Читать книгу Military Career of Napoleon the Great - Montgomery B. Gibbs - Страница 6

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When Napoleon was a pupil of the Military School at Brienne, as a pensioner of the king, he wrote to his mother in Corsica:

"With Homer in my pocket, and my sword by my side, I hope to carve my way through the world!"

Bonaparte was then a youth of but ten years of age. For nearly thirty-five years from this time his life was a series of achievements, the success of which has rarely been equalled,—from a military standpoint, never.

His infancy was only different from that of most other boys in that he showed great animation of temper, and an impatience of inactivity, by which children of quick perception and lively sensibility are usually distinguished.

It has been said that the name "Napoleon" was given to the new-born infant of Madame Bonaparte, according to a common custom among Catholics, of naming the child after the saint on whose festival it is baptized, and that the 16th of August, the day of young Bonaparte's baptism, was the festival of St. Napoleon, (Napoleone), a saint then peculiar to Corsica.

On the confirmation of young Bonaparte at the Paris Military School the archbishop who officiated, manifesting some astonishment at the name "Napoleon," said he did not know of any such saint, and that there was no such name in the calendar.

"That should be no rule," replied Napoleon quickly, "since there are an immense number of saints, but only three hundred and sixty-five days!"

While an exile at St. Helena Napoleon said to O'Meara, his surgeon, "Saint Napoleon ought to be much obliged to me, and place all his credit in the other world to my account. The poor devil! No one knew him once, he had not even a day in the calendar. I procured him one, and persuaded the pope to assign to him the 15th of August, my birthday."

It has frequently been said of Napoleon that he was born to command. From his earliest youth he chose arms for his profession, and in every study likely to be of service to the future soldier he distinguished himself above his contemporaries. With the mathematical tutors he was always a great favorite. His ardor for the abstract sciences amounted to a passion, and was combined with a singular aptitude for applying them to the purposes of war, while his attention to pursuits so interesting in themselves was stimulated by his natural ambition and desire of distinction in this science.

Even before Napoleon began his systematic training for a military career, and while but nine years of age, he developed a fondness for mimic warfare that frequently astonished his older companions, many of whom were his superiors both in strength and endurance; but none of whom were able to cope with him in strategy, or whose resources, when put to test, were so versatile. At Ajaccio, the place of his birth, the city boys were often engaged in personal encounters with the youths from the country. At first these contests were but the natural outcome of a jealousy which is so often found to exist between city and country boys, who meet upon the same playground. At length this feeling of rivalry became more bitter, and on some occasions, especially on holidays, when the country lads were in the habit of "coming to town," as many as a score of them were often to be found on each side engaged in pitched battles with sticks and stones.

From a Drawing by F. Grenier

Bonaparte at the Siege of Toulon

The country youths had for a time been eminently successful in these encounters, and were disposed to braggadocio manners. They went about the streets with their heads lifted high, and as a result, the older folks soon began to take an interest in the outcome of the assaults. On several occasions, too, the parents of the youths were interested spectators of the contests, and although the flying missiles were extremely likely to injure the onlooker, no suggestion of putting an end to the battles was ever proposed by the older heads.

Young Bonaparte was much chagrined at these defeats, and sought to find reasons for them. When not an active participant he would often withdraw to some secluded spot, and there watch the movements of either side, hoping, no doubt, to detect some flaw in their manner of fighting that he might take advantage of it at a later date, and thus recover the good name of his city comrades. It could not be in numbers that defeat lay for they were almost always equally divided, and besides, there seemed to be an unwritten law between them that "Man against man" must in common honor be observed.

