His family was noble -- according to the continental acceptation of the term, -- and early designed him for the army: he was only in his fifteenth year when he obtained his first commission in a regiment of horse. From that regiment, however, he was soon expelled in disgrace, for joining in some desperate acts of insubordination. Thus early did his fierce and lawless character exhibit itself to the world.

The principles of the revolution could, not fail to be enthusiastically embraced by one who had every thing to gain and nothing to lose, least of all character, by the change. After the 10th of August, 1792, he appeared, at the bar of the National Convention, to give in his adhesion to the king's dethronement, and. to demand employment. He was made chief of battalion in a regiment of volunteers, and sent to join the army of the north. He was there at the defection of Dumouriez, and exerted himself zealously to preserve the wavering fidelity of his men. It is said, even, that he persuaded them to fire on the general, the moment he fled to the Austrians. His zeal was rewarded by the rank of brigadier-general; and in this capacity he distinguished himself during the next five years in the army of the Rhine and Moselle. His conduct, as a soldier, was chiefly remarkable for its vigour and promptitude; as a man, for a total disregard of humanity and justice.

This general next sailed in the expedition to Egypt, the sandy plains of which he helped to dye in Mussulman blood, from the walls of Somanhoot in Upper Egypt, to those of Aboukir. He did not return to Europe with Buonaparte, but waited until after the convention of El Arish. The vessel in which he sailed having anchored on the Sicilian coast, the inhabitants, calling to mind the cruelties of the French in Naples, would have murdered both him and the whole crew, had they not precipitately put to sea. He was then intercepted by the cruizers of Lord Keith, our admiral on that station, who, having detained him about a month, exchanged him, and permitted him to continue his voyage, and on reaching France, he was immediately made General of Division, and invested with a lucrative command.

With all his ferocity, Davoust knew how to flatter: he could prostrate himself as humbly as any man at the footstool of power, if the abasement were likely to profit him. 0f this no better proof can be given, than his forced marriage with the sister of general Leclerc. The anecdote is so characteristic of the style in which Buonaparte played the monarch, long before he assumed the crown, that we transcribe it entire from De Bourrienne.

On the eve of the expedition to St. Domingo, Buonaparte resolved that his brother-in-law Leclerc (the husband of Pauline) should command it. He summoned the general to his cabinet, and made known his will. "I should be happy, he answered, to serve France again, but, Citizen Consul, a sacred duty retains me ere," "Your love for Paulette? She shall go with you. The air of Paris is fit only for coquetry: she shall go with you, I repeat it." "Assuredly I should be concerned to leave her; but this reason alone could not suffice to make me refuse an honourable command. My wife would be surrounded by relatives who love her, and I should have no anxiety on her account: it is the situation of my beloved sister, which forces me to decline what I should otherwise embrace with eagerness. She is pretty; young; her education is not quite finished: I have no dowry for her:-- can I leave her unprotected when my absence may be long, perhaps eternal? My brothers are not here; I must remain where I am. I appeal to your own heart who are so devoted to your family: general, can I do otherwise than remain?" "Very well; but we must marry her without loss of time, -- to-morrow for example, and then you can set out." "I repeat , I have no dowry to give her, and ----" "And am not I here to serve you? Go, my good fellow, and commence your preparations. To-morrow your sister shall be married -- to whom I cannot tell just now; but no matter; she shall be married, and well too." "But --" "I have spoken so as to be understood, I believe; say no more." The general, like his comrades, accustomed to obey, left the cabinet without another word of remonstrance.

In a few minutes, Davoust entered to acquaint the First Consul with his intended marriage -- "With Mademoiselle Leclerc? I very much approve your choice." "No, General, with Madame--" "With Mademoiselle Leclerc," interrupted Napoleon (laying a strong emphasis on the name) -- "Not only do I think the match a suitable one, but it shalt take place immediately." "I have long loved Madame ----; she is now at liberty, and nothing shall make me sacrifice her." "Except my will!" replied the First Consul, fixing his eagle eye on the other. "You will immediately go to Madame Courssan's at St. Germains: you will inquire for your future wife; she will he introduced to you by her brother General Leclerc, who is now with my wife; he will accompany you thither. The young lady will come to Paris this very night. You will have the disposal of her portion, which, as I shall give her away, must be something: leave the dowry, &c., to me: the ceremony shall be performed as soon as legal formalities permit: I shall take care to shorten them. You understand me -- obedience!" Having pronounced these words in the absolute tone peculiar to himself, Napoleon rang the bell, and ordered some one to fetch General Leclerc. When the latter arrived;-- "Was I wrong? (said he). Here is your sister's husband. Off, both of you, to St. Germains! let me see neither until every thing is arranged: I hate interested discussions!"

Both generals were equally astonished, but both obeyed. Savage as was Davoust, he quietly submitted: he went to Madame Courssan's, was presented to the young lady, and soon afterwards received her hand. For some years, amiable as she was, he did not treat her well, but her virtues at length won his heart and confidence.

