Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete
not been for the defection of the Saxons. In the midst of the
battle, these troops having moved towards the enemy, as if intending
to make an attack, turned suddenly around, and opened a heavy fire
of artillery and musketry on the columns by the aids of which they
had a few moments before been fighting. I do not know to what page
of history such a transaction is recorded. This event immediately
produced a great difference in our affairs, which were before in a
bad enough train. I ought here mention that before the battle the
Emperor dismissed a Bavarian division which still remained with him.
He spoke to the officers in terms which will not soon be effaced
from their memory. He told them, that, "according to the laws of
war, they were his prisoners, since their Government had taken part
against him; but that he could not forget the services they had
rendered him, and that they were therefore at liberty to return
home." These troops left the army, where they were much esteemed,
and marched for Bavaria.]--
He fought his way through them and received another wound. He then threw
himself into the Pleisse, which was the first river he came to. Aided
by his officers, he gained the opposite bank, leaving his horse in
the river. Though greatly exhausted he mounted another, and gained the
Elster, by passing through M. Reichenbach's garden, which was situated
on the side of that river. In spite of the steepness of the banks of the
Elster at that part, the Prince plunged with his horse into the river:
both man and horse were drowned, and the same fate was shared by several
officers who followed Poniatawski's example. Marshal Macdonald was,
luckily, one of those who escaped. Five days after a fisherman drew
the body of the Prince, out of the water. On the 26th of October it
was temporarily interred at Leipsic, with all the honours due to the
illustrious deceased. A modest stone marks the spot where the body of
the Prince was dragged from the river. The Poles expressed a wish to.
erect a monument to the memory of their countryman in the garden of
M. Reichenbach, but that gentleman declared he would do it at his own
expense, which he did. The monument consists of a beautiful sarcophagus,
surrounded by weeping willows. The body of the Prince, after bring
embalmed, was sent in the following year to Warsaw, and in 1816 it was
deposited in the cathedral, among the remains of the Kings and great
men of Poland. The celebrated Thorwaldsen was commissioned to execute
a monument for his tomb. Prince Poniatowski left no issue but a
natural son, born in 1790. The royal race, therefore existed only in a
collateral branch of King Stanislas, namely, Prince Stanislas, born in
1754.
CHAPTER XXX.
1813
Amount of the Allied forces against Napoleon--Their advance towards
the Rhine--Levy of 280,000 men--Dreadful situation of the French at
Mayence--Declaration of the Allies at Frankfort--Diplomatic
correspondents--The Duc de Bassano succeeded by the Duke of Vicenza
--The conditions of the Allies vaguely accepted--Caulaincourt sent to
the headquarters of the Allies--Manifesto of the Allied powers to
the French people.--Gift of 30,000,000 from the Emperor's privy
purse--Wish to recall M. de Talleyrand--Singular advice relative to
Wellington--The French army recalled from Spain--The throne resigned
Joseph--Absurd accusation against M. Laine--Adjournment of the
Legislative Body--Napoleon's Speech to the Legislative Body--Remarks
of Napoleon reported by Cambacérès.
When the war resumed its course after the disaster of Leipsic I am
certain that the Allied sovereigns determined to treat with Napoleon
only in his own capital, as he, four years before, had refused to treat
with the Emperor of Austria except at Vienna. The latter sovereign now
completely raised the mask, and declared to the Emperor that he
would make common cause with Russia and Prussia against him. In his
declaration he made rise of the singular pretext, that the more enemies
there were against Napoleon there would be the greater chance of
speedily obliging him to accede to conditions which would at length
restore the tranquillity of which Europe stood so much in need.
This declaration on the part of Austria was an affair of no little
importance, for she had now raised an army of 260,000 men. An equal
force was enrolled beneath the Russian banners, which were advancing
towards the Rhine. Prussia had 200,000 men; the Confederation of the
Rhine 150,000: in short, including the Swedes and the Dutch, the English
troops in Spain and in the Netherlands, the Danes, who had abandoned us,
the Spaniards and Portuguese, whose courage and hopes were revived by
our reverses, Napoleon had arrayed against him upwards of a million of
armed men. Among them, too, were the Neapolitans, with Murat at their
head!
The month of November 1813 was fatal to the fortune of Napoleon. In all
parts the French armies were repulsed and driven back upon the Rhine,
while-in every direction, the Allied forces advanced towards that river.
For a considerable time I had confidently anticipated the fall of the
Empire; not because the foreign sovereigns had vowed its destruction,
but because I saw the impossibility of Napoleon defending himself
against all Europe, and because I knew that, however desperate might be
his fortune, nothing would induce him to consent to conditions which
he considered disgraceful. At this time every day was marked by a new
defection. Even the Bavarians, the natural Allies of France, they
whom the Emperor had led to victory at the commencement of the second
campaign of Vienna, they whom he had, as it were, adopted on the field
of battle, were now against us, and were the bitterest of our enemies.
