary marked one of the most solemn 
 functions of his reign, that of the distribution of the 
 Order of Honour to the army. It was announced by 
 the guns of Boulogne, and those of Antwerp and 
 Cherbourg, proclaiming at the same time the inaugu- 
 ration of these two new ports, answered the salute. 
 The victorious entry into Boulogne that same evening 
 of a strong picked detachment of the flotilla brought 
 to a close this memorable day which has been cele- 
 brated by the erection of a monument. 
 
 The day of his departure, August 26th, was signal- 
 ized by a fresh success of the flotilla, which the 
 Emperor, aided by Bruix, obtained against the enemy's 
 squadron, a vessel of which was sunk, and which 
 was on the point of being boarded. Under our fire 
 it drew back within half range, in sight of Napoleon, 
 who was himself in command and most dangerously 
 exposed to the English broadside. The Emperor's 
 first victorious attempt brought to a conclusion this 
 martial journey which had caused the whole of England 
 to shudder with terror. Having exhausted her money 
 and her resources, she had been so much alarmed
 
 132 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 that every man, including her ministers, had volun- 
 teered and was bearing arms ; and even before London 
 itself, the passage of the Thames had been barred. At 
 that time Pitt once more cherished the hope of buying 
 a new coalition, and his lucky star ordained that just 
 then Latouche-Treville should die of an illness which 
 he had contracted in the Antilles. He was the best 
 of our admirals; he alone was in the secret of the 
 whole enterprise; in conjunction with the fleet at Toulon 
 he was to have hoodwinked Nelson, raised the block- 
 ade of our ocean ports, rallied our squadrons there, 
 and protected our descent which had to be put off to 
 a later date, and whose fate, by an unhappy choice of 
 the minister Decres, was entrusted to the incapable 
 hands of Villeneuve. 
 
 It would seem, however, as if the Emperor's mind 
 were halting between several diversions, one of these, 
 which he afterwards gave up to concentrate all his 
 strength in the Straits, was a plan of landing in Ireland. 
 From Boulogne Napoleon proceeded to Aix-la-Cha- 
 pelle, where Josephine was awaiting him. There the 
 two Cobentzels, one of whom was a minister, and 
 the other the Viennese Ambassador, were obliged by 
 threats to cause their master at last to acknowledge 
 the Emperor. Aix-la-Chapelle had been the town of 
 Charlemagne. He revived the annual celebration of 
 the honours which had been formerly paid to the 
 memory of this great ruler, and for the first time for 
 a thousand years, the delighted people thought that 
 in Napoleon their hero was reincarnated. The remem- 
 brance will doubtless always endure of the thousand 
 benefits which he heaped upon these hitherto neglected 
 countries, and of all the advantages which he bestowed
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 1 33 
 
 upon their towns, opening up new communications 
 between them by land and by sea, and further on, 
 towards Coblentz, constructing the road along the bank 
 of the Rhine, 45 feet in width, which was cut out of 
 the rock for the space of ten leagues. 
 
 We may add to all this his solicitude for the poor ; 
 the asylums which he secured for them in a country 
 eaten up by mendicity, and the touching remembrance 
 of the peaceful retreat on an island of the Rhine which 
 he granted to the unfortunate religious whose convents 
 had been suppressed. 
 
 We may also cite in proof of that tender-hearted- 
 ness which his blinded enemies would never recognise 
 in Napoleon, an instance of his beneficent goodness 
 which took place on another island on this stream ; 
 it will recall that of the St. Bernard in 1 800. This time 
 a poor widow was the object of it. He had been 
 touched by the sad sight of this woman's poverty and 
 by her grief at the enlistment of her only son. With- 
 out revealing his identity, he had gained her confidence. 
 " Console yourself, " he said, mentioning a fictitious 
 name, "come to my house to-morrow and ask for 
 " me ; I have some influence with the ministers and will 
 " recommend your cause. " Thus reassured and encour- 
 aged, the poor woman took heart and ventured to 
 present herself the next day. She was at once received, 
 and when, in the midst of her wonder at the imperial 
 luxury around her, she recognised the Emperor in the 
 charitable unknown of the previous evening, her con- 
 fusion was at first extreme; it was speedily, however, 
 succeeded by boundless joy on hearing the order given 
 that her house which had been destroyed by the war 
 should be rebuilt, that a sm.all flock of sheep and a
 
 134 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 few acres of ground should be added to it, and that 
 her only son then serving under our banners should 
 be restored to her. 
 
 A few days later, the name of Guttenburg received 
 flattering recognition in Mayence which had been at 
 the same time fortified and improved. I happened to 
 be there at the time, for Napoleon who was much 
 more considerate for those around him than was 
 generally supposed, knowing that I was in great trouble 
 in Paris, had paternally called me to Mayence by way 
 of diverting my mind. It was there, in the midst of 
 a numerous assemblage of German princes, that we 
 heard the young Hereditary Duke of Baden, when 
 questioned by Napoleon at a levee as to what he had 
 been doing the previous evening, answer with some 
 hesitation that he had been walking about the streets; 
 on which the Emperor reproved him in this wise : 
 " That was very foolish of you. You should have gone 
 " round the fortifications and examined them carefully. 
 " How do you know but what you may be one day 
 " attacking the place yourself? For instance when I was 
 " a young artillery officer walking about Toulon, how 
 " could I have foreseen that one day it would be my 
 "fate to retake that town?" 
 
 During his stay there the Emperor had temporarily 
 entrusted me to look after the Empress whom he had 
 been obliged to leave behind. She related to me that 
 at Aix-la-Chapelle she had been shown a piece of our 
 Saviour's cross which Charlemagne had long carried 
 about with him as a talisman, adding that almost a 
 whole arm of the hero remained in good preservation 
 and had been offered to her, but that she only accepted 
 a splinter of bone which she showed me, saying:
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 1 35 
 
 "That she would not deprive Aix-la-Chapelle of such 
 " a precious relic, more especially as she had the support 
 "of an arm belonging to one almost as great as Char- 
 " lemagne. " 
 
 It had been through no fault of the English Govern- 
 ment of the day that the course of his journey had 
 not been interrupted by the carrying-out of a fresh 
 crime on the part of its minister to the court of Hesse. 
 Two assassins in the pay of this diplomatist had been 
 discovered in Mayence by Bonaparte and their corre- 
 spondence seized. Rumbolt, another English agent 
 who had been taken away from Hamburg with the 
 proofs of a similar attempt, was incarcerated in the 
 Temple and then released on the complaint of Prussia. 
 These were the last dying embers of the great conspi- 
 racy of Pichegru and Georges Cadoudal. The publicity 
 given to these infernal machinations and the severity 
 with which they were suppressed put an end to it. 
 
 The accumulation of so many criminal attempts will 
 explain why the Pope during that very year consented 
 to consecrate the new Emperor. These infamies were 
 no excuse for the murder which they provoked; but 
 the indignation caused by them may have had a share 
 in the motives which induced the Holy Father to 
 decide on this solemn act.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE CONSECRATIONT. 
 
 EVERYTHING in this solemn function, its perfect 
 order, the serene skies, the full concurrence of 
 the Holy Father, the public acclamations outside as 
 well as inside Notre Dame, combined to gratify Napo- 
 leon's expectations to the full. I can answer for this, 
 I was a witness of it ; I was in command that day in 
 the cathedral, I had taken military possession of it 
 from the previous evening; this was a matter of right 
 and custom, and the safety of the Emperor demanded 
 it. The imperial insignia had been entrusted to me 
 and amongst them the sword of Charlemagne. I 
 even remember that during the night which we passed 
 standing in the church, one of the officers under me 
 who had the charge of this sword, was foolish enough 
 to draw it against one of his comrades, who having 
 vainly parried with his own sabre, congratulated him- 
 self on having been overcome and slightly wounded 
 by the sword of so great a man. 
 
 The Pope had desired that the Emperor should com- 
 municate publicly on the day of the consecration, and 
 Napoleon had taken counsel on the point; my father 
 raising the objection that previous confession would 
 be necessary, that he might not care to accede to this, 
 
 136
 
 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 137 
 
 and that there was also the chance of absolution being 
 refused to him, 
 
 "That is not the difficulty," replied Napoleon; "the 
 " Holy Father can distinguish between the sins of 
 "Caesar and those of the man." Then continuing: "I 
 "know," he said, "that I should give the example of 
 " respect for religion and for its ministers : wherefore 
 " you see me treat the priests with consideration, go 
 " regularly to mass, and assist at it with a solemn and 
 " devotional demeanour. But men know me for what 
 "I am; and with me as with others if I were to go 
 " further — what think you ? would it not be giving at the 
 " same time an example of hypocrisy and committing 
 " a sacrilege ? " The case thus set forth was a foregone 
 conclusion; my father was obliged to confess this, and 
 the Pope also. 
 
 This family souvenir recalls another; it is that on 
 the very day this conversation took place, I was put 
 under arrest by the Emperor. 1 had been obliged to 
 refuse the indiscreet request of a person, politically 
 only too well known, for extra seats in Notre Dame. 
 This individual came to my father's house to complain 
 to him personally in very unmeasured terms. I was 
 present, and although he had been better received than 
 he deserved, I heard him, when he was leaving, make 
 use of threatening language. It should be said that 
 this enraged ex-Jacobin was reputed to have caused 
 the imprisonment of my grandfather, the Marshal de 
 Segur, and of having singled him out for the scaffold, 
 the gth Thermidor alone having saved him from the 
 ferocity of this wretch. With this cruel memory revived 
 by the impudent presence of this Montagnard amongst 
 us, my anger may be imagined, and there was certainly
 
 138 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 every excuse for it. He even experienced the effects 
 of it on the way from the drawing-room to the street 
 door, and that perhaps ought to have been enough; 
 but with vengeance in my heart I went further; I 
 desired at once to bring the matter to an issue, and as 
 he alleged the darkness of the night, I forced him to 
 agree to a meeting for the next day. 
 
 During this interchange of blows my father, much 
 taken up with the approaching consecration, had returned 
 to the Emperor, who noticing that he appeared anxious, 
 asked him the reason of it. Having been informed on 
 the point he forbade this duel and ordered me to remain 
 indoors, and an hour afterwards, the ex-Terrorist, 
 battered as he was, came back by his orders to close 
 the incident by making my father a humble apology. 
 To return to a less personal subject. The then en- 
 tirely respectful and affectionate regard of Napoleon 
 for the Holy Father has been denied, but such asper- 
 sions were calumnious as I should and do affirm. 
 From the moment of the arrival of this pontiff, in 
 every way worthy of universal veneration, up to his 
 return to Italy, it was I who had the charge of looking 
 after him and his guard. He was occupying at the 
 Tuileries by the side of the Emperor that wing of the 
 palace which looked out on the Pont-Royal and over 
 the Seine. Nothing was spared to please the members 
 of his suite, who had been rather curiously selected, 
 and their somewhat remarkable tastes. The same care 
 and respect was shown His Holiness as to the Emperor 
 himself In the furnishing and arrangement of his 
 rooms, everything had been done to try and remind 
 him as much as possible of Rome, and in the style 
 to which he was accustomed.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 139 
 
 As for Napoleon, we all remarked his sweet and 
 grateful cheerfulness, and the filial and caressing defer- 
 ence which he showed to his guest. It is known 
 that he fully satisfied the spiritual and temporal demands 
 of the Pontiff, either by certain concessions, or by 
 such convincing and well-turned explanations that it 
 would have been impossible not to accept them. 
 
 When the Holy Father used to bestow his blessing 
 from his window, and especially during the frequent 
 audiences which he gave in the gallery of the Louvre 
 to a numerous public attracted by his presence there, 
 an active supervision held in check or repressed French 
 indiscretion and lightness. We saw the atheist Lalande 
 himself fall at the feet of the Pontiff and kiss his 
 slipper. The Pope was received as a sovereign in 
 all the public places he honoured with his presence ; 
 he was not allowed to distinguish between mere curi- 
 osity or piety, and I have often seen this really holy 
 successor of the apostles, whose venerable countenance 
 bore the imprint of the most peaceful benevolence, 
 frugal, simple and austere as he was for himself, and 
 so amiably and paternally indulgent to others, pro- 
 foundly moved by the lively and pious impression 
 which he produced. 
 
 The Pope remained four months in Paris, after the 
 consecration, and then departed on April 4th, 1805. 
 I was ordered to reconduct him as far as Voghere, the 
 last town to which imperial jurisdiction then extended. 
 The French Cardinal de Bayanne, during this journey, 
 used to enliven all our meals by his witticisms. It 
 was at table above all that his Italian colleagues con- 
 soled themselves for being still in France. He, dainty 
 rather than gluttonous, used to show the most amusing
 
 140 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 distaste for everything that was not exquisitely delicious. 
 " Leave that, eat this, " he used to say to me, " and 
 " believe me, an old priest is always the best judge of 
 " what is good. " 
 
 The conversation turning upon war, the cardinal 
 gave an account of an awful wound which had been 
 miraculously and radically cured. A general who was 
 present took advantage of the opportunity to speak 
 of an equally serious wound which he had received in 
 Egypt, and which still troubled him : " Oh ! " retorted 
 the cardinal, " that is because your bullet was Turkish, 
 " an infidel bullet ; whilst the one I am telling you 
 " about was Christian and apostolic, that is very different. 
 " It only just missed being Roman ! " 
 
 That day Marquis Sachetti chose to introduce the 
 confessor of the Holy Father to us as a saint who had 
 obtained a miracle from the Holy Virgin, But the 
 Pope smiled as he listened to him, to which the Car- 
 dinal de Bayanne drew our attention; leading us to 
 have more faith in the Pope's smile than in the hearty 
 and sincere testimony of the major-domo. 
 
 We were then at Chalons where the Holy Father 
 was received beyond our every expectation. Macon 
 was cold. Since the terrible siege of Lyons in 1793, 
 the Montagnards, who had taken refuge there, had 
 left their evil spirit behind them. Quite recently, when 
 it had been attempted to re-establish the barriers, the 
 bust of the Emperor and the barriers themselves were 
 'all thrown pell-mell into the Seine. 
 
 Lyons on the contrary, pious and imperial, received 
 us with open arms and hearts. When on the day 
 after our arrival, the Holy Father allowed the people 
 in the Cathedral to come and kiss his slipper and
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 141 
 
 receive his blessing, the crowd was so considerable 
 and their eagerness so excessive, the last comers push- 
 ing up against the earlier ones to such a degree, that 
 he was nearly crushed up against the altar and at one 
 moment really seemed to be in some danger. Fortu- 
 nately I had ordered a battalion of Hanoverians to be 
 placed at my disposition, who, good honest Germans 
 as they were, implicitly following orders, had no hesi- 
 tation in answering to my call. It was high time. 
 An absolute charge was necessary to rescue the Pope, 
 who had been at first moved, and then seriously 
 alarmed by the extreme ardour of his devotees. The 
 need of repulsing the crowd was absolute, but was 
 not effected without many cries of distress, followed 
 by fainting fits and even by childbirth, so it was 
 said ; several men and women having been carried out 
 more dead than alive. I had no cause to blame my- 
 self, for had I not had recourse to extreme measures, 
 the Holy Father, whose glance had implored help, 
 would certainly not have left the church alive. 
 
 To leave nothing untold, I may as well add that I had 
 preceded his arrival in this former city by a few hours. 
 Cardinal Fesch was its first pastor, an excellent priest 
 as to generosity, and it was his rough and unskilled 
 negotiations, seconded by the solicitations of Bishop 
 Bemier and Caprara, which had decided the Pope to 
 undertake this great expedition. The sojourn of His 
 Holiness at Lyons was to be its last remarkable 
 episode. This sojourn necessitated a certain amount 
 of expense ; and whether from a spirit of mischief, or 
 economy, on the part of the Emperor who looked into 
 everything, he had planned that his uncle, the Car- 
 dinal, should bear all expenses, and that I should
 
 142 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP. 
 
 arrange it with His Excellency. But at the first word 
 of this unpalatable proposal, the Cardinal's indignation 
 was so great that, half choked with rage, he could 
 only reply by inarticulate cries. I persisted, less from 
 any hope of succeeding, than because I felt quite dis- 
 posed to prolong a scene whose comic side caused me 
 much amusement. But as the Cardinal's anger was 
 making him grow redder than his hat, I thought it 
 prudent to take my departure, and seek other ways 
 and means of providing funds for the reception of the 
 Holy Father. 
 
 It was here, I think, if not at Turin, that the Em- 
 peror on his way to be crowned at Milan, and the 
 Pope on his return to Rome, met once more, and 
 took leave of each other. The farewells of these two 
 great Powers, temporally and spiritually the greatest 
 then existing in the world, were touching. Each per- 
 fectly satisfied with the other, could no more than 
 ourselves foresee how different would be their second 
 interview, eight years later, at Fontainebleau.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 PREPARATIONS AGAINST ENGLAND. 
 
 NAPOLEON having been crowned King of Italy, 
 took two days and a half to return from Turin 
 to St. Cloud, and at once apparently busied himself 
 solely with home affairs, being desirous of prolonging 
 by a few hours the feeling of security which reigned 
 in England ; but when the time had come and his last 
 orders had been given, he hastened to Boulogne on 
 August 3rd, There, as on the high seas, all had been 
 propitious. The uniformly victorious Verhuel had joined 
 the flotilla lying between Ostend and Ambleteuse. 
 Exposed to the attacks cf Sir Sydney Smith, he had 
 had to double two capes, and in this perilous journey, 
 without any losses on his side, he had destroyed three 
 of the enemy's corvettes. Other manoeuvres from Texel 
 to Brest were attempted, and Napoleon by these means 
 assured himself as to the embarkation in a few hours 
 of 10,000 horses and 160,000 men. 
 
 Never was seen in any army such glowing ardour 
 as in ours. Officers and men were alike buoyed up 
 with the expectancy of conquering and pursuing the 
 English, even into London itself On our arrival in 
 Boulogne on August 2nd, when Rapp and I informed 
 Soult that the Emperor was to arrive the next day, 
 
 143
 
 144 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 and that soon after the invasion would be attempted, 
 the marshal in a transport of delight clapped both 
 hands to his head, and bounded from one end of the 
 room to the other. The Emperor was still more 
 impatient. The moment he alighted from his carriage 
 the next day, he announced that instead of twenty-four 
 hours as he had said the previous year, only four hours 
 would be allowed for the embarkation of the troops. 
 Everything was immediately put on board and they 
 were to hold themselves in readiness for the first signal. 
 
 However, in his anxiety concerning the arrival of 
 Villeneuve, he said the next day : " This invasion is 
 " by no means a certainty. After Campo-Formio I would 
 "have asked the Directorate for 26 millions of money, 
 "36 vessels, and 36,000 men, and the conquest of England 
 " would have been a certainty; I should not have hesi- 
 " tated a moment. But it is quite another thing now, 
 "I cannot risk matters in that way; I have become too 
 " important a person ! " Then in a more sanguine mood, 
 he added : " The knell of England has sounded, we 
 " have to avenge the defeats of Poitiers, of Cressy and 
 " of Agincourt. For five hundred years the English 
 " have been paramount even in Paris itself The Eng- 
 " lish are masters of the universe. We can in a night put 
 " them back into their places. They conquered France 
 " under an idiot king ; we shall conquer England under 
 " a demented one ! " 
 
 According to his usual custom. Napoleon was aiming 
 straight at the heart ; all was to be over in a fortnight. 
 The shores of Kent and of Sussex were the goal of 
 the flotilla whence the army should spring upon 
 London ; whilst the expedition of the Texel, with the 
 same end in view should have sailed up the Thames.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 1 45 
 
 Everything really concurred to warrant these high 
 expectations. On our shores, in our ports, and in our 
 roadsteads, all was in readiness ; and as the Emperor 
 said himself: " The nature of his plan was so good 
 "that in spite of all kinds of obstacles every chance 
 " was in his favour. " But to our eternal regret, so 
 unique an occasion never again to be met with, such a 
 formidable host, such an enormous outlay backed up by 
 every effort and care, the most vast and best combined 
 plan ever conceived by the genius of our Emperor, in 
 short, the fate of France was to be jeopardized by 
 one man! 
 
 To govern, it is said, is to choose; and the choice 
 of the minister Decres was a very bad one. Villeneuve, 
 who was modest and disinterested, was also timid and 
 irresolute. The courage of the soldier sank under 
 the sense of the overpowering responsibility of the 
 general. More crushed than honoured by the Emperor's 
 choice, he would indeed have prepared to relinquish 
 the post. With the candour which distinguished him, 
 Villeneuve exclaimed : " That it was too much ; that 
 " he could see his way to command a squadron, but 
 " not so considerable a fleet. " Like all minds so unfor- 
 tunately constituted, he only looked at things from 
 the dark side, imagining that the very thing he had 
 decided not to do, was always better than the course 
 he had taken, and always thinking the enemy all- 
 powerful. Decres had paid no heed to this; he had 
 not understood his character. Villeneuve was the friend 
 of his childhood, and the minister persisted in believing 
 in the temporary and factitious ardour of his early 
 impulses. Thus the fate of England, and of France, of 
 
 our sailors and our Emperor, depended on a chief who 
 12
 
 146 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 had not any greater trust in others than he had in himself. 
 
 Early in June after receiving the first dispatch of 
 this admiral, Napoleon, with his eagle glance, had 
 perceived the minister's mistake and tried to bring 
 about his recall. His instructions from Milan were as 
 follows: " I consider that Villeneuve has not sufficient 
 "force of character; that he has had no experience of 
 "war; and as soon as he returns to Brest, Gantheaume 
 " must be sent to replace him. " He concluded by saying 
 that he would sign and despatch the order on the 
 spot. I am ignorant if Gantheaume did possess more 
 strength of character, but it was impossible to put the 
 order into execution, and our fate remained in the 
 hands of Villeneuve. 
 
 As long as it was only a question of avoiding 
 Nelson, the admiral conformed to the spirit of his 
 instructions. But in spite of excellent seamanship, 
 whether wearied out by his continual fears, or by some 
 days of contrary weather, when he appeared on July 
 22nd with twenty of his vessels off Cape Finisterre, and 
 at mid-day met Calder and fifteen English vessels, he 
 lost two whole hours hesitating what to do. At last 
 they engaged in combat. Calder presented a close 
 front, while Villeneuve was too scattered; the result 
 being that a thick fog having spread over the two 
 fleets and rendered signals useless, two Spanish vessels 
 which had become dismasted after a blind and violent 
 struggle were left without succour. Help could have 
 been afforded them, for the fog having lifted, it could 
 be seen that they were in danger; but our admiral 
 refused to come to their aid, and they were taken, 
 having been forced by the wind into the very midst 
 of the English fleet.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 147 
 
 Calder, however, who had suffered more than our- 
 selves, withdrew on the following day, and Villeneuve 
 remained master of his movements ; but with his usual 
 indecision, he missed his opportunity, tried to seize it 
 again when too late, and allowed his adversary to 
 escape, went on to Vigo, thence to Corogne to refresh 
 and lighten his fleet, and unite it with that of Ferrol. 
 
 I have it from Lauriston, afterwards a marshal and 
 peer of France, then aide-de-camp to Napoleon, who 
 was on Villeneuve's fleet, that the day after this 
 battle. Rear-admiral Magon was a prey to such violent 
 indignation when the first signal was given by the 
 admiral to let the English fleet go, that he stamped 
 and foamed at the mouth; and that whilst he was 
 furiously pacing his own ship, as that of the admiral 
 passed by in its retreat, he gave vent to furious 
 exclamations and flung at him in his rage whatever 
 happened to be to hand, including his field-glass and 
 even his wig, both of which fell into the sea, but 
 Villeneuve was not only too far off for these missiles 
 to reach him, but was entirely out of hearing. 
 
 From my own knowledge of jMagon, with whom I 
 had been brought into relation in various missions, I 
 believe with Lauriston, that had he been in Villeneuve's 
 place, the orders of the Emperor would have been 
 obeyed, the invasion probably effected, and the face 
 of the world altered; but where too many secondary 
 interests have to be considered, such characters give 
 too much ground for jealousy: they are made use of 
 in subordinate positions. Thus, he who would have 
 suited Napoleon, from that very fact was distasteful 
 to his minister. 
 
 The unfortunate Villeneuve remained three weeks
 
 148 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 in Vigo and Corogne to revictual and refit his fleet. 
 He really could not rouse himself owing to his extreme 
 dejection through this reverse which might have been 
 avoided. The reproaches which came to his ears, as 
 well as those which he heaped upon himself (for he 
 was his own worst enemy), threw him into the most 
 deplorable state of dejection. He left this anchorage 
 about August 1 2th, when he had 34 vessels, counting 
 those of Lallemande. Left master of the sea he could 
 perfectly well have obeyed the express commands of 
 the Emperor, and those of his minister who had repeat- 
 edly instructed him, with his 34 sail against only 
 18 of Cornwallis, at all hazards to raise the blockade 
 at Brest of 2 1 vessels ; and thus with a strength of 
 fifty-five sail to take possession of the Channel where 
 our army was embarked, where Napoleon was await- 
 ing him, and where he could have ensured our landing. 
 But he was haunted by the spectre of Nelson! His 
 fright gave him courage to disobey. After a state 
 of hesitation which lasted for four days on the open 
 seas, Villeneuve, who was personally brave as a man, 
 though cowed by his responsibilities as a commander, 
 took fright at a slight gale which on that day unfor- 
 tunately was blowing up from the north east. If it 
 had happened to blow from the south, as was told me 
 by another witness * he would probably have taken 
 advantage of it, and would not thus have failed to 
 fulfil the expectations of the Emperor and of our army, 
 and might have made the fortune of the empire. 
 
 With this fatal irresolution of Villeneuve, a slight 
 incident, a breath of wind swayed the balance. On 
 
 * Reille, now a Marshal of France after having been aide-de-camp 
 to the Emperor.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 149 
 
 SO little hinges the fate of the world — on a mere breath 
 of wind, not even a storm. It pleased fate to over- 
 throw by this faint breath the entire work of Napoleon, 
 and the grandest hope ever conceived by France. So 
 little weight have the greatest of men, their largest 
 conceptions and the most powerful empires, in the 
 scales of fortune! 
 
 On August 2ist, at the very moment when the 
 advent of this unhappy Villeneuve was more than ever 
 hoped for and expected before Brest and in the Channel, 
 the admiral was turning his back upon us. He was 
 entering into Cadiz where he allowed himself to be 
 blocked up by six of the enemy's sail, thus, rendering 
 completely useless his fleet, our flotilla, the Emperor 
 himself, and the whole expedition, which was vainly 
 expecting him at Brest, at Boulogne, and at the Texel. 
 
 Thus it was that England was saved! Let it not 
 again be said that the diversion which Pitt had pre- 
 pared on the continent could possibly have kept our 
 Emperor there. This danger had been foreseen and 
 guarded against. Our forces were already assembling 
 beyond the Rhine, on this river and in Italy: they 
 held Austria in check. Duroc had been immediately 
 despatched to Frederic to give up Hanover to him in 
 exchange for an offensive alliance which for the second 
 time he seemed ready to accept. Besides which, the 
 treaty of London with Russia only dated from April 
 1 1 th. The idea of a war in her territory was distasteful 
 to Germany; Bavaria was devoted to us; Vienna in 
 spite of threatening preparations, hesitated. Her formal 
 accession to a third coalition could only have been 
 obtained on August nth, and she had not dared to 
 avow it. On September 3rd she still appeared as a
 
 150 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP. 
 
 mediatrix; and at that very time the fate of London 
 might have been settled a fortnight previously. Had 
 that been the case, this capital, the very brain and 
 centre of all coalitions, being taken, and Pitt in all 
 probability forced to capitulate, Napoleon would have 
 imperiously dictated to Austria the conditions which 
 would have suited his policy.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE PLAN OF THE CAMPAIGN OF AUSTERLITZ. 
 
 WHILST Villeneuve at Carogne and in Cadiz was 
 thus disappointing our cherished hopes, at 
 Boulogne everything had been organized and completed. 
 Reviews, manoeuvres, embarkations and disembarka- 
 tions, a thousand eager and anxious glances incessantly- 
 fixed on the sea, a thousand conjectures addressed by 
 day and night to his minister, had occupied Napoleon 
 in the midst of the extreme agitation of his weary 
 waiting. With his mind thus on the stretch, he had 
 in his impatience made Lacrosse, with seventy-five of 
 the flotilla, attack the English cruising-station, and 
 victory had remained with them. On that day half 
 the Channel belonged to us during some hours; 
 England thought she was on the point of being 
 invaded; in her distress Calder was put on his trial, 
 but on receiving the news of Villeneuve's inconceivable 
 inaction and of his flight to Cadiz, she was triumphant, 
 and her joyful outcry reached the ears of Napoleon 
 who was kept better informed by our spies and the 
 English press than by his own messengers and the 
 telegraph wires. His displeasure was first manifest on 
 August 7 th at the news of the battle of Finisterre, 
 and his disappointment on the following days on hearing 
 
 151
 
 152 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 that Villeneuve had entered Ferrol, beheving him to 
 be blocked there. At this first instance of disobedience 
 to his orders, altliough the mischief at that time was 
 not irreparable, the Emperor, who knew better than 
 anyone the value of time, perceived that his admiral 
 was by no means aware of its importance, that he had 
 not understood the vastness of his mission, and that in 
 this great drama, which had up to then so satisfactorily 
 unfolded itself, Villeneuve, not being equal to his part, 
 would fail them at the most important crisis. 
 
 It was about four o'clock in the morning of August 
 13th that the news was brought to the Emperor at 
 the imperial quarters at Pont-de-Briques. Daru was 
 summoned, and on entering he gazed on his chief in 
 utter astonishment. He told me afterwards that he 
 looked perfectly wild, that his hat was thrust down to 
 his eyes, and his whole aspect was terrible. As soon 
 as he saw Daru, he rushed up and thus apostrophized 
 him: "Do you know where that — fool of a Villeneuve 
 " is now? He is at Ferrol. Do you know what 
 "that means — at Ferrol? Ah, you do not know ? He 
 "has been beaten; he has gone to hide himself at 
 " Ferrol. That is the end of it, he will be blocked 
 " up there. What a navy ! What an admiral ! What 
 " useless sacrifices ! " 
 
 And becoming more and more excited, he walked 
 up and down the room with great strides for about 
 an hour, giving vent to his justifiable anger in a 
 torrent of bitter reproaches and sorrowful reflections. 
 Then stopping suddenly and pointing to a desk 
 which was covered with papers : " Sit down there, " 
 he said to Daru. " Write ! " and then and there, without 
 any transition, without any apparent meditation, and in
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 153 
 
 his brief, concise, and imperious tones, he dictated to 
 him without a moment's hesitation the whole plan of the 
 campaign of Ulm as far as Vienna. The army of the 
 coast, ranged in a line of more than two hundred leagues 
 long, fronting the Ocean, were, at the first signal, to 
 face about, to break up, and march to the Danube 
 in several columns. The order of the various marches, 
 their durations; the spots where the columns should 
 converge or re-unite ; surprises ; attacks in full force ; 
 divers movements; mistakes of the enemy; all had 
 been foreseen during this hurried dictation. Two 
 months, three hundred leagues, and more than two 
 hundred thousand of the enemy separated thought from 
 results, and yet, time and space and various obstacles 
 were all overcome, and the whole future illumined by 
 the genius of our Emperor. His foresight which was 
 as much to be depended upon as his memory, could 
 already predict, starting from Boulogne, the principal 
 events of this projected war, their dates and their 
 decisive results; and he dictated these to Daru with 
 such certainty that a month after they had been ful- 
 filled, he was able to remember them. The various 
 fields of battle, the victories to be gained, even the 
 very days in which we were to enter Munich and 
 Vienna, all was foreseen and written down as it 
 really happened later, two months in advance, at this 
 identical hour of August 13th, and from these head- 
 quarters on the coast! 
 
 Although accustomed to the sudden inspirations of 
 his chief, Daru was perfectly amazed, and still more 
 so when he found that these oracular predictions came 
 true on the very days named up to the time of our 
 arrival in Munich. If there were some little variations
 
 154 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 as to time, though not as to results, between Munich 
 and Vienna, they were to our advantage. Long after- 
 wards and frequently did this minister, still under the 
 same spell of astonishment, tell me over and over 
 again, that he had not less admired the clear and 
 prompt determination of Napoleon to give up such 
 enormous preparations without hesitation, than the 
 correctness of his previsions when he suddenly changed 
 all his plans to concentrate them against other adver- 
 saries. 
 
 These dictated directions to Daru remained unknown. 
 A new hope had taken possession of the Emperor. 
 His spirited and last instructions on August i ith, 13th, 
 and 22nd prove this. They were: "That it would be 
 " too ridiculous that a skirmish of three hours should 
 " cause such vast projects to fail ; that one should on 
 " the contrary persist in them. Gravina is all energy 
 " and force of character. Why does not Villeneuve 
 "resemble him? Why should Villeneuve, at the head 
 " of so many brave sailors, let everything go to destruc- 
 " tion through sloth and despondency, when the Eng- 
 " lish, threatened on every side, are altogether wearied 
 " out and dispersed ? Will eighteen vessels allow them- 
 " selves to be blocked up by fourteen ! " 
 
 On August 22nd he again vainly wrote to Villeneuve 
 and to Gantheaume : " Make a start ! come into the 
 " Channel, and England is ours, and six centuries of 
 " shame and insult will be avenged ! " On the follow- 
 ing days, in spite of more and more alarming accounts 
 from Austria of the flight of Villeneuve and the dis- 
 couragement of Decres, he had not yet given up hopes 
 of taking England, but towards the end of August, 
 when the irreparable defection of his admiral was at
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 1 55 
 
 last only too certain, at table one day, he dashed down 
 the glass which he was holding and exclaimed : " Well 
 " if we must give that up, we will at any rate hear 
 " the midnight mass in Vienna." 
 
 Having secretly arranged everything since the 23rd, 
 for this sudden return to the Danube, and on the 26th 
 for a fresh levy of 60,000 men, he cast a last glance 
 of regret and sorrow towards England ; giving vent 
 to his anger by dictating seven heads of accusation 
 which should annihilate the culpable Villeneuve. Still 
 master of everything, even of himself, he recovered 
 his equanimity; and, in a memorandum free from any 
 bitterness, he set forth the grandeur of the plan which 
 he was constrained to abandon ; resuming all its details 
 as if to preserve or record its conception, justify its 
 possibility, and prove how nearly he had been on the 
 point of succeeding. He pointed out, how with cer- 
 tain modifications it might some day be resumed, and 
 in the meanwhile what ought to be done with the 
 flotilla. 
 
 In subsequent instructions he ordered that Rossilly 
 should replace Villeneuve at Cadiz and that with a 
 strength of forty sail, he should dominate the Mediter- 
 ranean. We shall see later that disaster resulted from 
 the execution of this order by Villeneuve himself For 
 the fatal battle of Trafalgar was the outcome of this, 
 and if Nelson perished in it, so also did our navy. 
 We no longer had a fleet, we had only a few 
 squadrons. Then began the fortunate cruise of Lal- 
 lemand whom Villeneuve had abandoned in the sea of 
 Ferrol, thus increasing his own despair by making 
 Lallemand famous. 
 
 As for the other squadrons, one of them was to be
 
 156 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP. 
 
 sent into American waters. A vague prescience of 
 the future would seem for the second time specially 
 to have fixed Napoleon's thoughts on St. Helena. He 
 ordered that it should be taken possession of and 
 several times reiterated this command. The importance 
 which he at that time attached to the possession of 
 this rock, in the light of subsequent events, became 
 remarkable. 
 
 At last on September ist Napoleon left Boulogne, 
 and six days later began the counter-march of the 
 great Imperial army. The coasts were deserted and 
 given up to our navy. Thus miscarried the greatest 
 and most important, the most skilfully conceived and 
 laboriously prepared design that ever emanated from 
 the grand mind of the Emperor.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE GRAND ARMY ENTERS GERMANY. 
 
 IN order to accelerate the progress of his army on 
 the march, the Emperor conceived the idea of con- 
 veying them by post-stages. Having sent for the Mayor 
 of Lille, he said to him : " Go now, receive and congra- 
 " tulate my divisions on their way through, and organize 
 "means of conveyance to facilitate their march. You 
 "may expect 25,000 men, for whom waggons must be 
 " ready : you will thus initiate this movement and set 
 " the first great and useful example ! " This magistrate 
 having declared that it went very much against him 
 to welcome General V . . . . whose Jacobinism he com- 
 mented upon: "Do not dare to say anything of the 
 " kind, he exclaimed ; do you not see that now we 
 " are all equally serving France ? I would have you 
 " know, Sir, that between the 17 th and the iBth Brumaire 
 " I have erected a wall of brass which no glance may 
 "penetrate, and against which all recollections must be 
 " dashed to pieces ! " 
 
 On the day that had been settled, and at the hour 
 that had been decided upon, all the marshals having 
 reached their destination, amongst them Bernadotte 
 (the only one who by speaking out relieved himself 
 of the annoyance that obedience always caused him), 
 
 IS'
 
 158 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 I received the order to be at the Luxembourg on 
 September 23rd, where, with a detachment of the 
 Imperial Guard, I was to take over the command of 
 this Palace of the Senate so as to receive Napoleon, 
 who came there at once to declare the war. My 
 father and Regnauld de Saint-Jean d'Angely, both 
 councillors of State, were the bearers of the projects 
 of senatus-consulius for the new levies of 80,000 
 men and of the national guard. Napoleon wound up 
 with these words : " Frenchmen, your Emperor will do 
 his duty, my soldiers will do theirs, you will do yours ! " 
 After which he returned to St. Cloud whilst I departed 
 for Strasburg, preceding him only by twenty-four hours. 
 
 He arrived there with the Empress on September 
 26th. Whilst listening to the reports of the position of 
 the enemy he roused the enthusiasm of his people by 
 an eloquent proclamation; he also collected 20,000 
 Alsatian waggons and caused them to be loaded with 
 stores, and whilst from the first moment he was pushing 
 forward all the various bodies of his army, he was 
 reassuring Germany by a notification that there 
 would be no encroachment of Erance beyond the 
 Rhine, and ended by enlisting in his cause the greater 
 part of the reigning princes on the right bank of 
 this river. 
 
 Placed between two fires, they had not yet quite 
 made up their minds. The Elector of Bavaria, who 
 had retired to Wurtzburg with his army, and who was 
 pressed in contrary directions, on the one side by 
 Bernadotte, and the other by an Austrian minister, 
 hesitated to declare himself on the offensive. As soon 
 as Napoleon saw in the distance the officer whom he 
 was sending to him, he cried out : " What news do
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 159 
 
 you bring me at last? is it for us or against us?" — 
 "For us," answered Lagrange. "That is better!" 
 responded the Emperor, who could not, however, have 
 had any doubts in the matter. 
 
 General Mouton, afterwards Count de Lobau, was des- 
 patched to the Elector of Wurtemburg through whose 
 States we had to make our way. Ney, at the same 
 time was marching upon the capital of this Electorate ; 
 he had even forced open the gates, w^hen an aide-de- 
 camp of Napoleon arrived at our minister's. " Your 
 " mission is a difficult one," said the latter, " the Elector 
 " is raving, and what is very rare, he is at the same 
 " time irascible and firm ; he will make a fine noise 
 " about it ! " " Not so much as a cannon, " answered 
 the aide-de-camp, "and I am accustomed to that." 
 He then had himself presented to the prince, who 
 having been prepared for his coming received him in 
 the midst of his Council. 
 
 The minister had predicted rightly; the scene was a 
 violent one. The Elector broke in at the very begin- 
 ning, scarlet with rage : " What you do you want ? " 
 he exclaimed ; " your troops are invading my States, 
 " they are violating my neutrality, it is a piece of treach- 
 "ery! What business has your Bonaparte here? Shall 
 "a prince of yesterday, a parvenu sovereign, offer 
 " violence to me ? to me, a prince of old time and of 
 " the race of princes ! But I am master here. I shall 
 "soon prove it, I will send off these brigands." But 
 the aide-de-camp, who was standing, preserved the 
 impassible immobility of his martial countenance and 
 remained motionless. He allowed the torrent of invec- 
 tive to break against his imperturbable composure. 
 When the prince, who was out of breath with rage, and
 
 l6o MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 who through his extreme obesity had exhausted all his 
 energy, was obliged to stop to take breath, the 
 general answered coldly : " That he had not come to 
 "listen to personalities, nor to reply to them, but to 
 " treat; and that all these wild words made no impres- 
 " sion on him and were quite futile, as he should not 
 " even repeat them to the Emperor; that he had much 
 " better listen to his propositions, all the more so because 
 " Marshal Ney, with 30,000 men, was at the gates of 
 "his capital!" The Elector was still fuming, but the 
 contrast of this firm composure with his own unmeas- 
 ured rage surprised himself. He felt that he had 
 found his master, and realized that the blood of such 
 men was as good as his own. Then changing his 
 tone, he discussed the matter, and in an aside he let 
 fall: "That such and such neighbouring possessions 
 " were in his way, that if he had them and his elec- 
 " torate was made a kingdom, matters might still be 
 " arranged." 
 
 When the aide-de-camp, from whom I heard all this, 
 reported the result to Napoleon, the latter began to 
 laugh, saying: " Well, that suits me very well ; let him 
 be a king, if that is all he wants ! " 
 
 All the bodies of our army on September 25th, fronting 
 the east, were bordering the Rhine from Strasburg to 
 Mayence ; that of Bernadotte would soon arrive at Wurtz- 
 burg, where the Bavarian army was awaiting it. Not 
 a conscript was wanting: all were consumed with eager- 
 ness ; the signal was given ! The marches of each chief 
 were predetermined; the days and the hours calculated 
 according to the diversity of arms, of distances, of the 
 'difficulties of the ground and its various irregularities. 
 These instructions, of such infinite detail, had been traced
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. l6l 
 
 out by so firm and sure a hand, that all these masses 
 of men, arms, horses and artillery, store and baggage 
 waggons were ready to be set in motion, and would 
 simultaneously reach the goal indicated with the most 
 unheard-of quickness and in the most admirable order. 
 
 On September 26th each body of the army was to 
 cross the Rhine; and by a wheel to the right, the 
 left wing being in advance by Wurtzburg, the whole 
 army, executing the greatest change of front ever 
 known, would on October 6th suddenly find itself in 
 line, facing the south, from Ulm up to Ingolstadt on 
 the Danube, the imperial stream being at once crossed 
 at Ingolstadt, Neuburg and Donawerth, then at Gaulh- 
 burg. Suabia and Bavaria, Munich and Aug'sburg would 
 be simultaneously reconquered, and Mack and the Arch- 
 duke Ferdinand, being separated from the Russians 
 and Austria, would be forced to let themselves be 
 killed on the spot, or give themselves up prisoners. 
 
 This plan is the prophetic account of the campaign. 
 It will suffice for the future, when, owing to the accu- 
 mulation of centuries, history will be forced to shorten 
 all details, to allow of time to read it. This is the same 
 manoeuvre as that of Marengo, but at closer quarters and 
 much bolder; sure, instead of being rash; without the Alps 
 to cross or recross, with an army three times the strength 
 of Mack's instead of an army weaker by half than that 
 of Melas, and against a very different general. 
 
 Notwithstanding this, on September 26th, the day of 
 Napoleon's arrival, as important and complete a result 
 still depended upon the blindness and inaction of the 
 Austrian army in its venturesome position, which was 
 neither offensive nor defensive, with its front towards 
 the Black Forest, its advance-guards thrown out into 
 13
 
 l62 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 the defiles of these mountains, and only looking 
 straight ahead. It was requisite to concentrate and fix 
 its attention there, and divert it from the great movement 
 which was in readiness to turn its right. That is why 
 on the eve of the Emperor's arrival, September 25th, and 
 that of this general movement, Murat with his cavalry 
 and Lanne's grenadiers, passed the Rhine at Strasburg. 
 There, contrary to the rest of the army, they turned 
 to the right, again proceeded up the right bank of the 
 stream towards Friburg, filling the valley with tumult, 
 and displaying the advance-guaxds of their menacing 
 columns at every opening of the Black Mountains. 
 
 But on the morrow, whilst Mack, beheving himself 
 attacked on his front, was concentrating all his means 
 of defence on that point, the grand army, crossing 
 the Rhine from Strasburg to Mayence, was hastening 
 onwards to surround him ; and Napoleon, at the pivot 
 of this manoeuvre, was completing his negotiations at 
 Strasburg, having misled the enemy by his sojourn 
 there, and having waited there till October ist, till the 
 movement of his marching wing was accomplished. 
 
 From Murat's reports that day, he believed that his 
 previsions were realized, that Mack had been deceived 
 by his first stratagem, and that success was indubitable. 
 And here is the proof: I had just received orders to 
 precede him, first at Ettlingen, then at Ludwigsburg 
 and at the Elector of Wurtemburg's, when the Empress 
 said, on taking leave of me : " Depart, and carry with 
 " you my best wishes. May you be as fortunate as the 
 " army and France." Noticing my astonishment at such a 
 positive assertion, she continued : " Do not doubt it for 
 " a moment ; the Emperor has just informed me that in 
 " eight days the whole of the enemy's army will infal-
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 1 63 
 
 "libly be taken prisoner." This was on October ist, 
 and on the 8th, Mack was completely turned; and a 
 few days later it had become my lot in Ulm to force 
 him to decide on the very capitulation which had been 
 announced to me by the Empress. 
 
 The Elector of Wurtemburg, who had been concili- 
 ated, as we have seen, received the Emperor magnifi- 
 cently at Ludwigsburg, when Napoleon completely 
 gained him over to his cause. The Electress herself, 
 though a princess of English blood, was won over by the 
 care which Napoleon took of her private interests, and 
 by the charming manners, recalling those of his early 
 youth, which he displayed to fascinate her. He succeeded 
 so completely that by way of excusing herself, she wrote: 
 " His smile is positively delightful and enchanting," 
 in a letter to her mother, the Queen of England. 
 
 Napoleon knew that Mack could no longer face him 
 in the Black Mountains; Murat had therefore been 
 called back from their openings on the Rhine, at the 
 same time that Ney was, in his turn, pushed on from 
 Stuttgart to Ulm, around which he took up a position 
 w^ith his left towards the Danube, He thus covered and 
 concealed the rapid march of the other bodies upon 
 Donawerth, Neuburg and Ingolstadt; a second time 
 misleading and detaining upon the Iller the enemy's 
 unfortunate general, whose feeble sight could not pierce 
 through this screen, and who was awaiting Napoleon 
 in Ulm firmly, whilst, outstripping him at Ludwigsburg, 
 the Emperor was marching from October 5th by 
 Gmund and Nordlingen upon Donawerth. 
 
 It Mack had any suspicions of this they were very 
 vague ; for, like all weak minds, satisfied with half 
 measures, he contented himself by making Kienmayer
 
 164 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 and 10,000 men keep watch over the Danube and the 
 bridge of Donawerth below him. 
 
 Suddenly he learnt that on October 6th this division 
 was overthrown; then he learnt successively; that on 
 the 7th, the Danube was crossed, not only at Donawerth 
 but also at Neuburg and Ingolstadt; that behind 
 him, Suabia and even Bavaria were invaded and the 
 Lech seized: that the next day October 8th, twelve 
 battalions of grenadiers whom he had summoned to 
 his help from the Tyrol, having been encountered by 
 Murat at Vertingen, were either taken, killed, or 
 dispersed, and that Augsburg must have fallen into our 
 hands. On the 9th he was overwhelmed by another 
 blow, the attack directed against the three bridges 
 situated between Ulm and Donawerth; and what was 
 even worse, the news that Ney had just forced the 
 Danube, behind him, by a fourth passage! The 
 bandage over his eyes being thus torn away. Mack fell 
 thunderstruck off his stilts. He recognised that without 
 knowledge of the locality, without any conjecture as 
 to the direction from which our forces had hastened, 
 or as to what he had most to fear, our numbers, 
 and the character of his adversary, he had just allowed 
 200,000 men to pass by him unrecognised; and that 
 he had not perceived this until, surrounded by them, 
 they were masters of his retreat, and had interposed 
 themselves between him and the Russian army which 
 he was expecting; that they had separated him from 
 Austria which it was his duty to have defended, 
 and had driven him up on Ulm, with his back against 
 the Black Mountains and that very Rhine from which 
 his foolish pride had braved Napoleon and dared to 
 threaten France ?
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 165 
 
 It was supposed that this general adopting a desperate 
 course then faced us in the rear, from Ulm to Meningen ; 
 but the facts, which alone testify on his side, and our 
 own impressions of the moment are, that he did not 
 take any course at all, but that from October the 6th 
 to the nth, five whole days, the unfortunate Field- 
 Marshal remained in a state of stupefaction, crushed 
 under the triple weight of his conscience, fear of the 
 fate w^hich awaited him, and of universal reprobation. 
 In fact, till October 11, he remained at Ulm in the 
 same state of stagnation in which we had found him 
 when we crossed the Danube, on the 6th. The body 
 which he had opposed to us at Donawerth, under 
 Kienmayer, more fortunate than himself, had taken 
 flight towards Austria ; the one he had summoned from 
 the Tyrol was destroyed at Vertigen; that which he 
 had left at Meningen, having neither received orders 
 to rejoin him, nor to take flight to the mountains, re- 
 trenched itself isolated in that town. On the other hand 
 his advance-guard, which was resisting Ney on the left 
 bank of the Danube, crippled by the loss of 4000 men 
 at Guntzburg, was on October 9th, thrown back upon 
 Ulm, upon which point Mack had also been driven 
 with his 60,000 men. It may be remembered that, in 
 1800, Aray, having been in the same way turned and 
 broken up by Moreau on both banks of the Danube, 
 turned round upon our right wing at Nordlingen, and, 
 escaping without striking a blow, was able to take up 
 a position again between our army and Austria; why 
 not imitate him to-day ? Mack is near Prince Ferdinand, 
 and is responsible for him ; will he allow an Archduke 
 to be taken in Ulm, with himself and his army?
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 ULM. 
 
 HAD Mack with his 60,000 men passed through 
 Uhn, leaving a detachment there, and thrown him- 
 self on the left bank which the Grand Army had quitted, 
 he could have dispersed by way of that bank, de- 
 molishing the bridges which he would leave on the 
 right of his passage. During this retreat he might 
 have picked up or destroyed our camp-followers, our 
 great parks of artillery, our baggage, and might pos- 
 sibly have triumphantly returned to Bohemia, where 
 he could have rejoined the Russians. 
 
 But the distracted and feeble mind of such a general 
 was not in accord with so sudden and thorough a course, 
 so that instead of coming to a decision, he lost four 
 whole days. 
 
 On the night of the 14th to the 15th the Austrian 
 chiefs met at a council where they could not come to 
 an agreement, and Mack was only able to make 
 himself listened to by the help of a power of authority, 
 signed by his Emperor which had hitherto been held 
 in reserve. But this general, who could neither 
 flee nor defend himself, continued to hang on from 
 day to day, the sport of the enemy and of circum- 
 stances. Verneck, however, and 12,000 men separated 
 
 1 66
 
 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP. 167 
 
 from him, were on the road to Nordlingen; it was 
 only then that the Archduke, escaping by night from 
 Ulm with some thousand horse, hastened to join him. 
 Mack was in hopes that they would thus be able to 
 get as far as Bohemia. As for himself, with the rest 
 of his soldiers, of whose very number he was ignorant, 
 left without provisions or means of retreat in Ulm 
 itself, and on the entrenched heights which look 
 down upon it, he was heard to exclaim: that he 
 should defend himself there and divert attention from 
 the flight of the Archduke; that the Russians would 
 have hastened up within a week, and that Napoleon, 
 in his turn caught between two fires, would be obliged 
 either to flee or surrender. Such was the gist of 
 ]\'Iack's speeches, for harassed as he was, words in default 
 of deeds had not yet failed him. 
 
 But on the next day, the 15th, attacked on both 
 banks of the river, from the heights which surround 
 Ulm he descended into the town, where, having been 
 in danger of being burnt out on the i6th, he received 
 a flag of truce during the night, and agreed to give 
 himself up on the 25th if the blockade had not been 
 raised by the Russian army. Vainly, and on three 
 different occasions, first this offer of truce, secondly 
 Berthier, and lastly the Emperor himself in an in- 
 terview with Lichtenstein, allowed Mack six days 
 only, but he held out obstinately for eight. These 
 two days respite, which in no wise really altered his 
 position, seemed to his fevered imagination to be the 
 only means of saving his responsibility, his honour 
 (which was already lost), and even Austria itself. 
 Finally, on the evening of the ist, he obtained this 
 vain concession. Having signed his capitulation it was
 
 1 68 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 to be consummated on the 25th, and up to the next 
 day, the 19th, the unhappy man, apparently consoled, 
 seemed to triumph in this delay which he had obtained, 
 as if it had been a victory. 
 
 But on the morning- of October igth, thirty-six 
 hours later, being summoned to the Imperial quarters, 
 he there learnt : that on the 1 6th, a day out from Ulm, 
 the Archduke had already been attacked by Murat 
 with a loss of 3,000 men, and that a little further on 
 before Neresheim, attacked for the second time on the 
 17th, the prince had abandoned his main body and 
 taken flight with a tew squadrons towards Bohemia ; 
 that on October i8th and igth near Nordlingen, only 
 two good days' march from Ulm, Verneck and the rest 
 of his 20,000 men who had left Ulm eight days earlier, 
 with 600 carriages and guns with which they had 
 been burdened, had laid down their arms; that on the 
 other hand Bernadotte, Davout and the Bavarians, 
 in short 60,000 men were occupying Bavaria where 
 the Russians had not yet shown up. Then, crushed 
 under the weight of so many misfortunes, the unhappy 
 man, losing all hope, also lost the little presence of 
 mind which still remained to him, and his distress was 
 so great that he was on the point of swooning away. 
 Perfectly distracted he gave up every effort, even to 
 the last service which he could have rendered his 
 country by keeping our army before Ulm to the 25 th, 
 and, completely subjugated by Napoleon's ascendency, 
 he not only renounced the two days concession which 
 had been so much contested, but agreed on the 
 next day, the 20th of October, to give up Ulm with 
 his arms, his horses, the 33,000 men that were left to 
 him, and the time which was so valuable to his adver-
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 169 
 
 sary; thus hastening by five days his own loss and 
 that of Austria. 
 
 Now that by this summary we have been able to 
 view this important event in its entirety and that I am 
 more at liberty to descant on its details; passing from 
 history to memoirs, I shall proceed from my notes of 
 each evening to reproduce in detail the narrative of 
 these fourteen days of manoeuvres, engagements, 
 and of a capitulation which will ever remain famous. 
 Without that, especially as far as concerns us, 
 I should only have presented the outside of things 
 and too little the men themselves. 
 
 I have already said that on October 6th the Emperor 
 having outstripped and turned Mack, had slept at 
 Nordlingen. He had already during that evening 
 pushed on to Donawerth in his impatience to see the 
 Danube for the first time, and to assure and hasten the 
 success of his manceuvre. On October 7 th, about one 
 o'clock in the day, having returned to the bank of the 
 Danube, he encouraged the workers to repair the broken 
 bridge; the rain which never ceased during that month, 
 and which caused the first part of this campaign to be 
 so trying, had then just begun ; wrapped up in our 
 cloaks, Mortier, Duroc, Caulaincourt, Rapp, and I, 
 surrounded Napoleon, receiving and executing the 
 orders which he kept on multiplying. At one moment 
 I would be despatched to Rain to push on Marshal 
 Soult, and the next to hurry Vandamme's passage 
 beyond the mouth of the Leek. On coming back I 
 always found him stationed in front of this burnt-down 
 bridge of Donawerth, and in his haste to see it recon- 
 structed on both banks, he ordered me to cross the 
 stream too soon. This was the first danger to be
 
 I/O MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 braved and the most perilous. A single log of wood 
 which was long and narrow and badly secured, had 
 only just been thrown across from one pile to another. 
 But under the eyes of Bonaparte I sped off with such 
 an impetus, that in spite of the insecurity of this 
 beam which was quivering under my feet, and the 
 hindrance of my cloak which impeded my movements 
 as it flapped in the wind, I reached the middle of the 
 second arch without wavering. Once there, however, 
 the oscillations of the frail and shaky foot-hold caused 
 me to stagger. I was losing my equilibrium; beneath 
 me the charred and half-burnt joists of the bridge, 
 which had fallen into the stream the night before, 
 were whirling round its foundations with a tumult in 
 which I seemed about to be ingulfed and crushed; 
 neither able to advance nor retreat. I was suspended 
 over this abyss and already swaying towards it, feeling 
 myself a lost man, when an exclamation from Napoleon: 
 " Good God, he will be killed ! " gave me fresh courage ; 
 this cry from his heart seemed to strengthen mine, and 
 with a supreme effort I pulled myself together and 
 managed to reach the right bank. 
 
 An order which I received the next day, October 
 8th, is all the more deeply impressed on my memory 
 because ten years later, a hesitation exactly resembling 
 the one of which I was a witness occasioned the loss 
 of the Grand Army and Waterloo, and the destruction 
 of Napoleon himself! The Emperor, who was still at 
 Donawerth, had sent me that day towards Augsburg, 
 bearing an order to Saint Hilaire's division to take 
 prompt possession of that town. I joined him not far 
 from the latter, abreast of Markl, a village on the 
 edge of the road. Saint Hilaire, hearing the roar of
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 171 
 
 the guns on his right, had just halted there, uncertain 
 if he should not turn to that side; but acting on the 
 order which I had brought him, he was again setting for- 
 ward, when one of Murat's officers, hastening from Ver- 
 tingen came, in the name of that prince who was engaged 
 in the action whose firing we had heard, to summon 
 him to the rescue. 
 
 Saint Hilaire, a man full of heart and intelligence, 
 immediately made up his mind. " You hear, " he said to 
 me, " I must make as much haste as possible, the can- 
 " nonading compels me; notwithstanding contrary orders, 
 " in such an unforeseen case it is a matter of principle 
 "to respond to the call," And he immediately turned 
 the head of his column to the right, upon Vertingen. 
 
 But as generally happens, be had not taken a hundred 
 steps in that direction, than harassed by the responsibility 
 which he was assuming, he asked my opinion. Frankly 
 I knew nothing about it, but at all hazards, thinking 
 it my duty to impress the object of my mission upon 
 him, I insisted on the importance which the Emperor 
 attached to it. The general's anxiety increasing, he 
 stopped short and exclaimed that I was in the right, 
 then turning back his column, he resumed the road to 
 Augsburg. Then came the turn of Murat's envoy, this 
 officer in desperation so vividly describing the prince's 
 peril that Saint Hilaire, much moved, was not able 
 to resist him, and for a second time started off towards 
 Vertingen. 
 
 But w^hile on the march, apostrophizing me : " You 
 " are attached to the person of the Emperor," he said. 
 "You should know his motives." — " He did not confide 
 "them to me," I answered, "but it is evident that 
 " we are turning the Austrian army, and Augsburg
 
 172 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 " being on the line of operations or of retreat, it is of 
 " the most urgent importance to seize it. As for Prince 
 " Murat, he can just as well be supported from Donawerth, 
 "which I left full of troops." This reflection seeming' 
 to strike him, he made another halt in his perplexity, 
 and, changing his mind, once more set his column on 
 the road towards the capital of Suabia. 
 
 But that cursed west wind which was drenching us 
 with rain, also bore us the sound of the cannonading" 
 with greater distinctness, and restored his former scruples. 
 Once more he halted. "Good God," he said, "what 
 "a position! The guns are coming nearer, how can I 
 " draw back ? The Emperor did not know of this 
 " battle when you left Donawerth. " I was obliged 
 to own the truth of this. "His own brother-in-law," 
 " he exclaimed, " how can I abandon him when he is 
 " calling upon me, when he is perhaps completely over- 
 " whelmed. It is impossible." And for the third time 
 the worthy general turned his column again and 
 dashed across country, abandoning Augsburg for 
 Vertingen. 
 
