Upon land, and until the day when success and presumption disturbed the clearness of his judgment, and the penetrating light of his genius, Napoleon was accustomed to judge soberly of the obstacles he calculated on overcoming, and of his power to do so. Without maritime experience, and struggling against the recognized superiority of the English navy, he constantly committed the error of counting on the mistakes of the enemy and of looking on the chiefs of his squadrons as equal in talent to Nelson. No sooner had the latter learnt the direction of Villeneuve than he dashed off in pursuit, caring little as to the number of vessels he might have to confront. Napoleon had miscalculated the length of the voyage. "Nelson will have been first to Surinam, thence to Trinidad, and from that to Barbadoes," wrote he on the 28th of June to Admiral Decres; "he will lose two days at Cape Verd; he will lose much time in collecting his ships, on account of the vessels and frigates to which he will give chase on his way. When he learns that Villeneuve is not in the Windward Islands he will go to Jamaica, and during the days lost in provisioning and waiting, great blows will be struck. This is my calculation. Nelson is in America and Collingwood in the East Indies. Nelson will not venture before Martinique; he will stay at Barbadoes in order to plan a junction with Cochrane."

Nelson had already quitted Barbadoes and was pursuing his adversary from anchorage to anchorage. Troubled by this formidable proximity, and pressed by the formal orders which enjoined him to transfer his efforts to the seas of Europe, Villeneuve crowded all sail to reach Ferrol. Nelson soon followed him, directing his course towards the Mediterranean, but careful to warn the Admirality, who sent Admiral Calder with fifteen vessels to the neighborhood of Cape Finisterre. It was in these waters that Villeneuve encountered Nelson on July 22nd, 1805. The weather was foggy, and the sea rough; the engagement ended without any important result, two Spanish vessels being captured by the English. Villeneuve set sail speedily towards Ferrol, without entering the Channel, the order having arrived to take his course to Brest immediately; but he lingered at Corunna, persuaded that Nelson had joined Admiral Calder, and that both would combine with Lord Cornwallis for his destruction. In again taking to sea, he let it be thought that he was setting out for Brest; General Lauriston, aide-de-camp to the emperor, and who had accompanied Villeneuve in his expedition, wrote so immediately to the emperor. But the discouragement of Villeneuve, more profound than ever, showed itself in a letter to his friend, Admiral Decres. "They make me the arbiter of the highest interests," wrote he; "my despair doubles in proportion as more confidence is placed in me, because I cannot pretend to any success, whatever plan I adopt. It is perfectly plain to me that the fleets of France and Spain cannot be effective in large squadrons. Divisions of three or four, or five at the most, are all that we are capable of conducting. Let Ganteaume get out, and he will judge the point. Public opinion will be settled. I am about to set out, but I know not what I shall do. Eight vessels are in view of the coast at a few leagues' distance. They will follow us, but I shall not be able to join them, and they will go to unite with the other squadrons before Brest or Cadiz, according as I make my way to one or other of those ports. I am far from being in a position, in leaving this place with twenty-nine vessels, to be able to fight against a similar number; I do not fear to tell you that I should be hard put to it to encounter twenty."

For three weeks past the emperor had been at Boulogne, consumed with impatience, exercising the troops every day, repeating the manoeuvres of embarkation, his attention fixed upon the sea, and ready to deliver his flotilla and his army to the mercy of the waves as soon as his squadrons should at last appear in the Channel. The days sped by; in vain ships after ships were hurried off to Admiral Villeneuve, bearing the most urgent orders. "If you run up here in three days, if only for twenty-four hours, your mission would be accomplished. The English are not so numerous as you think; they are everywhere detained by the wind. Never will a squadron have run a few risks with so great an end, and never will our soldiers have had the chance on land or sea to shed their blood for a grander or nobler result. For the great object of aiding a descent upon that power which for six centuries has oppressed France, we ought all to die without regret."

The Minister of Marine, clever and experienced in naval affairs, endowed with a cold and prudent spirit, had never approved the projects of Napoleon, and had constantly sought to turn him from them. The conviction which was firmly rooted in the mind of Decres as to the impossibility of success, in connection with the sorrowful discouragement which impelled Villeneuve towards Cadiz instead of towards Brest, increased the uneasiness as well as the anger of the emperor. Located in barracks by the seashore, whilst Napoleon resided at the Chateau du Pont de Briques, Decres wrote to his terrible master: "I throw myself at the feet of your Majesty, to beseech of you not to associate the Spanish vessels with the operations of the squadrons. Far from having gained anything in this respect, your Majesty hears that this association would add to the vessels of Cadiz and Carthagena. In this state of things, in which your Majesty counts as nothing my arguments and experience, I know of no situation that would be more painful than mine. I desire your Majesty to take seriously into consideration that I have no other interest than that of your banner and the honor of your arms; and if your fleet is at Cadiz, I beseech you to consider this event as an act of destiny which reserves it for other operations. I implore you not to cause it to come from Cadiz into the channel, because the attempt at this moment would only be attended by misfortunes. I reproach myself with not being able to persuade your Majesty. I doubt if a single man could succeed in doing so. Deign to form a council upon maritime affairs—an admiralty, of those who may suit your Majesty, but as for me, I perceive that in place of growing stronger, I grow weaker every day. And it cannot but be true that a Minister of Marine, overruled by your Majesty in naval affairs, becomes useless for the glory of your arms, if, indeed, not positively hurtful."

A single word from the emperor was the reply to the despairing letter of his minister:—"Raise yourself to the height of the circumstances and of the situation in which France and England now find themselves; never again write me a letter like that which you have written to me; it is not to the purpose. As for me, I have only need of one thing, and that is to succeed."

In the depth of his soul; and in his secret thoughts, Napoleon saw himself conquered by a concurrence of circumstances which he had not been willing to foresee. His anger continued violent against the instrument who had failed him in his imprudent designs; he asked Decres, however, what should be his plans in case Admiral Villeneuve were found at Cadiz, which he still refused to believe. On August 13th he wrote to Talleyrand: "The more I reflect upon the state of Europe, the more I see how urgent it is to take a decisive part. I have in reality nothing to expect from the explanations of Austria. She will answer by fine phrases and gain time, in order that I may not be able to act this winter. Her treaty of subsidies and her act of coalition will be signed this winter under the pretext of an armed neutrality, and in April I shall find 100,000 Russians in Poland, provided by England with equipment of horses, artillery, etc., 15,000 to 20,000 English at Malta, and 15,000 Russians at Corfu. I shall find myself then in a critical situation. My decision is taken. My fleet left Ferrol on the 29th Thermidor with thirty-four vessels. It had no enemy in sight. If it followed its instructions, joined itself to the squadron at Brest and entered the Channel, there is yet time, and I am master of England. If, on the contrary, my admirals hesitate, manoeuvre badly, and do not accomplish their purpose, I have no other resource than to wait for the winter to cross with the flotilla. The plan is a hazardous one. It would be more so if, pressed by circumstances, political events placed me under the obligation of passing over in the month of April. In this state of things I rush to the point where I am most needed; I raise my camps, and replace my war battalions with my third battalion, always an army sufficiently formidable for Boulogne; and on the 1st Vendemiaire I find myself with 200,000 men in Germany, and 25,000 men in the kingdom of Naples. I march upon Vienna, and I do not lay down my arms till I have taken Naples and Venice, and have so augmented the States of the Elector of Bavaria that I shall have nothing to fear from Austria. She will in this manner be certainly pacified for the winter. I return to Paris, but to be off again immediately."

It was always one of the sources of power of the Emperor Napoleon, and perhaps the rarest among them, that the marvellous fecundity of his mind, and the inexhaustible variety of the projects and conceptions which he was constantly turning over, reciprocally sustained and complemented each other. This characteristic of his genius has been ignored; and little honor has been done to his foresight when he has been depicted as taken in some degree unawares by the failure of his maritime plans, and constrained to improvise by a supreme effort the direction of his campaign in Germany. In the last days of August, whilst he was still uncertain as to the movements of his squadrons, all the orders were already given for the concentration of his armies. Bernadotte was to proceed to Goettingen with the army of Hanover; Prince Eugene was collecting his forces on the Adige; Gouvion St. Cyr was ready to march upon Naples; and Marmont to advance from the Texel upon Mayence. General Duroc had set out for Berlin, commissioned to propose an alliance. "My intention is not to leave Austria and Russia to combine with England," said Napoleon. "My conduct in that event would be that of the great Frederic in his first war." He wrote to Marshal Berthier on August 25th: "The decisive moment has arrived; you know how important a day is in this affair. Austria restrains herself no longer; she believes, without doubt, that we are all drowned in the ocean."

Doubt was no longer possible; time was flying, and no news arrived of the squadron. Villeneuve had evidently retired to Cadiz. The violence and injustice of the emperor's utterances vexed Decres beyond expression. "Villeneuve is a wretch, who ought to be ignominiously discharged," cried he; "he has neither contrivance, nor courage, nor public interest; he would sacrifice everything provided that he could save his skin." He broke out thus before Monge, for whom he had retained a true friendship, notwithstanding the known opinions of the savant, who had remained republican. Troubled by the anger of Napoleon, Monge went to apprise Daru, then principal Secretary of War, who presented himself before the emperor. Badly informed as to the intentions of the master and the causes of his discontent, he waited silently. The emperor, coming up to him, exclaimed, "Do you know where Villeneuve is? He is at Cadiz." And, unfolding before Daru all the projects he had been cherishing for six months, and attributing their failure to the cowardice and incapacity of the men he had employed, he launched out into invectives and recriminations. All of a sudden, and as if he had relieved his soul by the outburst of his passion, "Sit down there," said he to Daru, "and write!" A powerful effort, and the natural play of a fruitful imagination, had recalled him to the combinations which were to make his enemies tremble, and to assure him of the triumph over Austria of which he had been baulked as regards England. The plan of his campaign was fixed; all his thoughts turned towards a dreadful execution of his will.

