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 ANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS 
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Cornell University Library 
 DC 198.L53A23 
 
 V.I 
 
 Memoirs of Baron Leieune,aide-de-camp to 
 
 3 1924 024 337 051 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924024337051 
 
MEMOIRS 
 
 OF 
 
 BAEON LBJEUNE 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
MEMOIES 
 
 OF 
 
 BAEON LEJEUNE 
 
 AIDE-DE-CAMP TO MARSHALS BERTHIEK, 
 DAVOUT, AND OUDINOT 
 
 TRANSLATED AND EDITED PEOM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH 
 
 BY 
 
 MES AETHUE BELL (N. D'ANVEES) 
 
 AUTHOB OF ' THE ELEMENTAEY HISTOEY Or ART ' 
 THE ' SCIENCE LADDEES SERIES ' ETC. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION 
 
 BY 
 
 MAJOE-GENEEAL MAURICE, C.B. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES— VOL. I. 
 
 LONGMANS, GEEEN, AND CO. 
 
 89 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON 
 
 NEW YORK AND BOMBAY 
 
 1897 
 
 A 11 rights reserved 
 
TRANSLATOE'S NOTE 
 
 The translator of these Memoirs wishes to express her 
 gratitude to Mr. Harold Vallings, the novelist, Colonel 
 Branson, (retired), late Bengal Army, and Lieutenant- 
 Colonel S. W. Bell, for their able help in the rendering 
 of military terms. Thanks are also due to Lieutenant 
 Maurice for his various valuable suggestions on the 
 proofs. 
 
 It has been thought well to retain the French title of 
 ' the Major-General,' so often used by Lejeune in speaking 
 of Marshal Berthier, because, although the duties per- 
 formed by that General were practically those of the 
 Chief of the Staff, as he would be called at the present day, 
 he is constantly referred to as 'the Major-General' in 
 Napier's ' Peninsular War ' and other histories of the 
 campaigns in which he took so prominent a part. 
 
 Nancy Bell. 
 
 Bodthbtone-on-Sea : December, 189G 
 
INTEODUCTION 
 
 The spacious times of Napoleon left ample room for many 
 varied orbits of personal experience. The man himself 
 is still an unexhausted subject, and anything that throws 
 light on his character and actions must have an intense 
 interest, no matter who writes it. Volumes upon volumes 
 which from one point of view or another thus contribute 
 to the history of the times still pour from the press. 
 The ' Memoirs ' of Lejeune, however, belong to a class 
 quite distinct from these, and have a charm peculiar to 
 themselves. Though he was employed during the greater 
 part of his career on the staff of Prince Berthier, Napo- 
 leon's right-hand man, and though he was therefore 
 continually close to Napoleon, had many conversations 
 with him, and was despatched by him personally on many 
 missions of importance, it is not for the sake of any 
 specially numerous or interesting anecdotes of the great 
 man himself, or even for any very valuable additions to 
 our general knowledge of the history of the times, that 
 these volumes are to be commended to the attention of 
 modern readers. The charm of them consists in this, that, 
 cultivated, brilliant, and gallant soldier as Lejeune was, 
 he was essentially, and always remained, an artist who 
 had become a soldier rather than a soldier who had taken 
 to art. Buskin tells us that the business of the artist is 
 
Vlll MEMOIES OF BARON LEJEUXE 
 
 to see, ' to think perhaps sometimes when he has nothing 
 better to do.' The saying has continually recurred to me 
 as I have read these graphic descriptions of scenes in 
 France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, the Tyrol, 
 Hungary, and Bussia. From that point of view, I know 
 nothing that approaches I.ejeune's 'Memoirs.' The 
 faculty of seeing and of vividly portraying in words or by 
 brush the thing seen is one of the most precious granted 
 to man. The instinctive artistic necessity which makes 
 the eye take in all that is passing around at a time when 
 every faculty is strained under the dire conditions of 
 imminent personal peril, of absorption in the tremendous re- 
 sponsibilities involved in the command and care of men, in 
 the stress of action, when every decision that is taken may 
 involve the fate of an army, perhaps of a nation, is indeed 
 a rare quality for a soldier to carry with him throughout 
 such events as those through which an aide-de-camp on 
 the staff of Napoleon passed during the years between 
 Vahny and the retreat of the French army after the 
 disaster of Leipzig. As a collection of historical anec- 
 dotes the ' Memoirs ' of Marbot are immeasurably more 
 full and complete. Whether they are, properly speaking, 
 memoirs at all and do not deserve rather to be classed 
 among historical compilations for which the experiences 
 and collections of other writers have, during the years of 
 peaceful leisure which followed the great events they 
 describe, been laid under heavy contribution, is a doubt 
 which has assailed almost all who have read them. As 
 memoirs ' to serve for the history ' .of Napoleon, many 
 others are more valuable than Lejeune's. The recently 
 published memoirs of De Meneval, for instance, throw a 
 light upon the workings of the mind around which events 
 in Europe for at least thirteen years pivoted, such as can- 
 
INTRODUCTION ix 
 
 not be compared with any fresh Napoleonic ghmmerings 
 that Lejeune here and there gives us. Lejeune's are 
 throughout palpably what they pretend to be, pen-and- 
 ink sketches made at the time of those scenes which most 
 impressed him as an artist, sketches developed afterwards 
 by the help of memory but with very little extraneous 
 assistance and little comparing of notes with others. 
 They have therefore at the same time the charm, the 
 value, and the weakness of composition of this kind. 
 There is no sort of proportion in the space given to 
 different parts of the subject. The historical import- 
 ance of events gives them no claim to full treatment by 
 Lejeune. ' Austerlitz and Jena, . though Lejeune was 
 present at each, are vaguely touched. No one could obtain 
 an accurate understanding of the method of either battle 
 or of the mode in which the skill of Napoleon was exercised 
 in it from Lejeune's pages. Clearly Lejeune had ' some- 
 thing better to do ' than to think about the methods em- 
 ployed by his master in either case. For our purposes 
 I think he had. We have ample knowledge of what 
 happened in both cases, and we know why it happened ; 
 but there is at least one famous dramatic scene at Auster- 
 litz to which Lejeune has added some artistic touches, 
 quite new to me, and so presented that it would be 
 difficult ever to forget them again. The spontaneous 
 illumination with which Napoleon was received by his 
 soldiers when he visited their bivouac on the night 
 before Austerlitz is a well-known historical incident. If, 
 however, any one except Lejeune has recorded that the 
 torches used consisted of the straw on which the men were 
 lying — that, in fact, in order to light Napoleon's way, they 
 deprived themselves both of their beds and of the rough 
 overhead shelters they had constructed — it has altogether 
 
X 3n':.M0IRS OF BAltUX LEJEUXE 
 
 escaped my memory. Lejemie fm'ther tells us that this 
 was not by any means intended as a mere demonstration, 
 but was due to the anxiety of his soldiers lest the Emperor, 
 who had come to visit them, should lose his way in the 
 darkness. I shall not take the trouble to verify mj^ 
 memory as to the entire absence of any previous mention 
 of these facts which give all the value to the soldiers' 
 action as a demonstration of devotion to Napoleon, 
 because, whether I am right or wrong, the quality of 
 Lejeune's style in vividly presenting a scene to one and 
 fixing it in one's memory is none the worse illustrated by 
 the fact, if it be the fact, that others have casually men- 
 tioned this feature of the famous illumination. Lejeune, 
 by a happy comparison much to the advantage of the 
 soldier with the recklessness of George IV. when Prince 
 of Wales in lighting a 1001. note to enable the Duke of 
 Orleans to find a louis d'or, his long search for which had 
 provoked the Prince, brings out delightfully the real 
 nature of the men's sacrifice and its value as demonstrat- 
 ing their reckless devotion to their chief. This is an 
 illustration of the kind of touches with which Lejeune not 
 unfrequently lights up even those parts of his narrative 
 with which he most casually deals. When, however, 
 with a large canvas and full brush, he takes to giving us 
 scenes in which he has been personally vividly interested, 
 I doubt if Zola or Verestchagin has imagined anything 
 more awful in their dramatic horror than some of those 
 which Lejeune has given us from the siege of Sara- 
 gossa, from the campaign of 1809, especially in the awful 
 story of the capture of Ebersberg, and from the retreat 
 from Moscow. The latter, no doubt, has been often 
 enough described by others, but, as a rule, the peculiarity 
 of Lejeune's work is that from his describing just what he 
 
IXTRODUCTIOX XL 
 
 has himself seen during a hf e more adventurous than any 
 novelist could have imagined, we are usually carried through 
 events vs^hich no one else could have described, because 
 there was no one else on the spot with eyes to see or pen 
 to sketch them. For in fact the whole career of Lejeune 
 was traced for him by the master hand of a man who 
 thoroughly understood how best to employ him. Able, as 
 very few indeed of Napoleon's officers were, to speak lan- 
 guages with such fluency as often to impose on Spaniards, 
 Italians, Germans, and to converse with Englishmen, able 
 to make an accurate engineer's tracing from a distance of a 
 fortress or to paint a finished picture that all Paris would 
 crowd to see, an accomplished engineer understanding all 
 the detailed work of a siege or a campaign, a well-trained 
 staff-of&cer, above all possessing the happy tact which 
 enabled him to go among jealous marshals and even 
 kings and princes without exciting their wrath though 
 charged with the delicate mission of urging them on in 
 Napoleon's name, such a man under the great Emperor 
 was marked out for a life of personal adventure. I 
 think it is safe to say that the words Faites-moi savoir, 
 which meant strictly what they literally express, ' Make 
 me know,' ' Take care that I really do thoroughly know,' 
 are of more frequent occurrence than any others through- 
 out the whole of Napoleon's correspondence. No one 
 •ever more keenly than Napoleon realised the impotence 
 of the most despotic authority which does not know. To 
 have eyes with which he could see as with his own in 
 every part of his vast empire was the continual object of 
 all his efforts. Who, for s.uch a purpose, could be more 
 suitable than the accomplished young artist who could 
 not help seeing wherever he went, who, if he instinctively 
 and by natiire saw as an artist, had yet, when leisure 
 
xil ME.MOIKS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 permitted, devoted fifteen hours a day to mastering his 
 profession as a soldier, who would, if he saw with an 
 artist eye, yet describe with the military knowledge of a 
 soldier, with the accuracy of a well-trained engineer, and 
 with the savoir-vwre and savoir-faire of a courtier and a 
 man of the world ? Accordingly the variety of the 
 missions with which Lejeune was entrusted was end- 
 less. Sent at one time with a detachment of cavalry for 
 the sole purpose of making a personal report on the 
 defences of Comorn and on the presence of any enemy in 
 the neighbourhood of Pesth, he was able to boast that he 
 was the only French officer who had, arms in hand, 
 penetrated close to the capital of Hungary. On another 
 occasion he was employed to take over the guns surrendered 
 by the Austrians in the Tyrol. Before the battle of 
 "NA^agram he seems to have been again alone reconnoitring 
 in front of the Austrian army when it began its night 
 attack of which he brought back the news. He was also 
 despatched by the Emperor to Spain to visit the 
 King and each of the marshals, being expressly told to 
 make the Emperor as completely aware of all that was 
 taking place there as if he had been present in person. 
 Each of these and other personal missions led him into 
 situations of extraordinary danger, and in the last especially 
 he was actually hung up for execution, having been 
 captured by brigands, missed, only by the merest accident 
 and his own courage, being consigned by mistake, perhaps 
 for life, to the hulks of the Portuguese galley-slaves, and 
 finally, having been carried as a prisoner to England, and 
 having made his escape to Folkestone, after a series of 
 adventures worthy of ' Brigadier Gerard,' he only barely 
 avoided a gruesome fate, his narration of which discloses 
 an extraordinary system of rascality. He declares that 
 
INTltODUCTIOX Xlii 
 
 an English smuggler was reaping a murderous profit out 
 of the desire of the French prisoners to escape. The man 
 nominally put himself at the service of the prisoners in 
 England, and promised to deliver them safe at Boulogne, 
 but, afraid of being detected by the English coast-guard, 
 he, after obtaining from the unhappy Frenchmen all the 
 money that he could induce their friends to raise, took 
 them out in a boat and drowned them. Lejeune states 
 that this man had thus murdered many before he, 
 fortunately for himself, was saved from the scoundrel's 
 hands under circumstances which I must not describe 
 lest I should spoil the interest of the story instead of 
 showing what elements of exciting drama it contains. 
 Apart, however, from these matters of personal adventure, 
 which, gaining as they do from his vivid powers of 
 description, have of themselves all the attractions of a 
 novel, it is, I think, a point which makes much for the 
 value of the book that it is, as a rule, most full in its 
 description of just those parts of the history which are 
 least hackneyed, and that it is brief where we already 
 have ample materials. Thus, having been employed 
 personally to report to the Emperor on the second siege 
 of Saragossa, and' as an engineer in giving all the as- 
 sistance he could, he devotes eighty-three pages to the 
 details of that memorable struggle between passionate 
 and heroic patriotic devotion and the calmer, more power- 
 ful, more scientific, and not less valiant resolution of the 
 French army in carrying out the behests of their Emperor. 
 That such a contest would give him scope for his descrip- 
 tive powers need hardly be told. As a powerful present- 
 ment of a scene fascinating by its very horror, I can 
 hardly imagine anything more telling than the pages in 
 which he describes the fights in the several nunneries and 
 
XIV :\1E.M0TRS OF BAIIOX l.EJEUNE 
 
 ■convents of Madrid, of which perhaps the most terrible 
 was that amidst the ruins of the convent of St. Francis 
 where the struggle went on from roof to cellar and whilst 
 the Gothic gargoyles, representing dragons, vultures, and 
 winged monsters, vomited forth upon the assailants below 
 torrents of human gore, in the nave of the church the 
 fight was being continued amidst coffins, bones, and 
 broken marbles. From one of the coffins protruded the 
 livid shrivelled features and part of the body of a bishop 
 still wrapped in his sacerdotal robes, 'the mitred spectre 
 swaying to and fro beneath our feet.' 
 
 But the whole story of the siege, in which the French 
 seem to have displayed all the personal humanity that its 
 vigorous prosecution permitted, while the Spaniards were 
 even more actuated by passionate religious fervour, due to 
 the fear of the priests lest the convents should be sup- 
 pressed by the French, than by patriotism, recalls more 
 closely than anything else that I have ever read the 
 incidents of that awful catastrophe, the struggle between 
 the fanatics of the Temple and the Eomans at the siege 
 of Jerusalem. Tender touches of human nature recur 
 continually throughout, as when a young girl fifteen or 
 sixteen years old who had lost both father and mother, 
 after fruitless efforts to carry away her mother's body, 
 wrapped it in her father's cloak and tried to drag it 
 along with the cartridge-box and musket, remembering 
 vengeance as well as filial piety, while the very Poles, 
 who could not blame the poor child for hating them as the 
 murderers of her parents, called out to her, first in their 
 own language and afterwards in Spanish, ' Don't be afraid, 
 little one.' Few days, he tells us, passed without something 
 of this kind occurring. To me, at all events, this personal 
 presentation of the features of the siege from the French 
 
IXTRODL'CTION XV 
 
 side comes as quite new. Certainly, however, of all the 
 battles the one to which Lejeune contributes most new light 
 IS that of Essling. From his quality as an engineer and, 
 at the same time, as aide-de-camp on the Emperor's staff, 
 Lejeune had a close personal view of the battle, of the 
 scenes at the broken bridges, and of the personal danger of 
 the Emperor, such as no other historian of that terrible 
 contest has possessed. I do not think that any writer 
 has ever given me an idea so complete of the utter ex- 
 haustion of the French army at the time when the bridges 
 were broken down as Lejeune by his description does. 
 Of course it has always been notorious that if the army 
 under the Archduke John had arrived as it ought to have 
 done to the support of Charles, the French forces on the 
 left bank of the Danube with the Emperor must have 
 been destroyed or captured. But viewing the situation of 
 Lannes' corps at the time when Lejeune was personally 
 sent to him, as graphically described by him, it looks as 
 if a further effort on the part of even the much-shattered 
 forces of Charles must have sufficed for the purpose. I 
 do not think there is anywhere so graphic a picture of 
 the scene at the small bridge, which alone remained to 
 connect the island of Lobau with the left bank when the 
 Emperor passed it, after it had tvsdce already broken down, 
 as is to be found in this book. As a specimen of Lejeune's 
 powers of description it is perhaps worth while to give a 
 portion of the scene. ' The river was still rising, and we 
 had little hope of maintaining ' the bridge intact for any 
 time. ' All our wounded were now dragging themselves 
 to this small bridge, crowding the approach to it, each 
 eager to be the first to cross. Driven back by carpenters, 
 whose work they impeded, their condition was one to draw 
 tears from all who saw it. The less mutilated amongst 
 VOL. I. a 
 
XVI MEMOIES UF BAROX LEJEUNE 
 
 them endeavoured to clamber up the ropes on to the boats, 
 but cUmbing one over the other they were in each other's 
 way, and none succeeded in passing. Many wounded 
 horses, abandoned by their owners, but accustomed to 
 follow, j)ushed themselves in among these men, increasing 
 their difficulties. All of them, huddled together on the 
 banks and approaches to the bridge, were soon over- 
 whelmed by the water which continued to rise. The crowd 
 became so great that the wounded were unable to move 
 back, and we had to look on whilst men and horses were 
 drowned without being able to do anything to help them, 
 for a way of retreat for the army must be secured at any 
 price. " Let us save the Emperor ! " were the words which 
 passed from mouth to mouth. In this disaster that was 
 our one hope ; it was essential for us all that he should be 
 neither taken prisoner nor killed ; and I now went to 
 implore Prince Berthier to do all he could to induce the 
 Emperor to retreat to the island of Lobau whilst it was 
 still possible. ... At last, slowly traversing on foot the 
 little wood which served as a place of first aid to the 
 wounded, I had the satisfaction of leading the Emperor 
 to the group of wounded accumulated near the bridge. All, 
 when they saw him, seemed to recover fresh life to cry, 
 "Vive I'Empereur ! " and tried to draw yet more closely 
 together so as to leave room for him to pass. Hitherto 
 the Emperor's features had maintained their absolute 
 calm, but now they suddenly relaxed, and his eyes lost 
 their flash and their coldness as they were cast down on 
 the ground.' 
 
 An equally graphic description follows of the cortege 
 of wounded soldiers, most of whom had one arm in a 
 sling and used the other to carry Marshal Lannes, who 
 
INTRODUCTION xvii 
 
 had lost both his legs, and was borne on a litter formed 
 of muskets, a few branches of oak, and one or two cloaks. 
 The meeting of Lannes and the Emperor, historical as it 
 is, receives many fresh touches from Lejeune's artistic pen. 
 Finally, as regards this battle, we have from Lejeune, who 
 was himself employed in preparing a boat for the Emperor, 
 a most vivid picture of the Emperor's dangerous night 
 voyage to the right bank after he had given the general 
 order for the retreat of the army. 
 
 More than a hundred pages are devoted to the Kussian 
 campaign, and, numerous as have been the histories of 
 that terrible disaster, there is a freshness about the per- 
 sonal narrative of his own experiences, to which Lejeune 
 devotes himself, which makes it in many respects valuable, 
 even if a subject which, for its full presentation, so emi- 
 nently deserves the eye of an artist, did not specially lend 
 itself to his pen. It would be impossible to do justice in 
 brief space to all that he has to tell on this prolific subject, 
 and I pass on to the period of Napoleon's departure for 
 Paris, as to which, in the course of his account of his own 
 proceedings, Lejeune brings out, with a force that I have 
 never felt before, one very important historical feature of 
 the case. That Napoleon the Emperor ought to have 
 been in Paris rather than on the Niemen, for the sake 
 even of the ruined anny itself, there can be no question. 
 It was only because of his rapid return to France that he 
 was able to organise the force with which he met the 
 Allies in the 1813 campaign, received the debris of the re- 
 treating army, and for a time even restored victory to his 
 standards. But Napoleon the General could not be sepa- 
 rated from Napoleon the Emperor, and the desertion of the 
 commander-in-chief was an example that was only too 
 quickly followed by each subordinate commander in turn. 
 
 A 9, 
 
XVIU .^[EMOIKS OF BAROX LEJEUNIC 
 
 When Murat showed the waj- the contagion spread rapidlj'. 
 Lejeune himself, disguising the matter as well as he can, 
 gives us an example, in his own person, of the method by 
 which these desertions were carried out by numbers of 
 general and other officers of the army. Napoleon's posi- 
 tion was one too difficult to admit of his dealing with all 
 the officers who had gathered in Paris in absolute viola- 
 tion of all mihtary loyalty either to their Emperor or 
 their men. At the same time nothing was more incon- 
 venient for him than that there should be present a 
 number of eyewitnesses who were able to describe in 
 detail the frightful nature of the disaster, and to discount 
 the bulletins in which he had endeavoured to minimise it. 
 Therefore, when Lejeune, with an impudent attempt to 
 gloss over the crime he had committed, after long delay 
 reported his desertion of his post and his presence in Paris, 
 Napoleon in a verj' mild way made an example of him. 
 His laments and cries against Napoleon are palpably un- 
 just, but they admirably illustrate the complete break-up 
 of all ideas of discipline which followed the disastrous 
 campaign of Russia, and the weakness of Napoleon's 
 position when he could neither separate the emperor from 
 the general in his own person, nor make the two duties 
 consistent with each other. 
 
 ' It must not, however, be supposed that Lejeune's 
 descriptive powers are employed only on the terrible and 
 the awful. He had his full part in the gorgeous pageantries 
 and stately ceremonial which attended the Court of 
 Napoleon and of his vassal kings during the years of his 
 supremacy. The beauties of nature never failed to attract 
 him even when himself in the direst straits ; and as he 
 lands dripping from a river in which he has been nearlj^ 
 
 drowned he cannot help noting all the glories of a lovelj^ 
 
INTRODUCTION XIX 
 
 landscape if it then comes before him. As he passed at 
 one time or another through most of the grandest country 
 in Europe and had much gaiety in his own Hfe, the darker 
 colom-s are continually relieved and set off by the brighter. 
 All the elements of a varied picture are admirably pre- 
 sented by the man who, having the opportunity, could 
 best see and portray the strange and wonderful events of 
 the time. The very limitations of the book as history 
 add especially this to their value, that so far as they go 
 they are first-hand evidence. To take one illustration 
 out of many. Count Tolstoi, for purposes of his own not 
 difficult to guess, has endeavoured to deprive his country- 
 men of the glory of that heroic national sacrifice, the burn- 
 ing of Moscow. Obviously he bases his story upon mere 
 tradition. He strives to make it be believed that the entire 
 conflagration was due to the carelessness of French plun- 
 derers among wooden houses. Lejeune, who was perso- 
 nally employed in putting out the fires, whilst he expressly 
 admits, as every one has done, that many of them were 
 due to French carelessness, gives evidence apparently un- 
 answerably confuting Tolstoi by anticipation, and showing 
 that the conflagration had been organised by the Russians 
 on an enormous scale and by most elaborate devices, and 
 that it was these and not the carelessness of the marauders 
 which baffled the efforts of the French authorities. In 
 many similar instances the direct personal evidence of 
 Lejeune is of no inconsiderable historical importance. 
 This, perhaps, more especially applies to much of what 
 he writes as to the gradual change in the feehngs of the 
 Spaniards towards the French, and as to other important 
 points in the Spanish problem. 
 
 Altogether the recently repubHshed French Memoirs, 
 which, when they first came out, never had more than a 
 
XX :mem()Irs of baron lejeune 
 
 local circulation, were well worthy of an English transla- 
 tion, and I feel certain that those who read them will be 
 delighted with them from their charm, their vivacity, and 
 their interest. 
 
 P. MAURICE. 
 
 Woolwich : Nornnb,;r 30, 1896. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE FIKST VOLUME 
 
 Intbodbotion by Majoe-Geneeal Maueioe, C.B.J. . . vii 
 
 CHAPTEI! j.,U4K 
 
 I. Eaelibst Eecollections 1 
 
 II. The Campaigns in HoLiiAND and on the Rhine, with the 
 
 Battle of Maeengo 11 
 
 III. AUSTEKLITZ AND JeNA 22 
 
 IV. Eylau — King Gustavus IV. — Danzig — Colbeeg — Feieuland — 
 
 Tilsit 45 
 
 V. From Poland to Spain — Bukgos — Voyage to Hambueg — The 
 
 SoHo-SiEEKA — Madeid 72 
 
 VI. The Guadaeeamas — Benavente — Astoega — Valladolid . . 98 
 
 VII. Siege and Taking or Saeagossa 119 
 
 VIII. The Wak in Austeia in 1809 — Battles or Aeensbeeg, Lands- 
 hut, and Egk5iuhl — ^Eatisbon — Ebeesbeeg . . . . 203 
 
 IX. The Taking of Vienna— Essling 249 
 
 X. Wagbam — Znaih— Klagenfuet 299 
 
Hn-ata 
 
 Page 5 line 16 for a reserve force read an army of reserve 
 
 30 ,, bank lofty enough read part of the road with sufficient 
 command 
 ,, 11 ,, 7 ,, general map read small scale map 
 
 9 after Sambre read ' he asked me to show him his road ' 
 10 for short cuts read minor roads 
 „ 12 „ 16 „ the brevet of assistant lieutenant read a eonimission as 
 second lieutenant 
 reserve force read army of reserve 
 steps read paces 
 guns read muskets 
 captain read lieutenant-colonel 
 twenty read one hundred 
 ready for use read with their teams 
 artillery read train 
 carriages read wagons 
 
 17 
 
 „ 17 
 
 18 , 
 
 „ 26 
 
 
 27 
 
 34 , 
 
 , 27 
 
 35 , 
 
 , 8 
 
 36 , 
 
 , 2 
 
 41 , 
 
 , 21 
 
 45 , 
 
 , 15 
 
MEMOIRS 
 
 OF 
 
 BAEON LEJEUNE 
 
 CHAPTEE I 
 
 EARLIEST RECOLLECTIONS 
 
 My father and mother belonged to Versailles, but certain 
 business affairs led to their settling for a time in Alsace, 
 where I was born. 
 
 Shortly before the Revolution they returned to 
 Versailles, and as I write I can vividly recall the belfry 
 of the Cathedral of Strasburg, as well as the beautiful 
 Boyal Palace of Versailles, just as it appeared the day I 
 arrived there. 
 
 I already had a taste for drawing, and one daj^, as I 
 was about to begin a sketch in the park, a lady wearing a 
 simple and elegant but somewhat neglige white costume 
 approached me, followed by a liayduc or Hungarian hussar, 
 who held a big sabre in one hand and in the other the 
 lady's dainty parasol. I took off my hat respectfully 
 without pausing in my work, replied to a few gracious 
 questions addressed to me, and as the lady continued her 
 walk I took no further notice of her. 
 
 VOL. I. *B 
 
2 MEMOIUS OF BA.ROX LEJEUXE 
 
 At the same time the next day the lady, who I had 
 noticed had a beautiful face and a fine figure, though she 
 was as simply dressed as before, came up to me and asked 
 my name. Wlien she had heard it she said, ' I know 
 your father, and I am much attached to your uncle, who 
 often comes to practise music with me.' 
 
 From her accent I guessed that she must be an 
 Austrian, and I replied, with a laugh, in German that I 
 was ashamed to confess I did not know to whom I was 
 talking. 
 
 My cheerful manner seemed to please her, and she 
 said, ' Come with me, little friend, and we will become 
 better acquainted. You shall see some prettier bits than 
 the one you are sketching.' I accompanied her, and saw 
 the big folding doors of the Trianon open to admit us. 
 Attendants in the royal liveries saluted respectfully, and I 
 caught the words, ' Your majesty.' 
 
 As much astonished as the peasant who took Henri IV. 
 up behind him, I said to myself, ' This, then, must be the 
 Queen, since neither the hussar nor I can claim to be the 
 King.' It was in fact Marie Antoinette, the Archduchess 
 of Austria, but her manner to me had been so gracious 
 that I did not feel at all embarrassed, and went on chat- 
 ting familiarly with her. The Queen offered me some 
 fruit, and seemed to take great pleasure in pointing out to 
 me the beauties of the Trianon, which was her own creation. 
 Before dismissing me she presented me with a little purse 
 embroidered in green and gold, and gave me permiission 
 to come to the Trianon again whenever I liked. 
 
 Alas ! How little did we then foresee the tragic fate 
 which was later to overwhelm her, and of which I was to 
 be a witness ! 
 
 I was still a student on the 10th of August, but I 
 
MASSACRE OF SWISS SOLDIERS 3 
 
 remember the massacre of the luckless Swiss soldiers, 
 which went on for a whole week. At Passy I was struck 
 by bullets intended for a Swiss, who knocked me over as 
 he made his own escape, and at the Barriere Blanche 
 another Swiss, driven perhaps by hunger from the quarries 
 of Montmartre, where he had taken refuge, fell close to 
 me beneath the blows of some twenty masons, who beat him 
 to death with their plastering trowels. When the rage of 
 the people of Paris began to subside, the triumphant sing- 
 ing of the ' Marseillaise ' was heard on every side, and at the 
 sound of this inspiring war song battalions were formed 
 in each quarter of the town, and many columns of troops 
 started to join the army. 
 
 The popular excitement suddenly took a magnanimous 
 turn, and the most timorous citizens enthusiastically en- 
 rolled themselves, eager to aid in driving back the foreign 
 enemies who were everywhere menacing the frontier and 
 threatening the independence of France. 
 
 The young students of literature, science, law, medicine, 
 and art met in the Louvre in great numbers, and in- 
 cluded Alexander Duval, Jean Baptiste Say, with many 
 another young poet or philosopher, who now became mere 
 common soldiers, with numerous beardless heroes who 
 were later to rise to be generals, prefects, or senators. 
 The band took the name of the Compagnie des Arts or 
 the Art Corps, and the figure of Minerva was emblazoned 
 on their banner. 
 
 Only seventeen years old then, I was, I believe, the 
 youngest in the newly formed corps, but I managed 
 somehow to carry the enormous amount of war material 
 with which I was encumbered. A cardboard helmet with 
 a horsehair crest, a cartridge box full of cartridges, a 
 musket weighing fifteen pounds, a sabre big enough to 
 
 b2 
 
4 MEMOIES OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 cut off the head of GoHath, a saucepan for making and a 
 platter to hold soup, a knapsack which my dear mother 
 in her excess of affection had loaded to bursting and 
 moistened with her tears, a sack to sleep in in camp or to 
 go foraging with, bread and meat enough to last four days, 
 a uniform of short breeches, long gaiters, and a pair of 
 good shoes, such was what I had to carry, the weight 
 of which I was able to ignore in the pride of the first 
 start, but which made me realise before the very first halt 
 that the trade of a hero is a very arduous one. 
 
 Nothing could have been gayer than our first night in 
 the Louvre, if it had not been that in the midst of our fun 
 a charming young fellow named Jourdain mistook a win- 
 dow for a door, and flinging himself against it fell into 
 the grand court below and was killed. 
 
 One of us who had once served for a few months in a 
 regiment of dragoons was chosen as our captain, another 
 named Bertier became our lieutenant ; and two days after 
 our organisation and equipment were completed we defiled 
 before the National Convention, which held its sittings in 
 what is now the Chapel of the Tuileries.' 
 
 Herault de Sechelles was then president. About 
 twenty-five or thirty years old, belonging to a very dis- 
 tinguished family of senators, he gave us an address. He 
 was a friend of my father's, and he singled me out in the 
 front rank, where I was placed on account of my height, 
 and said to me : ' As for you, my young friend, your arms 
 and those of your comrades will be the ramparts of your 
 country, and your brushes will soon commemorate our 
 victories.' 
 
 The parting with my mother was heartrending, and 
 that with my father left a most melancholy impression. 
 
 ' Burnt with the rest of the Palace by the Commune in 1871.— Tkaxs. 
 
PAETING WITH MY FATHER 5 
 
 He pressed my hand as he drew me back once more, but 
 his heart was so full he could neither weep nor speak. 
 He embraced me without uttering a word, and never was 
 silence more eloquent and touching. The sound of the 
 drum and the joyful shouts of the people, who hurried to 
 see us pass singing the ' Marseillaise,' somewhat dissipated 
 our grief, and we all shouted gleefully, ' "We are soldiers 
 now.' 
 
 It was raining, and our first night was of a nature to 
 disillusion the sons of well-to-do parents accustomed to 
 comfortable beds. My billet was on a poor baker, who to 
 make me a suitable resting-place brought out a few old 
 flour sacks, rolling up one to serve as a bolster and giving 
 me two others to put over me. 
 
 Tramping through the rain we arrived at Chalons-sur- 
 Marne, where Lukner was organising a reserve force, and 
 that general, as he said, to do us honour, placed us in the 
 front of the camp. 
 
 The ploughed-up ground was very wet and the ruts 
 were full of water. Before we could get any rest we had 
 to cut down branches from the willow trees near to make 
 couches on which to stretch ourselves. Fortunately the 
 next day volunteers were asked for to escort a convoy, and 
 the whole Art Corps at once offered to go. Nearly one 
 hundred wagons were loaded with provisions for Keller- 
 mann's army at the Camp de la Lune. That very day the 
 Prussians attacked his position, and were beaten at 
 Valmy' (September 20, 1792), but their light cavalry got 
 behind our lines, and several squadrons reached us and 
 attacked the convoy just as it had gained a bank lofty 
 enough to give us the advantage of the ground. We 
 were obliged hastily to shelter ourselves under or on our 
 
 ' This was the first battle won by the French Kepublio. — Tkans. • i 
 
6 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 wagons and fire. The enemy lost a few men and 
 retreated. We repaired the mischief done in this skirmish, 
 and after marching all night we arrived at the Camp de 
 la Lune the day after the victory. Several hundred 
 Prussians had just been buried where they had fallen ; we 
 had to pitch our tents above their graves, and it was with 
 our heads lying on the bodies of the unlucky victims 
 that we took our rest after this our first expedition. 
 
 During the remainder of the campaign we did nothing 
 but march backwards and forwards in the rain, and through 
 the deep mud of Champagne. We were often short of 
 bread, we were always drenched to the skin, and yet we 
 kept up our spirits, and, as Dumouriez once discovered, 
 the least gleam of sunshine made us quite gay. This 
 general was one day just beginning to review some twenty 
 thousand men drawn up in several lines before him, 
 when one of the hares which had hitherto been allowed 
 to multiply and grow fat under the protection of the 
 seignorial laws, terrified by the trampling of the horses of 
 the staff, rushed in amongst the ranks of grenadiers. The 
 soldiers, thinking more of the hare than of the general, 
 at once gave chase, shouting, ' To the hare ! to the hare ! ' 
 The confusion roused up ever so many more hares, and in 
 a few minutes the entire army was rushing helter-skelter 
 after them. The chase lasted the whole morning, and 
 Dumouriez, at first a good deal annoyed, ended by laugh- 
 ing, and in the evening he did not disdain to take his 
 share of the vanquished, which were roasted in camp, a 
 good many at the fires of our own bivouac hanging from 
 twisted string, which as it unwound served very well as 
 a spit. 
 
 The heavy autumn rains and the half -ripe grapes eaten 
 by the Prussians caused much illness amongst them. Our 
 
I AM TAKEN FOR A SPY 7 
 
 men also suffered greatly from excessive fatigue. It was 
 necessary to maintain discipline, and we were ordered into 
 cantonments for the winter, to be reorganised. 
 