 I was marching on with him, myself in a state of 
 uncertainty, and had almost given up the idea of per- 
 suading him, when the head of his staff pointed out 
 to me that night was drawing on, and that we 
 could not possibly arrive on the scene till after the 
 issue of the conflict was decided. This being to my 
 advantage, I again returned to the charge, representing 
 to the general that if he persisted in this direction 
 when it was too late to respond to the prince's appeal, 
 he would be disobeying the Emperor's order which 
 could still be executed. This new point of view 
 seemed to decide Saint Hilaire, who changed his mind
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 1 73 
 
 for the fourth time, after having spent two hours in 
 wandering from one direction to another, finally resum- 
 ing that of Augsburg. Feeling sure this time that he 
 would continue on his way, and believing that my mission 
 was fulfilled, I turned back to give an account of it. 
 But it w^as my turn to be in fault : as the bearer 
 of so important an order which should have been 
 executed at once, I ought to have remained to see 
 to it. Had I done so, my report would have been 
 more interesting and useful, and Napoleon would 
 have been better satisfied. Not that when he saw 
 me, he made any observation about it; he was still 
 standing before Donawerth, dressed as I had left him 
 the night before, and it was then two hours after 
 midnight. Out of consideration for Saint Hilaire I did 
 not descant on his long hesitation, I only mentioned 
 the place and the hour when I had succeeded in 
 bringing him to a decision. "All the better," said the 
 Emperor, " as the enemy was well beaten at Vertin- 
 gen." Then leading me up to a side table, he added: 
 "Come, where did you leave Saint Hilaire? show me 
 "on this map." Having consulted my own to some pur- 
 pose, I was able to do this without hesitation, and I 
 had taken note ot the distances on the spot, so that 
 I could draw conclusions as to the hour when 
 xVugsburg must have been occupied. " Very well, " 
 said Napoleon, "now let us go and rest." He did 
 nothing of the kind himself, as can be proved by his 
 dispatches to his marshals which were dated that very 
 night, and I remember myself that three hours after 
 I had left him, when I was again summoned to him 
 at daybreak on October gth, I found him on horse- 
 back on the right bank of the Danube.
 
 174 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 Almost as soon as we were on the march, Duroc said 
 to me : " Tell me what happened yesterday with Saint 
 "Hilaire." I did so. "Thus," he said, "you really 
 " believed and told the Emperor that Augsburg must 
 " have been last night in the occupation of that general? " 
 — "Most certainly," I answered. — "Well," continued 
 Duroc, " it is just the contrary. Would you believe 
 " that directly you had left him, another spell of hesi- 
 " tation on his part made him return to Vertingen, this 
 " time for good. It was past midnight when he arrived 
 " on the battle-field, and as you may well imagine, he 
 "found neither friends nor foes; so that wanting to be 
 " everywhere, he was nowhere, neither where he thought 
 " he was going, nor where he was wanted to go. His 
 " hesitation caused him to fall into the very disasters 
 " which he was trying to avoid, so that he has been 
 " worse than useless." 
 
 I was dismayed by this error which had become 
 inexcusable ; it would, however, be difficult to say what 
 Saint Hilaire really ought to have done in such an 
 alternative. But henceforth and after the fatal example 
 of Waterloo, what Frenchman in such a case would he- 
 sitate to repeat the first words of the general to me: 
 " I must go at once, the cannonading compels me, and 
 " in spite of contrary orders, the case being unforeseen, 
 "it is a matter of principle to obey the call"? 
 
 That day, October gth, the Emperor pushed on as 
 far as Vertingen, to examine, according to his custom, 
 the spot where the battle had taken place, to judge 
 of the moves, to review and reward the conquerors, 
 and thus in the glow of success, to fertilize the field 
 of this first victory. His words, especially those ad- 
 dressed to Klein's division, excited them to the highest
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 1 75 
 
 pitch, not onl}^ as a mass but individually. To quote 
 one example amongst others, a non-commissioned officer 
 of dragoons who had been cashiered the night before 
 by his colonel, saved his life the next day at the risk 
 of his own. Napoleon accosted him. "I was wrong 
 "the day before yesterday," answered the soldier, " yes- 
 " terday I only did my duty. " Upon which the Emperor 
 decorated him amidst the acclamations of his comrades. 
 A certain major had been cited; he was imme- 
 diately admitted into the Imperial Guard. 
 
 Exelmans, who had already attracted attention by 
 his rapid insight and intrepid firmness, and who dared 
 at once to put into execution the thing he advised, 
 had been the first to stop the march of the enemy's 
 flank by charging home upon the head of his column ; 
 then making his dragoons dismount, he had with this 
 improvised infantry carried the village of Vertingen. 
 
 " I know it is impossible to be braver than you are, " 
 said the Emperor, " and I create you an officer of the 
 "Legion of Honour!" This was a double promotion 
 for the officer, and the emulation which it caused can 
 be imagined. 
 
 On the loth the Emperor continued as far as Bergau, 
 whence he went on to reconnoitre the enemy up to 
 Pfaffenhoffen. He had just written to Josephine: 
 "That the Russians were still beyond the Inn; that 
 " he was keeping the Austrian army blocked on the 
 "Iller, that the enemy being already beaten had lost 
 "their heads; that everything predicted the shortest and 
 " most brilliant campaign, though carried on in a deluge, 
 " the weather being such that he was forced to change 
 "his clothes twice a day." 
 
 At the end of the day his headquarters were
 
 176 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 established at Augsburg where he only arrived at ten 
 o'clock at night and remained two days. We have 
 seen by the preceding summary what detained him 
 there; but our subject now concerning Napoleon and 
 ourselves specially, other details are necessary. 
 
 At this time and after the passage of the Danube, 
 che Grand Army, divided in two, was at the same time 
 facing Austria and France : Austria, with 60,000 men, 
 masters of Bavaria, under Davout and Bernadotte; 
 Mack and France, with 140,000 men scattered in 
 Suabia from Albeck up to Langsberg; the greater 
 part of whom it was now important to unite on the 
 point of attack. Napoleon, who had arrived in Augs- 
 burg on October loth, thus found himself placed 
 between these two masses. There he remained till 
 October 13th with one eye fixed on Austria where 
 he was counting the footsteps of the Russians, the 
 other on the Tyrol and the army of the Archduke 
 John, whose various corps, detached to relieve 
 Mack, were coming up to be beaten separately; 
 lastly watching Mack himself whom he had broken 
 through the two previous days at Vertingen and at 
 Guntzberg, and was now pressing back on Ulm and 
 on the Iller. 
 
 However little he held this field-marshal in esteem, 
 judging the present by the past, he could not believe 
 that Mack with his 80,000 men as he thought, should 
 not at Ulm follow the example of Melas at Marengo; 
 and that in his hopeless position he would not endeavour 
 to seek death or salvation by a battle. 
 
 Two other courses remained ooen to him ; either 
 to throw himself into the Alps by Upper Suabia, 
 or to fall back upon Bohemia by the left bank of the
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 177 
 
 Danube. Napoleon rendered the first of these impos- 
 sible, by pushing Soult from Landsberg and Augsberg 
 upon ]\Ieningen and Biberach. As for the second, 
 whether the Emperor had been misled by the reports 
 of Murat, or that he had reckoned too much on Dupont 
 seconded by d'Hilliers who had failed him, (both of 
 these still occupying the left bank of the Danube 
 towards Albeck), he neglected this bank under the 
 impression that Mack was waiting for him on the Iller, 
 where his magazines were. It was there that he com- 
 manded Murat to draw all around him: Lannes, Ney 
 himself, Marmont, Soult, 100,000 men, in short. Thence 
 resulted Ney's desperate passage of the right bank 
 by the bridges below Ulm, on October 9th, followed 
 by the too complete abandonment of the left bank of 
 the Danube. 
 
 Napoleon had at the outset misled Mack by the 
 rapid execution of his first and great manoeuvre, and 
 in his turn was himself misled by the inconceivable 
 and stagnant irresolution of his adversary. On the 
 9th, and even more so on the loth, he was so convinced 
 that this field-marshal would make some great attempt 
 either upon Augsberg or towards the Tyrol, and above 
 all that he would assemble his army upon the Iller, 
 that supposing Ulm to be almost abandoned, he ordered 
 Ney, and then Dupont even by himself, to take possession 
 of it. Indeed, on the evening of the loth, he so entirely 
 believed in a battle on the Iller that he announced it 
 to his marshals with the day and the hour. "Mack," 
 he wrote from Bavaria to Davout and to Bernadotte, 
 "will succumb on the Iller on the 14th; and all being 
 " over on that side, they would see the Emperor come 
 "to their aid with 40,000 men." 
 14
 
 IjB MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 But during the night of the 12th to the 13th all had 
 changed. A letter from Lannes full of the warlike in- 
 stinct which that marshal possessed to so high a degree, 
 disclosed to Napoleon the fact that Murat was mis- 
 leading him by his reports, that looking only straight 
 ahead, he was attracting all to himself and that in 
 spite of Ney he had given up to the enemy Du- 
 pont and the left bank of the Danube. On the other 
 hand the news had just arrived at the Imperial quarters 
 of the engagement at Albeck, where Dupont, one against 
 four, and abandoned by d'Hilliers, was surrounded; 
 and although left conqueror on the battle-field, had 
 been obliged to retire leaving his stores behind him. 
 This letter of Lannes and the news from Dupont which 
 Napoleon had been so far from expecting, at last drew 
 his attention to the left bank ; he began to be doubtful 
 of a battle on the Iller, and the fear of Mack's retreat 
 towards Bohemia by Nordlingen could no longer be 
 regarded by him as groundless, for he had just demon- 
 strated its possibility. The most hvely anxiety took 
 instant possession of the mind of Bonaparte. His great 
 park of artillery, his reinforcements, his line of advance, 
 indeed his line of operation were not sufficiently pro- 
 tected on the left bank of the Danube. Mack in Ulm is on 
 both banks : it would even seem as if he would profit by 
 this advantage to take flight. It was therefore necessary, 
 if indeed there were still time, on the one hand sud- 
 denly to re-possess himself of the left bank; on the 
 other, thoroughly to reconnoitre the enemy along the 
 right bank as far as Ulm itself, to obtain a certainty 
 as to his intentions on both banks and to keep him 
 there. 
 
 October 13th saw the issue of a hundred instructions.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 1 79 
 
 the most important of which was an order to Marshal 
 Ney, which he was not able to execute till the next 
 day, to recross the Danube at Elchingen that very 
 day at all hazards. In his restless anxiety Napoleon 
 had already sent me the previous evening to Murat 
 as the bearer of orders and to bring back news; and 
 the prince, at last discovering his error, had informed 
 me that the enemy was no longer before him but had 
 crossed to the opposite bank. My instructions were 
 to return that night to Guntzberg where the Emperor 
 arrived on the 13 th at day-break. There, warned by 
 me that part of the enemy had been perceived on 
 his way, in his astonishment he sent me to recon- 
 noitre up stream the bridge of Leiphen which he 
 thought was held. This was admitting the very 
 possible supposition that the enemy had already been 
 able to advance so far from Ulm by going down the 
 stream on its left bank to escape us. 
 
 It was not till the afternoon that I found the Emperor 
 at Pfaffenhoffen with Murat. On my report that 
 Leiphen was full of our troops, but that they did not 
 seem to contemplate holding the bridge, he said to 
 his brother-in-law with a shrug of the shoulders : " It 
 " is always the same. You see how our orders are 
 "executed." It is difficult to say if a reproach 
 thus worded, was intended for Ney or for Murat; 
 but the Emperor evidently perceived that during his 
 stay at Augsberg everything had got behindhand; 
 that the enemy had been neglected and badly recon- 
 noitred; that it would be necessary in the future for 
 him to be present everywhere himself, and that he 
 could rely only on his own discernment. 
 
 He immediately sent order upon order to Lannes
 
 l8o MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 and Marmont to press Ulm closely, and recalled Soult 
 there from Meningen ; the night reports having arrived, 
 he reproached Ney who had only too well obeyed 
 orders, for having left Dupont alone on the other bank, 
 and reprimanded him for having feebly attacked the 
 bridge of Elchingen that evening and having met 
 with a repulse. " He thought it quite right, " he wrote, 
 "to draw the enemy into partial engagements which 
 " could only be favourable to us, but that it was necessary 
 " above all to avoid risking those slight reverses which 
 " raised the courage of the enemy and restored the spirit 
 " of an army which had lost it. " 
 
 It must be admitted that from Guntzberg to Pfaffen- 
 hoffen, the army presented an aspect of the greatest 
 disorder ; the roads which were full of ruts, were strewn 
 with our Alsatian waggons stuck fast in the mire, 
 with their drivers at their wits' end, and with fallen 
 horses dying of hunger and fatigue. Our soldiers 
 were rushing right and left, helter-skelter across the 
 fields; some looking for food, others using up their 
 cartridges shooting the game with which these plains 
 abounded. Hearing all this firing, and the whistle of 
 the bullets, one might have fancied oneself at the 
 advance-posts, and one ran quite as great risk. 
 
 It was difficult to check this licence, for the soldiers 
 without rations could only live by pillage, and were 
 foraging for their officers. The Emperor passed by without 
 appearing to take any notice of this disorder ; an inevit- 
 able consequence of the myriad rapid movements which 
 are requisite to attain the most glorious results. Indeed 
 these enormous armies, like giants, require to be seen 
 at a distance when defects pass unnoticed, which is 
 the case of the world itself, whose whole strikes us
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. l8l 
 
 with admiration, but in which so many details appear 
 sacrificed to this admirable whole. 
 
 I must confess for my part that I might have made 
 my recognizance of the bridge of Leiphen more useful 
 to the Emperor. I ought to have made him acquainted 
 with its approaches, the configuration of the two banks, 
 and above all the fact that the right commanded the 
 left one. I neglected insisting on this point, although 
 its importance was very great. 
 
 My immediate regrets were at first only a question 
 of a?nour-propre, but became more serious later on. 
 Had I, in fact, drawn the attention of the Emperor 
 to the facility of this passage which was then free, 
 whilst on the contrary that of Elchingen, strongly 
 occupied and at two hours distance, was very dangerous 
 of access, he would probably have chosen it, or, at 
 any rate, he would, by a double attack, have divided 
 the enemy's forces, and thus diminished his resistance. 
 The brilliant but bloody action of Elchingen on the 
 next day, when Ney, taking the bull by the horns, 
 might have met with a repulse, would have been the 
 more assured and less costly; thus the smallest details 
 are never unimportant and there is no such thing as 
 a trifling error in critical moments. My only excuse 
 was in my excessive fatigue; however, worn-out as I 
 was by a consecutive journey of thirty-six hours, on my 
 own horses at first, and then on those of orderlies and 
 country people, the Emperor, who was preoccupied 
 with what was going on on the other bank, sent me 
 several leagues further, with orders to his heavy cavalry 
 to reconnoitre along the Danube. It was then that 
 Marshal Ney, obeying his orders with too great 
 precipitation, had caused the approach of the bridge of
 
 1 82 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 Elchingen to be vainly attacked by an insufficient 
 advance-guard. While pursuing my way, the sound of 
 the firing attracted me to this engagement where I 
 should have found myself without a mission, acting 
 the useless and unbecoming part of a mere spectator. 
 A curious meeting, however, stopped me. I was 
 walking across the fields at nightfall when suddenly 
 a sentinel from behind a bush, opposing me with his 
 bayonet, cried out: "Who goes there!" in such good 
 German, that, taking him for one of the enemy, I 
 thought I had better rid myself of him before he had 
 time to alarm his guard. I therefore answered 
 in the same language, and drew my sword which I 
 was going to make use of, when, surprised by his 
 confidence, I asked him in German : " What part of 
 " the world do you come from ? " " From Strasburg, " he 
 answered. Then, discovering my mistake, with some 
 relief, I must admit, and cured by this adventure of 
 my ill-timed martial curiosity, I bethought myself of 
 executing Napoleon's orders, after which I went 
 on to sleep at Guntzberg where the headquarters 
 remained, though without the Emperor, who had gone 
 to pass the night at Pfaffenhoffen. 
 
 On the next day, October 14th, no longer trusting 
 anybody. Napoleon left at daybreak for the castle of 
 Hildenhausen, himself to begin the engagement which 
 on this side was to drive back the enemy into Ulm. 
 Immediately afterwards, going down the bank full 
 gallop, he reached the passage of Elchingen where I 
 found him at the moment when the 6Qth regiment, 
 overthrowing the enemy on the bridge, had just taken 
 possession of it, and when supported beyond it by the 
 76th infantry and the i8th, loth and 3rd dragoons, the
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 183 
 
 Rifles, and Hussars, Ney in three assaults took possession 
 of the elevated and formidable height on which is 
 situated the thenceforth celebrated abbey of Elchingen. 
 
 Whilst the marshal was thus driving onwards 
 up to the foot of Michaelsberg, the true rampart 
 of Ulm, Laudon, w^ho was flying w^ith a loss of 6,000 
 men, Napoleon had pushed on through the midst of 
 reinforcemicnts of all branches who had thrown them- 
 selves upon the bridge, and the dead and wounded 
 who encumbered it. He was making his way with 
 difficulty through this narrow passage, covered with 
 blood and wreckage, when noticing that the wounded left 
 off moaning to salute him with their customary greet- 
 ing, he stopped short. Amongst these was an artillery- 
 man whose thigh had been carried away by a cannon 
 ball; remarking him specially, he drew near him and 
 taking off his own star, placed it in his hand, saying: 
 "Take this, it is yours, so is the Hotel of the Invalides 
 " where you may still have the consolation of living on 
 " happily. " — " No, no, " replied the brave soldier, " there 
 " has been too much letting of blood this time ! But no 
 " matter, long live the Emperor! " 
 
 On the other side of the bridge a grenadier of the 
 former army of Egypt lay on his ba:ck with his face 
 exposed to the pelting rain. In the excitement of 
 action he was still crying : " Forwards ! " to his com- 
 rades. The Emperor recognised him as he was passing 
 by, and taking off his own cloak, he threw it over 
 him, saying : " Try to bring this back to me, and in 
 " exchange I will give you the decoration and the 
 " pension that you have so well deserved. " 
 
 Then from the top of the steep height of Elchingen, 
 giving his whole attention to the engagement, and
 
 184 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 seeing" that victory was decided, and the left bank at 
 last retaken, he sent General Mouton on to Albeck, 
 where the hazardous position of Dupont disquieted him ; 
 and crossing the bridge, rapidly rode up the right 
 bank beyond Hildenhausen, desiring to assure himself 
 of the success of this other attack which had been 
 engaged by him at daybreak. Decided for the future 
 only to believe his own eyes, he drew near, remaining 
 so long on a hillock near the enemy, that we were 
 obliged to turn ourselves into sharp shooters, and even 
 to open a pistol fire upon the Austrian dragoons to 
 drive them away from his person. Night was falling 
 before he retired satisfied, and he returned again to 
 the right bank to sleep at Ober-Falheim, near Elchingen, 
 at the house of a village priest where Thiard made his 
 bed, and one of his aides-de-camp made him an ome- 
 lette; but as everything had been pillaged, he had to 
 do without all he required; neither dry clothing nor 
 anything else could be had, not even his Chambertin 
 wine, causing him to remark gaily, " That he had never 
 " gone without that, not even in the midst of the Egyptian 
 desert. " 
 
 On October 15th, at three o'clock in the morning, 
 which was his habit, because the reports of the day 
 before were then to hand, he dictated his orders, to 
 the effect that during the day. Mack was to be com- 
 pletely thrown back and hemmed in between the two 
 banks within the walls of Ulm. He already suspected 
 that a troop of the enemy might evade them by Nord- 
 lingen, but he did not then foresee a sudden attack 
 on his rear towards Donawerth. He took the pre- 
 cautions which were then necessary. 
 
 As soon as it was light he took up his position in
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON L 1 85 
 
 the abbey of Elchingen where he drew up the order 
 of attack on Mount St. IMichael, towering over Ulm, 
 and the key to that town. Mid-day was the hour 
 decided upon for this last blow which was to be struck 
 by Ney, supported on the left by Lannes, with a reserve 
 of the guard and our heavy cavalry. 
 
 Towards eleven o'clock, Napoleon in his impatience 
 mounted his horse again, and proceeded on the road 
 to Ulm, even passing Ney's advance posts and pushing 
 on as far as the foot of jMount St. Michael. Twenty-five 
 mounted riflemen of his guard and a few of us alone were 
 following him. He was getting impatient of the delays 
 in the arrival of his columns which was the inevitable 
 result of the passage of the bridge of Elchingen behind 
 us, and was anxious that it should be over. At last 
 when some of the enemy's balls fell near us, not being 
 able to take another step without grave imprudence, 
 he stopped and called me to him : " Take my riflemen, " 
 he said, " go to the front and bring me back some 
 prisoners." Thus began the battle of Ulm. It was 
 the Emperor in person who engaged it with his 
 escort. 
 
 The enemy had perceived him; — it occupied the top 
 of the hill, and a squadron of Uhlans barred the road. 
 My own squad which was badly officered by its 
 lieutenant, missed its charge, stopped and nearly caused 
 me to be taken as well as a brigadier who alone had 
 followed me, and had been wounded at my side by 
 the thrust of a lance. Getting back dissatisfied, as may 
 be imagined, I reprimanded the riflemen, their officer 
 especially, and dispersed them as sharpshooters. Then 
 the firing began. 
 
 Why I remember this circumstance, in itself not very
 
 1 86 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 remarkable, is on account of a strange meeting 
 which I had just made unconsciously, and that of the 
 temporary disgrace which the whole body of riflemen 
 of our guard contrived to draw upon itself that day. 
 Before my departure from Paris for the army, a female 
 relative of the young Prince of Windischgraetz had 
 recommended him to me in case he were taken pri- 
 soner; and on the contrary, it was this self-same 
 brilliant young officer who at the head of his platoon 
 of Uhlans had very nearly taken me. As for the 
 mounted riflemen of the guard, some spirit of false 
 pride had taken possession of this picked corps. They 
 had become so haughty that they not only looked 
 upon the advance post duty with disdain, but on the 
 night of this action, on their return to Elchingen, they 
 treated the Imperial livery with disrespect, taking pos- 
 session of the best places for their horses, by hook or 
 by crook, and leaving the others outside, They were 
 soon, however, set down, for Napoleon, in a rage, sent 
 them off at once to his brother-in-law, and two days 
 after, being drafted into his cavalry without any 
 distinction of person, the entire corps made amends 
 for the error of a few amongst them by contributing 
 to make 20,000 men lay down their arms. 
 
 The firing that I had just initiated soon extended 
 over the whole line commanded by Ney. We had 
 thought that we were covering the Emperor, but he 
 had grown tired of these skirmishes and the never 
 ceasing rain, and had sought shelter at Hasslach whilst 
 waiting for his guard and the corps of Marshal Lannes. 
 I found him in a farm house of this hamlet, dozing by 
 the side of a stove, whilst a young drummer was doz- 
 ing also on the other side. Somewhat surprised, at
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 1 87 
 
 this spectacle, I was told that they had wanted to 
 send the child elsewhere ; but the drummer boy would 
 not hear of it, saying, "That there was plenty of 
 " room for everybody, that he was wounded and cold, 
 " that he was very comfortable, and that he meant to 
 "stop there." On hearing this Napoleon began to 
 laugh, saying: "That he must be allowed to remain 
 as he made such a point of it." So that the Emperor 
 and the drummer slept side by side, surrounded by a 
 circle of generals and high dignitaries, who were stand- 
 ing whilst waiting for orders. 
 
 The cannonading, however, was drawing nearer, 
 and Napoleon aroused himself about every ten minutes 
 to send off messengers to hasten Lannes' arrival, when 
 that marshal entered abruptly witli the exclamation : 
 
 "Sire! what are you thinking of ? You are sleeping, 
 " while Ney, single-handed, is fighting against the whole 
 "of the Austrian army!" — "Why has he engaged 
 "them?" answered the Emperor. "I told him to wait; 
 " but it is just like him ; he cannot see the enemy 
 "without falling upon him!"— "That is all very well, " 
 "retorted Lannes, "but one of his brigades has been 
 " repulsed. My grenadiers are here ; we must hurry 
 " up ; there is no time to be lost ! " And he carried 
 off Napoleon with him, who in his turn becoming 
 excited, pushed on so far ahead that Lannes, not 
 being able to persuade him to stop, at last roughly 
 seized his horse's bridle, and forced him back into a 
 less dangerous position. 
 
 Ney had indeed refused to defer his attack ; his left 
 wing had just been shaken by a sally of 10,000 men, 
 notwithstanding which he had ordered Dumas to tell 
 the Emperor, " that he would see to all, and that he
 
 1 88 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 " answered for everything, and had no need of Marshal 
 " Lannes ; glory was not a thing to be shared ! " 
 
 The imminence of the danger was of short duration. 
 In a very few moments, Bertrand with three batta- 
 lions carried the retrenchment of Michael's Berg ; and 
 Suchet, on the other side, detached by Lannes, soon 
 crowned the heights of the Frauenberg. Thus master 
 of the outskirts, the Emperor from the summit of the 
 first of these hills, was able to contemplate at his feet 
 within half-range of his shells, the town of Ulm 
 completely surrounded, and full of the enemy packed 
 closely together, without provisions, without forage, 
 unable to move within its walls. 
 
 From that moment, knowing that his prey could not 
 escape him. Napoleon began to set his lines in order, 
 to unite and strengthen his positions, to threaten the 
 town with a few shells, and when night came on he 
 left to pass it at Elchingen, where I joined him too 
 late to fulfil my duty of establishing his headquar- 
 ters, and seeing after his guard. The fact was that 
 at the hottest moment of the day, led away by curiosity 
 and a desire to be one of the first to enter Ulm, I had 
 left Napoleon to follow the attack of the 17 th light 
 infantry on the gate called " Stuttgart. " It was at the 
 very moment when Colonel Vedel, entering pell-mell 
 with the enemy, had lost the half of his first battalion 
 in Ulm, and had been taken with the remainder. 
 Having got away from the scrimmage, I went off 
 to seek my fortune elsewhere, with such recklessness 
 that I was on the point of falling into an ambuscade 
 when Marshal Ney, who was behind me on the slope 
 of the Michael's Berg, saved me from this misfor- 
 tune.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 189 
 
 I was somewhat roughly admonished about this the 
 next day by Rapp and Caulaincourt, who asked me if 
 I thought I was in the army entirely on my own 
 account and for my own pleasure. They added that 
 as an officer of the Emperor's staff, my duty was to 
 remain v/ithin hail, to be at hand to convey his orders, 
 and that while waiting to receive them, I could take 
 observations, if I wanted to do so, within my range 
 of vision. This well-merited lesson was all the more 
 useful to me in that while recalling me to my duties 
 as one of the staff, it caused me to reflect on the 
 means by which I could best fulfil them. 
 
 I indulged in this examination of conscience while 
 reposing on the straw at our halting place, Elchingen ; 
 and it was probably of a very different kind to that 
 of the monk to whose pallet I had succeeded. Imagin- 
 ing that our part of the campaign was over, I only 
 got up in time to aid the Emperor to mount his horse, 
 and to repair my inadvertence of the previous day 
 by taking possession of the abbey. Its inspection 
 was a sad and painful business, for the horrors of war 
 asserted themselves with only too much prominence. 
 To begin with, the ambulance was installed there, as 
 I soon knew from the cries of the wounded who were 
 undergoing amputation, and whom it would be my 
 duty to see and encourage. But a still more terrible 
 sight awaited me. 
 
 I was going over' every part of this immense gothic 
 edifice, visiting the guards and rectifying the orders 
 when, passing by a dark cellar, I thought I heard 
 stifled moans mingled with noisy singing and bursts 
 of laughter. I stopped to question a sentinel who 
 told me that the same groans of pain broken by out-
 
 igo MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 bursts of mirth, had excited his astonishment. We 
 hstened together, and then hearing nothing but the 
 chink of glasses I was going to pass on when another 
 feeble, plaintive cry reached our ears. 
 
 Much troubled, after having vainly sounded all the 
 surrounding walls, I went into a low-pitched room 
 whence proceeded the convivial sounds. A party of 
 couriers and valets were at table making merry with 
 the wines which they had just laid hands upon. I 
 told them to be silent, enquiring if they had not heard 
 moans and groans from some point quite near to 
 them. They replied that they had, but not knowing 
 what it meant, they did not trouble themselves about 
 it. " But several of you slept here last night, " I said, 
 " and in the stillness, you must have heard even 
 " more plainly." They gave the same answer, " that 
 " the moaning had disturbed them, and that they had 
 "also been annoyed by a foul, corpse-like smell, but 
 "that they had been able to fall asleep again." This 
 was too much for me : " Get up at once, " I exclaimed, 
 " and follow me." 
 
 Our researches took some time, but at last in this 
 very cellar which they were occupying, behind a heap 
 of planks, we discovered a massive door which seemed 
 to have been carefully hidden from view. For some 
 time it resisted our attempts to open it, but when open, 
 such a fetid smell issued forth that I drew back; I had, 
 however, seen enough to force myself to overcome 
 my disgust. 
 
 This cellar of small size, though fairly well lighted, 
 had disclosed to me in a glance every torture of suf- 
 fering, every manifestation of agony and misery. I 
 have witnessed many horrible scenes but the details
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 191 
 
 of this one will ever remain graven on my memory. 
 The door had been barricaded by the bodies of 
 Austrian soldiers who had died of hunger or of their 
 wounds, and who having pulled the door upon them- 
 selves, had not had the strength to open it again. 
 One of their officers was lying there in a dying con- 
 dition though still breathing, but almost suffocated by 
 the unfortunates who had expired while they were 
 lying on him. Further on many bodies were stretched 
 out here and there, some of which had their arms 
 gnawed off ; of these some bore an expression of rage, 
 others were in an attitude of prayer. In the middle 
 of the cellar, a second officer, all bloodstained, tried to 
 raise himself on his knees when he heard us enter ; 
 he extended his hands to us, but fell forward in his 
 weakness, first on his hands, then on his forehead, 
 frothing at the mouth, and gave up his last breath with 
 the death rattle in his throat. A third officer was 
 crouched on a table which he had probably mounted 
 to reach the air hole and cry for help ; his head 
 wagged from one side to another, and his hands moved 
 about as if seeking a hold on something to cling to, 
 the light of day, the outer world, the life that was 
 ebbing away ! . . . . But enough — perhaps too much ; 
 courage fails me to continue. In short, these un- 
 fortunates, dead or dying of their wounds, of hunger, 
 and above all of thirst, numbered about fourteen or 
 fifteen, amongst whom hardly three could possibly be 
 saved. Unfortunately I had only discovered them 
 on the third day of their agony ; it was during the night 
 before last, in an endeavour to save themselves from 
 the excesses of victory, that they had inflicted this tor- 
 ture upon themselves.
 
 1 92 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 Whilst I was engaged in this sad inspection, the 
 Emperor who had been falsely informed of the flight 
 of the Archduke, believed him to be on his way 
 towards Biberach and the Alps. He counted on his 
 retreat being cut off by Marshal Soult. Again on 
 the positions of the Michael's Berg which had been 
 conquered the previous night he was cannonading 
 Ulm, piling up fascines, and threatening an assault on 
 this town and army which were already surrounded 
 and dominated on all sides. 
 
 Mack, on his side, a prey to the animadversions of 
 his generals, was telling them that the Russians would 
 soon arrive, being on their way to succour them; and 
 he forbade them on their honour, even to pronounce 
 the word surrender. But he contradicted himself by 
 asking Marshal Ney on that ver}^ day, Oct. 1 6th, for a 
 suspension of arms, who, however, made short work 
 of his appeal, vouchsafing no other reply than the 
 eloquence of his pieces of ordnance. 
 
 The Emperor had just returned to Elchingen; and 
 the night of the i6th to the 17 th of October had com- 
 menced. As soon as he heard of these parleyings, 
 which indeed he had expected, he sent word by letter 
 to France and elsewhere that he held the Austrian 
 army prisoner; that it would capitulate within an hour, 
 and, sending for me, he gave me verbal orders with 
 brief and concise instructions, to go and negotiate the 
 conditions of the capitulation with the Field-marshal. 
 
 I shall now proceed to reproduce the narrative of 
 this event in the same terms in which I drew it up 
 a little later, from notes taken on the spot, for Gene- 
 ral Dumas. This general was then engaged in writing 
 a summary of the campaign in which my report figures
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 1 93 
 
 as piece justificative. The very few modifications 
 which may be remarked in this document render it 
 more conformable to the original notes. 
 
 Imperial Headquarters of Elchingen. 
 October 17th. 
 
 Last night, 24th Vendemiaire (October i6th), the Em- 
 peror called me into his study, and ordered me to 
 enter Ulm, and make Mack agree to surrender 
 in five days, or to grant him six if he absolutely 
 required them. Such were my instructions. The night 
 was pitch dark, and a furious gale had risen; I was 
 very nearly blown over several times during the storm. 
 It was pouring with rain, and I had to travel by cross 
 country roads, avoiding the bogs where man, horse 
 and mission might come to an untimely end. I arrived 
 nearly to the gates of the town without meeting our 
 advance posts: there were not any to be seen; sen- 
 tinels, vedettes, guards, had gone under shelter, the 
 parks of artillery even were abandoned, there were no 
 fires and no stars. I wandered about for three hours 
 striving to find the general, and I passed through 
 several villages where I vainly interrogated those of 
 our troops who were occupying the various houses. 
 
 At last I discovered a trumpeter of the artillery, 
 half drowned in the mud under an artillery waggon, 
 where he had taken shelter. He was stiff with cold. 
 Together we approached the ramparts of Ulm where 
 we were probably expected, for at our first call, M. 
 de la Tour, an officer who spoke very good French, 
 presented himself to conduct me to the field-marshal. 
 15
 
 194 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 He bandaged my eyes and made me ascend by the 
 fortifications. I ventured on remarking to my conductor 
 that there was no need of a bandage on such a very 
 dark night, but he said it was customary. It seemed 
 to me rather a long way, and I took advantage of 
 this to make my guide talk, with a view of finding 
 out what eminent chiefs were in the town. To this 
 end I complained of fatigue, asking if Marshal Mack's 
 quarters were far from those of the Archduke. " They 
 are contiguous," answered M. -de la Tour, from which 
 I concluded that we held in Ulm, with the prince, all 
 the remainder of the Austrian army. In course of 
 conversation I felt confirmed in this conjecture, which 
 the departure of the Archduke at that very moment 
 had rendered an erroneous one. 
 
 We at last arrived in an inn where the general-in- 
 chief was lodging ; it might then be about three hours 
 after midnight. This general seemed to me to be tall, 
 old and pale, the expression of his countenance denoted 
 a keen imagination, and his features were drawn by 
 an anxiety which he vainly endeavoured to conceal. 
 
 I announced my name and after the exchange of a 
 few compliments, I entered on my subject by telling 
 him that I came from the Emperor to call upon him 
 to surrender, and to settle with him the conditions of 
 the capitulation. He seemed to find these expressions 
 unpalatable, and he would not at first agree that it 
 was a necessity for him to listen to them. On this, 
 however, I insisted, dwelling on the fact that having 
 received me after his demand for a suspension of 
 arms, I should naturally conclude, as the Emperor 
 had done, that he fully realized his position; but he 
 replied impatiently, that it would soon be completely
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 1 95 
 
 altered, that the Russian army was approaching, that 
 it would extricate him and place us between two fires, 
 and that perhaps it would be we who would capitulate. 
 I retorted that in his position it was not surprising he 
 was ignorant of what was going on in Austria, because 
 we had entirely cut him off from it; that in consequence 
 it devolved upon me to inform him that Marshals 
 Davout and Bernadotte, and the Bavarian army, were 
 occupying Ingolstadt and Munich, and that their ad- 
 vance posts were on the Inn where no one had yet 
 heard anything of the Russians. " May I be the great- 
 " est jackass," exclaimed Marshal Mack in a rage, "if 
 " I do not know on positive authority that the Rus- 
 " sians are at Dachau ! Do they think they can humbug 
 "me like this? Am I to be treated like a child? No! 
 " M. de Segur, if I am not succoured in a week, I 
 " agree to surrender my position, and that my soldiers 
 " should be prisoners of war, and their officers prison- 
 " ers on parole. By then there would have been 
 " time for succour to reach me, and I should have 
 " fulfilled my duty. That succour will come, I am 
 " certain." — " I have the honour again to tell you, sir," 
 I retorted, " that we are not only masters of Dachau, 
 " but of Munich and Bavaria, up to the Inn. Besides, 
 " allowing your assertion were true, and that the Rus- 
 " sians are at Dachau, five days would be sufficient for 
 " them to come and attack us, and His Majesty has 
 " granted them." — "No, sir," resumed the marshal, " I de- 
 " mand eight days. I will not listen to any other 
 "proposition. I must have eight days, they are indis- 
 " pensable to vindicate my responsibility." — "Thus," I 
 continued, " the difficulty lies in the difference between 
 " five and eight days. I confess that I cannot under-
 
 196 MEMOIRS OF AN ATDE-UE-CAMP 
 
 " stand the importance which Your Excellency attaches 
 " to this, when His Majesty is before you at the head 
 "of more than 100,000 men, and when the corps of the 
 " Marshals Davout and Bernadotte, and the Bavarian 
 " army would quite suffice to delay the march of the 
 " Russians by these three days, even supposing them to 
 "be where they are very far from being at present. "^ — 
 " They are at Dachau," repeated the marshal. " So be 
 "it, Baron," I exclaimed. "Let us even say at Augs- 
 " burg, all the more reason that we shovild wish to finish 
 " with you as soon as possible. Do not force us to take 
 " Ulm by storm, for instead of five days' delay, the Em- 
 " peror would be here in a few hours." — "My dear sir," 
 replied the general-in-chief, " do not suppose that 
 " 15,000 men will let themselves be taken so easily. It 
 "would cost you dear." — "A few hundred men," I re- 
 plied, " while for you it would mean the loss of your 
 " whole army, and the destruction of Ulm, which Ger- 
 " ma:ny would consider your doing; in short, all the 
 " horrors of a siege which His Majesty desires to avoid 
 "by the proposition he authorized me to make to you." 
 
 — "You had better say," exclaimed the marshal, "that 
 " it would cost you 10,000 men, the strength of Ulm is 
 "sufficiently well known."— "It consists," I resumed, 
 " in the surrounding heights which we are occupying." 
 
 — "It is impossible, Sir," he answered, "that you 
 "should not be aware of the strength of Ulm." — 
 "Without a doubt," I answered, " all the more that we 
 "can see down into it." — "Very well. Sir," then said 
 the unfortunate general, " you see men who are ready 
 " to defend it to the last extremity, if your Emperor 
 " will not give them eight days. I can hold on some 
 " time. There are three thousand horses in Ulm, and
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 197 
 
 " sooner than surrender, we would eat them up with a 
 " great deal more pleasure than you would if you were 
 "in our place." — "Your horses!" I exclaimed, "ah! 
 " Marshal, you must indeed be in sad straits already if 
 " you are thinking of such a sorry resource ! " 
 
 The marshal hastened to affirm that he had ten days' 
 stores, but I did not believe it. The day was beginning 
 to break, and we had made no progress ; I might grant 
 six days, but the baron so obstinately held out for eight, 
 that, considering the concession of a day quite useless, 
 I would not mention it. I therefore took my leave, 
 telling him that my instructions commanded me to be 
 back before day, and that in the event of a refusal I 
 was to convey to Marshal Ney as I passed by, orders 
 to begin the attack. On this General Mack complained 
 of the marshal's rudeness towards the bearer of a flag 
 of truce to whom he would not listen. I took advan- 
 tage of this to say that this marshal was indeed of a 
 most hot-headed and impetuous disposition and inca- 
 pable of self-restraint ; that the body of men which he 
 commanded was not only the most numerous but the 
 nearest to them ; that he was impatiently awaiting 
 orders to storm the place, which I should deliver to him 
 on my departure from Ulm. 
 
 The old field-marshal would not be intimidated ; he 
 insisted on his eight days, and that I should convey 
 the proposition to the Emperor. 
 
 This unhappy general was ready to sign the loss 
 of Austria and his own, and yet in this hopeless posi- 
 tion, when he must have suffered cruelly in every way, 
 he would not give in ; his mind retained its faculties 
 and his arguments were lively and tenacious. He de- 
 fended the only thing that remained to him, time; either
 
 198 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 because he really thought the Russian army near 
 enough to come to his succour, or that he sought to 
 retard the downfall of Austria of which he was the 
 cause, and to give her a few days longer to prepare 
 for it. Lost himself, he still struggled for her. He was 
 a man of conversation rather than of action. Bewil- 
 dering himself by vain conjectures, he tried to play a 
 game of diamond cut diamond. It is also possible 
 that he may have desired to turn our attention from 
 the flight of the 50,000 men of whose escape by 
 Nordlingen we had just been informed. 
 
 This morning before nine o'clock, I returned to the 
 Emperor at the abbey of Elchingen, giving him an 
 account of this negotiation, whose details appeared to 
 please him. His glance denoted the liveliest satisfac- 
 tion when misinformed by me as to the presence of the 
 Archduke in Ulm. After twenty minutes' conversa- 
 tion, seeing that I was worn out with so many days 
 and nights of fighting and fatigue, he gave me per- 
 mission to take off my clothes and retire to rest. But 
 before I was half undressed, I was ordered back to 
 him in hot haste, and as I kept him waiting a couple 
 of minutes, he sent Marshal Berthier in person to seek 
 me in my cell where I was wearily struggling into 
 my clothes again. This major brought me at the same 
 time the new propositions written on half margin, 
 and the order to go back at once and make the mar- 
 shal accept them. 
 
 The Emperor granted eight days, to date from Octo- 
 ber 15th, the first day of the blockade, which really 
 reduced it to the six days which I could have conceded 
 but had not chosen to do. However, in case of a 
 persistent refusal, I was authorized to date these eight
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 199 
 
 days from October i6th, and the Emperor would still 
 be the gainer of a day by this concession. He was 
 anxious to enter Ulm quickly so as to increase the 
 glory of his victory by its rapidity, to be able to turn 
 back and throw himself upon Vienna before that capital 
 had recovered from its consternation, so as not to leave 
 the Russian army time to take measures for its defence ; 
 and also because our own provisions were beginning 
 to run short. 
 
 Marshal Berthier caused me to be informed that he 
 would approach the gate of Ulm, and that when the 
 conditions were settled, I was to procure his admission. 
 
 I returned to Ulm towards noon. This time I found 
 Mack a few paces from the gate of the town on the 
 ground-floor of a small, dirty, and miserable pot-house. 
 I handed to him the ultimatum of the Emperor, and 
 he immediately went up to the first story to discuss 
 it with some generals, amongst whom were MM. 
 de Lichtenstein, Klenau and Giulai. Twenty minutes 
 later he came down again alone, once more to argue 
 with me upon the date of the respite which had been 
 granted to him. His obstinate tenacity made me 
 relinquish all hope of overcoming it, so that I judged 
 it right to concede the only day which I was author- 
 ized to yield. A misunderstanding, due no doubt to 
 the difference of the two calendars which we were 
 each using, led him to imagine that, dating from 
 25th Vendemiaire (October 17th) he was thus obtain- 
 ing the eight days for which he held out. Then in 
 a singular transport of joy he exclaimed: " M. de 
 " Segur, my dear M. de Segur, I was not mistaken in 
 
 "relying on the generosity of the Emperor tell 
 
 " Marshal Berthier that I thoroughly respect him .... tell
 
 200 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 " the Emperor that I have only a few shght remarks 
 
 " to make that I will sign anything you bring me 
 
 "but also tell His Majesty that Marshal Ney has used 
 " me with great severity.. . . that that is not the way to 
 
 " treat Be sure to tell the Emperor that I relied 
 
 " on his generosity. .." Then he added in an effusion of 
 
 increasing delight: " M. de Segur, I value your esteem 
 
 " I think a great deal of the opinion that you may 
 " form of me. And I will show you the paper that I 
 " had already signed, bearing my unalterable resolution. " 
 Thus saying, he unfolded a sheet of paper upon which 
 I read these words: "Eight days or death! signed 
 "Mack." 
 
 I was transfixed with astonishment when I noted 
 the expression of happiness which irradiated his coun- 
 tenance. I was astonished and almost taken aback by 
 this puerile joy over such a futile concession. In so 
 entire a shipwreck of his hopes, what a miserable branch 
 was this for the unhappy general-in-chief to hang his 
 lost honour upon, in the belief that it might also be 
 strong enough to bear that of his army, and the safety 
 of Austria. He took my hands and pressed them in 
 his own, allowing me to leave Ulm with unbandaged 
 eyes, and even permitting the introduction of Marshal 
 Berthier into the place without any formality; he was, 
 in short, happy at last ! . . . . 
 
 There ensued, however, a lively discussion with 
 General Berthier still concerning these dates. I had 
 explained the misunderstanding, and the matter was 
 laid before the Emperor, Marshal Mack had assured 
 me on my night visit that ten days' provisions were 
 left, but as a matter of fact, so little remained, as 
 indeed I had remarked to His Majesty, that he had
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 20I 
 
 asked permission in my presence for some to be sent 
 in tliat very day. This consideration alone would 
 leave the Emperor free to take back the twenty-four 
 hours which he would give up. He therefore yielded 
 as to the date; and that very night, October 17th, 
 this capitulation, whose negotiation he had entrusted 
 to me, approved by him, was signed by JMarshals 
 Berthier and Mack. 
 
 Mack finding himself turned and driven back upon 
 Ulm, thought that by throwing himself into it, he 
 would attract and keep the Emperor before the ram- 
 parts of the town which would thus favour the escape 
 of his other corps in different directions. He believed 
 that he had sacrificed himself and this was what kept 
 up his courage. At the time of my negotiations with 
 him, he seemed to think that our whole army was 
 motionless and, as it were, stationary before Ulm. 
 He arranged the furtive evasion of the Archduke 
 who went to join Verneck and Hohenzollern. Another 
 division that had remained at Meningen was also to 
 attempt to escape, and yet another under Jellachich 
 took flight towards the mountains of the Tyrol. But 
 it was hoped that all would be taken prisoners. 
 
 It is known now (night of 17th to i8th October), by 
 a report of Prince IVIurat and the capture of 3 to 
 4,000 men that the body of 20,000 men encountered 
 by Dupont towards Albeck on October 14th was on 
 that very day, and still more on the 15th, cut off 
 from Ulm and thrown back upon Heidenheim , that 
 the Archduke Ferdinand who, it was believed, had 
 only left on the previous day (the 1 6th), about an hour 
 after midnight on the very night I had been sent 
 there, had rejoined this detached corps which had
 
 202 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CA]\IP 
 
 been attacked by Prince Murat, and that he was 
 flying with the remains of it to Nordlingen. To-day, 
 (October i8th) the Emperor's attention which was now 
 easy on the score of Ulm whose capitulation was 
 signed the previous night, and whose gate designated 
 " Stuttgart" had been given up to us, was eagerly 
 concentrated on the Archduke. He sent order upon 
 order to his foot dragoons, to Marshal Lannes, 
 Oudinot, Nansouty, even to the cavalry of his guard. 
 Some were to defend our reserve parks which were 
 left without protection on the passage of the Arch- 
 duke's flight ; the others in divers directions, were 
 sent forth to help Murat to seize the Austrian prince, 
 and at all hazards, to possess themselves of his person ; 
 others were to clear our line of operations whence 
 the Emperor was expecting the stores which we were 
 in need of, and which the overflow of the Danube 
 prevented us from transporting from the right bank. 
 In the anxiety of his suspense he lets nothing escape 
 him. He has just given me the order to question in 
 the following sequence the couriers who arrive from 
 Stuttgart by way of Nordlingen, and to write him their 
 answers. " What have they learnt ? What have they 
 " seen ? What enemies have they had to avoid ? How 
 " numerous were they ? Who were the generals ? How 
 " many guns ? In what direction were their columns 
 " marching ?" 
 
 This morning (October igth), the Emperor having 
 learnt through Prince Murat that the 20,000 men cut 
 off from Ulm, had been all taken, together with their 
 guns and the whole of their baggage, he sent word 
 to Mack to come and see him at Elchingen. The un- 
 happy general reached it about one o'clock and then
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 203 
 
 all his last delusions were destroyed. His Majesty, in 
 order to persuade him no longer to keep him uselessly 
 waiting before Ulm, forced him to contemplate the 
 full horror of his position and that of Austria. He 
 informed him of our success on all points ; that Ver- 
 neck's corps with all his artillery and ten generals had 
 capitulated ; that no doubt the Archduke himself had 
 been taken, and that nothing more had been heard 
 about the Russians. The unfortunate general was 
 overwhelmed by all these blows ; his strength failed 
 him and we saw him turn pale ; in fact he would have 
 fallen down if he had not leant up against the wall 
 for support. Then only, breaking down under the 
 weight of all his misfortunes, did he own his distress: 
 that he had no more stores in Ulm ; that instead 
 of 15,000 men, there were 24,000 combatants and 
 3,000 wounded, and that the confusion was such that 
 every moment more were discovered ; that he was fully 
 aware that no hope remained, and that he consented 
 to surrender Ulm and his army from the following day, 
 (October 20th) at three o'clock in the afternoon. 
 
 He, however, exacted a declaration, signed by 
 Marshal Berthier, as to the position of the Russians, 
 and that Marshal Ney and his corps should remain 
 before Ulm till the 25th. This last demand was pue- 
 rile to a degree, because in any case it would be 
 necessary to leave forces there to guard the captured 
 army and to escort it into France. 
 
 On leaving the Emperor and perceiving me he ex- 
 claimed : " That it was cruel to be dishonoured in the 
 " mind of so many brave offiicers ! and yet in his pocket 
 " there was his own opinion written and signed to the 
 " effect that he had refused to allow his army to be
 
 204 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 " broken up, but that he was not in command of it, 
 "for the Archduke was there." 
 
 It is possible that there was a disinchnation to obey 
 Mack, and it is certain that after my last con- 
 ference with him in Ulm, when the capitulation had 
 evidently been agreed upon, the attitude of several of 
 the Austrian generals around him quite revolted me : 
 I could easily see that their envious jealousy, grati- 
 fied by the ruin of the chief who had been imposed 
 upon them, was paramount to all teelings of propriety, 
 and made them for the time quite oblivious of patriot- 
 ism. It is true that several others amongst whom 
 were MM. de Lichtenstein and Klenau, made no 
 attempt to hide their bitter mortification. 
 
 To-night (October i gth) it is known that Jellachich's 
 six thousand men who had evaded Marshal Soult 
 beyond Biberach, were in flight towards Feldkirch, 
 while on the opposite side, the Archduke was fleeing 
 towards Bohemia with a few squadrons. It thus fol- 
 lowed that after several partial combats beginning at 
 Donawerth on October 6th, in the space of fourteen 
 days and without a single battle, this army which 
 numbered about 48,000 men inclusive of the reinforce- 
 ment sent by the Archduke John, and not including 
 the 18,000 men who had escaped with Kienmayer, 
 Jellachich, and Prince Ferdinand in three separate 
 directions, was either decimated or taken prisoner. 
 
 To-day (October 20th), 33,000 Austrians and eighteen 
 generals with forty flags and sixty mounted guns have 
 surrendered as prisoners of war. This captive army 
 defiled past the Emperor at the foot of a rock between 
 Ney's and Marmont's corps ranged in order of battle to 
 right and left with loaded arms. As they passed by,
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 205 
 
 the prisoners, seized with admiration, arrested their 
 march past to contemplate their conquerors, and many 
 cried out: ^ Long live the Emperor!^' AVith very 
 different emotions, some with evident mortification, and 
 others eagerly without waiting for the order, laid down 
 their arms. The infantry threw down their muskets 
 on either side of the roadway, and the cavalry, dis- 
 mounting, gave up their horses to our cavalry, and 
 the artillery their guns, of which our artillery took 
 possession. The officers, sent home on parole, alone 
 retained their arms. 
 
 An outburst of enthusiasm which was with difficulty 
 repressed, broke out in our ranks at the sight of this 
 triumph. During the long defile, which in succession 
 brought back to Ulm this mass of prisoners, the 
 Emperor kept the Austrian officers by his side. His 
 manners and his words were gentle, kind, and even 
 affectionate. He endeavoured to console them for 
 their reverses, saying: — " That war had its chances, 
 " that being frequently conquerors, they ought to console 
 " themselves for being sometimes conquered ; that this 
 " war in which they had been engaged by their master 
 " was unjust and motiveless ; frankly, he did not know 
 " himself what they were fighting for, nor what was 
 " expected from him. " 
 
 There was a moment when one of these generals, 
 noticing that Napoleon's uniform was much splashed, 
 remarked how fatiguing the campaign must have been 
 for him during such very wet weather, 
 
 " Your master, " he answered with a smile, wanted 
 "to remind me that I was a soldier; I hope he will 
 "own that the Imperial purple has not caused me to 
 " forget my first trade. "
 
 2o6 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 In the course of the conversation some threatening 
 words, it is said, were let fall concerning the Emperor 
 of Austria. Mack was present during the whole painful 
 scene; and one of us who did not know him by sight, 
 and was anxious to contemplate the unfortunate general, 
 asked him to point him out. " You see before you 
 the miserable Mack ! " was the answer of the field- 
 marshal. 
 
 Miserable indeed, unfortunate man! What a sad 
 example, what a lamentable downfall, what a cruelly 
 different fame to that which he had sought! 
 
 (End of the copy of my notes.) 
 
 The Emperor who had returned for the sixth and 
 last time to Elchingen, after this triumph, lost no time 
 in dividing its trophies between his allies and France. 
 Paris received those of Vertingen: the Senate, the 
 fiags taken at Ulm; France, 60,000 prisoners, " des- 
 " tined, " he said " to take the place of our soldiers in 
 " field labour. " But all did not achieve this destiny, a 
 good number of them having escaped before reaching 
 our frontiers. The Russian recruiters were blamed 
 for this, but it was partly owing to the carelessness 
 of our own soldiers who did not like acting as escort 
 to them. Their careless negligence when not fighting, 
 and their gentleness after victory is, besides, well-known. 
 
 During the same night of October 20 to 21, a pro- 
 clamation of Napoleon to his army, dated from the 
 abbey of Elchingen now for ever famous, testified his 
 gratitude to his soldiers. He showed them their glory in 
 the results of the victory which they owed to him. 
 Swabia and Bavaria conquered in a fortnight, with all 
 the parks and magazines of the enemy, 200 cannon,
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 207 
 
 90 flags, 72,000 men killed or taken! He went on 
 to laud their devotion and praise, their intre- 
 pidity, taking credit to himself for having spared 
 bloodshed by conquering by manoeuvres without a 
 battle, and winding up with these words : " My soldiers 
 are my children." 
 
 He added deeds to words, and decree upon decree 
 proved the extent of his gratitude. By one of these 
 they were to benefit by all the taxes levied on the 
 enemy, and by the proceeds of the sale of the maga- 
 zines that had fallen into our hands. The most mag- 
 nificent of all, selecting the preceding fortnight from 
 the rest of the year, declared that this month of Octo- 
 ber alone should be reckoned to them as a campaign 
 in their record of service. 
 
 In the midst of these grateful acts of recognition 
 and his usual work, he had not neglected what had 
 remained to be done. Our army of Ulm with the 
 exception of Ney, was already on the march to rejoin 
 that of Bavaria. And as in his proclamation, w^hen 
 announcing the arrival of the Russian army to his 
 soldiery, he had told them proudly: "That, as for 
 " himself, there was no general there with whom he 
 " could find any glory to be obtained, but as far 
 " as they were concerned, they would be able to prove 
 "for a second time that they were the first or the second 
 " infantry in the world, " it w^as not difficult to see that 
 he had been so lavish of thanks with a view to incite 
 them to further deeds; or at any rate, that there was 
 as much thought of the future as remembrance of the 
 past in this remarkable outpouring of gratitude. 
 
 Thus ended, before Ulm and in Elchingen, the first 
 part of this campaign.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 VIENNA. 
 
 UP to that time it was our adversaries who had 
 changed, but not our luck. It was not long, how- 
 ever, before we recognised that we were going to 
 have to do with very different men. These were 40,000 
 Russians under Kutusow and his lieutenants, Bagra- 
 tion and Miloradowitch, names which have been rendered 
 famous by our misfortunes in 181 2. They are a self- 
 contained nation, selfish through isolation, ignorance 
 and superstition ; keenly sensitive as to their still 
 superficial civilization, strongly constituted as to their 
 component parts of the pride of masters and the de- 
 votion of slaves. Their chiefs possess the instinct of 
 war, and are eager, prompt, and resolute, and the blind, 
 obstinate tenacity of the soldier is never wanting in 
 their generals. 
 
 Our advance-guards on the 31st, under Kellerman 
 on the right, Murat and Davout in the centre, and 
 Lannes on the left, carried away by eagerness to 
 conquer, overtook and harassed the enemy ; these 
 marshals and generals had left the Emperor behind, 
 and were in a state of anger and indignation at any 
 show of resistance from the enemy, as if it were an 
 act of insubordination or revolt. Nothing stopped them, 
 
 ao8
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 20g 
 
 neither abrupt defiles, broken bridges, pathless roads, 
 affluents of the Danube, or fatiguing marches of ten 
 or fifteen leagues. Napoleon's expectations had been 
 so far exceeded that on November 5th, our advance 
 guards had taken from the Austro-Russians 6,000 
 killed and wounded, also the Traun and Upper Austria 
 from Enns to Steyer, and the Enns itself. 
 
 At Steyer, which was the end of Moreau's glory, 
 the bridge having been burnt, Davout's soldiers 
 passed the Enns one by one on a beam, under a hail 
 of bullets and grape shot. They had reformed 
 on the other bank, under the Austrian retrenchments, 
 and then springing forwards, had dislodged the enemy 
 by taking more prisoners than they numbered assailants. 
 On the eve of this action, the Emperor had arrived at 
 Lintz from Lembach and remained there five days. 
 This sojourn proved fertile in excitement and movement. 
 To begin with, about a quarter of a league from the 
 gate of this town, a terrible incident, of a rare char- 
 acter in our army, where discipline is rendered easier 
 through the intelligent emulation, and the fraternity of 
 arms and origin of the soldier and the officer, had 
 struck him with horror, which found its manifestation 
 in impetuous speech. He was galloping past the left 
 flank of a column of light artillery, when twenty paces 
 before him, he noticed an artilleryman throw back 
 his head with a threatening air, and at the same moment 
 saw his captain by a back-handed blow of the sabre 
 sever it almost completely, so that it inclined towards 
 the shoulder of the unfortunate man who fell to the 
 ground in a torrent of blood. Napoleon turned pale 
 at this horrible sight and making his horse bound 
 
 forwards, exclaimed : "What have you done. Captain?" 
 16
 
 2IO MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 " My duty !" answered the ofificer abruptly ; "and 
 "until I am killed by one of my soldiers," he added in 
 a loud tone as he looked straight at them, " I would 
 "kill anyone of them who dared to fail in respect to 
 "their captain." The Emperor, struck by his energy, 
 was speechless for the moment, but controlling his 
 emotion, he resumed in a firm voice: "If this be the 
 "case, you have done well, you are a good ofificer and 
 "understand your duty. This is how I wish to be 
 "served." He than continued his course in the midst of 
 a mournful silence inspired by his words, and entered 
 Lintz at a walking pace with a troubled expression of 
 countenance. 
 
 Other emotions and preoccupations were, however, 
 awaiting him in the town. On the one hand the Elec- 
 tor of Bavaria had hastened to give vent to his assur- 
 ances of earnest gratitude ; the deputies of the Senate 
 had also come to express the admiration of France; 
 Giulai and Lichten stein were the bearers of an insidious 
 offer of an armistice; whilst Duroc had arrived bring- 
 ing back from Berlin nothing beyond a hope, which 
 was that Erederic would await the issue of arms to 
 decide whether he should remain neutral or join our 
 enemies. 
 
 As for the armistice which the Emperor of Austria, 
 terrified at our approach, and already disgusted with 
 Russian exaction and arrogance, had sent to demand, 
 Napoleon answered that peace was only possible on 
 conditions that he would dictate, which he did by 
 letter, but that as for a suspension of arms, the request 
 seemed untimely, as he could nowhere perceive any 
 Austrian army with which he, at the head of 200,000 
 men, could desire to arrange an armistice.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 2 11 
 
 That is at any rate what we of Napoleon's entourage 
 learnt concerning this conference. Whilst it was taking 
 place Giulai's aide-de-camp complained to us with ex- 
 treme bitterness of the excesses of the Russians. At 
 the same time, M. de Thiard, who was one of us, had 
 been drawn into a secret interview by the Prince de 
 Lichtenstein. Whether this personage was entrusted 
 with a mission, or whether of his own accord he 
 favoured the customs of his Court by trying to bring 
 matrimonial alliances to the aid of the resources of 
 war, his insinuations were of such a nature, that on 
 leaving him, Thiard thought it his duty immediately 
 to seek out the Emperor, saying that: "Lichtenstein 
 " had just been questioning him as to the rumour that 
 " the Prince Eugene had asked a princess of Bavaria 
 " in marriage, " and that on his reply the Austrian prince 
 had added : " Why should you stop there ? Vienna has 
 " other marriageable princesses, and could not peace be 
 " sealed by another marriage ? " Upon which Napoleon 
 exclaimed impulsively: "An Austrian princess! Ah! 
 '■ no, never — France would be revolted at such an idea, 
 " it would recall Marie Antoinette. " And surprised by 
 a communication of this importance made through 
 such a channel, he asked Thiard what had been the 
 cause of this outpouring of Lichtenstein, and why he 
 had selected him for such a confidence? 
 