The secret had been carefully guarded, and already, on all sides, the French armies were threatening the enemy, when, on the 1st Vendemiaire, the emperor opened the session of the Senate. "The wishes of the eternal enemies of the Continent are fulfilled," said he. "War has broken out in the centre of Germany; Austria and Russia are leagued with England; and our generation is dragged once more into all the calamities of war. A few days ago I still hoped that peace might not be broken; menaces and outrages found me impassive; but the Austrian army has passed the Inn, Munich is invaded, the Elector of Bavaria is driven from his capital, all my hopes have vanished. Senators, when, at your desire, at the call of the entire French people, I placed upon my head the imperial crown, I received from you, and from all citizens, the promise to maintain it pure and without blemish. All the promises I have made to you I have kept; the French people in their turn have made no engagement with me which they have not even surpassed. Frenchmen, your emperor will do his duty; my soldiers will do theirs; you will do yours."

General Mack had entered Ulm, and the emperor was still at Saint-Cloud. The movements of our troops were quietly going forward, when Napoleon conceived the idea of surrounding the enemy in Suabia by cutting off his communications with Austria. A note in his own handwriting, written on the 22nd of September, indicates beforehand the positions of all the corps of the army. On the 27th he arrived at Strasburg, prolonging his residence there in order to deceive the Austrian general, who kept his attention constantly fixed upon the Black Forest. On the 30th, at Strasburg, the emperor addressed to his troops a simple and firm proclamation, animated by that martial spirit which always inspired the army when he addressed it. "Soldiers, the war of the third coalition has commenced. The Austrian army has passed the Inn, broken the treaties, attacked our ally, and sent him from his capital. You yourselves have been compelled to hasten, by forced marches, to the defence of our frontiers. But already you have passed the Rhine. We will not stay our progress until we have assured the independence of the Germanic state, succored our allies, and confounded the pride of the unjust aggressors. We will have no more peace without a guarantee. Our generosity shall not again deceive our policy. Soldiers, your emperor is in the midst of you; you are only the vanguard of the great people. If it is necessary, they will rise as one man, to confound and dissolve this new league woven by the hatred and the gold of England. But, soldiers, we have forced marches to make, fatigues and privations of every kind to endure. Whatever obstacles maybe opposed to us we shall be victorious, and we will take no rest till we have planted our eagles upon the territory of our enemies."

Napoleon had said, "I reckon on making more use of the legs of my soldiers than even of their bayonets." The fatal circle was narrowing round General Mack by the rapid movements of the French troops, without his appearing to comprehend their aim, or divine the danger which threatened him. On the 8th of October he still wrote, that never had an army been posted in a manner more fitted to assure its superiority. On the same day, advancing upon Guenzburg, Marshals Lannes and Murat encountered at Wutingen an Austrian corps, which was tardily marching to the succor of General Kienmayer, already dislodged from the bridges of the Danube and the Lech. The engagement was short and brilliant; the fugitives bore at length to Ulm the conviction of the overwhelming forces which menaced the Austrian army. The Emperor Napoleon had arrived at Donauwerth. The first bulletin from the Grand Army was dated October 7th, explaining all the military operations: "This grand and vast movement has carried us in a few days to Bavaria; has enabled us to avoid the Black Mountains, the line of parallel rivers which fall into the Danube, and the inconvenience of a system of operations which would have always had the defiles of the Tyrol on the flank; and lastly, has placed us several marches in the rear of the enemy, who has no time to lose, to avoid his entire destruction."

Napoleon was particularly watchful with respect to the Tyrol, for he had settled in his own mind that General Mack would seek an outlet on this side, to escape from the blockade with which he was menaced. The little German princes, terrified or won over, had submitted to the yoke of Napoleon, and accepted his alliance; the French troops had violated neutral territories with impunity; the Russian armies were at last making forced marches, and had just entered into Germany. At one moment Mack appeared to discover the feeble point in the enemy's line; the left bank of the Danube at Albech, was occupied by the divisions of Dupont and Baraguey d'Hilliers, insufficient for resisting a violent attack. Murat, who commanded the three divisions posted near Ulm, ordered Ney to recall all the troops posted on the left bank. The marshal was indignant and furious, but obeyed; but General Dupont had not accomplished his movement when he was assailed by a corps of 25,000 Austrians, commanded by the Archduke Ferdinand. The heroic resistance of the French troops enabled them to fall back upon Albech with 1500 prisoners. The enemy contented themselves with occupying the little town of Elchingen, and burning the bridge.

Napoleon had quitted Augsburg, and Marshal Soult had just effected the capitulation of Meiningen. The emperor ordered Ney to retake the positions of Elchingen. The piles of the bridge had not been burnt, and under the fire of the Austrians the platform was replaced, and the troops rushed forward to the attack on the village. The convent which crowned the height was taken at the bayonet's point. Always pushing the enemy before him, Ney seized upon the heights of Michelsberg; the fire of his cannons commanded the grand square in Ulm. The emperor in person had just arrived at the camp.

The Archduke Ferdinand had succeeded in escaping during the night. In spite of a frightful tempest he gained Biberach, and rejoined Wernek in Bohemia. Murat pursued him, while Marshal Soult occupied Biberach.

Henceforth Mack found himself without resources. "The general-in-chief was in the city," said the sixth bulletin of the grand army. "It is the destiny of generals opposed to the emperor to be taken in town. It will be remembered that after the splendid manoeuvres of the Brenta, the old Field-Marshal Wurmser was made prisoner at Mantua; Melas was taken in Alexandria; so is Mack in Ulm."

The emperor caused the Prince of Lichtenstein, major-general of the Austrian army, to be summoned. "I desire" said he "that the place capitulate; if I take it by assault, I shall he compelled to do what I did at Jaffa, where the garrison was put to the sword. It is the sad law of war. I desire that the necessity for such a frightful act should he spared to me, as well as to the brave Austrian nation. The place is not tenable."

Mack consented to surrender if he was not succored before the 25th of October. The rain fell in torrents. For eight days the emperor had not taken off his boots. The Austrian prisoners were astonished to see him, "soaked, covered with mud, as much fatigued as the lowest drummer in his army, and even more so." An aide-de-camp repeated to Napoleon the remarks of the enemy's officers. Napoleon replied quickly, "Your master has been desirous of making me remember that I am a soldier," said he. "I hope he will be convinced that the throne and the imperial purple have not made me forget my first business."

Wernek had laid down his arms at Nordlingen; the archduke was fleeing into Bohemia before the cavalry of Murat: the corps of Jellachich in the Tyrol, and that of Kienmayer beyond the Inn, could send no succors to General Mack. Urged to escape the horror of the situation, he forestalled the day fixed for the capitulation: on the 20th of October, 1805, the garrison at Ulm, which still counted 24,000 or 25,000 men, defiled slowly before the conqueror. The troops were prisoners of war, the cannons and flags had been abandoned; seven lieutenant-generals, eight generals, and the general-in-chief, Mack, kept at the emperor's side, were present with death in their souls at the ceremonial which proved their defeat. "In fifteen days we have finished a campaign," said the proclamation of Napoleon to his soldiers. "That which we proposed is completed. We have driven the troops of the House of Austria from Bavaria, and re-established our ally in the sovereignty of his States. That army which, with as much ostentation as imprudence, came forward to place itself on our frontiers, is annihilated. But what matters it to England? Her purpose is answered; we are not at Boulogne, and the subsidy which she grants to Austria will be neither larger nor smaller."

England resented the defeat of her ally more keenly than Napoleon acknowledged in the bitterness of his hate. The rumor of the capitulation of Ulm had reached London. On November 2nd, Lord Malmesbury was seated at table beside Pitt, and spoke to him of the rumors he had heard. "Don't believe a word of it; it is simply a lie," said Pitt, roughly, raising his voice so as to make himself heard by those around him. "But the next day, Sunday, the 3rd," continues Lord Malmesbury in his journal, "he entered my house with Lord Mulgrave, about one o'clock, and they brought with them a Dutch journal which contained at full length the capitulation of Ulm. Neither of them knew that language, and all the officials were away. I translated the article as well as I could, and I saw very clearly the effect that it produced upon Pitt, in spite of the efforts he made to hide it. This was the last time that I saw him. This visit left upon me a profound impression, his manners and countenance were so altered; I conceived from it, in spite of myself, the sad presentiment of the misfortune which threatened us."

Pitt was again, for one day only, to taste for an instant of patriotic joy, bitterly mingled with regret. In spite of the bravery to which Napoleon did not always render justice, the French sailors, inexperienced and badly commanded, had alone failed in the great projects confided to them, and thwarted the hopes of the emperor. Before setting out for Strasburg he had ordered the fleet at Brest to make several cruises, and the fleet at Cadiz to take the soldiers it had on board to the support of the movement of Gouvion St. Cyr in the Bay of Naples. "It might seize an English vessel and a Russian frigate which are to be found there: it could remain in the waters near Naples all the time necessary to do the greatest possible harm to the enemy and intercept the convoy which he is projecting to send to Malta. After this expedition it will return to Toulon, where it will effect for me a powerful diversion. I estimate then that it is necessary to do two things, first to send a special message to Admiral Villeneuve, ordering him to effect this manoeuvre; second, as his excessive pusillanimity will hinder him from undertaking it, you will send Admiral Rosily to replace him. He will be the bearer of letters enjoining upon Admiral Villeneuve to return to France, to render an account of his conduct."

The minister of Marine was a friend of Villeneuve, and in announcing to him the departure of Admiral Rosily, he did not make him acquainted with his own disgrace. Leaving the consequences to chance, he had given up the endeavor to influence the imperious will of Napoleon with regard to the squadrons, and he dared not give instructions to Villeneuve. Villeneuve divined what his friend hid from him. "The sailors of Paris and the departments will be very unworthy and very foolish if they cast a stone at me," wrote he to Decres. "They will have themselves prepared the condemnation which will strike them later on. Let them come on board the squadrons, and they will see against what elements they are exposed to fight. For the rest, if the French marine, as is maintained, has only failed in daring, the emperor will shortly be satisfied, and may count upon the most brilliant successes."

