Military Career of Napoleon the Great Part 26

NAPOLEON AT THE BATTLE OF WAGRAM]

It now became apparent that the allies had resolved to carry the war into the interior without waiting for the reduction of the great fortresses on the Rhenish frontier. They pa.s.sed on with hosts overwhelmingly superior to all those of Napoleon's lieutenants, who withdrew, followed by crowds of the rustic population, rushing onwards towards Paris by any means of transport. Carts and wagons, filled with terrified women and children thronged every avenue to the capital.

The Emperor now resolved to break silence to the Parisians and prepared to reappear in the field. On the 22d of January, 1814, the official news of the invasion appeared. The next morning--Sunday--the officers of the National Guard to the number of nine hundred were summoned to the Tuileries. Napoleon took his station in the centre of the hall and immediately the Empress, with her son, the King of Rome, carried in the arms of Countess Montesquiou, appeared at his side.

"Gentlemen," said the Emperor "France is invaded; I go to put myself at the head of my troops, and with G.o.d's help and their valor, I hope soon to drive the enemy beyond the frontier." Here he took Marie Louise in one hand and her son in the other, and continued, "But if they should approach the capital, I confide to the National Guard the Empress and the King of Rome--my wife and my child!"--Several officers stepped from their places and approached with tears in their eyes.

The Emperor spent part of the 24th of January in reviewing troops in the court-yard of the Tuileries, while the snow was falling, and at 3 o'clock in the morning of the 25th once more left his capital, after having burnt his most secret papers, and embraced his wife and son for the last time, to begin his fifteenth campaign. Thiers says of this farewell: "Napoleon, when he left, unconscious that he was embracing them for the last time, hugged tenderly his wife and son. His wife was in tears, and she feared she would never see him again. She was in fact fated never to see him, although the enemy's bullets were not to kill him. She would certainly have been much surprised if she had been told that this husband, then the object of all her care, was to die on a distant island, the prisoner of Europe, and forgotten by her. As for him, no prediction would have astonished him,--whether the cruelest desertion, the most ardent devotion,--for he expected anything from men; he knew them to the core, though he treated them as if he did not know what they really were."

The Emperor again appointed Marie Louise Empress-Regent, placed his brother Joseph at the head of her council, gave orders for raising military defenses around Paris, and for converting many public buildings into hospitals. He arrived at Chalons ere midnight and found that Schwartzenberg with 97,000 men, and Blucher with 40,000 men, were now occupying an almost complete line between the Marne and the Seine.

Blucher was in his own neighborhood and he immediately resolved to attack the right of the Silesian army,--which was pushing down the valley of the Marne, while its centre kept the parallel course of the Aube,--ere the Prussian marshal could concentrate all his own strength or be supported by Schwartzenberg who was advancing down the Seine towards Bar.

On the 27th of January a sharp skirmish took place at St. Dizier; and Blucher, who had committed all sorts of excesses during the last two days, warned of Napoleon's arrival, at once called in his detachments and took a post of defense at Brienne--the same town where Bonaparte had received his military education.

The Emperor marched through a thick forest upon the scene of his youthful studies and appeared there on the 29th, having moved so rapidly that Blucher was at dinner in the chateau when the French thundered at his gates, and with difficulty escaped to the rear through a pa.s.sage, on foot and at the head of his staff.

The invaders maintained their place in the town courageously, and some Cossacks, throwing themselves upon the rear of the French, the Emperor was involved in the melee; he quickly drew his sword and fought like a private dragoon and General Gourgaud shot a Cossack while in the act of thrusting a spear at Napoleon's back. The town of Brienne was burned to the ground by the Prussians in order to cover their retreat.

Alsusieff, the Russian commander, and Hardenberg, a nephew of the Chancellor of Prussia, were made prisoners and there was considerable slaughter on both sides. Blucher retired further up the Aube with a loss of 4,000 men and posted himself at La Rothiere, where Schwartzenberg, warned by the cannonade, hastened to co-operate with him.

While at St. Helena Napoleon said that during the charge of the Cossacks at Brienne defending himself, sword in hand, he recognized a particular tree under which, when a boy, he used to sit and read the "Jerusalem Delivered" of Ta.s.so. The field had been in those days, part of the exercise-ground of the students, and the chateau, whence Blucher escaped so narrowly, their lodging.

Blucher now a.s.sumed the offensive, having joined Schwartzenberg, and on the 1st of February a.s.saulted the rear-guard of the French army. Proud of their numerical superiority they reckoned upon an easy triumph. The battle lasted all day. At nightfall the French were left in possession of their original positions. A battery of guns had been taken, however, and Napoleon lost on this occasion seventy-three guns, and some hundred prisoners, besides a number of killed and wounded. The result of this action was equivalent to a defeat of the French army. The cannoniers saved themselves, with their baggage, by forming a squadron and fighting vigorously as soon as they perceived that there was no time to use their pieces.