 Thiard was well acquainted with Austria and the 
 Austrians, in whose ranks he had served; he could 
 speak their language and was aware that he was 
 useful to Napoleon. He, therefore, answered without 
 confusion or even any reticence : " That having belonged 
 " to Conde's corps, he had often fought under the eyes 
 " of Lichtenstein, and that speaking both languages, he
 
 2 12 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 " had frequently served as an intermediary between 
 " the Austrians and the Due d'Enghien. " 
 
 At this name which few others would have dared to 
 pronounce, whatever may have been the present 
 preoccupations of the Emperor, the subject of conver- 
 sation completely changed and bore entirely upon the past. 
 During nearly an hour, Napoleon, apparently oblivious 
 of everything else, did not cease to question Thiard 
 upon the character, the mind, the martial talent of 
 the unfortunate prince; and all this with a curious air 
 of calm and natural interest, not at all as if he had 
 been speaking of his victim to one who had long served 
 as an aide-de-camp by his side, and whose friend he had 
 been. Thiard's replies were uttered with such sincerity, 
 and were so eulogistic that Napoleon exclaimed: "He 
 was really a man then, that prince ! " And with the same 
 calm and kindly manner, he dismissed his interlocutor. 
 
 Thiard told me besides, that very day, that this was 
 the second time he had held converse with the Emperor 
 on this sad subject. Their first conversation was at 
 the time of the murder. It was Thiard himself who 
 had enlightened the First Consul as to his mistake about 
 the name of Dumouriez; and he told me that then, as at 
 Lintz, he had remarked the same calm impassiveness 
 in the attitude, the expression, and the voice of Napoleon. 
 
 Astonished as we were at this singular inflexibility, 
 above all when we recalled so many proofs of kindness, 
 of generosity, even of sensibility, on his part, we asked 
 ourselves if this impassibility were the result of a 
 misguided conscience or of political calculation. Was it 
 a reflex effect of the habits of his natal isle? Did he 
 believe that he had the right to avenge one crime by 
 another crime? Or rather, under this apparent calm.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 213 
 
 was he persevering in his determination to prevent 
 any further plots, and did he look upon the cruel act 
 of Vincennes as a just punishment of former outrages, 
 and a useful warning against future ones? 
 
 I find here in my notes that Napoleon during his 
 sojourn at Lintz was seriously taken up with the care 
 of restoring order to his army. It is very true that 
 the rapid marches and counter-marches of the campaign 
 of Ulm, and the breakdown of the roads through the 
 rains, which kept back the store and ammunition 
 waggons, rendered regular distributions impossible. It 
 is a certain fact that had not our soldiers snatched 
 from the peasantry their victuals and their cattle to 
 subsist upon, had they been obliged to wait till provisions 
 arrived by the waggons which were lagging far in the 
 rear of their columns, the principal aim of the enter- 
 prise would have failed. Necessity was an excuse 
 then ; but the evil which had begun in Franconia, 
 even amongst the Prussians, and in Suabia, had con- 
 tinued in Bavaria; it was being renewed on the Inn, 
 and this marauding was destructive of discipline. 
 
 This came under the Emperor's observation near 
 Lembach where he had rejoined the corps of Marshal 
 Soult. There, in front of the ranks, he had inquired 
 in a loud voice as to the regularity of the distribu- 
 tions; and whether the marshal had thought that the 
 question was put merely as a matter of form, or that 
 he wanted to appear satisfied so as to give satisfac- 
 tion, (a piece of braggadocio which is sometimes -useful 
 before troops and is always agreeable to the chief) 
 he had answered that the soldiers wanted for nothing; 
 but twenty voices had been immediately rudely uplifted 
 from the ranks to contradict him.
 
 2 14 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 The same kind of thing was repeated the next 
 day in a still more positive fashion. Napoleon was 
 issuing from his quarters on horseback when he 
 met Macon, whom he was always glad to see since 
 Marengo, and whom he had attached to his person. 
 This general was in command of the Imperial quarters 
 and had been so moved by a scene of pillage which 
 he had not been able to prevent, that he had just 
 given his own purse to the unfortunate countryman 
 who had been its victim. Macon was an old soldier 
 of the army of Italy, whose entrance into Court circles 
 had not altered his republican frankness. "Well, 
 " Macon, " gaily cried out the Emperor, as he saw him, 
 "what have you got to tell me to-day?" — "Faith, 
 " sire, " answered he, " I can tell you that you are followed 
 " by a crowd of plunderers who will dishonour your 
 " army and yourself if you do not promptly put things 
 "on a proper footing." Macon would have gone on, 
 if Napoleon had not cut short this ebullition by turning 
 his head aside and making his horse go faster. 
 
 The reproach was only too well deserved, but it had 
 caused displeasure by being made too publicly. The 
 subject, however, had been again renewed by reports 
 which were made with a little more discretion, notably 
 by one of Napoleon's house stewards, and the Emperor 
 had answered : " That this dirty train of cripples and 
 " camp-followers and plunderers was an inevitable evil, 
 " a necessary result of forced and sudden marches, by 
 " means of which the enemy, hindered and disconcerted 
 " at all points, was half vanquished before fighting: and 
 " that thus heads were saved by legs ! " 
 
 Without owning to it, there is no doubt that he 
 temporarily countenanced these irregularities, because
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 215 
 
 they to a certaii? extent made up to the soldier for 
 his fatigues: he was in the habit of thus utilizing all 
 springs of action. However, when it was represented 
 to him at Lintz that this contagious evil had degenerated 
 into the most infamous plunder, that it was becoming 
 intolerable, and that our ranks were thinned, he sud- 
 denly stopped it in characteristic fashion. The most 
 stringent orders were published on November 7th. 
 The wretched creatures were tracked, gathered together 
 and driven forwards. In Braunau alone, a fortress 
 that had to be traversed, over 10,000 of them, it is 
 said, were assembled, and the word having been 
 passed round on their return to their companies, they 
 had to undergo the indignity of a visitation, when 
 each of them, deprived of his spoil, was given over 
 to the rough and ready floggings of his comrades. 
 
 Murat, however, had continued his way, and had 
 met with no serious obstacle until November 5th at 
 Amstetten, where a skirmish had taken place, in which 
 our cavalry, imprudently sent on into a wood, had 
 been repulsed with a loss of 300 killed or taken prison- 
 ers. This was a new experience for Murat, who recog- 
 nised that he had no longer to do with the Austrians 
 but with very different kind of men. Oudinot hastened 
 to the spot with his grenadiers, and from that moment 
 commenced the determined struggle between Russian 
 honour against French honour, or rather, so far as the 
 soldiers were concerned, the shock of intelligent and 
 civilized experience against primitive and barbarous 
 courage. 
 
 In this first encounter 2,000 Russians were killed 
 or taken ; not one of them surrendered ; wounded, 
 disarmed, and biting the dust, they not only de-
 
 2l6 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 fended themselves but even continued to attack us. After 
 the fighting was over, in order to carry away a few hun- 
 dreds of them, we were obhged to prick them up with 
 our bayonets, hke a badly broken-in flock of sheep, or 
 to knock them down with the butt ends of our mus- 
 kets. 
 
 The obstinacy of this resistance confirmed Napoleon's 
 hopes of a battle at Saint-Poelten. On receipt of this 
 news and as soon as he had learnt the occupation of 
 Moelkt, he left Lintz on November gth for this enor- 
 mous abbey ; a magnificent residence that could vie 
 with the most sumptuous palaces, whose cellars were 
 able to supply all our columns with wine without 
 being exhausted; here our Imperial headquarters took 
 the place of those of the Austrian Emperor, who, it 
 was said, had withdrawn to Vienna. 
 
 At the same time, Napoleon learnt that his hope of 
 a decisive action at Saint-Poelten so ably planned by 
 him, was dashed to the ground ; that Kutusow had 
 just slipped away by the right bank of the Danube to- 
 wards the left bank, over the bridge of Krems, which 
 he had destroyed ; that the first Russian army had 
 thus escaped him, and was on its way to join the 
 second which would delay the war, lead it further on, 
 and still further towards the east, thus probably giving 
 time to Prince Charles to join it, and allow Frederic 
 to rally his forces, to redouble his threats, and to put 
 them into execution. 
 
 To this disappointment was added a grave anxiety 
 which increased in the evening of November iithwith 
 the smothered distant echo of heavy firing, which was 
 not even interrupted by night. What unforeseen 
 danger could suddenly have attacked Mortier ? For it
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 217 
 
 was doubtless he, who going forwards alone with an 
 advance guard of 5,000 men, had unexpectedly come 
 across Kutusow with 40,000 men; it was impossible to do 
 otherwise than believe in the destruction of this marshal 
 and his unhappy division. What an effect would be 
 produced on Austria's discouragement and Frederic's 
 indecision by the news of the defeat of a French 
 corps with one of our marshals, who might at this 
 very moment be killed or fallen alive into the hands 
 of the Russians ! 
 
 One could only offer up prayers and await the 
 decision of fate. The wide and deep Danube, which 
 was still free at this height, separated us from the 
 marshal. This stream had just delivered over to the 
 Russians one of Mortier's generals, who, in despair, 
 was making his escape in a barque. All announced 
 a catastrophe : the Emperor no longer doubted it. In 
 his anxiety, as he drew nearer to the sound of the 
 combat, he had advanced from Moelkt to Saint-Poelten, 
 where the fear of a reverse usurped the place of his 
 former hope of victory. Here his agitation increasing 
 with the noise of the firing, he despatched everybody 
 for news; officers, aides-de-camp, and everyone who 
 happened to be near him. With his mind entirely 
 set on Mortier's peril, he suspended the progress of 
 the invasion ; behind him at Moelkt, that of Bernadotte 
 and the flotilla; in front of him that of Murat whom 
 he rebuked " for his precipitation in going onwards 
 "like a child up to the very gates of Vienna," and he 
 even ordered Marshal Soult who was following this 
 prince, to retrace his steps. Finally about two o'clock 
 in the afternoon of the next day, (November 12th) 
 the return of Thiard and of Lemarois had just allayed
 
 2l8 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 his anxiety, when an aide-de-camp of Mortier arrived. 
 
 The night before, towards morning, he said, 
 Marshal Mortier and General Gazan had driven the 
 enemy on from Diernstein till within sight of Krems 
 and had carried away 1,500 of his men; they were 
 continuing their way when by a sudden repulse, they 
 perceived that they had encountered the whole of the 
 Russian army. It was then necessary to retreat, one 
 against four, for the space of two leagues which they 
 did fighting, in good order, in the hope of finding a 
 shelter in Diernstein. Mortier, hotly pressed, had just 
 caught sight of the walls of the town, rejoicing, when 
 suddenly he saw another Russian army issue from it 
 against him and found himself between two fires. His 
 soldiers immediately dispersed through a defile, formed 
 on the right by the Bohemian mountains and on the 
 left by the Danube. There they were, pressed closely 
 one upon the other ; 20,000 Russians pushing them 
 back, and 15,000 other Russians driving them 
 forwards. The marshal without showing any surprise, 
 faced them on both sides; endeavouring on the one 
 hand to keep Kutusow in check, and on the other 
 to open up a passage to Diernstein; but the two 
 corps of the enemy who had caught sight of each 
 other, through and beyond us, rushed onwards with 
 shouts of joy, and drawing nearer enclosed and 
 crushed our feeble troop closer and closer between 
 their double masses. 
 
 Finally, after four hours of desperate resistance, our 
 cavalry gave way, our firing slackened, our bayonets 
 through constant use were bent and blunted ; the 
 gathering night instead of separating the combatants 
 augmented the confusion which became terrible ; several
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 219 
 
 times Morticr himself, whose high stature made him 
 conspicuous above all others, and a mark to be aimed 
 at even in the darkness, was forced to kick aside or 
 strike down with his sabre some of the most desperate. 
 At last all hope was given up, and everyone 
 pressed round him, urging him to take advantage of 
 the night and escape on board a vessel, so that they 
 might snatch from Russian pride the trophy of a 
 French marshal taken prisoner, but he on the contrary 
 answered : " That he would share the fate of the brave 
 " men around him, whatever that might be ; that Dupont 
 " and his division must be close at hand, and that they 
 " must make one last supreme effort." Then, rallying 
 and closing up the remaining troops, he pointed the 
 only two guns that were left to him, one towards 
 Krems against Kutusow; the other, directed by Fabvier, 
 he turned against Diernstein, placing it at the head of 
 the column; and as all the drums were broken, he 
 caused the charge to be sounded on iron cans. 
 
 At this moment the Austrian Colonel Schmidt who 
 was leading the Russian corps which was master of 
 Diernstein, dashed forward to strike a last blow which 
 should complete the destruction of our column. But 
 Fabvier had heard him ; hidden in the darkness he let 
 him come near, when suddenly discharging his piece 
 at short distance on the head of this attacking party, 
 he overthrew it, killing its chief, and in this bloody 
 opening, Mortier and Gazan precipitated themselves, 
 overthrowing everything before them. Diernstein was 
 re-taken by this impetuous dash, Schmidt's Russians 
 fell back into the valley of Krems by which way they 
 had secretly arrived, and took flight, whilst the delighted 
 Mortier was hardly able to believe in his own success.
 
 2 20 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 But from the other side of Diernstein came a 
 sound of arms and numerous footsteps ; and with de- 
 spair in their hearts they were preparing for a fresh 
 encounter, when, " France ! " was the answer to our 
 cry of " Qui vivef" It was Dupont and his division 
 coming to the help of the marshal. Then joyous trans- 
 ports and cries of " Long live our saviours I " suc- 
 ceeded to their fears. 
 
 Thus Diernstein, the famous prison of the English 
 king Richard Coeur de Lion, became doubly celebrated 
 by French hearts, which were as worthy of this surname 
 and more fortunate than its owner. 
 
 On the return of daylight the roll-call was read: 
 out of 5,000, 3,000 had perished, but by an inex- 
 plicable chance our 1,500 Russian prisoners were still 
 to be found in Diernstein ; so that the loss of the enemy, 
 greater than our own, was estimated at 4,000 men. 
 
 We have seen that Murat had been strongly repri- 
 manded for allowing his eagerness to carry him on 
 to Vienna, drawing with him the corps of Marshals 
 Lannes and Soult. The event proved, however, that 
 this time he was not at fault; it may even be that as 
 the urgency of the end in view increased, as we shall 
 see, the counter-orders of the Emperor to these three 
 corps caused them to lose twenty-four hours by which 
 the Russians profited. 
 
 In effect his anticipation of crushing on the right 
 bank the first Russian corps in advance of Vienna 
 being frustrated, and Vienna and this bank having been 
 abandoned, he cherished a fresh hope as soon as he 
 knew Mortier was saved; it was that by hastening to 
 Vienna by the right bank to get ahead of the enemy 
 who was escaping from him by the left bank, he would
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 22 1 
 
 surprise their passage of the Danube at this point, 
 whence, precipitating himself in force on the other bank, 
 he would interpose himself between Kutusow and 
 Buxwoden, cutting off from the first Russian army 
 its retreat upon the second, and taking it prisoner in 
 Bohemia, as he had taken Mack in Suabia. 
 
 It is true that two very unlikely things were neces- 
 sary for such a hope to be realized : firstly, that Vienna, 
 strong enough to delay us for forty-eight hours, 
 without danger for herself, should open her gates to 
 us; then that she should give up to us intact her 
 bridges across the Danube. This is, however, what 
 did happen. Either from discouragement on the part 
 of the Emperor of Austria, or a hatred for the allies, 
 loudly proclaimed by his officers against the Rus- 
 sians, Vienna made no resistance; and as for her 
 bridges, a stratagem of war delivered them into our 
 hands. 
 
 Whilst Giulai, who had returned as the bearer of 
 a flag of truce, had been detained on the 1 2th at 
 Saint-Poelten, Lannes and Murat and Sebastiani at their 
 head, received orders, the one to enter Vienna, the 
 others to spread along the bank of the Danube and 
 take possession of the bridges of that town. On 
 November 13th, Vienna having surrendered without 
 striking a blow, they hastened to this passage, broke 
 through the barrier, and at once entered into the 
 winding defile formed by the little bridges. These 
 were intersected by wooded islands which concealed 
 our march from the artillery and the Austrian general 
 posted on the last and largest bridge of the stream. 
 Lannes and Murat had dismounted, and followed by 
 their grenadiers, shouldering arms, they drove before
 
 2 22 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 them a squadron of the enemy, waving their hand- 
 kerchiefs in the air to announce an armistice, and 
 parleying with the ofiicer in command. 
 
 This officer in his surprise drew back, not quite 
 knowing what he ought to do, and his indecision 
 spread to those in his rear. Thus our chiefs made their 
 way up to the large bridge at the most critical 
 moment; this last passage was full of inflammable 
 material, with a battery in readiness to annihilate our 
 column. But this sight instead of checking our marshals 
 caused them to hurry on and when, unmasked by the 
 enemy's retreating squadron, they saw the Austrian 
 artillery officer seize hold of the match, they sprang 
 forward. Dodde, then one of our engineer colonels, 
 was the first to seize the officer's torch. A melee 
 ensued and still parleying, whilst our grenadiers cleared 
 the bridge, and Bertrand presented himself before the 
 Prince of Auersberg, Lannes, Murat and Sebastiani 
 had reached the other bank and taken possession of it. 
 
 They were masters of the situation before the unfor- 
 tunate prince, taken aback by this sudden stroke, had 
 understood what was going on. The two marshals, 
 satisfied with so important a conquest which must 
 decide the fate of the Russians, then desisted from 
 mystifying this general, allowing him to escape, to be 
 lost sight of in the open, and to carry his confusion 
 to his Emperor. Napoleon learnt the good news from 
 Bertrand on this very day, November 13th, at Bruc- 
 kersdorf, ana beside himself with delight, he pushed 
 on almost alone to Schoenbrunn. I had just preceded 
 him there with a battalion, and was arrang'ing the 
 quarters when he sent for me. " Leave at once for 
 Gratz," he said, "and hand this dispatch to Marmont.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 223 
 
 " You will find Gudin at Neustadt ; you will tell him 
 " to push his posts on to the Spitalberg but not beyond. 
 " Inform yourself as to the resources to be found in 
 " Neustadt, and write to me from that town. You 
 "should come across the enemy between Neukirch and 
 " Brugg, go through them, and if you choose, invent 
 " some subterfuge; say that you are bearing news of an 
 " armistice .... Get out of it as well as you can ; but 
 " above all, do not allow the instructions which I entrust 
 "to you to be taken." He was beginning to discuss 
 the means I should employ, when I interrupted him by 
 saying that I would get through some way or another, 
 and that in any case I answered for his dispatches. 
 
 I must own that I did this at haphazard, in my 
 wish to appear always ready and willing, for this 
 doubtful and distant mission came at a very inoppor- 
 tune moment. I was so worn out by fatigue that a 
 night or two previously while passing through a can- 
 tonment, I had fallen down insensible. My surprise 
 may be imagined when on returning to my senses I 
 found myself seated at the centre of a large, well- 
 served and well-lighted table, in a warm room, in 
 the midst of the officers of the mounted grenadiers of our 
 guard. This happened quite by chance : fortunately 
 for me, one of them had recognised me when he struck 
 his foot against me in the dark, and extricating me 
 from the midst of the guns and artillery waggons 
 which would have gone over me, he carried me in 
 his arms to this place of honour, where the cares 
 which were lavished upon me soon brought me to 
 myself. 
 
 There was nothing surprising in this collapse. Since 
 we had left Munich I had been marching by day and
 
 2 24 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 night, especially the latter, cursing many times the 
 necessity which obliged me to go past the fires of our 
 infantry, who were lying on the snow, without being 
 able to stop, envying as I did what appeared to me 
 their cornfort. Thus I would go on against time, with 
 pressing instructions of all kinds, as long as my horses 
 could carry me, then using those belonging to the 
 peasants whom I met. I remember amongst other 
 adventures that during one of these trying nights, as 
 I was endeavouring to reach Moelkt before daylight, 
 I encountered a river which I had to ford, and lost 
 my guide and my horses, which were carried away by 
 the current. Luckier than my poor beast which drifted 
 away to the Danube, I succeeded in touching ground, 
 continuing my way on foot, and only thankful that I 
 had been able to arrive at the abbey at the appointed 
 time. 
 
 As for my mission to Gratz, I spent a day and nig-ht 
 executing it, without accident, but with greater fatigue 
 than ever, being disappointed on my return to find 
 that the Emperor had left Vienna. I only rejoined 
 him at Brunn, where I learnt that Marmont was con- 
 gratulating himself, that by his presence in Styria and 
 at the defiles of Carinthia, he had turned back upon 
 Hungary the retreat of the Archduke Charles. 
 
 At that time the Emperor was, not without reason, 
 dissatisfied with the events which had happened since my 
 departure from Schcenbrunn. During the night of the 
 13th to the 14th, which was that of my departure from 
 this residence, he himself had passed through Vienna, 
 unknown to the inhabitants, and had crossed the bridges 
 to rejoice over his conquest, to convey his satisfaction to 
 Lannes and Murat, and above all, to take advantage of it !
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 225 
 
 He was in haste to make an end of the Russians, all 
 the more because he had just learnt from Giulai that 
 Frederic had joined the coalition. He had immediately 
 pushed on Lannes, with the divisions of Suchet and 
 Oudinot, IMurat's cavalry, and the corps of Marshal 
 Soult, towards Znaim on the road to Bavaria, to cut 
 off all retreat from Kutusow who was coming from 
 Krems. 
 
 The combat of Diernstein against Mortier, the pre- 
 sence of Bernadotte who had been sent from Moelkt 
 on the left bank with orders to urge on Kutusow, and 
 the bad condition of the roads, must have caused some 
 delay in the retrograde movements of this field-marshal. 
 Thus the Emperor had expected that the first army 
 of 36,000 Russians, harassed in the rear by 20,000 
 men, and cut off at the front by 50,000, would be either 
 taken or destroyed. This result should have decided 
 the fate of the campaign and Frederic's indecision; it 
 had seemed to him infallible, and it had just slipped 
 through his hands. Murat, who had been so success- 
 ful with his stratagem with the Austrians on the bridge 
 at Vienna, was caught by the Russians by a similar 
 stratagem at the very moment when he should have 
 been enjoying the fruits of his own; and this is how 
 it happened : 
 
 Kutusow, while hurrying his retreat from Krems 
 upon Brunn, with the view of protecting it against Murat, 
 had sent Bagration and 7,000 Russians at his right 
 into Hollabrunn on the road to Bohemia which he 
 would have to cross at Znai'm. Murat was coming up 
 the same road at the head of 50,000 men ; and would 
 only have had to attack, to drive on and overthrow 
 everything before him up to Znaim, where he would 
 17
 
 2 26 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 have preceded, taken or destroyed the Russian Marshal. 
 But he had met Bagration at HoUabrunn ; and instead 
 of passing over his body he had lost time in listening 
 to his parleyings. A feigned capitulation of the Russian 
 general lulled him for twenty-four hours, during which 
 Kutusow dispersed behind HoUabrunn and towards 
 Brunn in the utmost haste. 
 
 It was on November 15th, on the word of Wint- 
 zigerode, Alexander's aide-de-camp, that this absurd 
 convention entrapped our Emperor's brother-in-law. 
 
 But what is still less conceivable is that Napoleon, 
 contrary to his usual custom, should have abandoned 
 this great stroke to his lieutenant, and that on Novem- 
 ber 14th, trusting in him, he should have returned to 
 Schoenbrunn. Did he mistrust Vienna? Had it given 
 him pleasure to show himself that day to its inhabitants, 
 completely taken aback to see him return within their 
 . walls by the gate of the Danube ? Was he in a hurry 
 to proclaim loudly, as he did, the immensity of the 
 trophies, which this capital of the enemy had surren- 
 dered to his victorious arms ? Or rather, judging by my 
 mission to Marmont and by the distribution of Davout's 
 divisions thrown out upon Neustadt, Presburg and 
 Brunn, on the three avenues of Vienna, had he 
 feared a fresh attack and judged his presence on 
 this central point still indispensable to make sure 
 of its possession? I know not, but what is certain, 
 is, that on the news of this insidious convention, bit- 
 terly repenting his confidence in Murat, he sent him 
 word to break off everything at once and to attack. 
 He himself had hastened there in a fit of anger, but 
 he only arrived on the 17 th after the tardy and bloody 
 meeting at HoUabrunn, where on the evening of the
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 227 
 
 1 6th, Bagration, sacrificing two-thirds of the 7,000 
 Russians he commanded, had during six consecutive 
 hours arrested the efforts of 20,000 men. 
 
 During the dark night that followed, several strata- 
 gems of war favoured the flight of the remainder of 
 this division. Some of them on realizing their danger, 
 cried out in French that they were of ours, and were 
 allow^ed to scatter themselves, others repeating the 
 same words let us approach until we were close 
 to their fire, and thus added to our losses. Oudinot, 
 whose place Duroc had taken with his division of 
 grenadiers, fell wounded with the greater part of the 
 officers around him. The carnage had been frightful. 
 We had conquered, it is true, but the next day on 
 arrival at Znaim, Kutusow had passed by. During 
 the following day, no one had been picked up except 
 his laggards, who were so exhausted that they were 
 unable to defend themselves. Two thousand fell into 
 the hands of Sebastiani. And this retreat in which 
 Kutusow should have perished altogether, only cost 
 him six thousand men. At Brunn he had rejoined 
 his Emperor, who had arrived there from Berlin; he 
 brought back to him 30,000 men whom he was 
 going to unite near Wischau, beyond Brunn, to the 
 second Russian army of Buxwoden, to the remainder 
 of the Austrian army, and soon probably to the Arch- 
 duke Charles. 
 
 Thus following on the campaign of Ulm which had 
 come to such a complete issue, that of Vienna remained 
 undecided. It devolved on us to unite, to revictual, 
 to prepare for the possibility of having to give a 
 great battle in the depths of Moravia, at the end of a 
 long line of operations, by which Prussia was threaten-
 
 2 28 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP. 
 
 ing the whole of the left flank, from Strasburg to 
 Vienna. Such was the danger of our position, which 
 had just been augmented by the mistake of Holla- 
 brunn.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 AUSTERLITZ. 
 
 FROM Znaim the Emperor proceeded towards Brunn, 
 pursuing Kutusow and causing him to be out- 
 flanked on the right by Soult at Nikolsberg. On 
 November 20th he pushed on tliis right wing from 
 Nikolsberg to Austeriitz, and our advance guard under 
 Murat towards Wischau on the road to Olmutz, 
 himself arriving that day at Brunn. Surprised and 
 delighted at the inconceivable abandonment of this 
 stronghold which was full of arms and provisions, he 
 made it his base of operations against the Russian army. 
 
 Whilst occupied in this manner he learnt of the 
 junction of the enemy's forces in Wischau, and that, 
 at Posorsitz, their cavalry, after having forced back our 
 own, had been repulsed by our cuirassiers and by the 
 mounted grenadiers of our guard. On the 21st, he 
 betook himself to the field of battle, studying the 
 moves which he considered less brilliant than had 
 been reported to him; and, learning that the enemy 
 had retired to his reinforcements as far as Olmutz, he 
 returned to Brunn. 
 
 On going back to Wischau he stopped on the 
 
 highway about two leagues and a half from Brunn, 
 
 near the Santon, a small mound by the side of the 
 
 229
 
 230 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 road, a kind of rather abruptly truncated cone, and 
 gave orders that the foot of it should be dug out 
 towards the enemy's side so as to increase its escarp- 
 ment. Then turning off towards the south he entered 
 a high plain contained between two embanked streams 
 running from the north to the south-west. The width 
 of this plateau is about two leagues; its length, three 
 leagues; beyond which, turning to the west it trends 
 downwards and falls into a basin defined by two 
 lakes. The Emperor slowly and silently went over 
 this newly-discovered ground, stopping several times 
 on its most elevated points, principally towards Pratzen. 
 He carefully examined all its characteristics, and during 
 this survey turned towards us saying: " Gentlemen, 
 "examine this ground carefully, it is going to be a battle- 
 " field, you will have a part to play upon it!" This 
 plain was indeed to be a few days later the field 
 of the battle of Austerlitz ! 
 
 The following days until the 27 th he remained at 
 Brunn. His army for three months had never ceased 
 to be on the march or in combat ; he allowed it to 
 reunite, and restore its strength, its arms, repair its foot- 
 gear and take breath. It was thus distributed : Marmont 
 to Gratz; Mortier to Vienna; Davoutin part to Presburg, 
 watching Hungary, which had declared itself neutral, 
 and in part to Nikolsberg, between Brunn and Vienna ; 
 Lannes, Murat, and Soult were encamped around and in 
 front of the Emperor on the ground defined by Brunn, 
 Wischau and Austerlitz ; finally Bernadotte at his rear 
 but within reach occupied Iglau, watching Bohemia 
 where the Archduke Ferdinand was holding his ground 
 against d'Hilliers and that general's foot dragoons. 
 
 We had been in Brunn for six days when the Em-
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 231 
 
 peror, agitated by the news of the disaster at Trafalgar, 
 and the increasing hostile dispositions of Prussia, and 
 already weary of his own inaction, was disquieting 
 himself concerning the temporizing policy favoured by 
 the Russian army. This was indeed the most danger- 
 ous system which Alexander could oppose to his good 
 luck. Each day increased the peril of our isolated and 
 distant position. Napoleon having ventured into the 
 very depths of Moravia with 65,000 combatants within 
 reach, whilst 150,000 Prussians threatened the whole 
 of the left flank of his retreat, found himself brought 
 to a stand in front by Alexander and go, 000 Rus- 
 sians and Germans: whilst the Archduke Ferdinand 
 and 20,000 Austrians were advancing on his rear in 
 Bohemia, and simultaneously the Archduke Charles 
 and 40,000 other Imperials, already in Hungary, were 
 hurrying up against his right! 
 
 This is the reason that on November 26th with his 
 patience exhausted after a whole night of work, he 
 wrote to the Emperor Alexander, and sent his aide-de- 
 camp Savary to compliment him, and to sound his war- 
 like or pacific inclinations. Whilst awaiting his aide- 
 de-camp's return, two Austrian envoys followed by the 
 Prussian minister Haugwitz, the former from Olmutz, 
 and the latter from Berlin, arrived at the Imperial 
 quarters. On November 27th he was trying to pre- 
 vent the one from entering into any explanations, 
 and avoiding giving a reply to the two others, when 
 he suddenly learnt that his advance guard had been 
 surprised and overthrown at Wischau. At the same 
 time a Bavarian officer, who had enlisted in the army 
 of the enemy, deserted their side and came to warn 
 us that it was Kutusow and Alexander himself who
 
 232 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 were attacking us. This at first appeared to Berthier 
 so unlikely that he caused the fugitive to be arrested ; 
 but his report received swift confirmation by advices 
 from Marshal Soult who was assailed in Austerlitz. 
 
 The return of Savary that very evening left no longer 
 any doubt as to this news. This aide-de-camp came 
 to tell us that the whole of the allied army without 
 waiting for a reinforcement of 14,000 Russians were 
 marching upon us; notwithstanding which, the letter he 
 brought back seemed less hostile. From that moment 
 Napoleon, no longer expecting anything except from 
 Alexander or a victory, sent back to Vienna and to 
 Talleyrand the Austrian and Prussian negotiators; 
 again despatching Savary to the Russian Emperor to 
 propose an interview, and very early on November 
 28th himself advanced to Posorsitz in the hope of a 
 favourable reply. 
 
 But Alexander, badly surrounded and wrongly ad- 
 vised by a set of presumptuous youths, decided that an 
 interview was useless, and only despatched his favourite. 
 On his side Napoleon more and more impatient pushed 
 on at a galop beyond our last vedettes. 
 
 Dolgorouki and our Emperor encountered each other 
 on the high road of Olmutz in front of Posorsitz and, 
 to our great astonishment, beyond the range of the 
 guns of our advance posts. We did not know whether 
 the Emperor was running this risk out of real im- 
 patience or curiosity, or with a view of increasing 
 the enemy's presumption by a feigned anxiety not to 
 allow any chance of investigation of our ranks by the 
 Russians. 
 
 On first sight of each other both dismounted ; we 
 were not able to overhear all that passed in this inter-
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I, 233 
 
 view ; the Emperor's attitude was at first calm and 
 restrained, that of Dolgorouki on the contrary was so 
 vainglorious and haughty that when not irritated by 
 it, it inspired us with pity as being utterly ridiculous 
 and out of place. 
 
 In the midst of this colloquy which lasted about a 
 quarter of an hour, the Emperor remarked that the 
 Cossacks of the Russian's escort were edging up to 
 our flanks ; Dolgorouki smilingly answered for them, 
 but either from real or simulated anxiety Napoleon 
 ordered several of us to keep them at a respectful 
 distance, and this was at once done by Exelmans, 
 with his naked sabre hanging from his sword knot, 
 and his pistol in his fist. 
 
 But as the arrogance of Alexander's favourite was 
 becoming unbearable, the Emperor's voice rose louder. 
 The young Russian would not hear of peace on other 
 conditions than the abandonment of Italy, of the left 
 bank of the Rhine, and of Belgium ! " What ! Brussels 
 "also ? " answered Napoleon ; " But we are in Moravia, and 
 " even if you were on the heights of Montmartre you 
 " should not obtain Brussels." At last he lost patience. 
 Dolgorouki had offered to let him draw back safe 
 and sound beyond the Danube if he would promise 
 at once to evacuate Vienna and the Hereditary States. 
 Napoleon, no longer able to contain himself at this 
 insult, exclaimed : " Withdraw ; go, Sir, and tell your 
 "master that it is not my custom to allow insolence; 
 "withdraw this very moment!" When he had got back 
 to our advance guard, the Emperor, still in a state of 
 irritation, dismounted and held converse with Savary. 
 During the aide-de-camp's double mission, the young 
 Russian noblemen had insulted the latter by their
 
 234 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 arrogant expressions which he repeated and Napoleon 
 struck the ground with his riding whip while listening 
 (a habit of his when excited) exclaiming : " Italy ! . . . . 
 " what would they have done with France if I had been 
 " beaten ? But as they will have it so, I wash my hands 
 " of it ; and, please God, in forty-eight hours I shall 
 "give them a severe lesson!" These last words were 
 spoken in the hearing of a soldier of the 17th light 
 regiment, and perceiving that this sentry was listening: 
 " Do you know, " said Napoleon, " these people think 
 " that they are going to swallow us up ! " Upon which 
 the grenadier having replied : " Let them just try it, 
 " we should soon choke them ! " the Emperor began to 
 laugh and his ill-humour vanished. 
 
 Then he commenced the retreat, following it himself 
 on foot, either because he thought he was too much 
 in sight, or with a view of increasing the enemy's 
 presumption ; the pace being taken at a speed which 
 probably emboldened the Russians. One of ourselves, 
 an old republican veteran, was misled by it, and said 
 to me : " This begins badly ! young man, it is not 
 " enough to be always advancing ; you have yet to learn 
 " what it is to fall back, and possibly even to be 
 " routed ! " I was surprised at this free comment on 
 Napoleon, such liberty of judgment having become 
 rare. Most of us gave ourselves up to a conviction 
 of his infallibility and executed the orders of the day 
 without looking beyond, without any care for the 
 morrow, sure of victory if we obeyed. Such sub- 
 mission places useful instruments in the hands of an 
 extraordinary man, but is too often the reason why he 
 leaves behind him few chiefs who are worthy to take 
 his place.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 235 
 
 This first retrograde movement was a brief one. 
 
 November 29th and 30th were spent in reviews and 
 recognizances. Never was a battle-field more carefully 
 gone over or better prepared. On the 29th, what 
 seemed to concern him the most, was the defence of 
 the Santon which he at once retrenched, armed and 
 victualled like a fort. He sent me there several times 
 either to repeat his orders, or to see that they had 
 been executed, and was not satisfied without coming 
 back himself and going up the incline on foot. He 
 immediately posted there General Claparede and the 
 17th light infantry, ordering them to burn their last 
 cartridge and get themselves killed there to a man if 
 necessary. 
 
 Already, however, the march of the Russian columns, 
 and their movements of cavalry from afar and beyond 
 our right wing, indicated to the Emperor that they 
 would make their greatest attempt on the other side 
 of our line. Whilst watching them, he rejoiced at 
 this, and allowed them to go on, knowing that one 
 can not turn a strong and well-prepared enemy 
 without being turned oneself, and that the result would 
 show which of the two had really cut off the retreat 
 of the other! 
 
 This reflection was evidently in his mind, when on 
 November 30th, having stopped on the great plateau 
 of Pratzen which extends towards Austerlitz, he pro- 
 nounced in our hearing these words which the event 
 of the day after next rendered prophetic ones : " As 
 "master of this grand position," he said, " it would be 
 " easy for me to stop the Russians here ; but in that 
 "case, it would only be an ordinary battle, whereas, 
 "by abandoning it to them and withdrawing my right,
 
 236 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 " if they dare to come down from these heights to sur- 
 " round me, they will be lost without resource ! " 
 
 Consequently, already on that and the following day, 
 ist December, withdrawn behind this plateau, an oblique 
 line of battle was taken up, the left thrown forward 
 and the right refused, and as it were hidden behind 
 the lakes Melnitz and Telnitz or Satschau. Our extreme 
 left on the contrary appearing strong was thrown 
 forward, and rested on the steep mound named the 
 Santon. 
 
 This oblique position seemed only a defensive one, 
 even showing timidity, negligently guarded in the 
 centre and particularly on the right, it only seemed 
 formidable on the left, but Bernadotte and our reserves 
 could with a rush take in reverse any attack made 
 against our centre or our right. The enemy's army 
 on the contrary, weaker in front of our left on the 
 road to Olmutz, and which was separated from the 
 rest by the ravine of Blazowitz, was heaped together 
 unprotected in the centre, on the plateau of Pratzen : 
 its left was extended afar, towards Aujerzd, to throw 
 it against our right withdrawn behind the lakes. 
 
 The forces were unequal : go,ooo men against 65,000. 
 The advantage in number was on the side of the allies 
 to an excess of 25,000, but was made up for by the 
 accidents of locality. Of the two opposed lines, one 
 was fully in view, and the other masked, which was 
 the first advantage. They formed as it were two arcs 
 of a circle, of which ours was in the closest order, a 
 second advantage, which was soon increased by an 
 imprudent manoeuvre of Alexander. 
 
 On the one hand a thick screen of Cossacks, and 
 a clear line of vedettes on our side within range of
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I, 237 
 
 musket-shot, covered the two fronts. Whilst behind 
 their outpost Hnes, the two armies about double gun 
 shot range apart with their arms stacked, were tran- 
 quilly eating and reposing round their fires as if by- 
 tacit accord in preparation for the following day. Na- 
 poleon, followed by some of us and twenty chasseurs 
 of his guard had advanced between the two lines, 
 and was measuring their extent from right to left. He 
 was making this last general recognizance so leisurely, 
 at a foot's pace, and so close to the enemy, that 
 when near Pratzen, Daumesnil, the captain of his escort 
 of chasseurs, since celebrated by the defence of Vin- 
 cennes, and myself, heedlessly provoked the line of 
 the enemy within range of pistol-shot for which we 
 were severely reprimanded: having drawn upon us 
 several shots which whistled round the Emperor's head. 
 
 I even remember that not being sufficiently alive 
 to our imprudence, when we had got to the extreme 
 left beyond the Santon, and whilst Napoleon was 
 examining the approaches to it, an argument arose 
 between us as to the distance which separated us 
 at this spot from the enemy, and this very Daumesnil, 
 who was an excellent shot, wishing to prove their 
 proximity to us, took hold of the carbine of one of 
 his men, resting its barrel on his shoulder, and with a 
 single shot unhorsed a Russian officer who stood out 
 from the others by the dazzling whiteness of his mount. 
 
 Towards three o'clock, having completed his recog- 
 nizance, the Emperor returned to his bivouac. He had 
 established his quarters on the right near the high 
 road, at the rear to the right of the Santon, and in 
 front of Bellowitz, between the stream of that village 
 and that of Ghirzikowitz. It was a woodman's hut,
 
 238 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 a great round place with a fire in the middle, lighted 
 from the top, and which his grenadiers had built at 
 the summit of a high hillock which commanded a 
 view of the plain. His coach with the horses taken 
 out, was close by, in which he had slept the preceding 
 nights. There was also near here and the high road, 
 a labourer's isolated abode, a poor cottage where his 
 canteens had been established, and where we used 
 to dine with him in the one low room, and at the one 
 long table with benches all round which furnished it. 
 The division of Duroc and Oudinot's grenadiers were 
 encamped to the front, the guard was all round and 
 to the rear. 
 
 He had just arrived there, when, about four o'clock, 
 on a report from our advance guard he came out of 
 his quarters with a telescope in his hand, which he 
 directed towards the plateau of Pratzen in front of 
 him to the right, A great flank movement of the 
 centre of the Russian army was taking place there. 
 Behind his first line the columns of the enemy 
 could be seen extending themselves to their left and 
 exposed towards Aujerzd and the two lakes. At 
 this sight, with a thrill of joy, and clapping his 
 hands, he exclaimed : " That is a shameful movement ! 
 " they are walking into the trap ; they are giving them- 
 " selves away ; before to-morrow night this army will 
 " belong to me. " 
 
 It was indeed evident that the Russians in the pride 
 of their inexperience, fancying that we were struck 
 with fear, and resigned to a timid defence, imagined 
 that they had nothing to fear in front of them, and 
 only thought of throwing themselves upon our right, 
 between us and Vienna so as to turn us and
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 239 
 
 to cut off all retreat to our inevitable rout on the follow- 
 ing day. Thus they ventured under our very eyes to 
 converge their principal forces to this side, thus stripping' 
 their centre, and abandoning on their weakened right 
 wing their line of operations or retreat. One would 
 have said that conquerors already, with no other 
 fear than that of letting us escape, they thought of 
 nothing but despatching us, and not at all of the 
 possibility that they might be forced to defend them- 
 selves. 
 
 In order still more to swell their presumption, the 
 Emperor at once instructed Murat to issue from the 
 ranks with some cavalry, and to make a feint of 
 hesitation and anxiety, and then draw back as if fright- 
 ened. Having given this order, he returned to his 
 bivouac, and there, in a proclamation which he dictated 
 from his carriage, and immediately sent round, 
 after pointing out to his soldiers the Russian army 
 presenting its flank to them and offering an assured 
 triumph to their valour, he told them that he was 
 himself directing their battalions, and promised that 
 he would not expose himself unless victory were 
 uncertain, but after it was won they should have good 
 cantonments and peace. Then going in with us into 
 the neighbouring hut he gaily sat down to table, 
 
 Murat and Caulaincourt were seated next to him, 
 then Junot, General Mouton, Rapp, Lemarois, Lebrun, 
 Macon, Thiard, Yvan and myself The meal lasted 
 some time, contrary to the habit of the Emperor who 
 seldom spent more than twenty minutes at table, but the 
 conversation was the attraction. As for myself, in the 
 full persuasion that its subject would be the great 
 event which was on the point of deciding his fortunes,
 
 240 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 I was all attention ; but nothing of the kind happened. 
 At the very outset, Napoleon addressing Junot, who 
 piqued himself on being rather literary, led the con- 
 versation on dramatic poetry. The latter having an- 
 swered by quoting several new tragedies, Napoleon, 
 as if entirely oblivious of the Russian army, the war, 
 and the next day's battle, disagreed with him, entered 
 fully into the subject and, with some warmth, declared : 
 
 " That in his eyes, none of these authors had under- 
 " stood the new principle which ought to serve for a 
 " base to our modern tragedies. He had told the 
 "author of 'The Te7nplars'' that his tragedy was a bad 
 " one ; he knew very well that the poet would never 
 " forgive him ; and for the matter of that, the self-love 
 " of an author was inexorable. If you wanted any 
 " praise from these gentlemen, you must first praise 
 " them. In the whole piece there was only one sustained 
 " character which was that of a man who wanted to 
 "die. But that is not natural and therefore worthless; 
 "one must desire to live and know how to die! 
 
 "Look at Corneille," he cried, "what strength of 
 "conception! He would have made a statesman. But 
 " as for 'The Templars' there is no policy in the piece. 
 " He ought to have put Philip Augustus into such a 
 " position that it should be a necessity for him to 
 " destroy them ; while interesting the public in their 
 " safety, he should have made it feel strongly that 
 " their existence was incompatible with that of the 
 " monarchy ; that they had become a danger by their 
 " number, their riches and their power ; that the safety 
 " of the throne demanded their destruction ! 
 
 " To-day that the glamour of the pagan religion no 
 " longer exists, our tragic stage requires another motive.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 241 
 
 " Politics should be the great spring of modern tragedy, 
 " Policy should take the place on our theatre of ancient 
 " fatality ; that fatality which rendered CEdipus a criminal 
 " although he was not guilty ; which causes us to feel 
 " an interest in Phaedra by throwing on the Gods part 
 " of the burden of her crimes and her weaknesses. 
 " These principles are both to be found in Iphigenia ; 
 " this is the masterpiece of art, the masterpiece of 
 " Racine, who has been unjustly accused of being defi- 
 " cient in strength ! " 
 
 He continued : " That it was an error to imagine 
 " tragic subjects were exhausted ; that there were any 
 " number of them in the necessities of politics ; but it 
 " was necessary to be able to feel and strike this chord ; 
 " that in this principle, which was an abundant source 
 " of strong emotions, a fruitful germ of the most critical 
 " situations, and of itself a fatality as imperious and 
 " dominating as the fatality of the ancients, one would 
 " find many advantages ; it was only necessary to place 
 " your personages in opposition to other passions or 
 " other inclinations, under the absolute influence of this 
 " powerful necessity. Thus, whatever was called ' coup 
 " d'etat,^ or political crime, would become a subject for 
 " tragedy, in which, horror being tempered by neces- 
 " sity, a new and sustained interest would develop 
 "itself." 
 
 Then followed some examples, but none bearing on 
 
 the recollection which possibly inspired him the most 
 
 at this moment. One of them carried him back to 
 
 the time of the campaign in Egypt ; apropos of 
 
 which, passing on to a subject more conformable to 
 
 our present situation and to the habits of most of 
 
 those who were around him : "Yes," he resumed, "had 
 18
 
 2 42 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 " I taken possession of Acre, I should have worn a 
 " turban ; I should have put my army into wide trousers ; 
 " I would no longer have exposed it except in the last 
 " extremity ; I should have made it my sacred battalion, 
 " my immortals ! I should have finished the war against 
 " the Turks with Arabs, Greeks, and Armenians, In- 
 " stead of a battle in Moravia, I should have won a 
 " battle on the Issus, created myself Emperor of the 
 " East, and returned to Paris by way of Constan- 
 "tinople." 
 
 These last words were accompanied by a smile, 
 seeming to imply that he was yielding to an impulse 
 which carried him away on the wings of some youth- 
 ful dream of his conquering imagination. A dream 
 which, nevertheless, might possibly have been realized ; 
 since, according to the irrefutable testimony of travel- 
 lers who were at that time in Libanus, 100,000 Chris- 
 tians had expected him on that side, fixing all their 
 hopes upon him, and ready to join his forces at the 
 first signal of the taking of Acre. 
 
 At this moment I hazarded the remark in a low 
 tone of voice : " That if Constantinople were in question, 
 we were still on the road to that capital! " I do not 
 know if Junot overheard me, or whether, entertaining 
 the same thought, he considered it advisable to repeal" 
 my words; but Napoleon answered: "No, I know 
 " the French ; they never believe themselves well off in 
 " any place where they happen to be. Long expeditions 
 " are not easy for them. Come now ; collect the voices 
 " of the army ; you will hear them all cry out for France. 
 " The French are like that, that is their character. 
 " France is too attractive, they do not like to be so 
 "far, or to remain so long away from her!" Junot
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 243 
 
 having urged against this the manifestation of warhke 
 ardour which broke out in all the ranks, General Mou- 
 ton, with his austere voice, abruptly interrupted him 
 thus: "These acclamations prove the contrary, do not 
 " be led away by this, the army is tired out ; it has 
 " had enough of it ; and although it would obey if or- 
 " dered still further afield, it would be with reluctance; 
 " only indeed manifesting such ardour on the eve of a 
 " battle because hoping to have done with it all the 
 "next day, and return home!" 
 
 The Emperor, who could not have been much pleased 
 with these outspoken utterances, yet confirmed their 
 truth; but he broke up the conversation, and rose up 
 from table saying: " In the meanwhile, let us go and 
 " fight ! " 
 
 Day, however, was declining; the enemy's move- 
 ment to the left was still going on, and Napoleon, 
 whose arrangements were all made, after having 
 renewed his instructions, visited his parks and his am- 
 bulances, assuring himself with his own eyes that all 
 his orders had been executed. He was coming back 
 to his bivouac, when, hearing some lively firing on 
 his right, he sent one of us in that direction, and then 
 throwing himself on the straw in his hut fell fast 
 asleep. He was still sleeping, and the night of the 
 ist to the 2nd of December was far spent, when the 
 aide-de-camp returned, and waking him up with some 
 difficulty, informed him that a hot attack in the direc- 
 tion of the lakes upon one of the last villages on our 
 right, had been repulsed. This confirmed his previsions ; 
 but, desirous of himself reconnoitring for the last time, 
 by the light of the camp fires, the positions of the 
 enemy, he remounted his horse, and followed by a few
 
 2 44 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 amongst us, adventured himself between the two lines. 
 
 He was walking along them when, in spite of several 
 warnings, having in the darkness directed his steps 
 towards Pratzen, I think, he unwittingly came across 
 a post of Cossacks. These sprang out upon him so 
 suddenly, that he would certainly have been taken 
 or killed, but for the devotion of the chasseurs of his 
 escort, and had he not returned to our fires at full 
 speed. His return was so hurried that being obliged 
 to cross without picking his way the marshy stream 
 which protected our front, several of the men and horses 
 who followed, him got bogged there, amongst them 
 Yvan, his body-surgeon since 1796, whose duty was 
 never to be away from his person. 
 
 Having crossed the stream, the Emperor regained 
 on foot, from one fire to another, his own bivouac. 
 As he approached it in the darkness, he stumbled 
 over the trunk of a tree lying on the ground, and 
 one of the grenadiers noticing this, conceived the idea 
 of twisting his straw so as to make a torch of it, 
 which he lit, and raising it above his head, used it as 
 a torch to light the steps of his Emperor. 
 
 In the middle of the night, which was that of the 
 eve of the anniversary of the coronation, this flame 
 which illumined and suddenly disclosed the countenance 
 of Napoleon, seemed like a signal to the soldiers in 
 the neighbouring bivouacs; one cry rose up: " It is the 
 " anniversary of the coronation ; Long live the Einperor! " 
 an impulse of sudden enthusiasm which Napoleon 
 vainly tried to check. " Silence, " he said, " till to- 
 " morrow; think of nothing now but sharpening your 
 "bayonets! " 
 
 Already the same thought, the same cry had spread
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 245 
 
 with the rapidity of lightning, and was repeated from 
 fire to fire: each one not to be outdone and grasp- 
 ing the idea, tore up his shelter; and fastening the straw 
 at the end of every pole they could lay hands on, 
 they set them alight, so that in a moment, over a line 
 of two leagues, millions of sheaves of flames rose up 
 
 to the reiterated cries of " Vive VEmpereur / " 
 
 Thus was improvised under the eyes of the astonished 
 enemy, the most memorable illumination, the most 
 touching fete ever offered to its general by the admira- 
 tion and devotion of a whole army. 
 
 The Russians, it was said, imagined that because 
 we were burning our shelters, we were going to leave 
 the ground, and their presumption went on increasing. 
 As for Napoleon, who was first annoyed, but afterwards 
 greatly moved and touched, he exclaimed : " That this 
 "evening was the grandest in his life ! " and he proceeded 
 from bivouac to bivouac, some considerable distance 
 from his own, to testity his gratitude to his soldiers. 
 
 During the rest of the night, in spite of his fatigue, 
 either through emotion or because he had been 
 awake to receive several reports of the march of the 
 Russians upon his right, he slept very little. 
 
 At last when the morning of December 2 was 
 beginning to dawn, he called us into his hut. Here 
 we were served with a slight repast, which he took 
 with us standing ; then buckling on his sword : " Now, 
 "gentlemen," he said, "let us go and begin a grand 
 "day! " Each of us then ran to his horses. A moment 
 afterwards, on the summit of this hillock, which our 
 soldiers had called " the Emperor's mound," from various 
 points of our line we saw all the heads of our main 
 body hasten up, each followed by an aide-de-camp.
 
 246 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 Napoleon had desired that they should thus all 
 come at once to receive his last commands. They 
 were: the Prince Marshal Murat, Marshal Lannes, 
 Marshal Bernadotte, Marshal Soult, and Marshal Davout. 
 At this solemn instant these marshals formed around 
 the Emperor the most formidable assemblage which 
 imagination can conceive. What a marvellous spec- 
 tacle! how many united glories were to be found in 
 this redoubtable circle! How many warlike chieftains, 
 justly and diversely celebrated, surrounded the greatest 
 man of war of ancient or modern times! I think I 
 can still see them, receiving his inspiration, as it were, 
 like bearers of Jove's thunder-bolts, scatter themselves 
 abroad to shatter the united forces of two empires. 
 Could my life last as long as the world endures, the 
 impression of such a spectacle would never fade from 
 my memory. Thus began one of the most celebrated 
 
 days in our history ! How quickly the times have 
 
 altered! In those days how grand was everything, 
 what glorious times! what splendid men and what 
 magnificent careers ! 
 
 The Emperor's first words to his marshals gave 
 them the key to his plan of campaign. He still felt 
 so convinced, owing to the reports brought to him 
 during the night, that the enemy was continuing his 
 flank movement, and throwing himself on our right, 
 with the sole thought of leaving him no chance of 
 escape, that he once more exclaimed: "Yes, it is a 
 "shameful movement! they must think me a greenhorn; 
 "but they will soon repent of it," and on the spot he 
 renewed his orders to each and all. 
 
 Davout, the head of whose harassed column was 
 only just appearing in sight, received orders to stop
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 247 
 
 the enemy on our extreme right, at the end of the 
 defile which was bordered by the lakes, and towards 
 which they were still pressing forwards. 
 
 Soult received the same order for his division on 
 the right ; and his other two divisions already formed 
 in attacking columns beyond the stream at the 
 openings of the two villages, were instructed to be 
 ready to dash out upon the central plateau of the 
 battle. 
 
 Bernadotte, who would come up obliquely from our 
 left, was also to assail the plateau at the same time 
 and on the same side. 
 
 This simultaneous effort of four divisions against the 
 centre of the Austro-Russians, thinned by their move- 
 ment to the front and left, was to be supported by 
 the Emperor himself with his double reserve of the 
 united grenadiers and his own guard. 
 
 At the same time, on our left wing, Murat and his 
 cavalry were to charge in the intervals of Lannes' 
 artillery ; then drawing back behind it, they would 
 attract the onrush of the enemy's cavalry which seemed 
 strong on that side, and would bring it under the fire 
 of our battalions. 
 
 The Emperor concluded with these words : " In half- 
 "an-hour, the entire line must be in a blaze!" 
 
 Thus, whilst on the left, a defensive attitude would 
 be adopted by our troops, withdrawn to the bottom 
 of a valley into which the enemy was advancing and 
 becoming entangled; the central plateau where the 
 allies, by their movement to the left, opposed but a 
 weakened front, would be carried by an attack in 
 force. The two wings of the enemy would thus be 
 suddenly divided by this decisive stroke. The one.
 
 248 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 attacked on the front and outflanked by our victory 
 on the centre would be forced to give way ; whilst 
 the other, which had advanced too far, finding itself 
 turned and overcome by the same central victory, 
 would be completely hemmed in against the lakes in 
 this cut-throat pass in which it had risked itself, and 
 would there be crushed or taken. Here we have the 
 battle as it was conceived and carried out ! 
 
 After having repeated his orders to his marshals, 
 the Emperor said to each one of them : "Go!" and 
 each in turn carrying his head high, full of eagerness, 
 made the military salute and went his way. When 
 it came to Bernadotte's turn, the Emperor's voice 
 took a noticeably dry and imperious tone, and when 
 a few moments after, the marshal's two divisions were 
 starting for the point of attack, he harangued them 
 himself. The proclamation of the night before was 
 read by the light of the camp fires, and he added to 
 it : " That to-day, the Russian pride was to be brought 
 "low, and the war to be concluded by a thunder- 
 "bolt!" 
 
 During this time the rising sun was obscured by 
 heavy mists which seemed to the Russians to favour 
 their flank movement forwards to the left ; but on the 
 contrary they veiled our attack, only deferred to 
 surprise this imprudent and foolish manoeuvre in the 
 very act. 
 
 They had already attacked our oblique line on the 
 right, which was well to the rear and refused, from 
 Telnitz to Sokolnitz in the direction of the low ground 
 near the lakes, where, in their rivalry to get forward 
 they had crowded together and assailed us as they were. 
 
 It was not yet eight o'clock and silence and dark-
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 249 
 
 ness were still reigning over the rest of the line, when, 
 beginning with the heights, the sun suddenly breaking 
 through this thick fog, disclosed to our sight the 
 plateau of Pratzen growing empty of troops from the 
 flank march of the enemy's columns. As for us who 
 had remained in the ravine which defines the foot of 
 this plateau, the smoke of the bivouacs and the vapours 
 which, heavier on this point than elsewhere, still hung 
 around, concealed from the eyes of the Russians our 
 centre deployed in columns and ready for the attack. 
 
 On seeing this. Marshal Soult, whom the Emperor 
 had kept last by his side, wanted to hasten to his 
 divisions and give them the signal ; but Napoleon, 
 calmer than he, still held him back that the enemy 
 might rush upon his own ruin ; and pointing to Prat- 
 zen, asked : " How much time do you require to crown 
 "that summit? " " Ten minutes," answered the marshal. — 
 " Then go, " resumed the Emperor, " but you can wait 
 "another quarter-of-an-hour, and it will be time enough 
 "then!" 
 
 The moment having arrived, the divisions of Van- 
 damme and Saint Hilaire springing out of the mist 
 which enveloped them, suddenly appeared on the 
 scene. It was then eight o'clock. The plateau attacked 
 on the front and in flank was scaled at a quick step. The 
 first cannon fired on that point was on the side of the 
 Russians. The enemy was completely surprised; 
 some were still marching towards their left, the others 
 were facing us on three lines, holding their ground 
 badly. Their first fire was disreg^arded, we attacked 
 with our sidearms, and their lines one after the other 
 turned tail, leaving their knapsacks on the ground 
 before them, abandoning their artillery even, and flying
 
 250 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 before our bayonets. On our own side at nine o'clock 
 the battle, which was painfully on the defensive behind 
 on the right, already victorious to the front at the 
 centre, and threatening to our left, was engaged on 
 our whole front. 
 
 Towards eleven o'clock, all had succeeded according 
 to the Emperor's previsions. The Russian centre had 
 been broken and its two wings separated; but it was 
 necessary to retain this advantage and profit by it; to 
 maintain the centre against the Russian reserves and 
 to surprise on the flank and rear simultaneously the 
 masses of the enemy's left, whilst they threw them- 
 selves violently against our right which they were 
 bearing down. From the height of the central posi- 
 tion which he had just gained so rapidly we could 
 hear their fire in the rear to the right of us. 
 
 Towards midday I rejoined the Emperor. I was 
 returning by his orders from calling up his foot guard, 
 and conducting the united grenadiers of the reserve 
 to an eminence behind the stream and this plateau. 
 He and his horse guards had taken up a position there, 
 making Bernadotte remain on his left. He distrusted 
 this marshal and sent me to repeat his orders to him, 
 and to watch how they were carried out. 
 
