Books: Private Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, V11
C >>
Constant >> Private Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, V11
Pages:
1 | 2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7
CHAPTER XVI.
It was exceedingly difficult to find an exit from Leipzig, as this town
was surrounded on every side by the enemy. It had been proposed to the
Emperor to burn the faubourgs which the heads of the columns of the
allied armies had reached, in order to make his retreat more sure; but he
indignantly rejected this proposal, being unwilling to leave as a last
adieu to the King of Saxony his cities abandoned to the flames. After
releasing him from his oath of fidelity, and exhorting him to now
consider only his own interests, the Emperor left him, and directed his
course to the gate of Ramstadt; but he found it so encumbered that it was
an impossibility to clear a passage, and he was compelled to retrace his
steps, again cross the city, and leave it through the northern gate, thus
regaining the only point from which he could, as he intended, march on
Erfurt; that is, from the boulevards on the west. The enemy were not yet
completely masters of the town, and it was the general opinion that it
could have been defended much longer if the Emperor had not feared to
expose it to the horrors of a siege. The Duke of Ragusa continued to
offer strong resistance in the faubourg of Halle to the repeated attacks
of General Blucher; while Marshal Ney calmly saw the combined forces of
General Woronzow, the Prussian corps under the orders of General Billow,
and the Swedish army, break themselves to pieces against his impregnable
defenses.
So much valor was nevertheless at last compelled to yield to numbers, and
above all to treachery; for at the height of the combat before the gates
of Leipzig, a battalion from Baden, which until then had fought valiantly
in the French ranks, suddenly abandoned the gate Saint-Peter, which it
was commissioned to defend, and at the entrance to the city gave itself
up to the enemy. Thereupon, according to what I have heard related by
several officers who were in this terrible tumult, the streets of Leipzig
presented a most horrible sight; and our soldiers, now compelled to
retire, could do so only by disputing every step of the ground. An
irreparable misfortune soon filled the Emperor's soul with despair.
I shall now relate the events which signalized this deplorable day just
as my memory recalls them. I do not know to what cause to attribute it,
but none of the many stirring events which I witnessed present themselves
more distinctly before my mind than a scene which took place under the
walls of Leipzig. Having triumphed over incredible obstacles, we at last
succeeded in crossing the Elster on the bridge at the mill of Lindenau.
I can still see the Emperor as he stationed officers along the road
charged to indicate to stragglers where they might rejoin their
respective commands. On this day, after the immense loss sustained owing
to a disparity of numbers, he showed the same solicitude concerning
everything as after a decisive triumph. But he was so overcome by
fatigue that a few moments of sleep became absolutely necessary, and he
slept profoundly under the noise of the cannon which thundered around him
on all sides. Suddenly a terrible explosion occurred, and a few moments
after the King of Naples entered his Majesty's barrack accompanied by
Marshal Augereau. They brought sad news-the great bridge over the Elster
had just been blown up. This was the last point of communication with
the rear guard, which consisted of twenty thousand men now left on the
other side of the river under the command of Marshal Macdonald. "This,
then, is how my orders are executed!" exclaimed the Emperor, clasping his
head between his hands. He remained a moment buried in thought and
absorbed in his own reflections.
The fact was, his Majesty had given orders to undermine all the bridges
over the Elster and have them blown up, but not until after the French
army had crossed the river in safety. I have since heard this event
discussed from many points of view, and have read many contradictory
accounts. It is not my province to shed light on a point of history
which forms such a subject of controversy, and I have consequently
limited myself to relating as I have done only what came within my own
knowledge. Nevertheless, I may be permitted to make to my readers one
simple observation which presents itself to my mind whenever I read or
hear it said that the Emperor himself had the bridge blown up in order to
shelter himself from the enemy's pursuit. I ask pardon for such an
expression, but this supposition appeared to me an absurdity so
incredible as to surpass belief; for it is very evident that if under
these disastrous circumstances he could think only of his own personal
safety, he would not a short time before have voluntarily prolonged his
stay in the palace of the King of Saxony, where he was exposed to much
more imminent danger than he could have encountered after leaving
Leipzig. Moreover, the Emperor was far from enjoying the consternation
which struck him when he learned that twenty thousand of his brave
soldiers were separated from him perhaps forever.
