The army of Boulogne was composed of about a hundred and fifty thousand infantry and ninety thousand cavalry, divided into four principal camps: the camp of the right, the camp of the left, the camp of Wimereux, and the camp of Ambleteuse.

His Majesty the Emperor had his headquarters at Pont-de-Briques, so called, I have been told, because there had been discovered there the brick foundations of an ancient camp of Cæsar! Pont-de- Briques, as I have said before, is half a league or thereabouts from Boulogne, and His Majesty's headquarters was established in the only house of the place that was then habitable. The headquarters was guarded by a mounted post of the imperial guard.

The four camps were on a very high cliff, dominating the sea in such a manner that on a fair day one might see the English coast. In the right camp barracks had been established for the Emperor, Admiral Bruix, Marshal Soult, and M. Decrès, then minister of the navy.

The Emperor's barrack, constructed by the care of M. Sordi, acting as chief engineer of military communications, and whose nephew, M. Lecat de Rue, attached at this period as aide-de-camp to the staff of Marshal Soult, has been so kind as to furnish me with information which is not specially within my competence;—the barrack of the Emperor, I say, was made of planks, like the booths of a fair, but with this difference, that the planks were carefully wrought and painted light gray. In shape it was a long square, having two semicircular pavilions at each extremity. It was surrounded by a circular piazza closed by a wooden lattice, and lighted from without by reflectors four feet apart. The windows were placed at the sides.

The pavilion which looked out to sea was composed of three rooms and a lobby. The principal room served for the council-chamber, and was decorated with silver-gray paper; the ceiling was painted with golden clouds, amidst which could be seen a background of blue sky, an eagle holding the thunder, and guided toward England by a star, the Emperor's tutelary star. In the middle of this chamber was a large oval table covered with a green cloth, without fringe. There was nothing in front of this table but His Majesty's armchair, made of simple native wood, covered with green morocco and stuffed with horse-hair, and which could be taken to pieces. On the table was a boxwood stand for ink and pens. This was the only furniture of the council-chamber, where nobody but the Emperor could sit down, the generals standing before him, and having nothing but the hilt of their swords to lean on during these councils, which sometimes lasted three or four hours.

The council-chamber was entered through a lobby. In this lobby, on the right hand, was His Majesty's bed-chamber, which was closed by a glass door and lighted by a window which opened on the camp of the right, with a view of the sea on the left. Here was the Emperor's iron bedstead, with a large green sarcenet curtain, fastened to the ceiling by a ring of gilded copper. It had two pallets, a hair mattress, two bolsters, one at the head and the other at the foot, and no pillow; and two coverlets, one in white cotton, the other in green sarcenet, wadded and quilted. Two very simple folding chairs stood beside it. The casement was hung with small green sarcenet curtains. This room was papered in rose-color with a lacework tracery and an Etruscan border.

Opposite the sleeping-room was another chamber parallel to it, in which was a sort of telescope which had cost twelve thousand francs. This instrument was about four feet long by one in diameter. It was mounted on a mahogany support some three feet in height, and the case which served to contain it was shaped almost like a piano. In the same room, on two stools, was a yellow leather casket which contained three complete changes of dress and linen. This was the campaign wardrobe of His Majesty; above it was a square hat, lined with white satin and much worn. The Emperor had a very sensitive head, did not like new hats and kept the same ones a long while.

The main body of the imperial barrack was divided into three rooms: a salon, a vestibule, and a large dining-room which communicated with the kitchens by a lobby parallel to that I have just described. Outside of the barrack, and in the direction of the kitchens, was a little thatched cabin which served as a laundry and scullery.

The barrack of Admiral Bruix was arranged in the same way as the Emperor's, but on a smaller scale. The signal semaphore was beside it, a sort of maritime telegraph for making signals. A little further off was the ordnance tower, a terrible battery composed of six mortars, six howitzers, and twelve twenty-four pounders. These six mortars, the greatest in calibre that had ever been made, were sixteen inches thick, carried forty-five pounds of powder in the chamber, and sent seven-hundred pound bombs fifteen hundred fathoms into the air and a league and a half out to sea. Each bomb fired cost the State three hundred francs. Lances twelve feet in length were employed in touching off these frightful machines, and the cannoneer protected himself as much as possible by putting his head between his legs and not rising until after the discharge. The Emperor wished to launch the first bomb himself.

Marshal Soult's barrack was on the right of the ordnance tower. It was built like the hut of a savage, covered with thatch down to the ground, lighted from above, and with a door by which one descended into apartments which seemed buried. The principal room was round; there was a large work table in it covered with green cloth and surrounded by small camp-stools.

The last barrack was that of M. Decrès, minister of the navy, which was built and arranged like that of Marshal Soult.

From his barrack the Emperor could observe all the manœuvres at sea, and the telescope of which I have spoken was so good that Dover castle, with its garrison, was, so to say, under the eyes of His Majesty.