 I found Bernadotte on foot at the head of his in- 
 fantry, agitated and uneasy, expecting from his sol- 
 diers a calmness of which he did not set them the 
 example. This anxiety was not, it is true, devoid of 
 reason ; pointing out to me the formidable masses of 
 cavalry which were gathering in front of him, he 
 complained somewhat too loudly that he had not a 
 single squadron to oppose to them, and besought me 
 so earnestly to go and beg Napoleon to send some
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 251 
 
 cavalry to his aid that not being able to resist his 
 entreaties, I undertook to convey them to the Em- 
 peror. Napoleon answered with some impatience : 
 " Why, he knows very well that I have not any to 
 spare!" At this very moment he had just collected 
 in front of him all he had at hand, consisting of all the 
 cavalry of his guard with one battery of artillery. At 
 the same time forced in his turn to thin the central 
 plateau, he threw out to the right Soult's two divisions 
 which were also on the flank and rear of the left wing of 
 the Austro-Russians, whom he thus completely cut off 
 from the rest. In this movement an offensive return 
 of the allied infantry supported by the Russian guard, 
 very nearly shook Vandamme and Saint-Hilaire who 
 repulsed it at the point of the bayonet : this was the 
 critical moment of the battle ! 
 
 It was now one o'clock. Napoleon from the summit 
 of this commanding plateau, could see before him 
 Alexander's guard advancing in a mass to drive him 
 away and re-take it. At the same moment he could 
 hear in the rear to his right the renewed firing of the 
 Russians' advanced left. They were 30,000 men against 
 less than 10,000 of ours who were endeavouring to 
 hold their ground against them. It looked as if they 
 were very nearly becoming masters of those very 
 positions behind us whence we had advanced that 
 morning. On this side the action in the hollow 
 was hidden from him. The sound of its tumult, 
 however, was becoming so threatening, that, with- 
 drawing his glance from the decisive attack which 
 was going to take place in front, and seeing behind 
 him a black mass of moving troops, he exclaimed : 
 "What! can those be the Russians?" On my reply
 
 252 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 (for I alone happened to be near him at the moment) 
 that it must be his own reserve, he ordered me to go 
 off at full gallop and make sure of it. 
 
 It was indeed the division of the united grenadiers 
 of our reserve, Duroc, having perceived the progress 
 of the Russian left against our right was marching 
 towards the lakes to come to the aid of Soult and 
 Davout. 
 
 I had hardly returned, and re-assured the Emperor 
 as to what was going on in his rear, when in front 
 of him began the attack of Alexander's horse guard. 
 It was so impetuous that Vandamme's two battalions 
 on the left were completely overwhelmed ! one of them 
 indeed, covered with blood, and having lost its eagle 
 and the greater part of its arms only got up to run 
 away at full speed. This battalion was that of the 
 4th regiment, which almost passed over us, and Na- 
 poleon himself, our effort to arrest it being in vain. 
 The unfortunate fellows were quite distracted with 
 fear and could listen to nothing ; in reply to our re- 
 proaches for thus deserting the field of battle and 
 their Emperor they shouted mechanically " Vive VEui- 
 '''■pereur /" while they fled faster than ever. 
 
 Napoleon smiled pitifully ; then with a scornful 
 gesture he said to us: "Let them go," and retaining 
 all his calm in the midst of the affray, he despatched 
 Rapp to the cavalry of the guard. 
 
 It was time he did so, but a single moment is 
 enough to change everything. Rapp reappeared on 
 the scene, announcing almost directly to the Emperor 
 the complete rout of the Russian guard by the French 
 guard. He returned alone at a gallop, his head held 
 high, his glance aflame, with a bloody forehead and
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 253 
 
 sword, as a well-known picture represents him; but 
 with this difference, that around Napoleon there was 
 no wreckage of warfare, no shattered cannons, no 
 dead men, no numerous staff, as the painter chose to 
 depict. The ground worn by the passage of the 
 combatants was perfectly bare; the Emperor was two 
 or three paces in front of us on the summit, Berthier 
 by his side, and behind him only Caulaincourt, Lebrun, 
 Thiard, and myself. The foot guards and even the 
 squadron on duty were at some considerable distance 
 to the rear of our right. The other officers of the 
 Emperor, Duroc, Junot, Mouton, Macon, Lemarois, 
 were dispersed at distances over the whole line. Rapp 
 on arriving said in a loud voice: " Sire, I took the li- 
 " berty of taking your chasseurs; we have overwhelmed 
 " and crushed the Russian guard and taken his artil- 
 "lery." — "It was well done, I saw it," answered the 
 Emperor ; " but you are wounded, my dear fellow. " 
 To which Rapp replied: "It is nothing. Sire, nothing 
 "but a scratch! " and he came back to take his place 
 amongst us. Savary then appeared at a foot pace, 
 exhibiting his Turkish sabre, which had been broken, 
 he said, in the same charge in which Rapp had just 
 immortalized himself; but Rapp who hated him, and 
 who happened to be near me at the moment, contra- 
 dicted this, and being still very excited, said a great 
 deal more. 
 
 This victory had indeed been decided by Rapp with 
 the mamelukes, whose colonel he was, and the mounted 
 chasseurs of the guard. The cavalry and artillery of 
 the Russian guard had been sabred and thrown to 
 the ground; Ordener and his mounted grenadiers 
 completed the work. A whole row of Alexander's
 
 2 54 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 unfortunate young horse guards lying on the ground 
 with their death wounds in front, encumbered the 
 spot where this terrible encounter had taken place. 
 Other lines of dead and wounded, with the knapsacks 
 of the infantry, (which it is the Russian custom to 
 deposit on the ground at their feet before the combat) 
 indicated the other positions where the infantry of the 
 enemy's guard had succumbed, and whose defeat was 
 to be now completed by Bernadotte. Just then a 
 young officer of artillery, named Apraxin, whom our 
 chasseurs had taken, was brought before the Emperor 
 struggling and weeping, wringing his hands in despair, 
 and exclaiming: "That he had lost his battery! That 
 " he was dishonoured ! " Napoleon tried to console him, 
 saying: "Calm yourself, young man! and remember 
 " this ; there can be no shame in being conquered by 
 " Frenchmen ! " 
 
 From afar could be seen the remains of the Russian 
 reserves abandoning the central plateau to us, and the 
 left of their army retiring in close ranks upon Auster- 
 litz. They were retreating under the cannonading of 
 our guard, with which the commandant Doguereau 
 (to-day a peer and general of division) was furrowing 
 their routed ranks. 
 
 A few moments later in the midst of the noise of 
 the firing which still thundered at our two wings, the 
 Emperor despatched Lebrun to Paris to carry the news 
 of his victory. In spite of the first pride of success, 
 the choice of this officer was not displeasing to any 
 of those around Napoleon. It was in our eyes a kind 
 of reparation for some hard words which had passed the 
 night before, relating to a financial error on the part of 
 the minister Barbe-Marbois, father-in-law of this colonel.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 255 
 
 The Emperor thus remained absolute master of this 
 lofty and advanced centre of the battle. His attention 
 was then withdrawn to his right at the rear in the 
 direction of the lower end of the lakes. Twenty-seven 
 thousand Austro-Russians, having blindly adventured 
 themselves there, were still combating the g, 000 men at 
 our right, whom they had not been able to force during the 
 whole morning. Napoleon then pushed forwards upon the 
 rear of this abandoned mass Soult's two divisions, which 
 had been victorious at the centre and at Aujerzd, our- 
 selves, his reserve batteries, and even his own special 
 squadron on duty. 
 
 This unfortunate wing, overwhelmed on three sides 
 under the simultaneous efforts of Davout, Soult, Duroc 
 and his grenadiers, surrounded, forced, repulsed by 
 Vandamme and ourselves against the lakes, sought a 
 refuge there. Before reaching them the greater num- 
 ber were forced to lay down arms; 2,000 only escaping 
 by the road dividing the two lakes. A few other thou- 
 sands in their mad terror ventured upon the ice which 
 covered their surface, and in a moment this white and 
 glistening mirror became suddenly black with the 
 scattered multitude of fugitives, who had risked them- 
 selves on the dangerous foothold which gave way 
 beneath their feet under the indentation of our pitiless 
 bullets. From the heights where he had remained, the 
 Emperor perceiving this, exclaimed : " It is Aboukir ! " 
 
 Indeed, we who were charging them, stopped short 
 in pity at the sight of this terrible and novel spec- 
 tacle; some of us even holding out a helping hand to 
 these drowning men. As I passed by I pulled out a 
 Cossack from the frozen water. Little did I then think 
 that the following year, after having first taken part
 
 256 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 in the conquest of Naples and the Calabrias, then in that 
 of Prussia, very far from these lakes I should meet 
 with him again, and that, wounded myself, and a pris- 
 oner in the centre of Poland, I should be recognised 
 and succoured in my turn by this Tartar! 
 
 It should, however, be told to the honour of this 
 vanquished wing which was almost completely killed 
 or taken, that its end in the trap into which it had 
 fallen, was a glorious one. Hemmed in, and charged 
 on all sides, it defended itself by squads to the very 
 last. So much so, that after this disastrous scene, 
 when some of us returned to these lakes, those who 
 were still holding on there without hope, waited for 
 us steadfastly till we were straight up to their pieces, 
 discharging them at us point blank so that my face 
 was scorched by the flame issuing from one of them. 
 
 A few hundred foot soldiers were still resisting our 
 picked squadron, when Vandamme, perceiving me, cried 
 out : " Segur, come and help me take this park of 
 " artillery imbedded in the mud, which a few drunken 
 "artillerymen alone are defending," The capture was 
 indeed so easy that the two of us sufficed for it. At 
 this moment came up one of his battalions reduced to 
 150 men; and on my exclamation at the sight of so 
 small a number, he repHed : " Yes, indeed ; it is im- 
 " possible to make a good omelette without breaking a 
 " great many eggs ! " It was in fact his division 
 which had borne the brunt of the battle. 
 
 Whilst this victory was being completed at our 
 right, on our left, the Russian right wing had been 
 conquered in front by Lannes and Murat with a 
 loss of 6,000 men, it had been followed up on the road 
 to Olmutz, whence, turning off to the left, it was
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 257 
 
 nearing Austerlitz, losing its line of operations, and 
 having no other refuge than by Holitch and Hun- 
 gary. These Russians marched past our centre and 
 Bernadotte, but the marshal, who was rather chary 
 of giving himself trouble when it was a case of 
 divided glory, having stopped too soon, allowed the 
 defeated troops to pass by without molesting them, 
 and did not even notice the singular direction they 
 were taking. 
 
 Towards four o'clock the battle was at an end, 
 and nothing remained to be done but to pursue and 
 pick up the scattered and routed remains. While 
 giving this order, the Emperor addressed a few pleasant 
 words to the officers and soldiers who happened to 
 be near him ; then, leaving the lakes, he returned 
 by our right to our left, as far as the road to Olmutz. 
 Night surprised him whilst he thus walked over the 
 whole line of battle, strewn with the wounded, stopping 
 to speak to every one of them. The morning mist was 
 then falling back in frozen rain, which rendered the 
 night even darker ; but ordering complete silence, the 
 better to hear the groans of his poor maimed soldiers, 
 he would himself hasten to their help, making Yvan 
 and his mameluke give them brandy out of his own 
 canteen. 
 
 At last about ten o'clock at night, having then 
 got as far as the road to Olmutz at the point where 
 that of Austerlitz branches into it, he passed the night 
 in the humble post-house of Posorsitz, There he supped 
 off some food which the soldiers brought him from 
 the neighbouring bivouacs, interrupting himself con- 
 stantly to send order upon order for the w^ounded to 
 be picked up and carried to the ambulances. It was 
 19
 
 258 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 there, that again meeting Rapp with the wound 
 across his brow, he said : " You now possess an added 
 " quarter of nobiUty than which I know none more 
 " illustrious ! " 
 
 The next day (December 3) Murat, whose thoughts 
 were solely concentrated on the side on which he had 
 fought the day before, and who had seen nothing but 
 what was in front of him, or perhaps was misled by certain 
 reports, imagined that the whole of the enemy's force 
 was in flight towards Olmutz, on account of which the 
 French army was put in movement in this false direc- 
 tion. Napoleon, however, distrusting the rumour, took 
 another road, and directed his own course towards 
 Austerlitz, where he learnt through the unanimous 
 replies of the inhabitants to his pressing inquiries, 
 that the two vanquished Emperors had passed the 
 night there, and that before daybreak, both Russians 
 and Austrians had escaped towards Hungary by the 
 road to Holitch. On this information, confirmed by 
 a prompt recognisance of Thiard, it became necessary 
 to change all the orders immediately, with the result 
 that, for a part of the army, the day was nearly lost 
 in marches and counter-marches. 
 
 The Emperor's irritation was extreme, but the 
 previous day's knock-down blow had ended the war. 
 The enemy's army no longer existed. At every moment 
 and from every side fresh reports came in confirmation 
 of the extent of this victory. This meant 400 artillery, 
 waggons, 186 guns, 45 flags, 10,000 dead, 30,000 
 prisoners and all the baggage ! The two Emperors 
 between them could not number 25,000 fighting men ! 
 The Emperor of Austria declaring that he withdrew 
 from the coalition, had already sent to demand an
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 259 
 
 armistice, an interview, peace ; and at last submitted 
 to the conditions which he had refused in front of 
 Vienna. 
 
 Napoleon put all this off till the next day, and without 
 arresting his course he caused the enemy to be driven 
 to the front and outflanked by his two wings. He spent 
 all the rest of the day in a state of conflicting feeling, 
 sometimes anxious and sometimes congratulating him- 
 self. Towards evening, on a report which I brought 
 to him of the position in which I had left the mounted 
 chasseurs of his guard beyond the lakes which they had 
 turned, he exclaimed, " They must have fallen into the 
 " midst of the enemy ; and probably had either allowed 
 " themselves to be cut to pieces or taken. " On the 
 contrary these picked men had attacked and taken all 
 that they had come across. 
 
 The Emperor could not have known at this time 
 the extent of Russian discouragement. He was not 
 aware that Alexander, misled by the answers of some 
 of our captive officers who had been taken prisoner, 
 believed that the whole of Davout's main body was 
 before Holitch, waiting to make an end of him. The 
 fact is that this marshal, who had been summoned 
 rather late in the day from Vienna, had nothing but 
 a harassed and half mutilated division to oppose on 
 this point to the remainder of the defeated troops of 
 the two Emperors. Napoleon knew the weakness 
 of his right wing; he surmised that the Archduke 
 Ferdinand was behind at the head of 20,000 men, 
 who had obtained a victory over the Bavarians ; he 
 learnt that the Archduke Charles, with his army of 
 Italy had just arrived on the Danube; and that elsewhere 
 the coalition was master at the same time of Naples
 
 26o MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 and Hanover. These considerations decided him on 
 ending the war. 
 
 Having arrived at this decision, the next day, (De- 
 cember 4) began with a suspension of arms. About 
 ten o'clock we were on horseback around Napoleon, 
 galloping forwards on the road to Hungary. Having 
 quickly reached an eminence beyond Urchutz, he 
 drew rein there. A valley lay at our feet, and a road 
 across the pools of Saruschitz approached by a mill. 
 The French Imperial Guard with flying standards and 
 scarlet plumes at their heads, in full review panoply, 
 crowned on our side the elevated ridge of this 
 valley where the war was to come to an end. The 
 remains of the Austrian forces lined the opposite slope. 
 The Emperor ordered me to go down into this hollow, 
 and at about one hundred and fifty paces from the ponds 
 and the manufactory to have a fire lighted by the chas- 
 seurs of his escort. A tree that the Russians had cut 
 down the day before seemed to mark out a fitting spot, 
 about ten paces to the left of the high road; and it 
 was here I established the celebrated bivouac where 
 the interview of the two Emperors was to take place. 
 The fire was burning up as Napoleon put foot to the 
 ground, several of his chasseurs were trying who could 
 best make him a carpet of straw, others were securing 
 a plank upon the tree trunk, so that the two Emperors 
 might be able to take their seats there, when, smiling 
 at all this trouble he said to me: "There, there; that 
 " will do ; but it took no less than six months to settle 
 " the ceremonial for the interview of Francis I. and 
 " Charles the Fifth ! " 
 
 At this instant we perceived coming from Czeitch 
 and issuing out into the road-way a single carriage
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 2b I 
 
 without an escort. Two squadrons accompanied it, but 
 they had not gone beyond the ponds which defined 
 the line of the armistice. This carriage stopped on the 
 roadway in front of the fire, and the Emperor Napoleon 
 came up to the step to receive the Emperor of Austria 
 with affectionate consideration, taking him by the hand 
 to lead him to his bivouac. There was barely a trace 
 of anxiety visible in this Emperor's listless aspect. As 
 he descended from his carriage he seemed not to have 
 perceived an impulsive movement of Napoleon, who I 
 thought was about to embrace him, but who contained 
 himself as if suddenly frozen at so solemn a moment 
 by the cold and inexpressive gaze of this monarch. 
 I could not even detect in the eyes of Francis II. a 
 single glance of curiosity, which would only have been 
 natural in a first interview with so great a man ! 
 
 His first words, however, were befitting. " He hoped," 
 he said, " that the Emperor would appreciate the step 
 "he was taking to accelerate the general peace. " Adding 
 immediately, with a singular and somewhat forced 
 laugh : " Well ! you intend to despoil me, to deprive 
 "me of my States? " To an observation of Napoleon, he 
 answered, " The English ! they are salesmen of human 
 "flesh. " We did not hear the rest, having remained 
 on the road, with the Austrian officers, about ten paces 
 from the two monarchs and the Prince of Lichtenstein, 
 who alone had been included in this conference. It 
 was easy to see that Lichtenstein bore the principal 
 part in the discussion. 
 
 The interview took place standing, and lasted an 
 hour. We then thought we heard Francis II. exclaim : 
 " Well, then, the matter is settled ! I was only free this 
 " morning. I told the Emperor of Russia that I was
 
 262 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 " anxious to see you ; and he replied that I could do 
 " as I pleased. " We were surprised to hear this prince 
 laugh outright several times in the course of his com- 
 plaints concerning the plundering by some Cossacks 
 of a farm which he seemed to hold in special affection. 
 We may not rightly have heard what he said, but it 
 caused us a painful feeling, that this monarch in the 
 midst of the misfortunes of his empire should seem 
 taken up with such an unimportant detail. The last 
 words of Napoleon were "So I have Your Majesty's 
 "promise not to begin the war again?" Francis II. 
 replied : " That he swore it and would keep his word", 
 upon which the two Emperors embraced each other 
 and parted. 
 
 While mounting his horse, Napoleon said to us : 
 "We are going to see Paris again, peace is settled!" 
 But during his return to Austerlitz, after having des- 
 patched Savary back to the two Emperors, he seemed 
 anxious and preoccupied with what had just taken 
 place, letting fall some expressions full of bitterness ; 
 to which he added : " That it was impossible to believe 
 " in these promises. He had just received a lesson 
 " which he should not forget ; and in the future he 
 "would always have 400,000 men under arms!" 
 
 I am ignorant of the opinion that Napoleon conceived 
 of Francis II., but it must be admitted, this prince 
 possessed the respect of his subjects, who credited him 
 with an enlightened mind and firm character; he 
 was beloved by them; and I may even add that those 
 of us who had known him, did not share the unfavourable 
 opinion which this interview, no doubt a painful and 
 embarrassing one, had left upon us. 
 
 About two o'clock, Napoleon was back again at
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 263 
 
 Austerlitz. It was then that while giving thanks to 
 God and his army, he commanded that thanksgiving 
 services should be held in all the churches of the 
 Empire. The previous evening he had dictated in one 
 breath, and under the influence of one of his most 
 eloquent inspirations, the famous proclamation which 
 began : " Soldiers, I am satisfied with you ! " During 
 the days that succeeded, the warmth of this feeling 
 was ever present in his looks, his words, his bulletins, 
 and in the generosity of the repeated decrees in which 
 he desired to place on record his gratitude for the 
 devotion of so many brave men. 
 
 The army on its side, proud of him, of itself, and of 
 the victory which it had designated: " Battle of the 
 "■Anniversary " / " Battle of the Coronation* ; "Battle of 
 "■the Three Emperors'', lavished upon him its love and 
 enthusiasm. The greater part of the decrees, dated 
 from Brunn, had been thought out at Austerlitz during 
 the four days that he remained there. According to 
 one of these, the price of all the magazines that had 
 fallen into our hands, and a hundred millions of war 
 taxes were to be the reward of the victorious army. 
 Another granted generous pensions to the widows of 
 those who had just fallen. By a third all orphans 
 were to be fed, clothed, brought up, married, and 
 provided for at the expense of the State. Napoleon 
 expressed a wish that they should have the right to 
 add his own name to their baptismal ones. He had 
 said more than this in unmeasured language the day 
 after the battle, when his delight caused him to break 
 out in these remarkable words: — "Soldiers! you have 
 " won peace ; you will once more see France ! Give 
 " my name to your children ; you have my permission
 
 264 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP. 
 
 " to do SO ; and if amongst them there should be one 
 " worthy of us, I will leave him all my worldly goods, 
 " and declare him my successor! " 
 
 On December 5, the day after the interview, Savary 
 was admitted at Holitch before daybreak to Alexander's 
 presence. Davout, then reinforced, had only a step 
 to take to make an end of the vanquished in their 
 disorder. But the night before he had received a note 
 from the Czar, informing him of the armistice, which 
 had put a stop to this. Savary promised the prince 
 to suspend the marshal's attack, making it a condition 
 that the entire remainder of the Russian army should 
 at once return to Russia by daily stages. He even 
 dictated their itinerary, to which the Emperor Alexander 
 assented without hesitation. 
 
 On December 6, the armistice which had been 
 agreed upon the previous evening with Austria, was 
 signed by Napoleon at Austerlitz.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 TJblE SIEGE OF GAETA. 
 
 THE war was hardly over in Germany before the 
 Emperor sent me into Italy, where fighting had 
 begun for the conquest of the kingdom of Naples. 
 The grand affair at this moment was the preparation 
 for the siege of Gaeta or Gayette, the name of the 
 nurse of ^neas, which General Gardanne, who did 
 not trouble himself much about ancient history, mistook 
 for a surname, pronouncing it caillette (gossip) ; this 
 was, he said, the nickname of a nurse of former days, 
 showing that they were exactly like those of the 
 present day and proving, according to him, that gos- 
 siping must have been their original sin from time 
 immemorial. 
 
 The traveller does not exist who has not described 
 Gaeta as the key of Naples, though many have entered 
 that capital without taking this fortress. It is a town 
 built on a lofty rock at the end of a peninsula. The 
 sea surrounds it, with the exception of one side, which 
 is confined between two gulfs, forming a narrow isth- 
 mus of some 400 yards, which connects the town with 
 the mainland, and offers to the assailant who should 
 shape his course in this direction, (the only available 
 
 one) a loose soil on a bed of rock. The much more 
 
 26";
 
 2 66 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 developed front of the town dominates it, and the right 
 of this line of defence is bathed by the sea. On every 
 other side it is steep, and covered with batteries raised 
 one above the other, forming a redoubtable amphitheatre 
 whence a hundred pieces of ordnance converge upon 
 and command the isthmus, forbidding all approach to it. 
 
 The rest of the kingdom seemed under subjection ; 
 but it was impossible to expect its moral conquest, 
 as long as the enemy possessed this centre of attack 
 and revolt; all the more that throughout this long 
 peninsula, which was nearly all coast, and within sight 
 of the English, one found oneself as it were, at an 
 advance post, in the very capital itself It was there- 
 fore necessary to strike this last blow; Massena 
 insisted on it. However, before all was in readiness 
 to come to extremities, an attempt was made to parley, 
 but the first officer who was sent, received a charge 
 of grape shot point blank and was killed on the 
 spot. On the one hand it was said there had been 
 some mistake ; on the other, an inopportune recollec- 
 tion of my successful efforts in Ulm caused me to be 
 selected to renew the attempt. I obeyed, but with the 
 conviction of its futility, feeling much annoyed to be 
 the means of giving the Prince of Hesse a further 
 opportunity of braving our arms. 
 
 When, issuing from the outskirts, I appeared on the 
 esplanade, the garrison, somewhat ashamed of having 
 opened fire with all its batteries on a solitary man, 
 allowed me to come up to the wicket which was 
 opened; and in a kind of redan, I found the prince 
 in the midst of a circle of officers. He had only 
 agreed to listen to me out of doors, surrounded by 
 his Council. Whatever one does against the grain is
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 267 
 
 badly done. I felt that I was the bearer of an absurd 
 proposition, ridiculous as far as concerned ourselves, 
 and offensive for the governor of one of the most 
 strongly fortified places in Europe, protected and vic- 
 tualled by a squadron which was mistress of the seas 
 and whose steady courage was well known. He was 
 if I remember right, a little, thick-set man with an 
 aquiline nose, whose grog-blossoms bore equal testi- 
 mony to his prowess at table as well as in the breach. 
 Fearing himself even more than he feared us, he had 
 conceived the original idea of entrusting the key ot 
 his wine cellar to the Bishop of the town, exacting a 
 promise from this prelate only to allow him a bottle 
 a day. He had also been heard shouting himself 
 hoarse, and repeatedly calling out from the top of the 
 ramparts through a speaking trumpet : " Gaeta is not 
 "Ulm; neither is Hesse a Marshal Mack! " I knew 
 this very well ; indeed we only exchanged a few 
 words, which were rather confused on my side and 
 ironical on his; upon which to cut short the sorry mis- 
 sion which had been entrusted to me, I concluded 
 abruptly and took myself off, carrying away an indif- 
 ferent opinion, not as to the determined character but 
 the graciousness of our adversary, and leaving him 
 probably with an equally poor opinion of my eloquence. 
 He was wrong on two points; first, by leaving 
 standing an outskirt of the town a few paces from 
 the fort, whose solidly built houses made our approach 
 the easier; secondly, his sallies were not sufficiently 
 frequent: he seldom ventured on any, that of May 
 15th, in which we lost a captain of engineers and 
 a hundred soldiers not having given him sufficient 
 courage to persevere.
 
 2 68 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 These engagements had been intermixed with par- 
 ley ings, during one of which the governor who had 
 a pleasant humour, said to Gardanne, one of the 
 besieging generals: "That he thought his abode was 
 "unhealthy, and that he advised him to change it." — 
 "Unhealthy! " answered Gardanne, "it is an admirable 
 "situation!" — "It is," retorted the Prince, "that very 
 " situation which makes it unhealthy ! " Gardanne, whose 
 intelligence was not of a very high order, and who 
 thought that the air was excellent, would not agree 
 to this remark of the prince. He had taken no 
 steps in consequence of this warning, when the follow- 
 ing night a deluge of bombs made him quickly under- 
 stand its aim and meaning, rousing him hurriedly 
 from his sleep, and barely leaving him time to go and 
 seek a more salubrious domicile. 
 
 Mine was in the Royal quarters, situated between 
 Mola, the ancient Formies, the country of the Lestrigons, 
 and the fortress. This house was on the edge of the 
 gulf, close to the road where Cicero, overtaken in 
 his litter by Popilius, Lenas, and Herennius, perished 
 under their blows. A ruin close by, which we had 
 turned into a powder magazine, was reported to be 
 his tomb. These royal quarters were so much exposed 
 to the fire of the Anglo-Sicilian flotilla that one night 
 one of their cannon-balls grazed the bolster on which 
 my head was lying, and lodged itself, about a foot above, 
 in the wall against which my bed had been placed. 
 The sea bathed the garden of this quarter, which was 
 defended by one of our batteries. I remember that 
 from this redoubt and in the course of one of the 
 attacks I could perceive under the waves the remains 
 of some old buildings. After the combat was over.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 269 
 
 I returned to the ruins with the cicerone of the 
 spot, who gave them out to be those of the baths 
 and lecture room of the great orator whose name 
 they had usurped, in the pride of a more than doubtful 
 discovery. 
 
 That very day a spy in the pay of both parties 
 proposed to us to poison the prince of Hesse. He 
 was a Neapolitan priest. With a reminiscence of 
 Roman history it was first suggested that he should 
 be sent back into Gaeta, bound hand and foot, to 
 the governor. He was, however, despatched to Naples, 
 where with less of Roman austerity, it was con- 
 sidered sufficient to treat the wretch with contempt 
 and send him out of the country. 
 
 We had to contend against the garrison of 8,000 
 men, seconded by a squadron of four vessels, four 
 English frigates and thirty gunboats. The besiegers 
 were more numerous than the besieged ; that fact and the 
 accidents of the locality made the approaches dangerous. 
 By the correct aim of their cannon and small arms we 
 recognised the skill of their English bombardiers 
 and sharpshooters. Always sure of stores by sea, 
 they so little spared their ammunition that since the 
 commencement of the entrenchments without counting 
 fire-pots, grape shot, etc., they sent us more than 
 130,000 cannon-balls and bomb shells. Frequently have 
 I seen the latter aimed at some special individual 
 amongst us, resting for a moment on the breastwork, 
 fall about three feet only from its aim. In the third 
 parallel if one showed one's head for a moment, 
 twenty fire-balls would immediately hover over the 
 crest, lodging themselves in the sand bag which 
 crowned it and protected us, punishing our curiosity
 
 2 70 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 or warning us of our imprudence. Thus, although 
 we only confessed to half the number, we really lost 
 2,000 men, killed or disabled in this siege. 
 
 It is quite true that on our side, use, vanity, and 
 ennui had rendered us foolhardy. A battalion of blacks 
 made itself very conspicuous, though from quite another 
 motive. These negroes would follow through the air 
 with greedy glances the enemy's bombs, for which 
 they were paid sixpence ; reaching them as they fell, 
 they would dash upon them and draw out the burning 
 fuse unless its premature explosion happened to kill 
 them during this dangerous and not too lucrative sport. 
 
 Massena however, well seconded by Dumas, by the 
 whole of the engineers, and by the artillery generals 
 second in command, had converted the blockade into 
 a veritable siege. In order to move under cover and 
 defile upon this isthmus, formed of rock covered with 
 a thin layer of sand, where it was impossible to dig 
 out trenches, it was necessary to bring up the material 
 to form them of heaps of fascines and sandbags. 
 Nevertheless when on June 14th, General Vallongue 
 of the Engineers was killed, we were about two 
 hundred yards from the place. At the end of the same 
 month we were only one hundred feet from it ; the 
 breaching batteries being ready, they were armed. It 
 was eleven o'clock at night on July 7 th when in the 
 midst of the profound silence of a beautiful night, at a 
 signal from King Joseph, the simultaneous firing of our 
 twenty-three mortars and our fifty 24 and 33 pounders, 
 began to batter the fortress. For a moment it was 
 struck dumb, but its hundred pieces of ordnance soon 
 answered us. Imag-ine, if possible, these simultaneous 
 and repeated formidable detonations, and worse still, the
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 271 
 
 hiss and roar of these enormous projectiles, thrown from 
 both sides, crossing each other and whirling through the 
 air with infernal fury. Nothing can equal the sublime 
 horror of such a spectacle. But it astonishes, never- 
 theless ; such a disturbance of nature by the hand of 
 man seems like a usurpation of the power of heaven, 
 exceeding the latitude which is allowed to our pas- 
 sions. 
 
 The parapets and embrasures of the ramparts of 
 Gaeta were overthrown by it. A great part of its 
 guns were dismounted ; three of its gunpowder and 
 bomb magazines were blown up, and soon dumb 
 from impotence as much as consternation, a long 
 silence alone replied to our attack. But the next 
 day the courageous governor with the aid of the 
 English, restored order to his ruins and reorganized 
 his defence, which he kept up with a constancy 
 worthy of a better fate until July loth, when, struck by 
 the splinter of a shell, he was carried, dying, out of 
 the place. 
 
 On July 1 2th two breaches began to be formed. 
 On the 1 6th, under the breaching battery on our left, 
 vigorously commanded by Clermont-Tonnerre, the 
 falling-in of the enemy's works which protected the 
 citadel, appeared vulnerable. This breach was acces- 
 sible by the sea which was only about eighteen inches 
 deep there ; but the slope of the second breach more 
 in the centre, made in a three-tier bastion, was 
 incomplete. However, impatient to get on, we de- 
 manded permission to attack it, and as Chamberlhiac, 
 the second general in command of the engineers, very 
 properly refused, we persisted, pointing out to him 
 where it had fallen in, saying: "There are crosses of
 
 272 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP. 
 
 honour there ! " But he, endeavouring to calm us, only 
 replied: "Yes, yes; I see plenty of crosses there— no 
 " lack of them, but they are wooden crosses. Listen 
 " to me, and let us wait forty-eight hours. " 
 
 Indeed, on July i8th, at the end of the second 
 day, just as he had predicted, as we had feared, and 
 as Massena had hoped, the two breaches being practica- 
 ble and the assault ordered, Gaeta capitulated. We 
 entered it by the breach made by Clermont-Tonnerre. 
 The terms of capitulation were that the armed garrison 
 should defile before us, and embark for Sicily; but as 
 it was not forbidden to tamper with the troops, who 
 easily lent themselves to our enticements, by gestures 
 accompanied with money and promises, we were able 
 to draw away a part of them. A fair number thus 
 passed over to the victorious side, in the ranks of King 
 Joseph's army. 
 
 This siege must remain famous. It had cost us five 
 months' blockade, four months of open trenches, eleven 
 days' fire, and 2,000 men, of whom eight hundred 
 privates and twenty-nine officers were killed or wounded, 
 and from 1,100 to 1,200 lay sick or dead in the hospitals. 
 We had fired 68,000 rounds of artillery, burnt 380,000 
 cartridges, made use of 171,000 sand-bags, 9,000 ga- 
 bions, 32,000 fascines or bundles of fascines, and spent 
 altogether nearly seven millions of francs!
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 AS for me, having been sent to act as aide-de-camp 
 to King- Joseph during the conquest of his king- 
 dom, when Gaeta was taken, I had nothing further to 
 do in Naples. 
 
 I obtained leave to join Napoleon in Paris again 
 and to resume my post in his service. He received me 
 with a kindly and even paternal welcome, of which I 
 quote the last words only, because they prove that at 
 that time the Emperor was very far from believing in 
 the aggression of the King of Prussia aided by Russia, 
 which was really so near. 
 
 " Take a holiday and get married, " he said, " there 
 " is a time for everything, and there is no question of 
 "war just now." 
 
 Only six weeks later, however, I left for Germany 
 as a married man, and went on without a break from 
 the campaigns of the coast, of Ulm, of Austerlitz, and 
 of Naples to those of Prussia and of Poland. 
 
 The Emperor left Mayence and crossed the Rhine, 
 October 3rd, 1806. His time was mainly occupied at 
 Wurtzburg up to October 5th, in giving marching 
 orders to his troops, receiving the homage of the 
 Rhine princes, conferring with the Archduke Ferdinand, 
 20 273
 
 2 74 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 and a vain attempt at friendly relations with Austria ; 
 in settling the projected marriage of his brother 
 Jerome with the daughter of the King of Wurtemburg, 
 and denouncing the violent threats of Prussia against 
 this new monarch, which greatly aggravated Napoleon's 
 anger against Frederic and the Prince of Brunswick. 
 On the date above mentioned I rejoined him in Paris 
 where he had given me permission to remain till then. 
 
 One hundred and sixty thousand Prussians and 
 Saxons had assembled, leaving the Rhine in the rear 
 of their left wing. This magnificent young army was 
 led by its beautiful queen on horseback, its princes, 
 its king, and its ministers, all of whom were giving 
 orders or advice; and lastly, by the old generals ot 
 the Great Frederic who were growing young again in 
 the universal enthusiasm. This was manifested noisily, 
 like a long restrained passion released from its bonds. 
 One of these corps, detached and weak as to numbers, 
 alone flanked its left, and leisurely watched Hoff and 
 Franconia, whilst its masses accumulating around 
 Erfurt, Gotha, and Weimar, already showed their 
 advance-guards at Saalfeldt and even in the direction 
 of Fuld, threatening the Main. They meant to attack, 
 fancying that they would be able to surprise our army 
 of 200,000 men, spread over its cantonments between 
 the Rhine and the Danube. 
 
 However, before risking themselves further, they 
 deliberated. The King and Luchesini alone still hoped 
 for peace. The others — generals, ministers, princes, and 
 especially the queen — were striving in emulation of one 
 another to push on the war violently ; as for any plan, 
 they did try to originate one, but were unable to 
 agree. Their unruly council at Erfurt lasted from the
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 275 
 
 5th to the 7th or 8th of October. A project of general 
 recognizance over their left flank, and an insolent 
 injunction to the Emperor at once to evacuate Germany, 
 brought it to an end. 
 
 Whilst they were uttering their war-cry, and negli- 
 gently leaving the Saal on their left, with no thought 
 but that of throwing us back across the Main upon 
 the Rhine itself, the whole of the Grand Army was 
 already in motion under the eyes of its Emperor, si- 
 lently leaving our frontier river to itself, having quitted 
 its cantonments of Eranconia and the Danube. It 
 advanced in three columns from south to north-east, 
 that on our left, by itself, was to meet their advance- 
 guard at Saalfeldt; whilst, unhke the Prussian army 
 which had remounted and then left the Saal behind it 
 on the left. Napoleon and his two other columns, 
 moving rapidly between this river and the Elster, 
 were descending it on the right bank in order to cross 
 it suddenly between Jena and Naumburg, taking 
 Erederic in the rear and on his left flank, interposing 
 between him and the Elbe, and cutting him off from 
 his magazines, his capital, and his retreat. 
 
 Our strategic march started from Coburg, Cronach 
 and Hoff on October 8th. Eive days after, on the 
 13th, the right bank of the Saal completely cleared 
 was reached between Saalfeldt and Naumburg. The 
 Prussian corps of observation was thrown back 
 beyond Jena with the loss of a thousand men and 
 its baggage. It had only taken part in an insignificant 
 engagement, at Schleitz on October 9th ; but on October 
 loth, before our left at Saalfeldt, Prince Louis of Prussia, 
 the flower of the enemy's army by the beauty of 
 his heroic form, his brilliant intellect, his chivalrous
 
 276 >IEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 and daring valour, allowed himself to be overpowered 
 by Lannes and Suchet, and was killed by one of our 
 non-commissioned officers. Struck down in the 7nelee 
 of a desperate charge, he refused to surrender, and 
 was run through by a sabre. He was left dead on 
 our hands with 3,000 men, twenty-three guns, their 
 carriages and all the baggage. Both armies lamented 
 his death: Napoleon being so moved by it, that on 
 October 12 th he wrote to the King to express his 
 sorrow at such a cruel loss, and to propose a peace. 
 
 However, on this very day of October 12th, Marshal 
 Lannes, who had at first been called to Alma and 
 Gera where the enemy had expected a battle, had 
 drawn near to the Saal ; his advance-guard having 
 descended it as far as Jena which our infantry had entered. 
 With the warlike instinct which they all possess, their 
 position in this town was causing them some anxiety. 
 As a matter of fact it was dominated by the left bank 
 which w*as probably occupied by the enemy, for 
 which reason several amongst them to make sure, 
 before nightfall climbed up the slope; on reaching the 
 top, what was then their surprise, instead of the mere 
 post whose vicinity they had suspected, to perceive 
 the Prussian army drawn up in three lines in order 
 of battle. 
 
 The next day, October 13th, Marshal Lannes, 
 informed by them, himself verified their report, and 
 taking possession of this dangerous defile which 
 was not very warmly contested, he summoned the 
 Emperor there. Napoleon was then at Gera and his 
 marching orders, to judge by those which he had 
 given me, still tended towards Naumburg, but changing 
 his mind at this news, he called up Soult, Augereau,
 
 OF THE EAIPEROR NAPOLEON I. 277 
 
 and Ney ; made Murat retrace his steps, and led them 
 all upon Jena, where he himself, having rejoined Lannes 
 and preceding his guard, arrived two hours before night- 
 fall. He at once decided to offer battle beyond this 
 town. Bemadotte and Davout, who were already 
 near Naumburg-, received orders to take the enemy's 
 army on the left flank, whilst the Emperor, dashing 
 out of Jena the same day, should attack it in front. 
 
 Whilst the Prussian army was reckoning on striking 
 awe into Napoleon by the authority of its science and 
 its manoeuvres, the corps of the advance-guard which 
 flanked its left wing, and which it believed to be 
 beyond reach of harm, had been surprised, beaten, and 
 discouraged. The remainder had been seized with a 
 panic of terror near Jena: on October 12th, on the 
 false rumours of our appearance, they were seen 
 flying through the town in disorder, throwing down 
 their arms. The Saxon corps, already crippled, seeing 
 itself cut off from its country, began to murmur ; it 
 thought it had been sacrificed, and threatened to desert 
 the common cause. At such unexpected news, there 
 was no longer a question of the forward march upon 
 the Rhine or even the Main, in the frequent councils 
 held at Prussian headquarters. They stopped short, 
 they deliberated ; they perceived that according to his 
 habit. Napoleon had taken up his position in the most 
 central point of his manoeuvre, whence he himself 
 superintended the rapid and simultaneous execution of the 
 movement which he had solely conceived and planned ; 
 they then understood that pivoting in this manner, 
 with his right in advance beyond the left wing of his 
 adversary he had turned it, gaining for his own side 
 the advantage of numbers, time, and that of attack.
 
 278 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 On October 13th, at the very moment when Na- 
 poleon was arranging everything so as to debouch 
 the next morning at daybreak from Jena upon Weimar, 
 the King and his 70,000 men, as if they had wished 
 to leave the field clear to our Emperor, withdrew 
 themselves from this plain. They departed marching to 
 the left, summoning- Ruchel and their right from Erfurt 
 to follow them, and directing their course by way of 
 Eckartsberg and Auerstaedt, upon Friburg and Naum- 
 burg. Their object was to precede us, not knowing 
 that we were already there in full force; so that, by 
 way of precaution and to cover their march, they left 
 before Jena, only the Prince of Hohenlohe with his 
 40,000 men. 
 
 Napoleon, on his side, had on October 13th, as we 
 have already seen, hurried up from Gera to Jena in 
 advance of his troops and his guard, where he found 
 Marshal Lannes already master, by his advance-guard, 
 of the slope of the opposite heights crowned by the 
 enemy. The Emperor and the Marshal, under the 
 fire of the sharpshooters, pushed onwards from one 
 bit of uneven ground to another, trying to reach some 
 elevation whence they could make a recognizance of 
 the ground to be conquered on the morrow. When 
 night came on, he made the whole of Marshal Lannes' 
 corps ascend the slope in perfect silence, these 20,000 
 men taking up their positions, line upon line, on this 
 dangerous incline. Napoleon pitched his camp behind 
 them. When the guard came up, he himself arranged 
 their battalions in the rear of those of Lannes; and 
 from their strengthened ranks, swelled the whole body 
 to 25,000 men. Thus it remained all nig-ht, as it were 
 fastened and suspended to the flank of this steep
 
 OF THE EAIPEROR NAPOLEON I. 279 
 
 declivity. Its approaches, on leaving Jena are so diffi- 
 cult that certain works had to be carried out on the 
 rising river bank to the left of the high road, to reduce 
 the slope. The Emperor worked so hard that night 
 to accumulate his means of attack on this ascent 
 that at ten o'clock I saw him myself, candle in hand, 
 holding a light to his artillerymen, encouraging them, 
 and personally helping them to heave up their guns 
 by the aid of ropes and main force, on the precipi- 
 tous bank, before he went to take up his position 
 with his guard. 
 
 Having seen after this, and given the order to Ber- 
 nadotte, renewing it to Davout, to debouch from Kosen 
 to Appolda on the king's flank, believing him to be 
 opposite, he then betook himself almost alone to the 
 heights beyond our advance posts. He was impatient 
 to judge by what first movement on the morrow, 
 he would be able suddenly to push forwards the 
 mass which he was holding in hand, to make it 
 emerge from this ambuscade with the last shades of 
 night, and thus surprise his adversary, gaining enough 
 ground to extend himself and engage battle. 
 
 During this last hazardous recognizance he got so 
 far out of our lines, that on coming back, one of our 
 outposts, knowing that the Prussians were only a little 
 distance off, took him for one and fired upon him! 
 
 The remainder of the night passed quietly. Napoleon 
 had reached his tent about midnight, and slept soundly. 
 Our position, however, was such a perilous one that 
 it was whispered amongst us that the enemy could 
 have thrown a cannon ball by hand which would 
 have passed through our entire ranks. So true was 
 this that the first cannon shot the next day went
 
 2 8o MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 over our heads, and killed a cook at his canteen quite 
 a long way behind us! 
 
 The next day, October 14th, Marshals Lannes and 
 Soult came to take their orders before five o'clock in the 
 morning. The Emperor had just dictated them for the 
 battle. There was no other course open than to attack 
 in front, at dawn, with a view to gain enough ground 
 to spread out about 40,000 men in two lines, for that 
 was the only number Napoleon had at his disposition 
 before midday. After which, counsel could be taken 
 as to the locality which we only knew by the map, 
 and the movements of the enemy whom we believed 
 to be in force. Nevertheless, as a success on the left 
 of this army would endanger the retreat of the whole 
 of the remainder, and as Davout and Bernadotte 
 were expected by that side, the village which had 
 been noticed the night before, to the front of 
 our right was fixed upon for our first attempt. Mar- 
 shal Lannes with Suchet's division at the hea,d, was 
 to begin. 
 
 Towards five o'clock, Napoleon, who had remained 
 alone with Marshal Soult, was saying to him: — "Shall 
 we beat them?" — "Yes; if they are there," answered 
 the Marshal, " but I fear they may not be ! " Just then, 
 the first musketry reports were heard, when the 
 Emperor gaily exclaimed : " There they are ! The affair 
 "is beginning ! " and immediately proceeded to harangue 
 the infantry, and to excite its emulation against the 
 celebrated Prussian cavalry, " which you must," he 
 said, "destroy before our squares, as at Austerlitz, we 
 "crushed the Russian infantry." 
 
 Up to eight o'clock, a bitterly cold and heavy 
 fog prevailing, our sharpshooters could only grope
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 28 1 
 
 tneir way, guided alone by the sound and light of 
 the firing which answered their attack. They still 
 advanced, but at haphazard, deviating to the left, in 
 which they were followed by the battalions that came 
 after them, until those of the 17th inadvertently ran 
 up against the enemy's advance-guard, near Clozwitz. 
 This line drawn up against a wood was steadily 
 awaiting us; it was ready first, and at such close 
 quarters it managed to disable a fair number of our 
 men. But the fight soon became equal. It lasted 
 nearly an hour, and was at the same time sanguinary 
 and indecisive, consisting of a mere exchange of shots, 
 the prevailing darkness hiding everything from sight, 
 and preventing any manoeuvre. 
 
 But at nine o'clock, the freezing cloud which envel- 
 oped us, dispersed. Suchet immediately rushing on 
 the nearest Prussian corps, which was in disarray, 
 took it by surprise, overthrew it, and forced it back 
 into the plain with a loss of twenty-two guns. A few 
 minutes after, about ten o'clock. Marshal Soult appeared 
 with Saint-Hilaire's division, which interposed itself 
 between this part of the enemy's centre, already 
 repulsed, and their left wing, which it drove aside 
 and pursued off the battle-field. The cavalry of this 
 wing was strong; its repeated attacks failed against 
 the bayonets of the loth light infantry, and when in 
 its turn charged and defeated by Soult's squadrons, it 
 lost heart. 
 
 This first double effort proved decisive. Soult had 
 withdrawn his left wing from Hohenlohe; Suchet had 
 left behind him a clear field for our columns. Both 
 were already setting up our line of battle, with the 
 right in advance, which obliged Hohenlohe to fight
 
 2 82 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 beyond his natural retreat. The sound of the firing- 
 had aroused this general in his singularly eccentric 
 quarters at Kapellendorf. He had at first taken no 
 notice, believing that there was nothing more than 
 skirmishing on that side, and expecting the enemy on 
 the right, when we had already overthrown his lefi:. 
 The two opposing chiefs were each under different 
 misapprehensions : Napoleon thinking he was attacking 
 Frederic's entire army, and Hohenlohe fancying that 
 he had only to repulse an attack of the advance posts. 
 
 The latter, in spite of the first noise of the combat, 
 and of reiterated warnings, refused to believe in a 
 battle. He was only busying himself about forwarding 
 to his Sovereign the Emperor's proposition of peace. 
 His persistence in the inaction to which he had devoted 
 this day, lasted till about nine o'clock. At last, finding 
 out his mistake, and forced by our aggression, he 
 made haste to leave to the Saxons the defence of his 
 right; to recall, against our right flank, his left wing 
 which could no longer hear it; to summon Ruchel 
 and his corps, then at Weimar, to take part in a victory 
 which he seemed to consider a certainty; and to hasten 
 with his centre to encounter our attack at Heiligen. 
 He had time for this ; because the Emperor, still imagin- 
 ing the King was in front of him, waited two hours 
 for the arrival of his reinforcements. But Ney, hasten- 
 ing up too impetuously on Heiligen, and not closely 
 enough followed, hurried everything! 
 
 It was here that the most determined effort was 
 made. It was short but sharp, and the only moment 
 of uncertainty was when Ney's first hasty move- 
 ment was repulsed at several intervals, from the village 
 in dispute, while waiting for Durosnel's cavalry and
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 283 
 
 Marshal Lannes' left to strengthen it. The engagement 
 which had begun about six o'clock, lasted ten hours; 
 but this was because the first third of the time was 
 wasted in the fog; the second sufficed in the first 
 instance to rout the advance-guard and the left wing, 
 and after arrival of the reinforcements, the centre. 
 During the last three hours Hohenlohe was defeated, 
 and the conquest was effected of Ruchel's corps of 
 about 15,000 men who had come up at the rear of 
 their vanquished centre to take its place, and be destroyed 
 in their turn ; after which the Saxon left wing, deserted 
 and surrounded, laid down their arms. 
 
 It was one victory after another in succession against 
 an enemy taken by surprise, and fighting without 
 concert, who was first cut off from his left, and being 
 more and more outflanked on the left, found himself 
 turned as well as defeated in front. Both forces were 
 equal. Ours would have been almost double, but for 
 the fact that our rear columns had such a distance to 
 traverse through encumbered defiles before they could 
 join us, that half of them either arrived too late, or 
 rendered no service. Such were the facts in their 
 entirety; here are a few of the details: 
 
 About eleven o'clock when Hohenlohe appeared to 
 contest Heiligen with us, his artillery having already 
 begun their fire, the Emperor was at the head of his 
 guard deployed on the plateau of Lutzebrode. One 
 of Augereau's divisions was advancing on its left, 
 and that of Lannes on its right. Several times when 
 the fighting grew hot on one side or the other, at the 
 head of this reserve, he would himself bear now 
 towards the right, then to the left of this lofty position. 
 He remained there nearly the whole day ; his glance
 
 284 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 taking in everything and commanding the whole 
 plain. 
 
 Marshal Ney whose main body was still beyond the 
 defile of Jena, had just come up. He had brought 
 along with him three thousand of his own men in double 
 quick time. Colbert's cavalry was following him. 
 Carried away by his habitual eagerness, this marshal 
 outdistanced Lannes' divisions; and leaving us all 
 behind, he dashed into the thick of the fight, at its 
 hottest centre, Heiligen itself. Soon, however, forced 
 by the murderous fire of the enemy to stop short, he 
 sent his squadrons at them. Their charge at first 
 arrested the firing, but it soon burst out afresh, Col- 
 bert's squadrons having in their turn been thrown 
 back by the Prussian cavalry, almost upon the 
 Emperor himself, who was for a moment surrounded 
 by their routed mass. The sight of him, and his 
 glance and gesture of dissatisfaction alone was able to 
 check them. 
 
 Whilst they rallied, the Emperor called up Durosnel 
 with his two light cavalry regiments, ordering him to 
 renew the charge. Then occurred a singular incident, 
 although there have been other instances. One of this 
 general's regiments which had been first despatched, 
 had by a memorable onrush overthrown on their 
 way three lines of Prussian cavalry and artillery ; it 
 was itself almost swallowed up in their defeat, when 
 Durosnel ordered his second regiment to charge in its 
 turn, to protect the first, and finish its work. But 
 the colonel of this corps, up to that moment an intre- 
 pid warrior, hesitated ; and although under the eyes 
 of his men, his general, and the Emperor himself, he 
 fell back into the ranks as if seized with a fit of
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 285 
 
 vertigo, or under the influence of some fatal presenti- 
 ment. Durosnel said that he seemed spell-bound, as 
 if Death himself had suddenly appeared before him ; 
 and, in effect, he was killed by a cannon ball at that 
 very moment. 
 
 His general, however, had had time to lead his 
 regiment on the enemy's disordered battery, of which 
 he remained master. At the same time Heihgen, which 
 defined the centre of the battle, was carried by 
 Marshal Ney, who an hour after in another rush 
 supported by Augereau's right, conquered the village 
 of Issertcedt. 
 
 The Emperor, then feeling sure of victory on the 
 front and left, returned to concentrate his attention on 
 the right of the plateau, to which he brought back 
 his reserve. On this side and in front of him. Marshal 
 Lannes was driving General Ruchel's left on the 
 road to Weimar, but numerous squadrons of formidable 
 appearance were showing themselves on the horizon ; 
 and seemed to be preparing to take this marshal on 
 the right flank. When the Emperor perceived this 
 cavalry, which he himself had called " celebrated, " 
 he showed some anxiety ; and, pointing it out to me, 
 sent me to Suchet's division with the order that they 
 were to form up in squares against it. 
 
 This order having been transmitted and executed, 
 I thought it right to go and inform the marshal of it. 
 At this moment another and last line of infantry of 
 Ruchel's, which had hastened up from Weimar, was 
 checking him in front at about 200 paces distance 
 and crushing him with its grape shot. Lannes then 
 gave us a remarkable example of the accuracy of his 
 judgment. When I had informed him of the Emperor's
 
 2 86 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 anxiety, and the orders he had given, he just threw a 
 glance to his right, and upon this cavalry of which he 
 did not seem to take any account. Two of his guns 
 were firing on that side to keep it back ; but pointing 
 out to me the line of the enemy's infantry, of much 
 greater strength than our own, which was facing 
 him, he ordered me to go and fetch these two pieces 
 of artillery, and to place them in position on his left, 
 on a mound which he indicated. " After their second 
 " discharge, " he said, " you will see the whole of that 
 "line of infantry and artillery beat a retreat." 
 
 I rather doubted this ; but in spite of the enemy's 
 fire which was directed against us directly we appeared, 
 and notwithstanding the constant habit of artillery- 
 men to place themselves in position too soon and 
 too far off, it only took ten minutes, after our second 
 discharge, just as he had said, for the Prussian line to 
 waver and fall back. 
 
 He was, however, very nearly killed at that moment 
 by a discharge of grape shot : he was pointing out 
 to me their retrograde movement with some self-satis- 
 faction, when a shot tore his uniform across the chest 
 which it grazed, and his charger was so terrified that 
 he threw himself upon mine, very nearly unhorsing 
 me ; but, without taking any notice of his wound, 
 he still gazed after the enemy, exclaiming : " Look at 
 " them, how they are all flying to Weimar ! The road 
 " is covered with their gun-carriages. Go at once to 
 "inform the Emperor," 
 
 I found Napoleon still on the same plateau, but a 
 little more to the left. It was about three o'clock ; 
 while listening to me, several Saxon bullets, aimed 
 directly at him, rebounded almost between my horse
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 287 
 
 and his. He interrupted me to say : " There is no good 
 "in getting killed at the end of a victory; let us dis- 
 " mount." He ordered me to bring up the artillery of 
 his guard to this point, after which I thought it 
 desirable to repeat INIarshal Lannes' message to him. 
 " Very well, " he said, " you may go, and follow their 
 "retreat upon Weimar; but before doing so, just give 
 " a look to our left front, and see what has become of 
 " those Saxons, and let there be an end of them ! " 
 
 I rapidly crossed the plain which was covered with 
 the defeated troops of Hohenlohe and Ruchel who were 
 receiving the finishing stroke from Murat and our 
 cavalry. Towards our left, Augereau was pushing 
 the unfortunate Saxons on their front and flank, while 
 one of Ney's battalions, marching in a square, was 
 beginning to outflank them on the right; I joined it 
 at the moment when a last charge of Saxon hussars 
 broke up in front of it who received its fire. 
 
 A long and deep column of infantry, however, was 
 advancing at the same pace as ourselves towards those 
 batteries of position which had been firing on the 
 Emperor. Its last ranks were so mixed up with 
 our battalions that they seemed to be issuing from 
 them. These were the Saxons. There were 8,000 of 
 them ; they were in full flig"ht, but in an orderly mass, 
 without a single sharpshooter on their flanks; and 
 without particularly noticing them, thinking from their 
 attitude and the course they were taking that they 
 were our own men, I rushed up at breakneck speed 
 to place myself at their head. It was only when 
 within twenty paces of the first rank of this column 
 that, on glancing at them, I perceived my mistake. 
 Had I then called upon these poor Saxons to sur-
 
 2 88 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 render, in their desperate position I might perhaps 
 have had the honour of being the first to make them 
 lay down their arms; but as their bayonets were 
 directed against me, in my surprise I did not think 
 of it; I even doubted if I should have time to turn 
 round; but going beyond their front I yet managed 
 under their fire to return by the other flank to some 
 of our own men who were well up, with whom I almost 
 immediately broke through this unhappy column which 
 threw down its arms. 
 
 Murat got the glory of this; doing purposely what 
 I had done unconsciously, in his chivalrous ardour, 
 and quite alone, he had placed himself at their head 
 the very moment after I had done so. When I came 
 back myself through their disarmed ranks, I found 
 him there with his sword sheathed, and only a cane 
 in his hand, a smile on his face and his head held 
 high, alone receiving as prisoners these thousands 
 of men. 
 
 The first part of my mission was now terminated; 
 Weimar was the second. The whole plain was cleared 
 when about four o'clock I arrived at the elevation by 
 which a quick descent could be made to one of the 
 bridges over the moats of the town. Letort was form- 
 ing up his dragoons into a column to force the entrance, 
 which was being defended by a battalion of the enemy; 
 but an impetuous charge through their fire rendered 
 us masters of it. A few sword-thrusts had to be ex- 
 changed, as an infantry waggon was across the bridge 
 and the Prussian grenadiers had retrenched themselves 
 behind it; but they had lost their heads. 
 
 Whilst Letort was taking up a position beyond this 
 town I went on to the Grand Duke's palace, v.?here
 
 OF THE E.MPEROR NAPOLEON I. 289 
 
 Rapp and Alurat soon joined me, and where the Grand 
 Duchess had remained. The Queen of Prussia had 
 only then left, and we were told that we had just 
 missed capturing her. It was said that taken by sur- 
 prise in Auerstsedt that very morning, as well as the 
 king, by the beginning of another battle, she had yielded 
 to entreaties to withdraw to Weimar, and it was only 
 on perceiving the fugitives flying before us that she 
 decided to leave it. We had to content ourselves with 
 the capture of this town, in which Goethe happened 
 to be, from the wounded General Schmettau with the 
 800 prisoners that we made there. 
 
 I was desirous of returning to the Emperor, but 
 Murat detained me, asking me to wait for his report. 
 It was late when he had drawn it up, having been 
 hindered by his assiduous cares for the Grand Duch- 
 ess, whilst Rapp and I were extinguishing a fire 
 which had broken out near the palace. After a dinner 
 of conquerors (though our satisfaction was restrained 
 by the presence of the princess who insisted on doing 
 the honours herself), I left Rapp and Murat only to 
 arrive at midnight at Jena where Napoleon had retired 
 after the battle. 
 
 As far as I can remember, his quarters had been 
 
 established in an inn, and the bed which he was 
 
 occupying was one already there in the corner of a 
 
 pretty large room. The Emperor was not in those 
 
 days surrounded by all the comforts which later on 
 
 made war less fatiguing for him, and possibly too 
 
 easy. I entered alone, carrying a light, and drew near 
 
 his bed. Almost immediately the dim light woke him 
 
 up from a profound sleep ; he never could bear any 
 
 light at night, the smallest lamp or the faintest 
 21
 
 2 go MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 glimmer prevented him from sleeping. As usual he 
 woke up quietly, which is said to be a characteristic 
 of happy temperaments, being wide awake at once 
 without any surprise or agitation, which is also usual 
 with soldiers. 
 