In the middle of October, without having united with the Spanish squadron of Carthagena, nor the vessels which he had formerly imprudently detached under the orders of Captain Allemand, Villeneuve left Cadiz in company with Admiral Gravina and some Spanish vessels. The latter were large and heavy, difficult to manoeuvre, and fitted with very second-rate crews. The squadron of battle, commanded by Admiral Villeneuve and the Spanish Vice- Admiral Alava, numbered twenty-one vessels. The squadron of reserve, composed of twelve vessels, had been placed under the orders of Admiral Gravina.

The forces of Nelson numerically equalled those of Villeneuve, but they were infinitely superior to his in the quality of the vessels and their crews. The illustrious English admiral was ill; for several weeks he had sought repose in England. When he offered to resume the command of the fleet, he was impressed with the idea that he should not again see his country. He called upon the workman entrusted with making a coffin, which Captain Hollowell had ordered to be made from a fragment of the keel of the French vessel L'Orient [Footnote: L'Orient, commanded by Admiral Brueys, foundered at Aboukir.] "Engrave the history of this coffin on the plate," said he; "I shall probably have need of it before long." When at length he appeared on board, the sailors cheered him as the assurance of victory. The English admiral had carefully concealed the number of his vessels, fearing Villeneuve might hesitate in view of his forces. On the 21st the Franco-Spanish fleet was entirely at sea, sailing in order of battle. The English had formed in two lines; Admiral Collingwood, upon the Royal Sovereign, commanded the first; Nelson, on board the Victory, directed the second. He had given orders to bear down upon the French lines in order to cut them. "The part of the enemy's fleet that you leave out of the fight," said he, "will come with difficulty to the assistance of the part attacked, and you will have conquered before it arrives." The same signal was hoisted all over the fleet, "England expects that every man will do his duty." Villeneuve had not less nobly announced his intentions to his officers. "You need not wait for signals from the admiral," were his orders; "in the confusion of a naval battle it is often impossible to see what is going forward, or to give orders, or above all to get them understood. Each one ought to listen only to the voice of honor, and throw himself into the place of greatest danger. Every captain is at his post if he is under fire." It was the misfortune of Admiral Villeneuve in the battle of Trafalgar, that he did not adhere to his original instructions. Gravina asked for authority to manoeuvre in an independent manner. Villeneuve objected, and ordered him to place himself in line. Already at midday Admiral Collingwood, separated from his column by the superior swiftness of the Royal Sovereign, engaged so hotly in battle with the Santa Anna, the flag-ship of the Spaniard Alava, that he soon found himself in the midst of the enemy. "See how that brave Collingwood hurls himself into action," said Nelson to his flag-officer; whilst on his own deck, in the midst of the bullets that rained around him, Collingwood cried, "Nelson would give all the world to be here." The greater number of the Spanish captains offered a feeble resistance, and Collingwood had already cut the line of battle. Gravina, upon the Prince- des-Asturies, was surrounded by English vessels. The Fougueux, the Pluton, the Algesiras, commanded by Rear-Admiral Magon, heroically resisted overwhelming attacks. The Redoutable, the Santissima- Trinidad, and the French flag-ship the Bucentaure, crowded in upon each other, waited for the assault of the second column, which Nelson brought against them. Like Collingwood, he had got in advance of his squadron. The officers had begged of him to leave the vanguard to the Temeraire. "I am quite willing," said Nelson, "that the Temeraire should get in front if it can;" and spreading all sail on board the Victory, he advanced first against the enemy.

Already his topmast had been struck, and fifty men placed hors de combat. The English admiral had given orders to separate the Redoutable from the Bucentaure; but Captain Lucas, who commanded the former vessel, profited by a slight breath of wind, and his bowsprit touched the stern of the Bucentaure. Nelson then engaged the Redoutable, dashing against it with a shock so violent that both vessels were thrown out of the line; the Bucentaure and the Santissima-Trinidad were also surrounded by the English. The struggle continued between Nelson and his courageous adversary; the flames were breaking out every moment upon the French vessel. "Hardy, this is too hot to last long," said Nelson to his flag- captain. Presently a ball from the topmast of the Redoutable struck the illustrious sailor in the loins. He fell, still supporting himself by one hand. "Hardy, they have done for me now," said he. "No! not yet," cried the captain, who sought to raise him up. "Yes," replied Nelson, "the spine is hit;" and drawing his handkerchief from his pocket, he himself covered his face and his decorations, in order to hide his fall from his crew. "Take care!" said he, as they carried him down; "the cable of the helm is cut." Between decks was crowded with the wounded and the dying. "Attend to those whom you can save," said he to the surgeon; "as for me, there is nothing to be done." Meanwhile he listened anxiously, noticing the discharges of artillery, seeking to divine the issue of the combat. The Redoutable had been attacked by the Temeraire and the Neptune at the moment when the French sailors were preparing to board the Victory. Captain Lucas was compelled to haul down his flag; of the 660 men of his crew, 522 were hors de combat. The Bucentaure, caught by its bowsprit in the gallery of the Santissima-Trinidad, was overwhelmed by the enemy, and, held in its position by the Spanish vessel, completely dismasted. Already the flag-officer and two lieutenants had been wounded by the side of Admiral Villeneuve, who courted death in vain. The Bucentaure was cut down close like a pontoon. The admiral wished to pass on to another vessel. Not a single boat was left him. When he at last pulled down his flag he could not reply with a single cannon-shot to the English vessels that were bent on his destruction.

Nelson still breathed. "Where is Hardy?" he repeated; "if he does not come to me, it is because he is dead." The captain presently came down, too much moved to utter a word. "How is it now with us?" said the dying man. "All goes well," said Hardy; "ten vessels have already lowered their flag. I see that the French are signalling to the vanguard to tack about. If they come against the Victory we will call for aid, and give them a beating." "I hope none of our ships have surrendered," said Nelson. "There is no danger," replied Hardy, who returned to his post. When he reappeared, Nelson's eyes were closed. The captain stooped over him. "We have fifteen prizes," said he. "I counted upon twenty," murmured the dying man. Then rousing himself, "Anchor, Hardy, anchor; give the signal! Kiss me ... I am satisfied. Thank God, I have done my duty." He expired,—just forty-seven years of age.

The French Admiral Magon was still defending the Algesiras, attacked by the Tonnant; he wanted to board her, but his deck was swept by the grape shot of fresh assailants. Himself threatened with being boarded, the admiral repulsed the English, axe in hand, at the head of his sailors. He was covered with wounds. Bretonniere, become flag officer by the death of his seniors, implored Magon to have his wounds dressed; as he yielded to the request, a cannon-shot penetrating between decks struck him in the chest, and he was dead. The Algesiras at last hauled down her flag, at the moment when the Achille, for some time already the prey of flames which the crew had no time to extinguish, blew up with a terrific explosion. Thus ended the battle. Admiral Gravina rallied round him eleven vessels; a few had at an early period withdrawn from the combat. Admiral Dumanoir, who had not succeeded in engaging his vanguard, had already retired. The English carried off seventeen vessels, for the most part too shattered to be of service. The unfortunate French admiral was received by the conquerors with the honor due to his bravery. A few months later, when released by the enemy, Villeneuve in despair was to die by his own hand in an inn at Rennes, writing in the last moment these heartrending words: "What a blessing that I have no child to receive my horrible inheritance, and live under the weight of my name!"

The last orders of Nelson in dying, recommended the fleet to be anchored; Collingwood judged otherwise, and waited till daylight. Already Admiral Gravina had taken his vessels into the port of Cadiz, when a furious tempest broke forth, irresistible by the ships so dreadfully damaged in the conflict. The English had so much to do in looking after their own safety that they could not attend to their prizes, and the officer having charge of the Bucentaure resigned it to the French commanders: the unfortunate vessel perished on the coast, opposite Cape Diamant.

Indomitable in defeat as in battle, the officers and sailors of the Algesiras forced their guardians to surrender the vessel. They at last escaped death, after two nights of anguish and struggle. At their side the Indomptable, all hung with lanterns, its deck crowded with a despairing crew, was forced from its anchors by the hurricane, and shattered against the rocks. The English lost all their prizes but four; they were compelled to sink the Swiftsure, captured by Admiral Ganteaume and which they were intent on recapturing from us.

Nelson had made the request in dying, "Do not cast my poor body into the sea." The most extraordinary honors awaited in England the remains of this great seaman: the broken mast of his flag-ship, and one of the French bullets whicn struck him, still attract attention in a room at Windsor. The whole nation put on mourning; the politicians forgot the embarrassment which he had more than once caused them, and which had drawn from one of them the expression, "He is an heroic cockney." The splendor of his military genius, his devotion to his country, the noble simplicity of his character, inspired all minds with respect. The hero of the struggle against France, he fell at the height of his glory. He had taken part in nearly all the maritime victories which had signalized the war: the names of Aboukir, Copenhagen, and Trafalgar render his memory glorious.

The emperor bore the blow of his defeat without showing despondency or anger. "All this makes no change in my cruising projects," wrote he on the 18th November, to Admiral Decres; "I am even annoyed that all is not ready. They must set out without delay. Cause all the troops that are on board the squadron to come to me by land. They will wait my orders at the first town in France."