Finally Bonaparte hastily gathered about him a few of his chosen friends, in whom he had the most confidence, and laid before them a plan, which, if followed, he assured them would not only humiliate their hated rivals, but would also result in their complete overthrow. With shouts of approval his plan was at once declared "a tip-top one" and his lieutenants proceeded to carry out his orders. He directed that a certain number of boys be formed into a company, whose duty it should be to supply ammunition. A "defi" was then sent to the conquerors who promptly replied that they had nothing to fear. It soon became noised about among the inhabitants of Ajaccio that a "final contest" was to be fought on a certain day, and hours before the time set, hundreds of spectators were on hand to witness the contest which was destined to re-establish the prestige of the city boys. At length the fated hour arrived and the country boys made their appearance on the battlefield, armed with short sticks,—their usual weapons,—and full of confidence. For a short time Napoleon and his followers maintained their position against these sturdy warriors, although, as heretofore, they found themselves overmatched by mere force of brute strength.

Napoleon now gave the signal agreed upon to retreat. Slowly his forces gave way, endeavoring at the same time to keep up an appearance of fighting to the best of their ability. To reassure the country chaps that they were overpowering their contestants purely on their fighting merits, an occasional rally was ordered by the city leader; but this show of resistance was always followed by him with another retreat more pronounced than that which preceded it. At length Napoleon found himself with his followers on the shore of the sandy beach and the country lads believed themselves conquerors once more. "Victory!" "Victory!" they cried, as they came rushing up, expecting a complete surrender. In their haste to make a final assault the pursuers had not noticed that each of the city boys had laid down his stick and had his hand upon the ground. In it was grasped tightly a stone which was still partially covered by the sands of the beach.

"Ready! Fire!" shouted Napoleon, and immediately the air was filled with swift-flying stones, each of which was followed by a second and that by a third missile, all landing with terrific force on the unprotected heads and shoulders of the over-confident country lads. They had cried victory before the battle was won.

In another moment they found themselves disorganized and the victims of shouts of derision that came from the spectators who had followed the retreating forces to see the final outcome of the battle. Sticks at a distance of 20 or 30 feet were no match for the new weapons of the city lads, and reluctantly they turned and fled, having themselves no stones to throw.

Now it was Napoleon's forces who were the pursuers; but the ranks of the sturdy country lads were sadly depleted and their resistance was brief.

That night Napoleon was a hero in Ajaccio. With the older folks gathered about him he told and retold how he and his followers had spent the preceding night burying stones in the sand, that they might have them for weapons on the morrow when Napoleon's plan, which included retreat to this point on the beach, might be turned into the victory they had been assured would follow their arrival there.

The student of Napoleon's military campaigns will detect in this manoeuvre a striking similarity to more sanguine contests on the battlefield where human lives were at stake.

Throughout his life Napoleon's stronghold was strategy, and never was it more clearly illustrated than in this harmless contest of his youth, and to which he often recurred when passing an hour or two with his marshals and generals while preparing for contests on which the fate of France depended.

Up to a few years ago,—it may to this present time,—an interesting relic of Napoleon's childhood was preserved in his native place. It was a small brass cannon, weighing about thirty pounds, and it is said he would leave all other amusements for the pleasure of firing off this dangerous plaything. His favorite retreat was a solitary summer house, among the rocks on the sea shore, about a mile from Ajaccio, where his mother's brother had a villa. The place is now in ruins; it afterwards came to be known as "Napoleon's Grotto." Nothing interested him more during these early years, than to hear his mother tell the story of her exciting hardships as she fled from one part of the island to another before the conquering French. Thus, unconsciously, she no doubt nurtured in her second son that warlike spirit which was manifested in him to such a marked degree in after years.

During the time Napoleon attended school, young men were taught that the only fame worth striving for was that won by military achievements. Napoleon's parents, therefore, exerted all the influence they could command to gain scholarships for the education of their two oldest sons,—Joseph and Napoleon. Their prayers were at last granted owing to the invaluable aid of Monsieur de Marboeuf, Bishop of Autun and nephew of the governor of Corsica. Joseph was to take orders and to be placed in the college of Autun; Napoleon, intended for the navy, was to go to the school at Brienne, having previously gone through a course at Autun so as to learn sufficient French to be able to follow the lectures. They started on this journey, which was to have so much influence on their future lives, on December 15, 1778. After a halt at Florence to procure papers showing the ancient nobility of the Bonaparte family, and which were necessary to Napoleon before entering the school at Brienne, they proceeded to Autun. The herald declared that, "Young Napoleon Bonaparte possessed the nobility necessary for admission into the ranks of the gentlemen who are educated by his Majesty in the royal schools." Charles Bonaparte had been able to satisfy the authorities that his patent of nobility was authentic and privileged him to sign his name "de Bonaparte."