 As soon as he had read the report, I gave him an 
 account of the taking of the wSaxon corps which I 
 estimated at 6,000 men. "I saw them," he answered; 
 "there were more, they were at least 8,000," then 
 when I added that we had nearly taken the queen, 
 he answered in eager tones : " It would have served 
 "her right, she well deserved it, it is she who is the 
 "cause of the war." He continued with a preoccupied 
 air: "Did you not," he said, "whilst marching upon 
 " Weimar, hear heavy cannonading in the distance to 
 "your right?" On my reply in the negative, when 
 I said that it would have been difficult to distinguish 
 the sound from that of our own, he added: "It is a 
 " singular thing, there must have been a considerable 
 " affair on that side ?" 
 
 As a matter of fact, two hours later, one of Da- 
 vout's officers named Bourck aroused him again. He 
 came to inform him of the victory of Auersteedt; a 
 victory quite distinct from that of Jena, although simul- 
 taneous ; for eight or ten hours after it was over the 
 Emperor was still ignorant of this, and was making 
 inquiries about it, not even having heard any of the 
 firing. It should not cause any astonishment that in 
 his next day's bulletin he chose to confound this vic- 
 tory with his own. It was at Auerstsedt that the pick of 
 the Prussian forces, with their most renowned generals, 
 their princes, and even their king, although three times 
 more numerous than ourselves, had been overwhelmed
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 29 1 
 
 by the Emperor's lieutenant ; whilst at Jena the Emperor 
 although as strong as the enemy, had only conquered 
 two subordinates whom he had surprised when separated 
 from the others. The glory was too disproportionate 
 for him to let it go forth to the world, living on fame 
 as he did. It will be seen that when less actuated 
 by policy, he was more honest in his speech, and 
 more just in his praise and gratitude. 
 
 He might, however, have attributed the success of 
 these two battles to his first and great manoeuvre which 
 had surprised the enemy on his flank and threatened 
 his retreat. This manoeuvre, while suddenly upsetting 
 his adversary's plans, had thrown the latter, who had 
 to move such large masses, into the uncertainty and 
 trouble of the unforeseen, and the disorder of counter- 
 orders and of counter-movements in which union is 
 lost, time wasted, and nothing done at the proper 
 moment; whilst on our side, everything being concerted 
 beforehand, the advantage of numbers, time, and attack, 
 all, in fact, was entirely in our favour. 
 
 As for the great Saxon column which we had taken 
 prisoner, I then learnt that it had been sent to the 
 Emperor. It had defiled before him whilst he was 
 lymg on the ground with his maps spread out, 
 pointing out to Berthier those bold movements which 
 had followed up his victory. He was so overcome 
 with fatigue that in the midst of his w^ork he fell 
 asleep. His grenadiers, perceiving this, on a sign from 
 Marshal Lefebvre, silently formed themselves into a 
 square around him, thus guarding their Emperor's 
 repose on the plateau whence he had enabled them to 
 enjoy such a glorious spectacle ! 
 
 But the order of events must now take me back
 
 292 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 to that moment of the following night (October 14th to 
 15th) when a second time aroused at Jena after my 
 report, Napoleon received that of Davout with the 
 news of the victory of Auerstsedt. 
 
 On this side, on the night of the 13th, the head- 
 quarters of the two opposing armies, that of Davout 
 with 25,000 men, and that of the king with 70,000, 
 were, the one at Naumburg, the other at Auerstaedt. 
 They were separated by a defile of about two leagues ; 
 Brunswick was close to it, he had only to take a step 
 further on level ground to seize it. Davout was separated 
 from it by the Saal and the whole length of the 
 defile; but instead of sleeping during the night of the 
 13th to the 14th, he had pushed on Gudin and his 
 division, whilst Brunswick had put off till the next 
 morning the duty of throwing Schmettau and his 
 advance-guard into it. 
 
 It thus resulted that in the midst of the fog of the 
 three first hours of October 14th, when this Prussian 
 advance-guard drew near to Hassenhausen, it ran against 
 Gudin, who took its guns and repulsed it as well as 
 Blucher and his squadrons. 
 
 Then the astonished chiefs held council in the Prus- 
 sian camp. Brunswick was for deploying the army, 
 and waiting till the enemy was better reconnoitred ; 
 Mollendorf held quite a different opinion, he thought 
 that the attack should be recommenced at once, which 
 opinion was approved by Frederic ; while Blucher 
 again sent off and this time completely defeated, fled 
 to the left towards Eckartsberg. 
 
 But behind him, three divisions of Prussian infantry 
 were advancing. They opened out under our fire with 
 the methodical slowness and scrupulous regularity of their
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 293 
 
 manoeuvres on parade. This orderly attack of 25,000 
 Prussians under a hail of bullets and grape shot gave 
 way against Gu din's 7,000 men whose right had been 
 just then supported by Friant's division. Our sharp- 
 shooters were especially brought into notice, and it 
 was remarked with what warlike experience they 
 made use of every advantage of the unequal ground. 
 By a strange fatality, amongst the four chiefs of the 
 enemy who took part in this second effort, two of 
 them, Schmettau and Brunswick, were mortally wounded, 
 and a third was unhorsed. 
 
 The King, however, persisted ; holding out against 
 his bad luck. His general-in-chief and his lieutenants 
 were beaten, and his astonished infantry stopped 
 short ; he called to his aid the pick of his cavalry 
 under Prince William. This time, Gudin who had 
 conquered, but who was himself half destroyed, was 
 on the point of succumbing, when Morand's division, 
 led by Davout, hastened up to his left, forming its 
 squares, and repulsed Frederic's third attempt. The 
 vain and repeated charges of this renowned cavalry 
 gave way under the cross fire of Morand and before 
 his bayonets. By a similar fatality, the King himself 
 was unhorsed on this occasion, and Prince William 
 was carried off wounded from the field of battle. 
 
 Davout immediately rendered himself impregnable 
 by crowning the Sonnenberg with infantry and artil- 
 lery. Being as ardent in attack as he was obstinate 
 in defence, whilst making sure of the conquered 
 territory, he threw forward on Rehausen his two vic- 
 torious divisions. 
 
 On his side, for the fourth time, the King already 
 reduced to his reserves met attack with attack. But
 
 2 94 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 from the commanding position which he had just taken 
 up on his left, Davout with his artillery was blazing 
 away upon the right flank of the enemy; Friant was 
 doing the same upon the left, so that Gudin and 
 Morand were able by a front attack to defeat this last 
 effort of Frederic. There again by a fatality which 
 was always against the Prussians, a mortal blow struck 
 down their old and celebrated Mollendorf. 
 
 Frederic then stopped. Rehausen had just been torn 
 from him ; all his corps were beaten, disheartened, and 
 in disorder; his two brothers and the greater part of 
 his lieutenants were killed or wounded; his cavalry 
 was flying to right and left ; it was five o'clock in 
 the evening, and the unhappy king, driven back into 
 his headquarters of the previous night, resigned himself 
 to his fate. Whilst the Emperor at that very moment 
 was unaware of the greater half of his victory, the 
 King ignored the half of his misfortunes, and at the 
 very time that we were taking possession of Weimar, 
 he had fixed upon Weimar as the rallying point ot 
 his defeat. 
 
 But during this day, in the midst of such an unequal 
 struggle, and although he had been obliged several 
 times to take refuge in the midst of his squares, 
 Davout, who never forgot anything, and did everything 
 at the proper time, had not thought only of conquering 
 by a front attack, one against three, but he was also 
 prepared to take advantage of his victory. Whilst 
 doing everything to secure it at his centre and left, 
 his right under Friant had pushed forwards as far as 
 Eckartsberg, and had outflanked the king's left, turn- 
 ing it back upon the Emperor, and separating it 
 from the Elbe and its retreat, by which last movement
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 295 
 
 he completed and crowned his work. The King 
 was thrown back into this plain of Jena and Weimar, 
 where at that moment Napoleon was triumphant. 
 
 Here the left wing of Hohenlohe and the King's 
 routed forces met each other. Where could they flee 
 to? The victorious French were everywhere: Davout 
 on the east, Bernadotte on the south, the Emperor 
 on the west; Weimar itself, the spot chosen for their 
 retreat was invaded. A single space to the north, 
 but without any made road was still free from the 
 enemy. In this direction the infantry, the cavalry, the 
 guns, crossed and ran up against each other. Many 
 soldiers threw down their arms, those of the artillery 
 cut their traces, and all took flight at haphazard, 
 helter-skelter across the fields. Erfurt was taken with 
 300 guns, 40 generals and 50,000 of the enemy killed, 
 wounded, or taken prisoners, whilst all the remainder 
 w^ere disheartened, disorganized and routed. This was 
 the immediate result of these two simultaneous battles 
 and one single day's fighting. 
 
 W^e lost there 11,000 men killed or disabled; Davout 
 lost 7,000 to 8,000 out of 25,000; the Emperor, 3,000 out 
 of 50,000. 
 
 At the beginning of this grand day towards three 
 o'clock in the morning, notwithstanding the last orders 
 of the Emperor, and in spite of the offer of the com- 
 mandership-in-chief made to him by Davout, Berna- 
 dotte separated himself from this marshal to retire 
 upon Domberg. About ten o'clock and at the most 
 critical moment, Davout, bare-headed, having been 
 uncovered by a bullet, sent to beseech him to come to 
 his help. Bernadotte at that moment had got as far 
 as the bridge of Camburg which he had only to cross.
 
 2g6 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 and a few minutes would have sufficed to bring him 
 at the head of 50,000 men on the enemy's right flank; 
 his advent would have decided the victory; yet he 
 refused to come. Davout called him, besought him, 
 offered him the command ; Bernadotte knew that he 
 was attacked by triple forces, and yet continued his 
 peaceful march on the opposite bank and withdrew. 
 It was not fear of the responsibility, nor any other 
 fear, that held him back. His own people said that 
 he would have been a hero in his own cause, but 
 his disposition was such — thoroughly exclusive. He 
 only opened his heart when everything depended upon 
 him alone ; then it became full of ardour, generosity, 
 and devotion for his own people who found in him all 
 the seductions and fascinations of a great soul. But to 
 endure an equal or a superior; to help on the glory 
 of another, whoever he might be; such an effort was 
 always either impossible or intolerable to him. It was 
 believed by some, that a personal hatred of Davout had 
 made him commit this detestable action, which would 
 explain it without rendering it the more excusable. 
 
 As for Davout, who was a man of probity, of order, 
 and of duty above all, although he had already done 
 good service, and had obtained the rank of marshal, 
 he had nevertheless in our eyes remained an obscure 
 individual. It was said that it was Valmy which had 
 made Kellerman a marshal of France ; Fleurus, Jour- 
 dan ; Castiglione, Augereau ; Zurich, Massena ; a hundred 
 glorious deeds, Lefebvre, Ney, and Lannes; and that 
 others who had been singled out had previously held 
 the chief command ; whilst as for Davout, it would seem 
 that the Emperor had specially desired to reward his 
 private services, and that his renown had less to do
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 297 
 
 with it than his devotion to Napoleon's person. Such 
 had been the general opinion. But by this single day 
 of Auerstaedt, Davout proved that his thorough- 
 going and tenacious genius had only needed oppor- 
 tunity; that great circumstances make great men, and 
 that it is by their promptitude in grasping such cir- 
 cumstances and taking advantage of them, that these 
 men gain recognition for themselves. 
 
 The choice of the Emperor was justified in Davout. 
 In a few hours, he emerged from his unfair obscurity 
 a justly celebrated man.
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 BERLIN. 
 
 NAPOLEON'S first care after his victory and that 
 of Davout was to dictate the bulletin. Davout 
 received the highest praise, but the facts were not 
 reported as they had happened; only one battle was men- 
 tioned, whereas there had been two. The Emperor 
 also had the credit of the greater part of the victory, 
 whilst the contrary was the case. It is true that there 
 may have been some error concerning this last fact, 
 for Davout's victory seemed almost inconceivable. 
 
 Napoleon then summoned the 300 Saxon officers 
 whom he had taken the previous night and harangued 
 them. " He had only taken arms, " he said, " to free 
 " Dresden from the yoke of Berlin, but for what pos- 
 " sible cause had their Sovereign suffered himself to 
 " be led into taking up arms against France ? Was it 
 " not to her that for two centuries past, Saxony, 
 " threatened by Austria and Prussia, owed its indepen- 
 " dence ? Could not the Saxons see that even to-day in 
 " the Rhine Confederation, a similar protection was 
 "offered to their prince? Let them then swear no longer 
 " to serve against France, and free, together with their 
 " soldiers, let them return to their own country to 
 " carry back to their homes these promises of alliance. " 
 
 2g8
 
 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP. 299 
 
 Such was the gist of his speech, to which they responded 
 with acclamations and all took the required oath, which 
 they afterwards signed. 
 
 The Emperor then went on to Weimar, where his 
 conduct was worthy of his victory; the instructions 
 which he gave to profit by it were despatched from 
 that town. It was there that he learnt from Ney and 
 Murat, the capitulation of Erfurt and of 15,000 men, 
 a first result of the discouragement which followed on 
 these two battles. On his way from Jena to Weimar, 
 he received Frederic's reply to the offers of peace 
 which he had made on the eve of the combat, and 
 the request for an armistice. He answered: "That 
 " he had written to prevent the battle ; that it had been 
 "fought, and that it only remained for him to reap the 
 " fruits of it. " Upon which coming to a conclusion 
 from the King's letter as to the direction in which he 
 had taken flight, he made use of this knowledge to 
 pursue him. 
 
 He arrived at Naumburg on the 17th, after having 
 crossed the still bloody field of Auerstaedt. The 
 tokens of carnage that were visible here, seemed to 
 make more impression upon him than at any other 
 time: he was heard to exclaim: "That a battle-field 
 " was an awful spectacle ! That up to thirty years of 
 " age, one might be dazzled by victory to the point of 
 " considering such horrors glorious, but that later . . . . " 
 I do not know what he added, but he was under the 
 influence of the same impression at Naumburg which 
 he found full of our wounded, and from there he 
 wrote to the Empress in similar terms. 
 
 There also he learnt the details of Bemadotte's con- 
 duct during this massacre : " It was an odious act, "
 
 300 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 he said, " a Council of war would condemn him to 
 " death, but the thing is so shameful that it is better 
 "to be silent about it. I hand him over to his con- 
 " science and to the opinion of the army; as for mine, 
 " he shall soon know what that is. " 
 
 On October i gth from Naumburg to Mersberg, while 
 going over the battle-field of Rosbach he had its triumphal 
 column taken down and sent away to France. Later on 
 at Halle, then at Dessau, on October 20th and 22nd, 
 seeing more and more of the results of his victory, in 
 those sanguinary blows of fate which had so cruelly 
 stricken the enemy's chiefs who had provoked this 
 war, he felt that his own star was more than ever in 
 the ascendant, and believed in it more firmly than 
 ever: "It was the finger of Providence itself," he said, 
 " which had marked out these victims ! " 
 
 It was, I think, after Wittemberg, that whilst cross- 
 ing a pine wood, the Emperor, who had been obliged 
 by a violent storm to take shelter in an isolated 
 habitation, was surprised to be recognised by the 
 inhabitant of this cottage. He learnt that although a 
 Saxon by birth, having married a French officer in Egypt, 
 and become a mother and a widow without being able 
 to obtain a pension from the Directorate, she had been 
 forced to leave France. Upon which Napoleon com- 
 passionately held out his hand to her, saying : " That 
 " he would make reparation for this injustice by taking 
 " upon himself the bringing up of her son. " Whilst 
 signing an order to this effect, he added : " This was 
 " the first adventure that had ever befallen him in the 
 " midst of a storm and a forest, and that he thanked 
 " the fates it was such a lucky one ! " 
 
 On October 24th, I preceded Napoleon to Potsdam,
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 301 
 
 the Versailles of Berlin. Twice already during former 
 missions, I, like many others, had gazed upon the 
 relics that the Great Frederic had left there. But on 
 this occasion, instead of drawing near with timid respect, 
 I took possession of this royal residence and of Sans- 
 Souci as one of our conquests. Being acquainted with 
 the place, the first thing I did was to visit the room 
 which had been formerly inhabited by the great king. 
 I found everything in the same position under the 
 care of the same servant. I venture to confess (for in 
 the sudden whim that seized me, there was not a 
 vestige of any feeling of profanation for which I should 
 still blush) that at the sight of this celebrated seat 
 whence had issued so many biting sarcasms, and so 
 many redoubtable judgments; which had witnessed so 
 many profound meditations in whose course Frederic, 
 undazzled by fame, had been able to consolidate his 
 conquests by so wise a policy, I could not resist the 
 indiscreet wish to be able to remember all my life that 
 I had for a moment occupied his place. I must there- 
 fore own, that with uncovered head, I sat dow^n for 
 an instant in this arm-chair, gazing with curiosity on 
 everything that I could see from this position. 
 
 To the right of the seat, a door had been left open 
 in the wall against which it was placed ; amongst other 
 objects in the cupboard I noticed a single eye-glass, 
 and I ventured to touch and even to try it. The glass 
 was a concave one : its number 8 or g, it could only 
 have suited an extremely short sight. " What ! " I 
 exclaimed, rising up suddenly, for I was not feeling 
 quite at my ease, " did this glass belong to the Great 
 "Frederic?" The servant answered in the affirmative, 
 adding that this object, like all those which were there,
 
 302 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 had always been kept religiously in the same place 
 where they were found on the death of the great man. 
 I tried it again several times, and, in spite of a temp- 
 tation which I had to overcome, scrupulously restored 
 to the same place from which I had taken it, the glass 
 which seemed to me, and really was, so remarkable. 
 
 Thus on a field of battle where sight is of so great 
 importance, Frederic the Great, afflicted with the same 
 short sight as Alexander the Great, and the great 
 Gustavus Adolphus, had not been hindered in his 
 victories by this defect any more than had these two 
 great warriors ! In a lesser degree Davout at Auerstaedt 
 offered another instance of this phenomenon. These 
 examples prove that one must seek the source of great 
 actions in character alone ; that, as regards battles, 
 men in such high positions who have once decided on 
 their plans, recognised the important points and given 
 their orders in consequence, need nothing beyond a 
 general impression, and details may perhaps sometimes 
 distract attention from the whole ; such details being 
 easily supplied by the subordinates whom they have 
 selected, formed, or inspired. 
 
 I was absorbed in these reflections while placing 
 my posts round the palace, when Napoleon arrived. 
 He insisted on being immediately taken to see these 
 relics upon which I gazed with a feeling of embar- 
 rassment somewhat akin to remorse! The Emperor 
 examined them with attentive and silent curiosity. 
 It was, I think, on the next day (October 25th) that 
 meeting him on his way as he was leaving the end 
 of the town on foot in a brown study, I followed him 
 as far as the church which contains the tomb of the 
 Great Frederic. He walked rather hurriedly at first
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 303 
 
 but as he drew near the church, he moderated his 
 pace, which became slower still and more measured, 
 as he approached the remains of the great King to 
 whom he had come to pay homage. The door of the 
 monument was open; and he stopped at the entrance 
 in a grave and meditative attitude. His glances 
 seemed to penetrate the gloom which reigned around 
 these august ashes, and he remained there nearly ten 
 minutes, motionless and silent, as if absorbed in pro- 
 found thought. There were four or five of us around 
 him: Duroc, Berthier, Caulaincourt, the aide-de-camp 
 on duty, and myself We pondered on this solemn 
 and extraordinary meeting, picturing to ourselves these 
 two great souls in presence of one another, and 
 identifying our thoughts with those which we imagined 
 must fill the mind of our Emperor in contemplation 
 before this other genius, whose glory had survived the 
 overthrow of his grand work, who had been equally 
 great in extreme adversity as at the summit of 
 prosperity, and who had known where to stop! 
 
 I do not know whether it was before or after this 
 pilgrimage that he caused the sword and insignia of 
 the great man to be taken away as a trophy, for the 
 consolation of those of our Invalides who had escaped 
 the catastrophe of Rosbach. On the day of our 
 departure for Potsdam, (October 26) the Prince of 
 Hatzfeldt came to bring the Emperor the keys of 
 Berlin. During this audience those who accompanied 
 Hatzfeldt censured their princes as the authors of the 
 war, and answered for the submission of the capital. 
 We shall soon see how this step compromised the 
 Prussian nobleman, and nearly caused his ruin. 
 
 On that day the news of the surrender of Spandau
 
 304 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 had been received. Napoleon had gone to visit this 
 fortress, whence he returned to sleep at Charlottenberg ; 
 but having lost his way he only arrived an hour before 
 dark, on horseback, alone, and soaked with drenching 
 rain. There was no inhabitant or care-taker on the 
 premises, and the grass was growing in the court-yard 
 of this royal residence which seemed entirely forsaken. 
 I had only just arrived there, and was trying to open 
 the door, when I saw the Emperor appear, he dismounted 
 and united his efforts to mine, reproaching me that he 
 had been left thus isolated, which was really an act 
 of imprudence in the middle of an enemy's country: 
 " Why had I not posted any troops on his way ? How 
 " was it that he was without guards ? " I answered that 
 it was not my fault, and he roughly told me to hold 
 my tongue ; but the moment afterwards, the door having 
 yielded to our efforts, his humour changed. It was 
 while walking through these apartments that he per- 
 ceived a good number of letters which had been left 
 by the Queen in a chiffonier which I had just opened 
 out of curiosity. The Emperor made fun about this 
 correspondence having been forgotten, declaring that 
 it might be a lover's correspondence, and joking on 
 the indiscretion which he might not be able to master, 
 and which would make him a confidant of the secrets 
 of the princess. 
 
 He then examined with curiosity all the evidences 
 of this Queen's habits, making some observation or 
 other on every object, with that caressing tone of voice 
 which he knew so well how to adopt when he wanted 
 to make reparation for a hasty or unjust movement 
 of impatience towards any of us. 
 
 During the last year there had been a complete
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON 1. 305 
 
 alteration in Napoleon's actions as well as in his 
 speech. The preceding year, showing moderation in 
 his victory, after having overthrown the third coalition, 
 he had spared the conquered people the spectacle of a 
 triumphant entry into Vienna. But with regard to the 
 defeat of this fourth coalition — this new ally of England 
 who had become more than ever his implacable rival — 
 everything he did was a threat in which the conqueror 
 asserted himself. Hence this solemn entry into Berlin. 
 He received the authorities as a victor, took possession 
 of the government, and also of the royal residence, 
 where I received him on October 27 th. 
 
 His anger, nevertheless, did not cause him to act 
 blindly. Several princes and princesses of the royal 
 blood, having been surprised in the town, thus found 
 themselves in our power ; he went to visit and com- 
 fort them, insisting that all honours due to their 
 rank should be fully paid them; one of these, 
 the young Prince Augustus, who was wounded and a 
 prisoner, he set free, restoring him to Prince Ferdinand 
 his father. The people were reassured; the police 
 superintendence of the town was entrusted to the 
 pick of the middle class ; whilst his anger against the 
 nobility broke out in a threatening apostrophe : " It 
 " had insisted on war in spite of its king ; it should 
 "bear the whole burden of it." He said a good deal 
 more and kept his word to the letter. All his threats 
 had been premeditated, the proof of which is seen in 
 their publication under his directions. The same 
 feeling was underlying the humiliation which he chose 
 to inflict on the gendarmes of the guard. This whole 
 corps taken with arms in their hands, was one ol 
 
 those which had most insulted the Grand Army and 
 22
 
 3o6 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 the Emperor by its scorn. Their arrogance had been 
 displayed in Berlin, and he chose that this city should 
 witness the sight of its young masters, who had 
 formerly cherished such outrageous presumptions, pass- 
 ing through the streets, a long file of captives, on 
 foot, disarmed, and loaded with universal reprobation. 
 
 But to return to his entry into this capital. An 
 incident worthy of remark took place on that day. 
 The Prince of Hatzfeldt had for the second time 
 presented himself before the Emperor at the head of 
 the defeated authorities. This painful position had been 
 accepted by the Prussian general through devotion to 
 his king, but either he did not sufficiently realize what 
 it would entail upon him, or he had made up his 
 mind to brave the consequences, for whilst with one 
 hand he brought the keys of the capital to Napoleon, 
 with the other he informed Frederic of the situation 
 of our army in the midst of its conquest. Davout had 
 seized his correspondence; but of this the Prince of 
 Hatzfeldt was not aware, when the Emperor at sight of 
 him exclaimed with a glance as black as thunder: " With- 
 " draw, sir ! retire to your own estates, never dare to 
 " come before me again, I do not require your services." 
 
 Hatzfeldt had drawn this upon himself, and a reception 
 of this nature was perhaps a sufficient lesson. But 
 the Emperor's anger was much increased after he had 
 perused the intercepted dispatch that night: he gave 
 orders that the unfortunate general should be immediately 
 seized and brought before a military commission as a 
 spy, even insisting that he should be conducted to 
 the palace where he was himself residing, to be kept 
 under watch night and day, and that, entrusted to 
 my guardianship, I should answer for his person.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 307 
 
 Xapoleon was perhaps within his rights in arresting 
 and bringing the guilty man to judgment, if such 
 rights may be considered paramount to all humane 
 considerations. But to turn his own residence into a 
 criminal prison, to constitute himself in his palace his 
 victim's gaoler, by the agency of his own guard and 
 the officers attached to his personal service, was such 
 an extreme measure that none of us believed matters 
 would proceed any further. And what he had no doubt 
 himself foreseen, came about 
 
 Whilst he was that very day reviewing Davout's main 
 body, and heaping praise and rewards upon it, prepar- 
 ing himself no doubt for a generous forgiveness, I had 
 gone into the prisoner's chamber, not so much to be 
 a watch upon him as to allay his apprehensions. A 
 similar feeling had led the Grand-^^Iarshal Duroc to 
 endeavour to calm the anxietj^ of the Princess of Hatz- 
 feldt, wife of the unfortunate general. Xight had 
 arrived and the review was over; the palace was a 
 blaze of light ; the grenadiers of the guard were already 
 lining the narrow and winding staircase up to the 
 door of the first room of the Emperor's suite, when 
 this poor princess, who was on the eve of her confine- 
 ment, trembling from head to foot, was confided to 
 my care. Against all orders, I placed her at the very 
 door of Napoleon's reception room by which he 
 must enter. Unfortunately I was so engrossed in 
 encouraging her when the Emperor appeared, that I 
 forgot to order the drummer who was posted near her 
 to keep silence ; so that at the first sudden roll of the 
 drum, she was as much terrified as if she had heard 
 the volley of musketry which she feared for her husband, 
 and fell into my arms almost unconscious. " What
 
 3o8 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 "does all this mean?" asked the Emperor, and on my 
 reply, " That is well, " he answered more by his look 
 than in words, passing by so quickly that I hardly 
 had time to revive the princess sufficiently to push 
 her after him into his room, whose doors being closed 
 immediately, separated us. 
 
 Half an hour later, she issued forth in great emotion 
 and still half beside herself, but moved by sentiments 
 of the most lively gratitude. Grand-Marshal Duroc 
 and I then led her to the very arms of the Prince of 
 Hatzfeldt whom we had the happiness of restoring to 
 her grateful delight. 
 
 We learnt later from her, and from Napoleon himself 
 how she had obtained his pardon. Received with 
 every consideration, her first idea had been to defend her 
 husband by protestations of his innocence. " Being a 
 " daughter of the Minister Schulemberg, one of Napoleon's 
 "greatest enemies, the Emperor doubtless," she said, 
 " wanted to revenge himself upon her father through 
 "the man whom he had chosen for his son-in-law." 
 This supposition mayhave seemed offensive, but Napoleon 
 took no notice of it; his only answer was to call for 
 the incriminating dispatch which he made her read, and 
 of which he constituted her the judge after explaining 
 its consequences ; but greatly touched by her extreme 
 distress he hastened to add, pointing to the fire before 
 which she was seated : " Well, as you hold in your 
 "hands the proof of the crime, destroy it, and thus 
 " disarm the severity of our martial laws. " He had 
 hardly finished speaking, before the happy princess 
 had thrown the fatal letter into the very heart of the 
 fire. The Emperor then proceeded to reassure her 
 with a promise of his protection, and despatched her
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 309 
 
 immediately to her husband whom he had enabled her 
 to save from his own hands by this ingenious clemency. 
 
 This action of the Emperor, simple in itself, but 
 fine as to its method, occurred, as we have said, after 
 his review of Davout's main body. His nobility of 
 soul manifested itself during this review by an act of 
 justice of another kind. Since October 1 5th, his sense 
 of honesty was suffering, burdened as he felt it to be 
 by his lieutenant's share of glory which he had attri- 
 buted to himself in the bulletin where, confounding 
 Auersteedt in Jena he had made one battle of these 
 two victories. He had indeed seized every opportunity 
 to restitute in detail the fame he had usurped, although 
 his policy did not admit of a more open and complete 
 restitution. Even at Jena during the night of the 14th 
 to the 15th, when, two hours after the Emperor had 
 received my report of Weimar, Colonel Bourck, one 
 of Davout's officers, had brought him the news of our 
 victory at Auerstaedt: " My cousin," he wrote to the 
 marshal, " the combat of Auerstaedt is one of the 
 ." grandest days in the history of France. I owe it to 
 " the brave troops of the 3rd corps and to the general 
 " who commanded • them ; I am well pleased that it 
 "should have been yourself 
 
 The next day at Weimar, again returning to the 
 subject, he concluded an order of the day with these 
 words : " Davout and his main body had thus acquired 
 undying rights to his esteem and gratitude ! " At 
 Naumburg he had himself gone to visit and comfort 
 this marshal's many wounded men. At Wittemberg, 
 he had insisted that Davout should have the honour 
 of being the first to enter into the enemy's capital; 
 and in his order of the day he had gloriously justified
 
 3IO MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 this preference. Finally, on October 28th, at Berlin, 
 during his review of Davout's main body, he had con- 
 secrated the whole day to the expression of his grati- 
 tude, and crowned its close by an act of clemency. 
 In token of his satisfaction he bestowed 500 stars of 
 honour and innumerable promotions to various grades. 
 As for this last favour, it was indeed necessitated by 
 circumstances, because he had to fill up the great 
 gaps that had been created ; but by distributing these 
 promotions with his own hands, their value, which his 
 kindly words still further augmented, was greatly 
 increased. 
 
 From rank to rank he went, seeking out the private 
 soldier as well as the officer and the general. These 
 eulogies of the great Emperor, his attitude, his ex- 
 pression, his gestures while speaking, the intimate 
 acquaintance which the humblest private imagined he had 
 contracted with the great man, would henceforth form 
 inexhaustible subjects of conversation in company, and 
 in family correspondence. They were so many brevets 
 of immortality, which would render each one illustrious 
 for ever, whether in his squadron, his town, or his village. 
 
 Having produced this first effect of which Napoleon 
 fully recognised the influence, his generals, his officers, 
 and non-commissioned officers of all ranks were sum- 
 moned to gather in a circle around him. Then with 
 that voice which seemed to be the voice of Fame, the 
 voice of History : " Their valour, " he said, " had ren- 
 " dered him most signal service at Jena. All the glo- 
 " rious results of this war were entirely due to their 
 " splendid and brilliant conduct. He regretted their 
 " dead comrades as if they had been his own children. 
 "All of you," he repeated, "have earned lasting rights
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 31 1 
 
 "to my benefits and my undying gratitude! " At these 
 words which raised this main body of the army to the 
 very first rank in the glory of conquest, the enthusiasm 
 was universal. Davout in a transport of joy replied: 
 " Sire, we are your Tenth Legion, the 3rd corps will be 
 "to you everywhere and always what that legion was 
 "to Caesar!" 
 
 The grand scale of this comparison did not seem 
 too ambitious, and was not considered out of place in 
 the mouth of this marshal. Those who knew him best, 
 said that there was something antique in his inflexi- 
 bility, as sev^ere to himself as to others; and above 
 all in the stoical simplicity, superior to all vanity, 
 with which he always walked straight forward to the 
 undeviating accomplishment of his duty. In that day 
 he did not give a single thought to the fact that in 
 this chorus of praise he alone was still shorn of his 
 full share. Napoleon repaired this wrong later on ; 
 for in creating him Duke of Auerstsedt, he thus made 
 restitution to his servant of the battle which belonged to 
 him, the grander and more decisive of the two victories. 
 
 In the midst of so many cares in the present and 
 the future, we all remarked during his stay in Berlin, 
 that his disposition, which was so thoroughly and abso- 
 lutely inflexible in the path of ambition, had become sensi- 
 tive and generous as it was by nature under other 
 conditions, and that he showed himself in conversation 
 irresistible and fascinating, and of the most easy access. 
 The Princess of Hesse-Cassel, Frederic's sister, who 
 had been left behind in the disorder of defeat, had 
 remained ill and ignored in one of the apartmicnts of 
 the palace. She was absolutely destitute, which Napo- 
 leon only heard of by chance. He immediately sent
 
 312 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 her 2,000 golden louis, gave orders that all her own 
 possessions should be restored to her, and all her 
 wishes granted, and he went himself several times to 
 comfort her in her misfortune. 
 
 Humboldt and other less illustrious savants were 
 invited to the palace, and they all departed full of 
 admiration and gratitude. One of them, the celebrated 
 historian Jean de Miiller, has thus recorded his remi- 
 niscences : " Never, " he wrote, " since his conversa- 
 " tions with the Great Frederic, had he listened to 
 " such varied, solid, and energetic discourse." With 
 regard to the depth and breadth of ideas, he gave the 
 preference to the Emperor over the great king. He said 
 that in the charming expression of the mouth which dis- 
 tinguished both of them, he discovered the same gentle- 
 ness and the same attraction. Muller adds curious 
 details on the means which Napoleon employed to 
 fascinate him; such as an exclusive converse with this 
 most renowned historian of Germany in the midst of 
 an assemblage of the very highest rank, and the 
 delicate attention he showed him by ordering the 
 national airs of his country to be played during the 
 evening concert. 
 
 Thus did Napoleon and Frederic both pay court, in 
 the person of the historian of their day, to one of the 
 hundred voices of that fame for which they made so 
 many sacrifices. And yet it has been said that these two 
 great men despised the human species. What a singular 
 contradiction between their scorn and their deeds; 
 between their contempt for men, and the value which 
 they attached to their praise and esteem; the care 
 they took to gain their admiration and to survive in 
 their memory! But every great man lives upon
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 313 
 
 incense, and however he may despise it in small doses, 
 he values it in the lump. 
 
 However it may be, the Emperor gained his end 
 on that occasion, for Miiller winds up by declaring: 
 " That this conversation of November 1 9th made 
 " that day stand out from his whole life, and that the 
 " natural kindness of heart and genius of Napoleon had 
 "also made a complete conquest of him." 
 
 A deputation of the French senate then arrived to 
 render homage to him. This body was his favourite 
 instrument, that upon which he most counted to 
 legalize his dictatorship; he gave it honours for 
 honours; he commanded that the 340 standards which 
 had been taken, and the insignia of the Great Frederic, 
 should be given to the care of these senators, so that 
 their return to France should be a triumphal one. 
 As for the multitude of Prussian prisoners, he sent 
 them away at the same time into the interior, offering 
 the use of their disarmed service, for which a moderate 
 salary would be sufficient, to our manufacturers and 
 cultivators, to replace our conscripts, whose absence 
 was making itself much felt. 
 
 The greater part of his army had now passed 
 through Berlin under his eyes. Every day he could be 
 seen on the palace square, reviewing the different 
 bodies in succession ; superintending their re-constitution, 
 and by his voice and his victorious hand exalting 
 self-esteem by his praise, and exciting emulation by 
 his rewards. At that time certain inflamed imaginations 
 around him conceived that madness of extremes which 
 can only lead downwards into the abyss. Murat was 
 the first. In the pride of his dazzling renown, after 
 having exterminated Hohenlohe and Blucher, he had
 
 314 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP. 
 
 hastened to the Emperor in Berlin, arriving there at 
 the moment when Davout's letters were received from 
 Posen, full of the fiery enthusiasm of Poland. The 
 Poles at the sight of the French eagles, no longer 
 doubted of their coming freedom.
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 I AM TAKEN PRISONER. 
 
 ON November 27th, 1807, Napoleon arrived at 
 Posen. The war with Prussia was at an end. 
 The war of Poland against the Russians was beginning. 
 
 I had received at Berlin the order to precede Napo- 
 leon by a few days, first at Posen, then at Warsaw. 
 I was not charged with any political mission, but the 
 first arrival in these two towns of an officer attached 
 to the Emperor, and the establishment of his head- 
 quarters which I superintended, had made some sensa- 
 tion there. Attracted as I was by the lively and brilliant 
 intellect, and the patriotic and chivalrous enthusiasm 
 of the nobility of this country, the demonstrative 
 welcome of these ardent and open-hearted souls com- 
 pletely won me. I joined some of their gatherings, 
 where in spite of the seriousness and reserve which 
 was habitual to all those about Napoleon, I entered 
 into their delight, and sympathized with the hopes of 
 that brave and charming nation which was so worthy 
 of a better fate. This will explain the exaggerated 
 severity to which I was a victim during the captivity 
 which awaited me in the midst of the Russian army. 
 
 The Emperor, almost alone, had unexpectedly 
 entered Warsaw on the night of December i8th. 
 
 315
 
 3l6 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 Before day-break on the 23rd, I followed him to 
 Davout's head-quarters on the banks of the Bug. He 
 had arrived there about ten o'clock in the morning, 
 and, impatient to resume his martial habits and as if 
 weary of this whole month of abstinence from warfare, 
 was to be seen immediately crossing the river and 
 hastening to the advance posts upon the Ukra, there 
 to examine with the most scrupulous attention, some- 
 times on horseback, sometimes on foot, sometimes 
 even from the housetops, the positions of the enemy 
 and our own. He had mastered them so completely, 
 that on his return to Davout's camp, he had himself 
 dictated the order of attack with a detail which would 
 appear impossible, if the document were not still in 
 existence. The close of the day had been designated 
 for the commencement of this affair, and the signal 
 that had been agreed upon was the setting on fire of 
 a house. 
 
 The composition, the locality, the direction, not only 
 of the attacking and reserve columns, but of each of 
 their half-batteries, each company of skirmishers and 
 the smallest cavalry pickets which were intended to 
 support them; the indication of the various points and 
 means of transport, of the manner in which each arm 
 was to be opposed according to the nature of the 
 locality and the calculated resistance ; these were the 
 arrangements which he had enjoined on our front. 
 He had added others for two simultaneous flank attacks ; 
 he had even sug-gested that after the first volleys a 
 thick smoke should be produced by setting fire to heaps 
 of wet straw placed on the enemy's right with a 
 view to harass their general by forcing him to select 
 another passage.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 317 
 
 All these minutiae had made those around Davout 
 believe, that the Emperor meant to honour the army- 
 corps that had conquered at Auerstsedt by taking the 
 command of it himself. That may have been the 
 case, but one should not the less take note of this as 
 a memorable example of all the precautions which are 
 necessary to the preparation of a nocturnal combat. 
 More than on any other occasion, everything must 
 be foreseen by the general in this kind of warfare, 
 for immediately the engagement has begun, the chances 
 can no longer be seized at a glance. As a conse- 
 quence, this operation was crowned with success, 
 in spite of the difficulties of the locality increased by 
 the opposing entrenchments, and by Ostermann's skilful 
 and obstinate resistance. This conflict cost us about 
 a thousand men ; and the enemy, which had retired 
 upon Nasielsk, lost double. 
 
 The principal thing to be noticed was our loss of 
 officers, which was out of all proportion; this was 
 attributed to the necessity in these night attacks of 
 their going on in front of their men, to lead them, to 
 encourage them, to make themselves better heard, and 
 the easier to recognise the obstacles which have to 
 be surmounted. The Emperor himself had established 
 his quarters in a cottage, within reach of the Russian 
 guns, intending to preside at the fight as well as to 
 superintend all its arrangements. He distributed us 
 upon the different points of attack, and took no rest 
 until he had gathered from our reports that success 
 was assured. 
 
 When I brought him mine it was about eleven o'clock 
 at night. I found him as at Jena lying in a wretched 
 bed which belonged to the cottage. Having made my
 
 3l8 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 repoft of the attack upon our left, I excused myself 
 for being so late, on the ground that my horse, having 
 been killed in an offensive return of the Russians 
 against the 12th line regiment, I had been obliged to 
 come back on foot. There was nothing very extra- 
 ordinary in this accident, and I could not understand 
 why the Emperor, lifting up his head, said to me 
 eagerly twice over, " You do not mean it ? Your horse 
 "killed under you?" I left him surprised but grateful 
 for this mark of interest; four days previously he had 
 ordered me to assume the duties of his personal aide- 
 de-camp; this accident probably made him still more 
 desirous that I should be near him. I have every reason 
 to think so. But in any case, being separated from him 
 the next day by a stroke of misfortune, that good 
 luck was retarded for the space of six years. 
 
 I cannot help relating here a rather uncommon fact, 
 the recollection of which always moves me. I have 
 said that during the nocturnal attack of the Ukra on 
 December 23rd I was unhorsed. My animal had been 
 wounded by a bullet in his chest from which the blood 
 was streaming; and as he could no longer carry me, 
 I had been forced to leave him, loading his equipment 
 on my shoulders. When I had reached our first out- 
 post about three hundred paces off, I sat down to rest 
 before the fire, in some grief at the loss of my mount, 
 when a plaintive sound and an unexpected contact 
 caused me to turn my head. It was the poor beast 
 which had revived, and had dragged itself in the 
 wake of my footsteps ; in spite of the distance and the 
 darkness it had succeeded in finding me, and recog- 
 nising me by the light of the camp fire, had come up 
 groaning to lay its head on my shoulder. My eyes
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 319 
 
 filled with tears at this last proof of attachment, and I was 
 gently stroking it, when exhausted from the blood it had 
 lost, and its efforts to follow me, in the midst of the 
 men who were as surprised and touched as myself, it 
 fell down, struggled for a moment, and expired. 
 
 Misfortunes, it is said, come in troops ; it would seem 
 as if isolation were not in their nature, A series of 
 accidents now befell me. On leaving the Emperor's 
 miserable bedroom, I passed through a kind of pas- 
 sage bestrewn with straw, which was the only other 
 shelter to be found in this cottage. A Piedmontese 
 officer, who afterwards distinguished himself greatly, 
 was asleep there; awoke suddenly, he began to abuse 
 me before he knew what he was about ; and as he still 
 persisted in his conduct when wide awake, I was obliged 
 to fix the next day to settle the quarrel. 
 
 Behold me with my horse killed, and a duel on my 
 hands! But this was not the end of it: the next day my 
 adversary and I were separated for a time by marching 
 orders, and I went off with Rapp who was the general 
 in command of the cavalry of the advance-guard. As 
 soon as we had arrived in sight of Nasielsk, we per- 
 ceived the enemy on the opposite thickly wooded side 
 of the valley in which this town is situated. At our 
 first discharge of grape-shot the enemy's line partly 
 opened, leaving a vacant space ; I proposed to Rapp 
 to charge it with one of his regiments, so as to pre- 
 vent the Russians reuniting, of which Rapp approved, 
 and asked me to put the manoeuvre into execution. 
 I began it to the left of the town with Exelmans and 
 the ist regiment of mounted chasseurs which he com- 
 manded. I finished it with the 12th dragoons, Exel- 
 mans having been drawn to the right by the attack
 
 320 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 of Nasielsk, But the colonel of the 1 2th lost his head ; 
 instead of holding the plain which was already cleared, 
 the heat of pursuit led him away to the woods of tall 
 trees which bounded it. I joined him there, and made 
 him realize his extreme imprudence. We were so 
 absurdly out of place in this wood, that to get out we 
 were obliged to go in single file, bent double over 
 our horses to avoid the branches which caught on 
 the helmets of the dragoons. 
 
 It was high time; the enemy's fugitives were 
 reassembling by groups on the edge of the forest to 
 slaughter us one after the other as we came out of 
 this cut-throat pass. I was the twenty- fifth to escape 
 their fire. Then with a view to facilitate the exit of 
 the remainder, rallying the squadron, I overthrew the 
 nearest group of the enemy. But in saving the regi- 
 ment, I lost myself, and by a similar fault which I had 
 just blamed in the colonel. 
 
 Up to then the manoeuvre which I had advised 
 and was executing had succeeded. The line of the 
 enemy's cavalry which had been separated in half was 
 not able to reunite itself; some of them were flying 
 to the left on the roads of Novemiasto and Wirziki; 
 their general on the contrary with the bulk of his 
 division was withdrawing to the right on the road to 
 Srzegocin. As for us, placed between them, we dis- 
 covered that we had turned Nasielsk, while Exelmans 
 and Rapp were at that very moment attacking it on the 
 front; there was nothing consequently for us to do 
 but to take advantage of this by uniting our efforts 
 with theirs against the town and Ostermann's rear- 
 guard. The 1 2th dragoons, released from the forest 
 by the charge which I had just executed, did not fail tc
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 32 1 
 
 make this attack. I alone with the squad which I 
 had carried with me, was cut off from it. 
 
 Our first rush through the midst of these hussars 
 who were escaping in confusion had been so energetic, 
 that, pursuing them much too far into the forest on the 
 road to Wirziki, I found myself surrounded by them. 
 I stopped to return to the attacking point, when one 
 of them passed me so quickly that he only just escaped 
 a thrust from my sword. This irritated me so much 
 that I started in pursuit, plunging blindly into the 
 forest until I had reached and struck him down. 
 
 I must own that this was a mistake, and a most 
 imprudent loss of temper on the part of a soldier. I 
 soon recognised this, when I saw how far I was from 
 my own men, in the midst of enormous pine-trees 
 whose motionless silence was only broken by the 
 movement of the flying Russians whom I could perceive 
 seeking the shelter of these great trees to the right 
 and left of the roadway; they were fortunately so 
 scared that they allowed me to turn my horse and 
 rejoin the few dragoons who had followed me, and 
 had imprudently taken the same course. 
 
 These dragoons were returning on their steps; and 
 two of their ofRcers, seized with giddiness, and not 
 perceiving the danger of their position, were going 
 along at a foot pace, talking as if we were in a state 
 of peace, without even thinking of rallying the small 
 squadron which they commanded. They neither lis- 
 tened to my representations, nor to those of their 
 non-commissioned officers, who pointed out to them 
 a mass of every arm of the enemy barring the exit 
 of the forest above Nasielsk, and preparing to contest 
 with us its issue into the plain. 
 23
 
 322 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 It was very evident that there was no hope for 
 us except to get out as we had got in— by a 
 desperate charge; but these officers (one of whom, 
 the son of a Terrorist, had, I think, brought ill-luck 
 upon us) had completely lost their judgment. In- 
 comprehensibly persistent in their thoughtless negli- 
 gence, they seemed to me to be stamped by fatality, 
 like the branded beasts led to the slaughter-house. 
 In their default I hastened to join their dragoons, 
 of whom there were twenty-two; but as there was 
 no one to command them, they had gone on in 
 front, so that when I wanted to rally them and 
 take the command, it was too late. All this was 
 the affair of a few seconds, for in these critical mo- 
 ments, action is quicker than speech. The dragoons 
 who were furthest off without a chief, in disorder 
 and repulsed, had abandoned the high road to throw 
 themselves to the left into a swampy field which 
 was contiguous to some canals. Notwithstanding my 
 outcries and my imprecations, they carried on their 
 officers with them, and, left alone on the high way, 
 I was obliged to follow them on this land which had 
 no egress. 
 
 There, surrounded and fired upon at close quarters, 
 they allowed themselves to be shot down without seeking 
 to defend themselves. I saw the unfortunates dismount 
 and plant their swords in front of them, showing that 
 they meant to surrender. All perished except three 
 dragoons, the only ones I was able to rally. 
 
 Once at the end of this ground, crossing the canal, 
 we got out of the bog, all four of us flying in our 
 turn, and followed up a track through the last row of 
 pines which separated the road to Wirziki from that
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 323 
 
 of Srzegocin. This road seemed to lead us at first 
 towards the sound of our own guns, and though the 
 enemy's rear-guard still occupied Nasielsk, which w^e 
 were obliged to go through to rejoin our army, we 
 had not yet lost all hope. 
 
 But I soon perceived that this unlucky road deviated 
 to the left, thus increasing the distance to Nasielsk. 
 We were, however, obliged to follow it and to get on 
 quickly, for we again heard behind us the savage cries 
 of a multitude of Tartars in hot pursuit. It led us in 
 a few minutes out of the forest, but on the road to 
 Srzegocin which was covered with troops marching 
 in retreat. At this sight my dragoons, transported 
 with joy, exclaimed: "They are ours! we are saved! " 
 " Say rather, lost! " I replied. "It is the enemy! We 
 "have fallen into the midst of the Russian army! There 
 "is only one thing to be done; we must join those first 
 " stragglers, take them prisoners, and surrender ourselves 
 "to them, they will protect us afterwards." At that 
 instant, seeing a foot soldier alone, I attacked him, and 
 retrenching himself behind a ditch, he took aim at me. 
 
 I must confess, that in this desperate moment I 
 lowered my sword, and swelled out my chest to re- 
 ceive the bullet which would have relieved me from 
 an unbearable position; it was raining, and the shot 
 missed fire! 
 
 As death did not choose to take me, I returned to 
 my original idea. Not being able to reach this soldier, 
 and hearing the shouts of the Kalmucks who were get- 
 ting nearer and nearer to us, I left him to throw 
 myself upon a frightened Cossack, on whose left side 
 I had advanced, and whom I summoned to surrender; 
 but perceiving his main body a few hundred paces in
 
 324 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 front and seeing that I was threatening him without 
 striking, he continued his flight towards his own men, 
 galloping by my side, and thrusting at me all the time 
 until his lance pierced my right side. 
 
 Then, wounded, and not being seconded by the 
 dragoons, either because they had not understood me, 
 or because their exhausted horses had not been able 
 to keep up with mine, I changed my tactics. We 
 were just then near Count Ostermann's retreating 
 division. Night was approaching, and the left side of 
 the road for several hundred feet was still bordered by 
 the forest: "To the woods!" I exclaimed to my poor 
 companions, " let us lose ourselves there, till our advance- 
 guard delivers us ! " 
 
 A moment earlier we might have been saved by 
 this inspiration, but such means of safety are so unpalat- 
 able that one only resorts to them at the last extremity; 
 it was already too late. Our first enemies were then 
 debouching from the wood into which they had pursued 
 us, and now catching sight of us, and setting off at 
 racing speed between us and the wood, they got up 
 to us. These were about two score horrible Kalmucks 
 and irregular Cossacks. One of the dragoons was 
 mortally wounded by them, another was pierced through 
 both cheeks by a lance thrust, and I do not know if 
 he ever recovered; the third was taken without any 
 injury, and seemed so rejoiced at this, that I could not 
 help smiling; at least when I thought of it later on, 
 for at that moment I had too much to do. 
 
 About fifteen of these savages fell upon me with 
 repeated lance thrusts, one of which, rather better 
 directed than the others, caught me in the neck and 
 bore me to the ground. I got up again promptly, and
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 325 
 
 gained a few moments by sheltering myself behind 
 my horse; but one of these Kalmucks having 
 seized my sword and displayed it to the others, 
 whose fury increased at the sight of the blood upon 
 it, my horse and my arms were powerless to protect me. 
 It was in the midst of this rain of blows, that I first 
 perceived their chief. He was one of those magni- 
 ficent Cossacks of the Don with Persian features ; his 
 noble countenance was calm and unmoved, and he 
 seemed to disdain to slaughter a vanquished and dis- 
 armed enemy on the ground; "Nikale!" he said to 
 these madmen, who did not seem to pay any attention 
 to him. 
 
 I was ignorant of the meaning of this Russian word 
 but I understood the intention, and at once repeated 
 imperiously " Nikale ! " several times over. The effect 
 of this command from my lips was magical. At the 
 sound of this word which I have since been told 
 signifies, "do not strike," surprised to hear me 
 speak their language, their ferocious countenances 
 expressed nothing but astonishment, and their arms 
 remained raised in the air. I owed my life to this 
 word; but my torture was not at an end. 
 
 The passion of spoil succeeded to their sanguinary 
 brutalities, and throwing themselves upon me, they tore 
 off my clothes amongst them, each one dragging at 
 me from his own side, lifting me in the air, throwing 
 me down and lifting me up again. I had no respite 
 until after having stripped me and searched all over 
 my body they disputed the spoil. It was especially 
 my major's epaulette which one of them had torn off, 
 which excited their envy. Their chief took no part in 
 this plunder; he even ordered them to leave me an
 
 326 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 indispensable garment besides my shirt which was 
 tattered and blood-stained. 
 
 I now thought that the worst was over, instead of 
 which the last act and the most painful one was still 
 to come. At this moment their attention was attracted 
 by reports of firing, whose sound seemed to be 
 drawing nearer. Afraid for themselves, and also fearing 
 they might lose their prey, those who had come off 
 worst in the pillage again renewed their ferocious 
 treatment. Having quickly remounted their horses, I 
 being alone on foot in the midst of them, they pulled 
 me on by my arms and hair at the full speed of their 
 animals. Those behind me did not spare their blows, 
 and I was thus dragged on to Ostermann's rear-guard, 
 where they at last drew rein. 
 
 I was panting, half suffocated, and almost faint- 
 ing, and they were continuing to abuse, to buffet 
 and ill-treat me, when, taking breath as I perceived a 
 Russian regiment fighting with its colonel at its head, 
 I snatched myself by a sudden wrench from their 
 furious hands, and ran up to place myself under the 
 protection of this chief, " I am a colonel like yourself," 
 I exclaimed, "and a prisoner. This is not how we 
 "treat yours. Save me from these savages." My 
 physical agony ceased from that moment, but it was 
 the beginning of one of a different nature. 
 
 This colonel, whose name I should like to know, 
 did his duty. I was naked, and hardly able to hold 
 myself up: he had a cloak thrown over me, and a 
 horse procured for me, and gave orders at my request 
 that my poor dragoons should be looked after; after 
 which he sent us to Count Ostermann-Tolstoi' who 
 recognised me. The first reception of this general did
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 327 
 
 not please me; it was too imperious. That is their 
 manner when restrained by no special consideration, 
 a consequence probably of their habits as masters in 
 the midst of slaves; he was, besides, anxious about his 
 own position. Having been beaten the evening before, 
 and being eagerly pressed at this moment, it was im- 
 portant to him to know exactly whom he had to deal 
 with. So, whilst making me go at a foot's pace at 
 his side, he plied me with questions in the tone of a 
 chief who exacts an answer. "Is the Emperor there? 
 "With what bodies? What is their number?"—" Count," 
 I answered, " you know me, at any rate you know my 
 " name ; why uselessly insult me by these questions, 
 " when you must feel sure beforehand that nothing 
 "would possibly make me answer them." — "How, 
 
 "Sir! " he exclaimed with violence in a sudden 
 
 impulse which was entirely Muscovite, " you dare ! " 
 
 But civilization at once regaining the ascendant, he 
 recovered himself, held out his hand, and deplored my 
 fate with concern in his tones ; he even thrust aside 
 his own anxiety, which was very natural in such a 
 critical situation, to ask me news of those amongst us 
 whom he had known in France. That evening at his 
 quarters at Srzegocin, where we passed the night, and 
 next day when we were leaving for Pultusk before 
 day-break, his courteousness and kind consideration 
 did not fail me. 
 
 The first night of my captivity has remained in my 
 memory. We were in a room that was small but 
 warm and sufficiently clean; a table in the centre, a 
 few chairs and some straw in a bedstead, constituted 
 its sole furniture. Fatigued as he must have been, 
 the general insisted on giving up the bed to me. He
 
 328 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 first of all had my wounds dressed, one of which was 
 rather serious, and at my request, he ordered that the 
 wounded dragoons should also be seen to. He would 
 not allow me to sit up to share his repast, which was 
 a very meagre one, if I may judge by the short time 
 he spent upon it, and by the share which was brought 
 to me by his aide-de-camp. 
 
 A pale, withered personage of high stature and cold 
 appearance, with a scar across his face, had just 
 entered. This was Beningsen. There were four of them ; 
 he, Ostermann, and two other generals. They appeared 
 extremely preoccupied, but their countenances were 
 calm; and their discussion, which was a long one, 
 bore the same characteristic. They held council during 
 part of the night around the table covered with maps 
 which they frequently consulted. Their Field-Marshal 
 Kaminski had just left them, ordering at any hazard a 
 general retreat upon Ostrolenka. It was evidently 
 while seated at this table, that they made up their 
 minds to disobey him, to struggle against Napoleon 
 and defend themselves. Fate willed it that I should 
 be a witness of their decision which very nearly lost 
 them, although it did them honour, and succeeded in 
 the long run. They knew that I was attached to Na- 
 poleon, and several times their glances were turned 
 upon me, but however important the least information 
 from me would have been, they respected my mis- 
 fortune, and did not attempt to take advantage of it, 
 either directly or insidiously. 
 
 At two o'clock in the morning Ostermann, before 
 resuming his march, gave me a Polish pelisse to wear, 
 and entrusted me to the guard of an officer and six 
 Cossacks. The first hours of this march were very
 
 OF THE EMPEROR N^VPOLEON I. 329 
 
 trying: I spent them on the straw of an open waggon 
 in the midst of the Russian cokimns, travelHng slowly 
 and exposed to their threatening imprecations. Twenty 
 times over I thought they were going to pierce me 
 with their bayonets; I even parried some of their 
 thrusts. This disagreeable situation, which, however, 
 was a distraction from my grief, only came to an end 
 on the morning of December 26th when we entered 
 Pultusk. I was confined there in a brick house of 
 good appearance, one story high, with a room in which 
 there was a chimney, a rare thing in this country; 
 they left me for some time alone there with my reflec- 
 tions, which were sad ones. 
 
 The first moments, however, were not the most 
 trying, I knew that Ouvarof, one of Alexander's aides- 
 de-camp, had suffered the same fate as myself at the 
 same time. It was therefore possible to make an 
 exchange, which indeed was proposed by Napoleon. 
 Being in Pultusk, I felt that I was still within reach 
 of my own people; I was soon even to hear the sound 
 of their firing, and thus separated from them by sight 
 I could at any rate hear them, which was a kind of 
 tie. I was listening full of anxiety, and it seemed to 
 me that the sounds of war were drawing nearer; evi- 
 dently a violent combat was going forward. The guns 
 were those of the impetuous Marshal Lannes, who un- 
 fortunately suffered a repulse. That had not then hap- 
 pened; his first attack had succeeded, the noise of his 
 discharges was becoming more distinct; there was even 
 a moment in which I thought I could hear around me 
 the tumult which precedes a rout. 
 
 I had been left alone in this room for several hours, 
 none of the men who guarded me having appeared.
 
 330 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 For all I knew, in the heat of warfare, in the midst 
 of the disorder of a defeat, it was possible that I might 
 have been forgotten ! I had already opened the window 
 and was sounding the chimney, seeking around for 
 some hiding place where I might remain concealed 
 during the first search, await the sudden irruption of 
 our own men, and escape in the midst of the disorder 
 of the vanquished. I reckoned on the inhabitants, who 
 were Poles and would favour my flight .... A woman 
 entered whose moist eyes and compassionate glances 
 evinced a lively interest. Some friendly hand had sent 
 me, through her, an enormous leaf of white bread. I 
 had had little or nothing to eat for twenty-four hours ; 
 that was not what troubled me the most, I entreated 
 her by my signs and glances to help me in the evasion 
 which I was planning, but by her demeanour, and her 
 finger placed upon her lip, I could see that we were 
 closely watched. I was still in hopes, even after her 
 departure, when the Russian officer re-appeared with 
 his Cossacks. They once more placed me upon a 
 waggon, and I was rapidly conveyed along the high 
 road. 
 
 All was over; that very night several leagues distance 
 separated me from the battle-field. I could also per- 
 ceive that although every possible consideration had 
 been ordered to be shown me, there was none the less 
 an unremitting watch kept up in this country, which 
 was indeed an enemy's to them. It was carried to 
 such a degree, that during our halts in the midst of 
 these deserts, if any necessity obliged me to retire to 
 a little distance, a Cossack with a naked sword always 
 accompanied me. In the same way, during the long 
 nights when I was shut in, stretched out on the
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 331 
 
 straw in the midst of my escort, there was always 
 a Cossack standing upright beside me, eyeing every 
 movement, his lance in one hand, whilst with the other 
 he was making an active onslaught upon the disgust- 
 ing vermin with which they are infested, and which I 
 had difficulty in keeping off my person. 
 
