Military Career of Napoleon the Great Part 12

V

ULM AND AUSTERLITZ

Napoleon had now reached such a point of power that the Bourbons resigned all hopes of restoration through his agency, and as the next best means of obtaining control of the throne of France a.s.sa.s.sination was decided upon. The First Consul had scarcely been in Paris a month, after the engagement at Marengo when Ceracchi, a sculptor of some fame, attempted Bonaparte's life as he was entering the theatre. But for his betrayal by a co-conspirator the plot would have succeeded. This attempt by means of the dagger was followed by the explosion of an infernal machine, which consisted of a barrel of gunpowder surrounded by an immense quant.i.ty of grape shot. On the night of October 10th the machine was placed at Nacaise, a narrow street through which Napoleon was to pa.s.s on his way to the opera house.

Some years later, in telling of the narrow escape he had on that night, he said: "I had been hard at work all day, and was so overpowered by sleep after dinner that Josephine, who was quite anxious to go to the opera that night, found it quite difficult to arouse me and persuade me to go. I fell asleep again after we had entered the carriage, and I was dreaming of the danger I had undergone some years before in crossing the Tagliamento at midnight by the light of torches, during a flood, when I was waked by the explosion of the infernal machine. 'We are blown up,' I said to Bessieres and Lannes, who were in the carriage, and then quickly commanded the coachman to drive on."

The coachman, who was intoxicated, heard the order, and having mistaken the explosion for a salute, lashed his horses furiously until the theatre was reached. The machine had been fired by a slow match, and the explosion took place just twenty seconds too soon. Summary justice was executed upon the perpetrators of this infamous deed, and some time later the Duke d' Enghien atoned for the part, whatever it might have been, that the Bourbons had taken in these murderous schemes.

Austria delayed for several months final negotiations of the treaty agreed upon after the engagement at Marengo, evidently rea.s.sured by the attempts made on the First Consul's life. Preliminaries of peace had been signed at Paris, between the Austrian general, Saint Julian, and the French government. Duroc was dispatched to the Emperor of Austria, to obtain his ratification of the articles; but having reached the headquarters of the Army of the Rhine, he was refused a pa.s.s to proceed on his journey.

Napoleon immediately ordered Moreau to recommence hostilities, unless the Emperor delivered up the fortresses of Ulm, Ingolstadt and Phillipsburg as pledges of his sincerity. Austria, accordingly, purchased a further protraction of the armistice at this heavy price; at the same time offering to treat for peace on new grounds. News of the occupation of the three fortresses by the French troops, was announced in Paris on the 23d of September 1800, where the fresh hopes of peace caused universal satisfaction.

These hopes, however, proved delusive. Austria delayed and equivocated, until it became evident the Emperor would make no peace separate from England, and that the latter power was prepared to support her ally.

Napoleon, perceiving that he was being trifled with, now gave orders (in November, 1800) to all his generals to put their divisions in march all along the frontiers of the French dominions. The shock was instantaneous, from the Rhine to the Mincio. Brune overwhelmed the Austrians on the Mincio; Macdonald held the Tyrol, and Moreau achieved the glorious victory of Hohenlinden after a desperate and most sanguinary battle. This latter contest decided the fate of the campaign.

Thus with three victorious armies, either of which could have marched triumphantly into Vienna, Napoleon hesitated long enough before taking that final step, to allow Austria to sign an honest and definite peace.

The treaty of Luneville was at last signed in good faith on February 9th, 1801. By the peace of Luneville, Napoleon for the second time effected the pacification of the Continent. Of all the powerful coalition which threatened France in 1800, England alone continued hostile in 1801 if we except Turkey, with which no arrangement could be made until the affairs of Egypt were settled.

On the 8th of March, 1801, a British army of 17,000 men landed in Egypt under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby. The French were very ill-prepared for an attack. The English army overcame the resistance of the forces which opposed their landing through the heavy surf formed on the beach, and advanced upon their enemy. No general action occurred until the 21st when the English obtained a decisive victory and drove Menou,--who had succeeded to the command of the troops in Egypt at the death of Kleber,--with great loss within the walls of Alexandria. Here he was blockaded and General Belliard, cut off from all communication with him, capitulated after which Menou submitted. Each capitulated on condition of being taken back to France with all his troops and their arms and baggage. Thus ended the conquest of Egypt by Napoleon. The French admiral, Gantheaume, had long been making fruitless efforts to land reinforcements in Egypt, but had been unable to elude the British s.h.i.+ps. He was now ordered to return to Toulon, where preparations were made to receive the French troops.