Napoleon arrived at Brienne, on the 23d of April, 1779, having in three months at Autun "learned sufficient French to enable him to converse easily and to write small essays and translations."

At Brienne Bourrienne, whose friendship for him commenced thus early, describes him as follows: "Bonaparte was noticeable at Brienne for his Italian complexion, the keenness of his look, and the tone of his conversation with masters and comrades. There was almost always a dash of bitterness in what he said. He had very little of the disposition that leads to attachments; which I can only attribute to the misfortunes of his family ever since his birth and the impression that the conquest of his country had made on his early years."

The fact that he was a brave, manly boy, all biographers agree in recording. His poverty subjected him to mortification among his comrades, who also ridiculed him on account of his country and twitted him with the obsolete saint whose name he bore. These taunts he allowed himself to settle with the offenders openly and never descended to report them to his tutors. On one occasion, with Bourrienne, who became his private secretary in later years, he suffered several days' imprisonment rather than reveal the names of the real offenders who had neglected their duties.

Napoleon's promptitude of reply was displayed on many occasions during his attendance at this school. One day as he was undergoing an examination by a general officer, he answered all the questions proposed with so much precision, and accompanied by such a depth of penetration, that the general, the professors and the students, were astonished. At length, in order to bring the interrogatories to a close, Napoleon was asked the following question:

"What line of conduct would you adopt in case you were besieged in a fortified place and was destitute of provisions?"

"So long as there were any in the camp of the enemy, I should never be at a great loss for a supply," came the answer quickly, amid the applause of the pupils.

One of the most delightful winters of Napoleon's early life was that of 1782, spent at this military school. He was just at that age when a boy most keenly enjoys new scenes and new excitements. It was the thirteenth winter of his life. He was older than most boys are at thirteen. His mind and his muscles were better developed. But, nevertheless, he was still a boy.

It happened that this winter was one of the coldest and most severe in the history of France, so memorable by the quantity of snow that fell and which accumulated upon the roads in great quantities. The snow came early and stayed late, and the students could find but little amusement without doors. Napoleon was the first to suggest that it be used to develop their practical knowledge, and at the same time to beguile the weary hours they would otherwise be compelled to spend within doors. He said one day:

"Let us divide into two hostile forces and battle, while the snow lasts, for the possession of the play ground."

The proposition was received with favor and was unanimously accepted. By common consent Napoleon, whose authority no one questioned, was chosen to command the projected mimic war, the school being divided into two equal armies. Extensive fortifications of snow were at once erected by busy hands who then armed themselves for the coming fray. So complete were the arrangements that even the inhabitants of the village gave up all other pursuits to witness the battles. For fifteen days, while the snow lasted, they built forts and counter-forts, dug trenches, constructed bastions and made or met sallies with snowball battles, neglecting for the nonce their less interesting studies.

It is related that Napoleon was greatly enraged one day to find that the other side had tried to get the best of his men by putting a round stone into each snowball, but when someone advised him to imitate the tactics of the foe he indignantly refused, saying that he would win without doing so or be beaten.

The fort of the enemy was at last captured after Napoleon had gone through the formalities of a siege, in which he displayed much of the quickness of combination for which he was noted on the battlefield in after years. His soldierly methods electrified his fellow students and astonished the professors as well. "This little sham war," says Bourrienne, "was carried on for the space of a fortnight, and did not cease until a quantity of gravel and small stones having got mixed with the snow of which we made our bullets, many of the combatants, besiegers as well as besieged, were seriously wounded. I well remember that I was one of the worst sufferers from this sort of grape-shot fire."

