Napoleonic Literature
The Court and Camp of Buonaparte
The Generals:  Berthier

The father of Alexander Berthier, who was born at Versailles, November 20th, 1753, was an eminent surveyor of coasts and harbours to the French king. The son had consequently an opportunity of acquiring more mathematical knowledge than generally falls to the lot of candidates for the military profession. He was so expert at drawing plans, charts, &c., that his government would have been glad to furnish him with constant employment in that department, had not his propensities called him to a more active sphere. Having obtained a commission in a regiment of dragoons, he was sent to America, to assist our colonies in shaking off their dependence, and distinguished himself on several occasions; but his career of success was suspended by the peace of 1783. From this period to the revolutionary troubles, Colonel Berthier applied himself with diligence to the theory of war. He was soon reputed to be an excellent tactician. In 1789 , he belonged to the National Guard of Versailles, and so long as he retained his command in that body, he exerted it for the defence of Louis XVI. who had been his benefactor. But troubles came rapidly and heavily, and he was glad to escape from them, to join in the wars on the northern frontiers. Throughout five campaigns he exhibited skill, indeed, as chief of the staff, but little of that daring intrepidity, which, more than any other quality, led at this time to reputation and advancement. As he was never entrusted with any separate command, he rested in obscurity, and thereby escaped the dangers which surrounded the great generals of the republic. Amidst such splendid names, his was not even noticed, until 1796, when Buonaparte placed him over his staff, and made him his Major-general.

From this period, the life of Berthier is no other than the history of Napoleon's wars. During nineteen years, and throughout sixteen campaigns, he was inseparable from Buonaparte, whose bosom friend he became. From the. battle of Montenotte to that of Laon, in Italy, the Tyrol, Egypt, Syria, Germany, Poland, Russia, and France, he never left his master's side. But during all that long period, he had no command in the field: as Napoleon's Major-general he was occupied solely in receiving his instructions, and transmitting them to the various generals of the armies.

The useful, though necessarily obscure services of Berthier were well rewarded. He was not only decorated with most of the knightly orders in Europe, but was created Marshal of the Empire, Grand Huntsman, Prince, first of Neufchatel, then of Wagram, and presented with the hand of a Bavarian princess. Yet his soul was ungrateful: when he who had raised him from obscurity to the highest station was forsaken by the world at Fontainebleau, Berthier wanted soul to be more faithful than the rest. He took leave of the emperor, who counted on his accompanying him to Elba, on the pretext of arranging his affairs, with a view to exile, at Paris. No sooner had he left the house, than Napoleon, who had read his looks, observed, "He will not return!" "What!" exclaimed one, "can this be the farewell of the well-beloved!" "He will not return!" repeated Napoleon; and it was so. Berthier was eager to congratulate the restored Bourbons, by whom he was maintained in his honours and dignities.

His end was near at hand. On Buonaparte's return in 1815, his first intention was to accompany the king to Ghent, but he was deterred by visible symptoms that his favour with Louis was diminished. Berthier had received a communication from Buonaparte, who, in the expectation that all gratitude could not be dead within him, had made certain overtures to him; and he had not shewn the letter to the king, who, however, was aware of its arrival. Hence; suspicion, apparently well grounded, that he was in the plot for Napoleon's return. Such, however, was not the case; and it was in the perfect conviction that neither monarch considered him deserving of trust, that, on the approach of Napoleon, he withdrew to Bamberg, in the dominions of his wife's father. Whether his heart smote him for the abandonment of his benefactor in 1814, or whether he feared the consequences that might happen to himself, as the allied troops were one day defiling under the windows of the castle, he suddenly rose, leaped out, and was dashed to pieces on the pavement below. Another account says, that he was precipitated by hired assassins, and, in truth, the whole affair is wrapt in great mystery.

Great as were the rewards showered on the Prince of Neufchatel and Wagram, no one despised him more than the emperor. On his return from Elba, he said, "The only revenge I wish on this poor Berthier would be to see him in his costume of captain the Body Guard of Louis;" and at St. Helena, he thus summed up his character: "Nature has evidently designed many for a subordinate situation: among these is Berthier. As chief of the staff he had no superior, but he was not fit to command five hundred men."

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