How many misfortunes were the inevitable results of the destruction of
the last bridge on the road from Leipzig to Lindenau! And how many deeds
of heroism, the greater part of which will remain forever unknown, mark
this disaster! Marshal Macdonald, seeing himself separated from the
army, plunged on horseback into the Elster, and was fortunate enough to
reach the other bank; but General Dumortier, attempting to follow his
intrepid chief, disappeared and perished in the waves with a great number
of officers and soldiers; for all had sworn not to surrender themselves
to the enemy, and it was only a small number who submitted to the cruel
necessity of being made prisoners. The death of Prince Poniatowski
caused intense sorrow in the heart of the Emperor; and it may be said
that every one at headquarters was deeply distressed at the loss of our
Polish hero, and all were eager to learn the particulars of so grievous
and irreparable a misfortune. As was well known, his Majesty had given
him orders to cover the retreat of the army, and all felt that the
Emperor could not have bestowed this trust more worthily. It is related
that seeing himself pressed by the enemy against the bank of the river,
with no means of crossing, he was heard to say to those around him,
"Gentlemen, here we must die with honor!" It is added that putting into
practice this heroic resolution he swam across the waters of the Pleisse
in spite of the wounds he had received in the stubborn combat he had
sustained since morning. Then finding no longer any refuge from
inevitable captivity, except in the waters of the Elster, the brave
prince had thrown himself into it without considering the impassable
steepness of the opposite bank, and in a few moments he with his horse
was ingulfed beneath the waves. His body was not found until five days
afterwards, and then drawn from the water by a fisherman. Such was the
end, both deplorable and glorious, of one of the most brilliant and
chivalrous of officers, who showed himself worthy to rank among the
foremost French generals. Meanwhile the lack of ammunition compelled the
Emperor to retire promptly, although in remarkably good order, to Erfurt,
a town well furnished with both provisions and forage, as well as
material for arming and equipping the army,--in fact with all the
materials of war. His Majesty arrived on the 23d, having engagements
each day, in order to protect his retreat against forces four or five
times as numerous as those remaining at his disposal. At Erfurt the
Emperor remained only two days, and left on the 25th after bidding adieu
to his brother-in-law the King of Naples, whom he was never to see again.
I witnessed a part of this last interview, and remarked a certain
constraint in the manner of the King of Naples, which, however, his
Majesty seemed not to perceive. It is true that the king did not
announce his immediate departure, and his Majesty was ignorant that this
prince had secretly received an Austrian general.
--[This was Count Mier, charged to guarantee to Murat the possession
of his kingdom if he abandoned the cause of the Emperor. He
abandoned him. What did he gain?--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.]--
His Majesty was not informed of this until afterwards, and manifested
little surprise. Moreover (I call attention to this because I so often
had occasion to remark it), so many severe blows repeated in such quick
succession had struck the Emperor for some time past, that he seemed to
have become almost insensible, and it might well have been said that he
felt himself perfectly intrenched in his ideas of fatality.
Nevertheless, his Majesty, though unmoved under his own misfortunes, gave
full vent to his indignation on learning that the allied sovereigns
considered the King of Saxony as their prisoner, and had declared him a
traitor, simply because he was the only one who had not betrayed him.
Certainly if fortune had again become favorable to him, as in the past,
the King of Saxony would have found himself master of one of the most
extensive kingdoms of Europe; but fortune was hereafter to be always
adverse, and even our victories brought us only a barren glory.
Thus, for instance, the French army soon covered itself with glory at
Hanau, through which it was necessary to pass by overwhelming the immense
army of Austrians and Bavarians collected at this point under the command
of General Wrede. Six thousand prisoners were the result of this
triumph, which at the same time opened to us the road to Mayence, which
we expected to reach without other obstacles. It was on the 2d of
November, after a march of fourteen days from Leipzig, that we again
beheld the banks of the Rhine, and felt that we could breathe in safety.