In 1783 Bonaparte, on the recommendation of the inspector of the twelve military schools, was sent from Brienne to the Royal Military School at Paris to have his education completed in the general school,—an extraordinary compliment to the genius and proficiency of a boy of fifteen. He was one of three to receive that honor, a tribute paid to the precocity of his extraordinary mathematical talent, and the steadiness of his application. The entry made at that time in the military records says:

"Monsieur de Bonaparte (Napoleon) born August 15th, 1769; in height four feet, ten inches, ten lines; of good constitution, health excellent, character mild, honest and grateful; conduct exemplary; has distinguished himself by application to mathematics; understands history and geography tolerably well; is indifferently skilled in merely ornamental studies, as well as in Latin; would make an excellent sailor; deserves to be passed to the Military School at Paris."

The young student did not arrive in Paris in the guise of the future conqueror of the world. On the contrary, he looked like a "new-comer;" he gaped at everything he saw, and gazed about in a dazed sort of way. As a Corsican compatriot who met him as he was getting out of the coach has said: "His appearance was that of a youth whom any scoundrel would try to rob after seeing him, if indeed he had anything worth taking!" However, it should not be forgotten that he was but a youth of fifteen, felt his poverty keenly, and was about to enter into the noise and extravagant life of the rich students of this royal military school. As he himself said in 1811: "All these cares spoiled my early years; they influenced my temper and made me grave before my time."

At the Paris school Napoleon labored hard, as he had done at Brienne for five years, being especially proficient, as before, in mathematics. Everything was very luxurious here, and Bonaparte complained in a memorial, which he presented to the superintendent of the establishment, that the mode of life was too expensive and delicate for "poor gentlemen" and could not properly prepare them either for returning to their "modest homes," or for the hardships they would encounter in war. He proposed that instead of a regular dinner of two courses daily, the students should have ammunition bread and soldiers' rations, and be compelled to mend and clean their own stockings and shoes. "If I were king of France," he said one day to a companion, "I would change this state of things very quickly!" This memorial is said to have done him no service, for every third boy that looked on him was a duke from his cradle, while the Young Corsican was still a "pensioner of the king;" but the schools established by him after he became Emperor were on that severe plan. "Although believing in the necessity of show and magnificence in public life," says Meneval, his second private secretary, "Napoleon remained true to these principles, while lavishing wealth on his ministers and marshals: 'In your private life' said he, 'be economical and even parsimonious; in public be magnificent.'"

On being reproved one day by an uncle of the Duchess d'Abrantes for ingratitude as a "pensioner of the king," he broke out furiously with an expression of indignation. "Silence!" said the gentleman at whose table he was sitting; "It ill becomes you, who are educated by the king's bounty, to speak as you do."

"I am not educated at the king's expense," replied Bonaparte, his face flushed with rage, "but at the expense of the nation!"

Young Napoleon made but poor advancement in the German language while at this school, and by reason of it offended M. Bauer his tutor. One day, not being in his place, M. Bauer inquired where he was, and was told that he was attending his examination in the class of artillery.

"Oh! so he does learn something," said the professor ironically.

"Why, sire, he is the best mathematician in the school," was the reply.

"Ah, I have always heard it remarked and I have always believed, that none but a fool could learn mathematics!"

"It would be curious," said Napoleon, who related this anecdote when he was Emperor, "to know whether M. Bauer lived long enough to ascertain my real character, and to enjoy the confirmation of his own judgment."

Napoleon had not been in the Military School of Paris a year,—during which time his father had died,—and had barely completed his sixteenth year, when he successfully passed the examination, in August 1785,—for a commission in a regiment of artillery.

On September 1st the decree was signed which assigned Bonaparte as Second-Lieutenant in the company of bombardiers of the regiment of La Fere garrisoned at Valence. At the time of the examination there were thirty-six vacant places. M. de Feralio, one of the professors of the military school charged with this examination, is said to have inscribed on the margin, opposite to the signature of Napoleon, the following: "A Corsican by character and by birth. If favored by circumstances this young man will rise high." This professor was very fond of his young pupil, and when at school is said to have occasionally supplied him with pocket money. After his death Napoleon granted a handsome pension to his widow.