The right camp, established on the cliff, was divided into streets each of which bore the name of some distinguished general. This cliff was bristling with batteries from Boulogne to Ambleteuse, that is to say, for a distance of more than ten leagues.

To go from Boulogne to the right camp, there was but one road, which began in the rue des Vieillards and passed to the cliff between His Majesty's barrack and those of MM. Bruix, Soult, and Decrès. When the Emperor wished to go down on the beach at low tide, he had to make a great detour. One day he complained of it very loudly. M. Bonnefoux, maritime prefect of Boulogne, heard His Majesty's complaints, and addressing himself to M. Sordi, engineer of military communications, he asked if it were not possible to remedy this serious inconvenience. The engineer replied that the thing was feasible; means could be found by which His Majesty could go directly from his barrack to the beach, but that, on account of the excessive elevation of the cliff, it would be necessary to dig the road in a zig-zag to avoid the rapidity of the descent. "Make it as you think best," said the Emperor, "but I must go down by it in three days." The skilful engineer set to work; in three days and three nights, a road of stones fastened together by iron clamps was constructed, and the Emperor, charmed by such diligence and talent, set M. Sordi down for the next distribution of crosses. It is not known by what regrettable negligence this skilful man was forgotten.

The harbor of Boulogne contained about seventeen hundred vessels, such as flatboats, gunboats, skiffs, lighters, bomb-ketches, etc. The entrance of the port was defended by an enormous chain and by four forts, two on the right and two on the left.

The Musoir fort, on the left, was armed by three formidable batteries, placed one above the other; the second and third by thirty-six pounders. On the right of this fort was the tow-bridge, and behind this bridge an old tower called the Croï tower, garnished with good and handsome batteries. On the left, about a quarter of a league from fort Musoir, was fort la Crèche, advanced a good way into the sea, built of cut stone, and terrible. On the right of this, finally, was the wooden fort, armed in a prodigious manner, and pierced by a large opening, which was exposed at low tide.

On the cliff at the left of the city, the same height as the other or very near it, was the left camp. Here could be seen the barrack of Prince Joseph, then colonel of the 4th regiment of the line. This barrack was thatched. At the foot of this camp and of the cliff, the Emperor had a basin dug by a part of the troops.

It was in this basin that a young soldier of the guard, up to his knees in mud, was pulling with all his might to disengage his wheelbarrow, which was still more muddy than he; but he could not manage it, and, all covered with sweat, he swore and cursed like an angry grenadier. All of a sudden, as he happened to lift his eyes, he perceived the Emperor, who was passing by the works to go and see his brother Joseph, at the camp of the left. Thereupon he began to look at him with a suppliant air and gestures, singing in an almost sentimental tone: "Come, come unto my aid." His Majesty could not avoid smiling, and he made a sign to the soldier to approach, which the poor devil did, brushing off the mud with much difficulty. "What is your regiment?" "Sire, the first of the guard."—"Since when have you been a soldier?" "Since you have been Emperor, Sire."—"Diable! that's not long—Not long enough for me to make you an officer, is it? But conduct yourself well and I'll have you made sergeant-major. After that, if you like, the cross and the epaulettes on the first battle-field. Are you content?" "Yes, Sire." Major-general,"continued the Emperor, turning to General Berthier, "take the name of this young man. Make them give him three hundred francs to clean his pantaloons and have his wheelbarrow mended." And His Majesty went on, amidst the acclamations of the soldiers.

At the inner side of the harbor was a wooden bridge which was called the pont de service. The powder magazines were behind it and they contained immense munitions. After nightfall no one entered by this bridge without giving the countersign to the second sentinel, for the first one always allowed people to pass. But he did not allow them to return. If the person coming on the bridge did not know or had forgotten the countersign, he was sent back by the second sentinel, and the first one, placed at the head of the bridge, had express orders to run his bayonet through the imprudent one who had entered this dangerous passage without being able to answer the questions of the sentries. These rigorous precautions were rendered necessary by the proximity of the terrible magazines, which a spark might blow up along with the city, the fleet, and the two camps.

At night the port was closed by the great chain which I have spoken of, and the wharves were protected by sentinels placed fifteen feet apart. Every quarter of an hour they cried: "Sentinels, take care of yourselves!" And the marines stationed in the top-sails would respond to this cry by that of: "All's well," pronounced in a drawling and melancholy voice. Nothing more monotonous and sad than this continual murmur, this roll of voices all howling in the same tone, and all the more so because those who uttered these cries did all they knew how to make them as alarming as possible.

Women not domiciled in Boulogne were forbidden to stay there without a special authorization from the minister of police. This measure had been deemed necessary on account of the army. Otherwise, each soldier might fetch a woman to Boulogne; and God knows what disorder that would have entailed. And in general, foreigners were not received into the city without the greatest difficulty.