Having devoted five days to reorganizing the army, giving his orders, and
assigning to each of the marshals and chiefs of the several corps the
post he was to occupy during his absence, the Emperor left Mayence on the
7th, and on the 9th slept at Saint-Cloud, to which he returned preceded
by a few trophies, as both at Erfurt and Frankfort we had taken twenty
banners from the Bavarians. These banners, presented to the minister of
war by M. Lecouteux aide-de-camp to the Prince de Neuchatel, had preceded
his Majesty's arrival in Paris by two days, and had already been
presented to the Empress, to whom the Emperor had done homage in the
following terms:
MADAME, AND MY VERY DEAR WIFE,--
I send. you twenty banners taken by my army at the battles of
Wachau, Leipzig, and Hanau. This is an homage it gives me pleasure
to render to you. I desire that you-will accept it as a mark of my
entire satisfaction with the manner in which you have administered
the regency which I confided to you."
Under the Consulate and during the first six years of the Empire,
whenever the Emperor had returned to Paris after a campaign, it was
because that campaign was finished, and the news of a peace concluded in
consequence of a victory had always preceded him. For a second time he
returned from Mayence under different circumstances. In this case, as on
the return from Smorghoni, he left the war still in progress, and
returned, not for the purpose of presenting to France the fruit of his
victories, but to demand new subsidies of men and money in order to
repair the defeat and losses sustained by our army. Notwithstanding this
difference in the result of our wars, the welcome accorded to his Majesty
by the nation was still the same, apparently at least; and the addresses
by the different towns of the interior were not less numerous, nor less
filled with expressions of devotion; and those especially who were the
prey of fears for the future showed themselves even more devoted than all
others, fearing lest their fatal premonitions should be discovered. For
my own part, it had never occurred to me that the Emperor could finally
succumb in the struggle he was maintaining; for my ideas had never
reached this point, and it is only in reflecting upon it since that I
have been able to comprehend the dangers which threatened him at the
period we had now reached. He was like a man who had passed the night on
the edge of a precipice, totally unaware of the danger to which he was
exposed until it was revealed by the light of day. Nevertheless, I may
say that every one was weary of the war, and that all those of my friends
whom I saw on the return from Mayence spoke to me of the need of peace.
Within the palace itself I heard many persons attached to the Emperor say
the same thing when he was not present, though they spoke very
differently in the presence of his Majesty. When he deigned to
interrogate me, as he frequently did, on what I had heard people say, I
reported to him the exact truth; and when in these confidential toilet
conversations of the Emperor I uttered the word peace, he exclaimed again
and again, "Peace ! Peace! Ah! who can desire it more than I? There
are some, however, who do not desire it, and the more I concede the more
they demand."
An extraordinary event which took place the very day of his Majesty's
arrival at Saint-Cloud, when it became known, led to the belief that the
allies had conceived the idea of entering upon new negotiations. In
fact, it was learned that M. de Saint-Aignan, his Majesty's minister at
the ducal court of Saxony, had been taken by main force and conducted to
Frankfort, where were then assembled M. de Metternich, the Prince von
Schwarzenberg, and the ministers of Russia and Prussia. There overtures
entirely in the interests of peace were made to him on the part of the
allied sovereigns, after which M. de Saint-Aignan was allowed to return
immediately to the Emperor to inform him of the details of his seizure
and the propositions which had been made to him. These offers made by
the allies, of which I was not informed, and consequently can say
nothing, seemed to strike the Emperor as worthy of consideration; and
there was soon a general rumor in the palace that a new Congress was to
be assembled at Manheim; that the Duke of Vicenza had been appointed by
his Majesty as minister plenipotentiary; and that in order to give more
dignity to his mission, the portfolio of foreign affairs had been at the
same time committed to him. I remember that this news revived the hopes
of all, and was most favorably received; for although it was doubtless
the effect of prejudice, no one could be ignorant that the general public
did not see with pleasure the Duke of Bassano in the place to which the
Duke of Vicenza was called to succeed him. The Duke of Bassano was said
to have acted in accordance with what he believed to be the secret wishes
of the Emperor, and to be averse to peace. It will be seen later, by an
answer which his Majesty made to me at Fontainebleau, how groundless and
without foundation were these rumors. It seemed then exceedingly
probable that the enemy really intended to treat for peace; since in
procuring openly by force a French negotiator, they had forestalled any
credit which might accrue to the Emperor from making overtures for peace.