Napoleon's corps was at Valence when he joined it. Arriving there he was an occasional frequenter of the drawing room of Madame du Colombier, and it is said he made love to her daughter; but when not so engaged, he was devoted to his military studies, and read frequently from the Lives of Plutarch, a volume of which he generally carried about him. He also occupied himself in writing a "History of Corsica" which, when completed, the Abbe Raynal and other friends praised very highly; but he was unable to find a publisher for it.

At Valence Napoleon found the officers of his regiment divided, as all the world then was, into two parties; the lovers of the French monarchy, and those who desired its overthrow. Napoleon openly sided with the latter. "Had I been a general," said he, in the evening of his life, "I might have adhered to the king; being a subaltern I joined the patriots."

In the beginning of 1792 Napoleon became captain of artillery, unattached, and happening to be in Paris, witnessed the lamentable scenes of the 20th of June, when the revolutionary mob stormed the Tuileries, and Louis XVI. and his family, after undergoing innumerable insults and degradations, with the utmost difficulty preserved their lives. As he was strolling about with Bourrienne he saw the mob, numbering between five and six thousand, ragged and ridiculously armed, coming from the outskirts and making for the Tuileries. "Let us follow these scoundrels," he said. They went with the crowd into the garden before the palace, and when the king appeared at one of the windows on the balcony, surrounded by Revolutionists, and with the red cap of liberty, the emblem of the Jacobins, on his head, Napoleon could no longer suppress his contempt and indignation. "Poor driveller!" said he, loud enough to be heard by those near him; "how could he suffer this rabble to enter? If he had swept away five or six hundred with his cannon, the rest would be running yet!" Napoleon always abhorred anarchy. He said there was no remedy for mobs but grape-shot, and believed thoroughly in the theory of shooting first and listening to peace negotiations afterwards.

He was also a witness of the still more terrible 10th of August, in the same year, when the palace being once more invested, the National Guard assigned for its defense took part with the assailants. This time the royal family were obliged to take refuge in the National Assembly, and the brave Swiss Guards were massacred almost to a man.

Bonaparte was a firm friend of the Assembly, to the charge of a part of which, at least, these excesses must be laid; but the spectacle disgusted him. The yells, screams, and pikes with bloody heads upon them, formed a scene which he afterwards described as "hideous and revolting." But with what a different feeling of interest would he have looked on that infuriated populace, those still resisting though overpowered Swiss, and that burning palace, had any seer whispered to him: "Emperor that shall be, all this blood and massacre is but to prepare your future Empire!"

He mingled little in society; but he saw much of the people and took sides irrevocably with the cause of the nation. At this time he was without employment and very poor, wandering idly about Paris, and living chiefly at cheap restaurants. As yet he had been but a spectator of the Revolution, destined to pave his own path to sovereign power; but it was not long before circumstances called him to play a part in this tragic drama which was then attracting the attention of the civilized world.

It was shortly after these stirring scenes in Paris, that Bonaparte visited his mother in Corsica, arriving there with his sister Eliza on September 17th, 1792. For the first time in thirteen years the family was reunited, and their joy would have been complete had their circumstances not been so sad. Their resources were diminishing day by day and the recovery of what was due them became constantly more difficult, owing to civil discords. The only fund upon which they could rely seems to have been Napoleon's pay as an artillery officer.

The following year, while Bonaparte was still enjoying the leave of absence from his regiment, an expedition arrived from France to deprive General Paoli, governor of Corsica, of his control, he having denounced the National Assembly as the enemy of France. Paoli endeavored to enlist Napoleon in his cause; among other flatteries he patted him on the back and said: "You were cast in an antique mould; you are one of Plutarch's men. The whole world will talk of you," but the young Corsican was loyal to France, and was not to be deceived by either entreaties or flattery. He declared his belief that Corsica was too weak to maintain independence, that she must fall under the rule either of France or England, and that her interests would be best served by adhering to the former. Napoleon then tendered his sword to Salicetti, one of the Corsican deputies to the Convention, and was appointed provisionally to the command of a battalion of National Guards.