 Nothing then remained, neither hope nor danger, to 
 distract my attention from my misfortune. I ought to 
 have resigned myself; instead of which imagination 
 augmented it by the weight of my own self-accusations. 
 It carried me back oppressed with anxiety, amongst 
 my own people: I thought I could hear them re- 
 proaching me for my foolish imprudence — as if they 
 could have known it when all those who had shared 
 it had been either killed or taken ; then I would fancy 
 that my order-book in which the situation of the army 
 was written down, and which had been taken out of 
 my pocket by the Kalmucks, had been preserved by 
 them, and handed over to some chief, which was not 
 likely, and happily was not true. 
 
 Thus I embittered my real distresses by creating 
 imaginary ones. This was the more unnecessary, as 
 the Emperor at that very moment, far from blaming 
 or forsaking me, had said in his bulletin of December 
 30th : " That, having fallen into an ambuscade, I had 
 " with my own hand killed two of the enemy before 
 " surrendering ; that he had demanded my release, but 
 " that I had just been sent on to St. Petersburg." 
 
 I had really done better than this, because instead 
 of allowing myself to be surprised, I had only yielded 
 after having made an attack and twice charged suc- 
 cessfully; but the Emperor was unaware of these 
 details, and in those which he imagined he tried to
 
 332 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP. 
 
 be favourable to me. More than this, he made a point 
 of himself informing my father of my mishap, exoner- 
 ating me from blame, extenuating it, and praising me 
 at the same time. " M. de Segur," he wrote, " your 
 "son has been taken prisoner by the Cossacks. He 
 " killed two of them with his own hand before surrender- 
 " ing, and was only slightly wounded. I demanded 
 " his release, but these gentlemen had already sent 
 " him off to St. Petersburg, where he will have the 
 " pleasure of paying his court to the Emperor. You 
 " can easily make Madame de Segur understand that 
 " there is nothing unpleasant in this occurrence, and 
 "that she need not alarm herself in the least. Upon 
 " which I pray God to have you in His safe and holy 
 " keeping. " * 
 
 "At Pultusk, December 31ST, 1806." 
 
 "Napoleon ". 
 
 Had I been informed of this at the time, such be- 
 nevolence and paternal care would have spared me 
 much anxiety. 
 
 • The original letter is in the National Archives.
 
 CHAPTER XXIIL 
 
 IN CAPTIVITY. 
 
 ALONE though I was with my six savages, I was 
 not yet downcast, as my active thoughts could busy 
 themselves with the movement of our march; to a certain 
 extent with my ill-founded anxiety, and even, I may 
 say, my material needs; for, whether the effect of so 
 many violent emotions, or simply through my two 
 days' fast, I was attacked by such an insatiable hunger 
 that I really do not know what would have become 
 of me without the enormous Polish loaf, which, the 
 Russian officer to whose care I had been handed at 
 Pultusk had not allowed me to leave behind. In any 
 other circumstance this loaf would have sufficed me 
 for four whole days, whilst I devoured it almost all in 
 twenty-four hours; a sight which filled with astonishment 
 the Cossacks of my escort. 
 
 The next night we arrived at Rozan. Perhaps the 
 fame of my miraculous appetite had reached the ears 
 
 of Colonel the Prince T who was lying wounded 
 
 in the town, or perhaps this Russian nobleman thought 
 it would be a diversion from the annoyance of his 
 wound, but at any rate he invited me to share his 
 dinner. I accepted the invitation with a gratitude 
 which did not last very long, as he made me pay 
 
 333
 
 334 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAilP 
 
 dearly for this meagre repast, which was interrupted 
 by a quarrel. 
 
 We began by addressing reciprocal complimentary 
 condolences to each other, I from a fairly well-served 
 table, and he from his bed, but suddenly the old Tar- 
 tar emerged from the half civilized Russian prince who 
 thus addressed me : " When does your despoiler of 
 "the world intend to leave off? When will he leave 
 " the human race in peace ? " Surprised at this unfore- 
 seen and inappropriate attack, I answered quickly: 
 " From a Russian to a Frenchman, especially in this 
 " Poland in which we both find ourselves, such expres- 
 " sions are most unbecoming. In any case, even were 
 " they applicable, it could only be to the transgressors ; 
 " and in the present quarrel these were not ourselves, 
 " but your Emperor and the King of Prussia. " 
 
 Surprised in his turn, the prince was silent; I arose 
 and we parted coldly. Had he continued his invectives, 
 he would have been merely brutal ; but he was worse 
 than that, for his silence was treacherous. It will be seen 
 that on his complaint, I was very nearly sent to Siberia. 
 He cherished a grudge against me, and represented 
 me to his government as a rebellious prisoner, accusing 
 me of having in his presence abused his Emperor. 
 
 Whilst he was cogitating to send me on this long 
 journey, on my side, better pleased with my reply 
 than with his incomplete dinner, I had returned to 
 finish my repast at the inn. It was crowded with 
 Russian merchants; one of whom planted himself 
 in front of me, staring till I was almost out of 
 countenance, and accompanying his exclamations with 
 the most extraordinary gestures of joy and astonish- 
 ment, repeatedly demanding to fill up my glass with
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 335 
 
 the very best they kept in the house, so that at last I 
 felt obliged to ask the officer in charge of me the ex- 
 planation of this tender and generous extravagance. 
 "He professes," he said, "to recognise you." — "How 
 " unlikely ! " I replied, " I come from Paris, and he from 
 "Astrachan, you say; it is a far cry from one to the 
 "other." — "Wait a bit," resumed the officer, "were you 
 "not at Austerlitz?" — " Certainly I was! "—" Was not 
 " your cap kept on by a white handkerchief tied under 
 " your chin ? " — " That is true." — " Did you not at the end 
 " of the battle stretch out your hand to a Cossack to 
 "help him out of a frozen lake in which he was 
 "drowning?" — "That is also true." — "Well; having 
 " escaped that danger, then the war, and since then, 
 " from the hands of your soldiers who were leading him 
 " off, at the expiration of his time of service he became 
 " a trader, following your army, and this is he now 
 " before you ! He recognised you, he said, by your 
 " features, which he had not forgotten, and also because 
 " your face is bound up in white linen just as it was 
 "last year with your pocket-handkerchief." 
 
 There was no longer any doubt about it ; the meeting 
 was as extraordinary as it was agreeable, and I felt 
 a sincere pleasure in shaking hands with this worthy 
 Cossack. 
 
 It must have been on December 28th that we 
 arrived early at Ostrolenka, the headquarters of the 
 Russian army. I was conveyed into the best room 
 of an inn which was crowded with officers like a hive 
 of bees. Here I spent the rest of the day, seated at 
 one end of the couch, more solitary than ever in the 
 midst of this crowd which changed at every moment, 
 growing larger and larger, and fatiguing me by a
 
 336 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 succession of curious gazers who were sometimes noisy, 
 sometimes staring stonily, silent- and contemplative. 
 They called out to each other to come and look at me, 
 interchanging remarks as one would do on some un- 
 known extraordinary animal which had just been taken 
 in a trap. 
 
 The movement at these headquarters which reminded 
 me of our own; the curiosity, however natural, of 
 which I was the helpless object, the contrast between 
 my present sad inaction, and their free and lively 
 enjoyment, strangers and enemies as they were, all 
 this stung me to life again, and made my real and 
 imaginary sorrows more unbearable than ever. Exposed 
 to all this scrutiny, I had nevertheless to bear it 
 with as good a grace as I could, and bring pride to 
 my aid when at last dejection took the place of annoy- 
 ance. How often, during that interminable day, above 
 all when some manifestation of compassion took the 
 place of this indiscreet curiosity, was I not forced to 
 suppress a flood of tears! They seemed on the point 
 of mastering me, I had to make such an effort to keep 
 them back. I would have paid a moment's solitude 
 with untold gold. I was suffocating, but eventually 
 succeeded in concealing my weakness from our enemies. 
 It would have been shameful had I given way ; fortun- 
 ately I was able to contain myself and maintain a brave 
 front in spite of so many conflicting emotions. 
 
 The scene changed the next day; I had a more 
 lively conflict to sustain, though a less difficult one, for 
 this time it was not against myself. I had just been 
 placed with an officer of the 13th chasseurs, also a 
 prisoner, but so grievously wounded that he could not 
 long survive. I remember that day we were shut up
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 337 
 
 in a billiard-room together with two officers of the 
 Russian Government. Colonel Swetchine was one of 
 these. They had come there animated with sentiments 
 of the most delicate and noble generosity, which 
 Swetchine especially was expressing in the most amiable 
 and courteous terms, when a little, lean, withered old 
 man with a Kalmuck physiognomy, and apparelled in 
 the plainest manner, entered abruptly and even rudely, 
 without removing his hat, so that I drew myself up as 
 stiff as a ramrod without offering to salute him. But 
 Swetchine quickly took hold of my arm, whispering: 
 " Salute ; it is Field-Marshal Kaminski ! " I uncovered ; 
 and the marshal seating himself, at once told his aide-de- 
 camp to take paper and pen and hold himself in readiness 
 to write. Then without other preliminary he ordered 
 me to reply on the spot to the questions which he 
 would address to me concerning the French army. I 
 refused politely, but he went on without paying any 
 attention. Then I reiterated my refusal, adding : "that 
 " I valued his esteem too much to make any answer. " 
 He shrugged his shoulders, and getting up irritably, 
 glared at me in a threatening manner, saying: "you 
 " are a prisoner, you will obey ! " and turning his back 
 upon me, he went out as rudely and hurriedly as he 
 had entered. 
 
 I was congratulating myself that this extraordinary 
 freak had not been further prolonged, and Swetchine, 
 who had seemed rather uneasy, was wondering at its 
 tame conclusion, when the aide-de-camp came in again 
 with a sheet of paper in his hand. " Here, " he said, 
 " are the marshal's questions. He insists that I should 
 " at once take back your written replies. " I was not 
 expecting this persistence and grew angry. " Sir, " T 
 24
 
 338 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 said, **you heard my reply to the marshal; I shall add 
 " nothing to it, I have no other to make. Respect my 
 "position; and do not worry me any more by these 
 " unseemly interrogatories which, were you in the 
 " same situation, you would yourself consider perfectly 
 " useless ! " 
 
 The aide-de-camp did not at all resemble his marshal ; 
 he was of a more civilized generation. " I pray you 
 "to excuse me, sir," he answered, " I am executing an 
 " order; you do not know Marshal Kaminski. As much 
 " on my own account as yours, I entreat you to help 
 "me, answer just what you please; say whatever you 
 " think will best serve your army, whether true or not 
 " is of no consequence, so long as I have not to carry 
 " back to the marshal a refusal which I dread, and of 
 " which you are not in a position as I am to realize 
 "the fatal consequences." Swetchine then joined him, 
 entreating me to agree at once: he took my hands in 
 his ; he told me that I had to do with a man of the olden 
 time, who was capable of anything, and whose furious 
 bursts of rage were but too well known and feared by 
 themselves and the whole of the Russian army. 
 
 This was so true, that it was fated this wretched 
 old man should come to a miserable end by the stroke 
 of an axe wielded in desperation by one of his own 
 peasants whom his brutalities had exasperated. 
 
 "I understand you, gentlemen," I answered, "and 
 " I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your 
 " kind intentions, but I cannot possibly follow your 
 " advice; as far as concerns the interests of the French 
 " army, my inventions might perhaps not suit them ; 
 "and as for myself, whatever may happen, nothing in 
 " face of your army or my own, should ever make me
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 339 
 
 " false to honour, either in reality or in appearances. " 
 I was in good company; the aide-de-camp held 
 silence, shook my hand, and retired with downcast 
 mien. Swetchine was inconsolable, foreseeing some 
 outrage, still I did not believe such a thing likely, 
 when my six Cossacks entered carrying their lances. 
 They had received orders to bind our hands, and that 
 very instant to drag us off on foot, in the midst of 
 their horses, to the extremity of Russia. 
 
 For two days heavy snow had been falling in 
 great flakes without any cessation, and the ground 
 was already covered with it to the depth of a foot. 
 The intention was evident; it was too atrocious a 
 vengeance. "Let us not submit to it," I said to my 
 companion in misfortune, who was not then prostrated 
 by fever; "let us defend ourselves here. Wounded as 
 " we are, we may just as well be killed in this room 
 " as infallibly to perish in the snow on the high road. " 
 Then snatching up whatever was nearest to us, and 
 retrenching ourselves behind some benches m a corner 
 of the room, we defied the Cossacks. They were 
 advancing to seize us, when Swetchine, who had been 
 almost struck dumb with consternation, threw himself 
 between us and them, exclaiming : " That it was an 
 " intolerable barbarity, that he could not allow an outrage 
 " that would dishonour the Russian name. " At the 
 same time he ordered these nomads to go and fetch 
 his own covered kibitcka in which he made us seat 
 ourselves and set off at once for Byalistock. 
 
 Thus at all hazards, we were generously saved from 
 the torture that had been intended for us by this 
 odious marshal. We separated from Swetchine with 
 tears in our eyes, full of a gratitude which I still
 
 340 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 cherish in this world, and which no doubt is also 
 cherished in the other world by my poor companion, 
 whose wounds carried him off a few days later. 
 Swetchine could not have rendered us a greater ser- 
 vice, his marshal had relied on the Russian winter as 
 a sure means of vengeance. The weather indeed was 
 so awful that the officer of our guard and the Cossacks 
 themselves could not stand it and were obliged to 
 wait three days at Tycoczin. Thence we went through 
 Byalistock, all the more rapidly because the person of 
 highest rank in the place came to express his wishes 
 for my success, and heaped upon me many touching 
 proofs of his sympathy with my misfortune. I took 
 advantage of this to confide to his generous care my 
 poor dying companion, whom he was not able to 
 save, but whose last moments were soothed by him. 
 
 On January 6th we crossed the Niemen ; we entered 
 Grodno; I was in Russia! General Abrewskow was 
 in command there. I was taken before him; and his 
 frigid reception disgusted me. I was almost naked; 
 I had nothing on but my tattered uniform trousers 
 which had been despised by the Kalmucks, and that 
 Polish half-pelisse, a kind of vest in bad condition, 
 which was the only garment that Ostermann had been 
 able to procure me. Such a miserable appearance 
 was far from being imposing; but, as you make your 
 bed, it is said, so must you lie; and as nobody ap- 
 peared willing to take the trouble to make mine, I 
 felt that I must lend a hand to it myself, and that I 
 must meet this harsh reception with an appearance 
 of pride which would serve as a mantle to cover my 
 wretched and disreputable garments. 
 
 Consequently I complained bitterly of the merciless
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 34 1 
 
 treatment which wounded, disarmed and beaten as I 
 was, I had received. I wrapped myself up in my 
 rank, my position near the Emperor, my father's name 
 and the remembrances which he had left at St. Peters- 
 burg; adding that having been plundered, I had a 
 right to expect from those who represented the Rus- 
 sian government that they should come to my help 
 with an advance whose repayment would be quite 
 sufficiently guaranteed by my signature. This tone 
 succeeded. I cannot say that it was very gracefully 
 done, but the general did let me have fifty ducats on 
 my receipt; I even obtained from him that instead of 
 being incarcerated in some prison, I was merely con- 
 fined in a decent kind of house belonging to a Jew, 
 where, thanks to some gold pieces, I was able once 
 more to attire myself suitably. But I was kept in such 
 seclusion that the Jew himself was hardly allowed to 
 come near me. During the four days that I was there, 
 if he came in for a minute in the night, it was with 
 such extreme caution that I asked him the reason. I 
 then learnt to my great astonishment that I passed for 
 a very dangerous person, formerly chosen by Napo- 
 leon to excite the whole of Polish Prussia to revolt; 
 that since then even as a prisoner I had insulted the 
 Emperor Alexander; and that I was the object of strict 
 watch and the most stringent orders. 
 
 I became aware at the same time by several pre- 
 sents that the Jew mysteriously offered me, such as 
 money, various travelling comforts, and other objects, 
 that the Lithuanians of this province had friendly feel- 
 ings towards me, and that they were as impatient to 
 be freed from the Russian yoke, as the Poles of Posen 
 and of Warsaw to shake off Prussian domination. This
 
 342 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 Jew, in fact, did not leave me in doubt as to the in- 
 terest which I inspired, or the efforts which might be 
 attempted to help me to escape from the hands of the 
 Russians. I recognised the impossibility of this, and 
 expressed my thanks, but accepted nothing, distrusting 
 such an agent, and being equally afraid of exciting, 
 uselessly as far as I was concerned, and dangerously 
 for these worthy people, their generous imprudence. 
 It was well I did so, for I subsequently learnt that the 
 Jew had betrayed them! 
 
 This durance vile, as far as my solitary imprison- 
 me it was concerned, lasted up to eight o'clock on 
 January gth. I do not know if it was by chance, or to 
 overthrow the kind intentions of some inhabitants of the 
 town, but it was at that hour when night had well 
 set in, that an officer and three grenadiers came to 
 take me. The cold was keen in the extreme; two 
 harnessed sledges were in the street, a soldier got 
 into the first with our luggage; I was made to get 
 into the second; the officer seated himself by my side; 
 placing two grenadiers in front and making them sit 
 on our feet, which they crushed with their weight, 
 saying that it would keep them warm, but much more 
 likely with a view of preventing me from making use 
 of mine if occasion offered. The signal was then given 
 and the start was effected. 
 
 We travelled at full speed on the way to Smolensk, 
 perhaps even to Siberia. We passed the 1 1 th at 
 Nowogrobeck, the 12th at Minsk; and on the 13th, at 
 Borisow we crossed the Beresina which I gazed upon 
 with all my might, thinking only of Charles XII. 
 
 During our rapid six days' track through the 
 frozen snow, the frequent overturnings of our sledges,
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 343 
 
 and the very short time spent at the relays were 
 our sole stoppages. I was only allowed to get out 
 at two stations, at the first where I remained alone 
 for about five minutes, the poor Lithuanian mistress 
 of this miserable post-house, managed to find means 
 to approach me. Her signs and her compassionate 
 looks had attracted my attention, when she slipped 
 into my hand a piece of paper yellowed by age, which 
 I quickly opened and found to contain four ducats. 
 This was the widow's mite. I gave her back her poor 
 little treasure with tears in my eyes, but kept the old 
 bit of paper which I pressed to my heart in an endea- 
 vour to make her understand my gratitude, all the value 
 which I attached to her generous intention, and the 
 remembrance which I should always retain of it. 
 
 Our second stoppage did not last half an hour, it 
 was before coming to Borizow, I think, in a burg in 
 the midst of a forest. There whilst my officer was 
 otherwise occupied, the mistress of the house quickly 
 took me into a retired room which was full of Lithuanian 
 noblemen of the neighbourhood. Had this gathering 
 assembled there by accident, or from anxiety to hear 
 news of a war upon which their freedom depended? 
 I know not, but I was received as a compatriot. I 
 told them that I had left our army powerful and 
 victorious. These worthy gentlemen showed some 
 excitement; they began by pointing to the forest and 
 seemed to be concerting some plan amongst themselves 
 to carry me off from my escort ; in spite of the fatigues 
 and dangers which awaited me, and the bonds in which 
 I was held, I was ready to brave all in the hope of 
 gaining my freedom, when the Russian officer appeared 
 again with his soldiers and I was obliged to follow
 
 344 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 them. My arrival had been too unforeseen; there had 
 been no time for these excellent people, eager and 
 enterprising as they were, but their kind intentions 
 were evident. I even noticed that they did not attempt 
 to conceal their disappointment: defying the Russian 
 officer, they overwhelmed me in his presence with marks 
 of regret, which he appeared not to perceive, though 
 he nevertheless withdrew me in precipitate haste from 
 such audacious manifestations. 
 
 The only benefit which accrued to me from this 
 incident was that I was a little less bored in the 
 company of my four Russians. In the midst of the 
 monotonous extent of this frozen land buried under 
 heavy snow, and shadowed by dark pine trees which 
 seemed to wear the livery of its own mourning, my 
 imagination had warmed itself at the spark of hope 
 which had been lighted in my breast. I abandoned 
 myself complacently to a thousand reveries which bore 
 me away from sad reality. From one relay to another 
 I dreamt of the possibility of deliverance. In imagin- 
 ation I saw myself in the prompt kindly hands of my 
 protectors, pressing the sides of their light and fleet- 
 footed horses, crossing their vast plains, penetrating 
 into their forests, hiding myself in their sanctuaries, 
 assuming their disguises, and finally escaping from their 
 frontiers in the teeth of a thousand adventures, bringing 
 back to the Emperor with my freedom, the proof of 
 the support our army would find in the midst of such 
 a courageous nobility, and a people so impatient to 
 break its bondage. 
 
 These lively illusions vanished one after the other 
 as the Lithuanian ground disappeared all too rapidly 
 under the advance of our sledges. I had to renounce
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 345 
 
 them altogether on January 15th near Lyadi, where Old 
 Russia begins. We were approaching Smolensk, and 
 we arrived there at nine o'clock in the night of the 1 5th 
 to the 1 6th. ]\Iy officer, Major Petchskin, of whom I can 
 only speak in praise, conducted me at once to General 
 Count Apraxin, governor of the province. 
 
 I knew him to be a grand nobleman of the polished 
 and charming court of the Great Catharine where my 
 father had left behind him so many brilliant and pleasing 
 recollections ; I was wounded, my head was still, en- 
 veloped in blood-stained bandages, I was unfortunate, 
 I therefore expected at any rate a fitting reception. 
 Everything in this residence attested the luxury of 
 modern civilisation; a numerous service; warm and 
 well-lighted rooms ; a large reception-room sumptuously 
 furnished, where, glancing round an assemblage of 
 army officers of rank I immediately singled out a per- 
 sonage whose elevated stature, noble countenance, and 
 manners of the highest distinction, recalled my best 
 recollections of the relics of our own former Court, and 
 all I had heard related of the grand times of Catharine's 
 splendid century. 
 
 This was Count Apraxin himself. But I was greatly 
 surprised after having been handed over to him to be 
 accosted in the hardest and most imperious tones: 
 "It is you, sir, then," he said, "you who, respecting 
 " nothing, have dared to speak evil of our Emperor ! " 
 T answered, that whilst defending my own, and refusing 
 to satisfy unbecoming questions, I had only done my 
 duty, and that besides I had not spoken ill of any- 
 body. But he, interrupting me, resumed still more 
 rudely : " that an unfavourable report had been sent to 
 "St. Petersburg, and that I deserved most rigorous
 
 34^ MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP , 
 
 " treatment." Then folding my arms in my indignation 
 I answered that I repented of nothing, that there was 
 no necessity for false and unlikely pretexts to proceed 
 against me, that I was in his hands, and that he could 
 do with me what he pleased, as he was the master. 
 During this colloquy, poor Petchskin seemed on the 
 rack. He threw upon me a glance of commisera- 
 tion, and I think that he even ventured to say in 
 Russian some words in my favour to the governor. 
 The latter, however, for all reply, dismissed him by a 
 sign; then with another imperious gesture, opening 
 the door of an adjoining room, he ordered me abruptly 
 to enter it. 
 
 I think I can still see that little study : it was lighted 
 by two wax candles, and some logs of wood were 
 burning in a chimney built up in one corner of the 
 room. He followed me in the same rough manner; 
 but hardly had the door closed upon us than to my 
 extreme astonishment, he turned round and opened 
 his arms to me: "Now that we are alone," he said, 
 in the most sympathetic voice, "come and embrace 
 "me; let us sit down beside the fire and converse 
 " together, as I have so often at St. Petersburg con- 
 " versed with your father, whose memory I shall always 
 "cherish." 
 
 The metamorphosis was complete. What a change 
 from one side of this little door to the other! In the 
 reception room, no doubt before some awkward wit- 
 ness, I seemed to hear a hard and haughty Tartar 
 chief taking pleasure in threatening a wounded and 
 disarmed enemy; here, in the same individual suddenly 
 transformed, I encountered the most touching, amiable 
 and expansive sympathy, and the delicate attentions
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 347 
 
 and kind consideration of an old and beloved family 
 friend. After these preliminaries, with what an easy 
 and fascinating grace, with what elegant and noble 
 politeness, and the conversational charm of the last 
 century, he entered into the most interesting matters : 
 first touching on the recollections of a much regretted 
 society, and then on the present war, the common 
 interests of tw^o Empires and the character of the two 
 Emperors; all this in a spirit of conciliation which in 
 the general interest, as well as my own, I was careful 
 not in any way to oppose. After having thus tried 
 me : " We shall understand each other perfectly, " he 
 said ; " I shall keep you here, I shall not let you go 
 " any further ; I shall allege your wounds ; we will see 
 "each other frequently, we have a great deal to talk 
 " about ; my aide-de-camp's house shall be your resi- 
 " dence ; go out little, you will be accompanied by a 
 " sergeant, an indispensable formality, but it will be 
 " more useful than inconvenient to you. You will want 
 " books ; you are in Russia, read its history ; here is 
 "Levesque; but do not display that map which it 
 "contains: however reduced and incomplete it maybe 
 " in this duodecimo edition, it would compromise me ; 
 " it is ridiculous, but they would say that I had betrayed 
 " to you the secrets and the plans of our Empire. 
 " That is the reason why I have kept back the volume 
 " where a few pages are to be found treating of the 
 "history of our Great Catharine; it is forbidden as too 
 " modern. I am myself subjected to the same restric- 
 "tions; that is how we are situated." 
 
 During the next fortnight I only w^ent out at night 
 to go to his house, he sending for me almost every 
 evening. In these interviews we made reciprocal
 
 348 MEiMUiRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 acquaintance with Russia and France, each dwelling 
 on the good points of the two nations and their Em- 
 perors. As to whether their policy was a policy of 
 ambition or not, we agreed that, in any case, war 
 between them was contrary to all their interests, 
 whilst they would gain everything by a peace in spite 
 of England. 
 
 On retiring to my solitude at night, I used to reflect 
 on these conversations. Did the governor provoke them 
 merely for the pleasure of touching on topics which 
 he could not discuss with his compatriots? Did he 
 snatch the opportunity of opening his heart to the son 
 of one of the former friends of his youth? Or had he 
 a more serious end in view? However this might be, 
 and whatever might happen, as a matter of principle 
 as well as in my special position, I felt sure that 
 the expression of my desire for peace was at any rate 
 becoming, even if it were futile, coming as it did from 
 a prisoner, the son of a minister plenipotentiary, whose 
 name was connected with the grandest memories of 
 Russia, and the first treaty of commerce granted be- 
 tween France and that Empire. 
 
 One evening, it was, I think, February ist, 1807, that 
 I was there playing my part as usual, we were sitting 
 in closer converse than ever in this same study where 
 so many pleasant hours, (doubly so to a prisoner) had 
 been spent by me, when it happened that after a short 
 recapitulation of the gist of our former interviews, 
 Count Apraxin said to me with even a more friendly 
 glance than usual : " My dear Segur, do you know 
 "all the anecdotes relating to your Emperor's history 
 "when he was Consul? There is one which ought to 
 " have a special interest for you at this moment. Do
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 349 
 
 "you remember that a short time after his accession 
 " to the Consulate, a peace was concluded between 
 "himself and the Emperor Paul; that this was through 
 " the medium of a Russian officer who had been taken 
 " prisoner ; that your Consul having sent for him dis- 
 " patched him to St. Petersburg ; and that from this 
 " mission resulted the separation of Russia from the 
 " coalition, and the alliance between the Emperor Paul 
 "and Bonaparte? Tell me, what do you think of this 
 " officer's position, and of the part which he pla3''ed in 
 "the matter?" 
 
 At this preamble, whose intention it was not difficult 
 for me to divine, I was seized with such lively emotion 
 that I could hardly restrain it, "Verily," I answered, 
 " what mission could be a more honourable one, what 
 " event more fortunate in any position, but above all in 
 "that of a prisoner! That officer must have blessed 
 " the captivity that put it in his power to be so useful 
 "to two Empires!" — "Well, then," resumed Apraxin, 
 taking my hands in his, " you would accept a similar 
 " mission ; I hardly doubted it after our conversations, 
 " and I have possibly paved the way for it. " 
 
 He then explained to me that the Emperor Alexan- 
 der's Council was divided into two parties; the one 
 French, the other English : that the first which was for 
 peace, although beaten, was still struggling, resting its 
 hopes upon the Emperor's character and inclinations ; 
 that Apraxin, being of this opinion, had written to 
 St. Petersburg, describing me to his friends according 
 to the judgment he had formed of me; and that they 
 were even then acting with the view of having me 
 summoned to that capital. " When there, " he said, " the 
 "Emperor will wish to see you. Do not fear to use
 
 350 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 " the same tone to him that you have used in speaking 
 "to me; I know him: be yourself; you will produce 
 " the most favourable impression on his mind, and, in all 
 " probability, peace will result from it ! " 
 
 It was midnight when we separated. I remember 
 that at the thought of this happy prospect which was 
 opening before me, the agitation which I had restrained 
 before Apraxin became so violent that before going 
 in, as I was not able to calm myself down, I took a 
 rapid walk round the ramparts of the town without 
 noticing that there were eighteen degrees of frost. Dur- 
 ing this stretch, my imagination travelled much further 
 still : to St. Petersburg in place of a probability of Si- 
 beria; instead of an inert, wearisome and painful cap- 
 tivity (a kind of eclipse, a long and annoying interrup- 
 tion of my career), a sudden glimpse of a new destiny 
 a hundred times more useful and more brilliant than 
 even the position from which I was torn at Nasielsk 
 and which I had ever since so blindly regretted! I 
 pictured my arrival in the Imperial residence still full 
 of the illustrious recollections that my father had left 
 behind him. I was touched at the thought of this 
 remote paternal protection which was at the same time 
 so sweet and so glorious, and not without trepidation 
 when I thought of the difficulty of rendering myself 
 worthy of it; but after all, a first success predicates 
 favourably for a second, and if I had succeeded in Smo- 
 lensk, might it not be the same in St. Petersburg? 
 
 I was mistaken; but I was not the only one. From 
 that moment. Count Apraxin, giving way to the tender 
 and generous sentiments which he felt for me, and 
 possibly trusting too much in these hopes, constantly 
 showed me in public a friendship and consideration in
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 351 
 
 defiance of the consequences and dangers that might 
 result to himself. One day he would allow me to 
 assist at the reviews of the troops on their march 
 through his government; another day from a place of 
 honour he would enable me to witness the oriental 
 splendour and majestic pomp of the ceremonial of the 
 Greek Church. jNIany times, one of them being a 
 pubhc market day, in spite of the excitement of Rus- 
 sian patriotism which his government was kindling 
 against the French, he was not afraid of being seen 
 with me sitting beside him in his sledge, whilst he 
 pointed out the whole town on either bank of the 
 Borysthenus, as if he were doing the honours of it to me. 
 
 A confidence so extraordinary in this country, and 
 so opposed to his previous precautions, augmented my 
 own. The letters which he received from St. Peters- 
 burg confirmed him in this assurance. All concurred 
 to redouble it : the rigour of the season had suspended 
 war, the moment for negotiation seemed opportune; 
 more than ever I indulged in this delightful hope of 
 being able to dispose the mind of the Emperor Alexander 
 favourably towards the Emperor Napoleon, and of making 
 my appearance at our Imperial headquarters, not only 
 as a free man, but as one miraculously transformed 
 from a poor, useless, forgotten prisoner into a kind of 
 minister of peace between the two Emperors and the 
 two greatest empires of the world. 
 
 I was cherishing this dream, when on the morning 
 of February nth, about ten o'clock, someone came 
 to summon me to the governor's with all speed. 1 
 hastened there at once, when he opened his arms to 
 me and pressed me to his heart, and I saw that his 
 eyes were full of tears. " All is lost, " he said, " we
 
 352 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 " have been betrayed ! " From some words that he let fall 
 I saw that he even suspected the Countess Apraxin, 
 who was then at St. Petersburg, and who belonged to 
 the opposite camp to his own. However that may be, 
 the count's distress was so moving that it caused me 
 to forget my own. "Good heavens!" I exclaimed, "I 
 " trust your good intentions on my behalf have not 
 " compromised, you. " — "I think not, " he answered ; " but 
 " what causes me real sorrow, is that we must separate. 
 " Our adversaries have foreseen everything, I have the 
 " strictest orders to send you off at once, whatever be 
 " the state of your wounds. You are to go to Vologda, 
 " a species of Siberia, towards the White Sea, by way of 
 " Vladimir, but without entering it ; you are not even 
 " to be allowed to go through Moscow. Depart then, 
 " if it must be so, to make your preparations for this 
 " long journey. The young Prince Moustaphine will 
 " convoy you there; I have chosen him for the duty, 
 " you may therefore feel sure that you will be pleased 
 " with this officer. But I cannot let you go like this ; 
 " come to dinner to wish me farewell, so that at any 
 " rate your last moments here may be spent with me. " 
 This dinner, before inconvenient witnesses, when 
 both of us were unable to eat anything, was one of 
 the most trying moments of my whole life. For some 
 time past I had been so accustomed to sudden emotions 
 of all kinds, that I had been able to bear myself with 
 calmness and resignation on receiving the news of this 
 stroke of fate which had destroyed so many brilliant 
 illusions ; but on this occasion, Count Apraxin's sorrow, 
 his tearful farewell, and all the evidences of tender 
 solicitude which he bestowed upon me up to the last 
 moment when the sledge was ready to carry me away.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 353 
 
 caused me to break down completely. ISIy heart was 
 bursting wdth suppressed feeling which I was power- 
 less to master during his last embrace, and in spite of 
 the many Russian glances fixed upon me, I hid my 
 eyes on his shouLler, and after a last shake of his 
 hand, threw myself into the half-covered sledge which 
 was waiting for me. My young Russian officer jumped 
 in after me, placed two soldiers in front, gave the 
 signal, and we set off at a tearing gallop. 
 
 I soon recovered myself, partly owing to the motion 
 and fresh air, partly to the high spirits and heartiness 
 of Moustaphine, and the little incidents of travel. I 
 accepted my fate; renouncing the role of a mediator, 
 of which I had been so abruptly divested, and entering 
 into that of the traveller, I resolved to get as much 
 out of my new situation as I could from that point 
 of view. But this was another disappointment: we 
 went at too quick a pace, and the snow which con- 
 cealed all outlines made everything look alike. As 
 for the towns, I saw none of them, our relays being 
 posted outside. It was only on the rare apparition of 
 a hill with a noticeable stone house on the top of it, 
 which was another rarity, that I was able to recognise 
 the celebrated Vladimir. 
 
 I know not whether Moustaphine was obeying orders 
 transmitted from St. Petersburg, or whether he wished 
 to astonish my stranger eyes with the fabulous rapidity 
 of Russian sledge travel, or whether it was simply the 
 vivacity of youth which glories in doing everything by 
 extremes ; but during our journey our sledge annihilated 
 space. Fields of snow, half buried towns and villages, 
 immense forests of black pines, of sad larch trees, of 
 pale birches, especially between Jaroslaf and Vologda, 
 25
 
 354 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 were all passed by us, and vanished in the distance in 
 the twinkling of an eye. This would have been quite 
 natural, and even amusing and suitable enough, in 
 spite of my curiosity which was not the question in 
 point, if the weather had favoured such a rapid transit ; 
 but an unlucky thaw had set in after the first hour or 
 two. A thousand little rifts had already formed 
 themselves in this deep sea of snow, so that every 
 minute our sledge, which was travelling at lightning 
 speed with our three horses abreast, incessantly spurred 
 on by the guide and the soldiers, became engulfed in 
 it, and imbedded in the earth, stopping suddenly with 
 such a horrible shock that the traces would break, the 
 horses be flung back upon their haunches, and ourselves 
 frequently turned out, rolling over into the snow, 
 bruised and aching in every limb, and with our faces 
 torn and bleeding. 
 
 And yet we suffered less from these accidents than 
 our soldiers, who being placed in front, were the most 
 exposed, and the guide also; but his agility and skill 
 always saved him, and his damaged harness would be 
 patched up in a second. Then up again immediately, 
 sometimes standing on the front part of the sledge, 
 sometimes almost on the horses' cruppers, as eager as 
 ever, he seemed to think that his whole duty consisted 
 in making us fly through the air at all risks, and at 
 breakneck speed from one relay to another. 
 
 As for us, both young, and both soldiers, our vanity 
 was concerned in seeing who could keep up the gayest 
 demeanour under these trials. During our rapid transit 
 we did not fare badly on the provisions with which 
 Count Apraxin had generously loaded us; and we 
 hardly ever spent three minutes in any of the peasants'
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 35.5 
 
 houses which consist merely of a kind of bakehouse, 
 and a room which is almost all stove; they are all 
 alike, and too well known to render any description 
 necessary. We only stopped at Jaroslaf, a real town. 
 I arrived there about nine o'clock at night; and 
 was immediately presented to Prince Galitzin, the 
 governor of the province, and to the Princess. This 
 was a fine and handsome house, a kind of palace, 
 where every resource of comfort and even luxury was 
 united. 1 was received in secret by these illustrious 
 hosts, alone and without witnesses, but with the forms 
 and ceremonies, and extreme politeness of the courts 
 of Louis XVI and Catharine II. After a somewhat 
 constrained interview of ten minutes, of which certain 
 former family relations were the text, Moustaphine 
 brought me back to our hostelry, a brick house built 
 in two stories, which was very clean and comfortable. 
 There whilst I took my rest sadly and alone, he went 
 off gleefully to spend the whole night at a ball; this 
 capital fellow would have been very glad to take me 
 with him, but I did not envy him in the least. I did 
 not feel my fatigue so much at that moment as a kind 
 of oppression, as if weighed down by the enormous 
 space, each instant becoming greater and greater, that 
 cut me off from my return to my own people. I 
 thought that my captivity would be a long one, as they 
 had spared nothing to send me so far off. And even 
 had the government in its anger sent me to Siberia, 
 I should have been pitied without being much more 
 deserving of pity; it would have been a distinction. I 
 should have derived a species of renown from that 
 exile, the only one which I could now hope for. I 
 should have seen the Ural, Asia with its nomad races,
 
 356 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 those countries which have been rendered celebrated 
 by their ruggedness and the sorrows of exiles; how 
 much I should have had to relate! I should have 
 suffered for my country, for not having allowed its 
 chief to be insulted. That would have been a combat 
 in itself. Instead of which I was confined in a neigh- 
 bouring region which was almost as distant, by the 
 roundabout way I had been sent there ; situated on the 
 descent to the same Sea of Ice, but in an obscure province 
 where there was nothing to strike the imagination. 
 It was, alas! after having been so rudely despoiled of 
 my diplomatic hopes that I was thus reduced to the 
 insignificant position of a prisoner, and forced reluctantly 
 to accept the fact that I had no cause of complaint and 
 that I was not even interesting. 
 
 My self-love thus put out of countenance, had to 
 console itself with the reflection of the sums of money 
 that had been spent on the escort of a single captive, 
 and the singular precautions which had been judged 
 necessary to prevent all communication, as at Smolensk, 
 with the other towns and the principal personages of 
 this Empire. That is why, no doubt, my interview with 
 the Galitzins had been so embarrassed, so short and 
 so mysterious. I at any rate found some pleasure in 
 persuading myself that this was the case. 
 
 Off again at break of day, still at full speed, we 
 passed several hills beyond Jaroslaf which I should 
 not have noticed anywhere else. These undulations 
 of the soil, however, mark the division between the 
 great waters of the south and north of the Russian 
 Empire. In a few moments without slackening speed 
 we found ourselves at their fall into the White Sea 
 and the Sea of Ice.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON L 357 
 
 We were nearing the place appointed for my exile. 
 During the few days of six hours in length and nights 
 of eighteen hours' duration, which had been spent in 
 this long and too rapid journey, I had been able only 
 to make observations on some exterior objects. I had 
 seen that beyond Jaroslaf the country became more 
 and more of a desert, and of sombre and severe aspect. 
 But in the midst of these more or less wild solitudes, 
 I was surprised to find that the men and their 
 habits w^ere always the same. All bore the same 
 imprint of a universal and eternal uniformity of ser- 
 vitude. I had passed through the governments of 
 Smolensk, Kalouga, Vladimir and Jaroslaf, and had 
 now arrived in that of Vologda; nevertheless from the 
 centre to the north of this vast Empire, nothing had 
 changed in the rural habitations of this people of serfs, 
 neither in their dwellings, their furniture, their food, 
 or their apparent characteristics. It was always the 
 same primitive immobility of brute customs, of super- 
 stitious faith, of uncouth habits; everywhere the same 
 conscient submission under the level of the same yoke, 
 the same docile and pliant alacrity, the same tactful 
 and obedient eagerness, and the same devotion in 
 their slavery. These poor people obstinately repeated, 
 with no progress whatever, the lives of their fathers 
 before them; believing only what they had believed, 
 and no truths but old ones, as if ideas were the 
 fixtures instead of the furniture of their heads, which 
 had been hardened under the double despotism of the 
 climate and their masters. 
 
 On February 19th, after nine days and as many 
 nights of this rough journey, towards the middle of 
 the day, we at last perceived the domes of the churches
 
 358 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 of Vologda, and the great brick buildings where the 
 governor of this province resides. Moustaphine handed 
 me over to him, and on taking leave of me, this 
 excellent young man was quite moved; he insisted 
 on writing a simple and touching farewell in my pocket- 
 book which still remains there, and which I cannot read 
 even now without emotion : " Remember me, and God 
 grant that we may meet again ! " Russian as he was, 
 accustomed to the frozen deserts of his country, it went 
 to his heart that he should have been forced to conduct, 
 and then leave me in this desolate country which was 
 certainly not embellished by its governor. He was a 
 big, long German, sickly, phlegmatic, and taciturn; 
 but if he had some of the disadvantages of his origin, 
 he also possessed its advantages : a placid kindness, 
 and unvarying gentle simplicity of character, fitting 
 in very well with my situation, which he did not seek 
 to aggravate, merely leaving me to my own devices 
 and to patience. 
 
 The quarters which he selected for me consisted in 
 a pretty wooden house of elegant and picturesque 
 construction, which stood alone and was the property 
 of a rich trader. Like many other houses, it had by 
 way of dependencies a kitchen garden and a yard 
 enclosed by a wooden wall and by some out-buildings. 
 Imagine a house built with big pines, stripped of their 
 bark and painted, not set square, but just laid one upon 
 the other. These solid walls calked and tarred on the 
 outside, are covered inside by a layer of painted 
 plaster, furrowed by twenty degrees of heat with in- 
 numerable cracks, in which immense hordes of vermin 
 find a lodgment. This is their only drawback, and 
 in similar houses, the superior classes have means of
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 359 
 
 remedying this. The habitation was composed of a 
 low-pitched ground-floor of some extent, but of only 
 one story; the largest and best part was assigned 
 to me. My suite included a narrow vestibule, a 
 pretty bed-room, and a well-lighted and fairly well- 
 furnished sitting-room. The proprietor himself with 
 his wife and family were relegated without ceremony 
 to the rest of this ground-floor habitation. 
 
 Everything in the way these two rooms were fur- 
 nished was reminiscent of German domestic belongings, 
 except the bed, which is not much thought of in Russia, 
 where a couch is its frequent substitute. Beyond that 
 I only saw three characteristic objects : in the vestibule 
 or ante-chamber, there was a narrow circular wooden 
 bench, fastened to the wall, where an old serg'eant 
 who was entrusted with my watch and ward, had to 
 sit all day, and sleep at night in his clothes without 
 any other covering ; in the sitting-room was a great 
 stove built up from the floor to the ceiling and lighted 
 from outside ; this mass of brickwork covered with 
 china tiles, filled up an angle whence it warmed at 
 the same time all my three rooms; in the opposite 
 angle a framed and illuminated picture of St. Nicholas 
 was hanging behind a lattice with a night-light con- 
 stantly burning in front of it, forming a kind of oratory 
 before which the master of the house would come every 
 day to cross himself repeatedly with the most pro- 
 digious rapidity, evidently invoking curses on his lodger 
 with all his might and main. 
 
 I was not brought into any relationship with him 
 and his young wife. The latter was very handsome, 
 although too stout, which is a common disfigurement 
 with persons of her class, arising from the little exer-
 
 360 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 cise they take and from the kwass, a kind of insipid 
 light beer, which these women, through their want of 
 occupation, and the thirst produced by heating foods, 
 and the temperature in which they Hve, drink 
 continually. 
 
 Such was my young hostess, whom I seldom saw; 
 like her fellows she wore on gala days a kind of 
 elevated tiara or open crown adorned with pearls, gold, 
 and precious stones, whose height, without being as 
 great or resembling it in form, recalled to my mind 
 the head-dress, which is also of Scandinavian origin, of 
 our Cauchoises. These merchants' wives on holidays 
 thus decorate their handsome faces, Persian in contour, 
 and with complexions of dazzling whiteness, but un- 
 fortunately heightened by a crude mineral rouge, a 
 colouring imported from Asia, which I at first 
 imagined to be an exaggerated imitation of the style 
 in which the ladies of the former French Court used 
 to get up their faces. 
 
 It is said that the manners of ancient Russia are to 
 be found in this class of traders who were at that time 
 serfs of the Crown and much esteemed for their business 
 negotiations. In my own elegant domicile, I noted 
 nothing of this kind, except in the habitual seclusion 
 of the wife, the superstitious ignorance of the hus- 
 band, his bushy beard, his Asiatic garb, his daily 
 drunkenness and his brutality. A locked door alone 
 separated me from this couple. Every evening the 
 nocturnal arrival of my host was made known to me 
 by a horrible storm of curses, repeated blows, and 
 the cries of my hostess: an appalling uproar which 
 was soon succeeded by another sound, the filthy and 
 disgusting wind-up of the drunken condition in which
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 36 1 
 
 this Russian of former days regularly returned to his home, 
 I do not know if I should judge of the rest of his 
 class — this kind of tiers-etat — by this rich trader, but 
 such coarse habits were not an exception. I remember 
 one day seeing an inhabitant, who was wallowing in 
 the mud in a state of drunkenness, picked up at the 
 door of the Cathedral, and learning that he was the 
 pope who performed the duties of this church. His 
 parishioners who had come to his help seemed neither 
 astonished nor scandalised at the shameful example 
 he set them, which no doubt formed a precedent for 
 them to follow. 
 
 I did not, however, notice in the people the resigned 
 sadness which is attributed to them. Indeed, I was 
 often struck with the alertness and decision in the ex- 
 pression of these peasants. The Russians are still what 
 they have been made ; the day that they are free, they 
 will be themselves. Then woe to Europe, if this vast 
 empire, more populated and better provided with means 
 of communication, does not divide itself As they are 
 indebted to their long superiority over Asia, to their 
 superstitious faith, and the concentration of power in a 
 single hand, for the most haughty and exclusive of 
 national personalities ; and as at the same time, their try- 
 ing climate makes them easily bear pain, and their 
 wretched lives cause them to brave death as easily, 
 they will go far some day!
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 MY RETURN. 
 
 I REMAINED at Vologda until June 30th, 1807, at 
 this date the attitude of the Russians caused us to 
 suspect the victory of Friedland: certain semi-avowals 
 were rendered complete in my eyes by the officiousness * 
 of a French emigre, a vagabond of low degree. It 
 was the second time that I had met with this man. 
 By his insolence I inferred that we had lost at Eylau ; 
 by his servility that we had conquered at Friedland. 
 This was, however, only conjectural, for I received him 
 the second time as I had done the first, with a disgust 
 which was not encouraging. At last came the day of 
 our deliverance, and our farewell to our new allies. I 
 parted from them with sincere regret, and well deserved 
 gratitude, for I am really glad to repeat, that whether 
 victorious or conquered, enemies or allies, always the 
 same, I found them the most pleasant, kind, and gener- 
 ous of hosts. 
 
 On the orders received from St. Petersburg we were 
 divided into several convoys. But I was set apart. I 
 was sent by post, or rather by long days' marches of 
 twenty-four hours, with Major Deschamps, who having 
 been taken prisoner at Eylau had come to share 
 
 my captivity. Our kibitcka was a covered one, we 
 
 362
 
 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP. 363 
 
 ourselves occupying the back seat, and a feld-jdger 
 the front. The constant attentions of this non-commis- 
 sioned officer bore testimony to the kindly instructions 
 which he had received. 
 
 Our delight in returning, however, was alloyed by 
 the bitter regret that we had not been able to take an 
 active part in the glory of our arms, and by the 
 fatiguing prospect of the great space to be traversed 
 before we could see France again: an enormous dis- 
 tance which would be still further increased by the 
 slowness of locomotion in summer, compared to the 
 swift flight of the sledges in the winter. But we had 
 to resign ourselves to the common law, which ordains 
 that good should be as long in returning as evil is 
 quick in arriving. And this we entirely demonstrated, 
 for our return was as tedious as our exile had been 
 rapid in its accomplishment. 
 
 As our itinerary was the one by which we had come 
 to Vologda, we could not allay our impatience by 
 curiosity or interest in the localities we passed through. 
 Doubtless their aspect had changed, but at the first 
 glance it would appear as if there were little difference 
 between the Russia of winter and the Russia of sum- 
 mer: in the heart of the country, especially in its 
 boreal region, there was always the same monotonous 
 uniformity of solitude, the same sad and sombre ver- 
 dure of the pines and larches, and the plains of un- 
 cultivated and desert sand which took the place of the 
 plains of snow. 
 
 The vast expanse of Russia is grand in itself, a 
 despairing grandeur increased by the habitations 
 which one catches sight of from afar. We might 
 have found it otherwise at St. Petersburg and
 
 364 MEMOIRS OF AN AIUE-DE-CAMP 
 
 Moscow, or in military stations ; but at first we were 
 only allowed to go through fields, forests, and villages. 
 Our fcld-jdger was ordered to take us outside the 
 towns, without entering them, so that we could only 
 see Jaroslaf from a distance as we passed it by. We 
 could see the disproportionately wide streets which 
 were lined with flat and low wooden houses, inter- 
 sected by gardens. At that distance they looked like 
 an assemblage of huts of savages in a desert. Man 
 seemed to have changed the face of nature but little, 
 except in the building of a few stone or brick houses, 
 and especially a good number of churches capped with 
 gilded domes and painted in rich colours; trophies of 
 a religion which was at first vanquished and then vic- 
 torious. These monuments represent the history of 
 the Russian people, its long dependence on Asia, its 
 triumph over the Golden Horde* and the victory ob- 
 tained by the cross of Christ over the crescent. 
 
 We soon saw Kalouga, which was the first town 
 that we entered. With its more numerous habitations 
 and the movement of the population, we felt as if we 
 were again in a European town, and with the same 
 vice around us, if we might judge by the precautions 
 of our guide against a throng who surrounded us with 
 officious eager hands whose dexterity he evidently 
 suspected. 
 
 Between this town and Smolensk, if I remember 
 rightly, the hilly soil which is also frequently wooded 
 with aromatic trees, and fairly well populated, reminded 
 us of that of France. When at last we had reached 
 Smolensk, where I had experienced such lively emo- 
 
 * The most powerful of the Mongolian tribes. — Trmislator' s Note.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 365 
 
 tions, I felt that I was in my own country and amongst 
 compatriots in its inhabitants ; but Count Apraxin was 
 absent. The town, animated as it was, seemed then 
 empty to me, and I only asked our guide for time to 
 address to this governor a few lines of thanks and 
 tender regrets. After which we started again, and 
 continued our day and night journey by Minsk and 
 Vilna, where the Russian headquarters were then in- 
 stalled. Their generals received me with open arms, 
 Prince Gortchakoff especially was the foremost to display 
 the caressing manners which they would seem to have 
 imported from Asia. As new allies, this line of conduct 
 may have been prescribed by their Emperor, or it may 
 have been inspired by the still lively remembrance of my 
 father. Thousands of Kalmucks and Baskirs swarmed 
 upon the road. My companion, the major, and I 
 purchased some of their weapons out of curiosity. We 
 did not then think that we should put them to sorry 
 use by turning them against each other. 
 
 The best understanding had always existed between 
 us, and had I been told that, just as I had gone into 
 Russia with a duel hanging over me arranged the 
 preceding night, I should leave it with another duel in 
 view, I could not possibly have believed it. This 
 second quarrel, however, was destined to have a more 
 prompt and happy issue than the first. We had just 
 thrown ourselves into each other's arms in our delight 
 at having at last crossed the Russian frontier; but 
 from that moment left to ourselves in the midst of the 
 malevolent distress of the Prussians who had been so 
 heavily taxed, pillaged, and humiliated, we found our- 
 selves without the necessaries of life. If, as is said, 
 hunger brings the wolf to the door, many of us have
 
 366 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 experienced the truth that it entirely changes a man's 
 character. That of my companion in captivity had been 
 up to that moment remarkable for its equable and kindly 
 gentleness; it changed suddenly and in this manner: 
 
 On August 8th we were approaching Friedland, 
 when pressed by an insatiable hunger, we hesitated in 
 sight of a castle and a cottage. He wanted to address 
 the lord of the domain to beg a breakfast of him, which 
 this Prussian nobleman would probably have refused ; 
 and I, dreading this humiliation, resisted with all my 
 might, dragging my famished companion into a cottage, 
 where for a little money we might obtain a probably 
 less succulent repast, but at any rate without running 
 any risks. Unfortunately, as ill luck would have it, in 
 spite of our appetite and the poor woman's good-will, 
 the feast of sour milk and detestable bread which she 
 set before us was really not eatable. Thence ensued an 
 altercation, in which the major carried away by brute 
 instincts, and beside himself with hunger, covered me 
 with abuse. I tried to recall him to a sense of his age 
 and his superior rank; I invoked his habitual moder- 
 ation; but he had lost his head, and instead of apolo- 
 gising, he raised his hand against me. 
 
 This was too much; we ran to our waggon where 
 three non-commissioned officers who had been exchanged 
 like ourselves, were awaiting us. We took away 
 without their knowledge the Kalmucks' wretched sabres, 
 and disappearing into the orchard, selected the ground 
 for our encounter. This was a narrow clearing 
 where stood a pretty isolated cottage which at that 
 moment was closed and uninhabited. We had hardly 
 divested ourselves of our outer clothing when, in his 
 rage, the major threw himself upon me with such
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 367 
 
 impetuosity that I fell back slightly wounded in the 
 arm. He was at the same time abusing m.e with such 
 violence, that furious in my turn, I charged him, forced 
 him to give way, and cut his wrist with a sabre stroke. 
 Falling to the ground backwards, he lay there dis- 
 armed and disabled, his mad exasperation still increas- 
 ing, calling me an assassin and a scoundrel. He 
 only came back to his senses, on seeing me extend 
 my hand to raise him up, then run to the neighbouring 
 well for water to wash his wound and his clothes, which 
 were already covered with the blood that issued freely 
 from his wound. Then alone did my poor companion 
 resume his real character. As soon as his wounds had 
 been dressed as far as was possible, and all traces of blood 
 washed off, we returned to our waggon, and got back 
 to our places without our non-commissioned officers 
 having any cognisance of this adventure. This was 
 my battle of Friedland. 
 
 The same day the major's wounds were more care- 
 fully dressed in the town, and the next day, August 
 loth, better friends than ever, we parted from each 
 other at Konigsberg. On the 14th I reached Elbing, 
 and the 19th Berlin, after another quarrel very similar 
 to this, with the difference that the wrong was on my 
 side, but in which I acquitted myself very much in the 
 same manner. Finally, on September ist, I again saw 
 Paris, the Emperor, and my family, to whom alone, 
 perhaps, this narrative of my captivity may not appear 
 out of place, or altogether wearisome by its length.
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 IN SPAIN. 
 
 AT the end of the year 1807, after my return from 
 Vologda, having been made major, that is to 
 say lieutenant-colonel, and weary of my inaction at 
 Fontainebleau, I received orders to go to Poitiers to 
 take the command of a marching regiment. It was 
 a temporary agglomeration of recruits from seven 
 hussar regiments, such indeed being the too youthful 
 and weak composition of a great part of the first army 
 which was destined to take possession of old Spain. 
 
 We entered there as allies in March, 1808. The 
 division of the advance guard to which I belonged 
 stopped at Aranda on the Douro, We were peacefully 
 occupying this position at the time of the revolution 
 of Aranjuez about March 19th, when Ferdinand VII 
 usurped the throne, and Murat entered Madrid to 
 protect the former sovereigns and their overthrown 
 favourite against this prince. 
 
 Up to then everything remained apparently peaceful, 
 and when Ferdinand, as we have seen, gave himself 
 up at Bayonne in the middle of April, he passed 
 through our cantonments when I was then in command 
 of the furthest one, without causing the least stir on 
 
 his passage; after which we reformed in his rear in 
 
 1168
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 369 
 
 Aranda and up to May 2nd, Spain remained inert. 
 
 With regard to the relations of the army with the 
 inhabitants, discipline was strictly kept up on our 
 side; but we lived as complete strangers the one to 
 the other. The difference of habits, of language, of 
 character, the constraint of military life, the national 
 pride, in revolt at this invasion disguised under the 
 form of an alliance and whose aim was becoming 
 more and more suspected, all separated us. As for 
 religious observances, as we had no orders in that 
 respect and made no profession, this fervent Catholic 
 land of vSpain must have thought we had no religion 
 at all; so that what might have been at any rate a 
 common tie between the two nations, became an addi- 
 tional obstacle to their mutual approach. 
 
 The departure in succession of the princes of the 
 reigning family, especially that of 'the Prince of Peace' 
 rescued from the national vengeance, increased the ge- 
 neral irritation. The attitude of these people, which is 
 always grave, became sombre; their patience was visibly 
 only maintained through astonishment at the docility 
 of their princes, through the habit of obedience, and a 
 remnant of uncertainty regarding an event which their 
 loyalty and the high opinion they had formed of the 
 Emperor made it difficult for them to believe. 
 
 But when doubt was no longer possible; when 
 
 IVIurat, taking the place of the last Bourbon w^ho had 
 
 left for Bayonne, became head of the government, 
 
 the universal anger only waited for a signal, and the 
 
 Junta of Madrid not daring to give it^ the people ot 
 
 that capital took it upon themselves. Such was the 
 
 revolt of May 2nd. It occurred on the occasion of 
 
 the departure of the Infants, Don Antonio and Don 
 26
 
 370 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 Francisco. In the tumult 500 Frenchmen perished, either 
 stabbed, or killed while fighting. This first symptom, 
 however, was disavowed by all those who had anything 
 to lose. Murat quenched this rising of assassins in a 
 few hours in the blood of 160 insurgents. The slaughter 
 of our men was avenged the following night by the 
 military execution of thirty-five of the most guilty; a 
 vengeance which promoted hatred, on the ground that 
 these wretches had been shot without having had 
 Christian preparation for death. 
 
 Napoleon experienced a fallacious joy at the first news 
 of this rising, of whose details he was still ignorant, 
 and he took advantage of it without sufficiently fearing 
 its consequences. This was, however, the first spark of 
 a conflagration which was only to be extinguished 
 under the ruins of his Empire. It was the first signal 
 of a new struggle in which the parts were to be 
 reversed; where right was no longer on the side of 
 our standards, and all moral powers, justice, public 
 faith, individual rights and national pride which had 
 been aroused, had turned against us; in which the 
 war of a nation for its independence, a similar war to 
 that whose impetus had saved us in our own revolu- 
 tion, was now to be found on the contrary side. 
 
 The counter shock of this revolt was not long in 
 being felt from the Manganares to the Douro. A week 
 after, we were warned of this by several assassinations, 
 then by the bribery and desertion of several of our 
 conscripts. Soon escorts became necessary; an at- 
 mosphere of hatred surrounded us, we felt on the edge 
 of a volcano. Badajoz and Oviedo answered on May 
 22nd to a signal given by Madrid, Valencia on the 
 23rd, Seville on the 26th, Aragon on the 27th, and
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 37 I 
 
 from Bayonne to Aranjuez nothing remained free ex- 
 cept the town in our occupation and the high road. 
 
 There, as in La Vendee in 1793, it was the people 
 alone who had begun ; the great, the rich, the civil 
 authorities, even the Spanish army, all, in fact, who 
 calculated and had an interest in order, and understood 
 no force but organised force, hesitated and temporised. 
 