What above all gave great weight to the general belief in the disposition
of Europe towards peace was that not simply a Continental peace was in
question as at Tilsit and Schoenbrunn, but also a general peace, in which
England was to enter as a contracting party; so that in consequence it
was hoped that the gain in the permanence of such peace would offset the
severity of its terms. But unfortunately this hope, which was indulged
with the joy of anticipation, lasted only a short time; and it was soon
learned that the propositions made to M. de Saint-Aignan were only a
bait, and an old diplomatic ruse which the foreigners had made use of
simply in order to gain time by deluding the Emperor with vain hopes.
In fact, a month had not passed away, there had not even been time to
complete the preliminary correspondence usual in such cases, when the
Emperor learned of the famous declaration of Frankfort, in which, far
from entering into negotiations with his Majesty, it was attempted to
separate his cause from that of France. What a mass of intrigues! Let
one bless with a thankful heart his mediocrity when he compares himself
with men condemned to live amid this labyrinth of high impostures and
honorable hypocrisies! A sad certainty was obtained that the foreigners
wished a war of extermination, and renewed consternation ensued where
hope had begun to reign; but the genius of his Majesty had not yet
deserted him, and from this time all his efforts were directed towards
the necessity of once again meeting the enemy face to face, no longer in
order to conquer his provinces, but to prevent an invasion of the sacred
soil of his own country.
CHAPTER XVII.
In speaking of the year 1813, an account of the incredible number of
affiliations which took place at this time between secret societies
recently formed in Italy and Germany should not be omitted. The Emperor
from the time when he was only First Consul, not only did not oppose the
opening of Masonic lodges, but we have every reason to believe secretly
favored them. He was very sure that nothing originated in these meetings
which could be dangerous to his person or injurious to his government;
since Freemasonry counted among its votaries, and even had as chiefs, the
most distinguished personages of the state. Moreover, it would have been
impossible in these societies, where a few false brethren had slipped in,
for a dangerous secret, had there been one, to escape the vigilance of
the police. The Emperor spoke of it sometimes as pure child's play,
suitable to amuse idlers; and I can affirm that he laughed heartily when
told that the archchancellor, in his position as chief of the Grand
Orient, had presided at a Masonic banquet with no less dignity than would
have comported with the presidency of the senate or of the council of
state. Nevertheless, the Emperor's indifference did not extend to
societies known in Italy under the name of Carbonari, and in Germany
under various titles. We must admit, in fact, that since the
undertakings of two young Germans initiated in Illuminism, it was natural
that his Majesty should not have seen without anxiety the propagation of
those bonds of virtue in which young fanatics were transformed into
assassins.
I know nothing remarkable in relation to the Carbonari, since no
circumstance connected our affairs with those of Italy. In regard to the
secret societies of Germany, I remember that during our stay at Dresden I
heard them mentioned with much interest, and not without fears for the
future, by a Saxon magistrate with whom I had the honor of associating
frequently. He was a man about sixty years of age, who spoke French
well, and united in the highest degree German stolidity with the gravity
natural to age. In his youth he had lived in France, and part of his
education had been received at the College of Soreze; and I attributed
the friendship which he showed for me to the pleasure he experienced in
conversing about a country the memory of which seemed very dear to him.
I remember perfectly well to-day the profound veneration with which this
excellent man spoke to me of one of his former professors of Soreze, whom
he called Don Ferlus; and I must have had a defective memory indeed had I
forgotten a name which I heard repeated so often.