The first military service on which he was employed for his native country was the reduction of a small fortress, called the Torre di Capitello, near Ajaccio. He took it, but was soon besieged in it, and he and his garrison, after a gallant defense, and living for some time on horseflesh, were glad to evacuate the tower, and escape to the sea. Paoli was soon reinforced by England, and the Bonapartes were among those who were banished from the country. During this Corsican revolution the inhabitants were much divided as to the rights of England and France in the island. An officer in the French troops, who sided with England, was much scandalized at the position taken by the Bonapartes,—Joseph, Napoleon and Lucien. One day, in the hearing of Napoleon, the officer made use of some very harsh language towards them, and was especially bitter against Napoleon. At this a friend defended him with much warmth and finished by saying to the officer: "Sir, you are not worth a pair of Napoleon's old boots!"

In the year 1800, Napoleon then being First Consul of France, the officer who had defended him, and who had for some time followed his standard, and had been raised to distinction by him, happening to meet Bonaparte among a large party at dinner at the house of the First Consul's mother, was drawn aside before the company placed themselves at the table, and with his finger over his mouth, Napoleon said in a half-joking, half-serious manner: "My dear sir, not a word, I entreat you, about the old boots!"

As a result of the insurrection in Corsica Napoleon saw Ajaccio in ashes, and the home of his childhood pillaged and burned ere he took his departure. His mother and sisters took refuge first at Nice, and afterwards at Marseilles, where for some time they suffered all the inconveniences of poverty and exile. At that period nothing was more deplorable than Bonaparte's prospects; nothing more uncertain than the future. But he believed that fortune would not always abandon him. France was in the hands of men who acted largely from self-interest, and here he apparently saw a chance to carve his way to fame by getting in the vortex of the Revolution. It was probably on this occasion that he repeated the well-known words: "In a revolution a soldier should never despair if he possesses courage and genius."

Napoleon now resolved to rejoin his regiment; he had chosen France for his country, and ever afterwards it was his home until exiled to St. Helena.

During the night of August 27th, 1793, Toulon was delivered to the English, and its subsequent siege and retaking was destined to be the first incident of importance which enabled Bonaparte to distinguish himself in the eyes of the French Government, and of the world at large. The head of Louis XVI had rolled from the block, and a month afterwards the Convention had declared war against England.

Early in September France was attacked on every side, and a third of her provinces had rebelled against the government established at Paris, which enforced its supremacy by a regime carried on under a Reign of Terror. Among the provinces in open insurrection were all those of the south. An army corps invested Lyons, while another, after subduing Marseilles, marched against Toulon, the great arsenal and seaport, and delivered by the Bourbons into the hands of England. Adjutant Cervoni was at once dispatched to Marseilles to ascertain if he could find in that town some artillery officer of distinction to whom might be intrusted the chief command of the siege batteries before Toulon.

While strolling through the streets Cervoni met with a captain of artillery who was, like himself, perambulating the thoroughfares. This captain was a Corsican and a compatriot; his name was Napoleon Bonaparte. He was covered with the dust of the road along which he had been walking; for he had just arrived from Avignon, whither he had escorted a convoy of ammunition, and was on his way to Nice. Cervoni thought that Bonaparte would be just the man to watch over the movements of the army before Toulon: he appeared very young,—he was only twenty-four years of age—but it was stated that a month before the Republican army was on the point of beating a retreat in front of Avignon when he, with two field-pieces and eighty men, bombarded the town in the rear so effectively that the inhabitants and federal troops were overcome with fright and, convinced that they had been betrayed, abandoned the place to the Republicans who entered victorious, thanks to the boldness and foresight of Captain Bonaparte.