 The Art Corps was stationed near Sedan. One day 
 several of us went together to the Chateau de Bouillon, a 
 few miles off. The picturesque appearance of the towers 
 rising from the rocks led some of us to make sketches of 
 them from the top of a neighbouring height. We were 
 busy with our drawing, when we saw a dozen bayonets 
 approaching us by way of a zigzag path. Our action was 
 so perfectly innocent that we did not feel in the least 
 alarmed when the guard surrounded and arrested us. 
 
 The orders were to take us to the chateau, and in 
 crossing the town the enraged populace tried to drag us 
 from the hands of the soldiers, shouting, ' To the lamp 
 post ! to the gallows ! death to the agents of Pitt and 
 Coburg, who have come to make plans of our town and 
 chateau ! ' 
 
 It was only with great difficulty that our guards saved 
 our lives, but they did succeed in getting us safe and sound 
 to the presence of the commander of the fort, who had 
 ordered our arrest. He turned out to be M. de Pontbriant, 
 captain of the Boyal-Vaisseau Eegiment, who had been on 
 leave in Paris during the preceding winter, where he and 
 I had gone through the same course. As soon as he re- 
 cognised me and looked at our sketches, he overwhelmed 
 us with excuses, and whilst we were sharing his meal he 
 sent a messenger into the town to explain the position, so 
 that we might go back without danger. 
 
 The time passed all too quickly, and we could hardly 
 bring ourselves to consider the sad news which had arrived 
 from Paris. 
 
 Captain Friant (who became Commander of the Old 
 
8 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 Guard) was ordered to join us on to other companies and 
 form us into battalions. He had already expressed him- 
 self very well satisfied with our progress in the art of 
 handling our weapons, when one morning, I could not 
 imagine why, every one of us was saying to his neigh- 
 bour, ' We are disbanded, and we must all return to 
 Paris ! ' 
 
 We at once began to run about in the streets, each 
 with pen and paper, ready to sign certificates of citizenship 
 and good conduct for each other. For want of a desk to 
 write on, we used our comrades' shoulders as a table. 
 Our knapsacks were quickly packed, and the very same 
 day we all started independently for Paris. Those who 
 had no money, however, joined themselves on to those 
 who had still a little left, and five comrades went with me, 
 each, of whom possessed sixty francs in the notes then 
 called corsets, and this small sum enabled us to reach the 
 gates of Paris in good health. These companions of mine 
 were my friends but also my debtors, and after we sepa- 
 rated I never saw any of them again. 
 
 Paris was more gloomy than ever, for every one was 
 in mourning and the greatest consternation prevailed. 
 Every day tumbrils laden with the bodies of those who 
 had been guillotined, passed beneath our windows on the 
 way to the cemetery of La Madeleine. One day twenty- 
 two victims were taken by, the eldest of whom was not 
 more than thirty years old. These were the young and 
 interesting Girondists and the brothers Fonfrede. Power 
 was now in the hands of the dregs of the people, who, 
 shouting ' Fraternite, Egalite ! ' and ' Down with tyrants ! ' 
 called their ferocious exultation good citizenship. Every 
 decently dressed man was to them a suspect, and was 
 thrown into prison. One day, after making myself tidy, I 
 
1 SEE MARIE ANTOINETTE ONCE MOEE 9 
 
 was peacefully going to have my breakfast in the town, 
 when a patrol stopped me, calling me a muscadin (dandy) ; 
 this was the most fashionable term of opprobrium just 
 then. I was marched off, dragged about all day long from 
 one guard-room to another, and at last shut up with a 
 number of others in the basement of the Church of St. 
 Martin. It was not until ten o'clock at night that we 
 were taken before Henriot, then in supreme authority in 
 Paris. Our crime was the wearing of white linen and 
 clean clothes. Our judges having heard who we were, 
 still hesitated to release us, and it was midnight before we 
 were set free and could get our breakfast. 
 
 Provisions, especially bread, were very dear, and life 
 became beset with difficulties. Work served as a dis- 
 traction from our many woes, and I had resumed my 
 studies, when, one day on my way to one of the courses I 
 was going through, I found myself involved in a huge 
 crowd obstructing the Eue St. Honore as it pressed on 
 towards the Oratoire. Every window, every roof, was 
 densely packed with spectators, and on every side the 
 obscene song, ' Madame veto promised,' &c., was being 
 shouted out with fiendish and delirious glee. 
 
 Troops were already approaching, escorting a cart in 
 which a woman was seated with a priest beside her and 
 several executioners standing behind them. The pro- 
 cession was moving with slowness, so as to prolong the 
 agony of the victim and pander to the eager curiosity of 
 the hundred thousand spectators who had gathered to 
 gloat on the terrible sight. I began to tremble violently, 
 and my heart almost ceased to beat when I realised whom 
 I was about to see again ; but nearly crushed to death in 
 the crowd retreat was impossible, and it was with grief 
 indeed that I recognised the lady who had admitted me 
 
10 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 to the Trianon with such graceful kindness. It was the 
 Queen, Marie Antoinette, in just such a white costume as 
 she had worn on the day when I had the honour of 
 accompanying her to the Trianon. She bore herself like 
 a saint, and the priest who was exhorting her looked far 
 more iniserable than she did. 
 
 At this melancholy spectacle many eyes filled with 
 tears, but, hemmed in by the menacing crowds, not one 
 generous soul had the courage or the strength to give a 
 single cry for mercy. With me, too, that cry died away 
 upon my lips for fear of the populace, and I have never 
 ceased to reproach myself for my cowardice ever since. 
 
 Under such melancholy circumstances as these, I heard 
 without regret that all young men from eighteen to 
 twenty-five years old were called out to join the army ; it 
 would be more cheerful in camp than in the streets of 
 Paris. I was now eighteen years old, and I started once 
 more. 
 
11 
 
 CHAPTEE II 
 
 THE CAMPAIGNS IN HOLLAND AND ON THE EHINE 
 WITH THE BATTLE OP MAEENGO 
 
 It had been the custom to appoint as of&cers in the army 
 only those of noble birth, but nearly all the nobles had 
 emigrated, and the first thing to strike us was the igno- 
 rance of many of the generals who had taken their places. 
 I was a sergeant of infantry, and one day, when I was 
 serving at Peronne under General Calendini, a brave 
 Italian soldier, he was studying a general map of Europe 
 to find out how best to mancBUvre his troops in the 
 Sambre, and he seemied dreadfully worried because the 
 short cuts were not marked on it ! 
 
 A little later I was transferred to the artillery, a service 
 in which the work suited me much better. Meanwhile 
 the Austrian army, which had taken possession of our 
 strongholds in the north and was marching on Paris, gave 
 us battle near the gates of Guise, where it was at last 
 arrested, beaten, and compelled to retreat. The very 
 evening of the struggle, General Lacour, chief of the 
 staff, sent a horse, which had been captured, to me with 
 the orders, ' Gallop off, work your horse to death if you 
 like, but take this order to Jacob, who is twelve leagues 
 from here ; follow the movements of his division, and come 
 back and report to me.' 
 
 The courageous example set by this general a short 
 
12 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 time before had contributed greatly to the glorious defence 
 of the Hues at Wissembourg by General Hoche (December 
 26, 1793), which had won him the grade of general of 
 division. This general took a fancy to me and kept me 
 with him as an aide-de-camp. He could only just read 
 and sign his name, but he was a fine fellow, and his cou- 
 rage was indomitable. He had previously been for a long 
 time chief shoemaker to an infantry regiment. 
 
 A few days later Jacob's division succeeded in crossing 
 the Ourthe, a narrow but deep river with very steep banks, 
 which covered the Austrian position. As the troops went 
 down towards the river in columns, I was ordered to seek 
 a fordable place. I found one. The attack was sharp, and 
 the division got over (August 18, 1794). This lucky hit 
 of mine led the three representatives of the people, Alquier, 
 Ducos, and Lacoste, to send for me to give me the brevet 
 of assistant lieutenant of engineers, and to send me in that 
 capacity to take part in the winter campaign of the army 
 of the North then on the way to conquer Holland. 
 
 The winter of 1795-1796 was extremely severe, but it 
 favoured our advance into Holland, as the rivers, the well- 
 filled dykes, and even the Texel channel, were frozen over, 
 and our cavalry seized the Dutch fleet, riding across the 
 ice right up to the vessels. 
 
 When we were at La Haye, two.of my fellow engineers 
 named Bontemps and Ferrus and I were attached to the 
 staff of General Vandamme. He led us one' day to the 
 edge of the great canal to await a boat full of emigrants 
 who were being taken to Ostend, to be sent out of the 
 country occupied by the army. We were anxious to 
 assuage the terrible sufferings of our unfortunate fellow 
 countrymen and women, amongst whom I recognised 
 the Comtesse de Neuilly, whom I had several times seen 
 
POVERTY OF FRENCH OFFICERS 13 
 
 at Versailles. It was difficult to recognise her as she left 
 the boat, carrying in her hand all ' that was left of her 
 possessions tied up in a little handkerchief. Her feet 
 were frozen, and she could hardly walk. Her daughter, a 
 girl of about sixteen, benumbed with the cold, slipped on 
 the plank and fell into the black and muddy waters of 
 the canal. The ice broke and she disappeared, but some 
 of us jumped in after her. She was rescued ; we gave her 
 a cloak, and took her, all dripping as she was, with her 
 mother to our quarters in the Stadtholder's Palace, where 
 they were both well cared for, provided with clothes, pass- 
 ports, and money. The collection we made, to which every 
 one was eager to contribute, gave them twenty-five louis 
 d'or. Twenty-five years afterwards I met these ladies 
 together at a ball in the house of M. de Bourienne at Paris, 
 whither they returned after the Eestoration. 
 
 We were, however, very poor in Holland. Our pay 
 was given to us in assignats,^ which we could not pass in 
 the country we were in ; this was supplemented from the 
 treasure chest of the army by eight francs a month in 
 specie — no one, whatever his rank in the regiment, got 
 more. I was obhged to sell my rations to buy forage 
 for my horse and pay my washerwoman. 
 
 My poverty was, however, nothing to that endured by 
 my father in Paris at the same time, and a httle later I 
 had the gratification of being able to help him. The 
 Dutch Grovernment being very rich in specie was disposed 
 to treat us liberally, and the General-in-Chief got the 
 municipahties to give each officer a sum equal to the full 
 value of his assignats for a month. Thanks to this, I got 
 
 1 These assignats were bonds issued by the Bepublioan Government 
 between 1790 and 1796, the security being the confiscated lands of the 
 Church and the nobles — Teans. 
 
J 4 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 four thousand francs together in a few months, and sent 
 them to my father. This httle packet of gold coin must 
 have seemed to him a vast treasure, when one loaf of 
 bread cost fifty francs in assignats ! 
 
 The order to attack the enemy reached us in the 
 summer of 1795, and I was one of a body of officers who 
 received instructions to make ready for the passage of the 
 Bhine by our army. 
 
 We hired at a great cost in Holland a number of strong 
 boats, which were got ready to receive beams, planks, the 
 roadways of bridges, and everything necessary for construct- 
 ing several bridges in a few hours. This fleet, which 
 numbered more than one hundred sailing vessels, was 
 towed up the Rhine by about six hundred horses aided by 
 the wind. 
 
 We reached the frontier of the Duchy of Berg on 
 September 6, 1795, and during the night three beautiful 
 bridges of boats, with masts and rigging complete and 
 flags flying, were flung across the river below Diisseldorf. 
 The army of Jourdan from its position on the left bank of 
 the Ehine covered the construction of the bridges by a 
 brisk cannonade, whilst the advanced guard of our army 
 was carried over to the right bank in flat-bottomed boats 
 manned with rowers. 
 
 Neither the depth of the water, the firing, nor the 
 vigorous defence of their entrenchments by the enemy, 
 arrested our progress, and we entered Diisseldorf the same 
 day. The Lefebvre division, which led the way, well sus- 
 tained the reputation which had won for it the name of 
 the Infernal Column, and had a large share in the victory 
 which established us on the right bank of the river. 
 
 In the retreat which soon followed, I was sent beyond 
 Bamberg to prepare for the crossing of the Eedritz by the 
 
I ATTACK OUR OWX MAltAUJJEllS 15 
 
 numerous rearguard coaxLinanded by Brigadier-General 
 Ney. I was lucky enough to find several ferry boats near 
 the most suitable place, which I arranged end to end, 
 and several great beams of floating wood, which I placed 
 side by side, covering them over with the planks of all the 
 fences in the village of Obersk and making three bridges, 
 one for the artillery and cavalry, the other two for the 
 infantry. The rearguard passed over easily, and we burnt 
 the boats as soon as the enemy appeared. During the 
 short time we were occupied with these works, the unfor- 
 tunate peasants were constantly appealing to me for pro- 
 tection against the marauders who were pillaging their 
 houses, and I ran great danger in opposing the undisci- 
 plined soldiers, many of whom resisted my authority. In 
 the last house whose owners appealed to me for help, 
 more than thirty soldiers were quarrelling over the very 
 garments of the women and children. I was alone against 
 them all, and not being able to attack them in front, I 
 resorted to a manoeuvre, and climbing up to the granary, 
 I advanced upon the crowd, sword in hand, and quickly 
 drove the whole party down before me. I met with no 
 resistance, but just as I was, as I thought, closing the door 
 on the last of them, a peasant called out that one fellow 
 was still there, whilst a ball pierced the door and broke the 
 step on which I was placing my foot. I was unable to 
 catch the culprit, who ran faster than I could, and I went 
 back to my bridges. 
 
 The Directory had now succeeded the Convention. 
 Paris, saturated with blood, at length began to be ashamed 
 of her horrible orgies, and her inhabitants, eagerly resuming 
 their old mode of life, were passing rapidly from one ex- 
 treme to another, and seemed more greedy of pleasure than 
 ever. Fetes, entertainments, and balls became ever more 
 
IG JVIEMOIRS OF BaEON LEJEUNE 
 
 numerous, and friends in meeting each other again em- 
 braced, as they would the day after escape from some terrible 
 catastrophe. On my return, however, instead of giving 
 myself up to these gaieties, I devoted fifteen hours a day to 
 earnest study, in the hope of properly quahfying myself for 
 my new profession. I was much encouraged in my work 
 by General Dejean, of the Engineers, side by side with 
 whom I had followed the campaign in Holland. One day 
 he took me aside and said, ' I want you to dine with me 
 to meet Moreau ; there will only be we three.' During the 
 meal, Dejean, whilst talking of the late campaign in Ger- 
 many, said to the illustrious commander-in-chief, 'Why 
 did you not drive off the representatives of the people, who 
 worried you so with their cruel treatment of your soldiers ? ' 
 ' There's no doubt,' answered Moreau, ' that I ought to 
 have had them hanged, marched on Paris, treated their 
 accomplices in a similar manner, and rescued France by 
 seizing the supreme power. I really did think of it, but 
 somehow the execution of such a scheme suited neither 
 my tastes nor my character.' 
 
 The Minister of War had now summoned to Paris 
 some forty officers, who had been serving as I had in the 
 Engineer Corps vsdthout having left the School of Mezieres ; 
 and to ascertain whether we were up to our work, he 
 ordered us to be examined by a commission. 
 
 An examination day always excites more or less pain- 
 ful emotions, and I was by no means free from nervousness 
 about this one. It arrived in due course, and to appear 
 before the committee I donned the uniform faced with 
 black velvet which was then adopted nearly everywhere by 
 engineers, and which I should be very grieved to have to 
 give up. It was pouring with rain, the various signboards 
 in the street were swinging about in the wind, and a gar- 
 
CROSSING THE ALPS 17 
 
 land of ivy, the usual decoration of Bacchus, which was 
 displayed outside a wine seller's shop, was flung at my 
 feet. I picked up the crown, accepting it as a happy 
 augury for me, and awaited my turn with a quiet spirit. I 
 felt very uneasy, however, when I was questioned closely 
 and in an almost disagreeable manner. Indeed, when I 
 went the next day to call on the examiners, I asked the 
 Abbe Bossut, who was one of them, why he had been so 
 anxious to put me out. To which he replied, ' I wanted 
 to sift the matter to the bottom ; but you need not 
 grumble.' 
 
 A few days later. General Alexandre Berthier, whom 
 I had not then the honour of knowing, invited me to break- 
 fast, and at our tete-d-Ute meal he told me that I was 
 retained in the Engineer Corps with the rank of captain, 
 and offered to take me with him as aide-de-camp to the 
 reserve force, of which he was just about to resume the 
 command. I expressed my delight and my gratitude to 
 the minister for my appointment, and in my heart I thanked 
 the crown of ivy for keeping faith with me. 
 
 A little later we started for Geneva via Dijon, and at 
 Lausanne the First Consul joined us, and placed himself 
 at the head of the army. 
 
 The first mission entrusted to me was to take some 
 bags of gold to the cures of Valois with which to pay the 
 peasants who were to help drag our artillery over the Alps, 
 and to obtain some provisions and wine from the hospice 
 of St. Bernard. 
 
 With infinite trouble the dismounted guns were carried 
 one by one over the mountain, whilst the cavalry and 
 troops passed over without any serious mischances. The 
 whole army met again in the valley of Aosta, and 
 marched without delay upon Fort Bard, routing as it 
 VOL. I. c 
 
18 jmemoirs of bahon lejeuxe 
 
 went the Austrian troops which attempted to defend the 
 approaches. 
 
 The position of Fort Bard was such that it would not 
 have done to pass it without taking possession of it. We 
 managed to hoist some cannon up a mountain which the 
 very goats would have found it difficult to scale, a battery- 
 was quickly established, and fire was opened on the fort. 
 An assault was at the same time attempted without 
 success. On this occasion I had a very anxious time, for 
 the general, on leaving to lead the assault, instructed 
 me to wait for him at head quarters. I was broken- 
 hearted at receiving an order which prevented me from 
 distinguishing myself, and it was very difficult to obey 
 when I heard the cannonading begin. My longing for 
 action finally overcame my sense of duty, and trembling 
 lest I should be noticed, I ran to the batteries. The 
 assault was just over when I got there, and the General 
 caught me near him. He looked very much annoyed at 
 my presence, and said, ' As you have quitted your post, 
 j'ou can take this order and recall that company, which 
 has got into a bad position.' This was a very arduous 
 mission, and one from which I was not likely to return 
 alive. I started, and approached the fort by creeping 
 along behind some piles of stones ; but presently this 
 shelter came to an end, and I had more than a hundred 
 steps to go without any cover, under the fire of some 
 two hundred guns pointing almost straight at me. 
 
 I confess that I hesitated a moment, for I was rather 
 in the position of a hare within range of the guns of ap- 
 proaching hunters by whom she has not yet been discovered. 
 But those I was to recall were losing men ; the whole 
 army, placed in a kind of amphitheatre, seemed to be 
 gazing down on me, and feeling that my honour w as at 
 
1 LOSE MY HORSES il9 
 
 stake, I dashed on muttering to myself, ' Audacity alone 
 can succeed ! ' and in a few bounds I crossed the open 
 space. The brave Captain Bigi had his jaw broken 
 beside me, but I escaped untouched, and I led the company 
 to shelter, carrying the wounded with us. A few hours 
 later the fort capitulated, and our route was clear before 
 us. 
 
 In the many tasks allotted to me, the dangers on the 
 battle field were not always the worst. Once I had to go 
 and tell a division arriving from Lugano to join us, when 
 a fearful storm was lashing into fury the lake I had to 
 cross. It was not without a considerable bribe in gold 
 that I was able to induce four fishermen to take me over 
 in their boat ; and when they did, they flung themselves 
 on their knees and said their prayers, as they rowed me 
 towards Lugano. In some parts, too, the roads were 
 infested with brigands, who menaced the lives of officers 
 travelling alone carrying orders. 
 
 Amongst the many missions I had entrusted to me 
 after the taking of Turin, was that of helping to make the 
 bridges of boats over the Po, to push on the work and 
 to return and inform the general when it would be 
 finished. 
 
 It took some sixty hours in a drenching downpour of 
 rain to collect the boats, rafts, beams, ropes, and anchors 
 necessary for making the bridges and dragging them all to 
 the most suitable place. At midnight on June 5 all was 
 finished, but meanwhile my horses had disappeared. 
 Nevertheless I had somehow to get over the two or three 
 leagues between me and Pavia, to carry the news so 
 eagerly looked for. Hungry, soaked through with the 
 rain, and exhausted with fatigue increased by the struggle 
 in the pitch dark through the deep mud of the ploughed- 
 
20 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 up ground, I was almost sinking beneath the weight of 
 my wet cloak and my accumulated troubles, and nothing 
 but the fear of retarding our success by my failure could 
 have kept me up, when an artilleryman on horseback 
 happened to pass me. I begged him, at first in vain, to 
 help me out of my predicament by lending me his horse. 
 He declared he was as tired as I was, and not until I 
 offered him two louis d'or did he consent to take me up 
 behind him and carry me to head quarters. 
 
 On June 6, before sunrise, the whole army had crossed 
 the river on om- bridges of boats, and advanced upon the 
 enemy. AVhen I and my party reached the borders of the 
 Scrivia, it had overflowed its banks. We were obliged to 
 wait, but time was precious, and as soon as the water had 
 sunk a little, and we thought it would not be higher than 
 our waists, we tried to wade over, but the current was so 
 strong that even the horses could not stand against it. 
 The happy thoiTght then struck me of linking our arms 
 together and dashing over by whole sections at a time. 
 This answered admirably ; the sun soon dried our wet 
 garments, our bath had only given us a better appetite ; 
 but in spite of the absence of provisions we kept up our 
 spirits, and arrived in time to take part, fasting as we 
 were, in the battle of Marengo. 
 
 The necessity of leaving garrisons behind us at Turin, 
 Pavia, Milan, Tortona, and elsewhere had greatly dimi- 
 nished our numbers, which were not one-third as large as 
 those of the enemy. However, former successes had made 
 us bold, and three divisions of ours under Lannes, Victor, 
 and Chambarlhac, resolutely attacked the vast lines of the 
 Austrians. About three o'clock in the afternoon our forces 
 were becoming exhausted, and the First Consul consented 
 to a retreat, which was effected in as orderly a manner as 
 
BATTLE OF MAEENGO 21 
 
 at a review, but we had lost ground and many men, and 
 were now some two leagues behindhand. 
 
 The First Consul, full of anxiety about the issue of the 
 day, sent me to hasten the approach of the Desaix divi- 
 sion, for which he was waiting. Our ranks were already 
 beginning to be a little disorganised, when I met that 
 general about half a league from the field of battle. 
 
 His troops were marching as gaily as if they were 
 bound for a ball ; he made them deploy in the vineyards 
 as they approached the enemy, and open fire on a column 
 of about 8,000 Hungarian grenadiers, the leading bat- 
 talions of which halted opposite to him, in order to deliver 
 a point-blank fire. It was at this moment that General 
 Desaix was killed. The other Hungarian battalions, 
 instead of halting too, so as to maintain their proper dis- 
 tances for manceuvring, all pressed on in confusion, till 
 it was quite impossible for them to deploy. 
 
 General Kellermann, commanding a body of cavalry, 
 noted the confusion, and, without consulting any one, acted 
 on the spur of the moment, and just when the Hungarian 
 troops were huddled together and unable to offer any re- 
 sistance, he charged into their midst at the head of the 
 400 horsemen under him, and completely routed them. 
 The column of picked troops flung down their arms, and 
 the Austrian army, numbering three times as many men 
 as ours, was driven behind the village of Marengo. The 
 genius of the First Consul ^showed him how best to turn 
 this to account, and that very evening he dictated his 
 own terms to General Melas, who consented to abandon 
 Italy. 
 
 The First Consul and my own general returned to 
 Paris, whither I followed them. 
 
 vnr. T C 3 
 
22 MEMOmS OF BAEON LEJEUNE 
 
 CHAPTEE III 
 
 AUSTEELITZ AND JENA 
 
 I WAS working away at painting when I was summoned 
 to follow Marshal Berthier to the camp of Boulogne in 
 the capacity of an orderly officer. 
 
 Every one knows how Napoleon, when he heard that 
 war with him had been declared by the Austrians through 
 the invasion by them of the territory of our aUies the 
 Bavarians, led the army from the camp at Boulogne to 
 the shores of the Danube. 
 
 As for me, I had already taken a considerable share in 
 all the eager sending to and fro of despatches, the em- 
 barkations, the manoeuvres of troops, &c., and I had 
 ordered my post-horses to follow the Imperial stalBf to 
 Alsace, when Marshal Berthier gave me orders from the 
 Emperor not to leave Boulogne till I had sent off by the 
 quickest route for Germany 300,000 pairs of shoes to 
 be delivered to me for the military stores. At the 
 words remain and shoes I felt stupefied, and fell into 
 utter despair. What had been the good of all my study, 
 I said to myself, if I was to become a mere escort of 
 shoes? Still, I put my whole heart into the matter, but 
 the difficulties were very great, and I was not able to 
 rejoin the Emperor until October 14, 1805, whilst the 
 battle of Elchingen was going on. 
 
 In giving the Emperor an account of my mission, and 
 
CAPITULATION OF ULM 23 
 
 saying to him, ' The shoes are there,' I could not help 
 grumbling at his having reduced me to the position of a mere 
 army contractor, and deprived me of the honour of being 
 present at the beginning of the campaign, to which he 
 replied with a smile : ' What a child you are ! You don't 
 seem to understand the importance of the service you have 
 just rendered ; shoes help on marches, and marches win 
 battles ; you will get your turn as well as every one 
 else.' 
 
 A day or two later, October 17, 1805, General Mack 
 signed the capitulation of Ulm. It was a fine sight to 
 see all the splendid Austrian and Hungarian regiments 
 file by in their full-dress uniforms, all looking as fresh as 
 possible still, for it was but eight days since the campaign 
 began. The French army was drawn up in divisions 
 opposite the town and facing the heights of the Michael 
 Berg, which rises like an amphitheatre behind it and 
 looks down upon the left bank of the Danube, where the 
 Austrians were marching past. This was of course a 
 glorious spectacle for us, but at the same time rather an 
 affecting one, for we could not but remember that the 
 fortunes of war are fluctuating. 
 
 The army resumed its march immediately afterwards. 
 Marshal Murat, with an energy which did much to insure 
 us the victory, driving the enemy before him. Accus- 
 tomed to overcome every obstacle, he cared but little for 
 the fate of those he came across. But everything was by 
 no means couleur de rose ; it was now November 4, 1805, 
 it was cold, and ground and trees in the Amstetten forest 
 were alike covered with masses of snow, which produced 
 a very remarkable effect on those of us who came from the 
 South of Europe and had never before reaHsed how 
 beautiful nature can be in the winter. In this particular 
 
24 MEMOIRS OF P.ARON LEJEUNE 
 
 instance everything was robed in the most gleaming attire ; 
 the silvery rime softening the rich colours of the decaying 
 oak leaves and the sombre vegetation of the pines. The 
 frozen drapery, combined vs^ith the mist in v^hich everything 
 was more or less enveloped, gave a soft mysterious charm to 
 the surrounding objects, producing a most beautiful pic- 
 ture. Lit up by the sunshine, thousands of long icicles, 
 such as those which sometimes droop from our fountains 
 and water Y/heels, hung like shining lustres from the trees. 
 Never did ballroom shine with so many diamonds ; the 
 long branches of the oaks, pines, and other forest trees 
 were weighed down by the masses of hoar frost, whilst the 
 snow converted their summits into rounded roofs, forming 
 beneath them grottoes resembling those of the Pyrenean 
 mountains with their shining stalactites and graceful 
 columns, I called the attention of Marshal Murat to the 
 beauty of the scene as we rode rapidly beneath the frozen 
 vaults, pursuing a rearguard of cavalry which was fleeing 
 before us, and we were still admiring the grandeur of the 
 northern scene when a break in the forest suddenly re- 
 vealed a very unexpected sight of a totally different 
 character. 
 
 Eight Austrian and Hungarian regiments drawn up 
 in order of battle awaited us unmoved at the entrance to 
 the defile. Murat had very few men with him, yet he had 
 the audacity to attack them. It was now the enemy's 
 turn to charge us, which they did with splendid gallantry, 
 and it was very difficult for us, though we turned right 
 about at once, to get back to the protection of the pass. 
 The enemy overtook us, their ranks were mingled with 
 our rearguard, our men were swept down, many were 
 taken prisoners, and we ourselves were in danger of being 
 captured. Murat's horse was killed under him, mine fell 
 
A BRAVE YOUNG OFFICER 25 
 
 in the confused rush down the steep path, and I was 
 flung off. I shoiild have been crushed by the onrush 
 before I could get out of the way if I had not flung myself 
 under the shelter of two pieces of cannon which a young 
 officer of artillery, fresh from college, had the presence of 
 mind to place in position in the middle of the path. The 
 melee was truly terrible, and swords were already clash- 
 ing above our heads, when the young officer, having with 
 admirable sang-froid made sure that his guns were pro- 
 perly pointed, sprang between the two cannons, fuse in 
 hand, and just as he was going to be cut down, in less 
 time than it takes to tell, he fired. The grape shot, with 
 which the two cannons were charged, swept down the 
 whole of the head of the enemy's column, which, spread 
 out as it was across the slope of the entrance to the forest, 
 presented a wide surface. Not one single shot of the 
 double discharge missed its victim ; the shock brought 
 down on our heads the masses of snow in the trees, and 
 as if by enchantment the squadrons of the enemy dis- 
 appeared in a cloud of smoke and a storm of snow mixed 
 with great death-dealing icicles, which, falhng from a 
 height of more than one hundred feet, crashed upon the 
 helmets of the fugitives with a resounding noise. A 
 sudden panic seized the Austrians, and they took to flight. 
 Murat saw his. opportunity, returned to the charge, and 
 gave chase to the enemy. In the end we halted eight 
 leagues farther on on the road to Vienna. I regret that 
 I cannot give the name of the young artillery officer to 
 whom we owed our success. I had not time to ask him 
 what it was, but I know that Murat intended to recommend 
 him for promotion. 
 
 We soon reached Vienna, but we only halted there for 
 a short time, and pressed on in our pursuit of the Austrians 
 
26 MEMOIRS OF BAEON LEJEUXE 
 
 and Eussians. They meanwhile had managed to get near 
 to Olmiitz, a fortress in a strong position on a lofty plateau. 
 There, protected by the fort, the enemy halted, apparently 
 with the intention of giving us battle. Napoleon, how- 
 ever, was far too clever to leave to the Austrians and 
 Eussians, who were altogether more than 120,000 strong, 
 the advantages of so fine a position, especially as the 
 French army, owing to the number of garrisons left be- 
 hind en route to secure the retention of the districts 
 conquered, was now reduced to some 60,000 men. The 
 Emperor therefore sent me to reconnoitre the country 
 round Briinn, to which he meant to try and entice the 
 Eussians, and give them battle on ground where the ad- 
 vantage would be on the side of the French. Napoleon 
 himself was determined to choose the position, and with 
 this end in view he drew back his advanced guard for 
 several miles towards the heights, which seemed fitted hj 
 nature to be the theatre of an event of such tremendous 
 iraportance as the coming battle. 
 
 This feigned movement of retreat did not fail to restore 
 confidence to the enemy ; they resumed the offensive, fol- 
 lowed us, and fell into the trap. 
 
 On December 1, 1805, we were drawn up awaiting 
 the enemy's forces, which soon appeared and halted when 
 they saw how well prepared we "were to receive them. 
 
 On the morning of the same day I was sent with 
 an order from the Major-General to Marshal Bernadotte, 
 whom I found on the height called Sokolnitz at the foot 
 of a cross on which was a life-sized figure of Christ painted - 
 red. The marshal had had a fire lighted, and was stand- 
 ing near as naked to the waist as the Christ, performing 
 some wonderful gymnastic exercise with his arms. I 
 asked him what in the world he was doing stripped like 
 
LETTERS I'ROM HOME 27 
 
 that in the bitter cold ? and he rephed, ' My dear fellow, 
 I am bracing myself by taking an air bath.' Little did 
 he think then, when he was trying to get used to the 
 chmate, that he would one day be king of a northern 
 country. 
 
 The day of December 1 was passed on either side in 
 preparations as for some grand f^te, and an hour after the 
 darkness fell, the two armies, their dispositions satisfac- 
 torily made, settled down to rest in profound silence, 
 broken only by the sound of chatting round the bivouac 
 fires, where the soldiers merrily talked over past successes 
 or those which they counted on achieving in the future. 
 I shared the bivouac of the staff of Marshal Berthier, and 
 it was a very lively one, for one of our comrades, M. 
 Longchamps, who had been detained in France, had only 
 been able to join us that day, and during his journey .he 
 had composed some verses which very aptly hit off the 
 rapidity of our march. The arrival of this merry com- 
 panion, who brought letters from home for each of us, was 
 the most charming episode of the day. 
 
 The letters from our families, the portraits, and in 
 some cases the love letters brought by the friendly singer, 
 the Tokay vsdne which we drank straight from the casks 
 through straws, the crackling of the bivouac fire, with the 
 presentiment of a victory on the morrow, combined to 
 raise our spirits to the highest pitch. By degrees, how- 
 ever, one after the other fell asleep, the songs ceased, and 
 we were all closely wrapped in our cloaks and stretched 
 comfortably on a little straw beneath the twinkling stars, 
 when we were aroused by shouts of joy and the glare of 
 brilliant illuminations. 
 
 Whilst we had been sleeping, our general had been 
 keeping watch and completing his preparations. His 
 
28 MEMOIRS OF BAEON LEJEUNE 
 
 army was but half as strong as that of the enemy. His 
 soldiers had hitherto always been victorious ; but with so 
 small a force to deploy in the vast plains on which we 
 were encamped, it was of the utmost importance to him 
 to know whether the confidence of the troops in their own 
 superiority would again be sufficient to make up for their 
 inferiority in numbers. It had therefore occurred to him 
 to go on foot, accompanied by Marshal Berthier only, 
 throughout the camp, and listen unnoticed to the chat of 
 the soldiers round their fires. By eleven o'clock he had 
 already traversed a great distance, when he was recognised. 
 The soldiers, surprised at finding him in the midst of them, 
 and afraid that he might lose his way going back to his 
 head quarters (which consisted merely of a fire near his 
 carriage), hastened to break up the shelters they had made 
 of branches and straw, to use them as torches to light their 
 Emperor home. One bivouac after another took up the 
 task, and in less than a quarter of an hour 60,000 
 torches lit up the camp, whilst passionate cries of ' Vive 
 I'Empereur ! ' resounded on every side. The shouts and 
 the illumination alarmed the enemy, who, fearing a sur- 
 prise, came from every side to reconnoitre our outposts and 
 remained under arms all night. The Emperor meanwhile, 
 rendered happy and secure by the proofs of affection he 
 had just received from his whole army, was able to sleep 
 in peace and security. 
 
 Only those who know the difficulty of securing a little 
 straw to sleep on in camp can appreciate the sacrifice 
 made by the men in burning all their beds to light their 
 general home. The Prince of Wales, it is said, once lit a 
 hundred-pound note, and held it burning for five minutes, 
 to enable his friend the Duke of Orleans to look for a louis 
 d'or he had dropped when playing cards, but this lesson 
 
THE EVE OF AUSTERLITZ 29 
 
 in dignity for the Duke cannot as an example of unselfish 
 devotion be compared with the action of our soldiers in 
 thus proving their love and enthusiasm for their illustrious 
 chief. 
 