Napoleon was then at Znaim in Moravia, and the date of his letter told the story of his astonishing successes. Abandoned by the King of Prussia, with whom the Austrians and the Russians had turned to account the violation of his territory, Napoleon prepared to dispute Hanover with new enemies, without modifying his general plan, and without renouncing his march upon Vienna. The Russian army of Kutuzof alone barred his way; but already it was commencing a clever movement of retreat, never fighting without necessity, firm and resolute, however, when attacked. The Russians passed the Danube at Krems, destroying the bridges behind them. They committed great ravages during their march, and had gained the ill-will of the Austrian corps who went with them, and who fell back upon Vienna. With great imprudence General Mortier had been detached on the left bank of the Danube, where he was attacked by the larger portion of the Russian army at the very moment when he found himself separated from the division of Dupont. In spite of the heroic resistance of the French soldiers the danger was imminent. Mortier was urged to take to a boat, and not deliver to the enemy a marshal of France. "Who would leave such brave men?" replies Mortier; "we will be saved or perish together." A road lay open across the ground occupied by the Russians, to the village of Dernstein; the soldiers of General Dupont entered it at the same time from another direction. They hastened by forced marches to the succor of the marshal. Napoleon's anger fell heavily on Murat, whom he accused, not without reason, of vainglorious levity. Already the brilliant general of cavalry had presented himself at the gates of Vienna. The Emperor Francis had not wished to expose his capital to the horrors of a siege; when he saw the proposals for an armistice rejected which he had addressed to Napoleon (November 8th) he prepared to quit Vienna. Less menacing than at Ulm, the conqueror no longer invited the Emperor of Austria to meditate upon the fall of empires: he reminded him that the present war was for Russia only a fancy war; "for your Majesty and myself it is a war that absorbs all our means, all our sentiments, all our faculties." Fifteen days later Napoleon entered the palace of Schoenbrunn. Thanks to a ruse, more daring than fair, Murat had succeeded in carrying the bridges of Vienna at the moment when the workmen were preparing to blow them up; he was on the march for Moravia, pursuing the Russians, with the co-operation of Mortier and Bernadotte.

By his superior ability Napoleon struck his enemies at once with terror and astonishment, paralyzing their forces by their anxiety at the unforeseen blows he dealt them. The Archduke Charles had long remained immovable on the Adige; when he at last commenced his retreat he marched to the assistance of the threatened empire, and was pursued by Massena. The marshal attacked the archduke in his camp of Caldiero after having seized Verona by night, and had fought him on the shores of the Tagliamento; he was now approaching Marmont, who occupied the Styrian Alps. The Archduke Charles rallying the remains of the army of his brother, the Archduke John, was engaged with him in Hungary, in order to rejoin the Russian army in Moravia. Before the two masses of the enemy could reach Bruenn, and in spite of the clever manoeuvre of Kutuzoff, who succeeded before Hollabrunn in concealing from Murat and Lannes the great bulk of his army, the French were, on the 19th of November, in possession of the capital of Moravia. Napoleon entered it next day.

The Emperor Alexander joined the Emperor of Austria at Olmuetz. Proud of his diplomatic successes at Berlin, and convinced that his visit to the King of Prussia had alone decided him to attach himself to the coalition, he nursed a military ambition, assiduously encouraged by his young favorites. The Emperor Francis sent Stadion and Giulay to Bruenn, commissioned to treat for conditions of peace. Napoleon referred them to Talleyrand, whom he had sent to Vienna. "They know the state of the question by what I have said to them in a few words," wrote he; "but you have to treat it smoothly and at full length. My intention is absolutely to have the State of Venice, and to reunite it to the kingdom of Italy. I have good cause to think that the court of Vienna has taken its resolution on that point."

Napoleon was wishing for peace—immediate, glorious, and fruitful. He had vainly sought to separate the Austrians from the Russians; he could not doubt the hostile intentions of Prussia. The very explanations that Haugwitz had just given him as to the motives for the entry of a Prussian army into Hanover foreshadowed plenty of approaching hostilities: a brilliant victory, forestalling the union of the German and Russian forces, became necessary. For a few days the soldiers rested, recruiting their forces after their long and perilous marches. The impatience of the Emperor Alexander had already carried the general quarters of the allies to Wischau. It was there that General Savary presented himself, intrusted with aimless negotiations, which gave him opportunity to examine the condition of the Austro-Russian army. Prince Dolgorouki, sent from Bruenn with the reply of the Emperor Alexander, was received at the advanced posts. The young favorite was thoughtless and proud. "What do they want of me?" said Napoleon. "Why does the Emperor Alexander make war on me? Is he jealous of the growth of France? Well, let him extend his frontiers at the expense of his neighbors on the side of Turkey, and all quarrels will be at an end." Dolgorouki protested the disinterestedness of his master. "The emperor wishes," said he "for the independence of Europe, the evacuation of Holland and Switzerland, an indemnity for the King of Sardinia, and barriers round France for the protection of its neighbors." Napoleon broke out in a passion: "I will never yield anything in Italy, even if the Russians should camp upon the heights of Montmartre." He sent back the negotiator, who had perceived the movements of troops falling back around Bruenn. Ignorant of the great principle which directed the campaigns of Napoleon—"divide in order to subsist, concentrate in order to fight"—he thought he divined the preparations for retreat. The ardor of the Russian army grew more intense. It advanced towards the position long studied by Napoleon, and which he destined for his field of battle. In accordance with the plan of the Austrian general, Weirother, who was in great favor with the Emperor Alexander, the allies had resolved to turn the right of the French army, in order to cut off the road to Vienna by isolating numerous corps dispersed in Austria and Styria. Already the two emperors and their staff-officers occupied the castle and village of Austerlitz. On December 1st, 1805, the allies established themselves upon the plateau of Platzen; Napoleon had by design left it free. Divining, with the sure instinct of superior genius, the manoeuvres of his enemy, he had cleverly drawn them into the snare. His proclamation to the troops announced all the plan of the battle.

"Soldiers," said he, "the Russian army presents itself before you to avenge the Austrian army of Ulm. These are the same battalions which you have beaten at Hollabrunn, and that you have constantly pursued to this place.

"The positions that we occupy are formidable, and whilst they march to turn my right they will present me their flank.

"Soldiers, I will myself direct your battalions. I will keep myself away from the firing if, with your accustomed bravery, you carry disorder and confusion into the enemy's ranks. But if the victory were for a moment uncertain you would see your emperor expose himself to the brunt of the attack; for this victory will finish the campaign, and we shall be able to resume our winter quarters, where we shall be joined by new armies which are forming in France. Then the peace I shall make will be worthy of my people, of you, and of me."

It was late, and the emperor had just dismissed Haugwitz, whom he had sent back to Vienna. "I shall see you again if I am not carried off to-morrow by a cannon-ball. It will be time then to understand each other." Napoleon went out to visit the soldiers at the bivouac. A great ardor animated the troops; it was remembered that the 2nd December was the anniversary of the coronation of the emperor. The soldiers gathered up the straw upon which they were stretched, making it into bundles, which they lit at the end of poles; a sudden illumination lit up the camp. "Be assured," said an old grenadier, advancing towards the chief who had so many times led his comrades to victory, "I promise thee that we will bring thee to-morrow the flags and the cannon of the Russian army to signalize the anniversary of the 2nd December."

The fires were extinguished, and the enemies thought they saw in it the indication of a nocturnal retreat. Gathered around a map, the allied generals listened to Weirother, who developed his plan of battle "with a boasting air, which displayed in him a clear persuasion of his own merit and of our incapacity," says General Langeron, a French emigrant officer in the Russian army. Old Kutuzof slept. "If Bonaparte had been able to attack us, he would have done it to-day," was the assurance of Weirother. "You do not then think him strong?" "If he has 40,000 men, it is all." "He has extinguished his fires; a good deal of noise comes from his camp." "He is either retreating or else he is changing his position; if he takes that of Turas, he will spare us a good deal of trouble, and the dispositions of the troops will remain the same." The day was scarcely begun (2nd December, 1805) when the allied army was on the march. The noise of the preparations in the camps had reassured Napoleon as to the direction the enemy would take. On the previous evening, whilst listening to the learned lecture of Weirother, Prince Bagration, formerly the heroic defender of the positions of Hollabrunn, had uttered under his long moustache, "The battle is lost!" In seeing his enemies advance towards the right, as he had himself announced to his soldiers, Napoleon could not withhold the signs of his joy. He held the victory in his own hands. He waited patiently until his enemies had deployed their line. The sun had just risen, shining through the midst of a fog, which it dispersed with its brilliant rays. The plateau of Pratzen was in part abandoned; the emperor gave the signal, and the whole French army moved forward, forming an enormous and compact mass, eager to hurl itself on the enemy. "See how the French climb the height without staying to respond to our fire!" said Prince Czartoriski, who watched the battle near the two emperors. He was still speaking when already the allied columns, thrown out one after another on the slope, found themselves arrested in their movement and separated from the two wings of the army. Old Kutuzof, badly wounded, strove in vain to send aid to the disordered centre. "See, see, a mortal wound!" he cried, extending his arms towards Pratzen.

During this time the right, commanded by Marshal Davout, disputed with the Russians the line of Goldbach, extricating with the division of Friant General Legrand for a moment outflanked. Murat and Lannes attacked on the left eighty-two Russian and Austrian squadrons, under the orders of Prince John of Lichtenstein. The infantry advanced in quick time against the Uhlans sent against them, soon dispersed by the light cavalry of Kellermann. The Russian batteries drowned the sound of all the drums of the first regiment of the division of Cafarelli. General Valhubert had his thigh fractured, and his soldiers wished to carry him away. "Remain at your posts," said he calmly. "I know well how to die alone. We must not for one man lose six." The Russian guard at last turned towards Pratzen. A French battalion, which had let itself be drawn in pursuit, was in danger. Napoleon, stationed at the centre with the infantry of the guard, and the corps of Bernadotte, perceived the disorder. "Take there the Mamelukes and the chasseurs of the guard," said he to Rapp. When the latter returned to the emperor he was wounded, but the Russians, were repulsed, and Prince Repnin prisoner. A Russian division, isolated at Sokolnitz, had just surrendered; two columns had been thrown back beyond the marshes. The bridge broke under the weight of the artillery. The cold was intense; and the soldiers thought to save themselves by springing upon the ice, but already the French cannon-balls were breaking it under their feet. With cries of despair they were engulfed in the waters of the lake. Generals Doctoroff and Keinmayer effected their painful retreat, under the fire of our batteries, by a narrow embankment, separating the two lakes of Melnitz and Falnitz. Only the corps of Prince Bagration still kept in order of battle, Marshal Lannes having restrained his troops which were rushing forward in pursuit.