After the news of the reverses of the French army in Egypt, and the great sea victory of Copenhagen by Nelson, Napoleon was determined to bring England to negotiations of peace and a recognition of the French Republic, and with this in view he gathered an army of 100,000 men on the coasts of France, with a flotilla sufficiently large to effect a landing in England, whenever circ.u.mstances seemed to favor such a movement. At this very moment it was, that Fulton, the inventor of steam-boats, communicated his discovery to the First Consul. Napoleon thus had the first chance placed in his hands of possessing exclusively for a time, the greatest and most diversified means of physical power ever known in the world. Scarcely deigning to bestow a thought upon the subject the First Consul treated the inventor as a "visionary."

Whether or not Napoleon ever intended to invade Great Britain, he succeeded at all events in convincing the world for a time that such was his design, and when the peace of Amiens was signed on March 25th, 1802, Paris and London rejoiced, as did all civilized nations. The peace of Amiens left the military resources of France unemployed on the hands of Bonaparte. This induced him to think of profiting by the European calm, and effect the conquest of St. Domingo. He gave the command of the expedition to his brother-in-law, Leclerc; but it was unsuccessful.

The inauguration of Christian wors.h.i.+p once more in France in 1802 gave Napoleon an opportunity to show that he had the interest of the people at heart. France was an infidel nation, and it was the fas.h.i.+on to believe there was no G.o.d. The signing of the Concordat by Pope Pius VII.

gave to France what she had long needed--a form of religious wors.h.i.+p. It required no little strength of purpose to take this step. "Religion is a principle which cannot be eradicated from the heart of man;" said Napoleon. "Last Sunday I was walking here alone, and the church bells of the village of Ruel rang at sunset. I was strongly moved, so vividly did the memory of early days come back with that sound. If it be thus with me, what must it be with others? In re-establis.h.i.+ng the Church, I consult the wishes of the great majority of my people." A grand religious ceremony took place at Notre Dame Cathedral to celebrate the proclamation of the Concordat, at which the First Consul presided with great pomp, attended by all the ministers and general officers then in Paris. Another measure, adopted at this period, was the decree permitting the return of the emigrants, provided they appeared and took the oath to the government within a certain period. It is estimated that a hundred thousand exiles returned to their country in consequence of this decree.

It was about this period, too, that the First Consul turned his attention to the system of a national education. He also commenced the herculean task of preparing a code of law for the French nation with the result that the "Code Napoleon" is known to every civilized nation of the earth. Public improvements, formerly projected, were now carried out, and sciences and the arts progressed as never before.

The order of the Legion of Honor owes its inception to Napoleon Bonaparte, and it was he who placed it on such a footing in France that it has since thrived there as has no similar inst.i.tution on the Continent. When established by him, after months of careful consideration, he believed it necessary to France. To his Counselors of State he said: "They talk about ribbons and crosses being the playthings of monarchs, and say that the old Romans had no system of honorary rewards. The Romans had patricians, knights, citizens and slaves,--for each cla.s.s different dresses and different manners--mural crowns, civic crowns, orations, triumphs and t.i.tles. When the n.o.ble band of patricians lost its influence, Rome fell to pieces--the people were a vile rabble.

It was then that you saw the fury of Marius, the proscriptions of Scylla, and afterward of the Emperors. In that manner Brutus is talked of as the enemy of tyrants; he was an aristocrat, who stabbed Caesar because Caesar wished to lower the authority of the senate. You call these ribbons and crosses child's rattles--be it so: It is with such rattles that men are led. I would not say that to the mult.i.tude, but in a council of wise men and statesmen one may speak the truth.... Observe how the people bow before the decorations of foreigners. Voltaire calls the common soldiers 'Alexanders at five sous a day.' He was right. It is just so. Do you imagine you can make men fight by reasoning? Never! You must bribe them with glory, with distinctions and rewards.... In fine, it is agreed that we have need of some kind of inst.i.tutions. If this Legion of Honor is not approved, let some other be suggested. I do not pretend that it alone will save the State, but it will do its part."

The Legion of Honor was inst.i.tuted on the 15th of May 1802. When Napoleon had seen the fruits of it, he said: "This order was the reward of every one who was an honor to his country, stood at the head of his profession, and contributed to the national prosperity and glory. Some were dissatisfied because the decoration was conferred alike on officers and soldiers; others, because it was given for civil and military merits indiscriminately; but if this order ever cease to be the recompense of the brave private, or be confined to military men alone, it will cease to be what I made it,--the Legion of Honor."