 This memorable evening, this beautiful winter night was 
 succeeded by the rising of the brilliant sun of Austerlitz. 
 
 The 2nd of December was the anniversary of the 
 coronation of the Emperor, and it was eight o'clock in 
 the morning when the sun appeared above the horizon of 
 Moravia as pure and radiant as in the brightest days of 
 spring. 
 
 A light mist subdued the brilliancy of the scene, 
 but we could distinctly make out the 120,000 bayonets 
 gleaming in the sunshine as they slowly approached 
 us, forming a crescent as vast as the horizon. This 
 manoeuvre was intended to threaten our right wing, 
 intervene between us and the town of Briinn, which was 
 about four or five miles off, cut off our retreat towards 
 Vienna, take us prisoners, and probably send us eventually 
 to freeze to death in Siberia. 
 
 The right wing of the Kussians advancing by the 
 Olmiitz road met the divisions under Suchet and Caffa- 
 relli, supported by a division of cuirassiers. The Eussian 
 general, thinking that the position would be a diffi- 
 cult one to attack, ordered his regiments to put their 
 haversacks down on the ground where they stood, and 
 when they were relieved of what he thought would be an 
 embarrassing weight in the struggle, he gave the order to 
 charge, saying to his men, 'You will get the French 
 haversacks, they are full of gold ! ' The attack was in- 
 deed a spirited one, but our cannon caused some little 
 confusion. Our cuirassiers noticed this, and in spite of 
 the terrible fire from the Eussians they flang themselves 
 
30 3IEM0IRS OF BAROX LEJEUNE 
 
 upon the enemy, overthrowing more than 10,000 men and 
 taking them prisoners. Ten thousand haversacks ranged 
 in rows remained in our possession ; but our booty, vast as 
 it appeared, resolved itself into 10,000 little black boxes 
 or rather triptych reUquaries, each containing an image of 
 St. Christopher carrying the infant Saviour over the water, 
 with an equal number of pieces of black bread containing 
 a good deal more straw and bran than barley or wheat. 
 Such was the sacred and simple baggage of the Bussians ! 
 On the right of this position the village of Pratzen was 
 set on fire by the first balls from the Eussian guns. The 
 enemy was, however, defeated there also, driven back or 
 taken prisoners. The Vandamme, Saint-Hilaire, and 
 Legrand divisions occupied the centre opposite Austerlitz 
 on the heights of Krecznowitz. The enemy made most 
 strenuous efforts here, and the struggle was prolonged. 
 Our troops suffered greatly, and were beginning to lose 
 ground, when the Emperor sent his own Guard and came 
 in person to their support. The arrival of the Imperial 
 Guard enabled us to resume the offensive. A picked corps 
 of the Russian cavalry was just charging when Colonel 
 Morland at the head of the elite of the French army flung 
 himself upon them, overthrew them together with their 
 artillery in the deep ravine of the Krecznowitz stream, 
 pursuing them to the very foot of the castle of AusterUtz, 
 the property of Prince Kaunitz. Colonel Morland was 
 killed, and General Kapp wounded in the melee. I was 
 in the thick of it too, and returned at the same time as 
 the general to report to the Emperor. The return was 
 really more dangerous than the charge, for the enemy 
 pelted us with shells. A chasseur of the Guard, who was 
 already wounded, disappeared from my side with his horse, 
 a shell having exploded inside the latter and blown both 
 
BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ 31 
 
 victims to pieces, leaving literally nothing but their 
 shattered bones. 
 
 This brilliant struggle had taken place in the central 
 division of our army, whilst the right vs^as going through 
 the most terrible experiences. 
 
 The enemy persevered with the greatest obstinacy in 
 the attack, with a view to turning our right wing. A hot 
 fusillade had been going on ever since eight in the morn- 
 ing, and the fortunes of the day fluctuated greatly opposite 
 the villages of Tellnitz and Menitz. The Emperor sent 
 me to Marshal Davout, who was on our extreme right, 
 with an order to push forward to the support of the centre. 
 When I arrived the marshal had already taken the 
 initiative, and had been fighting for an hour in the village 
 of Menitz. His troops had been three times repulsed, 
 and three times he had driven out the Bussians. The wide 
 Eue de Menitz, which was some four or five hundred yards 
 long, was literally choked up with the dead and wounded of 
 both armies, piled one on top of another, and it was all 
 but impossible to ride over the heaps of mutilated bodies 
 and weapons. Marshal Davout's infantry, however, 
 managed to debouch from the village in spite of the 
 resistance of the Eussians, who were finally repulsed by 
 the hot fire opened on them from the Saint-Hilaire and 
 Legrand divisions, who pursued them for some distance. 
 
 On my way back to the Emperor with M. de Sopranzy 
 and some twenty dragoons, we found ourselves compelled 
 to pass through a Eussian column. One of the generals 
 in a very simple uniform with a few troopers tried to bar 
 our passage, but we pushed right through them and 
 wounded the general in the arm, whilst M. de Sopranzy 
 seized the bridle of his horse and we dragged him along 
 with us to our own ranks. I asked him his name, and he 
 
oA MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 replied, ' I am the Baron de Wimpffen.' He was in fact 
 first cousin of Lieutenant-General Baron de Wimpffen, who 
 held high rank in the French service, and was an intimate 
 friend of my father's. The Emperor, to whom we 
 presented our prisoner, received him very courteously, and 
 ordered his own surgeon, M. Yvan, to dress his wounds. 
 Then, noticing that I was very m.uch heated and hathed 
 in sweat, he ordered a page in waiting to go and fetch 
 me a glass of Bordeaux from his private canteen, which 
 I drank with the toast, ' Success to the Emperor ! ' 
 
 This little scene took place on a high mound above 
 the village of Augesd, opposite the lakes, or rather the big 
 ponds, formed by the Tellnitz dyke. Meanwhile the 
 Austro-Eussian corps, driven back by Marshal Davout 
 and unable to rejoin the main body at Austerlitz, were 
 endeavouring to escape by way of the Tellnitz dyke, and 
 thus to reach the road to Hungary ; but the height was 
 already occupied by the artillery of the Guard, and the 
 cavalry alone ventured to risk the passage, galloping by 
 under a hail of grape shot, whilst the infantry, hesitating 
 what to do, finally imagined that their only chance of 
 safety was to try and cross the ponds dividing them from the 
 other side on the ice floating on their surfaces. A few men,, 
 indeed, raight have got over safely ; but when a number 
 had reached the middle of the water, the ice began to crack 
 beneath their weight. They paused, and the troops behind 
 them pushing on, there were soon some 6,000 men. collected 
 in a dense crowd on the swaying slippery ice. There was 
 a pause, and then in the brief space of a couple of minutes 
 the whole mass with arms and baggage disappeared beneath 
 the broken-up ice, not one man escaping or even appearing 
 again at the top of the water. We looked down upon the 
 churning, rippling waves produced by the struggles of so- 
 
SIX THOUSAND MEN DROWNED 38 
 
 many human creatm:es swallowed up so suddenly, and a 
 thiill of horror ran through us all. Very soon the 
 fractured ice, broken up by the useless efforts of those 
 beneath it, sank again into repose, the clouds were once 
 more reflected on its gleaming surface, and we knew that 
 all was over. Much of the Eussian artillery remained 
 still harnessed at the edge of the waters or overturned in 
 the ponds, and later it was melted down to form the Auster- 
 litz Column set up in Paris in the Place Vendome. Just 
 as the waters closed over the last relics of the army which 
 in the morning had all but surrounded us, the sun went 
 down behind a mass of clouds on the horizon, snow began 
 to fall very much as a curtain does after the last scene at 
 a theatre, and the Emperor, Marshal Berthier, Marshal 
 Soult, their various staffs, and I set off to find a shelter 
 from the bitter cold of the night, making our way with 
 the greatest difficulty through the dense darkness amongst 
 the dead, the wounded, and the prisoners, of whom there 
 were an immense number. 
 
 On the vast battle-field, which was many miles in 
 extent, there was but one little shelter, the posthouse 
 where travellers changed horses on the Olmiitz road. 
 The small amount of space in it was crowded with 
 wounded, and I passed the night on the snow under an 
 apple tree in the garden without fire or so much as a 
 wisp of straw. It was intensely cold though the day 
 had been so fine, but I counted myself lucky, and I was 
 indeed a thousand times more fortunate than the 20,000 
 poor wretches lying out on the ground not far from me, all 
 wounded, many dying, without fires and quite unattended. 
 
 Our prisoners told us that when our cavalry charge 
 reached the gates of Austerlitz, the Eussian and 
 Austrian Emperors Alexander I. and Francis II. were 
 
 VOL. I. ^ 
 
34 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUXE 
 
 looking down upon the battle from the castle. We should 
 have been doubly venturesome had vs^e known that a few 
 more sabre cuts might have won us so costly a prize 
 as these two crowned heads. It was this circumstance 
 which led to the battle of Austerlitz being also called that 
 of the three emperors. 
 
 I was ordered to make a topographical survey of the 
 battle field, and I also made sketches of the chief points of 
 interest, writing on them the most remarkable incidents 
 which had occurred at each spot. On the fifth day, as I 
 was crossing the blood-stained battle field covered with the 
 dead, I came upon a group of fourteen Russians, who 
 when wounded had crawled close to each other for the 
 sake of warmth. Twelve were already dead, but two still 
 lived, their hollow cheeks, furrowed with the tears they 
 had shed, bearing witness to the agony they had endured. 
 They made touching signs to me, entreating me to help 
 them. I at once fetched some peasants from Soloknitz, 
 and made them carry the poor fellows to a place of security. 
 No words could describe the radiancy of their looks when 
 they found that they were being lifted on to the rough 
 stretchers of branches the peasants had raade. One of 
 them, who knew but one word of French, kept on repeating, 
 ' Monsieur, monsieur ! ' I put them under the care of our 
 surgeons, and rejoined the Emperor at Vienna. Before he 
 left the army he gave many of us rewards for our behaviour 
 in the field, and I was made captain of a battalion of 
 engineers. 
 
 I returned to France by way of Bavaria, and passing 
 again through Munich I had the honour of being received 
 by the King of Bavaria, who loaded me with favours. I 
 had known him since I was a mere child at Strasburg, 
 where he had been colonel of a Fren-ch regiment. 
 
COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES 35 
 
 He would not let me leave Munich till lie had taken 
 me to see the brothers Senefelder, who had just invented 
 the art of lithography. The results obtained by them ap- 
 peared to me incredible, and they wished me to try my 
 hand at the work. I stopped with them for some hours, 
 and made a sketch with their crayons on one of their stones. 
 I then left them, and an hour later, to my great surprise, 
 they sent the stone to me with twenty impressions of my 
 design. I took these proofs with me to Paris, and 
 showed them to the Emperor, who at once recognised the 
 immense value of the invention, and he told me to follow 
 it up, but I found very few people disposed to aid me, and 
 other affairs soon called me away. It was not until 1812 
 that lithography was really introduced into France, and 
 began to yield far better results than those achieved by the 
 original inventors. I had the honour of bringing the first 
 speciraen into France, but it was the talented Madame la 
 Comtesse de Molien, wife of the Minister of the Treasury, 
 who was the first to make generally known the great value 
 of the invention. 
 
 AVe were hardly back in Paris before the fetes began 
 celebrating the successes of the campaign of 1805 ; but fresh 
 preparations were being made for war, and my painting 
 was again and again interrupted by the various missions 
 entrusted to me. I had to take orders from the Major- 
 General to the various corps the Emperor was collecting 
 in Bavaria and Saxony to oppose the King of Prussia, 
 whose army was already formidable and prepared to attack. 
 On October 9 the Prussians commenced hostihties at 
 Schleitz by attacking the cavalry of Prince Murat. On 
 the 10th Marshal Lannes took thirty pieces of cannon. 
 In one of the charges of this eventful day Prince Louis of 
 Prussia, nephew of the King, was killed by a sabre cut. 
 
 d2 
 
36 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 On the 12th Marshal Davout took possession of eighteen 
 pontoon bridges ready for use. 
 
 On the 13th the armies continued to approach each 
 other in order of battle at right angles, and in the evening 
 the plain of Jena appeared to be perfectly encircled with 
 the watchfires of the two or three hundred thousand 
 Prussians who rested in security, confident in their vast 
 numbers. 
 
 The fires of the French army, on the other hand, hidden 
 by the irregularities of the ground, were scarcely visible, 
 and the apparent distance of the enemy still further en- 
 couraged the confidence of the Prussians. The night was 
 fine and calm, and from the heights we occupied on the 
 plateau above the plain of Jena the view of the illuminated 
 camp below was magnificent. "We felt as if we were pre- 
 paring for a brilliant fete on the morrow, and the sentinels 
 on either side chatted together at their outposts without 
 any inclination to fight, as if in time of peace. 
 
 On October 14, 1806, just before sunrise a thick fog 
 came on and wrapped the whole district in gloom for 
 several hours. The Emperor wished to turn the darkness 
 to account by delaying the action long enough to allow 
 our reserves and cavalry to come up, but the impatience 
 of our troops led to the outposts opening fire on the enemy 
 about nine o'clock. The whole line followed the move- 
 ment, emerging through wide openings cleared and tested 
 beforehand under Marshal Lannes. 
 
 The Prussians were also anxious to wait till the fog 
 cleared away, but our attack roused them from their 
 inaction, and their whole line also began to manoeuvre, 
 changing front and marching upon Jena on their left. 
 About eleven o'clock we could see their infantry 
 advancing and deploying with precision, whilst their 
 
BATTLE OF JENA 37 
 
 artillery arrived at a gallop at the head of an immense 
 body of cavalry. When the two armies, marching 
 towards each other, were nearly within musket shot, the 
 800 Prussian and French cannon simultaneously opened 
 fire and exchanged salvoes. The thunder of the terrible 
 discharge dispersed the fog, and soon nothing intercepted 
 the rays of the sun but the smoke, which reproduced above 
 the heads of the combatants the ranks in which they stood. 
 
 The whole army then engaged, and for some time the 
 struggle was indecisive ; but the Emperor, hearing that 
 Marshal Ney and a portion of Murat's cavalry had come 
 up, ordered a general attack. The shock was terrible. 
 The Prussian cavaky in their furious charge shattered 
 themselves upon our bayonets, and our grape shot and 
 cavalry completed their destruction. The Prussian divi- 
 sions were mingled in a confused mass, in which every 
 ball from our guns struck down some hundred victims, 
 whilst the forces of the enemy were divided. 
 
 General Eiichel fled towards our left wing, and the 
 King of Prussia turned towards Magdeburg. 
 
 The fall of night put an end to the fighting, but not 
 to the pursuit of fugitives, and the victories of Jena and 
 of Auerstadt, which Marshal Davout won the same day, 
 left in our hands 200 flags with the black eagle, more 
 than 40,000 prisoners, 500 pieces of artillery, with the 
 baggage, pontoon trains, and stores of the Prussians, who 
 left 30,000 dead upon the field, with an immense number 
 of wounded. 
 
 The King of Prussia himself was wounded, as were also 
 the two Dukes of Brunswick, the elder (who had made 
 war on us in Champagne) so seriously that he died a few 
 days later. Prince Henry, brother of the King, Prince 
 Hohenlohe, the Marshal von Mollendorff, General von 
 
 VOL. I. D 3 
 
38 MEMOIRS OF BAROX LEJEUNE 
 
 Tauenzin, General Eiichel, and thirty other superior 
 oificers, were either killed or wounded, and in consequence 
 of this terrible defeat the whole of Prussia as far as the 
 Vistula fell into our hands in a few days. 
 
 The Grand Duchess of Brunswick, sister of Frederick 
 the Great, was then living in a chateau near Potsdam, and 
 I was sent to carry to her the respectful greetings of 
 Napoleon, and to offer on his behalf to do her any service 
 in his power. This princess, her heart wrung with the 
 terrible disasters which had overtaken the kingdom so 
 much aggrandised by her brother, was also grieving bitterly 
 over the loss of her husband and her nephew Prince 
 Henry, both killed at Jena. Still her Boyal Highness 
 controlled her emotions in a wonderful way, received me 
 kindly, expressed her gratitude to the Emperor for his 
 magnanimity, but asked only to have some of her property 
 secured to her, and would not allow me to leave with 
 her the guard of honour I had orders to place at her 
 disposal. 
 
 Following up our successes we stopped for a few days 
 at Posen, and the grandees of Poland came to do homage 
 to the Emperor in their Oriental costumes. The contrast 
 of the costly robes, the valuable furs, and the richly 
 decorated weapons of the nobles with the wretched gar- 
 ments of the peasants, and the difference between the 
 noble dignified bearing of the masters and the abject de- 
 meanour of the serfs, impressed me painfully, and the 
 state of things in Poland was quite a revelation to me. 
 The castles of the nobles with their gorgeous internal 
 decorations were surrounded with rough huts, the thatched 
 roofs tumbling to pieces, beneath which serfs and domestic 
 animals such as pigs and poultry were huddled together 
 in misery, protected but little from the weather. Vast 
 
THE POLES RECEIVE US AS BROTHERS 39 
 
 stretches of sand, here and there sparsely cultivated, alter- 
 nating with gloomy pine forests, with the tumbledown 
 huts void of all comforts for the inmates, gave to the 
 country such a desolate poverty-stricken appearance, that 
 our soldiers, used to their fair land of France, said to each 
 other with a smile, ' They call this a country, do they ? 
 A fine country it is, too, where if you ask for bread (Jcleba) 
 the only answer you get is gue gue gue (I haven't got any), 
 or if you ask for water you are told zara zara (presently). 
 It's not our idea of a country, anyhow.' 
 
 A Pole brought up in the midst of such privations 
 at once becomes a hero in war. The moujik, bent with 
 toil and huddled beneath his sheepskin fastened at the 
 waist with a rope of straw, becomes a spirited horseman 
 as soon as he dons the plumed schapska and brandishes 
 his lance with its floating pennon. His horse from the 
 desolate Ukraine, which in his winter gear, with his long 
 flowing mane reaching almost to the ground, seems crushed 
 by the weight he carries, now holds himself up proudly, 
 not a whit less ready for the battle field than his master. 
 The Poles received us with enthusiasm as brothers and 
 liberators. They were aided to form regiments, very soon 
 10,000 joined our army, and the Emperor picked out a 
 corps of the best of them to join his own guard. 
 
 What struck us most in the big town of Warsaw was 
 that everywhere in the streets, the promenades, and the 
 salons, we heard French spoken as perfectly as in 
 Paris. 
 
 The memory of the terrible Suvoroff was still recent. 
 That general had burnt half the city of Warsaw, and 
 destroyed with his artillery its finest buildings, without 
 being able to make the inhabitants open their gates. He 
 was also cruel enough to have the whole population of 
 
40 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUKE 
 
 Praga, a suburb on the left bank of the Vistula, massacred 
 in the night without distinction of age or sex. The people 
 of Warsaw looked upon us as the avengers of Suvoroff's 
 atrocities. Kosciuszko, the valiant defender of the inde- 
 pendence of Poland, had found consolation for his woes 
 in our ranks. There was but one sentiment with regard 
 to the Russians, and no matter with whom we conversed 
 the same opinions were expressed in excellent French. The 
 ladies of Warsaw were as eager for our success as were 
 their husbands and brothers, and so great was their sym- 
 pathy for France that when, in 1813, six years later, 
 Austrian troops occupied Warsaw, and the general in 
 command, the Archduke Ferdinand, invited the ladies to 
 a fSte given by him, they all declined to go. The Prince, 
 irritated by their contempt, sent them an invitation to a 
 second fete, giving them to understand that he would 
 punish those who did not attend it. This tirae they went, 
 but they were all dressed in mourning, and none of them 
 would dance, each one pleading as an excuse that she 
 had lost a brother or some other relative in the war. Many 
 of these ladies were very beautiful, with fair complexions 
 and good figures ; they were, moreover, as graceful as 
 the Creole women so often are. Their lively yet dignified 
 manners, and cordial reception of us, led us to hope for a 
 pleasant winter in their society, but more serious matters 
 than balls quickly summoned us elsewhere. 
 
 Prince Poniatowski, nephew of the last King of Prussia, 
 had awaited our coming in his palace at Warsaw, and he 
 now eagerly placed himself at the head of the Poles who 
 had taken service under our Emperor. General Dom- 
 browski, another Pole, was already in command of a 
 French division. The French army crossed the Vistula 
 on December 18 and 19, 1806, whilst the Eussians were 
 
THE \A'OUNDED CKUSHED TO DEATH 41 
 
 advancing in force to the support of their aUies the 
 Prussians. 
 
 Amongst the dense forests of pines, where we sank 
 knee deep in the miry soil, we again came across the 
 Cossacks, Kahnucks, Khirgesses and Tartars from the 
 Ural districts, with whom we had first made acquaintance 
 at Austerlitz a year ago. 
 
 We found the Eussians at Pultusk and Golymin, 
 and the Augereau and Davout divisions were there en- 
 gaged in a fierce struggle. The miry nature of the ground 
 added to the horrors of the combat. The Russian loss 
 was very great. The luckless wounded had not the 
 strength to drag themselves out of the mud to join their 
 comrades in retreat, and were ridden down and crushed 
 beneath their own artillery and that of the French in 
 pursuit. No efforts, however strenuous, on the part of 
 the teams of horses could enable them to drag their loads 
 through the quagmire, soaked with blood and made up of 
 the flesh of thousands of victims kneaded with the mire 
 into a revolting mass which clogged the wheels, and the 
 Russians were compelled to abandon all their artillery, 
 including ninety cannon. A great nmnber of prisoners also 
 fell into our hands. Marshals Lannes and Davout carried 
 off the chief honours of the day (December 26, 1806). 
 The next morning, when we were awaiting the signal for 
 departure, my comrades asked me to make a sketch on 
 the wall of the room we were in of some episode of the 
 recent struggle in the town. They pointed a few bits of 
 charcoal for me, and I sketched a dozen men and horses, 
 the size of life, choosing some of the mounted Cossacks, 
 whose quaint appearance had struck me and who had 
 deafened us with their yells whilst they riddled us with 
 their arrows. My companions, dehghted with the faith- 
 
42 MEMOIRS OF BAEON LEJEUNE 
 
 fulness of the representation, scribbled the name of the 
 artist at the bottom of the drawing, but the trumpet call 
 to mount sounded before I could finish it. The Pole who 
 owned the house set store on this souvenir of the French, 
 preserved it carefully, and changed the sign of his inn to 
 that of the ' French Cossacks.' Thirty-three years after- 
 wards some young Polish refugees whom I met at Toulouse 
 recognised my name through having seen it beneath the 
 picture on the wall of the inn at Pultusk. My more 
 serious works will probably not last as long as the sketch, 
 which has brought so much custom to this Polish inn. 
 
 During the night of the following day I had orders to 
 summon the Legrand division in all haste to cut off the 
 retreat of a fugitive corps. The snow was falling, and 
 it was pitch dark. I had no guide and nothing to direct 
 me through the pine forests and over the quagmires, but 
 fortunately the latter were now frozen over and pretty 
 firm. I had been wandering vaguely about with no idea 
 of my bearings for some two hours, when I came upon 
 the bivouac of a few chasseurs of the guard who had lost 
 their way. Waiting for light, they were cooking the 
 results of a little foraging in a big saucepan ; some rice, a 
 few fowls, and a goose or two, all boiled down together, 
 had produced a most inviting hotch-potch, seasoned with 
 such an appetite as it is not given to the great ones of the 
 earth to know. The brave fellows invited me to share 
 their supper, and my portion of their stew renovated my 
 forces, exhausted by fatigue. 
 
 After a halt of a few minutes only, I resumed my 
 search, and I had gone about a mile when I heard some 
 luckless Frenchman shouting, swearing, and calling for 
 help. He and his horse were sinking in a bog, the ice on 
 the top having broken beneath their weight. I was only 
 
I RESCUE GENERAL LEGRAXD 43 
 
 able to approach with difficulty, for my horse refused to 
 advance on such treacherous ground. But I thought I 
 recognised the voice, and shouted, 'Who is it?' The 
 answer came back, ' It's you, Lejeune, is it ? I am in 
 the greatest danger. My horse has sunk to the neck, and 
 I am lip to the waist in mud. I am exhausted with my 
 struggles and benumbed with cold ; for pity's sake get me 
 out of this terrible pit. I shall be swallowed up directly.' 
 It was General Legrand, the very man I was looking for, 
 but, like myself, he was also ignorant what had become 
 of his men and in peril of his life. 
 
 Not being able to fasten up my horse, and fearing to 
 lose him, I wrapped his head up in my cloak, and thus 
 blinded he remained perfectly still. I then approached the 
 General on foot, and our combined efforts at last resulted in 
 his getting to terra firma, whilst his horse, relieved of the 
 weight of the rider, managed to get out of the mud. We 
 then went off to try and find the lost division. First we 
 made out a few scattered fires, and then came upon the 
 infantry, which were able to reach at daybreak the point to 
 which I had orders to take them. The enemy in retreat had 
 had no better road than we, and after defending them for 
 some time they abandoned to us a good many pieces of 
 cannon which had stuck in the mud. 
 
 General Legrand, whom I had just rescued from 
 danger, was a fine fellow some six feet high, with a 
 manly presence and a somewhat imperious manner, but 
 a noble character. A little later he married General 
 Scherer's daughter, who was perhaps the prettiest girl in 
 Paris. She was the very ideal of a heroine of romance, 
 such as the old chroniclers loved to paint. Her light golden 
 hair floated from a dainty head set upon a charming figure, 
 and resembled the fleeting mists which gather about the 
 
44 MEMOIES OF BAEON LEJEUNE 
 
 rising sun, and exhale in the morning air the scent of 
 the flowers they have caressed during the night. 
 
 The stern and dignified warrior with his strong 
 athletic limhs, yielding so gently and submissively to the 
 lightest whim of his young bride, was like a new Hercules 
 bound and conquered by love. The Emperor liked his 
 generals to marry, and often aided with liberal gifts 
 to bring about unions which would otherwise have been 
 difficult if not impossible. 
 
45 
 
 CHAPTEE IV 
 
 ETLAU — KING GUSTAVUS IV. — DANZIG— COLBERG — 
 FRIBDLAND — TILSIT 
 
 We pursued the Eussians through the forests for several 
 days, but there was no fighting except a httle skirmishing 
 on the part of the advanced guard. The Emperor then 
 halted a few days to reorganise the army, which was much 
 exhausted with the long struggle, and our head quarters 
 were in a stable at Golymin, where we were all crowded 
 together on the straw. Our privations did not at all damp 
 our spirits, and one evening the Emperor and Prince 
 Berthier stopped a few minutes to hear us sing airs from 
 the latest operas of Paris. 
 
 "We exchanged new-year visits in the mud of Pultusk, 
 and the Emperor returned for a short time to Warsaw, 
 whither we followed as his suite on January 2, 1809. 
 The ninety cannon we had taken had arrived before us, 
 carriages and all. 
 
 A few days later the Emperor was ready to resume 
 the campaign, and sent me to demand from the King of 
 Saxony the troops he had promised. That venerable mon- 
 arch, and his consort, the sister of the Queen of Bavaria, 
 received me with many demonstrations of respect and 
 expressions of devotion to the Emperor. The King placed 
 all the luxuries of his palace at my disposal. Never since 
 my childhood had I ridden in a sedan chair, and I 
 
46 MEMOIRS OF BAEON LEJEUNE 
 
 thoroughly enjoyed heing carried about by men in grand 
 Hveries in the fine structures assigned to me by the Grand 
 Marshal for my various excursions in Dresden. The 
 Picture Gallery and the Treasury were both thrown open 
 to me, and in the latter I was specially struck, amongst 
 the quantities of remarkable objects, with the many huge 
 pearls, and the number of diamonds, including a green 
 one. I greatly admired the pictures in the world-famous 
 collection, notably the ' Notte ' of Correggio, considered his 
 masterpiece ; the ' Madonna di San Sisto,' most admired of 
 Eaphael's virgins ; Gerard Douw's ' Woman with Dropsy ; ' 
 and the ' Cemetery ' by Euysdael, &c. 
 
 In a very short time the troops were collected, and I 
 started at the head of the first column. The rain had 
 swollen many of the streams, and inundations compelled us 
 to halt at Gorlitz at the same time as a French battalion 
 following our route. The wine shops of the town were 
 soon full of the soldiers of the two nations fraternising 
 glass in hand. 
 
 I left the Saxons en route, and rejoined the Emperor, 
 who had just left Warsaw to open the campaign of 1807. 
 The thaw on the Vistula had broken down the bridges, 
 and only a golden bribe would induce a boatman to trust 
 himself and his frail craft amongst the floating ice to take 
 me to the other side of the river. In spite of my every 
 effort to press on, I did not reach the Emperor till 
 February 8, the Sunday before Lent. 
 
 On the day before, the Augereau, Davout, and Ney 
 divisions, with Murat's cavalry and the Imperial Guard, 
 had bivouacked opposite and round about Eylau on ground 
 covered with snow. 
 
 On the 8th, before six o'clock in the morning, the Eus- 
 sians took the initiative by attacking us all along our line. 
 
MAESHAL AUGEEEAU IS WOUNDED 47 
 
 Several of our battalions were surprised and fled in dis- 
 order through Eylau, under the impression that they were 
 pursued. This panic was, however, soon allayed, order 
 was restored, and the battle which had begun on the frozen 
 ponds outside Eylati became general. Several times during 
 the day snow fell for an hour at a time in such quantities 
 that we could not see two paces before us, and bodies of 
 troops in movement lost their bearings. Now and then 
 the cavalry crossed the enemy's lines, and did considerable 
 mischief amongst their ranks ; but, on the other hand, 
 the Russian horsemen performed prodigies of valour, 
 and the battle field was soon covered with the dead, 300 
 cannon on either side pouring out a hail of grape shot 
 at close quarters and working terrible havoc. Marshal 
 Augereau was wounded, and his corps, left without a leader, 
 suffered horribly ; his infantry, drawn up in squares, was 
 positively annihilated where it stood. 
 
 The squadrons of the Emperor's Guard twice dashed 
 through the Russian army, disabling more than 20,000 
 men, and sabring the artillerymen at their posts. They 
 would have assured victory to the French if the falling of 
 the snow had not prevented us from seeing clearly and 
 co-operating properly. The struggle had lasted for twelve 
 hours, and the issue was still uncertain when, as night fell. 
 Marshal Davout succeeded in outflanking the enemy on 
 the right at Schmoditten, whilst Marshal Ney did the 
 same on the left at Altdorf. 
 
 The enemy defended these two positions with de- 
 speration until eight o'clock in the evening, and at last 
 managed to retreat during the night under cover of the 
 darkness, leaving 7,000 dead upon the field, whilst every 
 road was encumbered with thousands of wounded. This 
 eight days' struggle cost the Russians 15,000 men in 
 
48 MEMOIRS OF B.IROX LEJEI'N'E 
 
 killed and wounded, 15,000 prisoners, thirty flags, and 
 forty-five pieces of artillery. 
 
 We passed the night on the snow, wishing impatiently 
 for the return of daylight, which, when it came, revealed 
 to us a terrible sight, the gloom of which was intensified by 
 the low-lying threatening clouds, heavy with snow ready to 
 fall. Every detail of the struggle, the position of the lines, 
 the squares with the places where the cavalry had charged, 
 were clearly marked upon the ground by heaps of corpses. 
 Many wounded, too numerous for help to be given them 
 at once, had crept close to each other for the sake of 
 warmth, whilst here and there horses wounded to death 
 were dragging their entrails over the snow, piteously 
 neighing to us or to their late riders for help in their 
 suffering. I saw one of these poor creatures with but 
 three legs licking the face of his owner, who was standing 
 gazing at his injured steed with an expression of the 
 greatest consternation. He had but a morsel of bread for 
 himself, but he gave it to -his horse. The Emperor was 
 as grieved as we were at the frightful sufferings he could 
 do so little to relieve. He gave up several days to doing 
 what was possible, and one day he paused near a group 
 of wounded Russians, whilst his surgeon Yvan dressed 
 their wounds. The Eussians, guessing from the respect 
 with which he was treated that he was the Czar of the 
 French, invoked blessings on his head, kissing his foot 
 and stirrups. His whole time was given up now to 
 seeing that the wounded received proper care, and he 
 insisted on the Eussians being as well treated as the 
 French. 
 
 After the battle of Eylau, the Eussian army retreated 
 towards Konigsberg, and took up a position beyond some 
 narrow but deep and muddy streams, which we could not 
 
BLOCKADE OF STRALSUND 49 
 
 have crossed but for our portable artillery bridges. Our 
 outposts were stationed on the banks of the streams. 
 
 It was now necessary for the French army to rally its 
 scattered forces and to replace men lost in the murderous 
 struggle. Moreover, the Emperor had left behind him 
 three fortresses which it was necessary for him to take 
 lest they should harass his rear when he should attempt to 
 drive the Russians beyond the Niemen. These fortresses 
 were Stralsund in Swedish Pomerania, defended by a 
 Swedish army held in check by Marshal Mortier ; Colberg 
 on the Baltic, defended by the Prussians and besieged by 
 General Loisin ; and lastly, Danzig, one of the largest 
 fortified towns of Germany, at the mouth of the Vistula, 
 containing a numerous garrison, which might greatly 
 interfere with our operations. There was no doubt that 
 these three towns had to be taken, and, as an officer of 
 engineers, I was commissioned to go to and fro, urging on 
 the besiegers, and bringing them the Emperor's orders. 
 
 In due course I found myself with Marshal Mortier 
 outside Stralsund, within the walls of which he had driven 
 the Swedes, where, in spite of all the efforts of King 
 Gustavus Adolphus, they were completely blockaded, and 
 compelled to take refuge in the island of Eiigen, divided 
 from the mainland by the narrow sound on which the 
 town is built. Gustavus Adolphus, thinking that he could 
 emulate the exploits of King Charles XII. as easily as he 
 could don the uniform of a soldier, was in reality quite 
 imable to cope with the situation. His weakness of 
 character had ahenated his subjects, and was as much the 
 cause of his defeat as was the success of the Erench arms. 
 He remembered that Charles XII. had passed a night on 
 watch at the gates of Stralsund, so he too spent one as a 
 sentinel on the same spot. A little later he hoped to cut 
 
 VOL. I. ^ 
 
50 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 Marshal Mortier off from the main body of his army, and 
 he embarked his Swedes for that purpose near Passvalk, 
 but he was defeated and lost all his men. 
 