The day had come to a close; the two emperors had abandoned the terrible battle-field. Behind them resounded the French shouts of victory; around them, before them, they heard the imprecations of the fugitives, the groans of the wounded, unable any longer to keep on their way, the complaints of the peasants ravaged by the furious soldiery. They arrived thus at the imperial castle of Halitsch, where they found themselves next day pressed by Marshal Davout. Austerlitz became the headquarters of the conqueror.

Before even having reached a place of safety the Emperor Francis, gloomy and calm, had in his own mind taken his decision. Prince John of Lichtenstein was sent to ask from Napoleon an armistice and an interview. The conqueror was still traversing the field of battle, attentive in procuring for his soldiers the care that their bravery merited. "The interview, when the emperor will, the day after to-morrow, at our advanced posts," said he to the Austrian envoy; "until then, no armistice." Whilst Napoleon was speaking to his army and to Europe, Marshal Lannes and the cavalry were already pursuing the vanquished enemy.

"Soldiers, I am satisfied with you," said he in his proclamation of the 3rd December, 1805. "You have upon the day of Austerlitz justified all that I expected from your intrepidity. An army of 100,000 men, commanded by the Emperors of Russia and Austria, has been in less than four hours either cut up or dispersed, and what escaped from your steel is drowned in the lakes. Forty flags, the standards of the Imperial Guard of Russia, a hundred and twenty pieces of cannon, twenty generals, and more than thirty thousand prisoners are the results of this ever-memorable day. In three months this third coalition has been vanquished and dissolved. Soldiers, when all that is necessary in order to assure the happiness and prosperity of France shall be accomplished, I will lead you back into France; there you will be the object of my most tender solicitude. My people will see you again with joy, and it will suffice for you to say, 'I was at the battle of Austerlitz,' to receive the reply, 'There is a hero!'"

The army rested, intoxicated with pride and joy. The losses, considerable in themselves, were small in comparison with the disasters inflicted on the coalition; the arrogance of the Russians had undergone a most painful check; the youthful illusions of their Czar cruelly dissipated. The Emperor of Austria informed him of his pacific intentions, and Alexander hastened to release his allies from their engagements; he was in a hurry to retire and disengage himself from a war which could procure for him no other advantage than a vain hope of glory.

Napoleon repeated his former sentiments to the Emperor Francis when he met him next day at the mill of Paleny, between Nasiedlowitz and Urschitz. "Do not confound your cause with that of the Emperor Alexander. Russia can to- day only make a fancy war (une guerre de fantaisie). Conquered, she retires into her deserts, and you pay all the costs of the war." Then, gracefully returning to the courtesies of society, the all-powerful conqueror made excuses for the poor place in which he was compelled to receive his illustrious host.

"These are the palaces," said he, "which your Majesty has compelled me to inhabit for three months past." "Your visit has succeeded sufficiently well for you to have no right to bear me any grudge," replied the Emperor Francis. The two monarchs embraced, and the armistice was concluded. The Russians were to retire by stages, and the seat of negotiations was fixed at Bruenn. A formal order from Napoleon was necessary in order to stop the march of Marshal Davout in pursuit of the Russian army. General Savary was entrusted with this order; he brought to the Czar the conditions of the armistice. "I am satisfied, since my ally is," replied Alexander, and he allowed to escape from him the expression of an admiration which was long to exercise over him a profound influence. "Your master has shown himself very great," said he to Savary.

Napoleon left Talleyrand at Bruenn exchanging arguments with Stadion and Giulay; he himself repaired to Vienna, where Haugwitz awaited him. Imperfectly instructed as to the alliance concluded on the 3rd of November at Potsdam between the King of Prussia and the allies, he knew enough of it to break forth in violent reproaches against the perfidy of the Prussian Government. And as Haugwitz made excuses and protests, the Emperor proposed to him all of a sudden that union with France which had been so often discussed. Hanover was to be the price of it. Prussia was uneasy, frightened, divided in her councils, but she accepted; the Marquisate of Anspach, the Principality of Neufchatel, and the Duchy of Cleves were ceded to France, and the treaty was signed at Schoenbrunn on the 15th December, 1805. Prussia recognized all the conquests of Napoleon; the two sovereigns reciprocally guaranteed each other's possessions.

Talleyrand had just quitted Bruenn, which had become unhealthy through the overcrowding of the hospitals; the negotiations were being carried on at Presburg. In spite of the wise and prudent counsels of his minister, Napoleon was resolved on exacting from Austria still more than he had declared before Ulm. The defection of Prussia had thoroughly disheartened the plenipotentiaries of the Emperor Francis. The French armies concentrated afresh around Vienna. Napoleon was doubly imperious, threatening to recommence the war; the negotiators at length yielded to necessity. On the 26th of December, 1805, peace was signed at Presburg between France and Austria. The Emperor Francis abandoned to the conqueror Venice, Istria, Frioul, and Dalmatia, which were to become part of the kingdom of Italy; the Tyrol and Vorarlberg, of which Napoleon made a present to Bavaria; the outlying territories of Suabia, handed over to Wurtemberg; the Brisgau, Ortenau, and the city of Constance, which were added to the territories of the Elector of Baden. Napoleon ceded to the Emperor the Principality of Wurtzburg for one of the archdukes; the secularization of the Teutonic Order was agreed upon to the profit of Austria; the latter power was to pay a war indemnity of forty millions.

The small German princes, who beheld their possessions increased and their titles made more glorious by the powerful hand of the conqueror, were in their turn to pay the price of the terrible alliance which weighed upon them. The new Kings of Wurtemberg and Bavaria found themselves obliged to give their daughters to Jerome Bonaparte and to Eugene de Beauharnais; the marriage that the former had contracted in America, and the betrothal of the Princess of Bavaria to the son of the Elector of Baden, weighed nothing in the balance in comparison with the iron will of Napoleon. Intimidated and restless, the Elector of Baden himself broke off the marriage of his son, accepting for him the hand of Stephani de Beauharnais, niece of the Empress Josephine. Before taking the road to France, the Emperor was present at the marriage of the vice-King of Italy with the princess whose portrait he had seen a few days before upon a porcelain cup. Everything had yielded to his power,—sovereigns, families, and hearts. Russia and England alone remained openly enemies. "Rest awhile, my children," said the Archduke Charles in disbanding his army; "rest awhile, until we begin again."

I have been desirous of conducting General Bonaparte, now become the Emperor Napoleon, up to the popular summit of his glory. He had already tainted it by many acts of violence, and by an exclusive devotion to personal ends, in defiance of justice and liberty. Henceforward and under the disastrous inspirations of a mad ambition, victory itself was to become a fatal seduction which by inevitable degrees draws us on to ruin. Great and terrible lesson of Divine justice on the morality of nations! Starting from the violation of the peace of Amiens, and in spite of the glory of the sun of Austerlitz, the history of the glory of the conqueror includes in germ the history of his fall, and of the ever-increasing misfortunes of France.



CHAPTER IX.

GLORY AND CONQUEST (1805-1808).

Guizot has said at the commencement of his essay on Washington: "There is a spectacle as fine as that of a virtuous man struggling with adversity, and not less salutary to contemplate; it is the spectacle of a virtuous man at the head of a good cause and assuring his triumph."

There is a spectacle, sorrowful and sad, also salutary to contemplate in its austere teachings: it is that of a man of genius bearing along in his train an enthusiastic nation, and squandering all the living forces of his genius and his country in the service of a senseless ambition, as fatal to the sovereign as the people, both foolishly dragged along by a vision of glory towards injustices and crimes not at first foreseen. Such is the spectacle offered to us by the history of the Emperor Napoleon, and of France, after the battle of Austerlitz and the Peace of Presburg.

For the moment a stupor seemed to oppress the whole of Europe. Prussia, humiliated and indignant, had, however, just ratified the treaty of Schoenbrunn; Austria was panting and conquered; England had lost her great minister: William Pitt died 23rd January, 1806, struck to the heart in his patriotic passion, by the new victory of the conqueror whom he dreaded for the liberty of the world. "Roll up this map of Europe," said he when the news was brought to him as he lay dying in his little house at Putney, "in ten years time there will be no further need for it." Already his rival had succeeded him in office, and Fox did not yet foresee that he would presently be inevitably brought to adopt the policy of resistance to the long increasing power of Napoleon. He was then making cordial advances towards him. The Emperor Alexander had not disarmed, but the appeals to him from the Court of Naples found him immovable. Already the Bourbons were trembling on the thrones they still occupied.

Napoleon announced it in his thirty-seventh bulletin, dated from Vienna. "General Saint Cyr marches by long stages towards Naples, to punish the treason of the queen, and hurl from the throne this criminal woman who has violated everything that is held sacred among men." Intercession was attempted for her with the Emperor. He replied, "Ought hostilities to recommence, and the nation to sustain a war of thirty years, a perfidy so atrocious cannot he pardoned."

In this struggle between violence and treason the issue could not remain long doubtful. In the name of Joseph Bonaparte, Massena commanded the army which came to take possession of the kingdom of Naples. For the second time, King Ferdinand and Queen Charlotte took refuge in Sicily. "It is the interest of France to make sure of the kingdom of Naples by a useful and easy conquest," the Moniteur had formerly declared, in publishing the treaty of neutrality agreed to by the House of Bourbon. The work was accomplished; on the 30th of March, Joseph Bonaparte was proclaimed King of the Two Sicilies. The city of Gaeta alone was to prolong its resistance.

Two months later, with the appearance of the national consent, Napoleon elevated his brother Louis to the throne which he had instituted for him in Holland. The prince had been ordered to protect this country, threatened by the Anglo-Swedish army. After the battle of Austerlitz he presented himself before the Emperor. "Why have you quitted Holland?" demanded the latter brusquely, "we saw you there with pleasure, and you should have remained there." "Sounds of a monarchical transformation circulate in Holland," replied Louis Bonaparte, "they are not agreeable to this free and worthy nation, nor are they any more pleasant to me."