The battle of Brienne and the defense of La Rothiere, Dienville and La Giberie, had gloriously opened the campaign, but Blucher and Schwartzenberg had such considerable forces at their disposal that Napoleon might fear being surrounded, or cut off from his capital, if he persisted in retaining his position in the environs of Brienne. The allies had now definitely resolved to march on Paris.

While the division of Marmont retired down the Aube before Blucher, Napoleon himself struck across the country to Troyes which he had reasons to fear must be immediately occupied by Schwartzenberg. Here he was joined by a considerable body of his Guard, in high order and spirits, whose appearance restored, in a great measure, the confidence of the troops who had been engaged in the defense of La Rothiere. On the 3rd of February the Emperor received a dispatch from Caulaincourt, informing him that Lord Castlereagh, the English Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, had arrived at the headquarters of the allies, that negotiations were to be resumed the morning after at Chatillon, and requesting him to intimate distinctly at what price he would be willing to purchase peace.

Napoleon replied by granting Caulaincourt full powers to do everything necessary "to keep the negotiations alive and save the capital." The Duke was unwilling to act upon so broad a basis and sent back once more for a specific detail of the Emperor's purposes.

Napoleon had his headquarters at Nogent, on the Seine, some leagues below Troyes, when the dispatch reached him on the evening of the 8th of February, and his counsellors urged him to make use of this, probably last, opportunity. He was prevailed upon to agree to abandon Belgium, the left of the Rhine, Italy and Piedmont, but in the night after the consultation, and before the ultimatum had his signature, he received information which caused him to change all his views. When Maret visited him with his dispatches ready for signing Napoleon was poring over his maps, tracing the route of Blucher on Paris. "Oh here you are!" he exclaimed as Maret entered, "but I am now thinking of something very different--I am beating Blucher on the map. He is advancing by the road to Montmirail; I will set out and beat him to-morrow. Should this movement prove as successful as I expect it will, the state of affairs will be entirely changed, and we shall then see what can be done."

The Emperor had learned that Blucher, instead of continuing his march down the Aube, and in communication with Schwartzenberg on the Seine, had transferred his whole army to the Marne, and was now advancing towards Paris by the Montmirail road.

The separation of their forces by the allies was a great blunder and the Emperor, who at once detected it, could not resist the temptation which it presented to make one warlike effort more. Napoleon, therefore, refused to sign the dispatch on the morning of the 9th and having left small forces to defend the bridge over the Seine at Nogent and at Bray, commenced his march, with the main body of his army, upon Sezanne, prepared for one of the most extraordinary and successful manoeuvres which has ever been recorded in the annals of war.

Forty miles were traversed over a most difficult country, usually considered impa.s.sable in winter,--ere the troops halted with the dark.

Next morning the army moved again with equal alacrity, and at length debouched on the road by which Blucher's army was advancing, at Champaubert.

The central division was pa.s.sing when Napoleon suddenly appeared at this point, and was altogether unable to resist his a.s.sault. They dispersed in confusion with great loss and fled towards the Marne. The General-in-chief, Ousouwieff, at the head of twelve regiments was completely routed. He was taken with 6,000 of his men, and the remainder were drowned in a swamp, or killed on the field of battle. Forty pieces of cannon, and all the ammunition and baggage were left in the power of the victor. Napoleon had now interposed his army between the advanced guard of the Silesian army, commanded by Sacken, and the rear commanded by Blucher himself.

The van of the same army turned, on hearing the cannonade of Champaubert, and countermarched with the view of supporting Alsusieff only to share the fate of the centre, and were put to flight after the loss of one-fourth of the division.

Now it was Blucher's turn to be beaten. Napoleon mounted his horse at midnight on the 13th and came up with him at Montmirail. At 8 o'clock in the morning the shouting of the soldiers announced the presence of the Emperor. Blucher would gladly have declined battle, but it was out of his power. He was conquered but retreated with great skill and courage.

After many hours of hard fighting his retreat became a flight. Blucher was frequently obliged to defend himself with his sabre during the day, surrounded by his staff, and chiefly owed his escape to the darkness of the night.

He retired in alternate squares, sustaining all day the charges of the French with much loss of life and at length cut his way, at Etoges, through a column of heavy horse, sent round to intercept him, and drawn up on the causeway.