 When I returned from Stralsund, I found the Emperor 
 at Osterode, where he was receiving the Turkish ambas- 
 sadors from the Sultan and General von Kleist, aide-de- 
 camp of the King of Prussia, who had brought proposals 
 of peace which were perfectly inadmissible. The Emperor 
 instructed me to escort the Prussian envoy as far as our 
 outposts. This led to one of the most comic episodes of 
 my military career. The General was doubtless a brave 
 man enough as a rule, but he was the most arrant coward 
 in a carriage I ever had the good fortune to meet. I gave 
 him a guard of honour to accompany his carriage and sat 
 beside him myself. We started at night and had to 
 traverse some twenty or thirty miles of very bad road in 
 the woods. As we bumped over the roots of trees and in 
 and out of ruts we were a good deal shaken about, and 
 every time the brave General lost his equilibrium he 
 clutched hold of me, screaming, ' We are lost ! we are 
 lost ! ' His anxiety manifested itself in the most extra- 
 ordinary manner. He insisted on the carriage being 
 carried by peasants, and I told off a dozen, who bore lighted 
 torches in one hand whilst they held up the carriage with 
 the other, with the aid of ropes fastened on either side, so 
 that there was no further danger of our being tumbled into 
 the mud. We were kept in position like the masts of a 
 vessel, or like banners carried in procession and kept steady 
 in the wind by long ribbons. The gay young officers form- 
 ing our escort laughed so much at the absurd arrangement 
 and at the terror of our guest, that I was obliged to dis- 
 miss them at daylight lest I should not be able to enforce 
 proper respect for the envoy. He fully appreciated my 
 
I AM TAKEN PRISONER 51' 
 
 care and courtesy, and rewarded me later by protecting 
 me in a far more serious danger than that of being upset 
 in the mud. 
 
 There was a neutral space of about seven or eight 
 leagues in extent between the outposts of the two armies, 
 and I did not choose to leave the G-eneral till he was safe 
 with his own people, so I went with him to the gates of 
 Ortelsburg, where a body of Cossacks advanced towards us, 
 lances in rest, shouting, ' Honi ? ' (Who goes there ? Who 
 are you ?) To which General von Kleist answered, ' Zoni ' 
 (friends). But the Cossacks as they approached our open 
 carriage recognised my French uniform before anything 
 else, and in a moment, with faces full of rage and hatred, 
 they aimed some twenty lances at my breast, whilst Von 
 Kleist, whose life was in danger as well as mine, only with 
 the greatest difficulty managed to make the Cossacks 
 understand that he was an envoy returning without drum 
 or trumpet to announce him, and that I was his escort. 
 The men, full of suspicion of us, took us both prisoners 
 pending the decision of the King of Prussia in our case, 
 and I was shut up at Ortelsburg for three days. The 
 G-eneral, however, who was quickly recognised by the 
 Cossack officers in the town, refused to leave me lest some 
 harm should befall me, and during the time of my deten- 
 tion all the Cossacks belonging to the division occupying 
 the place came to stare at us as if we were lions in a 
 menagerie, crowding into our room and spending whole 
 nights in the snow in the streets outside, though there 
 were twenty-eight degrees of frost, sleeping with the 
 bridles of their Httle steeds called honias on their arms, 
 as peacefully as we could have done in the most comfortable 
 of beds. These Cossacks were many of them handsomt, 
 fellows, and much to their amusement I took portraits of 
 
 E 2 
 
52 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 several with a pencil on a bit of paper. On the third daj^ 
 the Emperor of Eussia sent his aide-de-camp, Colonel 
 Prince Sokoreff, to release me from my tedious imprison- 
 ment, and to escort me on my way to the outposts. I 
 took leave of General von Kleist, but met him again at 
 Berlin a few years later when he was commander-in-chief 
 of one of the big Prussian armies. 
 
 On my return to Osterode, the Emperor listened vnth 
 interest to my account of my adventures, especially to 
 what I told him about the Cossacks who could hit an enemy 
 with their lances at a distance of more than four yards. 
 He asked me what I thought of introducing their weapon 
 into the French army, and when I replied that I thought 
 it would be a good thing to do so, he told me to design a 
 suitable costume for a corps of French lancers. 
 
 Marshal Murat coming in during this conversation, 
 the Emperor said to him : ' You are to equip a hundred 
 men in the costume Lejeune will design, and at once 
 instruct them how to use the lance.' Murat approved of 
 the rough sketch I made; he chose the colours, and 
 formed the hundred men into the guard of the Grand 
 Duchy of Berg. The Emperor was much pleased with 
 the result, and later he introduced whole regiments of 
 lancers into his own guard and the army, retaining the 
 uniform I had designed. 
 
 Soon after this I was sent to Marshal Brune, whose 
 corps, with that of Marshal Mortier besieging Stralsund, 
 was engaged in the manoeuvres against the Swedes. 
 Marshal Brune, after several successes, had granted an 
 armistice of ten days. The King of Sweden availed him- 
 self of this to ask for an interview ; and the Marshal 
 having done me the honour to consult me, I said it would 
 be a capital thing if we could break off the alliance which 
 
INTERVIEW WITH THE KING OF SWEDEN 5? 
 
 the Swedes had formed with the Prussians and Eussians. 
 The Marshal then agreed to the proposed rendezvous, 
 and he took me with him in his carriage to the Bridge of 
 Auklam, spanning the river which formed the boundary. 
 
 We were very much surprised to find no outposts on 
 the bridge ; still, we ventured to cross it with our escort; 
 and push on to meet the Swedes. After traversing some 
 four leagues vyithout meeting a creature we reached the' 
 large village of Schlatkow, all the doors in which were 
 closed, whilst the streets were absolutely deserted. Very 
 much put out at this state of things, we had just told our 
 coachman to turn back, when the gates of a big hostelry 
 were suddenly flung back by some Swedish officers, who 
 ordered our carriages to enter a yard in which a bodyguard 
 of cavalry was drawn up in order of battle. The gates 
 were at once shut, and we found ourselves separated from 
 our escort. We were very much astonished, for it seemed 
 as if we had fallen into an ambush. We alighted from 
 our carriage, however, and were escorted to a room where 
 the aides-de-camp of the King received the Marshal with 
 every demonstration of respect. 
 
 The King, though notice of our arrival was at once 
 given to him, kept us waiting a long time, and our 
 annoyance was no doubt reflected in our faces, for a dead 
 silence succeeded the interchange of compliments. 
 
 At last the King sent to ask the Marshal to go to him 
 alone in a private room, and one of the royal bodyguard 
 took up his station at the door. Presently we heard a 
 very animated, almost an angry, conversation going on 
 within. The party waiting outside consisted of Colonel 
 Mathis, Colonel Saint-Eaymond, and myself, all three 
 strong determined French officers ; three Swedish aides- 
 de-camp, and a French gentleman wearing the Cross of 
 
54 MEMOIRS or BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 St. Louis and the gold-laced uniform of a lieutenant- 
 general of the old French army. It was the Duke of 
 Vienne, an emigrant serving in the ranks of our enemies, 
 and he looked at us with anything but a pleasant expres- 
 sion. The situation became more and more strained, 
 and, convinced that we should have to sell our lives as 
 dearly as we could, I had just whispered to my comrades, 
 Colonels Mathis and Saint-Eaymond, ' I'll deal with the 
 King and the sentinel — you see to the others,' and we 
 were standing on the qui-vive at our posts, sword in hand, 
 when the Marshal came out pale, grave, and disguising 
 the anger he felt. I was near the door, and I got a 
 glimpse of the King standing up wearing a caricature of 
 the costume of Charles XII. and gazing at us. 
 
 The Marshal, fearing that I meant to go into the 
 room, took my hand and said, ' Let us be off ! ' The 
 carriages were waiting ; we got in ; the guards, still 
 under arms, opened the big gates, and we started, followed 
 by our escort. 
 
 Alone in the carriage with the Marshal, he told me 
 what had passed that I might tell the Emperor. Gustavus, 
 though he had been beaten ten times in succession by 
 the Marshal, had actually proposed to him that he should 
 desert to the enemy with his army, and, joining the allies, 
 aid in placing Louis XVIII. upon the French throne. 
 ' The legitimate king of your country,' he had said, ' will 
 make you Generalissimo of his army and that of the 
 allies, and will place under your orders the troops which 
 the Duke of Vienne, who is now with me, can dispose 
 of ! ' These troops were three or four old emigrants, who 
 had not so much as a sword amongst them. This speech 
 was moreover interlarded with curses of the Emperor 
 Napoleon. Marshal Brune, who felt how imprudent he 
 
ARKIVAL OF PEESIAN ENVOI'S 55 
 
 had been to venture into the Swedish quarters so far from 
 his army, was obhged to disguise his indignation and to 
 Hsten to the whole of the infamous propositions, to come 
 scatheless out of a situation which his physical strength 
 and our resolute courage could only have made yet more 
 desperate. 
 
 Acting on the Marshal's instructions, I now rejoined 
 the Emperor at Finkenstein, where he occupied rather a 
 pretty chateau near several lakes or big ponds, now half 
 frozen over, amusing himself by hunting the wild swans 
 by which they were frequented. 
 
 At Finkenstein the Emperor received the ambassadors 
 from Persia, with Mirza-Eiza-Khan at their head, who 
 came to congratulate him on his victories over their 
 enemies the Eussians. In the neighbouring forests were 
 great troops of elands, which are bigger than stags and 
 have huge antlers. We spent the few days we had to 
 spare in the chase of these fine creatures, which are very 
 difficult to hunt. We succeeded in bringing down a few. 
 When we got back from our excursions over sqow and 
 ice amongst the gloomy pine and fir forests, we warmed 
 ourselves at the stoves of the well-heated conservatories 
 of the chateau, where strawberries, plums, and cherries 
 were successfully cultivated. 
 
 The snow was now beginning to melt, and spring was 
 approaching. Marshal Lefebvre was besieging Danzig, 
 defended by Marshal Kalkreuth with 20,000 Prussians, 
 by whom many sorties were made. The Emperor sent 
 me to Marshal Lefebvre to press on the siege, and I took 
 part in many remarkable episodes. The first was at a 
 sortie of the Prussians by way of Hagelsburg, where they 
 were vigorously repulsed ; and the second was the affair 
 of Veichselmunde, where a considerable body of the 
 
56 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 Kussian army attacked us in the hope of compelling us to 
 raise the siege and capturing our artillery. The troops 
 under Marshal Lefebvre drove back the sorties, whilst 
 those under Marshal Lannes and General Oudinot repulsed 
 the Bussians. During the battle I rode a horse lent to 
 me by Marshal Lefebvre, and on my way back to head 
 quarters in the evening a ball from Bischofsberg shattered 
 a rock beneath me, and the fragments killed my horse on 
 the spot. I remained flat on my face on the ground for 
 some time before I could get up. The effects of the 
 shock and the pain of my bruises soon went off ; I was 
 not really wounded, and I was able to drag myself to 
 head quarters, where the rejoicings over the victory soon 
 quite restored me. I started the same night to take the 
 good news to the Emperor. 
 
 A few days later he sent me back again to urge on the 
 siege of Danzig, which was rendered extremely arduous 
 by the skill with which the defence was condu.cted by 
 Marshal Kalkreuth. 
 
 We had already crowned the covered way, and effected 
 the descent of the ditch, when on May 19 an English sloop 
 of war with twenty-four guns tried to run the blockade 
 and get into the town by way of an arm of the Vistula 
 which winds through the meadows round Danzig. The 
 bold commander of the vessel hoped to break down every 
 obstacle with discharges of grape shot from his cannon. 
 He had actually got within range of the town, having met 
 with no more formidable obstacles than a few simple 
 booms, which were easily broken through. He was not', 
 however, prepared for the sudden attack opened upon him 
 by several companies of our sharpshooters, who rushed 
 across the meadows and fired a volley into the ship from 
 both sides of the stream, mowing down the sailors and 
 
SIEGE OF DANZIG 57 
 
 bringing the sloop to a standstill. Without helmsmen, and 
 with sails flapping helplessly, the vessel drifted to the side of 
 the stream and grounded ; the soldiers sprang on board and 
 took 150 prisoners as well as the valuable cargo of weapons, 
 ammunition, and provisions which the commander had 
 intended for the use of the garrison of the beleaguered city. 
 
 All the best engineer officers of the French army were 
 collected together under General Chasseloup at the siege 
 of Danzig, and the operations were conducted with great 
 rapidity, though not fast enough to please the Emperor, 
 who, at a distance from the scene of action, did not realise 
 that fresh obstacles were thrown in our way every day by 
 the skill of the directors of the defence. My fellow officers 
 were therefore by no means pleased to see a messenger 
 arrive from headquarters with orders to stimulate their zeal, 
 and they revenged themselves on me by making me cross 
 in the open from one parallel to another at all the most 
 dangerous points of the saps. Two of the boldest of my 
 tormentors, named Bodzon and Delange, however, were 
 punished for their useless temerity by being wounded, I 
 meanwhile pretending that I saw nothing unusual in their 
 behaviour. 
 
 The descent of the ditch had been effected at the 
 principal point ; our sap had reached the enceinte, and 
 Marshal Lefebvre was as impatient as we were to get 
 into the town and to put an end to the tedious opera- 
 tions, which had now been going on for a month, and 
 cost us many lives every day. One day the Marshal, 
 angry at all the delays, took me by the arm and began^ 
 banging with his fist at the base of a wall, pierced by the 
 sap, shouting in his Alsatian brogue, ' Make a hole here, 
 and I'll be the first to go through it.' 
 
 Meanwhile the walls were falHng under our bom- 
 
58 MEMOIES OF BAEON LEJEUNE 
 
 bardment, and a practicable breach had at last just been 
 made. Troops were ready for the assault, and the decisive 
 blow was to be struck the next morning, May 24, 1807, 
 when Marshal Kalkreuth capitulated. I took the good 
 news to the Emperor. 
 
 On June 1 the Emperor went to Danzig to examine 
 its condition, gave orders that the damage done in the 
 siege should be repaired, and that the town should be 
 restored to a state of defence. He then hurried back to 
 Finkenstein, where negotiations for peace had been begun 
 by the Eussians. On June 5, when Napoleon hoped to 
 end the campaign by a favourable treaty, the Eussians, 
 who had only pretended to want peace with a view to 
 throwing the French off their guard, made a general and 
 unexpected attack all along our lines. 
 
 Hostilities being thus renewed by the Eussialis, our 
 whole army was again led against them, and during eight 
 days they sustained one reverse after another, and were 
 several times compelled to retreat, and pursued on the 
 route to Konigsberg and Eriedland. 
 
 On the 7th I received orders from the Emperor to go 
 and press on the operations at the siege of Colberg. 
 
 General Loison, who was conducting the siege, and 
 General Chambarlier, commandant of the engineers, took 
 me round the trenches, which had been opened ten or 
 twelve days before opposite the fort of Volfsberg, at about 
 half a cannon-shot from the town itself. This fort, which 
 had inflicted a great deal of mischief on us, was so much 
 damaged by our artillery that I could not dissemble my 
 surprise that it had not fallen into our hands several days 
 before. 
 
 'Well, my dear fellow,' was the reply I got, ' if you find 
 it so easy, take it yourself.' 
 
1 TAKE FORT VOLFSBERG 59 
 
 I accepted the challenge, and set to work at once. I 
 began by demanding 300 picked men who would be willing 
 to join me, and I had assigned to me 100 French, 100 
 Italian, and 100 Polish grenadiers, commanded by three 
 brave captains, namely, Beaufort d'Hautpoul and Eohault 
 de Fleury of the engineers, with Becli of the Italian legion. 
 
 Whilst these troops were approaching the trench, I 
 took a drummer, and advancing with him to the fort, 
 I ordered him to beat the rappel. I wanted to re- 
 connoitre and to parley with the enemy. I made my 
 way thus right up to the barrier of the fort, and was 
 able to convince myself that the glacis and the bottom 
 of the ditch were bristling with spikes and military pits 
 in good condition. The commandant did not keep me 
 waiting, but appeared at once, and I advised him to with- 
 draw before the assault of a fort which seemed to me 
 no longer tenable, but the grand defence of which did him 
 honour. He agreed with me that his position was most 
 critical, but added that he could not surrender without 
 orders from the Governor of Colberg. I gave him half an 
 hour to get those orders, and withdrew, employing the 
 interval in giving my instructions to my three columns, 
 telling them exactly what they were to do, but not allowing 
 a single man to show himself beforehand. 
 
 At the time named I took my drummer again and 
 went towards the fort. I had not taken twenty steps 
 from our trenches before the cannon opened fire on me, 
 the discharge covering me with dust. The answer was 
 clear enough. I gave the signal for the assault by raising 
 my sword instead of the white handkerchief I had been 
 holding, with the cry of ' Columns to advance ! ' 
 
 With the rapidity of a flash of lightning my 300 
 men were over the parapet of the trench and dash- 
 
60 MEMOIRS or BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 ing forward in the direction ordered. I did not wait 
 a single instant for them to come up, but made straight 
 for the barrier, getting there just in time to see the garri- 
 son running away. I called out to them in German, 
 ' Eight about face ! ' and, astonished at the command in 
 their own language, they obeyed. I drew them up in line 
 between myself and the fort, and they never suspected that 
 they had been made to serve as a screen between me and 
 the hail of shot from the bastions. 
 
 The next moment the walls and every point of vantage 
 of the fort swarmed with my grenadiers, and I ordered 
 them to shoot down the first Prussian who moved from 
 the spot where I had posted him. I then made my way 
 into the casemates, which the gunners had not been able 
 to leave. The brave fellows received me with a threat to 
 set fire to their powder and blow us all up together. They 
 would no doubt have done so if I had taken the matter 
 seriously ; but calling up all my tact and retaining my 
 presence of mind, I answered them gaily, disarmed their 
 anger, and avoided an explosion. They left the casemates, 
 and I made them set fire to the four blinded batteries 
 flanking the fort from right to left, which were completely 
 burnt down. Our engineer officers then set to work to 
 install us in the fort and establish our communications. 
 
 As long as I kept the Prussians drawn up in line be- 
 tween us and the town, the town could not fire on us, 
 and the day passed without the exchange of a shot, as 
 if there were an armistice. Several Prussian officers, 
 amongst others the young partisan Schill, who had won 
 some celebrity, came to chat with us, and they assured us 
 that Colberg would never be taken. 
 
 i Towards evening, when our defensive works were 
 colnplete and we were well under cover, we felt we no 
 
A ONE-AEMED GENERAL 61 
 
 longer needed the presence of our Prussians ; and not 
 wishing to encumber myself with prisoners, I set free one 
 by one the men who had saved us much bloodshed by 
 coming between us and several hundred balls. 
 
 The last Prussian had scarcely left when the firing 
 from Colberg recommenced, and the very first shot mor- 
 tally wounded General Teulie, who survived but two days, 
 and killed on the spot two engineer officers who were 
 chatting with him and did not choose to take the pre- 
 caution of drawing back. This foolhardy ostentation of 
 courage cost France the lives of many gallant warriors, 
 with no result to the country but accustoming their sub- 
 ordinates to despise death and to be ready to face all 
 manner of dangers. 
 
 During the night we pushed forward our parallel with its 
 communications in advance of the fort, so as to get within 
 reach of the town, which kept faith with us by making 
 a most vigorous defence. I myself aimed some dozen 
 bombs at a Swedish frigate, the huge balls from which 
 struck us in the rear, destroying our men and our defences. 
 Two of my bombs struck the water so near the vessel 
 that she raised anchor and fled out into the offing. Never 
 was siege trench more vigorously assailed than was ours 
 on that terrible day. General Loison, who had but one 
 arm left, seeing his men falling all around him, flung up 
 his empty sleeve, hoping that it would be carried off in- 
 stead of the head of some poor artilleryman. We were 
 at such close quarters with the enemy that every shot told 
 on either side. 
 
 General Chambarlier advanced to the attack on the 
 opposite side to the fort we had taken, and from that 
 moment our success became more and more assured ; 
 whilst at the same time we reaHsed how useful outlying 
 
62 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 forts are for prolonging the defence and retarding the fall 
 of a stronghold protected by them. 
 
 Leaving everything in such good train, I hastened 
 back to the Emperor to tell him of our success, and to 
 take part in the grand struggle for which preparation was 
 being made when I left him. During the interval our 
 army had been gaining ground, and, in spite of all my haste, 
 1 did not arrive at Friedland till the evening after the 
 battle, which was just ending after lasting no less than 
 sixteen hours. 
 
 On June 13 the Russians, in retreat on the right bank 
 of the Alle, noticed that our light cavalry, in endeavouring 
 to bar their way to Konigsberg, where their magazines 
 were situated, had taken possession of Friedland, and 
 Prince Bagration ordered a large body of cavalry to charge 
 our advance guard, routing them and compelling them 
 to retire behind the advancing infantry of General 
 Oudinot. 
 
 This temporary success encouraged the Commander- 
 in-Chief of the Russians, General Bennigsen, to hope for 
 victory, and during the night and the next morning he 
 made his army cross, by way of Friedland, from the right 
 to the left of the Alle, with a view to attacking us. He 
 thus left in his rear the very narrow bridge of Friedland, 
 and a deep river with very steep banks. This position, it 
 was evident at a glance, was a very bad one in which to 
 give battle, and his only excuse was that he greatly under- 
 estimated the numbers of the French. 
 
 Meanwhile the Emperor had ordered our cavalry under 
 Prince Murat and Marshal Davout to advance upon 
 Konigsberg, so as to get there before the Russians, whilst 
 Marshal Soult was marching on Kreuznach, Marshal 
 Lannes on Domnau, Marshals Ney and Mortier on 
 
COLONEL REYNAUD WOUXDED 63 
 
 Lampasch, and General Victor and the Imperial Guard on 
 Friedland. 
 
 The Emperor was waiting for these various corps to 
 get into position, when he received the news on the 
 morning of June 14 of the offensive movement of the 
 Russians . 
 
 He moimted immediately, and galloped rapidly over 
 the eight or ten leagues which separated him from 
 the field of battle, reaching it aboiit noon. Imagining 
 that the Bussians had only made an attack to cover the 
 retreat of their rear guard, he was very much surprised to 
 hear a prolonged and vigorous cannonade. In his anxiety 
 he urged on his Arab steed, with which few other horses 
 could keep up, and quickly found himself among a number 
 of wounded, who were retreating towards the ambulances. 
 Ajnongst them he recognised Colonel Eeynaud of the 
 15th regiment of the line, and stopped to ask him what 
 had happened, if his regiment had retreated, and under 
 what circumstances he had been wounded. Eeynaud, who 
 had been struck by a ball, replied that, tired of seeing his 
 regiment inactive under a decimating fire, he had ordered 
 it to advance and charge the enemy's guns in the hope of 
 carrying some of them, but that a trench he had not been 
 able to see had arrested the men, of whom he had lost 1,500 
 on its brink. He added : ' On the plateau of Friedland, 
 behind the position I had hoped to take, the enemy 
 has just massed an immense number of men, certainly 
 not less than 80,000.' The Emperor, still in error as to 
 the state of things, thought this account exaggerated, and 
 exclaimed, ' That is not true ! ' to which Eeynaud, irritated 
 at being disbeHeved, answered, ' Well, I swear by my head 
 that the numbers I have stated are there, and that 
 there will be hot work.' The Emperor's only reply was 
 
G4 MEMOIES OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 to dash his spurs into his Arab, which bounded furiously 
 forward, carrying its master into the very midst of the 
 sharpshooters. 
 
 The united corps of grenadiers under General Oudinot, 
 supported by General Grouchy's dragoons and General 
 Nansouty's cuirassiers, had been engaged since daybreak 
 opposite the village of Posthenen, by way of which the 
 Russians were endeavouring to debouch with a view to a 
 vigorous attack on us. Many charges of cavalry had 
 taken place on the flanks of this village, whilst our infantry 
 had been driven from it five or six times after taking 
 possession of it. From every one of these charges our 
 cuirassiers had brought back many prisoners, but the 
 enemy, still supposing they had but the small body of men 
 they could see to deal with, directed a furious cannonade 
 upon the place, whilst the main body of the French army 
 was rapidly gaining ground in the direction of Konigsberg 
 and had advanced nearly a league and a half beyond 
 Friedland. 
 
 Such was the state of things when the Emperor 
 arrived on the scene of battle. He now saw plainly 
 enough the formidable forces reported to him, and realised 
 what mighty issues were at stake. It was now past noon, 
 and having calculated the time required for the various 
 corps to get to the front, he fixed five o'clock as the time 
 for a general attack, and sent messengers in every direc- 
 tion with these orders. 
 
 At that time the whole army was drawn up in line ; 
 Marshal Ney on the right, Marshal Lannes in the centre, 
 Marshal Mortier on the left, and General Victor with the 
 reserve force. The entire force of Bennigsen was in 
 position opposite to them, in front of and on the right 
 and left of Friedland. 
 
BATTLE OF FJRIEDLAND 65 
 
 A salvoe of artillery gave the signal, and Marshal 
 Ney issued with his corps from the wood which had 
 hidden them from the enemy, and advanced upon the 
 Eussians in columns of divisions with shouldered arms 
 at a rapid pace. 
 
 Immediately a swarm of some five to six thousand 
 Cossacks, Kalmucks and Khirgesses and Bashkirs, cover- 
 ing a mass of regular cavalry, surrounded our infantry, 
 hoping to dismay them with their wild charges and yells. 
 But our dragoons advanced at a gallop, swept aside and 
 drove back this irregular cavalry, whilst General Victor 
 came up to protect the artillery of General Senarmont, 
 who was thundering at the enemy's lines from a battery of 
 thirty pieces, and Marshal Ney marching straight ahead 
 attacked and drove back with bayonet charges a consider- 
 able body of Eussians, driving men and horses into the 
 ravine and the river, where many of them were drowned. 
 
 Whilst this was going on on our right, Marshal Mortier 
 on the left charged the enemy in front of him and drove 
 it also back on Friedland, where the Eussians were now 
 massed in great numbers. 
 
 At the same time, with a concerted action no one but 
 the Emperor could have brought about. Marshal Lannes 
 with the Oudinot and Verdier divisions attacked the 
 centre of the Eussians concentrated at Friedland, and 
 drove them back, in spite of charge after charge of their 
 cavalry, which with reckless bravery endeavoured in vain 
 to check the advance of our columns. 
 
 Marshal Ney, having quickly destroyed the forces which 
 had opposed him, now approached Friedland by his left 
 and attempted to enter it. The Eussian guard, infantry 
 and cavalry together, rushed to oppose his movement, and 
 for a moment threw the Marshal's troops into confusion, 
 
 VOL. I. ^ 
 
66 JIEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 making them lose ground. But Marshal Dupont saw 
 what was going on, attacked the Eussian guard in the 
 rear, and drove it back. With scarcely room to move 
 in the narrow ravines by which they endeavoured to 
 I'etreat, nearly all the men of the guard fell in a general 
 massacre, and their generals Pahlen and Markof were 
 killed. 
 
 All the Eussian forces on the right of Friedland were 
 driven back by Marshals Lannes and Mortier, and forced 
 to retreat by way of th-e difficult fords of the Alle. Great 
 numbers were drowned, and quantities of artillery and 
 baggage were left embedded in the mud. Every house in 
 the little town of Friedland was crowded with wounded 
 Eussians, and the reserve forces of the enemy made super- 
 human efforts to prevent our entering it. But we ad- 
 vanced all the same, and the fighting went on in the 
 streets, which became literally choked with the bodies of 
 men and horses killed by shot or bayonet. At last as the 
 sun went down the French found themselves masters of 
 the town, and with no more enemies to repulse. They 
 were able to take breath once more, and their repose was 
 broken only by an occasional discharge from the cannon 
 on the heights of the right bank of the Alle, and by the 
 hunger and thirst they could not satisfy. 
 
 It was just at the end of this glorious day that I 
 arrived panting for breath with the good news of the 
 approaching fall of Colberg. The Emperor and Prince 
 Berthier were just dismounting near the town when I 
 came up to them. I had no sooner begun to tell of my 
 having taken the outlying fort of Colberg by assault, than 
 the Emperor interrupted me, saying with a bright and 
 friendly smile, ' I too have taken my village of Colberg to- 
 day, and everything else which checked my advance. Fried- 
 
I FIND MY BROTHER 67 
 
 land is worth Austerlitz, Jena, and Marengo, the anniver- 
 sary of which I celebrate to-day ! That will do now ; go 
 and rest. I have got to work ! ' 
 
 I went off to find my comrades, who were bivouacking 
 in a field of wheat, our men taking the straw to feed the 
 horses. I flung myself down beside them, and they told 
 me all that had happened that day and how my young 
 brother, a second-lieutenant in a picked corps, had been 
 wounded in the morning. I went off to find him, but 
 could not do so for several days. At last, however, I 
 came upon him in a chS,teau to which he had retired, and 
 where he was being carefully nursed by five or six pretty 
 women. A ball had wounded him in the leg, but without 
 fracturing the bone, and he recovered well and rapidly. It 
 was with great regret that he left his kind hosts at 
 the end of the campaign, after the signing of the Peace 
 of Tilsit, when I went to fetch him and to take him to 
 Paris as a convalescent. It was not quite six months 
 before the battle of Friedland that I had fetched him in 
 my carriage from the military college at Pontainebleau, and 
 taken him to join his regiment at Jena. When we parted 
 I said as I embraced him, ' I wish you three things — a 
 wound, advancement, and the cross of honour.' A few 
 days after Friedland all these wishes were accomplished, 
 for the young soldier was raised to the rank of lieutenant, 
 and General Oudinot, who had noted his brave bearing 
 in the battle, gave him the cross of honour, then a very 
 rarely granted recompense. I had the pleasure to gain 
 for him in addition to all this six months' leave of absence, 
 which he passed at home with me. 
 
 But I must return to the Imperial head quarters at 
 Friedland. Some 18,000 Eussian corpses encumbered 
 the ground round the Emperor's bivouac, with more 
 
 F 2 
 
68 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 dead horses than I had ever seen elsewhere, for the 
 enemy's cavalry had suffered terribly. 
 
 On June 15 the pursuit of the enemy v^as continued, 
 and we entered Vehlau, where the Germans, men and 
 women alike, freed from the yoke of the Russians, who 
 had treated them badly, received us with open arms. In 
 their retreat the Russians everywhere set fire to their 
 magazines, and cut or burnt the bridges. Reaching the 
 Pregel on the 16th, we found the bridges all burnt, and the 
 Emperor had several new ones thrown across the river. 
 The same day the Russians abandoned Konigsberg, leaving 
 that fine city crowded with wounded and with stores of 
 weapons and provisions of all kinds. Marshal Soult esta- 
 blished himself there with his corps, whilst Prince Murat 
 continued the pursuit of the retreating army. Every day 
 a skirmish took place with the Russians, and the Prince 
 secured 5,000 prisoners with seventeen cannon, making his 
 entry into Tilsit on the 19th, in spite of the opposition of 
 a swarm of Kalmucks and Tartars, who discharged their 
 arrows with considerable skill to the accompaniment of 
 piercing yells. The nomad cavalry then galloped over the 
 wooden bridge of Tilsit, and hastily set fire to it. 
 
 The Emperor and his staff entered Tilsit on the after- 
 noon of the 19th. The enemy had not had time to do much 
 mischief, and in the farms and homesteads on the fertile 
 borders of the Niemen we found plenty of the forage for 
 the horses and provisions for the men of which our army 
 was in such urgent need. 
 
 After sustaining in a few days such heavy losses, the 
 Emperor Alexander realised the necessity of putting an 
 end to the disastrous war by making peace, and he sent one 
 of his generals, Prince Labanoff, to Marshal Berthier to 
 propose an armistice. The Emperor at once granted an 
 
MEETING OF THE EMPEEORS AT TILSIT 69 
 
 audience to the Eussian Plenipotentiary, receiving him in 
 a most friendly manner, and the preliminaries of peace 
 were ready for signature on the 21st.' 
 
 The day after we learnt that the Emperors Alexander 
 and Napoleon proposed meeting in a boat on the Niemen 
 between the two armies, to talk over the final terms of 
 peace. General Lariboisiere, commander of the French 
 artillery, at once ordered a huge raft to be made, on which 
 a beautiful pavilion was to be erected for the reception 
 of the two Emperors. Whilst awaiting the interview. 
 Napoleon occupied himself in reviewing the troops, re- 
 organising them, and disposing them so as to make them 
 present as good an appearance as if they had not suffered 
 at all in their arduous campaign. He was very much 
 aided in this by the fine condition of his Guard, which had 
 not been into action since the battle of Eylau, and looked 
 as well in the camp at Tilsit as ever they did in a parade 
 at Paris. 
 
 At noon on June 25, 1809, the banks on either side of 
 the river were covered with immense crowds, presenting a 
 most picturesque appearance. On the Eussian side were 
 the soldiers from the Caucasus and the Don, with their 
 bows and arrows, their lances and their barbaric armour, 
 whilst on the other the French warriors in their gleaming 
 uniforms were picturesquely grouped in the careless dis- 
 order of times of peace, on roofs, trees, and every point 
 of vantage on the banks of the Niemen. 
 
 At half-past twelve two boats draped with flags, one 
 bearing the white ensign of the Emperor of Eussia with 
 its double-headed black eagle, the other the national 
 flag of France, left the banks at the same moment and 
 approached the raft. As they alighted on it the Emperors 
 > Tilsit was declared neutral during the subsequent negotiations.-TEANS. 
 
70 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 cordially shook hands and passed into the tent prepared 
 for them, round which were stationed a number of Russian 
 and French sentinels. 
 
 The interview between the monarqhs lasted two hours, 
 during which I remained standing in a little boat which I 
 had so placed as to command the best possible general 
 view of the memorable scene and of the banks crowded 
 with spectators on either side of the beautiful river. I 
 made a sketch of it all, which was afterwards engraved ; 
 and when the Emperor left the raft at the end of the 
 two hours I was allowed to go on board. My friend 
 Bontemps reverently took possession of the pens and 
 writing-case used in signing the treaty which was to 
 secure peace to Europe for many happy years. If what 
 M. de Talleyrand, Prince of Benevento, wrote to me in 1817 
 is still true, these three precious relics connected with the 
 memory of an event of such importance must have very 
 greatly deteriorated in value. I knew that the Prince's 
 large fortune had been acquired under the Empire, so I 
 begged him to give his support to the authors of an 
 historical work on our campaigns and victories. He 
 replied, 'Victories are only interesting as long as the 
 advantages they procured are retained ; the results of the 
 work of the Empire no longer exist, and they cease to be 
 remembered as politics change. I cannot help those on 
 whose behalf you appeal to me.' 
 
 On June 26 the two Emperors met again on the 
 Niemen, and directly afterwards the Emperor Alexander 
 took up his residence in Tilsit, where he was treated with 
 all possible honour and consideration. On the 27th we 
 witnessed the arrival of the venerable Marshal Kalkreuth, 
 who had so heroically defended Dantzig. The King of 
 Prussia and the Grand Duke Constantine arrived the next 
 
ARRIVAL OF THE QUEEN OF PRUSSIA 71 
 
 day. We helped to do honour to all these royal visitors, 
 and the time was fully occupied with fStes, brilliant 
 parades, and dinners, washed down with plenty of punch. 
 The Grand Duke Constantine had the square features of a 
 Kalmuck, and resembled his father Paul I., whom I had 
 seen at Strasburg when I was a child, but he had a fine 
 figure, held himself well, and his courage in mounting the 
 wildest horses was only equalled by his extraordinary skill in 
 controlhng them. He delighted in showing off his skill 
 to us in the slippery streets of Tilsit, where the dangers 
 of these hazardous feats were, of course, greatly increased. 
 Another equally remarkable sight, and one we often went 
 to see, was that of the encampments on the right bank of 
 the Niemen of the wild hordes from the North. We liked 
 to study their customs, their quaint flat features, and their 
 Oriental costumes, to listen to their songs, and watch 
 their skill with their bows and arrows, giving prizes to the 
 best marksmen. Their arrows would pierce an apple at 
 a distance of a hundred yards more often than our pistol 
 shots could hit a button at twenty-five. I made sketches of 
 a good many of these Tartars, Kalmucks, and Khirgesses. 
 