Napoleon broke out into a passion. "He gave me to understand," says Prince Louis in his Memoires, "that if I had not been more consulted over this affair, it was for a subject only to obey." At the same time the Emperor wrote to Talleyrand, "I have seen this evening Admiral Verhuell. In two words hear what this question amounts to. Holland is without executive power. It requires that power, and I will give it Prince Louis. In place of the Grand Pensionary Schimmelpenninck, there shall be a king. The argument is that without that I shall not be able to give peace a firm settlement. Prince Louis must make his entry into Amsterdam within twenty days." The accession to the throne of the new monarch was celebrated on the 5th June, 1806.

Napoleon disposed at his will of crowns and appanages, elevating or dethroning kings, magnificently dowering the companions of his military life and the servants of his policy. He had at the same time conceived the idea of forming beyond his States a barrier which should separate them from the great German powers, always secretly hostile. The dukes and the electors whom he had made kings, the princes whose domains he had aggrandized, were to unite in a confederation for the protection of the new State of Germany. The seat of government was established at Frankfort. The town of Ratisbon, formerly honored by the assemblies of the Diet, had been ceded to Bavaria. The Diet was officially informed that Prussia received a decisive authorization to form in its turn a confederation of the North. Most of the German States having been forcibly taken from him, Francis II voluntarily resigned the vain title he still bore; he ceased to be Emperor of Germany, and became Emperor of Austria.

Meanwhile the overtures of Fox towards France had until now remained without result. England refused to treat without Russia, whom the Emperor would not admit to a common negotiation. "Regrets are useless," wrote Fox to Talleyrand on the 10th April, 1806; "but if the great man whom you serve, could see with the same eye with which I behold it, the true glory which would accrue to him from a moderate and just peace, what good fortune would not result from it for France and for all Europe?"

In the depth of his soul and in his secret thoughts Napoleon now desired peace. Amongst the English prisoners detained in France after the rupture of the treaty of Amiens, a few had been exchanged since the advent of Fox to the ministry; one of them, Lord Yarmouth (afterwards Lord Hertford), elegant and dissipated, had been commissioned by his government to talk over familiarly with Talleyrand the chances of peace that existed between the two nations. Napoleon had conceded Hanover to Prussia as the price of peace; he was ready to retrocede it to England, free to indemnify Prussia at the expense of Germany. The negotiation was carried on secretly, the negotiators meeting as men of the world rather than diplomats. Oubril, an envoy from the Emperor Alexander, had just arrived in Paris, charged with reassuring France on the subject of a circumstance which had recently taken place in Dalmatia. The Russian admiral, Sinavin, animated with unseasonable zeal, with the aid of the Montenegrins had seized the mouths of the Cattaro. The Austrian officers, appointed to hand over the territory to the French, had not opposed any resistance to the Russians. The two Emperors of Austria and Russia hastened to disavow their agents; on 20th July Oubril signed with France a separate peace.

This was failing in loyalty towards England, who had refused to treat without its ally. The Emperor of Russia perceived it; he had thought the cabinet of London more inclined to conclude peace at any cost. The health of Fox was giving way, and his successors were likely to be less favorable to the demands of Napoleon. Alexander declared that he would not ratify the treaty negotiated by Oubril. This news arrived at Paris on the 3rd of September, 1806. On the 13th of the same month Fox expired in London, amiable and beloved to the last day of his life; ardently devoted to his friends, to freedom, to all noble and generous causes; a great orator and a great debater; feeble in his political conduct even in opposition, incapable of governing and of sustaining the great struggle which for so long agitated Europe. At his death the party of resistance resumed power in England. In Germany the secret of the negotiations with regard to Hanover had transpired; the disregard of sworn faith which Prussia had more than once practised during the war fell back upon herself with crushing weight. Napoleon thought nothing of his engagements; he had detached King Frederick William from his natural allies, and showed himself disposed to snatch from him the price of his compliance. The nation and the king had with great difficulty accepted the treaty negotiated by Haugwitz; indignation broke forth on every side. It had already betrayed itself for a few weeks past by numerous and violent pamphlets against the Emperor of the French and against the armies of occupation. Napoleon responded to them by a despotic and cruel act which was to bear bitter fruits. On the 5th August he wrote to Marshal Berthier:—

"My cousin,—I imagine that you have had the booksellers of Augsburg and Nuremberg arrested. My intention is that they should be indicted before a military tribunal, and shot within twenty-four hours. It is no ordinary crime to spread libels in places where the French army is stationed, in order to excite the inhabitants against it. It is a crime of high treason. The sentence shall set forth that wherever there is an army, the duty of the commander being to watch over its safety, such and such individuals convicted of having attempted to stir up the inhabitants of Suabia against the French army are condemned to death. You will place the criminals in the midst of a division, and you will appoint seven colonels to try them. You will have the sentence published throughout Germany." Only one bookseller of Nuremberg, named Palm, was arrested, and suffered the terrible sentence. Berthier never forgot the cruel necessity to which he had been subjected in ordering this odious procedure. "He makes us condemn under the penalty of being condemned ourselves," said General Hullin, in reporting the murder of the Duc d'Enghien.

The growing irritation of Germany only awaited an excuse for bursting forth. A despatch of the Marquis of Lucchesini, then minister of Prussia at Paris, gave the protracted irritation of the court of Berlin its opportunity. According to the information received from this diplomatist, the French government was putting pressure upon the German Princes of the North, to prevent them from entering the Confederation projected by Prussia. A letter from King Frederick William and a diplomatic note demanded peremptorily the evacuation of Germany by the French troops, and liberty of action for the German Princes. At the same time the armaments of Prussia, for a long time prepared in secret, became public. Already the Emperor Napoleon had quitted Paris, without Laforest, his minister at Berlin, having been authorized to reply to the demands of the Prussians. "We have been deceived three times," said Napoleon. "We must have facts; let Prussia disarm, and France will re-cross the Rhine, and not before." It was to the Senate and to the soldiers alone that Napoleon now addressed the explanation of his aggressive movements against Prussia.

"Soldiers, the order for your re-entry into France was issued; you had already approached it by several marches. Triumphant fetes awaited you, and the preparations to receive you had already commenced in the capital.

"But whilst we abandon ourselves to this too confident security, new plots are hatched under the mask of friendship and alliance. War cries have made themselves heard from Berlin. For two months we have been provoked more and more every day.

"The same faction, the same spirit of giddiness which, under favor of our internal dissensions, conducted the Prussians fourteen years ago into the midst of the plains of Champagne, rules in their councils; if it is no longer Paris that they wish to burn and overthrow to its foundations, it is to-day their flag that they wish to plant in the capitals of our allies; it is Saxony that they wish to compel by a shameful transaction to renounce its independence by ranging it in the number of their provinces; it is, in fine, your laurels that they wish to snatch from your foreheads. They wish us to evacuate Germany at the sight of their arms. Fools! What? Shall we then have braved the seasons, the seas, the deserts, conquered Europe several times allied against us, carried our glory from the east to the west, in order to return to-day into our country like fugitives who have abandoned their allies; to hear it said that the French eagle fled in fear at the mere sight of the Prussian armies?"

It was, in fact, a fourth continental coalition which was beginning to be formed against France. Prussia alone was then on the scene: long prudent and circumspect in its conduct, it had been drawn in this time, in spite of its weakness, by irresistible anger and indignation. Napoleon did not dread the war. "I have nearly 150,000 men in Germany," wrote he to King Joseph; "with them I can subdue Vienna, Berlin, St. Petersburg." The reply that he at last deigned to address to the King of Prussia from the camp of Gera breathed the most haughty confidence. A few engagements had already taken place. "Monsieur my brother," wrote Napoleon to Frederick William, "I only received on the 7th the letter of your Majesty of the 25th September. I am vexed that you have been induced to sign this sort of thing. You appoint a meeting with me on the 8th. Like a good knight, I keep faith with you, I am in the middle of Saxony; believe me I have such forces with me that all your forces cannot long prevent my victory. But why spill so much blood? To what end? Sire, I have been your friend for six years past. I do not wish to profit by that species of giddiness which animates your council, and has caused you to commit political errors, at which Europe is still astonished, and military errors of such an enormity that Europe will soon ring with them. If in your note you had asked possible things from me, I would have granted them to you; you have asked for my dishonor: you ought to have been certain of my reply. War is then made between us, the alliance broken forever; but why make our subjects kill each other? Sire, your Majesty will be conquered; you will have compromised the peace of your days and the existence of your subjects without the shadow of a pretext. I have nothing to gain against your Majesty. I want nothing, and I have wanted nothing from you. The present war is an impolitic war."

Napoleon had well estimated the forces of the enemy he was preparing to crush; he had concentrated under his hand a power superior to all the resources of the Prussians, whose soldiers were courageous and well disciplined, but for a long time little exercised in war. Napoleon's precautions were taken at every point of his vast territory; he had called new troops under his banners; everywhere he held in check his enemies, either secret or avowed. At one moment he thought of tendering his hand to Austria; he wrote to his ambassador at Vienna, M. de la Rochefoucauld: "My position and my forces are such that I have no cause to fear any one; but at length all these efforts are burdensome to my people. Of the three powers, Russia, Prussia, and Austria, I must have one for an ally. In any case one cannot rely on Prussia: there remains only Austria. The navy of France formerly flourished through the benefit resulting from an alliance with Austria. This power also feels the need of remaining quiet, a sentiment that I partake with all my heart. The house of Austria having often caused hints to be thrown out to me, the present moment, if it knows how to profit by it, is the most favorable."