The First Consul was, in right of his office, captain general of the legion and president of the council of administration. The nomination of all the members was for life. The grand officers were endowed with a yearly pension of upwards of $1000. Pensions, decreasing in amount, were also affixed to the subordinate degrees of rank in the order. All the members were required to swear, upon their honor, to defend the government of France, and maintain the inviolability of her Empire, to combat, by every lawful means against the re-establishment of feudal inst.i.tutions, and to concur in maintaining the principle of liberty and equality. On the day the order was inst.i.tuted, Napoleon, by act of the Senate was appointed Consul for life. The First Consul accepted the offered prolongation from the Senate, on the condition that the opinion of the people should be consulted on the subject. The question put to them, as framed by Cambaceres and Le Brun, was: "Napoleon Bonaparte--Shall he be Consul for life?" Registers were opened in all munic.i.p.alities; and the answer of the people qualified to vote was decisive. Upwards of three million five hundred thousand voted for the proposal; 8,300 against it. In the month of August Napoleon was formally declared Consul for life and a decree of the Senate immediately consolidated his power, by permitting him to appoint his successor.

This personal elevation had its ample share in contributing to the number of Napoleon's enemies. In fact it appears in some measure astonis.h.i.+ng how any individual could persuade a whole nation, day after day, to yield him up such a portion of its rights and privileges.

However, among many instances that might be adduced of his powers of persuasion, one which occurred about this period is not the least remarkable. In the beginning of the summer of 1802 some officers of rank, enthusiastic republicans, took umbrage at Napoleon's conduct, and determined to go and remonstrate with him upon the points that had given them offense, and speak their minds freely. On the evening of the same day, one of the party gave the following account of the interview: "I do not know whence it arises, but there is a charm about that man, indescribable and irresistible. I am no admirer of his; I dislike the power to which he has risen; yet I cannot help confessing that there is something in him which seems to speak him born to command. We went into his apartment, determined to declare our minds; to expostulate with him warmly; and not to depart till our subject of complaint should be removed. But in his manner of receiving us there was a certain tact which disarmed us in a moment; nor could we utter one word of what we had intended to say. He talked to us for a length of time, with an eloquence peculiarly his own, explaining with the utmost clearness and precision, the necessity of steadily pursuing the line of conduct he had adopted, and, without contradicting us in direct terms, controverted our opinions so ably, that we had not a word to offer in reply, we therefore retired, having done nothing but listen to, instead of expostulating with him, fully convinced, at least for the moment, that he was right, and that we were altogether in the wrong!"

Towards the close of the year 1802 it became evident that the peace of Amiens was based on a hollow foundation, and was destined at no distant period to be overthrown. At an interview held with Lord Whitworth, an amba.s.sador from England, Napoleon said: "No consideration on earth shall make me consent to your retention of Malta; I would as soon agree to put you in possession of the Faubourg St. Antoine. Every wind that blows from England brings nothing but hatred and hostility towards me. An invasion is the only means of offense that I can take against her, and I am determined to put myself at the head of the expedition. There are a hundred chances to one against my success; but I am not the less determined to attempt the descent, if war must be the consequence of the present discussion." He now quickly brought matters to a crisis. He attacked the amba.s.sador in vigorous language at a diplomatic meeting at the Tuileries which ended in an abrupt termination of the conference by Napoleon leaving the room.

The armistice lasted until March 18th, 1803, when England again declared war upon France. All commerce of the French nation was ordered seized, wherever found, and two hundred vessels, containing at least $15,000,000 worth of property fell into the hands of England. Napoleon retaliated by arresting upwards of ten thousand Englishmen then in France. The tocsin of war was sounded in every part of Europe, and 160,000 French soldiers were marshaled on the coasts of France, again threatening an invasion of England. France at this time was totally unprepared for war; a proof sufficient to show that the First Consul had not desired the termination of peace. The army was completely on a peace establishment; great numbers of the troops were disbanded and the parks of artillery were broken up. New plans for re-casting the artillery had been proposed, and they had already begun to break up the cannon to throw them into the furnaces. The navy was in a still less serviceable condition. In an address to the Senate Napoleon said: "The negotiations are ended and we are attacked; let us at least fight to maintain the faith of treaties and the honor of the French name." The nation responded with enthusiasm to the call; sums of money were voted by the large towns for building s.h.i.+ps and the army was rapidly recruited.

