Napoleonic Literature
Napoleon and His Marshals - Vol. I
Preface
OF the ten sketches contained in this volume,
embracing Napoleon and nine of his Marshals, two have appeared before.
Their reception, as originally published in the American Review (with one
or two others, to be inserted in a second volume), determined the completion
of the series.
My chief design in the following
work has been to group together and illustrate the distinguished men Bonaparte
gathered around him, and with whom he obtained and held the vast power
he wielded. The mighty genius of Napoleon has so overshadowed all those
beneath him that they have not received their due praise, nor their proper
place in history. Their merits have been considered mere reflections of
his; and to one intellect and one arm is attributed the vast results they
accomplished. But with weak men Napoleon never could have unsettled Europe,
and founded and maintained his Empire. The Marshals who led his armies,
and governed his conquered provinces, were men of native strength and genius;
and as they stand grouped around their mighty chief, they form a circle
of military leaders, the like of whom the world has never at one time beheld.
To show what these men were—unfold their true characters and illustrate
their great qualities, it was necessary to describe the battles in which
they were engaged. A man is illustrated by his works;—if an author, by
his books—if a politician, by his civil acts and speeches— of a ruler,
by his administration of public affairs, and if a military man, by his
campaigns and battles. To mention merely the actions in which a military
man has been engaged, and the victories he won, without describing the
manner in which they were conducted, and the genius which gained them,
is like illustrating an author by giving a list of his works, or a ruler
by naming over the measures he suggested or carried out.
In different circumstances
the same talent develops itself differently, and the intellect of France
during Bonaparte's career found its proper sphere on the battle-field.
The Revolution broke down all the ancient barriers of privilege and left
an open field to intellect and genius; but that field, just then, was a
military one. Crowds rushed upon it; the strong to win renown, and the
weak to sink. The Marshals of France were the first fruits of that freedom.
It was not animal courage, nor mere brute force, that measured itself against
the intellect of the world, and came off victorious. Our opinions respecting
these men have been as erroneous and unjust as they well could be, for
they have been regarded merely as ambitious warriors, storming over battle-fields
for glory. We forget that they were stern republicans—adopting the cause
of the people in the darkest hour of France, and knew well for what they
were fighting. True, they were not religious men, nor the best representation
of patriots in their moral character. But we do not hesitate to honor those
rough and severe characters who fought so bravely for freedom in our own
revolutionary struggle. Our naval commanders in the last war were not patterns
of moral men, but they were of heroes and patriots. Ethan Allen is honored
none the less as a patriot because be was an infidel, while the charge
of French infidelity destroys all our sympathy for French republicans.
The protracted struggle which those men carried on so triumphantly, they
knew perfectly well to be that of liberty against despotism—equal rights
against privileges. They knew also they were waging a defensive war, and
on every great battle-field on which they met their foes, they felt that
France was the mighty stake at issue. Instead of being reckless men, wading
through blood to power, there are but few juster struggles than those in
which they won their laurels; and yet Americans, who never weary of hanging
wreaths around the tombs of their successful military leaders, look with
an unsympathizing eye on those brave men who fought for the same rights,
and to resist the same aggressions.
I have endeavored also in
this work to correct, as far as possible, the erroneous impressions that
prevail respecting Napoleon, and the wars he carried on; and to clear his
character from the aspersions of English historians, and the slanders of
his enemies.
Another design has been to
group together some of the most striking events of that dramatic period
when Napoleon was marching his victorious armies over Europe. Many of the
battle-fields I have described I have visited in person, and hence been
able to recall the scenes enacted upon them more vividly than I otherwise
could have done.
I am aware that some may object
to books of this kind, as fostering the spirit of war, by stimulating the
love of glory. But in the first place, if history is to be abjured whenever
it treats of battles, it will be reduced to a very small compass, and our
revolutionary struggle will pass into utter forgetfulness. I know of no
war, of ancient or modern times, more calculated to stimulate the heart
of youth to warlike deeds than the history of the two struggles through
which we have passed. Besides, the same objection would repudiate most
of the Old Testament, and make the heroes which the pen of inspiration
delineated with such graphic power, curses of their race. The truth is,
war waged for principle is the same as that carried on by the direct command
of Heaven, and the woe and suffering that attend it present no more objection
to it, than the unmeasured suffering occasioned by sickness and death throughout
the world, reflect on the justice or mercy of God. Wars may be prosecuted
in a better spirit than those in which the Marshals of France were first
engaged; yet they were not only waged against tyranny, as was our own revolutionary
war; but, unlike the latter, could not be helped—for they were purely defensive.