 In the midst of these warlike recreations the young, 
 beautiful, and graceful Queen of Prussia' arrived, and 
 the feminine attractions at Tilsit now made us all more 
 polite than ever, so that for some days the town wore the 
 aspect of a Court. 
 
 Meanwhile the Emperor had quitted Tilsit and was on 
 his way to Paris, whither I followed him in the suite of 
 Marshal Berthier. 
 
 ' The Queen of Prussia, though she hated Napoleon for the mischief he 
 had done to her country, did her very utmost to mollify him at Tilsit, and is 
 said, when the French Emperor admired a rose she was wearing, to have 
 asked him if he would give her Magdeburg in exchange for it. See the 
 Marbot Memoirs, vol. i. pp. 286 and 287 — Teans. 
 
72 MEMOIRS OF BAROX LE.TEUNE 
 
 CHAPTBE V 
 
 FROM POLAND TO SPAIN — BURGOS — VOYAGE TO 
 HAMBURG — THE SOMO-SIEBRA — MADRID 
 
 The enthusiasm with which we were received in Paris 
 on our arrival there fifteen days after the Emperor can 
 be imagined. Our time was passed in fetes and rejoicings, 
 and many thanksgiving services were held, including the 
 chanting of a solemn Te Deum with appropriate ceremony 
 in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame on the Emperor's birth- 
 day (August 16, 1809). 
 
 Marshal Berthier was raised to the dignity of Vice- 
 Constable of the Empire, and my share in the rewards 
 given was a ribbon and a sum of money. Probably now 
 (1845) I should have been made a Marshal of France for 
 the same services. 
 
 I resumed my painting with a happy heart, and had a 
 good many of my pictures engraved. 
 
 I had scarcely got to Paris, however, before I received 
 orders from the Emperor to go to Dantzig and Warsaw to 
 examine the army on the Vistula, and return to report on 
 its condition. Then when I got back once more to Paris 
 I had to start off again with my horses and carriages for 
 Burgos in Spain. 
 
 I passed rapidly from the cold dreary and sandy flats 
 of Poland to the beautiful country of Spain, where beneath 
 the warm sunshine of the South fresh verdure and sweet- 
 
ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME OF THE FRENCH IN SPAIN 73 
 
 smelling flowers flourish even on the slopes of the lofty 
 mountains. 
 
 The troops of the Emperor had been received as friends 
 throughout the Peninsula, and nov? occupied Pampeluna, 
 Burgos, Madrid, Cordova, and Barcelona. In Portugal 
 Junot held Lisbon in place of the Princes of the Eoyal 
 Family of Braganza, who had embarked for Brazil. 
 Everywhere our soldiers were welcomed as liberators, and 
 all along my route I found towns, villages, and even 
 isolated houses prepared to celebrate the expected arrival 
 of the Emperor. On every road laurel branches had been 
 cut down to form triumphal arches beneath which the 
 Emperor of Europe, the redresser of the grievances of the 
 people, was to pass. My comrades and I, who had come 
 to announce his approach, came in for some of the 
 enthusiasm which his presence was later to arouse. 
 
 The Spaniards had long been discontented at the posi- 
 tion occupied by Manuel de Godoy, surnamed the Prince of 
 the Peace,' who had risen from the ranks to the position 
 of Prime Minister, and was now absolute master of 
 Spain. 
 
 Our troops had been welcomed in Spain itself ; Spanish 
 sailors had shed their blood in our service at Trafalgar ; a 
 Spanish army, under the Marquis de la Eomafia, had 
 fought side by side with the French in the remote districts 
 of Germany, and the loyal populace, who now received us 
 as if we were their brothers, impatiently awaited the day 
 when the Emperor should arrive at Madrid. They hoped 
 that he would remove the hated minister and restore the 
 royal authority to Charles IV. or place it in the hands of 
 
 ' So named on aeoount of tlie share he took in the Treaty of Basel in 
 1795. This Godoy was practically King of Spain, the Queen being entirely 
 under his influence, whilst the King was a mere cipher.— Teans. 
 
/4 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 his son Ferdinand, Prince of Asturias, who was unfortu- 
 nately on very bad terms with his father. 
 
 The friends of the Prince of Asturias took advantage 
 of the family dissensions to prepare an emeute against the 
 Minister, Don Godoy, who, defended though he was by the 
 royal carabineers, was to be assassinated and burnt in his 
 palace. In the struggle the King was compelled to abdi- 
 cate in favour of his son, but the very same day he vsnrote 
 to the Emperor protesting against this forced resignation 
 of his throne and asking him to become the arbiter of 
 his fate. 
 
 The Emperor received the news at Bayonne, and sum- 
 moned the Prince of Asturias before him to give an 
 account of his conduct. About the same time a rumour 
 began to spread amongst us that the Emperor meant to 
 place the crown of Spain on the head of one of his own 
 brothers or generals, and the event proved that the rumour 
 was not without foundation. 
 
 The Emperor, however, was still hesitating, when 
 Talleyrand said to him on April 24, 1808, ' What policy 
 suggests, justice authorises.' Needless to say the Spanish 
 did not agree with him. 
 
 Murat was now at Madrid at the head of an army, 
 and in compliance with the wish of the Emperor he lost 
 no time in urging the Prince of Asturias to go to 
 Bayonne. 
 
 That prince having taken the title of King of Spain 
 after the revolution of Aranjuez, set off accompanied by 
 a hundred men belonging to his father's bodyguard, to 
 which an escort so strong had been added that I could not 
 help suspecting that he was to be taken prisoner.' An 
 
 ' Lejeune was right. The Prince would gladly have turned back but 
 for his French escort Trans. 
 
THE PRINCE OF ASTURIAS A PRISONER 75 
 
 officer who was a friend of mine went on in advance, 
 taking with him back to France the sword of Francis I. 
 He had received certain confidential instructions, and the 
 grief he manifested at their tenor confirmed me in the 
 opinion I had formed as to the false and cruel position in 
 which we were soon to find ourselves. 
 
 I had the honour of saluting the Prince of Asturias as 
 he rode through Burgos surrounded by his guards and 
 preceded and followed by strong detachments of French 
 cavalry. I was sorely tempted to give him a private hint 
 to escape and not to go to Bayonne, but to save a prince 
 who inspired me with very little personal interest I should 
 have had to betray the Emperor. The situation was very 
 grave, and with deep regret I confined myself to my nar- 
 row round of duties, leaving wider issues in the hands of 
 Providence. 
 
 On his arrival at Vittoria the Prince began to suspect 
 the trap prepared for him, and under various pretexts put 
 off his departure. But the task of taking him to Bayonne 
 had been confided to a man who knew what he was about, 
 and when the unlucky Prince realised the impossibility of 
 escaping from his escort, he allowed himself to be led 
 whither they would without resistance. Those Frenchmen 
 who had any foresight and who were without unworthy 
 ambition shuddered at the way in which a loyal nation 
 was about to be treated, whilst others who hoped for profit 
 to themselves applauded the measures about to be taken, 
 which, moreover, they were told were necessary for the 
 regeneration of an effete race of monarchs no longer equal 
 to the task of government. 
 
 About the same time a scene took place at Pampeluna, 
 serious enough in its bearing yet also amusing, which did 
 much to open the eyes of the Spanish to the nature of the 
 
76 MEMOIRS OF BAKON LEJEUNE 
 
 protection they were to receive from the French armies 
 they had welcomed so cordially. 
 
 General Darmagnac, with several French regiments, 
 had been received in the town of Pampeluna, but the 
 citadel was still occupied by Spaniards, when the French 
 general, inspired by secret orders, sought about for some 
 means of surprising the garrison. 
 
 For several days the country had been covered with 
 snow, and our soldiers amused themselves with pelting 
 each other with snowballs upon the glacis of the fort. 
 The Spanish soldiers looking down from their lofty ram- 
 parts took a lively interest in the sport, and Darmagnac, 
 hearing of this, turned it very cleverly to account. He 
 increased the number of combatants and passed the word 
 to them. Amidst shouts of laughter the first assailants 
 were covered with a hail of pellets of snow and forced to 
 retreat. They could only escape by taking refuge in the 
 citadel, and the friendly Spaniards hurled all the snow 
 from the parapets on to the victors and received the de- 
 feated vdthin their gates and in their casemates, gaily 
 helping to prolong the struggle. But the aim of the 
 French had been achieved : the gates had been stormed, 
 and the French battalion, bringing out their hidden wea- 
 pons, took possession of the citadel, and set to work to 
 insure its retention. 
 
 King Charles IV. and his Queen soon followed their 
 son and betook themselves to Bayonne, receiving every 
 possible honour all along their route. On their arrival 
 the Prince of Asturias, with those of the Spanish nobles 
 assembled at Bayonne, hastened to do them homage, but 
 the King waved them back, saying in a severe tone, ' Have 
 you not outraged my white hairs enough ? ' on which they 
 all retired covered with confusion. 
 
THE SPANISH RISE AGAINST US 77 
 
 The Emperor and Empress lost no time in calling 
 upon their august visitors, and after the first compliments 
 had been exchanged, the old King and Queen with true 
 Spanish prolixity treated the Emperor to a long account 
 of the ingratitude of their son and all the insults he had 
 heaped on them during the last month. After listening 
 to the long explanations the Emperor refused to recognise 
 the abdication of Charles IV. and restored to him his 
 royal prerogatives.' This decision irritated the people of 
 Madrid, who were very proud of the victory they had won 
 at Aranjuez on March 19, when they had dethroned their 
 king.^ They refused to recognise his authority, and the 
 French were often insulted. Hostile gatherings became 
 daily more numerous and menacing, and at last on May 2 
 our of&cers and men were attacked in the streets, and the 
 Grand Duke of Berg caused the assembly to be beaten. 
 The Erench garrison rushed out and attacked the rebels. 
 The enemy had already taken possession of the arsenal, 
 where they seized 10,000 muskets, but our musketry 
 fire, with the discharge of grape shot from our guns, and 
 the charges of our cavalry, dispersed their numerous 
 gatherings. They then went into the houses to aim at us 
 from the windows, but our soldiers forced open the doors 
 and 2,000 mutineers perished at the point of the bayonet. 
 The armed peasants who flocked in from the country to 
 take part in the revolt were pursued by our cavalry, who 
 cut down and killed a great number. The Spanish troops 
 took absolutely no part in the 'rising of the people, and 
 order was soon restored. 
 
 > In name only ; he was never allowed to exercise power again.— Teans. 
 
 ' For a very able account of the events preceding the giving of the crown 
 of Spain to Napoleon's brother see the Marbot Memoirs, vol. i. chaps, xxxv. 
 and xxxvi. — Tkans. 
 
78 MEMOmS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 Very much the same thing happened at Burgos, where 
 I was on the same day, and the results were exactly 
 similar. I was just going to make a sketch, on the Arlan- 
 son Quay, of the beautiful bas-relief on the gate of the 
 bridge, when I heard the cry, ' Death to the French ! ' and 
 several musket shots. 
 
 I ran as fast as I could to the guard in the Plaza Mayor, 
 where our troops were under arms and ready for battle. 
 It was the same with the rest of the French soldiers in 
 the town, and, sudden as was the attack of the conspira- 
 tors, they did not succeed in surprising or taking a single 
 one of our posts. 
 
 We lost a few men from cross shots, but the shots fired 
 by the compact crowd, which charged us at a run, ex- 
 hausted their ammunition and left them disarmed, whilst 
 our repeated orderly discharges at close quarters soon 
 swept the place clear of our assailants. Marshal Berthier, 
 with troops hastily called out, hurried to our assistance. 
 The whole affair lasted but one hour, and order and dis- 
 cipline were everywhere completely restored. I must do 
 the people of Burgos the justice to add that not a single 
 assassination took place on this occasion. 
 
 After the events of May 2, the Grand Duke of Berg 
 established a junta at Madrid for the management of 
 affairs, and he was recognised as its head with the title of 
 Lieutenant- General of the kingdom. On this eventful 
 day he had saved the life of Don Godoy, Prince of the 
 Peace, when the people had tried to burn him in the palace 
 in which he had been compelled to take refuge. A few 
 days later the Grand Duke sent Don Godoy to Bayonne 
 in safety. If the Emperor had had the wisdom to prevent 
 the rising of May 2, and had constituted himself judge of 
 the misdeeds with which the Prince of the Peace was 
 
I AM SENT FOE BY THE EMPEROR 79 
 
 charged, and after condemning him had allowed him to 
 escape, he would have met the wishes of the people of 
 Spain ; and, whilst leaving to them their own princes, he 
 would have gained all he really wanted in their country. 
 The conduct of the Emperor under the circumstances 
 seemed to be altogether opposed to his usual able pohcy. 
 The events which had occurred caused universal uneasi- 
 ness, and I remember that my friends Alfred de Noailles 
 and Ferreri, who lived with me, talked a great deal about 
 how these things would affect France. 
 
 There was very great excitement in Spain, and we at 
 Burgos were eager for news from Bayonne. One day we 
 heard that Ferdinand VII., the Prince of Asturias, had 
 been sent as a prisoner to Valencia, the next that the King 
 and Queen of Spain with the Prince of the Peace were on 
 their way to Fontainebleau. A little later I received 
 orders to join the Emperor immediately. 
 
 I started at once at full speed, and in twenty- 
 three hours I had done the 110 leagues between Burgos 
 and Bayonne. Directly I arrived Berthier took me to 
 the Emperor, who said to me, ' I know you are fond 
 of Bernadotte, and I have chosen you to take him some 
 news which will please him. In consequence of the 
 disputes between the King and Queen of Spain and their 
 son, I have accepted their abdication of the throne in 
 favour of my brother Joseph, King of Naples ; go and tell 
 Bernadotte, who is his father-in-law, he will be gratified. 
 You will tell the Marquis de la Eomana and the troops 
 under his orders the same thing, and add that in my 
 brother they will have a king who, by his attention to 
 their wishes and care for their success and glory, will 
 merit their affection. In fact, tell them all the good 
 things I think about my brother. Go and rest for an 
 
80 MEMOIKS OF BARON LEJEUXE 
 
 hour, and then start again. Berthier will give you the 
 despatches.' 
 
 One hour of rest ! Not much surely for a man who 
 had just arrived from such a journey as mine. But never 
 mind, I could have a swim in the Adour, and snatch a 
 hasty meal. That would be enough to freshen me up, 
 and there would just be time whilst the light carriage was 
 being got ready in which I was to be shut up for eight 
 days and nights on my way from Bayonne to the remote 
 districts of Jutland, then occupied by the troops under 
 Bernadotte. 
 
 I passed through Paris, Brussels, and Hanover, stopped 
 at Hamburg to see the French Minister, M. de Bourrienne, 
 who had heard nothing as yet of the events which had 
 taken place at Bayonne, and who made me promise to 
 call on him again on my way back. I pressed on by way 
 of Holstein, and beyond Schleswig, where I found Marshal 
 Bernadotte. 
 
 That officer did me the honour to receive me as an old 
 friend, and after celebrating my arrival and the news I 
 brought him by a fete, he allowed me to pursue my way 
 to the Marquis de la Komaha, whom I found at Viborg in 
 the midst of the encampment of the 10,000 Spaniards 
 under his command. The very cold reception he gave to 
 the tidings I brought from Bayonne left me in no doubt as 
 to his feelings with regard to them ; but for all that, after 
 asking me a great many questions on the subject of what 
 I had recently seen in Spain, and about which he really 
 seemed as well informed as I was, he called his officers 
 together to tell me before them and in their name that, 
 however great might be their regret at losing the princes 
 whom they had been taught to love from their childhood, 
 they would be no less faithful to the new king, and then 
 
1 AM THE BEARER OF UNWELCOME NEWS 81 
 
 begged me to convey to him the assurance of their respect- 
 ful homage. 
 
 In the conversations which succeeded this interview, 
 many officers expressed their satisfaction at the prospect 
 of serving a king who would probably be as much beloved 
 at Madrid as at Naples, where he was adored ; others, on 
 the contrary, were evidently depressed and hid their real 
 feelings under an assumed demeanour. I felt it would be 
 prudent to avoid discussion as much as possible, and I left 
 them with an assurance that the Emperor would appreciate 
 their noble services, and that he would be happy to treat 
 them with as much affection as if they had originally been 
 his subjects. 
 
 Bernadotte gave two charming fetes in my honour on 
 the Schleswig lakes, reassured me as to the loyalty of the 
 Spaniards, in which he firmly believed, told me to con- 
 gratulate his brother from him and to ask the Emperor 
 to recall him from the North, where he felt the cold very 
 much, and to summon him to the South, where he would 
 be delighted to serve him. He loaded my carriage with 
 valuable presents, and at last allowed me to take my 
 leave. 
 
 At Hamburg, M. de Bourrienne also feted me. I had 
 sent my carriage on to Altona so as to rejoin the Minister 
 without loss of time. After the fete I was escorted by 
 the guests to the shore, near to which the boat belonging 
 to the French Consulate, with sails set, flags flying, and 
 rowers in their places, was waiting to take me out of the 
 Elbe. 
 
 M. de Bourrienne, taking me aside just before I started, 
 confided to me his discontent with the position in which 
 he found himself, letting me see how very keenly he felt 
 the Emperor's constant refusal to meet his wishes. I saw 
 
 VOL. I. *G 
 
82 MEMOmS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 how very much he had the matter at heart, and promised 
 to plead his cause with the Emperor. I made my adieux 
 to the company present, and as my boat moved away I 
 waved my handkerchief in response to the friendly gestures 
 of those I was leaving. 
 
 Back again in my carriage, which I found at Altona, 
 1 had plenty of food for reflection in all I had seen and 
 heard. I thought of the dreary country I was leaving, of 
 which commerce alone relieves the monotony, though the 
 chief roads naturally open to it are closed by the vigilance 
 of the customs officers. I thought of the Elbe, once 
 crowded with a forest of masts, which is now deserted and 
 where not a single vessel is ever seen to arrive ; I pondered 
 on the ingenuity with which contraband goods were in- 
 troduced, and the rigour of the blockade evaded, and 
 remembered with amusement a scene I had witnessed the 
 day before at Hamburg, where I had scarcely been able to 
 get to the gate through the dense crowd assembled there, 
 attracted by a spectacle which was curious enough. For 
 some little time the octroi officers had been quite distressed 
 by the mortality which apparently prevailed in the town, 
 for every day numbers of victims were carried out to be 
 buried in the cemetery beyond the walls. Funerals 
 succeeded each other with the most alarming rapidity, till 
 one day an officer of the octroi happened to put to his 
 lips a probe he had plunged into one of the many cart- 
 loads of sand daily brought into the town to be used in 
 building. The probe tasted sweet, and it was discovered 
 that the contents of the cart were really brown sugar with 
 a sprinkling of sand at the top. This roused the man's 
 suspicions ; he was put thoroughly on his guard, and 
 searched the contents of the next hearses which passed 
 back from the cemetery. They were all full of sugar and 
 
THE SPANISH TURN AGAINST THE FRENCH 83 
 
 calico ! The crowd laughed and applauded when the 
 discovery was made, but all the same they were very sorry 
 that their trade had received such a check, for the ingenious 
 device had brought them not a little prosperity without 
 really costing the life of a single citizen of Hamburg. 
 
 I again passed through Paris and pushed on for 
 Bayonne. I went straight to the Emperor on my arrival 
 to give him an account of my mission, and he questioned 
 me about the mood the Spaniards were in when I left. 
 He then said, ' And what is Bourrienne doing ? ' I 
 described the farewell ceremony before I left Hamburg, 
 and fulfilled my promise to the French Minister by putting 
 his case before the Emperor. He listened with interest 
 and replied, ' I like Bourrienne very much, but you must 
 tell him how much I regret having to refuse his request," 
 and in this refusal the Emperor persisted. 
 
 During my absence things had taken a very unlucky 
 turn in Spain. The triumphal arches put up in honour- 
 of the Liberator had been torn down by the enraged 
 people, and the Emperor, defeated in his object, had to^ 
 prepare for the reconquest of the Peninsula by force of 
 arms. He found Spain in fact neither so docile nor so 
 rich as it had appeared when her people had turned to. 
 him with confidence, admiration, and affection. 
 
 On every side the Spanish were turning against the 
 French army. The clergy of the chief churches of 
 Seville, Valencia, Valladolid, and Saragossa were trying to- 
 arouse the patriotic zeal of the people, and the blood of 
 our countrymen was being shed in every provincial town., 
 
 The catastrophe of Baylen ^ had taken place, and the 
 news of it reached Madrid the very day King Joseph 
 
 ' This refers to the capitulation of General Dupont with 10,000 men in, 
 the pass of Baylen in the Sierra Morena. — Teans. 
 
84 MEilOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 made his entry. The same tidings came to the camp 
 outside Valencia just as Marshal Moncey was expecting 
 the arrival of his heavy guns to commence the siege, and 
 it revived the courage of the defenders of Saragossa. 
 
 "Under this melancholy conjunction of circumstances 
 the King found it prudent to leave Madrid on August 1 and 
 withdraw to Burgos, whilst Marshal Moncey, abandoning 
 the idea of taking Valencia, withdrew to Catalonia with 
 his army, taking with him fifty pieces of cannon he had 
 captured. Meanwhile Lefebvre-Desnouettes, not having 
 troops enough to occupy Saragossa, raised the siege. 
 
 These various successes inflamed the ardour of the 
 Spanish nation, and on every side regular armies were 
 formed and bands of guerrillas were raised, rendering our 
 communications very difficult. England took the most 
 extraordinary interest in promoting the war, making the 
 greatest sacrifices in the Spanish cause, sending over 
 generals, men, arms, and money. The English advances 
 made to the Marquis de la Eomana in Denmark had been 
 not without success, and that general, whilst pretending 
 to Bernadotte that he was still faithful to us, embarked 
 as many of his officers and men as he could win over on 
 a number of English vessels and shortly afterwards landed 
 them at Corufia. 
 
 It was at this juncture that the meeting at Erfurt ' 
 took place. The Emperor of Eussia was really passion- 
 ately attached to Napoleon. He sincerely admired the 
 Erench Emperor's genius and all the grand successes he 
 had recently achieved. One evening Alexander was chat- 
 ting enthusiastically about his friend to Count Daru, 
 
 ' Between Napoleon, the Emperor of Eussia, and several German 
 princes Teaks. 
 
ENTRV OF NAPOLEON INTO SPAIN 8-> 
 
 whom he, however, asked to explain why Napoleon had 
 created an order of nobility in France when he had been 
 so fortunate as not to find one about the throne when he 
 had ascended it. The Eussian Emperor was no doubt think- 
 ing how the Eussian nobility, held as they are in slavish 
 servility, often revenge themselves, as is the way of slaves, 
 by murdering their master. He knew how many of the 
 Czars had been assassinated, and the fate of his own father 
 Paul I. was no doubt present in his mind. With no 
 presentiment of the doom he was to meet himself ten 
 years later, the Emperor in this conversation tsrlked of the 
 institution of an order of nobility rather as a menace to 
 than a support of the throne, and of all the deeds of 
 Napoleon this creation of a nobility was the only one of 
 which he did not recognise the utility. 
 
 The troops in Germany, set free by the restoration of 
 peace in the North, crossed France and the Pyrenees on 
 their way to Spain, receiving everywhere a regular ovation, 
 f^tes and banquets being held, and songs composed in their 
 honour, till they became perfectly intoxicated with enthu- 
 siasm. Our seasoned disciplined warriors, led by skilful 
 chiefs, were now to begin a fresh struggle, this time with 
 a brave nation imbued with love of independence. 
 
 The French troops poured in in great numbers, crossed 
 the Bidassoa in good order, and pushed on for Galicia, 
 Castille, and Aragon in advance of the Emperor, who 
 arrived at the same time at Bayonne and lost not a 
 moment in following the army to Spain. 
 
 My entry into Irun in the suite of the Emperor was a 
 very different thing from my arrival there the first time, 
 when I believed I was heralding his approach. Then the 
 Alcalde and corregidors had come to meet me, and 
 conducted me to the best quarters in the town, where 
 
86 MEMOIRS OF BAROX LEJEUNE 
 
 they had given me an excellent meal and placed a very 
 ■comfortable bed at my disposal, after pointing out the 
 hotel and triumphal arch prepared for the Emperor. 
 This time I found myself at eleven o'clock on a pitch-dark 
 night, entering a tovv^n encumbered with troops, where I 
 •could get neither food nor shelter for myself, forage nor 
 stabling for my horses, and where daybreak revealed to 
 me the fact that the couch, which after all had not been 
 a hard one, on which I had snatched a little repose during 
 the night, was nothing more or less than a heap of dried 
 dung, such as is painfully collected by the Spanish 
 peasants with which to manure a few square feet of 
 soil. 
 
 In his advance upon Madrid, the Emperor's first care 
 was to attack the troops which harassed his march on 
 either flank, so as to leave no enemy in the rear. 
 
 When we re-entered Burgos on November 20, our 
 friends were all gone, called to the war or dispersed by 
 terror, and the town, which had been pillaged after the 
 battle, was still in the most terrible disorder. The 
 Emperor only stopped two days, and the Imperial head 
 quarters were transferred to Lerma on the 22nd, and on 
 the 23rd to Aranda. Whatever may have been the con- 
 sideration shown by our advanced guard for the inoffensive 
 inhabitants of the towns we passed through, they all fled 
 before us, fearing reprisals for the assassinations of which 
 some of them had been guilty, and abandoning to us their 
 houses, convents, and churches, which had, however, 
 already been broken into and pillaged. These buildings, 
 deserted as they were, offered irresistible temptation to 
 the cupidity of our soldiers, and, in spite of the severe 
 punishments inflicted by their officers, every inch of them 
 was ransacked from the chapels to the crypts, the very 
 
IN THE SOMO-SIEKKA PASS 87 
 
 tombs being rifled, and all that could be removed carried 
 off. 
 
 When we halted at Aranda, the Emperor wished to 
 leave the enemy in doubt as to which route he would 
 take for Madrid, and with this end in view he divided his 
 forces, one half going by way of the Guadarrama and the 
 other by the pass of the Somo-Sierra. The latter was the 
 shorter way, but much easier to defend on account of the 
 narrowness of the mountain defile. It would therefore 
 most likely be guarded by a smaller number of troops than 
 the other route, and on this account the Emperor decided 
 on it. 
 
 On the 29th the Emperor and his suite had esta- 
 blished their head quarters at the base of the Somo- 
 Sierra, where they were joined by Marshal Victor, who at 
 once led his troops into the pass through a fog so dense 
 that they could not see two paces before them. In spite 
 of this the Marshal made his men climb into the forests on 
 either side of the main road, the enemy having occupied 
 the summits, where they considered themselves impreg- 
 nable behind the deep excavations they had made. General 
 Bertrand, one of the aides-de-camp of the Emperor, had 
 instructions to repair the road and render it practicable 
 for our cavalry and artillery. Napoleon, however, im- 
 patient at the delay caused by the necessary work, told 
 me to push a reconnaissance into the mountain till I came 
 upon the enemy, when I was to return and report as to 
 their numbers and position. I soon came up with General 
 Bertrand, who had not yet completed his task, and then 
 pressed on by a rapid ascent. I had traversed about a 
 couple of miles without seeing any one, when a Pole who 
 was one of my party made me a sign that he could hear 
 the Spaniards talking. 
 
88 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 I dismounted at once, gave him my horse to hold, and 
 crept noiselessly forward till I was arrested by the sound 
 of falling earth, behind which a number of people were 
 talking Spanish. I then turned aside and walked along 
 the edge of the road to try and find out the extent of the 
 entrenchment, which seemed to me to contain some 
 twelve or fifteen guns. After having reconnoitred the 
 position so far as was possible in the dense fog, I was 
 returning down the mountain to my horse, when, after 
 taking some five or six steps, I suddenly found myself 
 face to face with a battalion silently advancing upon 
 me. Although quite close to the men, the fog was so 
 thick that I at first took them for a French corps, and I 
 said to the officer marching at their head, ' You had better 
 not advance in this direction. There is a ravine you 
 cannot cross.' At the words the whole column took aim 
 at me, and I shouted as I came nearer, ' Do not fire ! Do 
 not fire ! I am French ! ' At that very instant I dis- 
 covered my error, for it was a Spanish corps climbing up 
 from the base of the mountain. My position was indeed 
 critical, and I hastened to call out in Spanish, ' Do not 
 fire ! do not fire ! I have three regiments here which will 
 cut you to pieces ; the best thing you can do is to sur- 
 render to me who can do you no harm.' 
 
 The Spaniards seemed uncertain what to do, and 
 hesitated, whether because they were afraid of firing on 
 their own people, or believed in the three regiments I had 
 referred to I don't know, but they quickly dispersed on 
 the left and disappeared in the fog, their leader with 
 them, who was in such haste to be gone that he left his 
 horse and cloak behind him, so as to escape more easily 
 across the rocks. Their panic saved my life, and as soon 
 as they were out of sight I ran back to my men. I 
 
A GALLANT CHARGE 89 
 
 hastened to return to the Emperor, and told him all I had 
 done. I found him very much put out at the delays he 
 had met with, and he said to me, ' You are making fun 
 of me.' He saw that I was greatly annoyed at the re- 
 ception he gave me, and recognising the danger I had run 
 in his service, he made me repeat what I had said about 
 the artillery of the enemy and the state of the road. He 
 then ordered General Montbrun to advance with his 
 cavalry, in spite of all obstacles, protected by the infantry, 
 which had now had time to crown the heights. 
 
 Montbrun at the head of a body of Polish cavalry 
 galloped up the mountain, fell upon the Spanish entrench- 
 ments, and sabred some of the artillerymen at their posts ; 
 but the roughness of the ground, combined with the volley 
 of grape shot which met him, overthrew the head of his 
 column, and compelled him to retreat and rally his men 
 beyond the range of the guns. In the thick of the hail of 
 shot the Poles recognised the Emperor himself, and almost 
 without waiting for the word of command from their chief 
 the gallant Kosciusko, they returned to the charge, over- 
 came all the obstacles which had deterred them at first, 
 carrying everything before them, and penetrating into the 
 very heart of the formidable position of the Spaniards, who 
 were unable in the fog to see how very small the attacking 
 column was. The Cavalry of the Guard followed the 
 movement ; every one of the Spanish gunners in charge 
 of the sixteen cannon defending the pass was cut down. 
 
 During this struggle the infantry under Marshal Victor 
 had succeeded in scaling the heights and dominating the 
 position of the enemy, and our Poles, protected as they 
 <were by their fire, completely routed the thirteen or four- 
 teen thousand men defending the approaches to the defile 
 of Somo- Sierra. The fog, the rocks, and the woods 
 
90 ME-^IOIRS OF BAKON LEJEUXE 
 
 combined to protect the Spaniards in their flight, and we 
 made few prisoners, but we took all their cannon, and 
 they left nearly 2,000 men upon the ground. As we 
 climbed the mountain I pointed out to the Emperor the 
 horse and cloak abandoned by the Spanish officer I had 
 met ; the bridle was still entangled in the folds of the cloak, 
 and the horse, thinking, perhaps, that his master was 
 sleeping, had remained patiently standing where he was, 
 like many a faithful dog which we had seen awaiting death 
 on the battle field beside the corpse of his owner. 
 
 The Emperor was able to verify some of the other 
 details I had mentioned to him, and they were of a nature 
 to excite his just indignation. During the preceding days 
 the Spanish had made a few prisoners, and they had been 
 barbarously executed by strangling. Not daring to leave 
 behind them such damning proofs of their barbarity, they 
 had made a hurried attempt to conceal the bodies, which 
 had been hastily hidden, tied two and two together, beneath 
 an arch of the bridge spanning the road where I had seen 
 them when I was climbing up on foot. Some few of the 
 poor wretches, of whom there were about fifteen, were still 
 breathing, and help was given to them. Just at this 
 moment some prisoners, including several monks and 
 superior officers, were brought to the Emperor, and he re- 
 proached them with their cruelty, threatening to serve 
 them in the same fashion, but he was really too generous 
 for that, and no harm was done to them. 
 
 The fog gradually cleared away, and we were able to 
 contemplate with delight a battle field bristling with 
 entrenchments and redoubts, strewn with abandoned 
 cannon, dead and wounded. The site was an admirable one, 
 and later this scene furnished me with a fine subject 
 for a picture, in which I introduced all the details which 
 
WE MARCH ON 3IADRID 91 
 
 had particularly struck me in the morning, when, thanks 
 to Providence, I had such a marvellous escape. 
 
 On December 2 we were before Madrid, which was in 
 a state of the wildest excitement. The pavement had been 
 torn up in all the streets to serve as barricades. The 
 houses were loopholed, thousands of bales of wool served 
 as epaulments at the gates and in all the public squares, 
 and 100 cannon defended the various entrenchments. 
 But divided counsels prevailed in the town, some wanting 
 to open the gates to us to save bloodshed, whilst others 
 were for defence. The latter strangled the Marquis of 
 Paries because he was supposed to be favourable to us, 
 and they were minded to murder M. de Soulages, the aide- 
 de-camp of Marshal Bessieres, who was entrusted by their 
 leader with proposals of peace. The tocsin was rung from 
 every church, the drums everywhere beat to arms, and 
 50,000 armed peasants who had flocked in from the country 
 joined the garrison, shouting as they perambulated the 
 streets, ' Down with the French ! ' 
 
 When on December 2 the Emperor went the round 
 of the lines of our outposts, the soldiers remembered 
 that it was the anniversary of his coronation and of 
 Austerlitz, and greeted him with such shouts of 'Vive 
 I'Empereur ! ' that they were heard at the gates of Madrid. 
 They longed to enter the city, and very soon Marshal 
 Bessieres enabled them to do so. 
 
 His preHminary dispositions made, the Marshal sum- 
 moned the Marquis of Castelar, President of the Junta, to 
 surrender in the cause of humanity, and thus to avert the 
 horrors which would result from an assault of the town. 
 The Marquis rephed by sending a general to parley with 
 us, and we saw him arrive under the surveillance of some 
 twenty ferocious-looking guards, who behaved in a very 
 
92 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 arrogant fashion. The Envoy was told that the Emperor 
 wished to spare a city so beautiful as Madrid, contain- 
 ing so many sensible men and peaceful families, who were 
 worthy of all consideration, and that it would grieve him 
 to the heart if he had to reduce the town by force of 
 arms. 
 
 Marshal Victor had already placed his divisions in the 
 positions they were to occupy in the attack, the firing had 
 everywhere begun, the danger was indeed imminent. 
 The General was sent back to the town, and the Emperor, 
 profiting by the brilliant light of the moon, made a 
 vigorous attack on the suburbs, eager to get the siege over 
 as quickly as possible. 
 
 The suburbs, which were badly defended, were quickl}' 
 taken, and the rest of the night, which was almost as light 
 as day, was occupied in placing our artillery. After this 
 first success Marshal Berthier sent into the town a 
 Spanish officer of artillery, who had been taken prisoner 
 in the Somo-Sierra pass, with instructions to tell his fellow- 
 countrymen and the Governor how well able we were to 
 reduce the city. Whilst that officer was engaged in his 
 mission a battery of thirty pieces of cannon kept up a hot 
 fire on the town, demolishing a barrack with part of the 
 enceinte and making a breach in the palace of Buen 
 Betiro. Another battery of twenty howitzers meanwhile 
 made a feigned attack on the other side of the town, doing 
 some damage. The Spanish officer now returned from 
 his mission, bringing with him a letter from the Governor, 
 who said that as he was dependent upon the Junta he 
 begged for time to make known the gravity of the situa- 
 tion to the people, and entreated the Emperor to grant an 
 armistice of a few hours. 
 
