Charles d'Escorches de Sainte-Croix, son of the marquis of that name, once Louis XVI.'s ambassador to the Porte, was in all respects a most remarkable man. His military career was short enough, but of wonderful brilliancy. His family and mine were connected, and we were most intimate friends; indeed, the desire of serving with him had been a strong inducement to me to accept Masséna's proposal. Keen as was Sainte-Croix's natural love of war, it was late before he could gratify it, since he was destined for diplomacy, and all through the Peace of Amiens was employed under Talleyrand in the Foreign Office. When the campaign of 1805 opened he was twenty-three, and therefore too old to enter the École Militaire, so that but for a lucky circumstance he might never have entered the army.

After Austerlitz Napoleon formed from the prisoners there taken two foreign regiments for the French service. These not being governed by the same regulations as the national forces, he was able to officer them as he pleased, appointing even to field rank men who had had no military experience, but belonging to good families, and showing a zeal for the service. By this abnormal system of promotion Napoleon got the benefit of attaching to himself some hundred and fifty young men of education and fortune who otherwise would have been corrupted by a slothful life at Paris. The first foreign regiment was commanded by the nephew of the famous La Tour d'Auvergne; the second, by a great German noble, the Prince of Eisenburg; and they were known by the names of their chiefs. They were organised on the model of the foreign regiments in the French service before the Revolution, and as the Foreign Minister had always been responsible for the levying of these troops, Napoleon ordered Talleyrand to search the archives for precedents. Knowing young Sainte-Croix's military tastes, the Minister assigned the work to him, and, in addition to tracing the history of the old regiments, he proposed modifications to suit the altered conditions. Struck with the good sense displayed in this scheme, and knowing the author's desire to serve in the new corps, the Emperor appointed him first major, and, soon after, lieutenant colonel in the La Tour d'Auvergne Regiment. It was a great favour, as the Emperor had never seen Sainte-Croix; but it went near to spoil his prospects at the outset.

A M. de M—, cousin to the Emperor, had hoped for the rank of lieutenant-colonel, but only got that of major. Hurt in his vanity, he sought a quarrel with Sainte-Croix on a frivolous pretext. As he was a first-rate performer with every kind of weapon, his friends were sure of his victory, and escorted him in a cavalcade to the Bois de Boulogne; but only one accompanied him to the spot where his adversary, with one second, awaited him. They fought with pistols, and M. de M— received a bullet in the breast which laid him dead; upon which, his second, instead of going to fetch help, and thinking only of the consequences which this tragic end of a relation of the Emperor might entail on himself, fled through the wood and far away from Paris, without returning for his horse or informing the dead man's friends. Sainte-Crois and his friends also returned to the city., and the body was left alone on the ground. Meanwhile, those who were awaiting M. de M—'s return, hearing the shots but seeing no more of him, went into the wood, and found the poor young man's body. It happened that in falling he had fractured his skull on a hard stump, and when his friends after examining the wound in the breast, saw another in the head, they thought that Sainte-Croix, after wounding his opponent with a bullet from his pistol, had finished him by smashing his skull with the butt. This seemed to explain the disappearance of the dead man's second, on the supposition that he lacked either strength or courage to prevent the assassination. With this notion in their minds, they hastened to Saint-Cloud, and imparted it to the Empress, who went to the Emperor demanding justice. An order was given to arrest Sainte-Croix, and, as he had in no way concealed himself, he was locked up. Doubtless he would have lain in prison while a long inquiry was held had not Fouché, a family friend, being sure that he would not have committed such a crime, made an active search for the missing second. Being found and brought to Paris, he honestly reported what had happened, and further, the officials charged with the inquiry discovered near the corpse a stump of a root stained with blood and having hair adhering to it. Sainte-Croix's innocence was admitted; he was set free, and went to join his regiment in Italy.

M. de La Tour d'Auvergne was an estimable man, but with no great turn for military matters. Sainte-Croix, therefore, had the organising of the new regiment, and did it with such zeal that he made it one of the finest corps in the army. He distinguished himself in Calabria, and earned the great regard of Masséna, who, after the battle of Eylau, sent for him to Poland, though it was quite against the regulations to take an officer, especially a major, from his regiment. When he reached Warsaw he was presented by Masséna to the Emperor, who, recalling the death of M. de M—, received him coldly, expressing to the marshal his dissatisfaction at his having been brought away from his regiment. The Emperor had another reason for his unfriendly welcome. Although of short stature himself, Napoleon had a great preference for tall, strong, masculine men; but Sainte-Croix was small, slight, and with the face of a pretty fair-complexioned woman. In this feeble-seeming body, however, there was a soul of steel, an heroic courage, and a restless activity. The Emperor soon recognised these qualities, but, thinking that it was enough for Sainte-Croix to have started with the rank of major, he did nothing for him during that campaign. When, however, in 1809, Masséna was put in command of an army corps, he remembered how the Emperor had reproved him for attaching Sainte-Croix to his staff without leave, and asked and obtained him for his aide-de-camp.