 Our marching regiments were then pushed on to 
 Madrid, where the detachments dispersed to rejoin 
 their numbers. I was thus left without a command, 
 at IMurat's disposition. Another throne was awaiting 
 him, his disappointment at seeing himself deprived 
 of this one, his responsibility in the midst of a general 
 insurrection, the climate, the food, more nourishing 
 in this country than in our own, had upset his temper 
 and his health. Ill and dejected, when pressed to 
 go and reign over Naples, his only w^ish was to leave 
 this kingdom. He begged me to inform the Emperor 
 that this was his desire. 
 
 The evils of the battle-field are the least of the evils 
 of war. These are the sufferings of marches, of camps, 
 of privation, w^ant of regular rations, the absence of 
 medicaments and hospitals by which armies are deci- 
 mated, our own especially, where everything is done 
 in haste without sufficient care for the thousand details 
 on which the health of the soldier depends ; but at that 
 date, although the title of general comprises a know- 
 ledge of administrative science and prescribes its prac- 
 tice, few of our generals knew how to be administrators. 
 Amongst the exceptions, I can, however, quote three 
 really worthy to be so called: Davout, Saint-Cyr, and 
 above all Suchet. It was not such a chief as he who 
 commanded us at Aranda. It would be impossible to
 
 372 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 form an idea of the horrible spectacle presented by 
 the hospital which had been started in that town for 
 our regiments. All was wanting: fresh air, medicaments, 
 even beds, for two, and sometimes three, sick and dy- 
 ing- occupied the same. In the visits which were part 
 of my duty, I had contracted the germ of typhus which 
 was mowing down the ranks of our young recruits, 
 and when towards the middle of June, Murat gave me 
 my instructions to rejoin the Emperor, I was more ill 
 than he was himself. 
 
 The fever gripped me just as I was getting on horse- 
 back at Madrid, whence I was to proceed straight to 
 Bayonne. Nevertheless such was the power of duty, 
 the habit of braving everything, and my strong desire 
 to quit this country, that, putting spurs to my horse 
 under a burning sun, I accomplished the i6o leagues 
 in fifty and odd hours. Several times, however, the 
 illness asserted its sway, three times I fell down un- 
 conscious; fortunately this happened at relays where 
 I found compatriots or pitiful women. I was hoisted 
 up again into my saddle and went on. 
 
 Near Aranda a fresh danger nearly brought my 
 mission to an end, as since happened to many 
 others. I had noticed on the road when nearing a 
 village, traces of a violent struggle, shreds of blood- 
 stained uniforms, and at a little distance off, in the 
 vines to the left, an assemblage of the enormous vul- 
 tures so common in this country. These traces 
 and fragments, these birds of evil omen, and their 
 eagerness over a prey, the nature of which I could not 
 specify, only too plainly pointed to the approach to this 
 village as the scene of some horrible murder, and the 
 vultures indicated the spot to which the victims had
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 373 
 
 been dragged. Had I stopped or gone back at the 
 sight of this den of assassins I should have been lost 
 myself, or failed in my mission; there was no choice for 
 me but to go through it at full speed. But at the 
 very minute when I was entering this cut-throat place, 
 my guide slackened his pace and barred the way against 
 me; I threatened him with my sword, a whistle was 
 heard, and suddenly a multitude of furious men with 
 atrocious countenances, or at any rate I thought them 
 so, sprang out from various buildings, surrounded me 
 and menaced me with their daggers, uttering cries for 
 my death. Having fallen into this trap, I thrust my 
 feet more firmly into the stirrups, and was trying to 
 choose the weakest point of the circle which I might 
 perhaps break through with a desperate rush, when 
 from that side an old priest ran out towards me. He 
 came up with extended arms, covering me with his 
 body, and with a few rapid words, arrested the tumult. 
 In a moment the daggers disappeared, the expression 
 of their ferocious countenances altered; the murderous 
 circle opened, and I was allowed to make my way 
 through. 
 
 I only took time to shake hands with the worthy 
 priest, endeavouring to express my gratitude by a 
 look, and passed on, but this glance and the first 
 sight of the village as I galloped through, at once 
 explained the cause of the happy issue of this adven- 
 ture. It may be remembered that at the time of 
 the departure of Ferdinand VII, I had been detached 
 in advance of Aranda, on the road which the prince 
 was following. It was in this very cantonment and 
 at the residence of this very priest. He had recognised 
 me; and having been satisfied with our pleasant
 
 374 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 relations, and remembering how well discipline had 
 been observed, he had gratefully come to my help with 
 such happy results at the very nick of time. 
 
 After several other accidents, serious enough, but of 
 too frequent occurrence in Spain, and in such headlong- 
 rides, to deserve mention, I arrived at the Imperial 
 headquarters, conquered by my illness and utterly 
 prostrated. I was just able to enter and hand my 
 despatches to the Emperor, expressing to him the 
 good wishes of the Grand Duke of Berg. More dead 
 than alive, I could not have answered his questions if 
 he had waited for my replies ; but he saved me the 
 trouble, for while enquiring as to the pacific spirit 
 and the submission of the Peninsula, it was in such a 
 way that I felt the necessity of saying nothing which 
 might shake a security that could only have been 
 assumed. He promptly dismissed me, but only just 
 in time. Otherwise I should have fallen at his feet 
 in a dead faint, which happened outside his door 
 before a sentry of the grenadiers who picked me up. 
 
 I was taken to Bayonne to the house of Madame 
 de Ravignan, my relative, and mother of the Jesuit 
 preacher, then a child, who has since become so cele- 
 brated. There I was twice believed to be dead and a 
 sheet thrown over my face, but I managed to struggle 
 back to life under the unremitting care of the family, and 
 was sent back to Paris to complete my convalescence. 
 
 Having returned as an invalid from Bayonne to 
 Paris, I had not been able to accompany the Emperor 
 to the Congress of Erfurt. On his return he had taken 
 me back again and I had entered Biscay in his suite, 
 I rejoined him at Vittoria. 
 
 Up to then nothing in Spain seemed to me to have
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 375 
 
 altered. The green, picturesque, and laborious Biscay 
 still intact, seemed a stranger to the passions and the 
 general upheaval of the rest of the Peninsula. This 
 was the third time I saw it; but on this occasion, 
 even more than the first two, I was struck with the 
 abrupt dissimilarity of aspects, manners, and character 
 which separates the two countries far more than the 
 narrow Bidassoa. Our troops astonished me, above 
 all those who had come from worthy and comfortable 
 Germany. All was unlike our other frontiers. There 
 was no shade of similarity, nothing in common, and 
 the transition was abrupt, without any beginning of 
 fusion of habits, language, and manners. Our soldiers 
 felt ill at their ease from the very first frontier village, 
 that of Irun. The serious and reserved countenances 
 of the inhabitants, their costumes so different from 
 ours and so dark in colour, their narrow, winding 
 streets with the barred windows of the houses, and 
 their closed doors, their little carts of antique form 
 with large creaking wheels; a nauseating smell per- 
 vading every inhabited place, of which dirt alone could 
 be the cause ; in fact the whole of this serious, severe, 
 alien, and inhospitable aspect had saddened and op- 
 pressed their hearts. 
 
 It was still worse beyond Vittoria when the first 
 army of invasion informed the second of its defeat, and 
 of the horrors which had accompanied it. Sadness was 
 then changed into indignation, which was perhaps too 
 evidently manifested in the light of subsequent conse- 
 quences. Our French army indeed had realised only 
 too well the atrocities of monkish anger and the hatred 
 and vengeance which fill the soul of an insulted 
 Spaniard.
 
 376 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 It was related how these people had preluded their 
 general insurrection with fearful massacres of their own 
 generals ; how their priests had with lies set them upon 
 our companions of the war. The pleasant manners and 
 the personal charms of the new king might have won 
 them over, so they represented him as blind of one 
 eye, a mean drunkard of the most repulsive aspect. 
 Then using heaven as a lever to raise the earth, they 
 had inflamed these superstitious minds by pretended 
 miracles : they declared that a thunder-bolt had extin- 
 guished the sacred fire which burnt before their Virgin 
 of Battles, they said they had seen the images of the 
 saints weep. From that time and everywhere, the most 
 Jortunate of our sick, our laggards, our orderly officers 
 surprised and seized, had been slaughtered on the spot; 
 whilst others had been thrown into cauldrons of boiling 
 water, and some even sawn between planks or burnt 
 at a slow fire. Amongst a thousand victims of such 
 atrocities our soldiers mentioned one of their own most 
 excellent and humane generals, whom they had found 
 still alive, but fastened by the neck to one of the trees 
 on the road, with his four limbs sawn off by these 
 monsters. 
 
 Overcome with indignation at these narratives our 
 armies issued forth in raging fury. The Spanish army, 
 Avith the exception of their regular troops, everywhere 
 about the same, were principally composed of these 
 ferocious insurgents; they were much less prepared for 
 the defensive than for the offensive. Their principal 
 thought had been to prevent our flight ; intoxicated by 
 the remembrance of Baylen, by national pride and 
 monkish predictions, they were taking with them as 
 much iron to enchain us, as to fight with. Even their
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 377 
 
 smugglers, formed into a regiment, carried after them 
 great masses of merchandise with which they intended to 
 inundate France, already conquered in their eyes. We 
 have seen how, from their left to their right, a few 
 hours had been enough for us to change all this oriental 
 braggadocio into a contemptible flight. For, like the 
 Turks, whose defects and qualities they possessed, these 
 people can only defend themselves steadily from behind 
 walls ; they do not hold their ground in the open, 
 feeling no shame in turning their backs, scattering 
 themselves, and running to hide in their mountains. 
 However, as they have no great attachment for their 
 miserable habitations, and live upon very little, if they 
 take flight and find refuge in their rocks, they do not 
 lose heart and abandon their cause, but they go there 
 to multiply the warfare, to transform it into a succes- 
 sion of incessant struggles on the enemy's flank and 
 rear, which are all traps, surprises, and assassinations. 
 It is true that then in their turn surprised and seized, 
 they are able to die proudly like martyrs, without 
 condescending to murmur or to implore grace. 
 
 It also happened that in their defeats, many of them, 
 escaping by a thousand by-ways would go great dis- 
 tances to rejoin their flag; this was why their armies, 
 constantly scattered, would as constantly reappear in 
 almost equal numbers, on new fields of battle. Later 
 still, others got into the habit of being taken and 
 retaken, and compounding with their conscience: 
 they would take the oath to the new monarch, simply 
 to gain time and an opportunity of deserting with 
 the arms which the king would have given them, and 
 which they would faithfully take back with them to 
 serve their own worthy cause.
 
 378 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 A great people ! But destitute of great men during 
 six years of events the most fitted to create them. It 
 must, however, be allowed that in this country it was 
 not then so very easy to be a great man: that could 
 only have happened by a series of victories which would 
 have been impossible for a mass of insurgents confront- 
 ing an experienced army like our own; so that, in 
 spite of the aid of all kinds lavished by the English, 
 the constant efforts of these people produced nothing 
 more than some rather remarkable partisan chiefs with- 
 out ever being able to create a general. To this, one 
 might add other considerations; such as the config^ur- 
 ation of the country, its parcelling out into provinces, 
 animated by different local spirit and interests; whence 
 a multitude of chiefs, each of whom exalted his least 
 successes in such hyperbolical language, that it would 
 be difficult to say whether Fame could have found 
 other voices capable of overpowering these, and pro- 
 claiming actions of less imaginary grandeur. 
 
 Beyond Brivesca I was not in a position to judge of 
 the country, because at the time when the advance 
 guard of Soult and of Bessieres were overwhelming the 
 army of the centre at Burgos in a first onrush, I had 
 been sent from one to the other of these two towns 
 at full gallop during the night. By chance I still have 
 at hand the order dictated and signed by the Emperor. 
 Here it is: 
 
 " Start at midnight with my personal attendants so as 
 " to arrive at Burgos before five o'clock in the morning, 
 " and establish me there. My intention is to leave from 
 " here at two o'clock in the morning and to arrive at 
 " seven at Burgos, If the army and the marshal are at 
 " Burgos, I shall go straight to my headquarters but
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 379 
 
 ^'■incognito ; if on the contrary there is any disorder, I 
 " shall go out of the town. You must inform Marshal 
 " Soult so that he may be there on my arrival, also 
 " Marshal Bessieres if he is still in the town. But if he 
 " is in pursuit of the enemy, he must on no account be 
 " disturbed. All my chasseurs and dragoons who have 
 " been here for some time will start on the march at 
 " three o'clock to-morrow morning, for Burgos. I shall 
 " arrive there in strict privacy. But as long as I can 
 "manage my business, I do not care! Leave, yourself, 
 " at midnight, so that you can be at Burgos by day- 
 " break. I imagine that you will get there at four 
 " o'clock, or five o'clock at the latest. I shall arrive at 
 " seven. I wish to find, about a league from the 
 " town, someone to show me the way. On which I pray 
 " God to have you in His good and holy keeping. 
 
 "Cube, this loth November, 1808, 
 
 7 o'clock of the evening 
 
 "Napoleon." 
 
 This order which I did not receive till after midnight 
 could not be obeyed by the Emperor's personal atten- 
 dants. But leaving everything behind me, and going 
 post haste, saddle and bridle, through the very darkest 
 night, I reached Burgos towards six o'clock, at day- 
 break. In the early light I could discern the high 
 road and the neighbouring fields covered with the 
 Spaniards who had been killed the night before ; monks 
 lying there in their frocks with weapons in their hands, 
 horses struck down, and many of the beautiful sporting 
 dogs, so frequently seen in this country, either lying 
 dead beside their masters, or howling as they sought 
 those whom they had lost.
 
 380 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 As for Burgos itself, taken by force and almost 
 entirely deserted by its inhabitants, it was given up 
 to the most active pillage: the doors of the houses 
 were battered in, the streets were strewn with torn 
 clothing, and broken household utensils and furniture. 
 Our soldiers were prowling about, bent double, some 
 under masses of valuable effects, others under sacks 
 of quadruples; * all were so eager at this sport, that it 
 was almost an impossibility to collect a battalion to 
 take possession of the Archbishop's palace, and establish 
 the Imperial quarters there. 
 
 I had not yet placed the first posts when I saw the 
 Emperor himself arrive, accompanied only by his 
 Mameluke and Savary. He had galloped all night 
 as I had done, and arrived at full speed covered 
 with mud, and dying of hunger, cold, and fatigue. 
 The archiepiscopal palace had been no better treated 
 than the rest of the town : the rooms intended for 
 the Emperor were still in disorder, soiled by burst 
 bottles and spilt wine, with the furniture all battered ; 
 we tried to set things a little straight, then Savary 
 went off with Rustan to get some food ready, leaving 
 me alone with the Emperor, who helped me to light 
 his fire. 
 
 I was doing what I could by the light of a single 
 candle, when Napoleon, whose delicate sense of smell 
 was offended by the odour of the broken viands, 
 called me to open the window near which he had sat 
 down. I luckily ran up to pull back the curtain ; 
 when what was our surprise! Behind these curtains 
 three Spaniards, fully armed, upright and motionless, 
 
 * A Spanish gold coin worth about 85 francs, or £3 8s. 
 
 Translator's Note.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 38 1 
 
 were pressed up as close as they could be against the 
 shutters, either with a view to escape from our plun- 
 derers or having come there to plunder themselves, 
 a practice of which their army was accused as well 
 as ours. During the ten minutes that Napoleon, sus- 
 pecting nothing, had been there alone with me, some- 
 times seated, and sometimes leaning over the fire-place 
 with his back towards them, they could a dozen times 
 over with a single blow have put an end to the war. 
 But, fortunately, these were not insurgents, but soldiers 
 of line regiments. The wretched creatures when they 
 found themselves discovered were petrified with fright 
 and glanced towards us terror-stricken. The Emperor 
 never even thought of putting a hand to his side arms, 
 but smiled with a gesture of pity; I disarmed them 
 and handed them over to our soldiers; then having 
 assured myself that no other enemy was hidden in this 
 chamber and its neighbourhood, I made haste to go 
 and reconnoitre, with even more care than usual, the 
 rest of this vast building. 
 
 It was like an entire town, the celebrated cathedral 
 and its dependencies being united to the Archbishop's 
 palace. I was transfixed with admiration at the aspect 
 of this magnificent church when I thought I saw human 
 shadows gliding about at the top of the enormous 
 pillars. This recalled me to the duty w^hich I had 
 come to fulfil, and having soon discovered an entrance 
 in the base of one of these gigantic blocks, I quickly 
 reached the top by the winding staircase which it con- 
 tained. This staircase led to a rotunda. I was quite 
 out of breath when, emerging into this cupola and 
 raising my eyes, I found myself surrounded by twenty 
 of the enemy's officers ranged in a circle, and seated
 
 382 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 in silence against the wall. At sight of me a murmur 
 arose which was half supplicating and half threaten- 
 ing; several swords even were drawn, and perhaps 
 I should have been sacrificed to their safety, if I had 
 not had the happy idea of promptly calling out " Help ! 
 " help, grenadiers ! " and ordering them to surrender 
 immediately. They did so after a moment's hesitation, 
 luckily for themselves as well as for me, for I should 
 have been avenged at the selfsame instant, as some 
 of ours, having seen me disappear in the pillar, had at 
 once followed me up. 
 
 The next day and the day after that, pillage con- 
 tinued all over the town. Our own rations had failed, 
 and none of the inhabitants being there to supply us, 
 and our pressing need of food serving as a pretext, 
 nothing escaped this destruction, which was renewed 
 with the successive arrival of the different corps. The 
 chiefs by way of shutting their eyes to it, justified 
 themselves by the Spanish atrocities which had been 
 perpetrated against us. It was thought necessary to 
 strike terror ; and from the Ebro to Aladrid it was one 
 vast military execution. The soldier was allowed to 
 enjoy this vengeance and to take his fill. 
 
 The contagion spread even to the Imperial head- 
 quarters in Burgos ; it could not be stopped until after 
 the Emperor had made a severe example by way of 
 a warning. I remarked one curious fact in the midst 
 of this disorder. I had been told that a troop of pil- 
 lagers had been seen to enter the cathedral, and hastened 
 there at once; but it was unnecessary, the imposing 
 majesty of the sacred building had sufficed. Before its 
 grandeur and beauty, the astonished marauders, seized 
 with sudden respect, remained confounded. They were 
 
 \ 
 \
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 383 
 
 in positive admiration. Their audacity had been turned 
 into humility, and anyone witnessing their silent con- 
 templation and abashed demeanour as they retired, 
 would have thought that at the unforeseen aspect of 
 the sublime immensity, crushed by their own nothing- 
 ness, they had felt themselves transported into the 
 presence of God Himself! 
 
 It happened diflTerently in Lerma where I was sent 
 about November 20th. This town is built on the in- 
 cline of a small hill, a kind of truncated cone whose 
 table-land is surmounted by an abbey and a palace, 
 with their esplanade. Everything was sacked during 
 the first night, and half the town was set on fire; I 
 was powerless to do anything, having been almost 
 asphyxiated by a brasier which had been left in my 
 room all night. 
 
 Besides, what can be done in such times of universal 
 delirium? It is well known that a long succession 
 of victories ruins the soldier as well as the general; 
 that too frequent forced marches are fatal to discipline ; 
 that the irritation produced by hunger and fatigue, and 
 the darkness in which they arrive at their cantonments 
 at night, lead and embolden to every excess, also the 
 absence of distributions which are impossible to be 
 made in such haste; so that there arises each night 
 for the soldiers, the need of scattering themselves 
 abroad to provide for their own w^ants, and as they 
 receive no money, the habit of helping themselves to 
 everything. Why then be astonished at these disor- 
 ders? Our soldiers considered themselves in the right. 
 After the miracles of Jena and Friedland they had 
 gone over 500 leagues at double quick march, and had 
 conquered on their arrival. Their life was one long
 
 384 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 superhuman assault against fatigue and danger; in 
 which pillage seemed their right as one of the fruits 
 of victory. To contest it would have been to dis- 
 hearten them. Besides, by what right could so much 
 be expected from them, if nothing was tolerated? 
 
 The inhabitants, however, had taken care not to wait 
 for our arrival. Their flight was of itself a sufficient 
 proof that they made common cause with their army, 
 and much worse. It had been said that during their 
 first success, they and even their womenkind had 
 disputed with each other the horrible enjoyment of 
 putting the finishing stroke to our sick and wounded. 
 Frightful details were added which were only too 
 true : how some had been deprived of life by a series 
 of odious mutilations, others by countless stabs w4th 
 scissors, stuck into their eyes and into the most sen- 
 sitive parts of their bodies. It was known that at 
 Valencia 200 French who had been inhabitants of the 
 town for years and had become almost naturalised, 
 had been martyrised; and it was reported that there 
 as elsewhere the signal for these massacres had been 
 given by monks. To this was due the excesses of 
 our men, followed by sacrilegious profanations of 
 which Lerma offered the first and most terrible exam- 
 ple; hence this long orgie of forty-eight hours, and 
 these conflagrations, caused by wine, which they wanted 
 to extinguish with wine. Hence also, on this elevated 
 table-land, in view of these people, religious to fana- 
 ticism, who were contemplating the sight from their 
 sheltering rocks, the spectacle of our soldiers trebly 
 intoxicated by wine, mirth and anger, going round 
 their fires in a procession with tapers in their hands, 
 travestied in the frocks of these monks whose sacred
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 385 
 
 chants they parodied by the least edifying of barrack- 
 room songs. 
 
 The Emperor did not witness these excesses which 
 he would not have tolerated. He had even tried by 
 a proclamation to recall the populations to their own 
 centres, and to their hearths, and to rally them to his 
 cause, giving them a month to come back. He pro- 
 mised them his protection at this price, with the ex- 
 ception of several grandees who were to bear the whole 
 brunt of his anger. He left Burgos November 23rd, 
 and did not stop that day until he had reached Aranda. 
 Here, of all the inhabitants the Alcalde alone had re- 
 mained. He declared that the resources of the sur- 
 rounding country would admit of his feeding 80,000 
 men for a whole month. But here as at Burgos there 
 reigned the same pillage and disorder. Every door, 
 every bed, every piece of furniture in the houses, either 
 adorned the bivouacs or fed the camp fires of the 
 centre of our army united around this town. 
 
 On the next day, the 29th, Napoleon himself pushing 
 straight on to Madrid by Sommo-Sierra, with Victor 
 and his own guard, had no more pressing care than to 
 precede the arrival of the Spanish remainders of 
 Tudela, and promptly to astonish the Peninsula and 
 Europe by the news of his entry into the capital. 
 
 Consequently I received the order to go and wait 
 for him on November 29th* at Boceguillas. This 
 is a rather pretty village about three leagues from 
 Sommo-Sierra, a strong position of which the approaches 
 and the defile were occupied by the enemy's reserve. 
 On that day the Polish light horse of our guard formed 
 
 * 1808. 
 
 27
 
 386 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 the advanced guard. They drove the Spanish from 
 Carajas, another village situated at the entrance of the 
 gorge of Sommo-Sierra. This regiment took up its 
 position there and thus protected the Imperial quarters. 
 The Emperor arrived at Boceguillas at the end of 
 the same day. At that moment endeavours were being 
 made to extinguish a fire which had caught to a 
 house situated on the village market place. It happened 
 to be the only one which could accommodate him. 
 During the night an icy fog, and the smell of the con- 
 flagration of the previous day, together with his own 
 impatience for the morrow's fight, agitated him and he 
 slept badly. The smell of fire at last drove him out 
 of his quarter into his tent, whence he came out several 
 times to warm himself at our camp fires. This caused 
 him to get too early into the saddle, directly the 
 morning report was to hand, and as soon as he 
 thought Victor's infantry was at the head ready to 
 engage battle on the mountain.
 
 CHAPTER XXVL 
 
 SOMMO-SIERRA. I AM WOUNDED. 
 
 SOI\IAIO-SIERRA was the last obstacle to be con- 
 quered before arriving at Madrid, The remains 
 of Castanos having escaped Lannes at the front, and 
 Marshal Ney in their rout, were dispersing behind this 
 screen, which the Emperor was anxious to break through, 
 so that he hastened the march. Nevertheless, having 
 arrived about eleven o'clock abreast of Carajas, and 
 finding that Victor's infantry was not ready, nor the 
 enemy sufficiently reconnoitred, he drew up on a hill 
 to the left of the road, where he breakfasted. 
 
 There Major Lejeune of the Engineers, oneof Berthier's 
 aides-de-camp and well known since as a painter, by 
 his remarkable picture of this affair, came to give him 
 an account of the position of the enemy's corps and an- 
 nounced that Victor's skirmishers were already engaged. 
 
 In front of us, in fact; this marshal's advance guard 
 could be perceived entering a defile on the high road, 
 which was rendered still more narrow by two steep 
 ridges. At the bottom of this gorge, on the side to 
 the right of the road was an enormous rock. This 
 rock defined and concealed the foot of another slope, 
 which was steep though short, and the last that had 
 to be scaled in order to. reach the top of this plateau 
 
 387
 
 388 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 more celebrated than it deserves to be. It was a 
 blessed, almost sacred position, and believed to be invin- 
 cible. The summit was crowned by a redoubt with 
 sixteen guns, defended by 12,000 Spaniards who were 
 in position in two lines between the rocks, and com- 
 manded by Brigadier-General Saint-Juan. A cloud of 
 their skirmishers was extended to their front on the 
 spurs to right and left, whence they directed their 
 fire down into the defile. 
 
 Victor's main body was numerous, compact, and sup- 
 ported by the Imperial Guard. They had fewer men 
 on their side, but they had the advantage of locality, 
 and were animated by such hatred to us, and such faith 
 and confidence in their position, that even after it had 
 played them false, still believing it sufficiently strong 
 of itself to have needed no defence, they declared 
 that there had been treachery at work, and became 
 guilty, as will be seen, of an abominable murder. 
 
 The Emperor in his astonishment that they should 
 have dared to await him, and growing more and more 
 impatient, made us remount. Distancing the infantry 
 he ventured too soon into this gorge, where the 
 enemy's fire arrested his progress at about 400 metres 
 distance from the right of their line of battle. Then 
 taking up a position in a bend to the left of the road, 
 he let our foot soldiers advance. But either con- 
 temptuous of these insurgents, or annoyed at having so 
 uselessly exposed himself, and the fog hiding the 
 obstacle from him, in his growing irritation, he 
 ordered his escort squadron to advance, charge, and 
 carry the position without waiting any longer. This 
 squadron was composed of eighty Polish light horse, 
 commanded by seven officers: MM. Korjietulski, Ru-
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 389 
 
 dowski, Dziewanowski, Rowiczki, Krazinski, and Nie- 
 golevvski. At their head went also Generals Montbrun 
 and Pire, the Prince of Neuchatel's aide-de-camp. At 
 the same time he ordered the gth regiment of light 
 infantry to scale the spur on the right, the 24th that 
 on the left, and he pushed the g6th forwards on the 
 high road. 
 
 This well-planned infantry attack needed time; for 
 there is often some hesitation at the outset of a man- 
 oeuvre of this kind when the features of the ground, 
 varying at each fresh step, have to be conquered as 
 well as the enemy. Their chiefs do not hold the united 
 bodies massed under their hand ; the ensemble fails ; 
 the one body waits for the other; and the combat 
 broken up into insignificant skirmishes, languishes with- 
 out coming to an issue. 
 
 It was beginning in this way when the Emperor 
 was informed that the charge of his escort squadron 
 had been suddenly checked; that it had come across 
 an insurmountable obstacle which it would be im- 
 possible to carry from the front. It could indeed only be 
 overcome by a flank movement and by infantry only. 
 But there was no time to be lost, Napoleon had placed 
 himself in a dilemma; he would not retreat in sight 
 of his troops, though from the top of the crest above 
 him, the bullets were raining round his head. It was, of 
 course the duty of the Poles as guards to protect his 
 person from this danger; nevertheless, as Pire and 
 Montbrun were ignorant of the Emperor's peril, they 
 acted rightly ; and we shall soon see that from a mili- 
 tary point of view their charge, ill-timed at the moment, 
 was impossible. 
 
 But, on hearing this word, the Emperor who was
 
 390 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 in a fever of impatience, became furious. A-^iolently 
 striking the pommel of his saddle he exclaimed : " How, 
 " impossible ? I do not know the word ! There should 
 " not be anything impossible for my Poles ! " whereupon 
 Walther, the general in command of the guard, endea- 
 vouring to calm him, replied : " Sire, a moment's patience, 
 " I pray ; the infantry is already ascending on the flanks, 
 " both wings of the enemy will be encountered on level 
 " ground, and then a charge from the centre will finish 
 " him; he will not have lost anything by waiting." The 
 Emperor would not listen to him, and in the midst of 
 his explosion of anger, I could hear these exclamations : 
 " Impossible ! "What ! My guards stopped by peasants ! 
 " by armed bands ! " 
 
 The enemy's bullets were falling more thickly every 
 moment, and by a natural movement I came forwards 
 to place myself between them and Napoleon, watching 
 him, in fear every instant lest he should be struck, 
 growing excited by his danger, and too much roused 
 up by his words, for indeed Walther was in the right. 
 But he, seeing in my glance a reflection of his own 
 impatience, replied as if I had addressed him : " Yes, yes ; 
 " go you, Segur ! Go at once, make my Poles charge, 
 " make them take everything, or bring me back 
 " prisoners ! " 
 
 Speeding off through the moving forest of our 
 bayonets which bristled on the road, and which I had 
 even to thrust aside not to be struck by them as I 
 rushed by at a gallop, I arrived at the foot of the 
 rock under shelter of which the Polish squadron was 
 drawn up alone, in front of the infantry. " Comman- 
 dant," I cried to Korjietulski, "the Emperor orders 
 "us to charge home, and at once!" Upon which,
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 391 
 
 Montbrun made an exclamation and a gesture of 
 astonishment without venturing to contradict me; but 
 Pire answered: "It is impossible!" — "The Emperor 
 " has been told that, " I retorted, " and he will not 
 "hear of it. " — "Very well," resumed Pire, "come and 
 " see for yourself; the devil in person, pretty well used 
 " to fire as he must be, could hardly stand that ! " 
 
 Then to prove the truth of his words, advanc- 
 ing beyond the rock through a hail of bullets which 
 rained down upon our equipments, he pointed out to 
 me the steep slope of the road up to this amphitheatre 
 bristling with rocks, the redoubt of sixteen guns which 
 crowned it, and twenty battalions deployed in such a 
 manner as to converge their front and flank fire on 
 an attack which could only be effected in column 
 and along the road. 
 
 This made 40,000 discharges of musketry and more 
 than 40 discharges of grape shot to be received 
 in a minute. Without doubt nothing could be more 
 convincing, but the order had been too imperative, it 
 was impossible to go back upon it. " It does not 
 " matter, " I exclaimed ; " the Emperor is there and he in- 
 " sists on the thing being settled. Come, Commandant, the 
 " honour will be ours, advance by squads, and forwards! " 
 
 This colloquy carried on aloud would have intimidated 
 any other troops who would have hesitated ; but there was 
 not a sign of this with these heroic Poles : I had hardly had 
 time to draw my sword from the scabbard, before they 
 had begun their charge in a column from this road. 
 
 We charged at full speed, I was about ten paces 
 in front with my head bent down, uttering our war- 
 cry by way of distracting my attention from the din 
 of the enemy's fire which was all breaking out at
 
 392 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 once, and the infernal hiss of their bullets and grape 
 shot. Reckoning- on the rapidity of our impetuous 
 attack, I was hoping that in their astonishment at 
 our audacity the enemy would aim badly ; that we 
 should have time to dash into the midst of their guns 
 and bayonets and throw them into disorder. But they 
 aimed only too well ! 
 
 Very soon, in spite of our clamour and the detonation 
 of so many arms, I could distinguish behind me the 
 sound of smart reports followed by groans, with the 
 thud of falling men and horses, which made me foresee 
 defeat. Our warlike cries were becoming lost in the 
 cries of pain of the unfortunate Poles ; I did not dare 
 to turn my head, fearing that the sad spectacle would 
 cause me to give up. I knew that I had been myself 
 struck several times; different bullets had gone through 
 my hat, the collar of my cloak, and all my garments, 
 but so far had hardly bruised me. One had dinted the 
 scabbard of my sword on my left side, for on both 
 flanks, as at our head, the more we advanced, the 
 more we were assailed by the enemy's fire. A grape 
 shot ball then grazed me on the heart which was left 
 almost denuded of covering. I took counsel with 
 myself; but quickly realising that such a wound must 
 be either mortal or insio-nificant, as I did not feel like 
 fainting, I went on. (It took me, however, six months 
 to get over it.) Almost at the same moment a bullet 
 catching me on the right side and taking away my breath 
 forced me to stop and look around and behind me. 
 
 I was alone within thirty paces of the redoubt. I 
 had outstripped two battalions of the enemy, placed 
 obliquely, behind a ravine on our right flank. One 
 officer alone was following me, Rudowski, I believe,
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 393 
 
 a colossus, like most of these picked men. He was still 
 on horseback, but wounded to death, staggering, and 
 on the point of falling off with his face to the enemy. 
 Distance and the rocks prevented my seeing anything 
 more. I made a vain attempt to turn back my horse, 
 which was itself wounded; but the Spaniards advanced 
 to seize me, shouting cries of victory. Then I jumped 
 to the ground trying to collect what strength remained 
 to me, and while retreating to shelter myself from 
 their fire needlessly directed against a solitary man, I 
 pressed as close as possible to the rocks to the right 
 of the road, A cruel retreat! first, whilst rapidly 
 passing by Rudowski, the poor fellow in his death 
 agony almost fell upon me ; after which I had to leap 
 over, or avoid our unfortunate comrades, either dead 
 or in the agonies of death, who were lying on this 
 glorious but most sad field of battle. 
 
 Nearly the whole of the squadron was laid low. Out of 
 six other officers, three more were either killed out- 
 right or mortally wounded: these were the lieutenants 
 Rowiczki, Rrzyzanowski and Captain Dziewanowski. 
 The three others. Lieutenant and Captain Niegolewski 
 and Krazinski, and Major Korjietulski, were wounded. 
 Forty non-commissioned officers and lancers, killed or 
 mortally wounded, were lying on the ground. Twelve 
 others were wounded but less seriously; twenty alone 
 had escaped this massacre safe and sound. These had 
 assisted their wounded to retire, so that, over the whole 
 of the remaining ground covered by our charge I only 
 saw one trumpeter left standing, motionless in the midst 
 of the firing which was still going on. The poor child 
 was weeping for his squadron, and over one of his 
 officers stretched upon the ground, whose horse he
 
 394 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 was holding, and which he helped me to mount. I 
 was then suffering a great deal: I could no longer 
 drag myself along, and it was impossible to stop under 
 this rain of bullets and grape shot, so he led me to 
 the foot of the sheltering rock whence our brave Poles 
 had dashed forth so full of life and ardour which 
 death alone could have extinguished. The advanced 
 guards of our infantry had stopped behind. This last jour- 
 ney down a rapid descent at a foot pace, was terribly 
 painful, and appeared to me of interminable length! 
 
 Having at last reached our men, and being no longer 
 held up by the danger, I fell into the arms of the 
 grenadiers of the g6th. Colonel de la Grange happened 
 to be there, and I owe to him the first care bestowed 
 upon me, and the preservation of my sword which up 
 to that moment I had had sufficient strength to retain. 
 
 It was he who caused me to be carried off directly 
 by four grenadiers. A few paces off, Savary met me 
 on his way to arrange the attack; he made an exclama- 
 tion of pity, but, still under the influence of that fiery 
 ardour without which such self-sacrifice could not exist, 
 I answered: "Do not think of me, but forwards, for- 
 " wards ! and may our infantry avenge our Poles on 
 " these wretches ! " 
 
 A little further on, as we passed near the Emperor, 
 the little group which we formed attracted his attention 
 and he sent to inquire. " Ah ! my poor Segur ! " he 
 exclaimed, " Yvan, go off at once and save him for 
 me ! " It was from Yvan himself that I heard this. Yvan 
 hastened up, and by the help of some grenadiers was 
 carrying me away, when another Spanish bullet aimed 
 from the crest of the defile, picked me out in the 
 midst of all the heads which were bending over and
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 395 
 
 covering me, just grazing without wounding them, and 
 entered my right thigh. 
 
 Surprised at the relentless ill-luck which seemed to 
 pursue me, they stopped short " Oh, the poor fellow ! " 
 said Yvan, "here is his leg broken now!" — "No, no," 
 I said, as I moved it ; " but go quickly and get me out 
 of this, for it looks like one of my most unlucky days ! " 
 The bullet in fact after running round the bone with- 
 out breaking it, had pursued its way to the other 
 side where it remained. 
 
 This rather remarkable instance of bad fortune was 
 at that moment followed by one of quite a contrary 
 nature. Turenne, an officer on the Emperor's staff, on 
 perceiving me had hastened to come to my help, which 
 proved a very fortunate thing for himself; for hardly 
 had he got off" his horse, before the saddle was demol- 
 ished by a cannon-ball. Resuming their way, about a 
 hundred paces more to the rear, they set me down by 
 the side of the road, sheltered by a rock, and now 
 began the most unpleasant part of the business, that 
 of sounding the wounds. 
 
 Yvan, accustomed as he was to this kind of thing, 
 while taking off" my clothes, which were torn and 
 literally riddled with shots, as in a military execution, 
 could not restrain the expression of his astonishment. 
 My contusions, the large wound which was over my 
 heart, and that on the thigh, which he had to enlarge 
 to extract the ball, did not seem much to trouble him ; 
 but by the contraction of his countenance when he saw 
 the course of the wound which had entered my bowels 
 beneath the liver, and whose depth he was unable to 
 sound, I could see that he had no hope of saving me. 
 I perceived this even more by his gestures in reply to the
 
 396 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 numerous and eager inquiries of the officers ot the Old 
 Guard, who were defiling almost on my feet, and by their 
 exclamations and regrets, the last farewells offered by 
 their friendship, whose remembrance still touches me. 
 
 Thus convinced of my approaching end, Yvan being 
 obliged to leave me, I begged him to convey my 
 adieux to my family and to the Emperor. Vanity 
 must retain a very tenacious hold upon us, or Napoleon 
 must have raised it to a high pitch, for I must confess 
 that in these last words which I addressed to the 
 Emperor, my principal thought was to increase his 
 esteem, even consoling myself for death by thinking 
 how I should best make a fine end. 
 
 I had felt assured of the success of the battle when 
 I saw our reserve march onwards to the front. In 
 fact whilst our charge had drawn and concentrated 
 upon itself the whole fire of the enemy. Barrels, the 
 infantry general, had taken advantage of this diversion, 
 and had advanced as far as the rock which had been 
 our point of departure and retreat. There, like myself, 
 pushed forwards on the road by the Emperor, he had 
 no sooner left that shelter to renew my charge, than 
 thirteen of his grenadiers were struck down by the 
 firing from the redoubt. Then retreating behind 
 the rock, he had sent on some companies to scale the 
 heights on our right, to turn the obstacle; and later, 
 becoming impatient at their hesitation, he had himself 
 gone up at the head of his brigade. There, on level 
 ground at last, in face of 10,000 Spaniards ranged in 
 two lines, he had attacked them. But they, although 
 four against one, seeing themselves about to be attacked, 
 after discharging their arms, had rushed off helter- 
 skelter as fast as their legs could carry them. At
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 397 
 
 the same moment he adds (for I hold it from him and 
 have his note under my hand) the noise of the can- 
 nonading on the left ceased. 
 
 Our troops were on the point of reaching the burg 
 of Buytrago and a last troop of the enemy ; they could 
 even perceive in their midst a group of French soldiers 
 whom they had taken prisoners and were dragging 
 along; and were straining every nerve to overtake 
 and deliver them, w^hen a sudden halt followed by a 
 discharge and the simultaneous fall of all these captives, 
 filled them with consternation. The crime was consum- 
 mated ; the unfortunates shot down at arm's length were 
 slaughtered; vengeance alone remained. It was an 
 ample one in spite of the flight of the assassins who 
 hoped to escape, and it was found possible afterwards 
 to raise up and restore to life a few of their victims. 
 
 The whole of the Spanish corps which had been 
 defeated at Sommo-Sierra was not dishonoured by 
 this infamous act; but the same corps completed its 
 dishonour about ten days later, and twenty leagues 
 further on, by a still more odious outrage. Talavera 
 de la Reyna was the theatre of this misdeed. The 
 rout of these wretches had only come to an end in 
 this town, here it had not been believed that they 
 could possibly be beaten on the Sommo-Sierra which 
 bore the reputation of being sacred and impregnable. 
 This it certainly was not, though it was easier to 
 defend themselves there. But in order to absolve 
 themselves from the charge of cowardice by imput- 
 ing their defeat to a betrayal on the part of their 
 general, they threw themselves upon the excellent and 
 unfortunate Saint-Juan whom they had abandoned; and 
 fastening him alive to a stake, during an entire day
 
 398 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 of agony made him the aim for their execrable skill. 
 After they had been shamefully scattered by our 
 advance guard, the terrible sight was revealed to us 
 of the corpse in its Spanish general's uniform, riddled 
 with a thousand bullets, still fastened up. 
 
 Our main body had passed by during the two hours 
 that I was lying stretched on the damp ground, and 
 the Emperor having entered Buytrago, where the 
 Due de Bassano had joined him, said to him: "Before 
 "this day is over, I shall have sustained a loss which 
 "grieves me deeply," but learning that I was still 
 alive, he dispatched his own carriage with Yvan, his 
 surgeon, and orders that if possible I should be conveyed 
 to his headquarters. This journey of several miles over 
 the encumbered ground was a very painful one. They 
 were forced to stop every moment as I was suffocating; 
 and often Yvan, who was escorting me on horse-back, 
 would bend his head over to see if I was still breathing. 
 
 But I remember even then, that perceiving by the 
 road side several groups of Spanish prisoners, I was 
 struck by the menacing pride of their attitude, their 
 sombre and ferocious physiognomies, and the thunderous 
 glances full of rage and hatred which they still dared 
 to cast upon us. 
 
 The next morning, after having left one of his sur- 
 geons beside me, the Emperor, who was riding on 
 the road to Madrid with Berthier, said, calling up Larrey 
 the surgeon-in-chief: " You have seen Segur, can you 
 answer for his life?" On his response in the negative, 
 after several inquiries addressed to Duroc and Berthier, 
 he turned round to the other officers who were follow- 
 ing, and asked : " Does anyone know where and how 
 Segur was wounded? Was it in carrying an order?"
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 399 
 
 Nobody could reply, for Walther was not there; but 
 Pire like a Breton, as he was, ever to the fore, and 
 perfectly fearless, feeling surprised at this question 
 as I myself was afterwards, spurred on his horse. 
 " Why ! Sire, " he said, " it was whilst charging by your 
 " orders at the head of your own special Polish squadron, 
 " I heard it and I saw it ! " Upon this, it would appear that 
 General Montbrun, since celebrated, added a few words of 
 such a flattering nature that it is not for me to mention 
 them. Yvan also repeated some of the words which he had 
 heard me utter. The Emperor then, so they said, fell into 
 a very thoughtful mood, and after that he made Yvan 
 bring him every day a bulletin of my condition. 
 
 Nevertheless in the bulletin of this battle and the 
 following one, although the Emperor did me the honour 
 of daily public notification of my condition, and also 
 announced that he had made me a colonel, he judged 
 it necessary to confound the most of these details here 
 related in one single charge. But it will also be seen, 
 that as far as I was concerned, he did not stop short 
 at the preceding marks of his esteem, a personal fact 
 which would not be worthy of mention, were it not on 
 account of the calumnies which accused this great man 
 of hardness, and a want of kindness and gratitude. 
 
 During this march forwards of the Emperor I had 
 been left at Buytrago alone with my surgeon, I should 
 rather say alone with myself; not that this doctor was 
 without merit, for the future proved the contrary; but 
 being then very young and having little practice in his art, 
 or faith in himself, he was of those who fear to attract 
 the enemy by attacking him. Never daring anything, 
 for fear of killing, he allowed one to die, and would 
 temporise in a state of indecision whilst the patient
 
 400 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 was in the grip of his malady and there was not a 
 moment to lose. 
 
 This timid doctor was all the more emboldened in 
 pursuing his system because the farewells of my friends 
 and the prognostications of his masters had convinced 
 him that my doom was sealed. Therefore on the ist 
 and 2nd of December when the danger which Yvan 
 had momentarily prevented by bleeding me, returned 
 with the fever, thinking that he was only there to 
 keep up appearances, he allowed it to take possession 
 of my whole being ; with this result that on December 
 3rd by the first rays of daylight I saw him packing 
 up his portmanteau, as if, seeing me speechless and 
 breathless, and probably believing I was almost uncon- 
 scious, he was every moment expecting our simultaneous 
 departure : his own for Madrid, which he was in a hurry 
 to reach, and mine for the other world, in which, I must 
 confess, I was not so anxious to suit his convenience. 
 
 I was suffocating all the time, and, unable to make 
 myself heard, I could perceive my valet de chambre, 
 Le Grand, sitting on the ground by my bed weeping 
 bitterly; but not feeling at all in a melting mood, I 
 was hanging on to my last thread, when I heard the 
 doctor dictate to this excellent servant the last things 
 that were to be done for me : " He was to take care 
 " of my property ; to keep some last souvenirs for my 
 "family, and to have me buried suitably." 
 
 I was not so resigned but what I could be angry! 
 Were these the only prescriptions which I had a right 
 to expect from this doctor? His neglect enraged me, 
 and with a last effort I called him by a gesture; he 
 came back and leant over me, and I was just able to 
 articulate, that if there were any last chance to try, he
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 40 1 
 
 had better resort to it, " Not bleed you!" he replied, you 
 are so feeble ! I could see, by his eyes raised to heaven, 
 that he was afraid lest I should die under his lancet. But 
 stretching my arm out with an imperious sign and word, 
 it decided him : the blood spouted out, and I was saved! 
 
 That very evening the doctor proclaimed with pride 
 that I was out of danger; but in his inmost heart, 
 although glad of this, I think he w^as very much 
 mystified at my coming to life again. I did so with 
 such promptitude, and he was in such a hurry to 
 reach Madrid, that three days later, the carriage of the 
 colonel of the 54th being there, he placed me in it 
 and we started for that town in the middle of an icy 
 snow-storm. He did not even hesitate to instal me 
 that night, shivering with fever and cold, under a 
 miserable open shed on some damp straw, where, 
 during twelve mortal hours, a thick bed of snow lay 
 on the rug which he had cast over me. One cannot 
 forget such sufferings, though one ought rather to 
 feel pride than regret, glory consisting as much in 
 enduring them bravely as in confronting them. We 
 did, however, reach there at last. 
 
 I fear I may perhaps have somewhat too much 
 descanted on these details, but would like to add yet 
 another fact of which I was almost a witness during 
 this journey, a fact principally interesting by the 
 discussion which it provoked. We had halted in a 
 village where there was one of our stores officials 
 as well as a depot of prisoners. This e^nploye, a man 
 of sense, with whom I was acquainted, after having 
 asked how I was going on, accosting my doctor, 
 exclaimed: "That if it could be affirmed by a material 
 " proof, that it is the mind alone which feels in us and 
 28
 
 402 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 " not the body, a fact which he had observed with 
 " one of the officers taken at Sommo-Sierra, would 
 "suffice. This prisoner," he added, "had had an arm 
 " amputated in the affair, and had hardly recovered 
 " before he got into a quarrel with some other prisoners 
 " and very nearly lost the other arm which was wounded 
 "in some way in the scrimmage." 
 
 Up to that point metaphysics do not seem to have 
 entered into a purely physical accident, but it was re- 
 marked at the time that in the exasperation of his anger 
 the prisoner did not the least seem to feel the violent 
 blow which he had received on his remaining arm, whilst 
 he was always complaining, like others who have had 
 amputated limbs, of the pain in the other arm which 
 he had left on the field of battle. Our employe 2:c^\\qA 
 from this that feeling can only exist in the mind, 
 because by it alone this unfortunate man could suffer 
 in a missing part of his body, whilst, on the other 
 hand, the mind entirely given up to passion, had 
 withdrawn the sense of feeling from the healthy part 
 of his body which was still alive! 
 
 Upon which I saw the doctor smile. Having more 
 to do with the body than the mind, he explained this 
 fact more materially ; attributing the effect of the pain 
 of the missing member to a continuity of sensation in 
 the common origin of the nerves, and the contrary 
 result, that of want of sensibility in the remaining 
 arm, to a sort of contraction, a concentration produced 
 in the brain by anger. 
 
 For my part very much interested as I had been 
 lately in not separating the mind from the body, this 
 solution which appeared satisfactory, physiologically 
 speaking, seemed to me, philosophically, incomplete
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 403 
 
 and insufficient. I did not think it went sufficiently- 
 back to the principle in question ; I therefore added to 
 complete it, a quotation of the passage from Malebranche 
 where he says : " That the mind resides immediately 
 " in that part of the brain to which all the organs of 
 "the senses lead;" either because God has chained it 
 to this summit like Prometheus to his rock, or that, 
 imprisoned in our body of which it is the life, this spot 
 must be its centre of action ; the precise spot where God 
 has willed that, in an ever impenetrable mystery, this 
 emanation of his immaterial immensity and eternity 
 should undergo a passing personification, at one and 
 the same time spiritual and material. 
 
 However this may be, in the midst of these reflec- 
 tions I had arrived at Madrid on December 7th. During 
 my stay in this capital up to the 27 th, both before 
 and after the Emperor's departure, I was overwhelmed 
 with marks of his interest. He informed me through 
 Berthier that he had made me a colonel: and after my 
 letter of thanks he said with a smile : " Well, if he is 
 " ambitious, that is a proof that he will live ; but in the 
 " future I desire that he should expose himself less. I 
 " have been in fifty battles without a single wound ; 
 " and here he gets wounded twice running. One should 
 " really have some luck in war ! " 
 
 Thereupon they discussed the matter; not seeming 
 to have remarked that where I had only been wounded 
 the greater part of those who had followed me had 
 perished. But they came to the conclusion nevertheless 
 from a general observation already quoted by Louis XV, 
 as may be seen in my father's memoirs, that I offered 
 a fresh example of those strange and systematic blows 
 of fate which alternately strike one generation and
 
 404 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP. 
 
 miss another. Thus my grandfather, the Marshal de 
 Segur, had been constantly struck, my father spared, 
 and myself struck like my grandfather! 
 
 The Emperor added that he would console me for 
 this. On the eve of his departure he sent me word 
 by Duroc that he entrusted me with the duty of 
 bearing and presenting to the Legislative Assembly all 
 the standards taken in the campaign. He was good 
 enough to request General Belliard, the governor of 
 Madrid, not to let me go till I was quite strong 
 enough. Then, notwithstanding the haste with which 
 he again entered on his campaign, on mounting his 
 horse, he handed over the letter which will be read 
 below; such a letter as in conjunction with so many 
 marks of attachment to those around him, can hardly, 
 I think, leave any grounds for the accusations of 
 coldness and ingratitude. 
 
 " M. Philippe de Segur, I was truly grieved to know 
 " that you were for a time in danger. I learn with 
 " much pleasure that the state of your wounds allows 
 " of your entering upon the convalescent stage, and that 
 "you will soon be able to complete your recovery in 
 " Paris. You must be under no kind of anxiety as to 
 " your future ; you have given me every possible proof 
 " of your zeal, your courage, and your attachment to 
 " my person. Your principal care at present must be 
 " to get cured of your wounds so that you should feel 
 " no evil effects from them. This letter having no other 
 " purpose, I pray God that He may have you ever in 
 "His holy keeping!"* 
 
 "At Madrid, December 21st, 1808." 
 "Napoleon." 
 
 * The original is in the National Archives.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 1 PRESENT THE STANDARDS TO THE 
 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY. 
 
 TO finish with these details which are too long and 
 doubtless too personal, I will only add that on 
 December 27th, 1808, lying full length in a carriage 
 with the conquered standards under my care, I left 
 Madrid for Bayonne, by Sommo-Sierra, Burgos, and 
 Vittoria. A company of infantry escorted me, camping 
 at night around me and the standards. This was indis- 
 pensable, and an officer carrying dispatches, having 
 insisted in spite of our advice in going a little in front 
 of us, was killed as soon as he got beyond the pro- 
 tection of our bayonets. 
 
 At last on January 7th, 1809, leaving for the second 
 time this country of Spain which had proved almost as 
 fatal to me as it was to be to the Empire and the Emperor, 
 I returned to France and soon rejoined my family. 
 My wounds, which were still open, having kept me on 
 my back some months longer, it was necessary to put 
 off to the next session, that of 1809 to 18 10, the 
 presentation to the Legislative Assembly, of the trophies 
 conquered by our armies of Spain in 1808. But as 
 this last scene almost exclusively concerns the subject 
 which occupies our attention, why delay the narrative ? 
 
 I therefore give it here. 
 
 405
 
 406 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 It would certaml}'' seem that to a young colonel, 
 above all eager for glory, such a day should appear the 
 finest and happiest of his whole life. But one has to 
 pay for everything; and it may be considered a sin- 
 gular fact that the moment which preceded this presen- 
 tation, redounding so much to my honour, was perhaps 
 one of the most trying moments that I have ever spent. 
 Such are the secret anomalies of the soul, when imag- 
 ination excites itself, and self-love is bound up with 
 more elevated sentiments. 
 
 May I confess that, in this moment, the public honours 
 which Napoleon had lavished upon me, the pleasure of 
 associating my father with them, of enabling him to be 
 at once a spectator and an actor at this memorable 
 sitting, (that of January 22nd, 18 10,) when the most 
 celebrated orator of the time, M. de Fontanes, in 
 replying to me was to speak for the last time ; the public 
 composed of princes and foreign kings who would be 
 present ; these standards, these picked soldiers of renown 
 who surrounded me, -finally, and above all, the honour 
 of speaking before the representatives of the greatest 
 of nations, in the name of its Grand Army and in that 
 of the grandest of men ; all this instead of inflating me 
 with presumption, had perfectly overwhelmed me. 
 
 I had left the chateau of the Tuileries on foot, feeling 
 then in good spirits, at the head of eighty grenadiers 
 of the Old Guard, and the Spanish standards which they 
 were carry hi g. But when, after having traversed the 
 gardens of the Imperial palace up to the Place de 
 la Concorde, I found myself in the antechamber of 
 the legislative precincts, to wait there till the doors 
 of this chamber were opened for the moment when the 
 historical scene should begin, I must confess that all
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 407 
 
 the joyous pride of my soul vanished in the fear which 
 assailed me lest I should badly sustain my part and 
 destroy all this pomp by not rising to the proper 
 dignity of the occasion. With what kind of an air 
 should I present myself before such a considerable 
 assembly? How should I show a sufficiently steadfast 
 demeanour when confronted by so many glances ? and, 
 worst of all, when I should have to ascend that tribune, 
 for me so novel a position, what attitude should I 
 assume? How should I render my voice sufficiently 
 steady, distinct, and assured to be heard? What a hu- 
 miliation, what a disastrous situation it would be, were 
 my memory to fail me, should I not be sufficiently 
 master of myself to remember the discourse learnt off 
 beforehand that I had to deliver; if I were to stop 
 short in the midst of the universal silence and attention ! 
 During half an hour of suspense and ever increasing 
 anxiety, my excited imagination brought it to such a 
 pitch that even now I cannot conceive how I managed 
 not to break down. I felt as if my whole being was 
 disordered, when the doors opened at last. Imperious 
 necessity alone enabled me to enter after several others 
 and go up the whole length of the room in an absolutely 
 mechanical manner, although the ground seemed to be 
 giving way beneath me. Having arrived at the foot of 
 the tribune — so redoubtable a spot that the most eloquent 
 orators have declared they are never able to ascend it 
 without an emotion which shortens their lives — I felt 
 incapable of pronouncing a single word, when a 
 false movement of my grenadiers restored the power 
 of speech to me. The order which I gave them, an 
 every-day matter, roused me from my stupor. The sound 
 of my own voice reassured me, my being underwent
 
 4o8 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP. 
 
 a sudden revolution, and all my fears took flight. This 
 transformation was so prompt and complete that once 
 in face of the Assembly I spoke with such assurance 
 as to delight myself, enchant my grenadiers, and quite 
 surprise the legislators, one of whom, M. d'Aguesseau, 
 my uncle, told me afterwards that he would have pre- 
 ferred a greater semblance of modesty. This criticism, 
 which was really so little deserved, was received by 
 me in a lively spirit, as I infinitely preferred it to a 
 reproach of an opposite nature, which I esteemed 
 myself very happy to have escaped.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 INTRIGUES AT PARIS: FOUCHE AND BERNADOTTE. 
 
 HAVING been obliged to remain in France to get 
 cured, I was the witness of numerous intrigues. 
 The campaign of the malcontents of the interior had 
 been re-opened with the campaign of Austria in 1809. 
 Once again, and more than ever, as we have seen, the 
 chances of the one had excited the activity of the 
 other. Indeed, the Emperor's wound at Ratisbon ; the 
 disaster of Essling; the sudden illness followed by the 
 attempt of assassination at Schoenbrunn ; the risings 
 in the north and south of Germany; the evidently 
 fallacious element in the co-operation of the Russian 
 Emperor; the violences committed in Rome, and the 
 excommunication ; the English descent ; our reverses in 
 the Peninsula; all these vicissitudes in short, of a re- 
 ligious, a naval, and continental struggle engaged at 
 all points of the horizon, were so much food for the 
 calculations of those who had grown weary of attach- 
 ing their destinies to the precarious and compromising 
 existence of a single man. 
 
 It should, therefore, not cause astonishment that in 
 the interior, everyone was not resigned to this hand- 
 to-mouth existence, and that amongst men whom 
 
 these revolutions had created and worn out, a certain 
 
 409
 
 4IO MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 number desired to feel some security for the future. 
 We have seen that at the head of these tmeasy 
 speculators were Fouche and Talleyrand; two person- 
 ages of very different origin, looking upon themselves 
 as the representatives of the old and the new society, 
 a circumstance which they considered useful for the 
 furtherance of their ambitious views, and all the greater 
 reason that they should draw together; for the rest, 
 having no morality to inconvenience them, agreeing 
 as to the necessity of holding themselves ready to 
 meet any event, and having quite made up their 
 minds to extract every kind of profit therefrom for 
 their own personal interest. 
 
 Although present in Paris, where I was detained by 
 my wounds, not being a very fitting historian of such 
 details, I will only relate such of the facts as came 
 directly under my knowledge by reason of the part 
 which I had perforce to take in them. 
 
 On July yth, the day after Wagram, a lying pro- 
 clamation of Bernadotte had attributed to his Saxon 
 main body the honour of the victory. It was the 
 skilful habit of this marshal to endeavour to win 
 hearts and gain partisans on all sides. This, however, 
 did him very little good, his corps being immediately 
 disbanded, himself censured, brought to book, and 
 sent back into France where, being taken up in his 
 disgrace by Fouche and Talleyrand, he associated him- 
 self with their intrigues. 
 
 P'ouche, the Minister of Police, was then also in 
 temporary charge of the ministry of the interior. An 
 ever restless and audacious courtier of Fortune, skilful 
 in taking up such a position as to remain her indis- 
 pensable minister in whatever direction she might
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 4 1 [ 
 
 turn, he always had one hand hidden in those of the 
 malcontents, and the other eager to display itself before 
 the eyes of the reigning power as the most devoted 
 and useful of servants. 
 
 It was at that moment that the English descent had 
 suddenly threatened Antwerp. On this news, notwith- 
 standing the hesitation of Cambaceres, Fouche had taken 
 upon himself to call the National Guard to arms, to 
 mobilise part of them, gain over the officers, and 
 incite Bernadotte to ask for the command. But Clarck, 
 who was then Minister of War, had mistrusted his 
 colleague. As a man of order and of aristocratic 
 inclinations, he detested the antecedents and the revolu- 
 tionary spirit of Fouche; he suspected his intentions 
 and transmitted his doubts to Schoenbrunn. 
 