Even before the battle of Leipsic, the consequences of which were so
ruinous to Napoleon, he had felt the necessity of applying to France for
a supply of troops; as if France had been inexhaustible. He directed
the Empress Regent to make this demand; and accordingly Maria Louisa
proceeded to the Senate, for the first time, in great state: but the
glories of the Empire were now on the decline. The Empress obtained a
levy of 280,000 troops, but they were no sooner enrolled than they were
sacrificed. The defection of the Bavarians considerably augmented the
difficulties which assailed the wreck of the army that had escaped from
Leipsic. The Bavarians had got before us to Hanau, a town four leagues
distant from Frankfort; there they established themselves, with the view
of cutting off our retreat; but French valour was roused, the little
town was speedily carried, and the Bavarians were repulsed with
considerable loss. The French army arrived at Mayence; if, indeed, one
may give the name of army to a few masses of men destitute, dispirited,
and exhausted by fatigue and privation. On the arrival of the troops at
Mayence no preparation had been made for receiving them: there were no
provisions, or supplies of any kind; and, as the climax of misfortune,
infectious epidemics broke out amongst the men. All the accounts I
received concurred in assuring me that their situation was dreadful:
However; without counting the wreck which escaped from the disasters of
Leipsic, and the ravages of disease; without including the 280,000 men
which had been raised by a 'Senatus-consulte, on the application of
Maria Louisa, the Emperor still possessed 120,000 good troops; but they
were in the rear, scattered along the Elbe, shut up in fortresses such
as Dantzic, Hamburg, Torgau, and Spandau. Such was the horror of our
situation that if, on the one hand, we could not resolve to abandon
them, it was at the same time impossible to aid them. In France a
universal cry was raised for peace, at whatever price it could be
purchased. In this state of things it may be said that the year 1813 was
more fatal to Napoleon than the year 1812. The disasters of Moscow were
repaired by his activity and the sacrifices of France; but the disasters
of Leipsic were irreparable.
I shall shortly speak of some negotiations in which, if I had chosen,
I might have taken a part. After the battle of Leipsic, in which France
lost, for the second time, a formidable army, all the powers allied
against Napoleon declared at Frankfort, on the 9th of November, that
they would never break the bonds which united them; that henceforth it
was not merely a Continental peace, but a general peace, that would be
demanded; and that any negotiation not having a general peace for its
object would be rejected. The Allied powers declared that France was
to be confined within her natural limits, the Rhine, the Alps, and the
Pyrenees. This was all that was to remain of the vast Empire founded by
Napoleon; but still it must be allowed it was a great deal, after the
many disasters France had experienced, and when she was menaced with
invasion by numerous and victorious armies. But Napoleon could not
accede to such proposals, for he was always ready to yield to illusion
when the truth was not satisfactory to him.
According to the proposals of the Allies at Frankfort, Germany; Italy,
and Spain were to be entirely withdrawn from the dominion of France.
England recognised the freedom of trade and navigation, and there
appeared no reason to doubt the sincerity of her professed willingness
to make great sacrifices to promote the object proposed by the Allies.
But to these offers a fatal condition was added, namely, that the
Congress should meet in a town, to be declared neutral, on the right
bank of the Rhine, where the plenipotentiaries of all the belligerent
powers were to assemble; but the course of the war was not to be impeded
by these negotiations.
--[This, system of negotiating and advancing was a realization of
Metternich's idea copying Napoleon's own former procedure. "Let us
hold always the sword in one head, and the olive branch in the
other; always ready to negotiate, but only negotiating whilst
advancing. Here is Napoleon's system: may he find enemies who will
carry on war . . . as he would carry it on himself." (Metternich
vol. ii. p. 346).]--
The Duc de Bassano (Maret), who was still Minister for Foreign Affairs,
replied, by order of Napoleon, to the overtures wade by the Allies for
a general Congress; and stated that the Emperor acceded to them, and
wished Mannheim to be chosen as the neutral town. M. Metternich replied
in a note, dated Frankfort, the 25th of November, stating that the
Allies felt no difficulty in acceding to Napoleon's choice of Mannheim
for the meeting of the Congress; but as M. de Bassano's letter contained
no mention of the general and summary bases I have just mentioned,
and which had been communicated to M. de St. Aignan at Frankfort, M.
Metternich stated that the Allies wished the Emperor Napoleon to declare
his determination respecting those bases, in order that insurmountable
difficulties might not arrest the negotiations at their very outset.
The Duke of Vicenza (Caulaincourt), who had just succeeded the Duc de
Bassano, received this letter. Trusting to the declaration of Frankfort
he thought he would be justified in treating on those bases; he
confidently relied on the consent of Napoleon. But the Allies had
now determined not to grant the limits accorded by that declaration.
Caulaincourt was therefore obliged to apply for fresh powers, which
being granted, he replied, on the 2d of December, that Napoleon accepted
the fundamental and summary bases which had been communicated by M. de
St. Aignan. To this letter M. Metternich answered that the Emperors of
Russia and Austria were gratified to find that the Emperor of France
recognised the bases judged necessary by the Allies; that the two