The first hostile movement of Napoleon was upon the continental domains of George III. General Mortier invaded the Electorate of Hanover with 15,000 men and the Hanoverian army laid down its arms. The second movement of the First Consul was the occupation of Naples. No resistance was attempted. These measures, besides enabling Napoleon to maintain his army by levies on the foreign states he occupied, also crippled the commerce of England by shutting up all communication with many of the best markets on the Continent. The First Consul now visited the princ.i.p.al towns, accompanied by Josephine, where he made observations and gave orders respecting the fortifications. These measures were all preparatory on the part of Napoleon to his determined plan to attempt the invasion of England. Funds were secured in part by the sale of Louisiana to the United States.

a.s.sa.s.sination was now again resorted to that Napoleon might be overthrown; but every attempt, as heretofore, proved futile. Conspiracy after conspiracy was detected--all traced to Napoleon's political enemies. The First Consul resolved on retaliation and ordered the arrest of the Duke d'Enghien at his castle in the Duchy of Baden. Three days afterwards the duke was conveyed to Paris, and after a few hours'

imprisonment, was taken to the old State Prison of France, where he was tried by court martial, and in a most summary and hasty manner p.r.o.nounced guilty of having fought against the Republic and condemned to death. He was led down a winding stairway by torchlight, and shot in a ditch in the castle at six o'clock in the morning. All Europe shuddered at the deed, but it produced exactly the result Napoleon intended by it; he was safe from attempts on his life forever afterwards.

Before the discovery of this plot the French Senate had sent an address to Napoleon congratulating him on his escape from a former conspiracy in which one hundred persons had schemed to take his life. In answer he said: "I have long since renounced the hope of enjoying the pleasures of a private life; all my days are employed in fulfilling the duties which my fate and the will of the French people have imposed upon me. Heaven will watch over France, and defeat the plots of the wicked. The citizens may be without alarm; my life will last as long as it will be useful to the nation; but I wish the French people to understand that existence, without their confidence and affection, would be to me without consolation, and would for them have no object."

The t.i.tle of First Consul, by which Napoleon had been distinguished for more than four years, was exchanged on the 18th of May 1804 for that of Emperor by the advice of the Senate, where it was first publicly broached, and by the universal a.s.sent of the French nation. Upwards of 3,500,000 voted for the measure and about 2,000 against it. The debates in the Senate were somewhat protracted and so great was the impatience of the military that the garrison of Paris had resolved to proclaim their chief as Emperor, at the first review; and Murat, governor of the city, was obliged to a.s.semble the officers at his house, and bind them by a promise to restrain the troops. The spirit of the army at Boulogne was soon manifested, by their voting the erection of a colossal statue of Napoleon, in bronze, to be placed in the midst of the camp. Every soldier subscribed a portion of his pay for the purpose; but there was a want of bronze. Soult, who presided over the completion of the undertaking, went, at the head of a deputation to Napoleon, and said: "Sire, lend me the bronze, and I will repay it in enemy's cannon at the first battle," and he kept his word.

[Ill.u.s.tration: From a Painting by J. L. David

ALLEGORIAL REPRESENTATION OF NAPOLEON CROSSING THE ALPS]

On the 27th of May Napoleon received the oath of the Senate, the const.i.tuted bodies, the learned corporations and the troops of the garrison of Paris. Louis XVIII. immediately addressed a protest to all the sovereigns of Europe against the usurpation of Napoleon. Fouche, who was the first who heard of this doc.u.ment, immediately communicated the intelligence to the Emperor, with a view to prepare the necessary orders to watch over those who might attempt its circulation; but great was his surprise, on receiving directions to have the whole inserted in "The Moniteur" the following morning, where it actually appeared. This was all the notice taken of the matter by Napoleon.

On December 1st of the same year, the lists of votes in favor of the establishment of the hereditary succession of the Empire in his family were publicly presented by the Senate to Napoleon, and on the following day, in the midst of one of the most imposing and brilliant scenes ever enacted in France, Napoleon and Josephine were crowned Emperor and Empress of France by Pius VII., the Pontiff of Rome, in the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

The Emperor took his coronation oath as usual on such occasions, with his hand upon the Scripture, and in the form repeated to him by the Pope; but in the act of coronation itself there was a marked deviation from the universal custom. The crown having been blessed by the Pope, Napoleon took it from the altar with his own hands and placed it on his brow. He then put the diadem on the head of Josephine. The heralds proclaimed that "the thrice glorious and thrice august Napoleon, Emperor of the French, was crowned and installed;" and so ended the pageant.

