Eagle of the Empire A Story of Waterloo , livre ebook

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165 pages

English

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pubOne.info present you this new edition. Dedications have gone out of vogue save with the old fashioned. The ancient idea of an appeal to a patron has been eliminated from modern literature. If a man now inscribes a book to any one it is that he may associate with his work the names of friends he loves and delights to honor. There is always a certain amount of assurance in any such dedication, the assurance lying in the assumption that there is honor to the recipient in the association with the book. Well, there is no mistaking the purpose anyway.

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Publié par	Pub One Info
Date de parution	06 novembre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9782819936947
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0100€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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DEDICATION
Dedications have gone out of vogue save with the oldfashioned. The ancient idea of an appeal to a patron has beeneliminated from modern literature. If a man now inscribes a book toany one it is that he may associate with his work the names offriends he loves and delights to honor. There is always a certainamount of assurance in any such dedication, the assurance lying inthe assumption that there is honor to the recipient in theassociation with the book. Well, there is no mistaking the purposeanyway.
One of my best friends, and that friendship has beenproved in war and peace, at home and abroad, is a Bank! The Bank islike Mercy in more ways than one, but particularly in that it istwice blessed; it is blessed in what it receives, I hope, and inwhat it gives, I know. From the standpoint of the depositorsometimes it is better to receive than to give. It has been so inmy case and I have been able to persuade the Bank to that way ofthinking.
Therefore, in grateful acknowledgment of the verypresent help it has been to me in time of need and in publicrecognition of many courtesies from its officers and directors, andas some evidence of my deep appreciation of its many kindnesses tome, I dedicate this book to
PREFACE
The Battle of Waterloo, which was fought just onehundred years ago and with which the story in this book ends, ispopularly regarded as one of the decisive battles of the world,particularly with reference to the career of the greatest of allCaptains. Personally some study has led me to believe that Bautzenwas really the decisive battle of the Napoleonic wars. If theEmperor had there won the overwhelming victory to which hiscombinations and the fortunes of war entitled him he would stillhave retained his Empire. Whether he would have been satisfied ornot is another question; and anyway as I am practically alone amongstudents and critics in my opinions about Bautzen they can bedismissed. And that he lost that battle was his own faultanyway!
However Napoleon's genius cannot be denied any morethan his failure. In this book I have sought to show him at hisbest and also almost at his worst. For sheer brilliance, militaryand mental, the campaigning in France in 1814 could not besurpassed. He is there with his raw recruits, his beardless boys,his old guard, his tactical and strategical ability, his furiousenergy, his headlong celerity and his marvelous power ofinspiration; just as he was in Italy when he revolutionized the artof war and electrified the world. Many of these qualities are inevidence in the days before Waterloo, but during the actual battleupon which his fate and the fate of the world turned, the tired,broken, ill man is drowsily nodding before a farmhouse by the road,while Ney, whose superb and headlong courage was not accompanied byany corresponding military ability, wrecks the last grand army.
And there is no more dramatic an incident in allhistory, I believe, than Napoleon's advance on theFifth-of-the-line drawn up on the Grenoble Road on the return fromElba.
Nor do the Roman Eagles themselves seem to have madesuch romantic appeal or to have won such undying devotion as theEagles of the Empire.
This story was written just before the outbreak ofthe present European war and is published while it is in fullcourse. Modern commanders wield forces beside which even the greatArmy of the Nations that invaded Russia is scarcely more than adetachment, and battles last for days, weeks, even months— Waterloowas decided in an afternoon! — yet war is the same. If there be anydifference it simply grows more horrible. The old principles,however, are unchanged, and over the fields upon which Napoleonmarched and fought, armies are marching and fighting in practicallythe same way to-day. And great Captains are still studyingFrederick, Wellington and Bonaparte as they have ever done.
The author modestly hopes that this book may notonly entertain by the love story, the tragic yet happily endedromance within its pages— for there is romance here aside from thegreat Captain and his exploits— but that in a small way it mayserve to set forth not so much the brilliance and splendor andglory of war as the horror of it.
We are frightfully fascinated by war, even the mostpeaceable and peace-loving of us. May this story help to convey tothe reader some of the other side of it; the hunger, the cold, theweariness, the suffering, the disaster, the despair of the soldier;as well as the love and the joy and the final happiness of thebeautiful Laure and the brave Marteau to say nothing of redoubtableold Bal-Arrêt, the Bullet-Stopper— whose fates were determined onthe battlefield amid the clash of arms.
CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY.
THE HEMLOCKS,
EDGECLIFF TERRACE, PARK-HILL-ON-HUDSON.
YONKERS, N. Y.
EPIPHANY-TIDE, 1915.
PROLOGUE
VIVE L'EMPEREUR
The weatherworn Château d'Aumenier stands in themidst of a noble park of trees forming part of an extensive domainnot far to the northwest of the little town of Sézanne, in the oncefamous county of Champagne, in France. The principal room of thecastle is a great hall in the oldest part of the venerable pilewhich dates back for eight hundred years, or to the tenth centuryand the times of the famous Count Eudes himself, for whom it washeld by one of his greatest vassals.
The vast apartment is filled with rare andinteresting mementos of its distinguished owners, including spoilsof war and trophies of the chase, acquired in one way or another inthe long course of their history, and bespeaking the courage, thepower, the ruthlessness, and, sometimes, the unscrupulousness ofthe hard-hearted, heavy-handed line. Every country in Europe andevery age, apparently, has been levied upon to adorn this greathall, with its long mullioned windows, its enormous fireplace, itshuge carved stone mantel, its dark oak paneled walls and beamedceiling. But, the most interesting, the most precious of all thewonderful things therein has a place of honor to itself at the endfarthest from the main entrance.
Fixed against this wall is a broken staff, or pole,surmounted by a small metallic figure. The staff is fastened to thewall by clamps of tempered steel which are further secured bydelicate locks of skillful and intricate workmanship. The pole istopped by the gilded effigy of an eagle.
In dimensions the eagle is eight inches high, fromhead to feet, and nine and a half inches wide, from wing tip towing tip. Heraldically, “ Un Aigle Éployé ” it would becalled. That is, an eagle in the act of taking flight— in thevernacular, a “spread eagle. ” The eagle looks to the left, withits wings half expanded. In its talons it grasps a thunderbolt, asin the old Roman standard. Those who have ever wandered into theMonastery of the Certosa, at Milan, have seen just such an eagle onone of the tombs of the great Visconti family. For, in truth, thisemblem has been modeled after that one.
Below the thunderbolt is a tablet of brass, threeinches square, on which is a raised number. In this instance, thenumber is five. The copper of which the eagle is molded wasoriginally gilded, but in its present battered condition much ofthe gilt has been worn off, or shot off, and the original materialis plainly discernible. If it could be lifted its weight would befound to be about three and a half pounds.
Around the neck of the eagle hangs a wreath of puregold. There is an inscription on the back of it, which says thatthe wreath was presented to the regiment by the loyal city of Parisafter the wonderful Ulm campaign.
One of the claws of the eagle has been shot away.The gold laurel wreath has also been struck by a bullet, and someof its leaves are gone. The tip of one wing is missing. The head ofthe eagle, originally proudly and defiantly erect, has been bentbackward so that, instead of a level glance, it looks upward, andthere is a deep dent in it, as from a blow. And right in the breastgapes a great ragged shot-hole, which pierces the heart of theproud emblem. The eagle has seen service. It has been in action. Itbears its honorable wounds. No attempt has been made to repairit.
The staff on which the eagle stands has been brokenat about half its length, presumably by a bullet. The shattered,splintered end indicates that the staff is made of oak. It had beenpainted blue originally. The freshness of the paint has beenmarred. On one side, a huge slice has been cut out of it as if by amighty sword stroke. The tough wood is gashed and scarred invarious places, and there is a long, dark blur just above thebroken part, which looks as if it might be a blood stain.
Below the eagle, and attached to the remainder ofthe staff for about three-fourths of its length, is what remains ofa battle flag. The material of it was originally rich and heavycrimson silk, bordered with gold fringe. It is faded, tattered,shot-torn, bullet-ridden, wind-whipped; parts of it havedisappeared. It has been carefully mounted, and is stretched out soas to present its face to the beholder. In dull, defaced letters ofgold may be read inscriptions— the imagination piecing out themissing parts. Here is a line that runs as follows:
Napoleon, Empereur des Français, au 5eInfanterie de la Ligne.
And underneath, in smaller and brighter letters, asif a later addition:
Grenadiers du Garde Imperiale.
There has been some sort of device in the middle,but most of it has disappeared. From what remains, one guesses thatit was a facsimile of the eagle on the staff-head. There are littletarnished spots of gold here and there. A close observationdiscloses that they are golden bees. In the corners near the staff,the only ones that are left are golden wreaths in the center ofwhich may be seen the letter “N”.
On the other side of the flag, hidden from thebeholder, are a series of names. They have been transcribed upon asilver plate, which is affixed to the wall below the broken staff.They read as follows:
“Marengo; Ulm; Austerlitz; Jena; Berlin; Eyla