Austria remained immovable, the uneasy spectator of the events that were preparing. The Russians had not quitted their positions on the Vistula; already the Prussians had invaded Saxony, compelling that little power to furnish them with an army of 20,000 men. The old Duke of Brunswick collected at the same time the contingent of the Elector of Hesse-Cassel, who had sought in vain to maintain his neutrality. The French army occupied Franconia; it was across these mountainous defiles that Napoleon had resolved to march against the enemy divided into two corps, under the orders of the Duke of Brunswick and the Prince of Hohenlohe. Already Marshals Davout and Bernadotte were established upon the left bank of the Saale. The troops of the Prince of Hohenlohe occupied the road from Weimar to Jena. Marshal Lannes had taken possession of the heights which commanded this last town. On the morning of the 14th October, the combat was opened against the corps of the Prince of Hohenlohe; superior in number to the troops employed by the Emperor Napoleon, but surprised by an attack of which they had not foreseen the vigor, the Prussian soldiers were soon thrown into a panic terror. The two wings of the French army, commanded by Soult and Augereau, already enveloped the enemy when Napoleon sent forward the guard and the reserves. The centre of the Prussian army fell back before this enormous mass; the retreat changed into a rout. At the same moment Marshal Biechel arrived by forced marches to the aid of the Prince of Hohenlohe; he brought 20,000 men, but in vain did he struggle to rally and curb the fugitives; he was drawn along and repulsed by the conquered as well as by the conquerors. French and Germans entered at the same time into Weimar; already the crowd of prisoners hindered the march of the victorious army.

At the same hour on the same day, with forces less considerable, Marshal Davout struggled alone, near Auerstadt, against the enemy's corps, commanded by the Duke of Brunswick and by King Frederick William. Marshal Bernadotte had quitted him, obeying literally the orders of the Emperor, who had enjoined him to occupy Hamburg, little careful, perhaps, of the danger to which he exposed his companion-in-arms. Davout cut the road of the Prussians in the defile of Koesen. The Duke of Brunswick, marching himself at the head of his troops, rushed upon him, violently attacking our immovable squares under a murderous fire. The old general fell, mortally wounded; the effort of Prince William and the king remained equally fruitless. Profiting by the trouble caused by his resistance, Davout threw his troops forward, and seized the heights of Eckartsberg; there, protected by his artillery, he could still defend his positions. The King of Prussia gave orders to retire on Weimar; he counted on joining the corps of the Prince of Hohenlohe, in order to renew the attack with all his forces. He had already travelled over half the distance without being harassed by Marshal Davout, whose troops were exhausted; but Bernadotte barred his passage; the confused waves of fugitives from Jena precipitated themselves into the ranks of their friends and compatriots. Behind them appeared the French soldiers, ardent in pursuit. The king turned off hastily, by way of Sommerda; the darkness was increasing, and the disorder increased with the darkness. In a single day the entire Prussian army was destroyed. "They can do nothing but gather up the debris," said Napoleon.

He took care to crush everywhere these sad remains of a generous and patriotic effort. Whilst his lieutenants were pursuing the wandering detachments of the Prussian army, the emperor imposed upon the nation he had just conquered a contribution of a hundred and fifty-nine millions. He sent the elector of Hesse to Metz, announcing in a letter to Marshal Mortier his intention that the house of Hesse should cease to reign, and would be effaced from the number of the powers. The Saxon prisoners, on the contrary, were sent back free to their sovereign. Everywhere the English merchandise found in the ports and warehouses was confiscated for the profit of the army. The Prussian commerce was ruined like the state.

Napoleon advanced upon Berlin; the King of Prussia sought to reach Magdeburg, constantly accompanied by the queen, whose warlike and patriotic ardor excited the rage and the insults of the emperor. "The Queen of Prussia has been many times in view of our posts," says the 8th bulletin of the grand army; "she is in continual fear and alarms. Last night she passed her regiment in review; she continually excited the king and the generals; she craves for blood. Blood the most precious has flowed; the most distinguished generals are those upon whom the first blows have fallen." Gross insinuations aggravated these rude allusions. "All the Prussians assign the misfortunes of Prussia to the journey of the Emperor Alexander. The change which has since then taken place in the spirit of the queen, who, from being a timid and modest woman, occupied with her home affairs, has become turbulent and warlike, is quite a sudden revolution. She desired all at once to have a regiment, to go to the Council, and she has led the monarchy so well that in a few days she has conducted it to the edge of a precipice."

A few battles finally opened everywhere the roads to the conqueror; Magdeburg was besieged, Erfurt had surrendered, Marshal Davout occupied Wittemberg, and Lannes occupied Dessau; Bernadotte had thrown himself against Halle, still defended by Prince Eugene of Wurtemberg. The resistance was severe; when the emperor came to visit the battle-field, he recognized among the corpses still scattered upon the ground the uniforms of the 32nd half-brigade. "Still the 32nd!" cried he. "I have had so many of them killed in Egypt, in Italy, everywhere, that there ought to be no more of them." It was with the same accent of indifferent and cold reflection that he was to say much later, in contemplating his sleeping son, "How long it takes to make a man! I have, however, seen fourteen of them cut off by a cannon-shot!"

Napoleon was at Potsdam, in the palace of the great Frederick, the military genius of this prince had for a long time excited his admiration. "At Potsdam has been found the sword of the great Frederick, the sash of a general, which he carried in the Seven Years' War, and his cordon of the Black Eagle," says the 19th bulletin.

The emperor seized upon these trophies with eagerness, and said, "I prefer these to twenty millions." Then, thinking a moment to whom he should confide this precious trust, "I will send it," said he, "to my old soldiers of the Hanoverian War; I will make a present of it to the governor of the Invalides; it shall remain at the Hotel."

On the 27th, for the first time in his life, Napoleon entered in triumph into an enemy's capital. For two days Berlin had been occupied by Marshal Davout. A gloomy sadness rested on all faces, but order was everywhere respected. The Prussian nation had valiantly defended itself, and there was no shame mingled with its sorrow. The dying Duke of Brunswick recommended his subjects to the emperor. The latter, in a passion, recalled bitterly to the old general the wild manifesto published in his name at the commencement of the French Revolution. "If I had the city of Brunswick demolished, and if I did not leave of it one stone on another, what would your prince say? Does not the law of retaliation permit me to do to Brunswick what he wanted to do to my capital? It is the Duke of Brunswick whom France and Prussia can accuse of being the sole cause of this war. Tell the general that he will be treated with all the respect due to a Prussian officer, but that in a Prussian general I cannot recognize a sovereign."

The same harshness characterized the reception by the emperor of the great Prussian nobles. "Do not come into my presence," said he to the Prince of Hatzfeld, who brought before him the civil magistrates of Berlin. "I have no need of your services; retire to your own estates." A letter from the prince to the King of Prussia, giving an account of the entry of the emperor, was intercepted. Napoleon saw treason in this communication, and a decree was immediately sent to Marshal Davout. "The Prince of Hatzfeld, who presented himself at the head of the deputation from Berlin, as entrusted with the civil government of this capital, and who, notwithstanding this office, and the duties which are attached to it, has made use of the knowledge which his position afforded him as to the situation of the French army, to convey intelligence respecting it to the enemy, will be tried before a military commission, in order to be judged as a traitor and a spy.

"Marshal Davout is charged with the execution of this order.

"The military commission will be composed of seven colonels of the corps of Marshal Davout, by whom he will be tried."

In vain all the most faithful servants of the emperor wasted their entreaties in order to obtain mercy for the Prince of Hatzfeld; only the wife of the accused, far advanced in pregnancy, and overwhelmed with terror, succeeded in arresting the anger of the conqueror. "This is most certainly the writing of your husband," said he to the poor woman, who could scarcely support herself. And as she dared not deny it: "Throw this letter into the fire," added Napoleon, "and I shall no longer have any power to procure his death." It was Marshal Duroc who had taken upon himself the introduction of the Princess of Hatzfeld to the palace.

The prince of Hohenlohe, hard pushed by Murat and Marshal Lannes, had capitulated before Prenzlow, on the 28th of October; General Blucher, who had seized by force the free city of Lubeck, in the hope of finding there a place of support, was constrained, on November 7th, to follow his example. On the 8th, Magdeburg surrendered to Marshal Ney. Lannes occupied Stettin, and Davout occupied Custrin. "Sire," wrote Lannes to Napoleon, "I read your proclamation to the soldiers; they all began to cry 'Long live the Emperor of the West!' I beseech your Majesty to let me know if, for the future, you wish me to address my despatches to the Emperor of the West, and I ask it in the name of my corps d'armee."

Napoleon did not reply; this dream of supreme glory, which he had had an idea of realizing in the footsteps of Charlemagne, doubtless appeared to him still beyond his reach. More than one sign, however, betrayed the undying hope, that he was never to realize. It is only by reason and the general good that genius is effectively sustained in extraordinary enterprises. From day to day, and from victory to victory, these great supports of the human mind became less and less visible in the conduct of the Emperor Napoleon.

Hanover and the Hanseatic towns were occupied by the French army; Prussia asked for a suspension of hostilities, in order to treat for peace. But the emperor had conceived a new project. In the ceaseless activity of his thoughts he reasonably enough looked on England as the implacable and invincible enemy who directed and excited against him the animosity of Europe. It was against England that he henceforth directed his efforts. "I am about to reconquer the colonies over the globe," he wrote to the King of Holland. It was in the same spirit that he made his declaration to the Senate: "We have unalterably determined not to evacuate Berlin or Warsaw, or the provinces which have fallen into our hands by force of arms, until a general peace be concluded, the Spanish, Dutch, and French colonies restored, the foundations of the Ottoman power confirmed, and the absolute independence of this vast empire, the first interest of our people, irrevocably secured."

These brilliant pledges of victory, which Napoleon kept in his hand as hostages for the purpose of enforcing submission on England, did not, however, appear to him sufficient; he resolved to strike at the wealth of his enemy a mortal blow, which should exhaust its resources at the fountain-head. On the 21st of November, 1806, he sent from Berlin to Talleyrand a decree, putting England in the Index Expurgatorius of Europe —at least, of that part of Europe which was in submission to his rule. The continental blockade was established and regulated in the following terms:—

"The British Isles are declared in a state of blockade.

"All commerce, and all correspondence, with the British Isles are forbidden. Consequently, letters or packets addressed to England, or to an Englishman, or written in the English language, will not pass through the post, and will be seized.

"Every individual English subject, whatever may be his state or condition, who shall be found in the countries occupied by our troops, or in the countries of our allies, shall be made prisoner of war.