On the following day there was a fresh success. A hostile column, endeavoring to protect Blucher's retreat, was taken at Chateau Thierry, where the French troops entered pell-mell upon the Russians and Prussians. Five generals of these two nations were among the prisoners.

Blucher finally crossed the Marne at Chalons. In five days Napoleon's armies had been successful three times; he had shattered and dispersed the Silesian army, and above all, recovered the spirits of his own soldiery.

A column of 7,000 Prussian prisoners, with a considerable number of guns and standards, reminded the Parisians that the commander of the French troops had not forgotten the art of warfare and their hopes were considerably heightened on hearing of these successes against the allies. But these allied armies, annihilated each day, reappeared incessantly, and always ready for battle. All Europe was now contending against the Emperor and her beaten and dispersed soldiers were immediately replaced by fresh troops. "So alarmed were the Allies at the near approach of their terrible enemy," says Scott, "that a message was sent to Napoleon, from the Allied Sovereigns, by Prince Schwartzenberg's aide-de-camp, Count Par, stating their surprise at his offensive movements, since they had given orders to their plenipotentiaries at Chatillon to sign the preliminaries of peace, on the terms which had been a.s.sented to by the French envoy." Napoleon had, however, learned the meaning of such messages in the course of his career, and paid no attention to this one.

Scarcely had the Parisians seen the prisoners from Montmirail marched along their boulevards, before they heard that the Cossacks were in possession of Fontainebleau. Napoleon had left small divisions of his army to guard the Seine at Nogent and Bray, and the enemy soon discovered that the Emperor and his chief force were no longer in that quarter. While he was beating Alsusieff, Sacken and Blucher had made good the pa.s.sage of the Seine at three different points, driving the discomfited guardians of these important places before them.

Schwartzenberg now had his quarters at Nangis, and was, obviously, resolved to reach Paris, if possible, while Napoleon was on the Marne.

The light troops of the grand allied army were scattering confusion on both sides of the Seine, and one party of them was so near the capital as Fontainebleau.

Napoleon now committed to Marmont and Mortier the care of watching the Chalons road and the remains of Blucher's army, and marched with his main body on Meaux where on the 15th of February he received reinforcements of 20,000 veterans from Spain, commanded by Grouchy.

The latter's troops had aided Marmont on the 14th in a victory over Blucher at the village of Vauchamp which cost the allies ten thousand prisoners, ten flags, ten pieces of cannon and many prisoners, including General Ouroussoff, in command of the Russian rear-guard.

On the 16th Victor and Oudinot were engaged with the van of Schwartzenberg, on the plains of Guignes, when the Emperor came rapidly to their a.s.sistance. The enemy immediately drew back, and concentrated his strength at Nangis. Napoleon attacked that position on the morning of the 17th, and with such effect that the allies were completely routed and retreated after considerable loss. They halted, however, at Montereau and Victor, who commanded the pursuers on that route, failed to dislodge them because of greatly inferior numbers. Napoleon came up on the morning of the 18th and rebuked Victor; then dismissed him from the service. The marshal, with tears streaming down his face, said: "I will procure a musket, I have not forgotten my old trade; Victor will place himself in the ranks of the Guard."

The Emperor was vanquished by this n.o.ble language. "Well! Well! Victor,"

said he, tendering his hand, "remain; I cannot restore you your corps, since I have given it to Gerard, but I award you two divisions of the Guard; go and take the command of them, and let there be no longer a question of anything between us."

The attack then commenced with fury and the bridge and town of Montereau were carried. The defense was long and stern, however, and Napoleon was occasionally seen pointing cannon with his own hand, under the heaviest of the fire. The artillerymen protested at the exposure of his person and entreated him to withdraw. He persisted in his work, answering gaily, "My children! the bullet that shall kill me is not yet cast." The inhabitants of Montereau a.s.sociated themselves with this triumph by firing from their windows on the Austrians as they pa.s.sed through the town.

After distributing praises and rewards to the generals who had contributed to gaining this battle, Napoleon thought of those who had delayed their march, or exhibited negligence in their command, and among those reprimanded were Generals Guyot, Digeon and Montbrun, the latter for having abandoned the forest of Fontainebleau to the Cossacks, without resistance.

Pursuing his advantage Napoleon saw the grand army of the invaders continue their retreat in the direction of Troyes, and on the morning of the 22d arrived before Mery. This town he found occupied, much to his astonishment, not by a feeble rear-guard of Schwartzenberg but by a powerful division of Russians, commanded by Sacken and therefore belonging to the apparently indestructible army of Blucher. These unexpected enemies were charged in the streets, and at length retired out of the town,--which was burnt to the ground in the struggle,--and thence beyond the Aube. The Emperor then halted, and spent the night of the 22d of February in a charcoal burner's cottage at Chatres.