"Those who remember having beheld it," says Sir Walter Scott, "must now doubt whether they were waking, or whether fancy had formed a vision so dazzling in its appearance, so extraordinary in its origin and progress, and so ephemeral in its endurance."

The senators of the Italian Republic soon afterwards requested that Napoleon be crowned as their king, and on the following May 1805, in the ancient cathedral of Milan, he a.s.sumed the Iron Crown of the Lombard kings, saying as he did so, "G.o.d has given it to me; let him beware who would touch it!"

The new order of knighthood, that of the Iron Crown, with these words for its motto, arose out of this ceremony.

On the 8th of May, while on the road to Milan, Napoleon expressed a wish to visit the battlefield of Marengo, on which he had reconquered Italy five years before. All the French troops in that part of Italy were therefore mustered there, to the number of 30,000. Covered with the hat and uniform which he wore on the day of that memorable conflict--the Emperor pa.s.sed the army in review on horseback, and distributed crosses of the Legion of Honor, with the same ceremonies which had been observed on the Champ de Mars and the same return of enthusiastic devotion on the parts of the troops. "It was remarked," says Bourrienne, "that the worms, who spare neither the costumes of living kings, nor the bodies of deceased heroes, had been busy with the trophies of Marengo, which, nevertheless, Bonaparte wore at the review." Napoleon did not continue his journey until after he had laid the first stone of the monument consecrated to those who had been slain on the battlefield, and on the same day he made his entry into Milan. Meanwhile the activity in France continued unabated, and scarcely a day pa.s.sed without some trifling engagement, brought on by the rigorous pursuit of the squadrons of the French fleet, as they advanced to Boulogne.

Scarcely had the Emperor entered Paris after his return from the coronation in Italy, before he learned that a new coalition had been formed against him, and that England, Russia, Austria and Sweden, with half a million men, were preparing once more for war. The objects proposed were, briefly, the independence of Holland and Switzerland; the evacuation of Hanover, and the north of Germany by the French troops; the restoration of Piedmont to the King of Sardinia; and the complete evacuation of Italy by France. Great Britain, besides affording the a.s.sistance of her forces by sea and land, was to pay large subsidies for supporting the armies of the coalition. Napoleon had, in a great degree, penetrated the schemes of the allied powers, but was not prepared for the sudden a.s.sumption of arms by Austria without any declaration of war; a measure which Austria justified by referring to the increasing encroachments of France in Italy.

As the Emperor desired leisure to prosecute and perfect the great public works he had begun, or projected, he most earnestly wished for peace, and he again addressed a letter to the King of England, and which was treated with contempt. An envoy was sent to Frankfort-on-the-Main to ascertain definitely whether Austria really intended to trample another treaty in the dirt, and so soon after the fatal day at Marengo. The messenger soon returned with the best maps of the German Empire, and opening them on the council table of the Tuileries, said: "The Austrian general is advancing on Munich: the Russian army is in motion, and Prussia will join them."

The Emperor of Russia had pushed on to Berlin to win over the Prussian monarch to the great Bourbon coalition, and to make the compact more impressive, he asked his royal brother to visit with him the tomb of Frederick the Great. They descended by torchlight to the vault, and there, over the honored dust of Frederick, Francis, his heir, took a solemn oath, as he pointed to the sword of his ancestor as it lay on the coffin, to join the European coalition. Some weeks afterwards Napoleon visited the tomb as a conqueror, and said to his attendant, as he seized the precious relics: "These orders and sword shall witness no other such scene of perjury over the ashes of Frederick!"

The young Emperor of France now gathered his eagles to lead them toward the Danube. To the French Senate, whom Napoleon informed of the hostile conduct of Russia and Austria, the Emperor said: "I am about to quit my capital to place myself at the head of my army in order that I may render prompt a.s.sistance to my allies, and defend the dearest interests of my people.... I groan for the blood which it will cost Europe; but it will be the means of adding new l.u.s.tre to the French name." Another campaign against the kings of Europe was inevitable, and he proceeded to achieve the destruction of Mack's army, not as at Marengo by one general battle, but by a series of grand manoeuvres, and a train of partial actions necessary to execute them, which rendered a.s.sistance and retreat alike impossible.