 The Emperor, in spite of the distance which separated 
 him from such grave complications, did not take alarm. 
 Just as on the battle field he could discern decisive 
 points with an unerring eye, he appreciated every danger, 
 he assigned to everyone his part, and was able to guard 
 against everything. In order to make the descent mis- 
 carry he multiplied the necessary orders, adding that it 
 would be sufficient to hold it in check, crowded up as the 
 troops were in the marshes of Zealand, where they would 
 be decimated by fever, which was exactly what happened. 
 The King of Holland and Bernadotte each offered to take 
 the chief command at Antwerp: he refused his brother, 
 whose zeal he suspected, besides considering him 
 inefficient; while with regard to Bernadotte, as this 
 mission would cause the Marshal to leave Paris, he 
 entrusted it to him, on condition that he should only 
 place under his orders officers of incorruptible fidelity. 
 With regard to the calling out of the National Guard,
 
 412 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 at first only partial, he approved of it, he even encou- 
 raged this demonstration which augmented the idea of 
 his power and his means of recruitment He had, 
 therefore, in the first instance, praised Fouche for this 
 measure ; upon which the latter, by way of increasing 
 his importance, extended the call to the whole of 
 France although the danger was over, thus drawing 
 upon himself well-deserved suspicions, which the Em- 
 peror did not try to conceal. Amongst other grievances 
 he disapproved of this minister's haste to nominate 
 the officers of the National Guard, Nevertheless, with 
 regard to this, he only took notice of Clarck's warning 
 as far as concerned Paris. It was only there, that 
 looking closer into the matter, he insisted on Fouche 
 retracting one of his selections, Louis de Girardin, 
 whom he had appointed colonel of the Horse Guards 
 in that town. 
 
 I was then about again, and nearly cured of my 
 wounds, when on the gth or loth of September, Clarck 
 sent for me. " You see, " he said, " what is going on, 
 " Fouche has just levied 30,000 men in Paris. He is 
 " arming the people, even domestic servants. It is a 
 " levy of '93 that he wants to have at his disposal. He 
 " is preparing to play a great part in certain anticipated 
 " cases, such as a more serious illness than the indispo- 
 " sition which has just attacked the Emperor, or a more 
 " severe wound than that of Ratisbon, or a more complete 
 " reverse than that of Essling. Thirty thousand armed 
 " men in Paris ! An army would be necessary to guard 
 "us from this guard. He continues to organise it in 
 " spite of us : he has nominated the officers, although he 
 " knew perfectly well that the Emperor had reserved the 
 "right to himself. His aim is evident, it is a betrayal.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 413 
 
 " But I am looking after him. That is why the Emperor 
 " has just given Marshal Serrurier the command of this 
 " fine National Guard ; as for the cavalry, he wants you 
 " to be its colonel, and we shall then see if Fouche will 
 " be able to do what he pleases with it. " 
 
 I did not like Fouche any more than he did, but I 
 must confess that this sudden announcement of the 
 role which was being prepared for me in this conflict 
 was as if a slate had fallen on my head. I, in the 
 National Guard! My career thus cut short by a vet- 
 eran's brevet, when I was anxious to return to active 
 service! No piece of news could possibly have been 
 more displeasmg to me. But the circumstances were 
 imperative, and the Emperor, more imperative than 
 they, never allowed the least objection to be made to 
 his orders. I did not attempt it, but returned home 
 very much annoyed, and found awaiting me there an 
 invitation from Fouche to go and see him on the morrow. 
 
 Everybody knows this personage; his medium stature, 
 his tow-coloured hair, lank and scanty, his active 
 leanness, his long, mobile, pale face with the physiog- 
 nomy of an excited ferret ; one remembers his piercing 
 keen glance, shifty nevertheless, his little, blood-shot 
 eyes, his brief and jerky manner of speech which was 
 in harmony with his restless, uneasy attitude. Directly 
 he perceived me, all these features were accentuated 
 by an ill-restrained discomfiture. Being obliged to 
 inform me that the Emperor had cancelled his selection 
 and nominated me in its place, he could not hide his 
 annoyance from me. This I shared, agreeing fully 
 with the Minister of War; but with a quick change 
 of front in Fouche's company I declared myself hon- 
 oured by the Emperor's trust, eager to obey his orders.
 
 414 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 and consequently to be promptly recognised as the 
 head of the National Guard. 
 
 Possibly this minister may have hoped that I should 
 hesitate, perhaps refuse. My alacrity augmented his 
 confusion; he tried to evade the matter, putting it off 
 to the next day, and when the time had arrived he 
 said to me : " That he had referred it to the Council 
 " of ministers, but that they had not come to any deci- 
 " tion, and that I must wait ; that he must write to 
 " Vienna where no doubt it was not known that 
 " Girardin had been actually recognised as colonel ; 
 " and finally, that he should continue to fill the post 
 " for the time being until the Emperor, better informed, 
 " should send him fresh orders ; that indeed a second 
 " regiment might be formed, and that he would propose 
 "me as general of the brig^ide." 
 
 Two regiments! when they had hardly been able 
 to get together a hundred volunteers for the first ; 
 when this little number, almost entirely composed of 
 bankers and stockbrokers, very decided not to go outside 
 the gates, had not even the leisure to exercise them- 
 selves in the indispensable manoeuvres ; this was such 
 a palpable fraud that I at once denounced it at head- 
 quarters. I hoped that when the Emperor knew the 
 whole truth he would be too disgusted to entrust me 
 with this command. 
 
 The fact is that in the Council the discussion had 
 not concerned myself at all. Clarck and Fouche had 
 had another passage of arms. The former had ex- 
 claimed: "That it was only a confounded Jacobin 
 "of '93 who would have entertained the idea of raising 
 "and arming the National Guard in Paris." To which 
 Fouche had answered: "That it was only a stranger
 
 OF TPIE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 415 
 
 " who had sold himself to the English who could 
 " oppose the formation of this guard. " 
 
 Hulin, Commandant of the capital, spoken out pretty, 
 plainly, telling me: "He could no longer answer for 
 " Paris. His patrols were unexpectedly coming across 
 " unknown posts and patrols : it was impossible to tell 
 " if they were citizens or evil-doers : He would disarm 
 " them ; he would fire upon them ! " 
 
 Such was the exasperation, when on December 28th 
 I was recalled by Fouche. This minister handing me 
 my commission, said that the Emperor persisted, that 
 he had confirmed my nomination. Then unfolding the 
 letter he had just received, he read me this passage: 
 " That other sovereigns nominated to the command of 
 "their regiments those only w^ho could prove quarters 
 "of nobility; that quarters of nobility for him were 
 "wounds received in the service of the country; that 
 " I was covered with them, and the command in 
 "consequence should be reserved for me." 
 
 As little satisfied as Fouche with this ending, I 
 went off at once to Clarck to tell him the news. " He 
 "has not told you everything," he answered: "The 
 " wretch is persisting in his projects. If it were not 
 " for that, instead of going on with the organisation 
 " of his National Guard, he would begin to disband it 
 " as he has received orders to do ; I can prove this to 
 "you; your own corps is included in this, if it is not 
 " organised so as to be able to enter on a compaign. 
 " Go to Marshal Serrurier, and he will confirm this order. " 
 This was the letter indeed, but not the spirit, which 
 Clarck did not sufficiently consider. The question was 
 how to send back to their homes every one of these 
 volunteers who were already too hostile to the Emperor,
 
 4l6 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 without increasing their discontent, which was not an 
 easy matter? But I tried to do more than this; I 
 undertook to alter their frame of mind. It was 
 their officers especially, already uniformed, equipped 
 and mounted at their own expense, and much annoyed 
 at this useless expenditure of money, publicity, and 
 action, who wanted by resigning in a mass, which 
 would have had a very bad effect, to forestall this dis- 
 bandment which Clarck's officiousness had divulged too 
 early. I dissuaded them from this, and with the help 
 of the administrative authorities, with much civility, fine 
 words and a few dinners, gained time ; then going on 
 by degrees, and taking advantage of the fortunate news 
 of the shameful retreat of the English expedition, I 
 held out before them by way of a reward for their now 
 aimless zeal, the hope of being retained as Guards of 
 honour to Napoleon, which they accepted. This was 
 already a return to him, a kind of offer of devotion 
 to his person. At the same time I obtained from Clarck 
 for those whom the pride of a uniform in these glorious 
 days had excited with martial hopes, the prospect of 
 some commissions in the acting army. 
 
 Thus by degrees whilst the horses were being sold 
 and the thing breaking up by itself, each of its pro- 
 moters having been specially gained over, we finished 
 with a grand banquet, where, whilst doing me honour 
 in verse and prose with an enthusiasm which was 
 promoted by champagne, the health of the Emperor 
 was drunk ; after which everyone went away mutually 
 delighted. 
 
 If, however, peace was re-established with Austria, it 
 was quite otherwise in the Council at Paris, Here the 
 triumphant Clarck and the discomfited Fouche were
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 417 
 
 confronting each other, each striving to damage the 
 other in the mind of the Emperor. According to Clarck, 
 it was certain that Fouche had secret relations with 
 England, and that from Antwerp Bernadotte kept up 
 seditious correspondence with him and other malcontents. 
 The result was that Bernadotte, whose place had been 
 taken by Bessieres, was recalled and ordered to 
 travel, or to go to Schoenbrunn, and later to take a 
 command in Catalonia. This marshal's lucky star made 
 him chose the Imperial quarters, and there Napoleon, 
 who was much less vindictive than was supposed, 
 offered him the government of Rome which he first 
 accepted, then neglected as an exile, and finally 
 threw over. We shall see later that the prospect of 
 the throne of Sweden had opened itself to this indivi- 
 dual's ambition like a realisation of an Arabian Night's 
 dream. 
 
 The quarrel of the two ministers had reached this 
 point when in the middle of the night of the 26th to 
 the 27th October, I was aroused by an order to leave 
 at once to receive the Emperor at Fontainebleau. I 
 got there early in the morning by one door, at the 
 very time when the Emperor, who had just returned 
 from Germany, was entering alone by another; pros- 
 trated, however, by fatigue he immediately went to bed 
 and had me called to him at the same moment. The 
 first words he spoke were an eager demand to know 
 what had been the meaning of this National Guard in 
 Paris. I answered: That it had been insignificant, 
 without any aim ; and, which was more important, that 
 if it had not been for coercive measures and the rumour 
 that had been circulated as to the possibility of a riot 
 amongst 100,000 workmen of the faubourgs, not a 
 29
 
 41 8 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 single citizen would have presented himself; and that 
 their disbanding had been effected to the general 
 satisfaction. As to the corps under me I described 
 its composition, making no secret of its originally 
 hostile spirit, which I palliated on the ground of the 
 natural discontent of bankers and traders in time of 
 war. 
 
 The Emperor interrupted me by recriminations against 
 this class of his subjects, which he believed to be 
 hostile to him. I calmed him by speaking of the better 
 feeling with which we had parted. But as the names 
 of some whom he knew to be against him had been 
 mentioned, his anger against them broke out afresh 
 and became even threatening. It is true that these 
 were ardent, aggressive, and slanderous men, full 
 of self-love, which gave a certain hold upon them. I 
 commented on this, saying that they could be won 
 over by a few favours, and that I had taken care to 
 assure myself of this. He then fell into a reflection 
 of which I took advantage to retire, well pleased that 
 he had not thought of interrogating me concerning 
 the quarrel of the two ministers, which, out of prudence, 
 I did not at all care to be mixed up with. This also 
 saved me from replies which would have been too 
 much like a denunciation. 
 
 The next day, however, during a conversation on 
 this subject with the Grand Marshal Duroc when I 
 was less on my guard, I perceived by the manner in 
 which he listened to me, that the conversation might 
 be carried higher and further than I had any intention 
 of. Indeed the very next day I saw the two ministers 
 arrive at Fontainebleau : first Clarck, who left the 
 Emperor's study in a very excited condition, and then
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 419 
 
 Fouche, whose colloquy with the Emperor had lasted 
 longer. I knew that in such circumstances it was the 
 Emperor's habit to back up his own reproaches by- 
 citing the names of those whose opinions or words 
 had aroused his attention. I therefore waited for 
 Fouche's departure so as to ascertain by his counte- 
 nance on first catching sight of me, whether my out- 
 pourings of the previous evening had not made a 
 dangerous enemy of this minister. 
 
 This apprehension was not long of realisation. 
 Fouche came out, and seeing me out of the corner of 
 his eye without appearing to have taken any notice, 
 he began to walk across the room quickly with his 
 customary uneasiness. As for me, carelessly leaning 
 against the marble console w^hich is still opposite to 
 the fireplace, I was resolutely waiting in silence, 
 when coming straight up at last, he accosted me, and 
 brusquely proposed a walk in the forest. This I ac- 
 cepted, preferring an explanation, however stormy, to 
 a smouldering grudge, most dangerous in a chief of 
 the police. 
 
 This was w^hat he thought fit to tell me w'ith his 
 customary cunning. It is probable that the Emperor, 
 by reason of my confidences to the Grand Marshal, 
 had reminded his minister in the bitterness of his 
 reproaches, of his sorry reputation, without diminishing 
 any of the sanguinary and revolutionary colours which 
 the public and Clarck had laid on so thickl}^ This 
 was no doubt the reason, that with the view of rehab- 
 ilitating it, Fouche's first care, while still fresh from 
 this scene, was to relate his entire life to me, a nar- 
 rative which I found in my notes written that very 
 day, and which seemed to me worth preserving.
 
 420 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 " M. de Segur," he said, " many suppositions are 
 " originated and many stories are invented about me. It 
 " is said that I have been a priest, and that I am married 
 " to a nun. The truth is that brought up in the Oratory, 
 " I did not even receive the tonsure ; and as for my mar- 
 " riage, it took place in 1789, an epoch when priests did 
 " not marry and when nuns were not taken in marriage. 
 
 " Another equally absurd supposition regarding me is 
 " that I am said to be a revolutionary. Lyons is given 
 " as an instance. There is in all this a share of ignor- 
 " ance, confusion, and anachronism. It ma}^^ be con- 
 " ceived that it is sometimes needful to run with the 
 " hounds, to submit to certain necessities ; but the fact 
 " is that being sent there, after the sacking of that 
 " town, I came back disgusted, with a report against 
 " Robespierre, and from that moment up to 9th Ther- 
 " midor I was his open rival. 
 
 "Robespierre was installed at the Jacobins, and I 
 "in the Committees whence I sent him out; you shall 
 " see ! I was myself a Jacobin, but there were two 
 "kinds. As for us, we were not popular; we talked 
 " about equality, but at bottom we were aristocrats. 
 " Yes, greater aristocrats perhaps than anyone ! 
 
 " The Jacobins of the opposite party, like Hulin 
 " for example, were mere loafers ; they shouted 
 " from the pit ; we looked down upon them from the 
 " boxes ; it was Robespierre's agents who flattered the 
 " populace ; Robespierre was their head, their soul, be- 
 " lieving he would reign by them and use them to crush 
 " the Convention ; but we were his antagonists, and I 
 " the foremost. He feared me ; I had known him from 
 "his youth; we were at the same academy; I had then 
 " had opportunities of showing him his inefficiency — his
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 42 1 
 
 "relative inefficiency — for he was misjudged. He 
 " possessed some talent, a strong and persevering will ; 
 " a certain simplicity, no greed ; but he was swollen with 
 " pride which I had humiliated. This was quite sufficient 
 "to make him my mortal enemy. His malicious and 
 "envious disposition would never forgive it, any more 
 " than he forgave Lacuee whom he would have had 
 " guillotined but for Carnot. And that simply because 
 " once, at Metz, I think, during some academic com- 
 " petition, Lacuee's notes had been preferred to his own. 
 " Having been sent for to Paris, Lacuee would have 
 "been lost from the very moment of his arrival, if, 
 " acting, on Carnot's advice, he had not escaped by 
 "one door at the very moment when the gendarmes 
 "were entering by the other to seize him and deliver 
 " up his head to Robespierre's wounded self-love. 
 
 " I felt that it would not do to seek out a man of 
 " that kind in his club, that he would play me some 
 "dirty Jacobin trick; that I should be overwhelmed and 
 "crushed and that if I wanted to resist him I must 
 " choose some other ground, that is to say the Convention 
 " itself and its Committees. 
 
 "On my return to Lyons I commenced proceedings there 
 " by a report on what ought to be done to check the 
 " entire disorganisation of this province, of which I 
 " accused Robespierre. Everyone was surprised, even 
 " terrified at my audacity, amongst others, Carnot, who 
 " embraced me in his emotion, praising my courage, but 
 " warning me that it would cost me my head. That 
 " did not stop me, I still went on ; and addressing myself 
 " to all the enemies of the Dictator, whether in private, 
 " or in meetings which I convoked as the head of public 
 " instruction, I wound them up, I encouraged them, and
 
 42 2 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 "decided the Committee to call upon Robespierre to 
 " defend himself before them. This would have placed 
 " him in a false position, and he would not do it ; he 
 " refused to appear, and shut himself up at the Jacobins 
 " where I proposed to attack him, have him seized as 
 " a rebel, and thrown into the river. 
 
 " We were consulting as to the means to be employed 
 " at the time of the 9th Therm idor, the day when Tallien, 
 " alone and unexpectedly, without having warned us, 
 " and knowing nothing of our own plans, forestalled us 
 " by denouncing Robespierre as the tyrant of his col- 
 " leagues. He quoted me in support of this accusation, 
 " to which Robespierre replied, that it was a duel between 
 " him and me. You know the rest. But what is not 
 " known is that under the Directorate 'it was I who 
 " destroyed the tail of this party after having thus fought 
 " its head ! 
 
 "It was still a question of the Jacobins; not those 
 " of the Convention to which I had belonged ; those had 
 "wanted to overthrow Royalty, and substitute a Repub- 
 " lie for it ; they had a great end in view, whilst these 
 " of the Directorate had none at all. 
 
 " Their club, reconstructed in the riding hall, already 
 " comprised 3,000 brothers and friends. They were be- 
 " ginning to settle down, when I made a report against 
 " them to the Directorate. The conclusion they arrived at 
 " was that in the eyes of Europe, it was humiliating for 
 " the Government to allow this vulgar herd of anarchists 
 " to impose laws upon them. On this, the Directorate 
 "divided and uncertain, and not daring to come to a 
 " decision, sent my proposition to the Five Hundred. 
 " This caused a crisis, all the more that Bernadotte, 
 "then Minister of War; Marbot, Commandant of Paris;
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 423 
 
 " and Jourdan, President of the Five Hundred, supported 
 " these Jacobins. They raised the cry of t3'-ranny, they 
 "forsook me, I was on the point of being sacrificed; 
 " but I did not hesitate. I sent for Bernadotte, and 
 " said to him : ' Idiot ! where are you going to, and what 
 " 'do you want to do? It would have been all right in 
 " "93, when there was everything to gain by making 
 " ' and unmaking. But what we wanted then, we 
 " ' possess to-day. And as we have got what we wanted 
 "'and should only lose by going on, why do so?' 
 
 " He had nothing to answer to this, and yet he per- 
 "sisted. Then I added: 'Do as you please, but just 
 " ' remember this ; that after to-morrow when I shall 
 " ' have something to say to your club, if I find you at the 
 " ' head of it, your own shall tumble off your shoulders. 
 " ' I give you my word of honour, and I shall keep it. ' 
 " This argument brought him to a decision. 
 
 " As for Jourdan, the next day at the Council of the 
 " Five Hundred, at the moment when he and his 
 " partisans were beginning to vociferate, declaring that 
 " the Minister of Police was to be put beyond the 
 " pale of the law, they were interrupted by a thunder 
 " of cavalry. This was a regiment whose chief be- 
 " longed to me. I had ordered him to execute this 
 " manoeuvre, on a given signal to go at a hard trot 
 " round and round the hall of the Assembly, making 
 " as much noise as possible. This succeeded perfectly. 
 " At the sudden and unexpected sound of the clash of 
 " arms, words of command, and military movements, 
 " the most noisy of the lot were completely terrified ; 
 " their shouts died away in their throats, those of our 
 "friends overpowered them; and that very evening the 
 "riding hall was closed to the Jacobins. Repulsed
 
 424 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP. 
 
 " from there, they tried to reunite at the Palace of 
 " Salm when I again had them turned out ; after which 
 " some arrests accompanied by many threats, were 
 "enough to put an end to this carmagnole.'' 
 
 In this style Fouche, apparently desirous of proving 
 that he was on our side, and the most useful of friends 
 or the most dangerous of enemies, held forth for an 
 hour. When he had come to the end of this singu- 
 larly naive apology, he left me in the full conviction 
 that he had greatly edified me; that between the two 
 shades of Robespierre's Terrorism and his Jacobinism, I 
 should draw a great and flattering distinction in his 
 honour; that this would cause me to overlook in his 
 person the regicide, the proconsul, the signer of so 
 many bloody executions, who had sustained his struggle 
 against Robespierre by making us lose our heads; 
 and that I could not fail to admire the genius with 
 which, as soon as he personally was satisfied with the 
 fruit of his labours, he had known when to stop, to 
 veer round, and associate himself with his victims. 
 
 My conclusions were of an entirely opposite nature. 
 If it were possible to recognise in this extraordinary 
 justification, an individual disgusted with the crimes to 
 which he owed his elevation after these crimes had 
 become useless and even harmful to him, I saw over 
 and above this the most audacious of intriguers, always 
 ready to risk revolutionary or other means to render 
 himself indispensable at any price in the position he 
 had won for himself: a dangerous minister to the Gov- 
 ernment that employed him, ever ready to betray it^ 
 and only serving it for personal ends.
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 NAPOLEON AT M. DE CHATEAUBRIAND'S RECEPTION 
 INTO THE ACADEMY. 
 
 NAPOLEON seldom deceived himself as to the 
 sentiments which he inspired. One day address- 
 ing my father, he questioned him as to what he thought 
 would be said about him after his death. My father 
 was beginning to expatiate on our regrets when the 
 Emperor interrupted him with a " Not at all ! they will 
 say: — ouf! " and he accompanied this exclamation 
 with a gesture of relief which expressed in the most 
 significant manner the following words : " At last we 
 are going to be able to breathe and enjoy ourselves ! " 
 
 But outside of these private conversations, or the dis- 
 cussions of his Council, in public it was often dangerous 
 to find oneself in Napoleon's road. This may be seen 
 from an incident at this epoch in which my father figured. 
 
 Chenier had just died, and M. de Chateaubriand had 
 inscribed himself on the roll of candidates who were 
 desirous of succeeding to him in the Academic Franfatse, 
 over which my father then presided. M. de Chateau- 
 briand came to ask for his vote and the exercise of 
 any influence that he might possess amongst his con- 
 freres. My father answered frankly that he had come 
 too late for this occasion as his vote and influence were 
 
 42s
 
 426 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 held in reserve for M. Aignan, the translator of the Iliad; 
 that as a matter of fact, it was forbidden by the statutes 
 that such promises should be made to anyone, although 
 one could keep one made to oneself, and such was his 
 position, M. de Chateaubriand, however, was so 
 actively persistent, he alleged such powerful claims, 
 and so positively promised his vote and that of his 
 friend to M. Aignan for the first place vacant after 
 Chenier, that my father, recognising the just claims of 
 the author of the Genie du Christiafiisme prevailed upon 
 M. Aignan to cede to him a seat of which he had 
 already felt assured. 
 
 M. de Chateaubriand seemed particularly desirous of 
 obtaining this seat, and strictly followed out the custom 
 imposed upon every candidate that he himself should 
 solicit the suffrages on which his election depended. 
 He was elected. He knew that in his Reception dis- 
 course he would have to pronounce the eulogium of 
 the academician whom he succeeded. Now Chenier had 
 been one of the regicides who had had a seat at the 
 Institute. M. de Chateaubriand composed his discourse 
 with much art. His aim was evidently not to displease 
 any of his new colleagues, not excepting Napoleon. 
 He eloquently praised the Emperor's fame ; he exalted 
 the grandeur of republican sentiments, but he said that 
 in Chenier he could only praise the man of letters, 
 remembering in this connection that England for forty 
 years had never boasted of Milton, who had not voted 
 for the execution of Charles the First, but had pronounced 
 its panegyric. 
 
 This, like all other Reception discourses, before be- 
 ing publicly delivered, had to be examined by a Com- 
 mission of twelve members of the French Academv.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 427 
 
 The opinion of these academicians was equally divided ; 
 six thinking that it would produce an undesirable 
 impression ; the other six on the contrary, thinking of 
 it favourably. IVIy father and M. de Fontanes were 
 among the latter; but one of the former six, Regnauld 
 de Saint Jean d'Angely, in his too impetuous appre- 
 hensions, immediately informed the Emperor of this 
 incident which was in his eyes rather political than 
 literary, communicating to Napoleon his own exagger- 
 ated impression of the lecture, but loyally returned 
 to inform my father and M. de Fontanes of this species 
 of denunciation. Thus forewarned, M. de Fontanes 
 prudently forbore for a week from paying his court 
 to the Emperor ; but my father the next evening exposed 
 himself to the storm. 
 
 It was at St. Cloud where there had been a dramatic 
 representation. The Emperor meeting my father as 
 he came out of his box said to him abruptly : " You 
 must attend my evening reception, Sir ! " My father 
 then followed Napoleon, who, as soon as he perceived 
 him in advance of the numerous assemblage of officers of 
 the Court standing around him in a circle, came straight 
 up to him, saying without any preamble : " Do these 
 "men of letters intend to set France on fire? I have 
 " used all my efforts to appease parties, to re-establish 
 "quiet, and these ideologists would re-establish anarchy! 
 "I would have you know, sir, that the resurrection of 
 "the monarchy is a mystery; it is lil'e the ark of 
 " Noah, those who attempt to touch it might be struck 
 "by a thunderbolt! How dare the Academy talk of 
 " regicides when I who wear a crown, and who ought 
 "to hate them much more, I dine with them, and sit 
 " down by the side of Cambaceres ! "
 
 428 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 "Your Majesty," replied my father, "is probably 
 " speaking of the Commission of the Institute; but I fail 
 " to see in what it has deserved such reproaches. " 
 "It deserves much greater," retorted the Emperor; 
 " and you and M. de Fontanes, as a Councillor of State 
 " and Grand Master of the University respectively, you 
 " both deserve that I should send you to Vincennes ! " 
 My father replied : " I do not believe you capable. Sire, 
 " of this injustice. It may be considered a natural thing 
 " that the death of Louis Seize should be censured, with- 
 " out thinking it a cause of offence to a Government 
 " which has just erected expiatory altars at Saint Denis ! " 
 
 At these words the Emperor, stamping his foot, 
 exclaimed in anger: "I know what I ought to do, 
 " and when and how I should do it. It is not for you 
 " to give your opinion, you are not at the Council of 
 " State here. And I do not ask your opinion ! " 
 
 "I do not give it," answered my father, "I justify 
 "myself!" 
 
 " How ? " resumed the Emperor, " can you justify such 
 " an impertinence ? " 
 
 "Sire," then said my father, " M. de Chateaubriand, 
 " in his discourse, compares Chenier to Milton, who 
 "was a great man: and while condemning him, he 
 ■" only treats Chenier's republicanism and vote as the 
 " error of a great soul. I see nothing unseemly in that." 
 
 " In short," continued Napoleon, "instead of pronounc- 
 " ing the eulogium of his predecessor, he condemned all 
 " regicides, of whom there are some in the Institute. 
 " Would you have dared to do the same, to their faces ? " 
 
 " That is the very thing I did do. Sire, " exclaimed 
 " my father, " in my political tableau of Europe, whilst 
 "they were still in power during the Republic; and in
 
 OF THE EAIPEROR NAPOLEON I. 429 
 
 " that I Stigmatised as a crime what M. de Chateaubriand 
 " only terms an error ! These gentlemen bore me no 
 " ill-will on that account ; they are more accustomed 
 "to political arguments than you think." 
 
 " Sir, " retorted the Emperor, " it is one thing to read 
 " a work quietly in one's study, a discourse pronounced 
 "in public is quite a different matter; it would have 
 " caused a shameful scandal ! " 
 
 "Allowing that," replied my father, "it would have 
 "been at the most a twenty-four hours' scandal; by 
 "forbidding it, the thing will last perhaps a month! " 
 
 "I must tell you again. Sir," the Emperor sharply 
 replied, " that I do not ask your advice. You preside 
 " over the second class of the Institute ; I order you 
 " to inform it that I do not choose that politics should 
 "be treated of in its sittings." 
 
 " In that case. Sire, " resumed my father, " I must give 
 " up the eulogium of Malesherbes which has been 
 " entrusted to me." 
 
 " I do not see any great loss in that, " answered 
 Napoleon. Then he added in his most abrupt, imperious 
 tones : " Go ! and execute my orders, and bear in mind 
 "that if the class should disobey, I will break it up 
 " like a disorderly club ! " 
 
 Thus concluding, the Emperor bowed to the com- 
 pany, and each retired, with downcast head, avoiding 
 my father, with the exception of Duroc who came up, 
 and observed that if he had held his tongue, this 
 scene would have passed over in a second. 
 
 On the next morning my father, resolved on an 
 explanation did not fail to attend the levee, where 
 several looked coldly upon him. When they had 
 taken their departure, he remained, in spite of Ram-
 
 430 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 buteau, then Chamberlain, and now Prefect of Paris, 
 who fearing that he might ruin himself, vainly tried 
 to draw him away into the adjoining room. The 
 Emperor, becoming aware that my father had stayed 
 on alone in his private room, asked him with some 
 gentleness, what he wanted. To which my father 
 replied: — " To speak to you. Sire, respecting the scene 
 " of last night ; respect alone prevented me from saying 
 " many things which I was anxious to reply. Nothing 
 "is more painful for those who are attached to you 
 " than to listen to such bitter reproaches. If you will 
 " not allow the maxims of your Government to be 
 " contradicted, it is necessary, for us at least, that they 
 " should not be enigmas. The approbation which you 
 " bestowed upon what I wrote on the death of the King, 
 " the severe expressions which you recently made use 
 " of in the Throne Room against the regicides, and 
 " finally, your expiatory ordinance for Saint-Denis, 
 " render incomprehensible to me the severe manner in 
 " which you spoke to me yesterday, and which has 
 " greatly affected me. " 
 
 My father then explained to him in detail all that 
 had taken place during the Commission. He repre- 
 sented to him that such a discourse, even allowing it 
 to be mischievous, could only harm its author, whilst, 
 if disallowed, it would turn against the thing itself, the 
 interdiction thus appearing to encourage an act which had 
 been rightly and politically reprobated. He concluded 
 by saying that were literature to be too much fettered, 
 and confined to mere grammatical discussions, one of 
 the most brilliant rays of the glory of his reign would 
 be obscured, if not extinguished, higher literature, like 
 morality, being inseparable from politics.
 
 OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 431 
 
 To all this the Emperor, who had listened attentively, 
 replied thus: — "I am not angry with you. It is a 
 " question of policy with me. I said yesterday what I 
 " intended to be repeated. There is a good deal of 
 " party spirit in all this. If any other than M. de 
 " Chateaubriand had made such a discourse, I should 
 " not have heeded it ; and this you should have known 
 " as a statesman. Besides, " he added with a laugh, 
 " you must admit that men of letters are always 
 " aiming at effect, and love to address themselves to 
 " the passions. You must also allow that, as a man of 
 " letters and a man of taste, M, de Chateaubriand has 
 " been guilty of indecorum ; for if you wanted to praise 
 " a woman with one eye, you would speak of every 
 " other feature except the one in which she is deficient ! " 
 
 My father laughed at this sally, whereupon the 
 Emperor resumed : " Come now, you are no longer 
 " angry, neither am I: but you must prevent the In- 
 " stitute from discussing politics, for it is easier to 
 " stop that kind of thing than to moderate it. " 
 
 My father then opened the door, and as all saw the 
 Emperor dismiss him in the most gracious and kindly 
 manner, they immediately gathered round him. 
 
 Next day M. de Chateaubriand wrote to my father 
 to thank him for the steadfastness with which he had 
 defended him. On the following Thursday the Academy 
 deliberated on the report of its Commission. The 
 conclusion arrived at was that its Director should 
 request M. de Chateaubriand to eliminate from his 
 discourse all that related to the death of the King. 
 
 M. de Chateaubriand was waiting in an adjoining 
 room: my father went to convey this decision to him. 
 The first words of the new Academician were that he
 
 432 MEMOIRS OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP 
 
 would not submit to any curtailment. These were 
 also his last words, although modified in form ; for my 
 father having answered that he would make no use 
 of this reply until repeated elsewhere, and in a calmer 
 frame of mind, M. de Chateaubriand came the next 
 day to see my father, and not finding him in, wrote 
 at his desk : " That just now he was not well enough 
 " to do any work, and would not send in another Re- 
 " ception discourse to the Academy until his health 
 " should allow of his paying sufficient attention to it. " 
 
 We all know that this feigned indisposition lasted 
 on to the Restoration. 
 
 The Restoration! Meaning thereby conquest and 
 invasion turned back against ourselves! Oh! how far 
 we then thought ourselves from such a catastrophe! 
 or rather we did not think of it at all. How was it 
 possible we should believe in such a complete trans- 
 formation of so great a fortune and of so many lesser 
 fortunes, in such a thorough destruction of so power- 
 ful an organisation, and of so many interests, habits, 
 thoughts, and feelings bound up in it? Yet this year 
 1 8 1 1 was to be the last of the ascendant world-dominion 
 of Napoleon and of our Empire. Our star henceforth 
 would only emit brilliant but evanescent and delusive 
 rays, like flickering lights which only shoot up with 
 renewed lustre before expiring altogether, because in 
 dying, they consume with themselves all by which 
 they had up to that moment been sustained and sur- 
 rounded I 
 
 FINIS.
 
 INDEX 
 
 A. 
 
 Abrewskow, General, 3 40. 
 
 ^neas, 265. 
 
 Aguesseau, M. d' (Uncle of Phi- 
 lippe de Segur), vi, X, 408. 
 
 Aignan, 426. 
 
 Alexander I (Emperor of Russia), 
 85, 226, 227, 27,1, 232, 236, 
 251, 252, 253, 258, 259, 2bi, 
 264, 329, 334, 341, 345, 347, 
 
 348, 349, 351, 365, 406. 
 
 Alexander the Great, 302. 
 
 Amiens, Peace of, 85. 
 
 Andlau, Mme. d', 126. ^ 
 
 Angely, Regnauld de Saint Jean d', 
 158, 427. 
 
 Antonio, Don(Infantof Spain), 369. 
 
 Apraxin, Count (Governor of Smo- 
 lensk), 254, 345, 346, 348, 349, 
 
 , 350, 351. 352, 354, 365. 
 Apraxin, Countess, 352. 
 
 Aray, 165. 
 
 Artois, Comte d', 43, 91, 92, 
 Auersberg, Prince of, 222. 
 Augereau, Marshal, 50, 276, 283, 
 
 285, 287, 296. 
 Augustenburg, Duchess of, 56. 
 Augustus I., King of Saxony, 298, 
 Augustus, Prince (Son of Prince 
 
 Ferdinand), 305. 
 AusterHtz, Battle of, 230, 235 to 
 
 257, 263. 
 Ayen, Duchess of, xii. 
 
 30 
 
 B. 
 
 Baden, Hereditary Duke of, 134. 
 
 Bagration, Prince, 208, 225, 226, 
 227. 
 
 Barbe-Marbois, 99, 254.- 
 
 Barrois, General, 396. 
 
 Bassano, Due de, 398. 
 
 Bavaria, Elector of (Maximilian 
 Joseph), 158, 210. 
 
 Bavaria, Princess of, 211. 
 
 Bayanne, Cardinal de, 139, 140. 
 
 Beauharnais, Hortense de (after- 
 wards Queen of Holland), 17, 
 82. 
 
 Beauharnais, Eugene de (afterwards 
 Prince of Ponte-Corvo), 211. 
 
 Belliard, General, 404. 
 
 Beningsen, General, 328. 
 
 Bernadotte, Marshal (afterwards 
 Charles XIV. of Sweden), 50, 
 157, 158, 160, 168, 176, 177, 
 195, 196, 217, 225, 230, 236, 
 246, 247, 248, 250, 254, 257, 
 277, 279, 280, 295, 296, 299, 
 410, 411, 417, 422, 423. 
 
 Bernier (Bishop of Orleans), 141. 
 
 Bernstorf, Danish Minister, 56. 
 
 Berry, Due de, 91. 
 
 Berthier, Marshal (Prince of Neu- 
 chatel), 115, 116, 167, 198, 199, 
 200, 201, 203, 232, 253, 291, 
 302, 387, 389, 398, 403. 
 
 Bertrand, General, 188, 222.
 
 434 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Bessieres, Marshal, 378, 379,417. 
 
 Beurnonville, General, 63, 66. 
 
 Blucher, Field-Marshal, 292, 313. 
 
 Bonaparte, Caroline (Mme. Mural), 
 82, III. 
 
 Bonaparte, Elisa (Mme. Bacciochi), 
 82. 
 
 Bonaparte, Jerome (King of West- 
 phalia), 274. 
 
 Bonaparte, Joseph (King of Naples), 
 
 116, 117, 270, 272, 273, 
 Bonaparte, Mme (afterwards Em- 
 press Josephine), 43, 63, 82, 115, 
 
 117, 132, 134, 158, 162, 163, 
 
 175. 299. 
 Bonaparte, Louis (King of Holland), 
 
 82, 85, 411. 
 Bonaparte, Prince Lucien, 74. 
 Bourbon, Duchess of (Mother of 
 
 the Due d'Enghien), 108. 
 Bourbons, the, 95, 100, loi, 105, 
 
 107, 369. 
 Bourck, Colonel, 290, 309. 
 Bruix, Admiral, 13 1. 
 Brune, Marshal, 38, 40, 41, 50, 76. 
 Brunswick, Duke of, 54, 274, 
 
 292, 293. 
 Buxwoden, General, 221, 227. 
 
 c. 
 
 Cadoudal, Georges, 90, 91, 92, 94, 
 
 95. 98, 99, 101. 108, 113, 119, 
 
 125, 135- 
 Caesar, 137, 311. 
 Calder, Sir R. (English Admiral), 
 
 146, 147, 151. 
 Cambaceres (Second Consul), 102, 
 
 127, 411, 427. 
 Campan, Mme., 85. 
 Caprara, Cardinal, 141. 
 Carnot, General (Minister of War), 
 
 10, 421. 
 Castanos, General, 387. 
 Catharine II. (Empress of Russia), 
 
 iir, 52, 345, 347, 355- 
 
 Cato, 124. 
 
 Caulaincourt, General, 45, 67, 93, 
 102, 106, 116, 120, 121, 122, 
 Ib9, 189, 239, 253, 303. 
 
 Cavaignac, Colonel, 34. 
 Chamberlhiac, General, 271. 
 Charlemagne, 132, 134, 135, 136. 
 Charles, Archduke, 216, 224, 227, 
 
 231, 259. 
 Charles I. (King of England), 426. 
 Charles IV. (King of Spain), 68, 
 
 70, 74- 
 Charles V. (Emperor of Germany), 
 
 260. 
 Charles VIII. (King of France), 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Charles XIT. (King of Sweden),342. 
 Chariot, Major, 102, 103, 104, 
 
 ]o6, 107. 
 Charlotte, Queen (Wife of George 
 
 HI.), 163. 
 Chateaubriand, de, 425, 426, 428, 
 
 429, 431, 432. 
 Chenier, Marie Joseph de, 425, 
 
 426, 428. 
 Chouans, 90, 92. 
 Christian VII. (King of Denmark), 
 
 56, 57, 58. 
 Cicero, 268. 
 
 Clajiarede, General, 235. 
 Clarck, General (Minister of War), 
 
 411, 412, 413, 414, 415, 416, 
 
 417, 418, 419. 
 Clermont-Tonnerre, 271, 272. 
 Cobentzel, J. Philipp, 132. 
 Cobentzel, Louis, Comte de, 132. 
 Code Napoleon, the, xv, 88. 
 Colbert, Marshal, 85, 284. 
 Concordat, the, 49, 65, 67. 
 Conde, Prince de, 91, 21 1. 
 Cnniwallis, Admiral Lord, 148. 
 Corneille, 240. 
 
 D. 
 
 Daguerre, 29. 
 
 Danonville, 94, 95. 
 
 Danton, Vll. 
 
 Daru, Count, 152, 153, 154. 
 
 Daumesnil, General, 237. 
 
 Davout, ]\Larshal (Duke of Auer- 
 stsedt), 40, 168, 176, 177, 195, 
 196, 208, 209, 226, 230, 246, 
 252, 255, 259, 264, 277, 279,
 
 INDEX 
 
 435 
 
 280, 290, 292, 293, 294, 295, 
 
 296, 297, 298, 302, 306, 307, 
 
 309, 310, 311, 314, 316, 317, 
 371. 
 
 Decres (Minister), 132, 145, 154. 
 Delmas, General, 65. 
 Deschamps, Major, 362, 366, 367. 
 Dimbowski, Colonel, 46, 
 Dodde, Marshal, 222. 
 Doguereau, 254. 
 Dolgorouki, Prince, 232, 233. 
 Drake, Francis (English Alinister 
 
 in Bavaria), 92, 1 00. 
 Dumas, General, 5, 9, lO, 11,22, 
 
 24. 34. 35. 46, 187, 192, 270. 
 Dumouriez, General, 88, loi, 104, 
 
 105, 212. 
 Dupont, General, i77) i?^, 180, 
 
 184, 201, 219, 220. 
 Duroc, Grand-Marshal, 58, 59, 60, 
 
 61, 68, 77, 78, 85,86,93, III, 
 
 112, 122, 149, 169, 174, 210, 
 227, 238, 252, 253, 255, 303, 
 307. 308, 398, 404, 418, 419, 
 429. 
 
 Durosnel, General, 282, 284, 285. 
 Dziewanowskij Captain, 389, 393. 
 
 t. 
 
 Elchingen, Battle of, 181, 182, 183. 
 Elizabeth, Mamame, 109. 
 Enghien, Due d', 91, 100, 10 1, 
 102, 103, 103, 108, 109, 112, 
 
 113, 115, 118, 212. 
 Exelmans, General, 175, 233, 319, 
 
 320. 
 
 F. 
 
 Fabvier, 219. 
 
 Ferdinand, Archduke, 161, 165, 
 167, 168, 192, 194, 198, 201, 
 202, 203, 204, 230, 231, 259, 
 
 273> 305. 
 Ferdinand IV. (King of Naples), 
 
 57. 
 Ferdinand VII. (King of Spain), 
 
 368, 373. 376, 377. 
 Fesch, Cardinal, 141, 142. 
 
 Finisterre, Battle of, 151. 
 
 Fleury (Actor), 83. 
 
 Fontanes, de, 116, 406, 427, 428. 
 
 Fouche (afterwards Duke of Otran- 
 to), 94, 102, 126, 410, 411, 
 412, 413, 414, 415, 416, 417, 
 419, 424. 
 
 Fouquier-Tinville, Xiir. 
 
 Francis I. (Emperor of Austria). 
 [Francis II. of Germany], 206, 
 210, 216, 221, 258, 261, 262. 
 
 Francis I. (King of France), 260. 
 
 Francisco, Don (Infant of Spain), 
 370. 
 
 Frederick (Prince Royal of Den- 
 mark), 56, 57, 58. 
 
 Frederick the Great, 274, 301, 302, 
 303. 312, 313. 
 
 Frederick Augustus III., Elector of 
 Saxony, 53. 
 
 Frederick William II., (King of 
 Prussia), 53, 54. 
 
 Frederick William III., (King of 
 Prussia), 85, 86, 149,210,216, 
 217, 225, 273, 274, 275, 276, 
 278, 279, 282, 289, 290, 292, 
 293, 294, 295, 299, 305, 306, 
 
 334- 
 Friant, General, 293, 294. 
 
 Fririon, 102. 
 
 G. 
 
 Gaeta, Siege of, 265, 267 10272, 
 
 273- 
 Galitzin, Prince, (Governor of 
 
 Jaroslaf), 355, 356. 
 Galitzin, Princess, 355, 356. 
 Gantheaume, Admiral, 146, 154. 
 Gardanne, General, 265, 268. 
 Gazan, General, 218, 219. 
 George III., (King of England), 
 
 57, 100, 144. 
 Girardin, Colonel Louis de, 412, 
 
 414. 
 Girondins, the, ix. 
 Giulai, General, 199, 210, 211, 
 
 221, 225. 
 Godoi, Prince de la Paix, 68, 70, 
 
 71, 72, 73- 74> 75' 369.
 
 436 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Goethe, 289. 
 Gortchakoff, Prince, -365. 
 Gravina, Admiral, 154. 
 Grenier, General, 66. 
 Grouchy, Marshal, 45. 
 Grunstein, General, 103, 105. 
 Gudin, 223, 292, 293, 294. 
 Gustavus Adolphus, (Gustavus IV., 
 • King of Sweden), 57, 302, 
 Guttenburg, 134. 
 
 H. 
 
 Hatzfeldt, Prince of, 303, 306, 308. 
 Hatzfeldt, Princess of, 307, 308. 
 Haugwitz, Count d' (Prussian Mi- 
 
 . nister), 231. 
 Hautencourt, d',109, 1 10, 112, 122. 
 Hautpoul, General d', 24, 28, 45. 
 Henri IV., 105. 
 Herennius, 268. 
 Hesse, Prince Louis of, 226, 267, 
 
 268, 269, 271. 
 Hesse-Cassel, Princess of (Wife of 
 
 Elector William II.), 311. 
 Hilliers, General Baraguey d', 31, 
 
 45, 177. 178, 230. 
 Hohenlinden, Battle of, 25, 27, 
 
 42, 98. _ 
 Hohenlohe, Prince Frederick Louis 
 
 of, 278, 281, 282, 283, 287, 
 
 295. 313- 
 Hohenzollern, Field-Marshal von, 
 
 201. 
 Hulin, General, 109, no, 112, 113, 
 
 415, 420. 
 Humboldt, Baron von, 87, 312. 
 
 Iphigenia, 241. 
 
 J. 
 
 Jacobins, the, 120, 137, 414, 420, 
 
 422, 423. 
 Jellachich, General, 20I, 204. 
 Jena, Battle of, 277 to 288. 
 John, Archduke, 176, 204. 
 Jourdan, Marshal, 296, 423. 
 
 Junot, General, 239, 240, 242, 253. 
 
 K. 
 
 Kaminski, Field-Marshal, 328, 337, 
 
 338- 
 Kellerman, Marshal, 208, 296; 
 Kienmayer, 163, 165, 204. 
 Klein, General, 174. 
 Klenau, 199, 204. 
 Korjietulski, Major, 388, 390, 393. 
 Krazinski, 389, 393. 
 Kutusow, Marshal, 208, 216, 217, 
 
 218, 219, 221, 225, 226, 227, 
 
 229, 231, 
 
 L. 
 
 Labarb^e, Colonel de, 10, 13, 26, 
 
 28. 
 La Boissiere, General, 33. 
 Lacrosse, Admiral, 151. 
 Lacuee, General, 421. 
 La Fayette, General de, XVI. 
 Lagrange, Colonel de, 159, 394. 
 Lajolois, General, 92, 95. 
 Lalande, 139. 
 
 Lallemande, General, 148, 155. 
 Lannes, Marshal, 49, 50, 162, 177, 
 
 178, 179, 185, 186, 187, 188, 
 
 202, 208, 220, 221, 222, 224, 
 
 225, 230, 246, 247, 256, 276, 
 
 277, 278, 280, 283, 284, 285, 
 
 286, 287, 296, 329, 387. 
 
 Larrey, (Surgeon), 398. 
 Latouche-Treville (Aflmiral), 132. 
 La Tour, de, 193, 194. 
 Laudon, General, 38, 39, 183. 
 Lauriston, Marshal de, 147. 
 Lavalctte, Count, 126. 
 Lebrun, Colonel, 239, 253, 254. 
 Lebrun, (Third Consul), 102. 
 Lecourbe, General, 66. 
 Lefebvre, Marshal, 291, 296. 
 Le Grand, (Valet), 400, 
 Lejeune, Major, 387. 
 Lemarois, Colonel, 217, 239,253. 
 Lenas, 268. 
 
 Letort, General Count, 288. 
 Levesque (Historian), 347,
 
 INDEX 
 
 437 
 
 Lichtenstein, Prince de, 167, 199, 
 
 204, 210, 211, 261. 
 Lille, Mayor of, 157. 
 Louis XV., 66, 403, 
 Louis XVI., V, viri, ix, X, xvr, 
 
 9, 108, 109, 355, 428, 430, 
 
 431- 
 Louis Philippe, (King of the 
 
 French), 87. 
 Louis of Prussia, Prince, 275. 
 Louisa, (Queen of Prussia), 86, 
 
 274, 289, 290, 304. 
 rOzier, General Bouvet de, 95. 
 Lucchesini, Marquis de, 274. 
 Luneville, Peace of, 48, 51. 
 
 M. 
 
 Macdonald, Marshal, 21, 22, 24, 
 25, 29, 30, 31, 34, 35, 37, 38, 
 39, 4I' 42, 44. 45. 47, 48, 50, 
 52, 53, 54, 55, 59, 61, 62, 65, 
 66, 76. 
 
 Machiavelli, 72. 
 
 Mack, Marshal, 161, 162, 163, 
 164, 165, 166, 167, 169, 176, 
 177, 178, 184, 192, 193, 194, 
 195, 196, 197, 199, 200, 201, 
 202, 204, 206, 221, 267. 
 
 Macon, General, 214, 239, 253. 
 
 MagoD, Rear-admiral, 147. 
 
 Malebranche, 403. 
 
 Malesherbes, xii, 429. 
 
 Marbot (Commandant of Paris), 
 422. 
 
 Marengo, Battle of, 12, 161, 176, 
 214. 
 
 Maria Amelia, Electress of Saxony, 
 
 53. 
 
 Maria Louisa (Queen of Spain, 
 
 Wife of Charles IV.), 70. 
 Marie Antoinette, III, iv, V, xvi, 
 
 109, 211, 
 Marmont, Marshal, 177, 180, 204, 
 
 222, 224, 226, 230. 
 Massena, Marshal, 42, 266, 270, 
 
 272, 296. 
 Melas, General de, 161, 176. 
 Michaud (Actor), 83. 
 Miloradowitch, 208. 
 
 Milton, 426, 428. 
 Mole (Actor), 83. 
 MoUendorf, Field-Marshal, 292,294. 
 Moncey, Marshal, 38, 39, 40, 51. 
 Montagnards, the, 137, 138, 140. 
 Montbrun, General, 389, 391, 399. 
 Morand, General, 293, 294. 
 Moreau, General, 21, 22, 28, 29, 
 
 42, 44, 45, 49, 50, 65, 66, 92, 
 
 95, 96, 97, 98, 124, 125, 165, 
 
 209. 
 Mortier, Marshal, 169, 216, 217, 
 
 218, 219, 220, 225, 230. 
 Moustaphine, Prince, 352, 353, 355, 
 
 358. 
 
 Mouton, Marshal (Count de Lobau). 
 128, 159, 184, 239, 243, 253. 
 
 Muller,Jeande,(Historian),3i2,3i3. 
 
 Murat, Joachim (Grand Duke of 
 Berg, King of Naples), 94, 109, 
 no, III, 115, 162, 163, 164, 
 168, 171, 172, 177, 178, 179, 
 186, 201, 202, 208, 215, 217, 
 220, 221, 222, 224, 225, 226, 
 229, 230, 239, 246, 247, 256, 
 258, 277, 287, 288, 289, 299, 
 313, 3^8, 369, 370, 371, 372, 
 374- 
 
 N. 
 
 Nansouty, General, 202. 
 
 Napoleon Bonaparte (First Con- 
 sul, afterwards Emperor), xv, 
 XVI, 2, 7, 9, II, 13, 16, 23, 
 41, 42, 45, 47, 49, 50, 51, 52, 
 58, 59, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 
 67, 68, 69, 70, 74, 75, 76, 77, 
 78, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 88, 89, 
 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 
 98, 99, 100, loi, 106, 107, no, 
 III, 113, 115, 116, 117, 118, 
 119, 120, 121, 122, 124, 125, 
 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 
 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 
 138, 139, 141, 142, 143, 144, 
 
 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 
 
 151, 152, 153, 154, 156, 158, 
 
 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 
 
 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171,
 
 438 
 
 INDEX 
 
 172, 173, 174, 175. 176, 177, 
 
 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 
 
 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 
 
 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 
 
 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 
 
 204, 205, 206, 208, 209, 210, 
 
 211, 212, 213, 214, 216, 217, 
 
 220, 222, 224, 225, 226, 229, 
 
 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 
 
 237, 239, 240, 242, 243, 244, 
 
 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 
 
 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 257, 
 
 258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263, 
 
 265, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277, 
 
 278, 279, 280, 282, 283, 284, 
 
 285, 286, 287, 289, 290, 291, 
 
 292, 294, 295, 296, 297, 298, 
 
 299, 300, 302, 303, 304, 305, 
 
 306, 307, 308, 309, 310, 311, 
 
 312, 313, 314, 315, 317, 319, 
 
 327, 328, 329, 331, 332, 341, 
 
 344. 347, 348, 349, 35^, 367, 
 
 369, 370, 371, 372, 374, 378, 
 
 379, 380, 381, 382, 385, 386, 
 
 388, 389, 390, 391, 394, 396, 
 
 398, 399, 403, 404, 405, 406. 
 409, 411, 412, 413, 414, 415, 
 416, 417, 418, 419, 425, 426, 
 427, 428, 429, 430, 431, 432. 
 
 Nelson, Lord, 52, 132, 146,148,155. 
 
 Ney, Marshal, 159, 160, 163, 164, 
 165, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 
 183, 185, 186, 187, 188, 192, 
 197, 200, 203, 204, 207, 277, 
 282, 284, 285, 287, 296, 299, 
 
 387. 
 Niegolewski, 389, 393. 
 Noah, 427. 
 Nybourg, 55. 
 
 o. 
 
 CEdipus, 241. 
 
 Ordener, General, 102, 106, 109, 
 
 115, 253- 
 Ostermann-Tolstoi, Count, 317, 
 
 320, 324, 326, 327, 328, 340. 
 Oudinot, Marshal, 202, 215, 225, 
 
 227, 238. 
 Ouvarof, 329. 
 
 P. 
 
 Paul I. (Emperor of Russia), 52, 
 
 57, 349- 
 Petchskin, Major, 345, 346. 
 Pfersdorf, 103, 104. 
 Phsedra, 241. 
 Philip Augustus, 240. 
 Philippe VI. (King of France), 144. 
 Pichegru, General, 88, 90, 92, 95, 
 
 96, 97, 98, 99, 1 10, 124, 125, 
 
 135- 
 Pire, General, 16, 389, 391, 399. 
 
 Pitt, William, 88, 132, 149, 150. 
 
 Pius VI., V. 
 
 Pius VII., 127, 135, 136, 137, 
 
 138, 139, 14", 141, 142- 
 Plutarch, XVI. 
 Polignac, Armand de, 126. 
 Polignac, M. de, 90. 
 Polignacs, the, 98, 118. 
 Popilius, 268. 
 Prometheus, 403. 
 Pully, General, 45. 
 
 Querelle (Conspirator), 94. 
 R. 
 
 Racine, 241. 
 
 Rambuteau, Comte de, 429, 430. 
 
 Rapp, General, 143, 169, 189, 
 
 239, 252, 253, 258, 289, 319, 
 
 320. 
 Ravignan, Mme. de, 374. 
 Real (Councillor of State), 94, 10 1, 
 
 115, 116, 117, 118, 119. 
 Regnier (afterwards Duke of Massa), 
 
 97, 98, "102. 
 Reich, Baroness de, 106. 
 Reign of Terror, vn, xiv, 38, 56, 
 Reille, Marshal, 148. 
 Revolution, the French, III, 3, 26, 
 
 56, 63, 109, 124. 
 Richard Coeur de Lion, 220. 
 Riviere, M. de, 90, 98, 118. 
 Robespierre, 56, 420,421,422,424. 
 Rochambeau, General, 45.
 
 INDEX 
 
 439 
 
 Roederer, Comte de, 76. 
 
 Rohan, Princesse de, 105, 106, 
 
 108, 112. 
 Rossilly, Admiral, 155. 
 Rowiczki, Lieutenant, 389, 393. 
 Rrzyzanowski, Lieutenant, 393. 
 Ruchel, General, 278, 282, 283, 
 
 285, 287. 
 Rudowsld, 389, 392, 393. 
 Rumbolt, Sir George, 135. 
 Rustan (the Mameluke), 380. 
 
 s. 
 
 Sachetti, Marquis, 140. 
 
 St. Cyr, Marshal, 50, 69, 70, 72, 73, 
 
 74. 371- 
 Saint Hilaire, General, 1 70, 17 1 
 
 172, 173, 174, 249, 251, 281. 
 Saint-Juan, Brigadier-General, 388, 
 
 397, 398. 
 
 Savary, General, 94, 100, no, 
 116, 117, 231, 232, 233, 253, 
 262, 264, 380, 394. 
 
 Saxe- Weimar, Grand Duke of, 288. 
 
 Saxe- Weimar, Grand Duchess of, 
 289. 
 
 Schee, 108. 
 
 Schmettau, General, 289, 292, 293, 
 
 Schmide, Lieutenant, 105. 
 
 Schmidt, Colonel, 219. 
 
 Schulemberg, Comte de, 308. 
 
 Sebastiani, General, 221, 222, 227. 
 
 Segur, Count de (Father of Phi- 
 lippe), Recollections of. III to 
 XVI., mentioned, 5, 6, 46, 52, 
 53, 61, 65, 76, 78, 79,80, 113, 
 114, 118, 120, 121, 126, 127, 
 
 136, 137, I38> 158, 332, 341, 
 345, 346, 348, 350, 365, 403, 
 404, 406, 425, 427, 428, 429, 
 430, 431, 432. 
 
 Segur, Mme. de (Wife of Philippe), 
 
 332. 
 Segur, Marshal de (Grandfather of 
 Philippe), X, XI, 7, 59, 66, 67, 
 
 137, 404- 
 
 Segur, Vicomte de (Uncle of Phi- 
 lippe, 3. 
 Seneca, 124. 
 
 Serrurier, Marshal, 413, 415. 
 Smith, Admiral Sir Sidney, 143. 
 Smith, Spencer, 100. 
 Soult, Marshal, 129, 143, 169, 
 
 177, 180, 192, 204, 213, 217, 
 
 220, 225, 229, 230, 232, 246. 
 
 247, 249, 251, 252, 255, 276, 
 
 280, 281, 378, 379. 
 Stael, Mme. de, 12. 
 Suchet, Marshal, 188, 225, 276, 
 
 280, 281, 285, 371. 
 Swetchine, Colonel, 337, 33 8, 339. 
 
 340. 
 
 T. 
 
 Tacitus, XVI. 
 
 Talleyrand, 60, 69, 102, 232, 410. 
 
 Tallien, J. L., 422. 
 
 Taylor, lOO. 
 
 Thiard, General, 184, 211, 212, 
 
 217, 239, 253, 258. 
 Thumery, General Marquis de, i O I , 
 
 105. 
 Trafalgar, Battle of, 155, 231. 
 Truguet, Admiral, 128. 
 Turenne, Count de, 395. 
 
 u. 
 
 Ulm, Siege of, 185, 188 to 206, 
 
 V. 
 
 V , General, 157. 
 
 Vallongue, General, 270. 
 Vandamme, General, 36, 169, 249, 
 
 251, 252, 255, 256. 
 Vaux, General, 36. 
 Vedel, Colonel, 188. 
 Vendeans, the, 16. 
 Verdiere (Son of the General), 3. 
 Vergniaud, V, IX. 
 Verhuel, Admiral, 143. 
 Verneck, General, 166, 168, 201, 
 
 203. 
 Victor, Marshal, 385, 386, 387, 388. 
 Vidocq, XIV. 
 Villeneuve, Admiral, 132, 144, 145,
 
 440 
 
 INDEX 
 
 146, 147, 148, 149, 151, 152, 
 
 154. 155. 
 Vintimilles, the, Xll, 
 
 w. 
 
 Walther, General, 390, 399, 
 Waterloo, xvi, 170, 174. 
 William, Prince (of Prussia), 293, 
 Windischgraetz, Prince of, 186. 
 Wiutzigerode, Baron de, 226. 
 
 Wright, Captain, 124. 
 Wurtemburg, Elector of (afterwards 
 
 King), 159, 160, 162, 163, 274. 
 Wurtemburg, Princess Catherine of, 
 
 274. 
 Wurtemburg, Electress of, 163. 
 
 Yvan (Surgeon), 239, 244, 257, 
 394. 395. 396, 398. 399, 400.
 
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 and maintained our national integrity and unity. Each biography has been 
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 ADMIRAL FARRAGUT. By Captain A. T. Mahan, U. S. N. 
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 GENERAL JACKSON. By James Parton. 
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 r\EGENERATION. By Professor Max Nordau. 
 
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