 Berthier sent back word that the Emperor granted 
 
THE EMPEROR RECEIVES THE SPANISH ENVOYS 93 
 
 this request, and had ordered the firing to cease every- 
 where. 
 
 One party of outposts after another now brought in 
 the prisoners they had taken, and from these unfortunate 
 fellows we heard of the scenes of disorder which were 
 taking place in the town, and of the cruel way in which 
 the armed peasants, who wished to defend the town to 
 the last, treated those inhabitants who wanted to surrender 
 it for the sake of saving their property. 
 
 The day was passed in reconnoitring various points of 
 the town and in active preparations for its assault ; but as 
 night was beginning to fall, a number of envoys from the 
 town arrived at our bivouac, and we took them to the tent 
 of Marshal Berthier. They dwelt upon all the difficulties 
 of their position in a town where during the last four 
 months many generals had been hanged or otherwise put to 
 death, and they pleaded to have the next day (the 4th) to 
 bring the people to reason. The Marshal took them to 
 the Emperor, who made them feel the whole weight of his 
 indignation, telling them that he knew well enough how 
 those at the head of affairs, instead of making the people 
 listen to counsels of conciliation, misled them and excited 
 them to resistance : ' They allowed French prisoners and 
 merchants to be massacred when honour demanded their 
 protection; it was they who gave up the women of 
 Eoussillon to the Spanish soldiers ; it was they who 
 ordered the treacherous bombardment of my ships at 
 Cadiz when we were on friendly terms ; only a few days 
 ago they ordered the strangHng of Frenchmen in Madrid. 
 They have violated the treaty of the capitulation of 
 Baylen in an atrocious manner, and now they ask me to 
 grant an amnesty to Madrid. Is it hkely ? . . . However, 
 you can go back to the town and say that I promise all 
 
94 MEMOmS OF BAROX LE.IEUXE 
 
 peaceable citizens oblivion of the past and protection of 
 their religion. I give you till sunrise to-morrov7 ; but 
 don't come talking to me about the people again unless it 
 is to announce their submission, or it will be all up with 
 you. Now be off ! ' 
 
 The presence of the Emperor himself before their 
 walls, and the threats he was known to have uttered, 
 greatly intimidated the people of the town, who were 
 moreover disheartened by the great losses they had 
 sustained the night before. The more mutinous amongst 
 them, too, when they saw some of the troops of the line 
 disband, withdrew during the night, not daring to face 
 the worse perils which were approaching. 
 
 The notables of the town, thus relieved of the presence 
 of this dangerous element in their midst, threw themselves 
 on the generosity of the Emperor, and the Governor of 
 Madrid, Don Fernando Vera, with General Morla arrived 
 in our camp at six o'clock on the morning of the 4th to 
 announce the siibmission of the town. 
 
 A general amnesty was at once proclaimed, communi- 
 cations were reopened, and General Belliard was made 
 Governor of Madrid, where he quickly established such 
 perfect order that the shops were reopened the very day 
 of his nomination, whilst the people hastened to remove 
 all trace of the miseries of the siege by taking down the 
 barricades and repairing the streets. 
 
 The Emperor, accompanied by Major-General Prince 
 Berthier, who had been with him in the Castle of San 
 Martino, did not enter the town till the 8th, but his 
 arrival had been heralded by the issuing of various pro- 
 clamations and decrees. 
 
 With a view to appealing to the eyes of the populace 
 as he had previously appealed to their reason, and hoping 
 
KEVIEW IN MADRID 95 
 
 to dispose them to accept with pride an alliance with so 
 rich and powerful a nation as the French, the Emperor 
 ordered that his Guard and all the troops should appear in 
 their most gorgeous uniforms at the review he intended to 
 hold on the Prado. We all got ourselves up in gala array, 
 so as to be worthy of the grand occasion. Fashion, which 
 controls the costumes of soldiers as rigorously as those of 
 ladies, has changed so much since then that the day will 
 doubtless come when many will be interested in knowing 
 what uniforms were worn by orderly officers on occasions 
 such as this, so I will describe the garments of the little 
 group to which! belonged. 
 
 The aides-de-camp of Major-General Prince Berthier 
 had been chosen from amongst the sons of the highest 
 families of France ; and, either by accident or by choice, 
 we were all tall young fellows with good figures. The 
 Prince had ordered me some years before to design a 
 special uniform, and I had suggested something in the 
 Hungarian style — a black cloth pelisse, a white dolman with 
 gold braid and fur, wide breeches, and a shako of scarlet 
 cloth surmounted by an aigrette of white heron's plumes. 
 The different details of the costume were enriched with 
 plenty of gold braid, cord, and buttons ; and a rich sash of 
 black and gold silk, a small cartridge pouch, a sabretache, 
 and a Damascene sabre completed the get-up. Our parade 
 horses were of Arab breed, greyish white in colour, with 
 long floating silky manes ; their bridles, like those of the 
 hussars, gleaming with gold braid and tassels ; whilst the 
 saddle was covered with a panther's skin festooned with 
 gold and scarlet. My young friend Alfred de Noailles 
 looked grand in this costume, which set off his fine figure 
 and handsome features. His manner, too, was very 
 distinguished and chivalrous, and his heart was as good 
 
96 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 as his form was beautiful. I can scarcely refrain from 
 tears when I think how he and many other fine young 
 heroes were soon afterwards to be mown down at my side 
 by an enemy's fire. Even at the head of the Imperial 
 Guard we presented a remarkable appearance ; and, 
 though I should be charged with conceit for thus recalling 
 the incidents of a time so remote, I cannot help declaring 
 that I really never saw anything finer or more brilliant 
 of its kind than our cavalcade of six aides-de-camp as we 
 entered Madrid. The Emperor and Marshal Berthier 
 looked at us in quite a paternal manner, and congratulated 
 us on our smart appearance. 
 
 The gun had been shining continuously for the last 
 eight days, and everywhere under its genial influence 
 flowers were bursting into bloom. The review was 
 favoured with bright weather and a clear sky, and went 
 off admirably ; but there were few spectators, and very 
 little enthusiasm amongst those few. Yet most of the 
 Spanish hoped much from the restoration, under the 
 Emperor and his brother, of constitutional government ; 
 but their fears of a reaction led them to maintain a prudent 
 reserve. The ladies, however, with a little more political 
 prescience, were not quite so reserved in their demonstra- 
 tions, and we noticed a good many pretty little feet care- 
 fully shod but not perhaps very carefully hidden. Many 
 small bands, too, fluttered fans with thoroughly Castilian 
 grace and vivacity, and waved a friendly greeting to 
 those of us who were known to their owners ; and the 
 coquettish black lace mantillas were parted to give us 
 a glimpse of beautiful dark oval eyes with long lashes, 
 gazing out at us with a sweet and gentle expression. 
 This review and fete illustrated forcibly alike the pomp, 
 the grandeur, and the stem vicissitudes of war, as well as 
 
WE LEAVE MADRID 97 
 
 the power of the fair dames of Castille to lead their con- 
 querors captive by their grace, their charm, and by their 
 lively and witty conversation. True, the dark scowling 
 looks of the stern hidalgos in the crowd, with their cloaks 
 drawn up and their wide sombreros pulled down so that 
 only the black eyes gleaming with rage and jealousy could 
 be seen, cast a decided gloom on an otherwise bright 
 picture, but this only made the general effect all the more 
 piquant for us. 
 
 After the review we went to visit the King's Palace, 
 and saw the grand pictures by Eaphael, Murillo, and 
 Velasquez ; the remarkable emerald ; the huge nugget 
 brought over by Vasco da Gama ; and the gigantic skele- 
 ton of a mammoth in the Natural History collection. 
 We then returned to San Martino, leaving Madrid with 
 regret, for we could have enjoyed resting there after all 
 the fatigues of war. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
98 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 CHAPTEE VI 
 
 THE GUADARBAMAS — BENAVENTE — ASTOEGA — VALLADOLID 
 
 The English, hoping to make us uneasy at Madrid, and 
 wishing to encourage the people of the neighbouring 
 districts to resist us, had sent a few agents to Zamora 
 and Salamanca, who were to deceive us into thinking 
 their army was approaching, whereas they really were 
 making in force for Valladolid and Valencia on their left, 
 towards Marshal Soult, more than fifty leagues from our 
 right flank, so as to threaten our communications with 
 France in that direction. 
 
 The Emperor, warned of this movement, ordered me 
 to push forward a strong reconnaissance in the rear of the 
 enemy towards Toro, by way of Avila, and to return to give 
 him all the information possible as to the movements of 
 the English forces. 
 
 I started on December 19. Hitherto it had been very 
 hot, quite like summer ; but now the weather suddenly 
 became cold. The ground was covered with snow, and it 
 was with difficulty that I crossed the Guadarrama moun- 
 tains, along which two of our cavalry divisions, that under 
 Coulaincourt and Laboussaye's dragoons, were posted in 
 ■echelon. The latter general gave me eighteen hundred 
 dragoons, and at their head I marched upon Eontiveres, 
 where I arrived without noise at midnight. I let the 
 horses rest for an hour, surrounding my camp with 
 
I PRETEND TO BE ENGLISH 99 
 
 vedettes, to guard against being surprised and denounced 
 by the Spaniards, who were so clever in reporting our 
 numbers, after which I started at a brisk trot to go and 
 surround Palacios, where the road between Salamanca and 
 Madrid branches off, and where I hoped to surprise a few de- 
 tachments of the enemy, make them prisoners, and get some 
 news. We arrived atPalacios a little before daybreak, in a 
 heavy fall of snow, which helped us to hide our approach. 
 
 After posting my guards round Palacios, and in the 
 plaza mayor of that town, and ordering them to keep per- 
 fect silence, I went to the house of the Alcalde, who had 
 been woke by the noise made by our horses, though it 
 was deadened by the snow. He was just hurrying out in 
 alarm when I arrived, and I prevented him from leaving 
 the house. He at once asked me to whom he had the 
 honour of speaking, and, profiting by his uncertainty, I 
 replied in Spanish, 'What, don't you know your own 
 friends ? ' At these words he beamed with joy, and ex- 
 claimed, ' Ah, you are English ? ' I gave him a sign to 
 speak low, whispering, ' Hush ! hush ! the French are not 
 far off ; they are pursuing us. Ever since we left Madrid 
 we have been trying to rejoin the English army, which 
 we expected to find here. Just show me in which direction 
 it is.' 
 
 He answered immediately : ' The rearguard, under 
 General Ward, were here yesterday with the Hamilton 
 division, but have now left for Medina ; they were follow- 
 ing the Commander-in-Chief, General Moore, who is 
 marching to-day on Valladolid, with the Eraser, Spencer, 
 and Beresford divisions, to support the Marquis de la 
 Eomana. But you must make haste to be off, for a body 
 of French cavalry some 1,800 strong arrived at Fontiveres 
 at midnight, and may be here any minute.' 
 
 H 2 
 
100 jmemoirs of baron lejeune 
 
 ' My dear Alcalde,' I said, ' I congratulate you on being 
 so well informed, and am very much obliged to you for 
 giving me all these details, vs^hich I shall certainly turn to 
 account at once. But every instant is precious. Tell me 
 how many men Ward and Hamilton had with them.' 
 At this question he hesitated, and interrupting me, he 
 said, ' Wait a minute ; I had an express messenger from 
 head quarters here this very night, who saw everything ; 
 he will be able to tell you all about it better than I can.' 
 The rascal of an Alcalde wanted to get away from me into 
 the street, to make sure whether we really were English ; 
 but I insisted on his sending his servant for the mes- 
 senger, instead of going himself. The servant went oS, 
 and the Alcalde and I had hardly exchanged half a dozen 
 words before the messenger hurried in, trembling with 
 excitement, and nearly dead with terror at having found 
 the town occupied by troops, whom he took to be French. 
 The Alcalde, however, directly he saw him, called out, 
 ' These gentlemen are English.' The messenger, seeing 
 my scarlet trousers and shako, also took me for an Eng- 
 lishman, and in his joy and relief he kissed my hands and 
 answered all my questions, describing to me very clearly 
 the positions of Generals Baird and Hill, the number of 
 horses, of guns, and of battalions, the direction he had 
 seen them take, &c., winding up by saying that their 
 skilful manoeuvring would lead to the French getting a 
 tremendous thrashing. 
 
 During this conversation the Colonel of dragoons who 
 had accompanied me was warming himself at the hrasero 
 without speaking at all, but now he undid his overcoat to 
 shake the snow from it, and the Alcalde caught sight of 
 the Cross of the Legion of Honour on his breast. He 
 went up to the Colonel, touched the cross, and said to me, 
 
A SPY IX ENGLISH PAY 101 
 
 ' Pero, Senor Oficial, esta cruz no es Inglesa ! ' (But, Sir 
 Officer, that cross is not English !) I rephed, ' Yes, yes, 
 it is ; damn it ! it is a cross of the order estabhshed in 
 honour of the battle of Aboukir, won by Nelson ; don't 
 you see that the ribbon is the colour of the British flag V ' 
 This answer did not seem to satisfy him, and approach- 
 ing the messenger, he whispered in his ear, ' Creo que 
 son Franceses ! ' (I believe they are French !) I heard, and 
 as naturally as I could I placed myself between them and 
 tried to divert their attention. But the messenger began 
 to stammer in his speech, and the Alcalde, getting more 
 and more uneasy, presently exclaimed in a low voice, 
 ' Son Franceses ! ' (They are French !) Then, dropping all 
 disguise, I shouted, ' Yes, we are French ! and now I will 
 force you to finish telling me the rest of what I have learnt 
 by stratagem.' The messenger was really only a wretched 
 spy in the pay of the English, a poor half-starved creature, 
 more like a tipstaff than anything, with a pinched and 
 shrivelled skin, looking as if he had had nothing but garlic 
 to eat for months. His feet, shod only with sandals of 
 grey thread, his thin legs cased in laced gaiters, his scanty 
 leather breeches open at the knee, his wide drooping sash 
 disguising the leanness of his body, his brown vest all too 
 short, the red handkerchief twisted into a rope and worn 
 on his head, which it left bare at the top, his shaven scalp 
 and long matted hair, his heavy eyebrows almost meeting 
 in his terror, his glittering eyes and gleaming teeth, com- 
 bined to make up a grotesque and grovelhng appearance, 
 such as provokes the rope or the bastinado. His gestures 
 of terror betrayed clearly enough what he expected. He 
 flung himself at my feet and begged for mercy. I made 
 him get up ; it was my business to turn him to account, not 
 to illtreat him, but his brains were in such a muddle with 
 
102 MEMOIES OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 his fright that I could get no more out of him, and the 
 Alcalde, who was also in a great fright, now evaded my 
 questions. 
 
 Meanwhile my guards had arrested General Don Jose 
 Valdes and a few stragglers who were trying to escape 
 from Palacios, where they had slept, and they were now 
 brought to me as prisoners. I interrogated them each 
 separately, and though their answers were evasive enough 
 I managed to make sure that I was behind the English 
 army, which was gathering up all its strength to attack 
 our right wing. I recognised the necessity of alarming 
 the enemy as promptly as possible, and in the presence 
 of my prisoners I ordered the Alcalde to have provisions 
 prepared for 20,000 men and forage for 4,000 horses, who 
 would arrive in the course of the day, and of whom we were 
 the advance guard. I had no desire to encumber myself with 
 prisoners, so I now released my captives, allowing them to 
 continue their route, and just before they left I repeated 
 my orders to the Alcalde to see about the provisions for 
 our army as quickly as possible. I then told my Colonel 
 not to remain behind for more than a few hours after me 
 to rest his horses, but to rejoin his division as soon as 
 possible. I exchanged my weary posthorse for the fresh 
 mount I had taken from General Valdes, ordered a young 
 guide, who thought I was English, to get on to the mes- 
 senger's horse, and started at a gallop by the shortest 
 route to rejoin the Emperor. 
 
 I was not without anxiety in thus crossing without 
 escort a hostile country where in the last few days Colonel 
 Mirabeau, Captain Menard, and two or three other of&cers 
 engaged in various missions had been assassinated. But 
 full of confidence in the fact that my costume was decep- 
 tive, and that I could speak six foreign languages fluently, 
 
AN AWKWARD PREDICAMENT 103 
 
 I thought of nothing but how best to serve the French 
 cause, and this gave me the presence of mind, energy, and 
 nerve which carried me safely through my enterprise. 
 My chief difficulty was in getting the postillions at the 
 posthouses to give me relays of horses quickly enough 
 for me to get off before the crowds which everywhere col- 
 lected on my arrival were strong enough to stop me. 
 Never before, perhaps, had the horrible English oath done 
 better service than it did on this journey of mine. The 
 liberal use of gold and of the magic words ' Damn it ! ' won 
 me success beyond my hopes. For all that, I was delayed 
 by a rather serious contretemps some ten or twelve leagues 
 from Palacios. It was late in the day, and the night was 
 evidently going to be pitch dark, when my guide found he no 
 longer knew the way. There were no relays of horses to 
 be had in the village we were approaching, and there was 
 nothing for it but for me to go to the Alcalde, who was also 
 the innkeeper, and aak him to help me. I made my 
 request in English as if I were an English officer, but 
 before answering he looked me well over with an anxious 
 expression, finally observing, ' We have no horses here, 
 and you are French. If I let you leave now, you will pro- 
 bably be murdered by the peasants of this village. You 
 had better not come in here, where there are a lot of 
 fellows who will combine against you ; but if you like to go 
 up to a room I will show you, I'll bring you some food 
 and you can rest in security. I will also give your horses 
 some oats, and find you a guide.' 
 
 What was I to do ? It seemed as dangerous to stop 
 as to go on. If only it were a clear night, if only I knew 
 the way, if only I could tell our bearings . . . The songs 
 I could hear from the adjoining rooms were not calculated 
 to reassure me, for the patriotic national hymn was being 
 
104 5IEM0IES OF BAROX LEJl^UXE 
 
 shouted out, ' Vivir in cadenas, mejor es morir ' (Better 
 to die than to Hve in chains). On the other hand, the 
 offer of the Alcalde seemed genuine enough, and without 
 hesitating long I said to him, ' If you look at me you will 
 see that I am able to sell my life dearly ; but your honest 
 face inspires me with confidence, and I will trust you.' A 
 few minutes after I had reached my room, my host brought 
 me some first-rate Spanish bread, some fish seasoned with 
 red pepper, and some rancio from the Peiias valley. I 
 tossed off a few bumpers, stretched myself out on my bed 
 of straw with my sword beside me, pondered a bit on the 
 importance of my mission, and commending myself to God, 
 I slept the deep sleep of a man exhausted with fatigue. 
 
 At three in the morning I saw a ray of light stream 
 through the keyhole, and heard my door opened gently. 
 It was the Alcalde, who, seeing me sitting up on the alert, 
 made me a sign to be silent, and coming up to me said : 
 ' All is ready.' He at first refused to take payment, but 
 in the end accepted a gold piece, led me to luy horses, told 
 the new guide he had procured to take good care of the 
 English officer, held my stirrup as I mounted, and shook 
 me cordially by the hand with the air of a man who knows 
 he has done a good action, finally dismissing me with 
 hearty Spanish words of farewell, ' Vaya Usted con Dios ! ' 
 (God be with you !) 
 
 About noon I had crossed San Vicente, and reached 
 Valdea amongst the mountains. The priest of the vil- 
 lage and a few peasants were in the street when I was 
 changing horses, and overwhelmed me with questions 
 whilst my horse was being saddled. I gave myself out as 
 an Englishman, the bearer of a flag of truce commissioned 
 to arrange for an exchange of prisoners. This account 
 was accepted in good faith till the priest, who was a sharp 
 
A?>; OTHER XAREOW ESCAPE 105 
 
 fellow and more suspicious than the peasants, walked 
 round me, and noticing a golden eagle on my sabretache he 
 said, pointing at it, ' Senor, las aguilas non son reales (Sir, 
 eagles are not royal). Why do you wear that eagle if 
 you are Enghsh ? ' ' It is the sabre of a French officer 
 I took prisoner,' I answered, drawing out the blade ; ' look 
 what good steel it is, although it was not made at Toledo ! ' 
 As I brandished it, laughing and boasting of my prowess 
 with the aim of keeping inquisitive folk at a distance, 
 my horses were led up ready, and I mounted, glad enough 
 to get away from the priest, who knew too much about the 
 difference between Imperial and Eoyal armorial bearings. 
 The noise I heard behind me as I rode off showed me that 
 I had had a narrow escape. A terrible storm hindered me 
 still farther in my journey, and I did not reach the town 
 of San Raphael at the foot of the Guadarrama mountains 
 till midnight. 
 
 On December 2, during my absence, the Emperor had 
 heard from the reports of his Marshals of the bold advance 
 of the English on our right flank. He at once went 
 to Madrid, and at the head of the troops of the centre he 
 was advancing to cut off the retreat of the enemy. I 
 found the whole of the Imperial Guard at San Raphael. 
 The storm had been so terrible on the mountain that many 
 men and horses had been swept over precipices, where 
 they had perished. The Grenadiers, exhausted with 
 fatigue, were sleeping on the frozen ground covered with 
 masses of snow and ice beside their fires, which were all 
 but extinguished by the rain and hail, which were still 
 falling. Some 10,000 men without any shelter at all 
 were gathered about the chapel and one or two little 
 huts near by, belonging to the officiating priest of San 
 Raphael, which was a great resort of pilgrims, and where 
 
106 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 the Emperor had been compelled to halt to rally his troops, 
 dispersed and delayed by the storm. I dismounted at the 
 door of the chapel, and was taken at once to the Emperor, 
 who was standing up studying some maps. 
 
 ' Ah ! there you are ! ' he exclaimed. ' I was uneasy 
 about you. Have you brought me good news ? ' I told 
 him all the details I had been able to collect as to the 
 movements of Generals Moore and De la Eomaha, and 
 my report, combined with the accounts brought by others, 
 confirmed him in his intention of pressing on his march 
 to surprise the English. He made me tell him the 
 subterfuge by means of which I had got all my informa- 
 tion, and managed to return to him safe and sound. He 
 laughed like a child when I described the fright I 
 had given the Alcalde, the express messenger, and the 
 prisoners of Palacios, and after asking a great many 
 questions about the state of the road and the nature of 
 the district I had traversed, he laid aside the gracious, 
 fascinating manner natural to him, and resuming the 
 Imperial gravity he said in a tone of command, ' That will 
 do ; go and rest.' 
 
 East ! That was anything but easy. There was not 
 a square foot of shelter from the rain not already invaded 
 by sleepers piled one on top of the other, so I went 
 to the door of the chapel, and amongst the snoring 
 soldiers I took my stand by one of the fires which was 
 still smouldering, and as I stood there gazing sadly into 
 the embers, which threw out but little heat, and watched 
 them being quenched by the rain, I mused on our dreams 
 of happiness, which, like our camp fires, had been so 
 bright at first, but were equally fleeting. Eeeling very 
 low-spirited, I had just tightened any sash to dull the 
 pangs of hunger, when I felt a touch from behind me, 
 
A WELCOME PRESENT 107 
 
 and something was forced into my hands. I turned 
 sharply round and found Josserand, the Emperor's 
 steward, at my elbow, who had come to cheer me up. 
 ' Hush ! hush ! ' he whispered. ' Take this, sent to you 
 by the Emperor ; but don't let any one see it, because he 
 can't do as much for every one.' I was much too polite 
 to refuse some supper. I begged Josserand to thank 
 the Emperor for thinking of me when he had such 
 weighty affairs on his mind, and the good fellow smuggled 
 into my hands a flask of Bordeaux wine with some bread 
 and a bit of pate de foie gras made from some luckless 
 goose or duck of Toulouse or Strasburg, I'm sure I don't 
 know which, but anyhow the Emperor's gift was exceed- 
 ingly good eating. I turned my back on the fire, the light 
 from which might have betrayed me and made others 
 jealous. I no longer saw the embers which had suggested 
 such melancholy reflections, and as I did full justice to 
 the present sent to me by his Majesty my confidence in 
 Providence returned, I once more believed in an ever 
 generous Power ready to forgive our ingratitude, and I 
 was ashamed that I had ever doubted it. 
 
 An hour later, and long before daybreak, the signal to 
 start was given in silence, passed from one to the other with- 
 out sound of drum or trumpet. Each man as he rose shiver- 
 ing with cold broke and shook off the ice with which he was 
 covered, and went to mount his horse or take his place in 
 the ranks, and the column resumed its march. The rain 
 still poured down, and the roads were all but impassable ; 
 we had met with no such mud anywhere else but in 
 Poland and Champagne. The terrible state of the roads 
 greatly retarded our march. The enemy, having just heard 
 of the departure of the Emperor from Madrid, had hastily 
 abandoned the plan of attack and commenced the retreat 
 
108 ilEMOlliS OF BARON LEJEUXE 
 
 on Coruiia. But for the delays the Enghsh army would 
 have been caught between two fires, and it would have 
 been very difficult for it to escape destruction. On the 
 25th we were at Tardesillas on the Douro, where we 
 greatly harassed the English rearguard, and on the 26th 
 our advanced guard crossed the Esla torrent and entered 
 Benavente. It was a pretty fine night, and the water having 
 temporarily subsided our cavalry were able to ford the 
 river, but we were scarcely over when the rain began 
 again. 
 
 The English vedettes retired at our approach, and 
 just as we were charging into Benavente in pursuit of 
 them several squadrons of the enemy came into action, 
 presenting a bold front so as to give other squadrons time 
 to turn us and cut off our retreat. Lefebvre-Desnouettes 
 was at the head of the Chasseurs of the Imperial Guard, 
 and emboldened by the tried courage of the troops he 
 commanded, he did not pay enough attention to this 
 manoeuvre of the enemy, and draw back soon enough, 
 so that the English hemmed us in all round in our 
 retreat. Lefebvre-Desnouettes was taken prisoner with 
 a hundred of his men, whilst I was one of the few 
 who escaped back to the stream, which had meanwhile 
 become so greatly swollen that it could only be crossed by 
 swimming. I was a good swimmer, and I did not hesitate 
 to make my horse plrnige in, dropping the reins and cling- 
 ing on only by his mane. The whirling and rushing of the 
 water made me quite giddy, and when I got to the other 
 side I was chilled to the bone, and very much sm-prised to 
 find myself still alive. A few Chasseurs were drowned, 
 but about a hundred escaped as I did from being cut or 
 shot down, taken prisoners, or swept away in the water. 
 But, alas ! what strange quarters and painful experiences 
 
MY SLEEP IS INTERRUPTED 109 
 
 awaited me in the village to which I went to rejoin head 
 quarters, and try and find somewhere to rest with a fire 
 to dry my clothes ! The houses were deserted by their 
 inhabitants, but crowded with the troops prevented from 
 crossing by the swelling of the torrent. Every shelter 
 was full of men and horses, and I had a long struggle, 
 worse than any I had had with the English, before I could 
 get the privileged Imperial Guard to let me have a corner 
 where I could place my beloved horses under cover from 
 the rain. In the rapid movements of a war such as that 
 we were engaged in, the care of our horses was of vital 
 importance, for on them victory often depended. 
 
 When I got to the; hut which formed the head quarters, 
 I found spread out an abundant repast such as the care of 
 the Chief of the Staff usually managed to secure for the 
 aides-de-camp. Still very wet but warmed up a little by 
 a good meal, I set off to try and find an unoccupied 
 corner in which I could stretch my weary limbs and get 
 a nap. I found one at last, a humble place enough, where 
 the master of the house had plucked his plump galHnas or 
 fowls. I put a plank over a pile of blood-stained feathers 
 and down, rolled myself up in my cloak, and lying down 
 on my rather rickety couch I was already happily wrapt 
 in a deep sleep when the door of my retreat was suddenly 
 knocked in. Startled by the noise I sat up, thus throwing 
 too much weight on the middle of my perch ; I broke it and 
 tumbled into the feathers, which rose up in clouds about 
 me. The intruder was one of the two brothers Stoffel, 
 who had quite recently left the Spanish service and joined 
 our head quarters as interpreters. As much bothered with 
 the rain as I was, but not quite so inured to hardship, he 
 too was trying to find a dry corner to rest in, and, candle 
 in hand, thinking only of his own comfort, he took no 
 
110 MEMOIRS OF BAROX LEJEUNE 
 
 notice of the unhappy wretch flung by his entrance into 
 a heap of stinking feathers, and I, enraged at finding my 
 hopes of a sleep destroyed by the breaking of my plank, 
 shouted out angrily, ' What do you want ? ' My appear- 
 ance and position doubtless led the intruder to suppose that 
 I was of the lowest rank, for he answered brusquely enough, 
 ' I want a bed.' ' Well,' I replied, ' you see there are none 
 here, and you have made me destroy my only chance of a 
 sleep.' Seeing him still insensible to my sufferings, I 
 jumped up, exclaiming, ' Sir, when people see a French 
 officer they take their hats off.' Wliether he understood 
 or not he kept his head covered, and in my rage at his 
 indifference I flung his hat on to the stairs, and gave him 
 a push in the same direction. I then picked the door up, 
 intending to shut it on him, but he stumbled away shouting 
 at me with a strong German accent, ' Fous etes un prutal ! ' 
 (You're a brute !) and disappeared. Left alone in the 
 dark I had great difficulty in rearranging my bed, but by 
 hook or by crook I managed to fix it up, and was soon 
 asleep again, my happy dreams undisturbed by fear of the 
 consequences the untoward incident might have. 
 
 The next day the army resumed its march on Bena- 
 vente, which had been hastily abandoned by the English, 
 who were afraid of being surrounded there. A melan- 
 choly sight, which upset us all very much, met our eyes 
 when we entered the town. The English horses were 
 less accustomed to the fatigues and privations of war than 
 ours, and a very great many of them had been wounded 
 in the legs or on the withers, so that they were unable to 
 follow the army. Unvnlling to abandon them to the 
 enemy, who might have nursed them back to health and 
 used them, their masters had barbarously hamstrung them, 
 and the appearance of five or six hundred beautiful crea- 
 
I RECEIVE A CHALLENGE 111 
 
 tures thus mutilated moved us almost to tears. Even the 
 Spanish were indignant at this cruelty, and, disposed as 
 they were to look on their allies as heathens, they came to 
 the conclusion that the poor horses had been mutilated 
 in this vs^ay as a sacrifice to idols. 
 
 The Emperor entered Astorga on January 1, 1809, 
 after gloriously winding up the year 1808 by the successes 
 his armies had everywhere achieved, throwing into dis- 
 order the whole English army, which was hastily retreat- 
 ing towards Coruna. Marshal Soult received instructions 
 to pursue hotly and drive the enemy into the sea, and the 
 Emperor and his suite halted a few days at Astorga to 
 direct the various operations. 
 
 The new year's gift I was to receive on January 2 
 was not at all in harmony with the rejoicing of the first 
 day of the year. I was on duty and alone in the ante- 
 room at head quarters, when M. Stoffel, the elder brother 
 of the officer of that name who had tumbled me into the 
 feathers a few days before, came in and said to me very 
 politely, ' Until recently, sir, the foreign officers on the 
 staff had every reason to congratulate themselves on the 
 courtesy and consideration shown to them by you ; you 
 never treated them with the haughty disdain of some of 
 your brother officers, who, proud of their titles, often gave 
 us cause of complaint, and it is with regret that I learn 
 that you have lately taken to sharing their want of respect 
 for us.' ' I know what you mean,' I answered. ' You are 
 speaking on behalf of your brother.' ' Yes,' he said, ' and 
 as foreigners, whose courage is not yet proved, we cannot 
 allow the incident to pass over without demanding satis- 
 faction.' ' As you refer to proving yom com-age, I am afraid 
 the excuses I could offer to your brother would not satisfy 
 him. I am on duty till noon : but at one o'clock I shall 
 
112 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUXE 
 
 be at your service. My brother, who is returning from 
 Lisbon, will be here then with his regiment, and we will 
 have a family council.' ' That will suit us, sir,' was the 
 reply. 'I will return at one o'clock,' and he took his 
 leave. 
 
 ' What a bother ! ' I said to myself. ' I, who detest 
 the stupid prejudice which makes it impossible to avoid a 
 duel, am now dragged into one myself. The fear of ap- 
 pearing a coward really is a piece of culpable pusillanimity, 
 and it is a proof rather of want of courage than of the 
 reverse not to dare to express one's aversion to risking 
 one's life in a single combat when there are plenty of other 
 opportunities of proving one's valour in presence of a 
 thousand dangers. Might not a duel deprive my country 
 of two of its best defenders ? Does a duel make a skilful 
 rogue and bully respectable ? Or is an honest fellow who 
 falls beneath the sword of a swashbuckler contemptible ? ' 
 Such were the questions I put to myself, and it struck me 
 that it really would be a good thing to look upon the two 
 parties to a duel as mentally afSicted, one because he was 
 fool enough to insult the other, and the other because the 
 insult has inflicted on him a mental injury. This state 
 of things once admitted, the seconds, who are able to 
 judge of the cause of quarrel calmly and dispassionately, 
 should be bound in honour, and by certain rules to be 
 agreed iipon, to effect a reconciliation in every case. 
 Society and civilisation would doubtless gain greatly by 
 the abolition of the barbarous custom of rushing to a duel 
 to atone for one offence by committing a yet greater one, 
 resulting often in the death of the innocent party. I was 
 still musing on this weakness of humanity when at the 
 hour appointed M. Stoffel reappeared. 
 
 In spite of myself I was really as much under the 
 
I AM COMPELLED TO EIGHT A DUEL 113 
 
 tyranny of the point of honour as any one, and I gaily ac- 
 companied M. Stoffel to the place where I expected to find 
 my brother with his regiment. But, alas ! on his return 
 from Portugal he had been ordered elsewhere with his 
 corps, and I was unable to find him. ' It doesn't matter, 
 however,' I said to M. Stoffel ; ' you must be second for 
 both of us, and I have full confidence in myself.' We 
 found his brother awaiting us outside the ramparts. Snow 
 had been falling heavily for the last two days, and it lay 
 on the ground more than four inches deep, so that there 
 was not a clear space suitable for our trial of skill. Seek- 
 ing about we re-entered the town by a breach where 
 traces of the assault could still be seen, and finally fixed on 
 a spot rather freer from snow in the vaults of a hospital 
 which had been broken open by the same cannonade which 
 had thrown down the walls. Several dead bodies com- 
 pletely stripped lay upon the flagstones awaiting burial, 
 and here and there the blood-stained ground was strewn 
 with quantities of grain. Tired of hunting for a suitable 
 place, we dragged a few of the horrible witnesses out of 
 our way, and swept a space clear of rubbish with some 
 bundles of faggots which were ready to our hands. In thus 
 removing the blood and grain covering the stones we un- 
 covered several inscriptions marking the resting places of 
 the dead, and I confess that my heart sank a little when 
 I came upon my own names, Ludovico Francisco. But 
 I soon conquered the qualms which I attributed rather to 
 disgust than fear ; we stripped before crossing swords, 
 the elder brother, sole spectator of the scene, holding our 
 clothes, which would have been soiled if they had been 
 laid on the ground. 
 