The great army that had been a.s.sembled on the coast of France to invade England was now relieved from its inactivity and directed to march upon the German frontiers. The Count de Segur, who had command of the detachment of the Guard at the Tuileries, and accompanied Napoleon on this campaign, relates in his "Memoirs" a remarkable scene in the Emperor's private quarters at Boulogne before Napoleon started for the frontier. The Emperor had just received news that Admiral Villeneuve had taken the French fleet to Ferrol and left the channel. On learning this the Emperor at once decided that the contemplated invasion of England was then impossible. Segur then says: "Sit there," Napoleon said to M.

Daru, then acting as intendant-general of the army "and write." And then, without a transition, without any apparent meditation, with his brief and imperious accent, he dictated to him, without hesitation, the plan of the campaign of Ulm as far as Vienna! The army of the coast, fronting the ocean for more than two hundred leagues, was at the first signal to turn round and march on the Danube, in several columns! The order of the marches, their duration, points of concentration, of reunion of the columns, surprises, attacks, various movements, the enemy's mistakes--all was foreseen.... The battlefields, the victories, even the dates on which we were to enter Munich and Vienna--all was then written just as it happened, and this two months in advance, at this very hour of the 13th of August, and from this quarter-general on the coast. Daru, however accustomed to the inspirations of his chief, remained dumfounded, and he was even more surprised when afterwards he saw these oracles realized. The Emperor returned to Paris without delay, and there laid before the Senate the state of the army and announced the commencement of hostilities.

It was five years since the soldiers had been in battle; and for two and a half years they had been waiting in vain for an opportunity to cross over into England. It would be difficult to form any conception then of their joy or of their ardor when they learned they were going to be employed in a great war. Old and young ardently longed for battles, dangers, distant expeditions. They had conquered the Austrians, the Prussians, the Russians; they despised all the soldiers of Europe and did not imagine there was an army in the world capable of resisting them. They set off singing, and shouting, "Vive l'Empereur!"

At the same time Ma.s.sena received orders to a.s.sume the offensive in Italy, and force his way, if possible, into the hereditary States of Austria. The two French armies, one crossing the Rhine and the other pus.h.i.+ng through the Tyrolese, looked forward to a junction before the walls of Vienna. After appointing Joseph Bonaparte to superintend the government in his absence Napoleon quitted Paris on the 24th of September 1805, accompanied as far as Strasbourg by Josephine: here they separated. The Emperor put himself at the head of his army and crossed the Rhine on the 1st of October. He now begun a series of grand manoeuvres and partial actions, requiring consummate skill, with a view to the destruction of the great Austrian army under General Mack.

Mack, at the head of the Austrian forces, established his headquarters on the western frontier of Bavaria, at Ulm. Prudence would have suggested that he occupy the line of the river Inn, which, extending from the Tyrol to the Danube at Pa.s.sau, affords a strong defense to the Austrian territory, and on which he might have awaited, in comparative safety, the arrival of the Russian forces, then on the march to aid Austria in the campaign.

Napoleon hastened to profit by Mack's error, and by a combination of manoeuvres with his different divisions, the great body of the French army advanced into the heart of Germany by the left of the Danube, and then throwing himself across the river, took ground in the Austrian general's rear, when he expected to be a.s.saulted in front of Ulm. As it was, Mack's communication with Vienna was interrupted, and he was completely isolated.

Never was astonishment equal to that which filled all Europe on the unexpected arrival of the French army. It was supposed to be on the sh.o.r.es of the ocean, and in twenty days, scarcely time enough for the report of its march to spread to this point, it appeared on the Rhine.

Napoleon did not effect his purpose of taking up a position in the rear of Mack without resistance, but in the various engagements with the different divisions of the Austrian army at Wertingen, Gunzburgh, Memingen and Elchingen, the French were uniformly successful. At Memingen General Spangenburg was forced to capitulate, and 5,000 men laid down their arms. Not less than 20,000 prisoners fell into the hands of the French between the 26th of September and the 13th of October.

The Emperor pa.s.sed in review the dragoons of the village of Zumershausen when he ordered to be brought before him a dragoon named Marente, of the 4th regiment, one of the gallant soldiers who, at the pa.s.sage of the Lech, had saved his captain, by whom he had, a few days before, been cas.h.i.+ered from his rank. Napoleon then bestowed upon him the eagle of the Legion of Honor.