Recollections of the Private Life of Napoleon - Volume 12 , livre ebook

Pub One Info - Constant Wairy Louis

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

53 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

pubOne.info present you this new edition. After the brilliant successes obtained by the Emperor in such a short time, and with forces so exceedingly inferior to the great masses of the enemy, his Majesty, realizing the necessity of allowing his troops to take a rest of some days at Troyes, entered into negotiations for an armistice with the Prince von Schwarzenberg.

Informations

Publié par	Pub One Info
Date de parution	06 novembre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9782819949268
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.

Extrait

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE PRIVATE LIFE OF NAPOLEON,V12
By CONSTANT
PREMIER VALET DE CHAMBRE
TRANSLATED BY WALTER CLARK
1895
CHAPTER XXIV.
After the brilliant successes obtained by theEmperor in such a short time, and with forces so exceedinglyinferior to the great masses of the enemy, his Majesty, realizingthe necessity of allowing his troops to take a rest of some days atTroyes, entered into negotiations for an armistice with the Princevon Schwarzenberg.
At this juncture it was announced to the Emperorthat General Blucher, who had been wounded at Mery, was descendingalong both banks of the Maine, at the head of an army of freshtroops, estimated at not less than one hundred thousand men, andthat he was marching on Meaux. The Prince von Schwarzenberg, havingbeen informed of this movement of Blucher's, immediately cut shortthe negotiations, and assumed the offensive at Bar- sur-Seine. TheEmperor, whose genius followed by a single glance all the marchesand, operations of the enemy, though he could not be everywhere atonce, resolved to confront Blucher in person, while by means of astratagem he made it appear that he was present oppositeSchwarzenberg; and two army corps, commanded, one by MarshalOudinot, the other by Marshal Macdonald, were then sent to meet theAustrians. As soon as the troops approached the enemy's camp theymade the air resound with the shouts of confidence and cheers withwhich they usually announced the presence of his Majesty, though atthis very moment he was repairing in all haste to meet GeneralBlucher.
We halted at the little village of Herbisse, wherewe passed the night in the manse; and the curate, seeing theEmperor arrive with his marshals, aides-de-camp, ordnance officers,service of honor, and the other services, almost lost his wits. HisMajesty on alighting said to him, “Monsieur le Cure, we come to askyour hospitality for a night. Do not be frightened by this visit;we shall disturb you as little as possible. ” The Emperor,conducted by the good curate, beside himself with eagerness andembarrassment, established himself in the only apartment the housecontained, which served at the same time as kitchen, diningroom,bedroom, cabinet, and reception-room. In an instant his Majesty hadhis maps and papers spread out before him, and prepared himself forwork with as much ease as in his cabinet at the Tuileries. But thepersons of his suite needed somewhat more time to installthemselves, for it was no easy thing for so many persons to find aplace in a bakehouse which, with the room occupied by his Majesty,composed the entire manse of Herbisse; but these gentlemen,although there were among them more than one dignitary and princeof the Empire, were uncomplaining, and readily disposed toaccommodate themselves to circumstances. The gay good humor ofthese gallant soldiers, in spite of all the combats they had tosustain each day, while events every instant took a more alarmingturn, was most noteworthy, and depicts well the Frenchcharacter.
The youngest officers formed a circle around thecurate's niece, who sang to them the songs of the country. The goodcurate, in the midst of continual comings and goings, and theefforts he made to play worthily his role of master of the mansion,found himself attacked on his own territory, that is to say, on hisbreviary, by Marshal Lefebvre, who had studied in his youth to be apriest, and said that he had preserved nothing from his firstvocation except the shaven head, because it was so easy to comb.The worthy marshal intermingled his Latin quotations with thosemilitary expressions he so freely used, causing those present toindulge in bursts of laughter, in which even the curate himselfjoined, and said, “Monseigneur, if you had continued your studiesfor the priesthood you would have become a cardinal at least. ”—“Very likely, ” observed one of the officers; “and if the AbbeMaury had been a sergeant- major in '89, he might to-day be marshalof France. ”— “Or dead, ” added the Duke of Dantzic, using a muchmore energetic expression; “and so much the better for him, sincein that case he would not see the Cossacks twenty leagues fromParis. ”— “Oh, bah! Monseigneur, we will drive them away, ” saidthe same officer. “Yes, ” the marshal muttered between his clinchedteeth; “we shall see what we shall see. ”