Meanwhile negotiations were still pending at Chatillon. Caulaincourt, receiving no answer to his second dispatch sent to Napoleon at Nogent on the 8th of February, proceeded to act on the instructions dated at Troyes on the 3d; and in effect accepted the basis of the Allies. When Schwartzenberg was attacked at Nangis, on the 17th, he had just received the intelligence of Caulaincourt's having signed the preliminary articles, and he, therefore, sent a messenger to ask why the Emperor, if aware of his amba.s.sador's act, persisted in hostilities; but received no answer.

Napoleon sent instead a private letter to the Emperor of Austria, once more trying to gain his friendship. The reply of Francis, written to him from Nangis, reached Napoleon at Chatres on the 23d. It announced Francis' resolution on no account to abandon the general cause, but declared that he lent no support to the Bourbonists, and urged Napoleon to avert by concession, ere it was too late, total ruin from himself and his House. Napoleon returned the envoy with a note signifying that now he would not consent to a day's armistice, unless the Allies would fall back so as to leave Antwerp in their front. The same evening news came from Paris that the Council of State had discussed the proposals of the Allied Powers, and with only one dissenting voice, now entreated the Emperor to accept them. He was urged, anew, to send to Chatillon and accept the basis to which Caulaincourt had agreed. He answered that he had sworn at his coronation to preserve the territory of the Republic entire, and that he could not sign this treaty without violating his oath. "If I am to be scourged" said he, "let the whip come on me of necessity, and not through any voluntary stooping of my own." The truth of these attempts at negotiation is that the Allies merely desired a simple suspension of arms, in order to gain time to reinforce themselves, and also in order to interrupt the too rapid course of Napoleon's successes in the last eight days. This the Emperor easily discerned through the maze of the contrary declarations of the foreign negotiators, and in fact is avowed by the historians of the campaigns of the Allies.

Napoleon now resolved to push on as far as Troyes, at the same time permitting proposals for an armistice to be considered at Lusigny, and negotiations for peace to proceed at Chatillon. The Emperor had meanwhile requested Oudinot and Macdonald, with their divisions, to manoeuvre in the direction of Schwartzenberg, in order to keep the Austrians in check.

Napoleon learned at Troyes, in the night of the 26th of February, that the Prussian army was in motion. His resolution was soon taken. He again hastened to the succor of his capital, and came, with the prodigious celerity which rendered his marches and manoeuvres so distinguishing, to fall upon the rear of Blucher, who still had Marmont and Mortier in front. Marching rapidly across the country to Sezanne he received intelligence that these two generals, finding themselves inferior in numbers to Blucher, had retired before him in the direction of Ferte-sous-Jouarre, and were in full retreat to Meaux. This point he considered as almost a suburb to Paris and he quickened his speed accordingly. Hurrying on, at Ferte-Goucher he was at once met and overtaken by evil tidings. Schwartzenberg, having discovered the Emperor's absence, had immediately a.s.sumed the offensive, defeated Oudinot and Macdonald at Bar-sur-Aube on the 27th, and driven them before him as far as Troyes; and Augereau, who commanded in the neighborhood of Lyons, announced the arrival of a new and great army of the Allies in that quarter. On the 1st of March an important treaty was ratified at Chaumont between the sovereigns of Austria, England, Russia and Prussia, by which the four contracting powers bound themselves each to maintain in the field an army of one hundred and fifty thousand men until the objects of the war were attained; England, as usual, engaging, over and above, to furnish a subsidy of four millions sterling. In a second clause, each of the four powers was bound never to make a separate peace with the common enemy. About the same time the commissioners at Lusigny broke up the negotiations for an armistice, on the plea of inability to settle the line of demarcation.

Napoleon's operations were not checked, however. Having been detained for some time at Ferte, in consequence of the destruction of the bridge, he took the direction of Chateau Thierry and Soissons, where he hoped to receive Blucher, while Mortier and Marmont received orders to a.s.sume the offensive in front of Meaux. The Emperor hoped in this manner to throw himself on the flank of Blucher's march, as he had done before at Champaubert; but the Prussian received intelligence of his approach and drawing his troops together, retired to Soissons. Napoleon proceeded thither with alacrity, believing that the French garrison intrusted with the care of that town, and its bridge over the Marne, was still in possession of it, and would enable him, therefore, to force Blucher into action with this formidable obstacle in his rear. He did not know that Soissons had been taken by a Russian corps, retaken by a French one and fallen once more into the hands of the enemy, ere the Emperor came in sight of it. He a.s.saulted the place with much vigor but the Russians repelled the attack. Learning that Blucher had filed his main body through the town and posted himself behind the Marne, Napoleon marched up the left bank of the river and crossed it also at Bery.