My Saxon friend was named M. Gentz, but was no relation of the diplomat
of the same name attached to the Austrian chancellery. He was of the
Reformed religion, very faithful in the performance of his religious
duties; and I can assert that I never knew a man with more simple tastes,
or who was more observant of his duties as a man and a magistrate. I
would not like to risk saying what were his inmost thoughts concerning
the Emperor; for he rarely spoke of him, and if he had anything
unpleasant to say it may be readily understood that he would not have
chosen me as his confidant. One day when we were together examining the
fortifications which his Majesty had erected at many points on the left
bank of the Elbe, the conversation for some reason happened to fall on
the secret societies of Germany, a subject with which I was perfectly
unacquainted. As I was questioning him in order to obtain information,
M. Gentz said to me, "It must not be believed that the secret societies
which are multiplying in Germany in such an extraordinary manner have
been protected by the sovereigns; for the Prussian government sees them
grow with terror, although it now seeks to use them in order to give a
national appearance to the war it has waged against you. Societies which
are to-day tolerated have been, even in Prussia, the object of bitter
persecutions. It has not been long, for instance, since the Prussian
government used severe measures to suppress the society called
'Tugendverein', taking the precaution, nevertheless, to disguise it under
a different title. Doctor Jahn put himself at the head of the Black
Chevaliers, who were the precursors of a body of partisans known under
the name of the Black Chasseurs, and commanded by Colonel Lutzow. In
Prussia the still vivid memory of the late queen exercised a great
influence over the new direction given to its institutions, in which she
occupied the place of an occult divinity. During her lifetime she gave
to Baron Nostitz a silver chain, which as her gift became the decoration,
or we might rather say the rallying signal, of a new society, to which
was given the name of the Conederation of Louise. And lastly, M. Lang
declared himself the chief of an order of Concordists, which he
instituted in imitation of the associations of that name which had for
some time existed in the universities.
"My duties as magistrate," added M. Gentz, "have frequently enabled me to
obtain exact information concerning these new institutions; and you may
consider the information which I give you on this subject as perfectly
authentic. The three chiefs whom I have just mentioned apparently direct
three separate societies; but it is very certain that the three are in
reality only one, since these gentlemen engage themselves to follow in
every particular the vagaries of the Tugendverein, and are scattered
throughout Germany in order that by their personal presence they may have
a more direct influence. M. Jahn is more especially in control of
Prussia; M. Lang of the north, and Baron de Nostitz of the south, of
Germany. The latter, knowing perhaps the influence of a woman over young
converts, associated with himself a beautiful actress named Madame Brede;
and she has already been the means of making a very important acquisition
to the Confederation of Louise, and one which might become still more so
in the future if the French should meet with reverses. The former
Elector of Hesse, admitted through the influence of Madame Brede,
accepted almost immediately after his reception the grand chieftancy of
the Confederation of Louise, and the very day of his installation placed
in the hands of M. de Nostitz the sum necessary to create and equip a
free corps of seven hundred men destined to enter the service of Prussia.
It is true that having once obtained possession of this sum the baron did
nothing towards the formation of the corps, which greatly incensed the
ex-elector; but by dint of skill and diplomacy Madame Brede succeeded in
reconciling them. It has been proved, in fact, that M, de Nostitz did
not appropriate the funds deposited with him, but used them for other
purposes than the arming of a free corps. M. de Nostitz is beyond doubt
the most zealous, ardent, and capable of the three chiefs. I do not know
him personally, but I know he is one of those men best calculated to
obtain unbounded influence over all with whom he comes in contact. He
succeeded in gaining such dominion over M. Stein, the Prussian minister,
that the latter placed two of his secretaries at the disposal of Baron de
Nostitz to prepare under his direction the pamphlets with which Germany
is flooded; but I cannot too often repeat," continued M. Gentz, "that the
hatred against the French avowed by these various societies is simply an
accidental thing, a singular creation of circumstances; since their prime
object was the overthrow of the government as it existed in Germany, and
their fundamental principle the establishment of a system of absolute
equality. This is so true that the question has been earnestly debated
amongst the members of the Tugendverein of proclaiming the sovereignty of
the people throughout Germany; and they have openly declared that the war
should not be waged in the name of the governments, which according to
their belief are only the instruments. I do not know what will be the
final result of all these machinations; but it is very certain that by
giving themselves an assumed importance these secret societies have given
themselves a very real one. According to their version it is they alone
who have decided the King of Prussia to openly declare himself against
France, and they boast loudly that they will not stop there. After all,
the result will probably be the same as in nearly all such cases,--if
they are found useful they will be promised wonderful things in order to
gain their allegiance, and will be abandoned when they no longer serve
the intended purposes; for it is an entire impossibility that reasonable
governments should lose sight of the real end for which they are
instituted."
Pages:
1 | 2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7