"Every warehouse, all merchandise, all property of whatsoever nature it may be, belonging to an English subject, shall be deemed lawful prizes.

"Commerce in English merchandise is forbidden; any ships coming directly from England or from the English colonies, or having been there since the publication of the present decree, shall not be admitted into any port."

The Emperor Napoleon was right in recognizing, in his declaration to the Senate, that it was lamentable, after so many years of civilization, to recur to the principles, the barbarism, of the first ages of nations; and the pretexts which he adduced for this necessity were as insufficient as the consequences that flowed from his policy were odious. More than once the English had replied by violent and rude proceedings to the proceedings of the same nature in which Napoleon had for a long time been indulging on all seas. They had claimed to interdict the commerce of neutrals by imprudent and unjust "Orders in Council;" a still more inexcusable iniquity fettered at one stroke the commerce of Europe in all its branches, carrying annoyance into all families, and arbitrarily modifying the conditions of all existence. From henceforth, in the poorest household, no one could forget for a single day the power and the vengeance of the Emperor Napoleon, as well as the death grapple between him and England. It is a terrible undertaking for the most powerful of men to change on all sides the habits of life, and lay his hands upon the daily interests, of every one. The continental blockade was in Napoleon's hands a redoubtable weapon against his enemy; the firmness of England and the general distress, were yet cruelly to turn that weapon against his own bosom.

He was not yet satisfied, and Napoleon resolved on making an end of all his adversaries. Russia alone, silent and immovable, remained the ally of England, and its last support. Its armies occupied Poland, always quivering under the hands of its oppressors, ready to rise up against them at the first appeal. It was upon the Vistula that the emperor had resolved to go and seek the Russians, intoxicating the Poles beforehand with the hope of the reconstitution of their country, and assured of finding amongst them inexhaustible stores of provisions, ammunition, and soldiers. "A Pole is not a man," he was accustomed to say, "he is a sabre." He counted on all these sabres being ready to leap from their scabbards at his voice, for the service of Poland. To the disquietude of the court of Vienna on the subject of the insurrections which might be produced in Galicia, Napoleon answered in advance by the promise of Silesia. "The insurrection in Poland is a consequence of my war with Russia and Prussia," wrote he to General Andreossy, recently sent to Vienna. "I have never recognized the partition of Poland; but, a faithful observer of treaties, in favoring an insurrection in Russian and Prussian Poland, I will not mix myself up with Austrian Poland. Does Austria wish to keep Galicia? Would she cede a part of it? I am willing to give her all the facilities she can desire. Does she wish to treat openly or secretly? After these manifestations I ought to say that I fear no one."

At the same time that he entered Poland, Napoleon excited the hostile sentiment of the Porte against Russia. General Sebastiani was charged to say to Sultan Selim: "Prussia, who was leagued with Russia, has disappeared; I have destroyed its armies, and I am master of its fortified towns. My armies are on the Vistula, and Warsaw is in my power. Prussian and Russian Poland are rising, and forming armies to reconquer their independence; it is the moment for reconquering yours. I have given orders to my ambassador to enter into all necessary engagements with you. If you have been prudent up to this time, a longer forbearance towards Russia would be weakness, and cause the loss of your empire."

The King of Prussia had refused to accept the harsh conditions of the armistice; he had resolved to struggle to the end, and to join the remains of his forces to the army of the Emperor Alexander. "Your Majesty has had me informed that you are throwing yourself into the arms of the Russians," wrote Napoleon to King Frederick William. "The future will make it apparent whether you have chosen the best and most effective part. You have taken the dice-box and thrown the dice, and the dice will decide the question." Already the French armies had entered Poland, but they were not there alone; two Russian corps, under the orders of General Benningsen and General Buxhouden, had crossed the Niemen, and advanced towards the Vistula, and soon afterwards they entered Warsaw. Marshals Davout and Lannes sent reports, apparently contradictory, but in reality identical, as to popular feeling in Poland. Davout had found at Posen an extreme enthusiasm; he could scarcely furnish with arms those who pressed forward to ask for them; the same sentiment animated the population of Warsaw, when he made his entry in pursuit of the Russians, who fell back before him. Meanwhile he wrote to the emperor, on December 1st: "Levies of men are very easily made, but there is a want of persons who can direct their instruction and organization. There is also a want of guns. The feeling of Warsaw is excellent, but the upper class are making use of their influence to calm the ardor which is prevalent in the middle classes. The uncertainty of the future terrifies them, and they leave it to be sufficiently understood that they will only openly declare themselves when, with the declaration of their independence, they can also receive tacit guarantees for its maintenance." Lannes regretted the campaign in Poland; he recommended that they should establish themselves on the Oder, and pointed out the inconveniences and dangers of the enterprise they were about to attempt in a sterile and desert country. "They are always the same—frivolous, divided, anarchical; we shall uselessly waste our blood for their sakes, without founding anything durable."

Murat dreamed of seating himself on the throne of a restored Poland, and he was angry at the mistrust of the great nobles. Napoleon read in his correspondence a thought that the brilliant chief of the vanguard dared not express; he had said to Davout, at the beginning of the campaign, "When I shall see 40,000 Poles in the field I will declare their independence, not before." In their turn the Poles, long crushed down by harsh servitude, asked for guarantees from the conqueror, who had only delivered them in order to subjugate them afresh. "Those who show so much circumspection, and ask so many guarantees, are selfish persons, who are not warmed by the love of country," wrote the emperor to Murat, already Grand Duke of Berg for several months past. "I am experienced in the study of men. My greatness is not founded on the aid of a few thousand Poles. It is for them to profit, with enthusiasm, by present circumstances; it is not for me to take the first step. Let them display a firm resolution to render themselves independent—let them engage to uphold the king who will be given to them, and then I shall see what I shall next have to do. Let it be well understood that I do not come to beg a throne for any of my relations; I have no lack of thrones to give to my family."

In that conversation with the world which he kept up by bulletins from the grand army, Napoleon spoke of the Poles in other language; but he no longer laid bare the secret of his thoughts. "The army has entered into Warsaw," wrote he from Posen on December 1st. "It is difficult to paint the enthusiasm of the Poles. Our entry into this great city was a triumph, and the feelings that the Poles of all classes display since our arrival cannot be expressed. The love of country and the national sentiment is not only preserved in its entirety in the hearts of the people, but it has even gained new vigor from misfortune. Their first passion, their chief desire, is to become once more a nation. The richest leave their castles in order to come and demand, with loud cries, the re-establishment of the nation, and to offer their children, their fortunes, their influence. This spectacle is truly touching. Already they have everywhere resumed their ancient costume and their ancient customs.

"Shall the throne of Poland be re-established, and shall this great nation reassert its existence and its independence? From the depths of the tomb shall it be born again to life? God alone, who holds in His hands the results of all events, is the arbiter of this grand political problem."

Under the hand of God, which in the depths of his soul he often recognized, the Emperor Napoleon believed himself to be the arbiter of the grand problem of the independence of Poland. He remained personally indifferent to it, resolved on pursuing his own interest, either in aid of, or in contempt of, the interests and aspirations of the Poles.

In spite of the generous cordiality of the population, who lavished their resources upon those from whom they hoped for deliverance, Napoleon and his troops perceived that they had entered a desert. "Our soldiers find that the solitudes of Poland contrast with the smiling fields of their own country; but they add immediately, 'They are a fine people, these Poles!'" Before establishing himself for the winter in this savage country, under a frozen sky, and on a cold and damp soil, it was necessary to push back the enemy. Napoleon only went to Warsaw, and advanced towards the Russians entrenched behind the Narew and the Ukra. Already his lieutenants, Davout, Augereau, Ney, had taken up positions for attack. Furious battles at Czarnovo, at Pultusk, at Golymin, at Soldau, obliged the Russians to fall back upon the Pregel, without disaster to their corps d'armee, although they had been constantly beaten. The rigor of the season had prevented those grand concentrations of forces and those brilliant strokes in which Napoleon ordinarily delighted; the troops advanced with difficulty through impenetrable forests, soaked by the rain: the men fell in great numbers without a battle. In the month of January, 1807, the emperor at last took up his winter-quarters, carefully fortifying his positions, and laying siege to the towns which still resisted him in Silesia. Breslau, Glogau, Brieg successively succumbed. The old Marshal Lefebvre was charged with the siege of Dantzig.

Meanwhile the Russians, henceforth concentrated under the orders of General Benningsen, and less affected than the French by the inclemencies to which they were accustomed, had not suspended their military operations. Soon Marshal Ney, in one of those armed reconnoitering expeditions which he often risked without orders, was able to assure himself that the enemy was approaching us by a prolonged movement, which was to bring him to the shore of the Baltic. Already a few battles had taken place. The weather became cold; ice succeeded to the mud. Napoleon quitted Warsaw on January 30th, resolved to march against the enemy. "Since when have the conquered had the right of choosing the finest country for their winter-quarters?" said the proclamation to the army. Twice a great battle appeared imminent; twice a movement of the Russians in retreat enabled them to escape from the overwhelming forces which Napoleon had been able to collect; a few skirmishes, however, signalized the first days of February. On the seventh day's march General Benningsen entered Eylau.

The French entered in pursuit, and dislodged them. The Russians made their bivouac outside the city whilst the battle was preparing for the morrow. The weather was cold; one half of the country upon which the armies were camped was only a sheet of ice covering some small lakes. The snow lay thick upon the ground, and continued to fall in great flakes. The two armies were composed of nearly equal forces; several French corps, detached or delayed, were about to fail in the great effort which this rough winter campaign required. The troops were fatigued and hungry. "I have wherewith to nourish the army for a year," wrote Napoleon to Fouche, annoyed at the reports current in France as to the sufferings of the soldiers, "it is absurd to think one can want corn and wine, bread and meat, in Poland." The provisions remained, nevertheless, insufficient. "I can assure you," said the Duc de Fezensac in his military souvenirs, "that with all these orders so freely given in January, our corps d'armee was dying of hunger in March."