A few leagues in front of this place, on the height of Craonne, two Russian corps,--those of Sacken and Witzingerode,--were already in position, and the Emperor lost no time in charging them there, in the hope of destroying them ere they could unite with Blucher. The battle of Craonne began at 11 a. m. on the 7th of March and lasted until 4 o'clock in the afternoon. The resistance of the enemy was most stubborn and the Emperor was preparing for a final effort, when suddenly the Russians began to retreat and he remained master of the field. He followed them; but they continued to withdraw having been ordered to fall back on the plateau of Laon, in order to form thereon the same line with Blucher, who was once more eager for a decisive conflict,--having been reinforced by the vanguard of Bernadotte's army.

On the 9th of March Napoleon found his enemy strongly posted along an elevated ridge, covered with wood, and further protected in front by a succession of terrace walls,--the enclosures of vineyards. There was a heavy mist on the lower ground and the French were advancing up the hill ere their movement was discovered. They were met by a storm of cannonade which broke their centre, and on either flank the French were all but routed. On all points they were repelled, except at the village of Athies, where Marmont had some advantage. Night interrupted the contest, and the armies bivouacked in full view of each other. Napoleon, although he had suffered severely, resolved to renew the attack and mounted his horse accordingly at 4 o'clock in the morning of the 10th.

At that moment news came that Marmont's corps had just been a.s.saulted at Athies and were compelled to fly towards Corbeny.

The battle of Laon continued, all day, however; Napoleon was unable to turn his adversaries and on the 11th he commenced his retreat, leaving thirty cannon and 10,000 men. Soissons had been evacuated by the allies when concentrating themselves for the battle of Laon, and Napoleon threw himself into that town, and was making rapid efforts to strengthen it in expectation of the Prussian advance, when he learned that a detached Russian corps had seized Rheims.

The possession of this city could hardly fail to establish Blucher's communications with Schwartzenberg, and Napoleon instantly marched thither in person leaving Marmont to hold out as well as he could in case that should be the direction of Blucher's march. The Emperor came upon Rheims with his usual rapidity and on the 13th took the place by a.s.sault.

In this crisis, in which Napoleon was battling against numbers overwhelmingly his superior, it is remarkable to note the energy with which he turned from enemy to enemy, and behold his fearless a.s.saults on vastly superior numbers, his unwearied resolution and exhaustless invention. In his every movement he seemed a perfect master of warfare; but he was battling against odds which even his indomitable will, courage and foresight, could not overcome. It should not be forgotten, also, that in addition to this extraordinary series of campaigns, he continued to conduct, from his perpetually changing quarters, the civil business of his Empire.

The Allies, by a series of victories in various quarters, were now, to all appearance, in full march upon Paris, both by the valley of the Marne, and by that of the Seine, at a moment when Napoleon had thought to defeat their movements by taking up a position between them at Rheims. When Schwartzenberg learned that the Emperor was at this point his old terror returned, and the Austrian instantly proposed to fall back from Troyes. This did not please Lord Castlereagh who announced that the Grand Army might retire if the sovereigns pleased, but that if such a movement took place the subsidies of England must be considered at an end. The Czar also opposed the over-caution of Schwartzenberg, who then took courage, and his columns instantly resumed their march down the Seine, to offer battle to Napoleon at Arcis.

The Emperor was now struggling to decide which of two courses to pursue; should he hasten after Blucher on the Marne, what was to prevent Schwartzenberg from reaching Paris ere the Silesians, already victorious at Laon, could once more be brought to action by an inferior force: should he throw himself on the march of Schwartzenberg, would not the fiery Prussian be at the Tuileries long before the Austrian could be checked on the Seine? There remained a third course--namely, to push at once into the country in the rear of the Grand Army and thus strike the advancing Allies, both the Austrians and Prussians, with terror, and paralyze their movements. Would they persist in their cry, "On to Paris!" when they knew Napoleon to be posting himself between them and their resources, and at the same time relieving and rallying around him all the garrisons of the great fortresses of the Rhine? While Napoleon was thus tossed with anxiety for means to avert, if it were yet possible, the visitation of these mighty armies upon Paris, and unaware of Castlereagh's very effective threat, the capital showed small symptoms of sympathizing with him. The machinery of government was clogged in every wheel, and the necessity of purchasing peace by abandoning him was the common burden of conversation.

[Ill.u.s.tration: From a Drawing by Eug. Charpentier