In one of the actions preceding our entry into Vienna Sainte-Croix took a flag from the enemy, and the Emperor made him colonel; at Essling he showed wonderful courage and intelligence, and the Emperor's prejudice against him was completely destroyed by the important services which he rendered to Masséna's corps when acting as advanced guard on the isle of Lobau. The Emperor went every day to inspect the fortifications on the island, remaining on foot for seven or eight hours. These long walks fatigued Masséna, who was already a little infirm, and General Becker, chief of the staff, often could not answer the Emperor's questions, while Sainte-Croix, with his wonderful activity and intelligence, knew everything, foresaw everything, and could give the most exact information. Thus Napoleon fell into the way of applying to him, and gradually Sainte-Croix became, if not de jure, certainly de facto chief of the staff to the army corps which was defending the island of Lobau.

It would have been so easy for the Austrians to bombard us out of this island, that the Emperor went away each evening with regret, and passed each night in cruel anxiety. As soon as he awoke he wished to have news of Masséna's corps, and Sainte-Croix had orders to report to him in his room every morning at daybreak. Thus, every night the colonel went on foot round the vast island, visiting our outposts and examining those of the enemy; then, mounting his horse, he hurried over the two leagues to Schönbrunn. The aides-de-camp had orders to bring him at once to the Emperor's bedroom, and the Emperor, dressing in his presence, would discuss the position of the two armies. Then they would gallop off to the island; the Emperor would inspect the works all day, often mounting a high double ladder, which the ingenious Sainte-Croix had had set up as an observatory, and whence the movements of the enemy's troops on the left bank could be seen, and in the evening Sainte-Croix would escort the Emperor back to Schönbrunn. For forty-four days in extreme heat he worked in this way, without being weary or slackening his activity for a moment. Often Napoleon would call him to council, when discussing with Marshals Masséna and Berthier the best way of getting the army across to the left bank. The passage would have to be made at a different point to the former one, since it was known that that place had been strongly entrenched by the Archduke. Sainte-Croix proposed to turn the enemy's defences by crossing opposite Enzersdorf, which course was adopted.

In short, Napoleon's opinion of his merit was so high that he said one day to the Russian envoy, M. de Czernicheff, 'I have never since I have been in command of armies met a more capable officer, nor one who understood my thought quicker and executed it better. He reminds me of Marshal Lannes and General Desaix, and if he is not struck down by a thunderbolt France and Europe will be astonished at the distance which I shall take him.' These words were very soon known everywhere, and it was expected that Sainte-Croix would quickly be a marshal. But, unhappily, the thunderbolt did strike him; he was killed the next year by a cannon-ball at the gates of Lisbon.

Napoleon, though he usually kept at a distance the commanders whom he most esteemed, now and again was familiar with one of them, and even amused himself by inciting him to frank repartees. Thus Lasalle, Junot, and Rapp used to say to the Emperor whatever came into their heads. The two first, who used to ruin themselves every other year, would thus relate their pranks to Napoleon, who always paid their debts. Sainte-Croix was too clever and too decorous to abuse the favour which he enjoyed; still, when the Emperor drove him to it, he was capable of prompt and decisive repartee. Thus, when Napoleon, who would often take his arm, as they walked through the sands of the isle of Lobau, said to him, on one of their numerous expeditions, 'I remember that after your duel with my wife's cousin I wanted to shoot you; I admit that it would have been a mistake and a very great loss.' 'That is quite true, sir,' answered Sainte-Croix, 'and I am certain that now, when your Majesty knows me better, you wouldn't exchange me for one of the Empress's cousins.' 'For one, indeed!' said the Emperor; 'you may say for the lot of them.' Another day, when Sainte-Croix was present, as Napoleon got up the latter said, as he drank a glass of cold water, 'I believe that Schönbrunn in German means "beautiful spring"; it was rightly named, for the spring in the park produces delicious water, which I drink every morning. Do you like cold water?' 'No, indeed, sir; I prefer a good glass of bordeaux or champagne.' Then the Emperor, turning to his valet, said, 'Send the colonel a hundred bottles of bordeaux and the same number of champagne,' and that very evening, as Masséna's aides-de-camp were dining in their bivouac under the trees, we saw several mules, from the imperial stables, arriving with two hundred bottles of excellent wine for Sainte-Croix, and we drank the Emperor's health therein.