After the mysterious conspiracy of Georges, Pichegru, &c., and just before the imperial government was proclaimed, Davoust, in the same pitiful humiliation of spirit, thus wrote to the First Consul:--

"The cowardly Bourbons--the scorn of all Frenchmen -- who for so many years have made common cause with our eternal enemies; have conspired with the English against your sacred person. The time is ripe to destroy their chimerical hopes, and to spare them the guilt of new crimes.

"Like all other great men, you respect posterity, for which you are amassing an immense inheritance of glory and happiness; and you will not suffer your beneficent designs to be thwarted by civil disorders -- the inevitable result of an uncertain and stormy succession of elective rulers. Rendered wise by their own errors, -- taught, at last, by their own experience how to profit by the terrible lessons, which the history of ancient nations unfolds to them, the whole French people urge you to finish your own work. When you have thus fulfilled the wishes which all France joins in expressing; nothing more will be desired, than that our Emperor may give us the signal, and we will inflict signal vengeance on all traitors."

Such a man was sure to thrive under such a government. He was ranked among the new marshals; in 1805, he was placed over a considerable corps of the Grand Army; and in consequence of his gallantry at Ulm, Austerlitz, and, in the brief campaign of Jena, received the title of Duke of Auerstadt. At Eylau and Friedland, he proved that if dignities are the fit reward of courage, his had been well earned; but his excesses, -- those which he not merely permitted, but authorised in the sequel of that war, -- were terrible. Such, too, was the case in 1809; the glory which he won at Eckmuhl and Wagram was overclouded by the same dark cruelty.

Davoust, now created Prince of Eckmuhl, spent the three following years in Poland, as commander of the French troops, and governor, in that in-fated country. Ill-fated we may well call it; for though France was professedly the ally of Poland; the deeds of her representative were more oppressive, more ruthless, more bloody, than those of Suwarroff, an open enemy. Property, life, honour, freedom, chastity; all were sacrificed. In vain did the Poles reiterate their complaints of his despotism; in vain did they send a deputation to Paris, to lay their grievances before the emperor; no redress was even promised, and the outrages continued frequent and galling as ever. In 1812, ambition did for the Poles what justice bad attempted in vain; it rid them of this hateful. monster, who accompanied his master into Russia. While there he distinguished himself by his usual bravery, and still more by his usual ferocity and ill-humour.* [* See the Life of Murat.] After the annihilation of the magnificent corps which he commanded, he retreated to Hamburg, where he collected new forces and established his head-quarters.

At Hamburg, Davoust exhibited even more both of the soldier and of the fiend, than he had done on any preceding occasion. He defended the place against the combined attacks of Russians, Prussians, Swedes, and with such gallantry as to leave them little hope of reducing the city by force. But his extortions, his robberies, his oppression, his murders, exceeded all that, Europe had witnessed since the days of Robespierre. A pamphlet, indeed, was published, in which he was designated the Hamburg Robespierre, and in which his atrocities were certified by the signatures of some hundreds of the inhabitants. The forty-eight millions of francs which he levied on the city, and for the payment of which he seized as guarantees thirty-four of the principal merchants, were but a small portion of what he gained by confiscations, and by open or secret plunder. Scores of citizens perished by the hands of the executioner, or by the muskets of the French; many more were dragged from their beds at midnight, to be hurried into loathsome dungeons, until they could raise money enough to satisfy this rapacious tyrant! He refused to surrender the place long after he was acquainted with the abdication of Napoleon; but when General Gerard arrived on the part of Louis XVIII. he submitted. He did more: he signed, and prevailed on his officers to sign, a fulsome address to the restored monarch. He assured the "August Prince, whom all France loved, and whom all France had called to the throne," of his everlasting fidelity, of his never-failing obedience.

Notwithstanding his ardent professions and solemn oaths in favour of the royal government, he was one of the first to join Napoleon at the Tuileries, after the revolution of March, 1815. Made Minister at War, he shewed great activity in support of the sovereign, whom he said an immense majority of the French nation had called to displace the Bourbons. Against those princes he now published a tirade, in shape of an address to the Chamber of Representatives, in which he imputed to them all the evils which his country had suffered.

After the catastrophe of Waterloo, Davoust placed himself at the head of the troops which still adhered to Napoleon, and retreated to Orleans. He then lowered his tone, spake of the evils of proscription, Of the necessity of concord, and of oblivion as to the past; but he did not formally submit to the royal government, until the Prussians had advanced to Orleans. The act which he drew up and signed on that occasion, was as hypocritical as any that had already rendered his name infamous. It however saved his head. He retired for a while to his country house; but in 1816 obtained permission to reside in the capital; and, in 1819, he was fortunate enough to procure a seat in the Chamber of Peers. He died June 4th, 1823.

This officer will long be remembered both in Hamburg and Poland, as the terrible Davoust. He was, beyond doubt, one of the bravest and ablest of Buonaparte's lieutenants; but this is his only praise. His avarice was fully equal to his cruelty: at one time, his annual income was near two millions of francs; but, like the other great feudatories of the empire, he lost his foreign possessions on the fall of Napoleon. Still he left great riches behind him; a fine estate at Savigny-sur-Orge, and considerable funded property, both of which are now enjoyed by his son, the heir of his peerage.