 I was in no mood to brook further delay, and I made 
 a vigorous attack upon my adversary, who prudently with- 
 
 VOL. I. I 
 
114 ilEMOIKS OF BAEON LEJEUNE 
 
 drew before me, awaiting his chance of taking me off my 
 guard ; but I gave him no time for that, and he had re- 
 treated some ten paces when I drove him against the wall, 
 and seizing his right arm with my left hand I held the 
 point of my sabre at his breast. Our faces nearly touched. 
 I felt none of the ferocioLTS courage which would have 
 enabled rue to drive my blade home in the body of one 
 who had done nothing to offend me, but as I had to be- 
 ware of a surprise I sprang back and resumed my guard.' 
 A second time my adversary was pinned against the wall 
 in the gloomiest part of the vault and threatened in the 
 same manner. Still unwilling to kill him, I said, ' Must I ? ' 
 His eyes glared at me menacingly, but terror prevented 
 him from answering. I could not make up my mind to 
 sacrifice him, and feeling a little doubtful of the brother, 
 who was behind me, I sprang back to my original position, 
 and wiping my sabre, my hands, and my face, all splashed 
 with our blood, I said, ' That is enough for the present ; 
 but if you are not satisfied yet we can meet again,' and I 
 left them. It was not till long afterwards that I learnt of 
 what service my frank audacity had been to me, for my 
 adversary turned out to be a very noted fencer. We 
 neither of us received any but slight wounds, but we were 
 both a good deal scratched. The affair lasted so short a 
 time that we were both able to appear an hour later at 
 the review, held by the Emperor, of the Lorson and 
 Laborde divisions, which had just joined us at Astorga. 
 No one even noticed our disfigurement. 
 
 That same day one of my friends, General Franceschi, 
 a very clever sculptor, who had been with me in the 
 Compagnie des Arts and had now risen to the rank of 
 
 ' This was an infringement of the etiquette of duelling forbidding the 
 seizing of the adversary's sword arm. — Teaks. 
 
BATTLE OF CORUNA 115 
 
 Major-General, had a brilliant affair with the troops 
 under the Marquis de la Eomaha, by whom the armj^ 
 under Marshal Soult had been surrounded, General 
 Franceschi took 1,500 prisoners at Mansilla. 
 
 The English endeavoured to hold Prieras and Villa- 
 franca, but were dislodged by General Merle on January 3. 
 During the six preceding days 10,000 Spanish and more 
 than 1,500 English had been taken prisoners. In the 
 last affair we lost a very interesting man, one of the 
 flower of the army on account of his fine figure, his 
 courteous bearing, and his chivalrous courage. He bore 
 the distinguished name of Colbert, to which his conduct 
 added fresh lustre. In advancing through the outposts 
 with our skirmishers to attack the enemy, he received a 
 ball in the forehead. The gallant young general was 
 deeply regretted ; he left behind him a widow, a son, 
 and two brothers. Madame de Colbert was the daughter 
 of the Comte de Canclaux, a general of engineers, to 
 whom I had been under great obligations in previous 
 campaigns. 
 
 When we entered Villafranca, we again met with the 
 horrible spectacle of some 500 fine horses which had 
 been brutally murdered. 
 
 On January 15, after having seen their powder maga- 
 zines blown up, accidently or of a purpose, at Coruna, 
 the English gave us battle outside that town. The 
 embarkation of the wounded had already commenced, 
 and they were probably anxious to cover that difficult 
 operation. 
 
 Taking advantage of the heights of Elvina, their 
 position was favourable, but Marshal Soult 's attack was 
 so vigorous that they lost all their guns, some 3,000 
 men, their commander-in-chief. Sir John Moore, an 
 
116 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEiXE 
 
 admirable leader, whose loss was deeply regretted in 
 England, and many generals, including Lord Crawford, 
 Sir David Baird, Lord Stanhope, and others who fell in 
 the terrible struggle. On the 16th the town of Coruha 
 was bombarded, and whilst the beach outside was covered 
 with all that was left of the British army, struggling to 
 reach the ships, the flames and smoke of the burning 
 houses rose up from different quarters of the town, an 
 explosion of some magazine of powder occurring every 
 now and then. From the heights on which we were 
 placed we looked down upon a scene of indescribable con- 
 fusion on the seashore, greater even than that in some 
 invaded anthill. At last when the day broke on January 17 
 the British ships, all sails set, gradually receded from 
 view on the horizon, bound for England, and carrying with 
 them the melancholy remnant of the English army.' 
 
 The magistrates of Corufia now succeeded in bringiijg 
 about a capitulation, and two days later Marshal Soult 
 entered the town. In addition to many abandoned guns, 
 the French found 500 English horses still living and 
 unhurt, which it had not been possible to embark. 
 Perhaps the fact that their owners were weary of cruelty 
 had saved their lives. 
 
 The Emperor, taking it for granted that the enemy, 
 who were flying in disorder before the troops he had sent 
 in pursuit with orders to completely destroy them, would 
 not be able to rally or attempt any offensive movement, 
 left Astorga on January 5, to return by way of Benavente 
 to Valladolid, where he intended to await the end of the 
 ■campaign. In passing through Tordesillas he lodged in 
 
 '• In this thoroughly French account oi the battle of Corufia there is 
 no hint of the fact that Sir John Moore's little force of 14,000 men beat 
 Marshal Soult at the head of 20,000 French. — Tb.ins. 
 
THE EMPEROR'S COURTESY TO SPANISH NUNS 117 
 
 what was once the old palace of the Moorish kings, but 
 had been transformed into a convent of Benedictine nuns. 
 He asked to be presented to the Abbess, a woman of great 
 energy and ability, then in her eightieth year, and over- 
 whelmed her with courtesy, granting her everything she 
 asked, showering generous gifts on the community and 
 raising the greatest enthusiasm for himself amongst the 
 sixty nuns of the convent, who had been told but a month 
 before that he was a regular cannibal. 
 
 On January 7 at Valladolid the Emperor was anxious 
 to express his gratitude to certain Benedictine nuns who 
 had saved the lives of several soldiers when they were 
 being hunted through the streets by a rabble covered with 
 the blood of the French they had murdered. The nuns, 
 in the true spirit of Christianity and hospitality, had 
 reserved for the French the right of sanctuary at the 
 altars of the churches, and in thus snatching away their 
 victims had roused the fury of the populace against them- 
 selves. The Emperor with Marshal Berthier and their 
 respective staffs went to the Benedictine convent to thank 
 the nuns in person, and to offer to grant them anything 
 they wished. 
 
 This sort of thing, taken with our victories, did much 
 to cheer us all, and if only the Emperor had not been dis- 
 credited by the greed of some of his generals, his own 
 generous heart would have helped him more than all his 
 armies to win over the Spanish to his cause. 
 
 The news of the embarkation of the English at Coruna 
 and of their complete disappearance from Spain reached 
 the Emperor at Valladolid, and leaving his orders with the 
 army, he set out for Paris. Before he left, however, 
 Marshal Berthier took me to him, as he wished to give me 
 a duphcate of the order he had sent to Marshal Lannes. 
 
118 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 The Marshal was appointed commander-in-chief of the 
 army besieging Saragossa,' and I now received instructions 
 to tell him to press on that operation by every means in 
 his power. I was also to take part in the siege as an 
 engineer officer, and I was placed under the orders of one 
 of the Emperor's aides-de-camp, General Lacoste, com- 
 mander of the siege train. The shortest route being im- 
 practicable, I went by way of Burgos, where my old 
 friends had returned to their quarters. I crossed the Ebro 
 at Miranda, and skirted along the left bank of that river as 
 far as Tudela, where I found the Marshal, who had been 
 detained there for some time by a slight indisposition. I 
 gave him the news from the army, and went on, arriving 
 outside Saragossa a few days before he did. There, beneath 
 the olive trees and in view of the belfries of the town, I 
 began an altogether new kind of life, as adventurous as 
 that of the past, for I was now one of the besiegers in 
 the extraordinary siege I am about to describe. 
 
 ' Thus superseding General Junot, Duke of Abrantes. See next 
 chapter. — Tkans. 
 
119 
 
 CHAPTEE VII 
 
 SIEGE AND TAKING OF SARAGOSSA ' 
 
 On my arrival in camp, I found every one extremely busy 
 improvising shelters under cover. In default of planks, 
 the reeds and canes cultivated by the Aragonese for making 
 fences to their gardens served to build our barracks. The 
 osiers, of which there were plenty on the banks of the Ebro, 
 were also of very great use to us in making the fascines 
 and gabions for all our siege works. It is at such times 
 as these that the united work of an army is an admirable 
 and instructive sight. 
 
 It took us about seven days to make our preparations. 
 We had also opened a trench so as to enable us to go down 
 towards the town by zigzag communications screened 
 from the guns of the besieged, across the gardens, olive 
 woods, and broken fields, which were defended step by step 
 by the enemy. 
 
 During this interval the leaders in the besieged city did 
 their best to encourage the people, telling them that when 
 the cold rainy season set in, the French would perish of 
 various illnesses in their trenches, and that nothing was 
 needed but sustained courage and steady perseverance. At 
 the same time they urged the inhabitants to complete their 
 preparations for the defence of their houses, the walls of 
 
 ' The previous siege, constantly referred to in this chapter, was that which 
 lasted from June to August 1808.— Tkans. 
 
120 MK-M(JIRS OF BAROX LEJEUXE 
 
 which were loopholed from basement to roof, so that the 
 inmates could fire into the streets. 
 
 Further to stimulate public spirit, rough gallows and 
 lofty gibbets were erected in the market place and in the 
 Calle de Cosso on which to hang those who showed any 
 'want of courage or who talked of surrendering, and a tri- 
 bunal was organised for trying and condemning such 
 culprits on the spot without appeal. The priests, moreover, 
 threatened cowards with the Divine anger, whilst the chiefs 
 of the various factions all pointed to the gibbets. Thus 
 hemmed in on every side, the weakest citizens, inspired by 
 fear, simulated an audacitj^ quite wanting to them, and 
 much against their will augmented the roll of the defenders, 
 thus giving to them a power the strength of which it was 
 dif&cult to estimate. 
 
 As for the women, they enrolled themselves into com- 
 panies, which were divided amongst the different quarters 
 of the town to be defended. The task assigned to them 
 was to carry provisions, ammunition, and any aid needed 
 to the combatants, to look after the wounded in the hos- 
 pitals, to make cartridges ; in a word, to supplement the 
 efforts of the actual fighters wherever and however they 
 could. 
 
 The beautiful young Countess Burida, the daughter of 
 one of the highest families of Spain and of a noble character, 
 had scarcely recovered from the fatigues she had incurred 
 during the first siege, before she a second time placed herself 
 at the head of the women of Saragossa, setting them an 
 example of rare energy and devoted courage. The memory 
 of the feats of arms she had already achieved was a spur 
 to the ambition of all the other women, who admired her 
 virtues and her piety, whilst they longed to emulate her 
 heroism. Banded together into several corps, all under the 
 
A SEARCH FOR SALT 121 
 
 orders of this valiant Amazon, the women of Saragossa 
 also took an oath to perish with their children rather than 
 yield. 
 
 Our soldiers meanwhile were full of health, vigour, and 
 gaiety. For some few days they had had no salt, and 
 several had been reduced to use their saltpetred cartridges 
 to give a flavour to their soup. We had expected to get 
 plenty of salt in a district called Salduba in Eoman times 
 on account of its salt mines ; but we had no native guide 
 to direct us, for every one had fled at our approach, 
 abandoning their homes either for the town or to join 
 guerrilla bands. Captain Ferussat, a very intelligent 
 officer who had studied geology, was sent with a few of 
 his men to try and find the mines, which it so greatly 
 concerned us to discover. 
 
 After climbing up steep barren mountains for two 
 whole days, during which he expected every moment to 
 fall over some precipice or into the hands of insurgents 
 who would strangle their prisoners, he discovered at a 
 little distance from the Ebro, opposite Ulebo and the 
 mouth of the Xalon, a little cave scarcely noticeable from 
 outside, but with the ground without much trodden by 
 visitors. He entered it cautiously and found the remains 
 of the huge mass of rock salt which had perhaps been 
 already worked for some two thousand years. On his 
 return to camp with proofs of his valuable discovery, he 
 was received with the greatest delight. 
 
 On the 29th General Junot, Duke of Abrantes, took 
 command of the siege operations in place of Marshal 
 Moncey, whom the Emperor needed elsewhere. 
 
 During the night of the 29th or 30th, General Lacoste 
 had the trenches of the first parallel opened on the right 
 bank, completing a great length before daj'-break without 
 
122 MEMOIRS OF BAROX LEJEUXE 
 
 being noticed by the enemy. For a long time the heat 
 had been extraordinary for the time of year ; the snow had 
 melted in the Pyrenees, and the swollen Ebro overflowed 
 its banks, breaking the bridge of boats constructed by us 
 above the town, and some pontoons and debris carried 
 down by the flood, fell upon the bridge of Saragossa. 
 Palafox, governor of the town, was informed of this, and 
 thinking to profit by our forces being divided, he gathered 
 the larger portion of the garrison at the gates, and at eight 
 o'clock in the morning of the 31st he made a formidable 
 sortie with seven or eight columns under gallant leaders, 
 attacking us all along our line on the right bank. But in 
 spite of the boldness and impetuosity of their charge they 
 were driven back at the point of the bayonet. An hour 
 later they returned to the charge, directing their most 
 persevering efforts on the parallel of the false attack 
 opposite the Castillo of the Inquisition. They were unable 
 to break in at that point. Their cavalry, however, was 
 more successful, and falling upon one of our isolated posts 
 which we had neglected to entrench, cut it to pieces. 
 Palafox hastened to exaggerate this partial success with a 
 view to rousing the enthusiasm of the besieged, and with 
 great ceremony distributed to the brave fellows who had 
 taken part in the sortie a number of medals which he had 
 struck in the mint founded in Saragossa many centuries 
 before. 
 
 On January 1, 1809, a well-sustained fire was kept up 
 throughout the day from all the batteries of the place, 
 backed by a sharp fusillade. In the two previous nights 
 our diggers had finished some 2,000 yards of zigzag 
 approaches and trenches, and we could debouch from the 
 right or centre of the parallels so as to advance by means 
 of flying saps. In spite, however, of all these external 
 
A VIGOROUS NiGpix ATTACK ON OUR BATTERIES 123 
 
 preparations, no event of any importance occurred until 
 January 10, when Palafox made a vigorous night attack 
 upon our batteries, succeeding in spiking two of our guns ; 
 but he was driven back, leaving sixty men dead in our 
 trenches. On this occasion the General left behind him 
 many copies of the proclamation he had addressed to our 
 soldiers, hoping to induce some of them to desert. This 
 proclamation was written in six languages, and urged 
 those of every nation who had enlisted under our flag, 
 whether ' Dalmatians, Italians, Dutch, Poles, or Germans, 
 to abandon a war which was a disgrace to them ; ' but it 
 provoked nothing but laughter from our troops. 
 
 Saragossa is cut in two by the Ebro, which receives 
 two chief affluents, the Gallego from the north and the 
 Huerta from the south, both of which flow through the 
 eastern side of the town and fling themselves at the same 
 elevation into the main stream, forming a kind of cross. 
 
 At about four o'clock on the 12th, when the palisades 
 had been sufficiently broken or overthrown by our can- 
 nonade for a practicable breach to have been made below 
 the partly destroyed convent of St. Joseph, Lacoste gave 
 the signal for the assault. 
 
 Haxo, Lieutenant-Colonel of engineers, immediately 
 dashed out of the trenches with a few companies of in- 
 fantry and two field pieces, and advanced in such a 
 manner as to drive the enemy behind their covered ways. 
 This bold manoeuvre took the Spanish so completely by 
 surprise that they at once abandoned their outer works 
 and retreated in disorder across the Huerba. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Stahl, at the head of a few 
 companies of light infantry, seized this moment to make 
 a vigorous dash for the fort, but he found the ditch so 
 deep that he could not go down into it. Whilst he was 
 
124 MEMOIliS OF BAROX LEJEUXE 
 
 getting read}- some ladders to make the descent and to 
 reach the breach, Daguenet, a captain of engineers, 
 managed to get round the fort and to gain a httle wooden 
 bridge which the enemy had not had time to cut. By its 
 means he managed to lead his little company of sappers 
 up to the very entrance to the convent, the door of which 
 he tried to break in with blows from hatchets. But the 
 terrible fire from the place mowed down his soldiers from 
 the rear, and he made them lie down flat on their faces on 
 the bridge. 
 
 The enemy, thus attacked on every side, defended them- 
 selves with fury, and poured down their fire from the 
 windows of every storj' and every chink or crevice in 
 the walls. The shock of the various discharges brought 
 down the ceilings on the devoted defenders, and many 
 were crushed beneath the ruins. Terror and disorder 
 spread from one group to another, and the fort, now no 
 more than a mass of ruins encumbered with the mutilated 
 remains of the dead, was carried by main force. In the 
 heat of the combat the greater number of the defenders 
 had fallen, and the survivors now either surrendered or 
 escaped by jumping from the windows. The obstinate 
 defence of this convent, and what it had cost us to take it, 
 gave us some idea of all we should have to go through if 
 we were ever to achieve the conquest of Saragossa. 
 
 On the other hand, the loss of their Convent of St. 
 Joseph and of other outlying points, with the spread of 
 epidemics within the walls, led the besieged to entertain 
 the most gloomy forebodings as to the future. Palafox's 
 only notion of how to raise their spirits was by the 
 spreading of false reports, and their credulity grew with 
 their danger. He pretended that a messenger from his 
 brother had brought very good news, and he had this 
 
PALAFOX PUBLISHES FALSE NEWS 125 
 
 news published in the Gazette of January 16. ' General 
 Eeding,' he said, 'had destroyed the French armies in 
 Catalonia, and was advancing to the reHef of Saragossa at 
 the head of 60,000 men. The Enghsh armies under Sir 
 David Baird and Sir John Moore, with the force imder 
 the Marquis de la Eomana, had cut to pieces the army 
 of Napoleon. Ney and Berthier had been killed, and 
 Bonaparte was hemmed in on every side. The troops 
 hastening to the succour of Saragossa were moreover 
 bringing with them from Cadiz a huge convoy of piastres 
 with which to recompense the brave defenders of the 
 town. The Marquis de Lazan was laying France waste, 
 and would bring to Saragossa the spoils of Toulouse.' 
 
 The people, eager to read every detail of the news, 
 besieged the doors of the printing office in crowds, and 
 took possession of the sheets as they issued from the 
 press. Meanwhile the bells of all the churches were 
 pealing at once ; and the noise of the volleys of artillery 
 and musketry, the beating of drums, the sound of all 
 manner of musical instruments, many of them terribly 
 discordant, mingled with shouts and yells of joy, pene- 
 trated even to our camp. The noise and the mocking 
 jeers of the enemy, of the cause of which we were in 
 complete ignorance, really almost made us a little un- 
 easy, and we answered the volleys fired in the town 
 with a rapid succession of bombs and bullets, hoping to 
 do something to interrupt the lete ; but the general 
 illumination continued till nine o'clock at night, after 
 which nothing broke the silence or relieved the darkness 
 but the fire from our guns. 
 
 The state of things in our camp was now beginning 
 to become very critical. Every night signals were fired 
 and bonfires were lit by the peasants on all the mountains 
 
126 MEMOIRS OF BAROX LEJEUNE 
 
 overlooking the town, with a view to encouraging the 
 hopes of the besieged. The Spanish organised a general 
 rising in Aragon, and tried to starve us out by cutting off 
 our supplies. General Wathier had been sent by the 
 Tortosa road with some 1,200 infantr}' and 600 cavalry 
 ■ to reconnoitre the district and procure provisions for us. 
 He was attacked at Belchitte by 5,000 peasants, but he 
 cut most of them down and pursued the rest as far as 
 Alcanitz, where he found other forces assembled in great 
 numbers. After a fierce struggle he took Alcanitz and 
 gave it up to pillage. Nearer us armed bands and the 
 peasants from the Soria mountains constantly threatened 
 our hospitals, bakehouses, and other establishments at 
 Alagon ; and even the Pampeluna road, by which our 
 ammunition wagons reached us, was never quite free 
 from the enemy. 
 
 Some thousands of peasants — who, most fortunately 
 for us, were badly led — one day suddenly flung themselves 
 upon our outposts and caused a momentary panic ; but 
 the same kind of terror seized them a few minutes later 
 on the approach of Marshal Mortier, who put them to 
 flight ; whilst Colonel Gasquet, who had been sent out to 
 fetch provisions, met them on his way back, and killed 
 500 of them. He brought with him several flocks of 
 merino sheep, valuable on account of the fineness of their 
 wool. It did seem a pity to have to kill animals of so 
 pure a breed to feed our troops. 
 
 Palafox's brother, the Marquis de, Lazan, succeeded 
 in escaping from Saragossa a few days before to try and 
 rouse the provinces and hasten the succour of the besieged 
 town. He at the same time carried off some of the 
 treasures in the Cathedral of Nuestra Sefiora del Pilar.. 
 He embarked with all these valuable objects in a boat on 
 
A COURAGEOUS PRIEST 127 
 
 the Ebro, and, under cover of one of the darkest and 
 longest nights of January, he managed to go down the 
 river without being perceived. The Enghsh Colonel 
 Doyle made a similar attempt to convey boats laden with 
 muskets &c. to the besieged, fearing that they would 
 run short of weapons and ammunition ; but he was not 
 so successful as the Marquis, for our guards seized the 
 boats before daybreak quite close to the town. 
 
 Whilst waiting for reinforcements and relief, Palafox 
 held his regular troops in reserve for difficult operations, 
 sending out peasants only as sharpshooters. These 
 peasants were all accustomed to poaching, and very good 
 marksmen ; but, either from laziness or want of audacity, 
 they always would wait to get their meals before they 
 attacked us, which gave us breathing time and enabled 
 us to complete our trenches. We, too, wished to spare 
 our men and ammunition, and we therefore replied as 
 little as possible to the fire of the Spanish. The monks 
 did not fail to look upon our silence as a conclusive proof 
 of our weakness, and they incited the peasants to harass 
 us as much as possible. It was, in fact, always under the 
 leadership of some of the brethren that the peasants, 
 spurred on by their example, roused themselves sufficiently 
 to fire upon us. 
 
 One day a tall priest of venerable appearance, with a 
 fine figure and of a dignified bearing, wearing his sacer- 
 dotal robes and upholding a crucifix, advanced towards us 
 beyond the entrenchments of the suburbs. His confident 
 manner was that of some inspired prophet who inwardly 
 repeats the words, ' God, in Thee is my trust ; bring 
 Thou their evil designs to nought.' When near enough 
 to our outposts to make himself heard, he paused, and in 
 a sonorous and confident voice he pronounced an eager 
 
128 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUXE 
 
 exhortation to us to refrain from a useless attack upon a 
 city under the divine protection of the Santisima Sehora 
 del Pilar. Again and again we shouted to him to desist 
 from carrying out his courageous resolve ; he persevered, 
 and it was not until the sound of several shots fired in 
 the air on every side interrupted him, that he gave up 
 addressing an audience so very little disposed to listen 
 to him. He returned to the town uninjured. 
 
 When General Junot, Duke of Abrantes, heard of the 
 approaching arrival of Marshal Lannes, he was unable to 
 conceal the annoyance it caused him. His readily aroused 
 jealousy and excessive arrogance were really the first 
 symptoms of a mental malady which was beginning to 
 get a hold on him, although no one as yet suspected it. 
 He did all he could to press on the taking of the city 
 before another should arrive to deprive him of the glory to 
 be won, and he ordered a general assault for the next day. 
 On hearing of this, General Lacoste hastened to the 
 Duke, and urged on him the imperative necessity of not 
 departing from the orders given by the Emperor to avoid 
 actual assaults with a view to sparing our men, and 
 making more sure of a finally successful result. He re- 
 presented to him the fact that the town contained no fewer 
 than 100,000 inhabitants, every man amongst them able 
 to carry arms, and therefore to be counted as a combatant, 
 so that there were really at least 50,000 defenders, whilst 
 we had but 16,000 troops opposite the town, the rest of 
 the army being compelled to hold the country. He re- 
 minded him also of the skill and industry with which the 
 people of Saragossa had converted their town into one 
 huge fortress, and how eagerly they were now resorting 
 to the same measures which had succeeded so well in the 
 previous siege. He wound up by saying that he thought 
 
THE PEASANTS RISE AGAINST US 129 
 
 it his duty formally to oppose an operation which he 
 felt sure would fail. The other leaders expressed their 
 agreement with the opinion of General Lacoste. The 
 Duke then flew into a regular fury, and after using several 
 insulting epithets, he cried, 'You are all my enemies, 
 and in reserving the honour of the conquest of the town 
 to the Marshal, you are traitors to me ! ' 
 
 General Lacoste replied with the greatest coolness, 
 ' Well, Monsieur le Due, I hold you responsible for the 
 failure sure to result from your action, and I shall go and 
 tell the Emperor how it came about.' This firmness 
 caused D'Abrantes to change his purpose, and the assault 
 was countermanded. It was on this same evening that 
 the illumination of the town I have already described took 
 place. 
 
 Several detachments from our army, which had been 
 out to scour the country in search of provisions, returned 
 exhausted with fatigue without having been able to bring 
 anything back with them, for their convoys had been inter- 
 cepted by the insurgents. Meanwhile Francesco Palafox, 
 the young brother of the General, was trying to rouse the 
 villages and arm the peasants of Valencia and Catalonia 
 against us. Every one of an age to carry a weapon 
 flocked to his banner, and he had soon a great army of 
 half-savage men, all thoroughly inured to fatigue. Smug- 
 glers from infancy, used to hard living and sleeping on the 
 ground, and accustomed to a wandering life beset with 
 dangers, they flocked in ready to wage furious war on us. 
 Our soldiers were often without meat and reduced to half- 
 rations of bread. Our hospital at Alagon was already 
 encumbered with sick and wounded, for whom we had 
 neither food nor medicine. The whole country was in 
 fact laid waste for some eight or ten leagues round 
 
 VOL .1. ^ 
 
130 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 Saragossa, and we were totally unable to procure any 
 comforts for the sufferers. 
 
 Such was the state of things when Marshal Lannes 
 arrived on January 22. His presence at once gave the 
 necessary unanimity to our operations, for all felt the in- 
 fluence of his strong and unique personality. He set up 
 his head quarters near the lock, and the very day of his 
 arrival went round the whole of the extensive works 
 already completed. 
 
 The Marshal told us that Marshal Victor had just 
 obtained a great advantage at Ucles over the Duke of 
 Infantado, and to celebrate this victory and the arrival of 
 the new commander a grand volley was fired from all our 
 batteries in the evening. The enemy replied all along the 
 line for a couple of hours, after which complete silence 
 reigned in the town throughout tlie night. Palafox, how- 
 ever, who had noted the fact that some of our troops had 
 withdrawn, thought the moment favourable for retaking 
 some of the outlying positions he had lost, and was quietly 
 preparing a grand sortie. 
 
 At four o'clock in the morning a cannon shot gave the 
 signal, and three strong columns issued from the gates 
 known as the Quemada, Santa Bngracia, and Del Partillo, 
 and marched upon us silently and in good order. The 
 first column, which directed its course towards the con- 
 vent of St. Joseph, surprised the post protecting the 
 little house of Aguilar on the banks of the Huerba. Our 
 men, however, managed to escape, and General Leval, 
 •commanding the trench, retook the position, driving the 
 •enemy back as far as the town. The second column 
 was more successful ; it crossed the Huerba, which 
 was fordable on the right and left of the bridge head, 
 .and with extraordinary audacity advanced for some 400 
 
SAINT-MARO CHOSEN AS ENVOY 131 
 
 yards along the Monte Torrero road, crossing all our 
 trenches as far as battery No. 5, where they killed our 
 gunners at their posts and spiked their pieces. They 
 were trying to push on yet farther, when the diggers and 
 guards in the trenches, who had now joined forces, cut off 
 their retreat, compelling them to withdraw in disorder. 
 Thirty of the Spanish were killed, and as many others 
 made prisoners. The third column met with such a 
 vigorous resistance that it, as well as the others, returned 
 to the town before daybreak. 
 
 Marshal Lannes thought it his duty to begin with an 
 attempt at conciliation, and he sent an aide-de-camp to 
 Palafox with instructions to inform him of the successes 
 recently achieved by the French arms and to exhort him 
 in the name of humanity to stop the bloodshed. He 
 offered the most honourable terms to the town if it would 
 capitulate. 
 
 Saint-Marc, the young officer chosen as envoy, was a 
 good-looking young fellow with a fine figure and charming 
 manners. He wore the brilliant costume in the Hungarian 
 style, gleaming with gold lace and braid, already described, 
 and his approach to the Spanish outposts was announced 
 by the blov^dng of a trumpet. At first there was great 
 unwillingness to receive him, but after a long delay a 
 body of cavalry came to escort him into the town. His 
 eyes were bandaged, and he was led through all the longest 
 streets, an immense crowd thronging about him every- 
 where, shouting, ' Ahorcadle ! matadle!' (hang him! 
 kill him !) But now and then the quick ears of the 
 young officer, who was painfully on the alert, caught 
 amongst these ferocious cries the words, ' Buen mozo 
 hermoso ! ' (a handsome, graceful fellow) . Some of the 
 people were evidently struck with the easy grace of Saint- 
 
 K 2 
 
132 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 Marc, whose uniform and richly caparisoned steed set him 
 off to the best advantage. A visiting patrol came in 
 the nick of time to protect the envoy on his way to the 
 interview with Palafox, who received him in the Palace of 
 the Inquisition. He was led in and made to traverse the 
 long winding passages of the gloomy building in solemn 
 and mysterious silence. At last he was allowed to stop, 
 his eyes were uncovered, and he was left alone in a room 
 hung with black, opposite a fine picture, by Velasquez, of 
 Christ on the Cross. In view of his funereal surround- 
 ings and after all that had just occurred, he began to think 
 that he was to be submitted to the rough tests of free- 
 masonry, or that he might even be in one of the rooms 
 sacred to the Tribunal of the Holy Office itself, which, as 
 is well known, persecuted the brethren and punished with 
 death those who belonged to the Grand Order of Masons. 
 
 At last, after a dreary hour of waiting, the whole of 
 which he passed opposite the melancholy memento mori 
 in the place from which so many had issued but to go to 
 their execution, Saint-Marc was relieved to see Palafox, 
 the young Governor of Saragossa, come in accompanied by 
 several officers and the members of the Junta. He pre- 
 sented the letter from the French Marshal, saying that 
 his Excellency had instructed him to beg the Governor 
 to spare the blood of two nations which had every reason 
 to be friends. 
 
 Palafox replied that the garrison and the whole 
 population of Saragossa were at one with him in their 
 determination rather to be buried beneath the ruins of 
 their town than to yield. After this he left the envoy 
 alone again for several hours, Saint-Marc's gloomy reflec- 
 tions making them appear even longer than they were. 
 The fact was that Palafox, though he said nothing of his 
 
PALAFOX REFUSJ^.S TO TREAT 133 
 
 kind intentions to the young French officer, really de- 
 tained him till night to save him from the fanatics who 
 clamoured for him to be given up to them. At last, how- 
 ever, a letter for the Marshal was given to him, his eyes 
 were bandaged again, and he was taken under a strong 
 escort back to the outposts. 
 
 The despatch ran as follows : ' M. le Marechal, I know 
 the number of troops besieging me, and ten times as 
 many would be required to compel me to yield. My 
 town will glory in her ruins. The General in command 
 does not know what fear is, and will never submit. The 
 enclosed Gazette will make known to you the position in 
 which I am placed.' That Gazette was a copy of the one 
 the General had had printed on January 16 with a view 
 to raising the spirits of the besieged by the publication of 
 false reports. 
 
 Palafox's refusal compelled us to prosecute the siege 
 with vigour, and the Marshal told us once more that he 
 had orders from the Emperor to use every possible 
 despatch, undermining and blowing up the houses so as 
 to intimidate the inhabitants. We therefore prepared to 
 cross the Huerba. The steep banks, entirely exposed on 
 our side, were raked by the artillery and musketry of the 
 place, which was but a little distance off. The descent of 
 the ditch to get down to the bed of the river, and cross it 
 by means of two trestle bridges with epaulments of 
 gabions and fascines, was therefore one of the most 
 perilous operations of the siege. This work, requiring the 
 utmost skill and courage, was, however, soon successfully 
 achieved, but it cost us the lives of several of our best 
 officers. 
 
 At another point all was well arranged for facilitating 
 our communications between the two banks of the Bbro 
 
134 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 The bridge of boats thrown across the upper Ebro above 
 the town by General Dedon, of the artillery, had been 
 broken on December 30, but it was already repaired and 
 was strong enough for the passage of our heavy artillery. 
 The other flying bridge across the lower Ebro below the 
 town consisted of two strong boats connected by a plat- 
 form, over which two twelve-pounders could be dragged at 
 one time. With the aid of these two bridges, therefore, 
 we could easil}' go right round Saragossa, the blockade of 
 which was complete. 
 
 The work of the engineers on the right bank of the 
 river was divided into three assaults, each led by an able 
 man of proved and brilliant valour. Haxo commanded the 
 assault between the Ebro and the Convent of St. Joseph, 
 Frost's forces were in the centre between the Calle 
 Quemada and the Convent of Santa Engracia, whilst Henri 
 led the left wing threatening the Convent of the Trinity 
 and the Inquisition as far as the river. 
 
 Sixty pieces of cannon and twelve mortars were 
 directed against the houses which were to be the first 
 attacked, with a view to dislodging the besieged ; but in 
 spite of the terrible fire from them, the intrepidity of the 
 Spanish was such that at the very moment when a shell 
 made a breach in the wall of some house, its inhabitants 
 would turn the hole to account as a loophole for firing on 
 their assailants, although a second shell might at any 
 moment bury them beneath the shattered walls of their 
 home ; and everywhere we saw barricades being erected 
 amongst the ruins. 
 
 Our sentinels were very vigilant, and we were quite 
 at a loss to discover how the besieged got any encou- 
 raging news from without. I must just mention here 
 one clever contrivance to which they resorted, though 
 
AN INGENIOUS DEVICE FOR GETTING NEWS 135 
 
 we did not find out about it till long after the siege was 
 over. 
 
 Julian Perez, one of the many smugglers of the 
 Pyrenees, who found himself shut up in the besieged town, 
 made his dog the medium of getting news for Palafox. 
 He had a hairy collar made of the same colour as the 
 skin of the dog, and stitched beneath it, in such a manner 
 that it was very difficult to discover the writing, were the 
 words, ' Send us some news.' 
 
 The faithful animal reluctantly submitted to his 
 master's will when one night he sternly ordered him to 
 go home alone. He started, and unnoticed made his way 
 through the French lines, reaching Barbastro in safety, 
 where the wife of Perez lived. Three times the wife placed 
 messages beneath the hairy collar, twice the poor dog, 
 whose very name of Mira meant beware, got safely back 
 to Saragossa, but the third time his thigh was broken by a 
 bullet, and he went to Barbastro no more. 
 