At this moment the mule arrived bearing the sutler'ssupplies, which had been long and impatiently expected. There wasno table; but one was made of a door placed on casks, and seatswere improvised with planks. The chief officers seated themselves,and the others ate standing. The curate took his place at thismilitary table on which he had himself placed his best bottles ofwine, and with his native bonhomie continued to entertain theguests. At length the conversation turned on Herbisse and itssurroundings, and the host was overcome with astonishment onfinding that his guests knew the country so thoroughly.
“Ah, I have it! ” exclaimed he, considering themattentively one after the other; “you are Champenois! ” And inorder to complete his surprise these gentlemen drew from theirpockets plans on which they made him read the names of the verysmallest localities. Then his astonishment only changed its object,for he had never dreamed that military science required such exactstudy. “What labor! ” replied the good curate, “what pains! and allthis in order the better to shoot cannon-balls at each other! ”Thesupper over, the next thought was the arrangements for sleeping;and for this purpose we found in the neighboring barns a shelterand some straw. There remained outside, and near the door of theroom occupied by the Emperor, only the officers on duty, Roustanand myself, each of whom had a bundle of straw for his bed. Ourworthy host, having given up his bed to his Majesty, remained withus, and rested like us from the fatigues of the day, and was stillsleeping soundly when the staff left the manse; for the Emperorarose, and set off at break of day. The curate when he awokeexpressed the deepest chagrin that he had not been able to make hisadieux to his Majesty. A purse was handed him containing the sumthe Emperor was accustomed to leave private individuals of limitedmeans at whose residences he halted as indemnity for their expenseand trouble; and we resumed our march in the steps of the Emperor,who hastened to meet the Prussians.
The Emperor wished to reach Soissons before theallies; but although they had been obliged to traverse roads whichwere practically impassable, they had arrived before our troops,and as he entered La Ferte his Majesty saw them retiring toSoissons. The Emperor was rejoiced at this sight. Soissons wasdefended by a formidable garrison, and could delay the enemy, whileMarshals Marmont and Mortier and his Majesty in person attackedBlucher in the rear and on both flanks, and would have inclosed himas in a net. But this time again the enemy escaped from the snarethe Emperor had laid for him at the very moment he thought he hadseized him, for Blucher had hardly presented himself in front ofSoissons before the gates were opened. General Moreau, commandantof the place, had already surrendered the town to Billow, and thusassured to the allies the passage of the Aisne. On receiving thisdepressing news the Emperor exclaimed, “The name of Moreau hasalways been fatal to me! ”
Meanwhile his Majesty, continuing his pursuit of thePrussians, was occupied in delaying the passage of the Aisne. Onthe 5th of March he sent General Nansouty in advance, who with hiscavalry took the bridge, drove the enemy back as far as Corbeny,and made a Russian colonel prisoner. After passing the night atBery-au-Bac, the Emperor was marching towards Laon when it wasannounced to him that the enemy was coming to meet us; these werenot Prussians, but an army corps of Russians commanded by Sacken.On advancing farther, we found the Russians established on theheights of Craonne, and covering the road to Laon in what appearedto be an impregnable position; but nevertheless the advance guardof our army, commanded by Marshal Ney, rushed forward and succeededin taking Craonne. That was enough glory for this time, and bothsides then passed the night preparing for the battle of next day.The Emperor spent it at the village of Corbeny, but withoutsleeping, as inhabitants of the neighboring villages arrived at allhours to give information as to the position of the enemy and thegeography of the country. His Majesty questioned them himself,praised them or recompensed their zeal, and profited by theirinformation and services. Thus, having recognized in the mayor ofone of the communes in the suburbs of Craonne one of his formercomrades in the regiment of La Fere, he placed him in the number ofhis aides-de-camp, and arranged that he should serve as guidethrough this country, which no one knew better than he. M. de Bussy(that was the officer's name) had left France during the reign ofterror, and on his return had not re-entered the army, but lived inretirement on his estates.
The Emperor met again this same night one of his oldcompanions in arms in the regiment of La Fere, an Alsatian namedWolff, who had been a sergeant of artillery in the regiment inwhich the Emperor and M. de Bussy had been his superior officers.He came from Strasburg, and testified to the good disposition ofthe inhabitants through the whole extent of the country he hadtraversed. The dismay caused in the allied armies by the firstattacks of the Emperor made itself felt even to the frontiers; andon each road the peasants rose, armed themselves, and cut off theretreat, and killed many, of the enemy. Corps of the Emperor'sadherents were formed in the Vosges, with officers of well-provedbravery at their head, who were accustomed to this species ofwarfare. The garrisons of the cities and fortified places of theeast were full of courage and resolution; and it would have wellsuited the wishes of the population of this part of the Empire hadFrance become