In spite of all these precautions, spies from the English fleet were daily introduced into the city. No mercy was shown them when they were discovered; and yet emissaries, who landed from no one knew where, came to the theatre in the evenings, and pushed imprudence so far as to write their opinions of the actors and actresses, whom they designated by name, and to paste these writings on the walls of the theatre. They braved the police in this way. One day two little boats covered with tarred canvas were found on the shore, which these gentlemen had probably employed for their excursions.

In June, 1804, eight English were arrested, perfectly well dressed, in white silk stockings, etc. They had sulphur machines about them designed to set the fleet on fire. They were shot at the end of an hour without any other trial.

There were traitors also at Boulogne. A schoolmaster, the secret agent of Lords Keith and Melville, was surprised one morning on the cliff of the camp of the right making telegraphic signals with his arms. Arrested almost at the same moment by the sentries, he wanted to protest his innocence and turn the thing into a joke. But his papers were searched and a correspondence found among them with the English which proved his treason to demonstration. He was brought before the council of war and shot the next day.

One evening, between eleven o'clock and midnight, a fire-ship, rigged in the French style, carrying a French flag, and having quite the appearance of a gunboat, advanced toward the line of broadside and passed. By an unpardonable negligence, the chain of the port was not stretched that night. This fire-ship was followed by a second, which blew up and carried with it a shallop. The explosion gave the alarm to the whole fleet: on the instant lights were burning all around, and, thanks to these lights, the beholders, to their inexpressible anxiety, saw the first fire-ship advancing between the jetties. Two or three pieces of wood attached with cables luckily arrested its progress. It exploded with such an uproar that all the windows in the city were broken, and a great number of the inhabitants who, for lack of beds, were sleeping on tables, were thrown to the floor and awakened by the fall without comprehending what had happened. In ten minutes everybody was afoot. They thought the English were in the harbor. Then there was trouble, a tumult, cries to deafen one. Criers preceded by drums were sent around the city, who reassured the inhabitants by telling them that the danger was over.

The next day ballads were made on this nocturnal alarm. They were presently in all mouths. I have preserved one which I am going to set down here, and which is the one the soldiers sang the longest:
 
 

Another alarm, but of a totally different kind, turned all Boulogne upside down in the autumn of 1804. Toward eight o'clock in the evening, a chimney caught fire on the right of the port. The light of this fire, shining through masts of the fleet, alarmed the commandant of a post which was on the opposite side. At this epoch all the vessels were loaded with powder and munitions. The poor commandant lost his head; he screamed: "My lads, the fleet is on fire," and he had the general alarm beat. This frightful news flew like lightning. In less than half an hour, more than sixty thousand men debouched on the quays; the tocsin was sounded in all the churches, the forts discharged alarm guns; and drummers and trumpeters began running through the streets and making an infernal racket.

The Emperor was at headquarters when this terrible cry: "The fleet is on fire!" came to his ears. "It is impossible!" he cried at once. Nevertheless we set off instantly.

What a frightful spectacle I witnessed when we entered the city! Women in tears, holding their infants in their arms and running like mad while uttering shrieks of despair; men abandoning their houses, carrying away their most precious objects, knocking against and bruising each other in the darkness. From all sides one heard cries of: "Look out for yourself! We are going to skip! We are all ruined!" and maledictions, blasphemies, and lamentations enough to make your hair stand up.

His Majesty's aides-de-camp and those of General Soult galloped wherever they could pass, stopping the drummers and asking them: "Why do you beat the general? Who ordered you to beat the gen eral?" "We know nothing about it," was the reply; and the drums kept on beating, and the tumult increasing, and the crowd hurled themselves to the gates, struck with a terror which an instant of reflection would have banished. But fear admits of no redaction, unfortunately.

It is true to say, however, that a number of the inhabitants, less timid than the others, remained tranquilly at home, knowing very well that if the fleet were on fire they would not have had time to make an outcry. These did all in their power to reassure the frightened crowd. Madame F——, the very pretty and amiable wife of a clockmaker, was busy in her kitchen preparing supper when a neighbor entered in great alarm and said to her: "Save yourself, Madame, you have not a minute to lose!" "Why, what's the matter?"—"The fleet is afire." "Ah ! bah!"—" Fly, Madame, fly! I tell you the fleet is on fire." And the neighbor took Madame F—— by the arm and gave her a strong pull. Madame F—— was just then holding a pan in which there were some apple fritters. "Take care! you are making me spoil my fritters," said she, laughing; and a few words, between jest and earnest, were enough to reassure the poor devil, who ended by deriding himself.

At last the tumult quieted down; a profound calm succeeded to this alarm, no explosion had been heard. Was it a false alarm then? Everybody went back home no longer thinking of fire, but disturbed by another fear. Robbers might well have profited by the absence of the inhabitants to pillage the houses. . . . By good luck, no accident of this kind had occurred.

The next day, the poor commandant who had taken and given the alarm so unseasonably, was brought before the council of war. He had no bad intentions, but the law was formal. He was condemned to death, but his judges recommended him to the clemency of the Emperor, who pardoned him.

2. The English fleet was commanded by Lords Melville and Keith. Return to paragraph text.