In the second place, we need
not fear the effect of stimulating too much the love of glory in this age
of dollars and cents. It is amusing to even sensible men discoursing, in
laudatory terms, of the reign of commerce, as bringing about a universal
peace, when the only danger of war among the great civilized nations of
the earth is found in the rivalry and jealousy of this very spirit of commerce
and trade. England deluges India in blood for the sake of commerce, while
our last war grew out of her invasions of the rights of commerce. Colonial
possessions are sought and obtained for this very purpose; and it is only
a few years since we were on the verge of a war with Great Britain, for
a narrow strip of territory, which was valuable to her only as a channel
of communication with her provinces, which she holds for their commercial
importance. And even now the country is alarmed with the prospect of a
collision for a wild and desolate tract on the Pacific Ocean, which England
wishes to retain solely as a channel of trade. Men of peace are straining
every nerve to destroy the love of glory in our youth, while every war
among civilized nations, probably for the next century, will be waged to
secure the privileges of commerce. Cupidity, not love of glory or personal
ambition, is to be the source of future collisions. The grasping spirit
is to be dreaded most, and for one I should prefer much, a little more
of the chivalric sentiment blended in with our thirst for gold. To me there
is cause for alarm rather than congratulation, in the intensity with which
the human mind is directed in the peaceful channels of wealth. The earth
is alive, and shaking from zone to zone, under the fierce action of the
human mind, as it strives after gain—and the moment an obstacle is thrown
in its way, it starts up in a blaze of indignation. The lovers of peace,
in chasing before them the chivalric and heroic spirit which lay at the
bottom of ancient wars, are pursuing an enemy that left the field long
ago, leaving its place occupied by a more querulous, excitable, and dangerous
spirit.
In the third place, the struggles
and triumphs of genius should be recorded, even though they took place
on a field which, in our days may not be deemed by some the most praiseworthy.
To those who have read my
"Alps and the Rhine," and some articles published by me in the American
Review, there will seem an utter contradiction in my views there expressed,
respecting Napoleon, and those found in this work. In reply, I can only
say that my former impressions were obtained, just as I doubt not those
of the majority of American readers are—from English history and English
literature. I had no doubt of their correctness, and designed, in writing
of Napoleon, to give him a character corresponding to them. But in reading
history solely to understand more fully his character and career, I have
been forced, by the most incontrovertible facts, to change my opinions
entirely, and I can only regret that I should have given currency to impressions
so unjust to a great man, and so false to history. Who would esteem a man
that should draw his conclusions respecting our revolutionary struggle,
from English historians? and yet he would be more correct than he who forms
his opinions of the French Revolution, and after-wars, from the same source.
In the following volumes will
be found much that will strike the reader as needless repetition; but when
it is remembered that the separate characters described moved frequently
amid the same scenes, and even exhibited some of their noblest qualities
at the same battles, it will be seen that frequent references to the same
event, accompanied perhaps by a similar remark, is necessary to prevent
confusion in dates. One is compelled in such a work to go backward and
forward constantly in history, and hence often pass over the same points.
The description of the Pass
of the Splugen by Macdonald, and the partial description of the battle
of Waterloo, in my "Alps and the Rhine," written before the present work
was planned, are necessarily repeated here when speaking of those events.
I need not add that I pretend
to no originality in this work, except in the way I have arranged and grouped
facts already given to the world. I have used, without any hesitation,
any author that could help me, and to save the trouble of constant references
through the book, I here add the list of those works to which I have been
most indebted:
Thiers's French Revolution,
Thiers's Consulate and Empire, Napier's Peninsular War, Jomini's Works,
Napoleon's Bulletins, Memories of Bourienne, Caulincourt, Las Casas, Voice
from St. Helena, Dumas, Segur, Alison, Memoirs of Ney and Murat, Pelet,
Stuttenheim, St. Cyr, Camp and Court of Napoleon, Rapp, Southey, etc.,
etc.
The plates accompanying these
volumes have been selected with great care, and from the most authentic
sources.
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