 The arrival of the Marshal had acted as a great spur 
 to our energies. Our little body of cavalry behaved 
 splendidly, driving the insurgents harassing us to a distance. 
 Several breaches were apparently becoming practicable, 
 and the fire from our batteries had partly destroyed the 
 Convents of Saints Augustine and Monica on our right, 
 of Santa Engracia in the centre, and of the Capuchins on 
 the left, the last three named abutting upon the ramparts 
 of the outer enceinte. Major Breuille, commanding the 
 miners, now announced that very long mine branches, 
 which it had been most difficult to establish beneath the 
 rampart, had been pushed up to the very foot of the 
 Convent of Santa Engracia, and that huge powder 
 chambers were charged capable of completely demolishing 
 the front of the building. Everything was therefore ready. 
 
136 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUXE 
 
 and the Marshal ordered a grand attack on these three 
 principal points. 
 
 General Habert, who was to deliver the assault, 
 assembled his troops in the trenches at daybreak. He 
 gave the command of the first column on the right to 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Stahl, that of the centre to a captain, 
 and that of the left to Colonel Chlopiski. Each column 
 had at the head an engineer officer and sixty sappers. 
 The brigade of General Brun was held in reserve, and the 
 Morlot division was to make a false attack beyond the 
 Del Carmen gate, so as to divide the forces of the besieged 
 or repulse sorties. 
 
 At noon, the fog which had partially hidden the town 
 from us having cleared away, the signal was given to fire 
 the mines of Santa Engracia, and our troops dashed into 
 the open to cross the wide rampart and ascend to the 
 assault. All the bells in the town sounded the alarm at 
 once, the people rushed to the points attacked and poured 
 a hail of shot and hand grenades upon us. At the same 
 moment the enemy fired three mines prepared by them 
 beneath the path we had to cross on our way to each of 
 the three breaches, but we passed so rapidly that we escaped 
 the explosions, which hurt none of us. Everywhere 
 we managed to get a footing, although behind each open- 
 ing the enemy had established batteries which riddled us 
 with grape shot, whilst all the walls bristled with enraged 
 defenders. 
 
 After scaling the breach, which really was scarcely 
 practicable, we found ourselves arrested at the top by the 
 wall of a garden rising more than ten feet above the ground 
 on the other side. The neighbouring terraces were covered 
 with troops and artillery which would completely crush 
 us. We had to get out of this altogether untenable posi- 
 tion as quickly as possible, and try a second assault on 
 
ASSAULT OF THE CONVENT OF SANTA ENGRACIA 137 
 
 some of the positions occupied by the Spaniards. We flung 
 ourselves forward and charged with the bayonet. In this 
 second assault a Spaniard dealt me a blow with the butt 
 of his musket, which wounded my face and rendered me 
 insensible. A few moments later I regained consciousness, 
 and went to wash away the blood in the water of the 
 Hiierba, quickly rejoining the right column, to which I 
 belonged. Meanwhile a footing had been obtained upon 
 the breaches, and several of the neighbouring houses had 
 been taken, the doors and walls having been staved in, 
 though the courts were so raked with the fire of the 
 enemy that they were quite impassable. 
 
 In the attack of the centre, the mines laid by Major 
 Breuille under the rampart flung down some half of the 
 walls of the Convent of Santa Bngracia. The Poles of the 
 Second Vistula Begiment, commanded by Chlopiski and 
 directed by Eogniat, colonel of engineers, had been divided 
 into several small detachments, which were taken into 
 action one after the other, to avoid confusion. These 
 heads of columns traversed at a run some 200 exposed 
 yards, and dashed impetuously on to the ruins of the 
 first wall of the enclosure, which had been flung down 
 for a considerable length. A second wall behind the first 
 had only been damaged by the breaking open of the breach 
 some eight or ten feet wide, and the guns of the 1,200 
 defenders of the convent were all pointed on it and pouring 
 forth a hot fire. The first of our brave fellows to arrive, 
 Captain Segond, of the engineers, and Captain Negrodski, 
 flung themselves head foremost upon the breach, and were 
 followed by all the men of the Vistula Eegiment, who came 
 on like enraged Hons, flung themselves into the opening, 
 and defiled beyond it. A terrible struggle now took place 
 in every part of the convent, monks, soldiers, peasants, 
 
138 MEMOIKS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 even women and children, urging each other on, and dis- 
 puting every inch of ground, defending themselves from 
 the top to the bottom of the stairs, from corridor to corri- 
 dor, from room to room, entrenching themselves behind 
 bales of wool or even piles of books, and from every point 
 pouring out a murderous fire. One of the Poles was actu- 
 ally killed on the stairs by a monk with blows from a 
 crucifix. For all that, however, the Spanish were driven 
 back beyond the Capuchin Convent, of which we remained 
 masters. Even six fougasses, which the enemy blew up 
 under our feet, did not arrest us, and we pursued them 
 into the ruins of the adjacent houses, on which also other 
 batteries opened fire, doing us a good deal of damage. We 
 suffered most cruelly from the musket shots fired from 
 the top of the neighbouring belfries, where the best marks- 
 men, who never missed their aim, were stationed. 
 
 I was crossing the heaps of ruins resulting from the 
 explosion in the court of the Santa Bngracia Convent, 
 with Generals Lacoste and Valaze, on the way to attack 
 the Capuchin Convent, when I was badly wounded in the 
 shoulder by a ricochet ball, which caused a most painful 
 choking sensation. This second wound placed raehorsde 
 combat for several days. As I was being supported over 
 the debris of the ruined cloister, my helpers paused for a 
 moment on the scene of carnage, opposite to a white cross 
 rising above a marble group representing the dead Christ 
 in His grave clothes across the knees of His Mother, who 
 was praying at the foot of the cross. Her eyes were up- 
 lifted to heaven, biit her hands were extended towards 
 the ground, and her grief-stricken expression, with her 
 lips half opened as if to speak, appeared to say, ' Al- 
 mighty God, Thou didst not give life to human creatures 
 for them to destroy each other ; oh, appease their homi- 
 
ATTACK ON THE TRINITARIAN CONVENT 139 
 
 cidal rage, pardon their fatal errors, even as my Son 
 forgave His enemies.' A thick cloud of dust and smoke, 
 vs^hich had been whirled by the wind round about the 
 statue, formed a kind of aureole, and the figure of the 
 Mother seemed to move. The mist partly hid the dead and 
 dying, whose blood was dropping on the steps of the 
 pedestal ; and the sad realities of the awful scene were to 
 me like some sublime and unexpected vision, to which I 
 accorded an involuntary admiration. My weakened brain 
 led me to see the hand of Providence held out to me from 
 the midst of the cloud, and I besought protection from the 
 Almighty. As I did so, Valaze came up, bringing me a 
 few drops of wine in a leather bottle he had found in the 
 ruined convent. The drink restored me, and my wound 
 was not, after all, serious. 
 
 The attack on the Trinitarian ' Convent on the left was 
 even more fierce than that on the centre. Thirty of our 
 carabineers stationed on watch at the entrance to the 
 bridge noticed that the Spanish were running away, and 
 without a moment's hesitation they dashed after them in 
 pursuit, and climbed several of the enemy's entrenchments, 
 getting in through the embrasures. At first they overthrew 
 everything before them, killing the artillerymen at their 
 guns, and rushing along the ramparts shouting, ' Forward ! 
 forward ! ' But a hot fire was poured on the brave fellows 
 from every side ; many of them were struck down, and 
 their numbers were rapidly diminishing, when a battalion 
 of guards beyond the Huerba, seeing their danger and 
 unable to contain themselves, crossed the river at double- 
 quick pace, and scaling the ramparts flew to the. aid of 
 the carabineers, dashing with the flying enemy into the 
 
 ' The Trinitarians were a monastic order, founded to rescue Christian 
 captives from the power of the Mahomedans. — Teans. 
 
140 MEMOIRS OF BAKON LEJEUNE 
 
 Trinitarian Convent. The Spanish, however, vs^ho had 
 yielded to a momentary panic only, now rallied, and 
 hastily turning back spread into the neighbouring houses, 
 from which they opened a murderous fire at close quarters 
 upon our troops, who were exposed all along the rampart. 
 Our ranks were greatly thinned, and our zeal considerably 
 cooled. The enemy saw their advantage. General Mori 
 came up with considerable reinforcements, and we were 
 driven back on to the Trinitarian Convent, which was re- 
 taken by the Spanish general. Morlot, commanding our 
 reserve, seeing our disorder, hurried up to our support in 
 the nick of time with two of his battalions. The shock 
 of their onslaught was terrible, and the number of dead 
 piled up on the scene of the conflict was very great. In 
 the end we made more than 600 prisoners, and took 
 fifteen pieces of cannon, which we turned against the 
 besieged from their position on the ramparts. Several 
 officers of great merit lost their lives on both sides, and 
 General Mori was found amongst the dead. Captain 
 Segond, an interesting young French engineer, from whom 
 we had hoped great things, was surprised and killed almost 
 at close quarters by a priest who was hidden behind a pile 
 of stones amongst the ruins of Santa Engracia. He was 
 the son of one of our most distinguished chiefs, and his 
 death was a great grief to his family and to all his brother 
 officers. 
 
 It was at the end of this terrible day that a Carmelite 
 monk named San Yago Saas, who had distinguished him- 
 self in the previous siege as a brilliant leader and ardent 
 preacher, boasted that he had himself butchered seventeen 
 Frenchmen. Sword in hand, sleeves flung back over the 
 shoulders, leaving the arms bare, robe tucked up, and splashed 
 with blood from head to foot, the furious monk ran to and 
 
THE MAID OF SAP.AGOSSA 141 
 
 fro in the ranks saying to each soldier, ' Follow my example, 
 and there won't be one of them left.' And on the morning 
 of the same day the famous Maid of Saragossa, Augustina 
 Sarzella, reappeared amongst the troops, and by her valour 
 won the appointment of commander of a company of the 
 intrepid women led by Dofia Burida. The Maid of Sara- 
 gossa had long practised pointing cannon and firing 
 muskets, and her skill was only equalled by her intrepidity. 
 During the first siege, which had lasted from June to 
 August in 1808, as she was taking provisions to a battery 
 which was suffering so terribly that the gunners were dis- 
 couraged, she flung herself amongst the dead and dying, 
 tore a linstock from the hands of an expiring artilleryman, 
 put the match to a twenty-four pounder and springing 
 upon the cannon vowed she would not leave it alive. 
 This heroic deed so encouraged the Spanish that they took 
 fresh heart and opened fire on us with renewed vigour. 
 
 We spent the following night in barricading our posi- 
 tion with the aid of bales of wool, gabions, and sacks of 
 earth, of which we made traverses. In clearing away the 
 dead bodies of the Spanish which encumbered the ground 
 we came upon the corpse of a young monk still clasping 
 in his hands the pyx containing the sacred wafers he had 
 been courageously carrying to the dying in the midst of 
 the carnage, with a view to encouraging the living to resist 
 to the end by showing them that they would receive 
 spiritual succour at the last. 
 
 This arduous day, which had cost us the lives of 600 
 men, had left us masters of the most important positions 
 on a third of the ramparts, and henceforth we were firmly 
 established in one portion of the city itself. The Spanish 
 general, however, far from being discouraged by the losses 
 ,he had sustained and by the ill success of the incredible 
 
142 MEMOIES OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 efforts he had made on the 27th, counted all the incidents 
 which had occurred as so many victories. 
 
 Meanwhile illness was beginning to weaken the be- 
 sieged ; and to keep up the moral courage of those whom 
 suffering rendered irritable and difficult to lead, the Junta, 
 which might more justly have been called the Tribunal of 
 Terror, punished the slightest misdemeanour with pitiless 
 severity. Neither age nor rank saved from death those 
 suspected of cowardice, and a single hour witnessed trial, 
 condemnation, and execution. Every morning the people 
 saw fresh victims hanging from the rows of gibbets on the 
 Corso. The heart of Palafox was torn by all these suffer- 
 ings, but Bazile and the other ferocious leaders of the 
 Junta were inflexible. The clergy all around by order of 
 that same Junta organised processions, offered up many 
 prayers, and announced many false miracles, in all of which, 
 however absurd they might be, the people, whose super- 
 stition made them incredibly gullible, firmly believed, so 
 that, confident in the visible support of Heaven, their 
 courage and zeal were revived. 
 
 The war was now carried on in the very streets of 
 Saragossa, and Lacoste did all in his power to push farther 
 into the town without exposing his troops, knowing full 
 well how discouraging continual losses are. We therefore 
 advanced very slowly but very surely with the aid of the 
 sapper and the miner. As soon as a house was taken, a 
 miner was sent down to the lowest part of the cellars, 
 where he set to work to open a mine beneath the street or 
 under the next house so as to reach the one we meant to 
 a,ttack. This mine was then charged in the most profound 
 silence, and with such skill that the line of least resistance 
 was beneath the condemned house. Directly after the 
 explosion the soldiers, who were held in readiness, flung 
 
A HOUSE-TO-HOUSE STRUGGLE 143 
 
 themselves through the clouds of dust which arose, and 
 took possession of the ruins of the house just thrown down, 
 where to secure possession they quickly barricaded them- 
 selves and awaited the night. Then under cover of the 
 darkness they brought in sacks of earth and bales of wool, 
 anything in fact which could serve as epaulments or 
 mantlets, and render more secure our communications in 
 the streets between one block of houses and another. 
 
 Every one displayed the greatest eagerness in these 
 dangerous operations, following the example of General 
 Lacoste, whose admirable courage was that of a man of 
 thought as well as action. His talents and amiable cha- 
 racter won the esteem and affection of every one, and 
 under his leadership the artillery and engineers worked 
 admirably together, achieving great successes. Unfortu- 
 nately, however, the army and his personal friends were 
 soon to moarn his loss. 
 
 On the 28th the enemy tried without success to retake 
 the Trinitarian Convent. They were also driven back on 
 the 29th, but on these two days our engineers lost six 
 officers and thirty-eight men. 
 
 Under the indefatigable Colonel San Genis the Spanish 
 bored holes in every partition and ceiling of their houses, 
 through which to take aim from one story to another. 
 We could hear them breaking up the staircases to use 
 them as barricades, replacing them with ladders, which 
 could be drawn up. Each household in its own particular 
 stronghold laid up stores of hand grenades and shells, 
 which could easily be rolled down on the assailants, with 
 plenty of powder, balls, and stones, whilst priests and women 
 with arms in their hands circulated to and fro beneath a 
 hail of bullets, and even with astonishing audacity headed 
 an attack on our troops in the Capuchin Convent, hoping to 
 
144 MEMOIRS OF BAROX LEJEUXE 
 
 drive them out. But all this fury was of no avail against 
 the cooler courage of our seasoned troops, who soon found 
 themselves sheltered hehind piles of dead bodies. 
 
 Lacoste was very anxious that the works opposite the 
 suburb on the left bank of the Ebro should progress as 
 rapidly as ours were doing in the town itself ; but the 
 division under Gazan, which was threatened on every side, 
 had merely established a blockade and had not yet been 
 able to complete the works necessary for the circumvalla- 
 tion of the suburb or for the contravallation of his own 
 position to protect it from attacks from outside. The 
 Marshal therefore went with General Lacoste and myself 
 to push on the works, and the following night (that of 
 January 31 and February 1) the trenches were opened 
 with a first parallel encircling and threatening the Capu- 
 chin Convent. A few days later the fire from twenty pieces 
 of cannon was breaking in its strong fortifications. 
 
 On his way back to the town the Marshal gave us 
 fresh cause to admire his wonderful self-possession in the 
 midst of danger. Instead of returning under cover of the 
 deep trenches, he led us across the open within half range 
 of the place, and climbed a mound so as to get a better 
 view of his surroundings. As he was quietly giving us 
 his orders, several shots aimed at his brilliant uniform 
 passed through our cloaks, and one of our officers was 
 wounded. We all at once jumped into the trench, but the 
 Marshal remained motionless and went on speaking to me. 
 It would have been very bad manners on my part to listen 
 to liim from a distance, so I climbed up beside him again. 
 It was not until he had said all he wanted to say that he 
 slowly drew back into the trench, where we took the 
 liberty of representing to him that we thought this example 
 of temerity was scarcely needed with troops of such proved 
 
THE MISERIES OF WORKING IN THE TRENCHES 145 
 
 courage as ours, and that in thus exposing himself he ran 
 a risk of depriving us of a very able chief at a most criti- 
 cal moment of our undertaking. 
 
 In the Gazan camp the fatigue of the troops was ex- 
 treme. Neither officers nor men were relieved for a single 
 night till they had passed seventy-two hours in the trenches. 
 Food was often very scarce, but in spite of all these draw- 
 backs there was very little illness, as the weather was fine 
 and dry. Most of our soldiers would have preferred fighting 
 twenty battles in the open to working for a single day in the 
 trenches. They were taken there in silence in the dead 
 of the night, with or without their arms, according to cir- 
 cumstances. If they had their weapons they were stacked 
 in piles in some safe place under a strong guard. Picks and 
 spades were then given out to the men by their officers, 
 who placed them in groups at a distance of about three 
 or four feet from each other on a line marked out, and 
 ordered them as they dug to throw the earth out in front 
 without making any noise, or they would provoke the fire 
 of the enemy. When the poor fellows, worn out with 
 several nights passed in this task, were sufficiently pro- 
 tected from the direct fire of the place (and they worked 
 very quickly, so eager were they for rest), they would fling 
 themselves down, their danger and toil at an end at the 
 same moment, and fall into a sleep so deep that even the 
 sound of the firing of cannon did not wake them. They 
 were still, however, exposed to sorties, to the bursting 
 of shells, bombs, grenades, and fireballs, flung amongst 
 them by the enemy with a view to lighting up the place 
 where they were concealed, so as to take proper aim at 
 them. They had also to dread being crushed beneath the 
 showers of stones hurled from the swivel guns of the 
 besieged, but they slept on as peacefully through the 
 
 VOL. I. L 
 
146 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEU^^E 
 
 hurly-burly of all these plunging fires and death-dealing 
 projectiles as the sailor after a storm upon the waves 
 which threaten to engulf him at any moment ; troubling 
 themselves not at all with the thought that for some of 
 them this delicious sleep might be eternal. 
 
 Such is, now and then, the life of the infantry soldier 
 during a siege ; but for the sapper there is absolutely no 
 break in the dangers to be met at every turn, for he has 
 to work under the direct fire of the enemy in the open as 
 he goes down some counterscarp, and to brave all manner 
 of vaguely aimed projectiles as he rolls some gabion before 
 him when he is about to open a sap or finish off a trench. 
 Imagine how great must have been the skill and coolness 
 of the engineers who during the last sixteen years had 
 thus taken possession of all the chief strongholds of 
 Europe ! 
 
 But the example of patient perseverance set by the 
 engineers was quite equalled by that of the artillery officers, 
 whose courage and zeal, directed by thoroughly scientific 
 .acumen, never wavered, in spite of the terrible fatigue and 
 privation involved in the task they had undertaken. 
 
 The Spanish engineers really seemed to rival our own 
 in their skill, courage, and perseverance. By an unex- 
 pected stroke of fate the French and Spanish armies lost 
 in one day two chiefs of engineers, both interesting 
 young fellows, who had done much to contribute, by their 
 «ager initiative, to the success of the works on both sides. 
 •Just before Colonel San Genis was killed at the Palafox 
 battery, he had said to his officers, ' If there is ever any 
 ■question of capitulation, don't call me to your counsels, 
 for I will find some means of defending you to the death.' 
 Whilst availing himself of every resource known in the 
 science of engineering to avert the dangers threatening 
 
CONVERSATION WITH GENERAL LAOOSTE 147 
 
 his fellow citizens, by whom he was loved and respected, 
 he was equally eager to place his mother in safety. His 
 affections were, in fact, divided between his mother and 
 his country, and he was carried when dying to the arms 
 of the parent he loved so well. She wept bitterly over 
 the changed features of her son, but had the melancholy 
 satisfaction of receiving his last sigh. Less fortunate than 
 San Genis, Lacoste, abandoned by the good fortune which 
 had attended him in the assaults of Cairo, Saint Jean 
 d'Acre in Syria, and Gaeta in Italy, was to fall in a foreign 
 land, far from his father and the wife he adored, with no 
 honour but that of having served his country a.t a dis- 
 tance. 
 
 Lacoste had ordered two mines to be charged, each 
 with 2,000 pounds of powder, one in front of Sa^ta En- 
 gracia, and the other about a hundred paces from it on 
 the left. To insure the attacks following the explosions 
 being simultaneous, he decided to lead that on the left 
 himself, confiding the other, on the right, to me. As we 
 were going down together from our camp on Monte 
 Torrero, about noon on February 1, he spoke to me of the 
 young wife whom he loved passionately, and told me that 
 though they had been married a year, he had only been 
 able to spend five days with her. He added how much 
 he vsdshed to retire from the Emperor's service and live 
 quietly at home, cheered by the dear presence of his 
 father, his wife, and the children he hoped would be born 
 to him ; and whilst calling up a picture of a life full of 
 home joys, we reached the batteries. 
 
 Haxo had just taken the Convent of St. Augustine, 
 where several breaches had been opened by our miners 
 before daybreak. At two o'clock in the afternoon, when 
 all had seemed perfectly quiet in that part of the town, 
 
 L 2 
 
148 MEMOIRS OF BAROX LEJEUNE 
 
 the shouts of a vast multitude approaching, with the sound 
 of the tocsin summoning the people to arms, made us 
 hastily resume our weapons. It was Palafox advancing 
 at the head of some eight or ten thousand furious men, 
 eager to retake the houses occupied by us. Their attack 
 was so vigorous that we lost a good deal of ground, but we 
 retained possession of the convent, protected by the en- 
 trenchments made by Haxo's orders. 
 
 It was just at this juncture that Lacoste and I arrived 
 from Monte Torrero. We first traversed the blood-stained 
 ruins of the convent just taken by Haxo, and then pressed 
 on to join the centre under Prost. 
 
 Lacoste, who could not help feeling full of pity for the 
 luckless enemies who were to perish in the explosions, 
 prepared for as described above, tried to drive the Spanish 
 out of the threatened houses, by placing a few mortars 
 behind an epaulment near them and discharging some 
 bombs from them. Just then a ball crossed the bale of wool 
 behind which we were hiding, grazed Lacoste's forehead, 
 and carried oil a lock of his fair hair. Laughing at this 
 incident, he said to me, alluding to our talk on the way 
 down from the mountain, ' If only that lock of hair had 
 been for her ! ' and we separated, each to go to his own 
 post. 
 
 He had ordered me to set fire to my powder two minutes 
 after I heard the explosion of his, which would be in about 
 a quarter of an hour by our watches, which tallied exactly. 
 My dispositions were made, and we all listened for nearly 
 forty minutes without hearing anything. I sent to inquire 
 the cause of the delay, and my messenger returned to say 
 that all had succeeded admirably, and we were to fire our 
 mine at once. I gave the order immediately ; a whole block 
 of ten or twelve houses were precipitated into the air, and 
 
UEATI-I OF GENERAL LACOSTE 149 
 
 a dull muffled sound reached us. As soon as the dust had 
 cleared away sufficiently for us to distinguish objects and 
 recognise each other, Prost ilung forward the Poles who 
 were to attack. At this moment Lacoste and Valaze 
 arrived to witness our charge. We climbed through the 
 window of a house near, so as to get under cover amongst 
 the ruins. Our shouts of ' Houra ! houra ! ' to urge the 
 Poles forward, aroused the attention of the Spanish, who 
 fired on us through almost invisible holes. General 
 Lacoste and Captain Lalobe, who had followed us, were 
 both mortally wounded in the forehead. The latter died 
 on the spot, and Lacoste survived but a few hours. 
 
 This event saddened the whole army, to whom the 
 General was very dear; and the Marshal, who shared the 
 general mourning, announced to the Emperor the great 
 loss sustained in the death of this skilful engineer, who had 
 been full of resource, and whose calm and cheerful de- 
 meanour in the midst of the greatest dangers had secured 
 the success of all he undertook. The Marshal appointed 
 Colonel Eogniat to the command of the engineers, vacant 
 by the death of General Lacoste. 
 
 All the woodwork and other combustible parts of the 
 houses surrounding us in this attack on the centre were 
 by order of our new colonel smeared with tar and set fire 
 to, and this burning barrier separated us for some days 
 from the Spanish, who were as eager and indomitable as 
 ourselves. They seemed to look upon it as an amuse- 
 ment to practise their skill in taking aim at us, and they 
 were such good marksmen and fired so quickly that the 
 shakos of our soldiers were riddled with bullets directly 
 they appeared above the parapet of the trenches. This 
 made the task of our engineers extremely dangerous, and 
 Haxo, one of our bravest generals, was so worried by the 
 
150 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 perpetual firing whilst he was at work, that he took ex- 
 ception to my height, and grumbled at me because when 
 I was near him in the trenches I drew down the fire of 
 the enemy, my scarlet helmet, with its gold ornaments 
 and white aigrette, forming a capital mark. The Spanish 
 were so skilful and persevering in this artillery practice, 
 that they actually succeeded in making breaches with it 
 in the walls which they were not otherwise able to injure, 
 and which they thought served as a protection to us. In 
 some parts of the trenches we raight have - picked up 
 bushelfuls of lead used in this manner. 
 
 Bogniat soon found that the houses which had been 
 completely thrown down in the explosions were no real 
 shelter to us, and that our men ran many dangers in 
 crossing the exposed ruins on their way to attack the 
 neighbouring buildings. He therefore had the charges so 
 laid that only the wall next to us was destroyed, in each 
 case leaving the others standing, to serve as a cover to 
 us when we took possession. Heavily charged chambers 
 were henceforth only fired to throw down the walls of the 
 large buildings, which served as something like citadels in 
 the interior of the town. 
 
 The experience gained day by day in this extraordinary 
 kind of warfare served to teach us much in every way, 
 and our prudence and method alike grew greater and 
 greater. Directly a house was taken, it was converted 
 into a fortress vdth the aid of sacks of earth used to wall 
 up the openings on the side of the enemy, whilst we 
 pierced a straight line of interior communications which 
 we could prolong successively into each house occupied. 
 Loopholes were then made opposite those of the enemy, 
 and we soon became nearly as clever in this style of aim- 
 ing from room to room as were the Spanish themselves. 
 
THE TRIALS OF MINERS AND SAPPERS 151 
 
 In the centre our miners were preparing three cham- 
 bers at the base of the Convent of Jerusalem with a view 
 to blowing it up, when they heard noises beneath them 
 which told them that the enemy was countermining them. 
 They at once charged one of the fourneaux and fired it 
 lest they should be anticipated. The Spanish miners, in- 
 cluding one officer a,nd fifteen men, perished miserably, 
 buried beneath the masses of earth which fell on them, 
 and our sappers began making fresh galleries. The 
 courage and calmness with which the military miner braves 
 danger and fatigue are alike admirable. Whilst he is 
 patiently hollowing out the tomb of the enemy's sappers, 
 it often happens that he is separated from them by but 
 the thinnest layer of earth. Whilst some slight noise or 
 movement reveals to him that his enemies are com- 
 passing his destruction close beside him, he is not stand- 
 ing up, he cannot confront his enemy in a proud attitude 
 of defiance, the eyes of the army are not upon him to raise 
 his courage and redouble his strength. He is often alone, 
 stretched flat on his face on the ground, or crouching in a 
 cramped position, and he sometimes succumbs, suffocated 
 for want of air. It is often when he is but half alive that he 
 is called to the struggle. What Bayard, what Murat would 
 not find his courage ebb away if he had to submit to being 
 shut up for days in the cold subterranean galleries, where 
 the miners noiselessly creep along to prepare the mine 
 they are to fire ? Their disinterestedness was equal to 
 their courage, and in this memorable siege I knew in- 
 stances of men who, whilst driving horizontal galleries at 
 a depth of some twenty feet underground, broke with their 
 picks antique vases full of gold, silver, and bronze coins, 
 which the Carthaginians, Eomans, or Arabs had buried in 
 times of similar calamities. It would have been natural 
 
io'2 MEMOIRS OF BAROX LEJEUNE 
 
 enough if the nainer's cupidity had been aroused by the 
 gleam of the metal in the light of his lamp ; but not a bit 
 of it — he would simply push the treasure and the loosened 
 earth behind him to the next worker, with the words, 
 'Here, pass Peru to the Captain; it will amuse him.' 
 Captain Veron-Eeville was a connoisseur of coins, and in 
 this way he received a good many very rare medals, 
 several of them found at the foot of an old Eoman wall, 
 the hard cement of which bothered our miners a good 
 deal. 
 
 Money had been coined in Saragossa for many centuries, 
 and that city owns a most interesting collection of coins. 
 Captain Veron-Beville noticed that the part of the town 
 on which we were working was founded on an old bed of 
 shingle or large pebbles which had been rolled over and over 
 by the Ebro, and was now covered with a layer of from 
 ten to fifteen feet of good alluvial soil. This shingle bed 
 was not without danger to us, although it contained 
 no flint, for it could not be broken up without making a 
 noise which might be heard by the enemy. 
 
 Colonel Eogniat found it prudent to make on our line 
 a point of support to meet all contingencies. Between 
 February 2 and 6, therefore, he made an epaulment with 
 sacks of earth at the breach in the Capuchin Convent, so 
 as to fortify us in it. Artillery was also stationed there to 
 reply to that massed by the enemy at this point. 
 
 In our attack on the right we stretched along the Calle 
 de Quemada almost to the College, crossing the street by 
 means of three subterranean galleries, so as to establish 
 an equal number of chambers under the mines opposite. 
 One of these galleries debouched into an unoccupied cellar, 
 through which our miners and sappers were able to go up 
 into the house above. Once established there they could 
 
ROGNIAT LOSES A FINGER 153 
 
 help us to get into the whole block. (We called any 
 group of houses surrounded by streets a block.) 
 
 We crossed the Calle del Medio by a double epaulment 
 of sacks of earth, and established ourselves on the other 
 side in a block of houses which had been undermined in the 
 first siege. In this affair Eogniat had a finger taken off 
 by a bullet, but his wound only kept him out of the trenches 
 for two days, during which I took his place. Morlet, a 
 lieutenant of engineers, who had already performed many 
 brilliant feats of arms, was dangerously wounded at the 
 same moment as BiOgniat, whilst Brenne, another lieu- 
 tenant of engineers, received three bullets. 
 
 Every day it became more difficult to protect ourselves 
 from all these shots. The streets of the quarters into which 
 we penetrated grew narrower and narrower, and we were 
 almost at close quarters with the Spanish, who riddled with 
 balls the barricades, planks, doors, windows, and shutters, 
 behind which they thought we might be. In a few 
 moments every protection was pierced with holes like 
 those in lace, and woe betide any one who happened to 
 be on the other side. 
 
 In some streets there was not room to place our pieces 
 of cannon and howitzers, and we even had to dismount 
 our little six-inch mortars before we could get them into 
 position. Our artillerymen got over these difficulties with 
 surprising skill and speed, but then the discharge brought 
 the windows, tiles, chimney pots, and sometimes even the 
 walls, down about their heads. These falls of debris worried 
 them dreadfully, and to safeguard themselves against 
 them it was necessary to blind and protect several batteries 
 with beams. 
 
 Haxo's skill and unwearying activity, however, daily 
 won us many successes in the attack on the right, and he 
 
154 jmem(3irs of baron lejeune 
 
 was already master of nearly all the blocks of houses oppo- 
 site the Convents of St. Augustine and St. Monica. Two 
 pieces of heavy calibre were pounding a breach in a tower 
 on the Corso, whilst a howitzer at the end of the Calle del 
 Quemada enfiladed the wide opening made by them. All 
 the walls on the enemy's side were loopholed, and covered 
 galleries had been pierced in every story of the houses, 
 and passages or crossings had been established in all the 
 streets between two epaulments. Everything was pressed 
 into the service, and I actually saw sacks of corn, bales of 
 the fine wool in which Saragossa does such a large business 
 in times of peace, and even books from the libraries of the 
 convents piled up in great numbers ; the big volumes telling 
 at length the marvellous legends of the martyrs, and the 
 parchment folios were most useful to us. Books can be as 
 easily piled up as bricks ; and some on end, others laid down 
 flat, they formed a perfect protection from balls. Many 
 of our men owed their lives to the thickness of the history 
 of some saint, whose piety they would never have dreamt 
 of imitating. Nor was this way of destroying valuable 
 tomes and priceless manuscripts the most distressing 
 sight of the kind we had to vdtness, for during the night 
 our soldiers, who^had no wood to make fires at which to 
 warm themselves, burnt books for the purpose, or tore out 
 the leaves to make torches with which to grope about in 
 the labyrinths of rubbish where they might so easily have 
 hurt themselves. Our cultured officers grieved over this 
 vandalism and tried to prevent it, but wood was not much 
 used in the buildings of Saragossa, and it was often very 
 difficult to get less costly combustibles for the use of the 
 men. It was even more hopeless to make them understand 
 the value of Greek, Latin, Arab, and other antique volumes, 
 which they recklessly tore to pieces to burn. ' These 
 
A CONVENT BURNT 155 
 
 musty old books,' they would say, ' are fit for nothing but 
 lighting fires ; we don't understand a word in them.' Thus 
 was lost a very valuable collection of manuscripts, including 
 many original historical documents of very great antiquity, 
 of which but a few scattered leaves were recovered. 
 
 The attack of the centre, led by Prost, began with a 
 vigorous assault on the Convent of the Nuns of Jerusalem, 
 and Palafox, too much hemmed in by walls to attempt 
 sorties, contented himself, as he had done before, with 
 setting fire to the houses he could no longer defend. In an 
 instant the convent was wrapped in flames, and Prost, 
 taking it for granted that the fire was a proof of the retreat 
 of the Spanish, at once seized the favourable moment to 
 dash through the huge blazing furnace with his sappers and 
 light infantry. He penetrated into the convent, where he 
 came pell-mell upon the enemy, and giving them no time to 
 defend themselves, he pursued them with the greatest 
 intrepidity into every part of the building, of which he 
 finally remained master. During this bloody conflict the 
 flames continued to rage, burning dead and wounded 
 together, and reducing half the convent to cinders. 
 
 Never shall I forget the effect produced on me by the 
 appearance of the inside of that convent, of which I caught 
 sight across thick clouds of dust and smoke. The cells of 
 the nuns, once havens of peace and of prayer, were now 
 the scene of an awful struggle. In this hour of desolation 
 the assailants were trampling not only on the rush mats 
 which had been the sole furniture in the retreats of the 
 austere and devoted women, but on all the sacred symbols 
 of their religion, such as rosaries, holy-water vessels, 
 amulets, &c. At every step in the various oratories I 
 came upon implements of penance, such as iron scourges 
 with sharp edges, bearing witness to the severity of the 
 
156 MEMOIRS OF BAROX LEJEUNE 
 
 discipline of the nuns, even as the needlework also scattered 
 upon the floors did to the eager charity with which they 
 had laboured for the poor. Some few of these devotees, 
 surprised in their flight, had been detained by the female 
 warriors of the town, and had remained with them 
 amongst the defenders. As we approached we saw them 
 tearing down from the altars the objects of their chaste 
 devotion, in the hope of saving them from desecration. 
 The devoted women, with no thought for themselves and 
 inspired only with religious zeal, took nothing with them 
 but crucifixes and images of the Infant Saviour, which 
 they held closely in their arms as they abandoned with 
 heartrending cries the only homes they had, strewn with 
 tokens of their piety and lovingkindness. In all the 
 chapels were numerous pretty little figures in coloured 
 wax. representing the Infant Jesus, with snow-white 
 lambs all decked with ribbons and various tasty ornaments 
 invented by the childlike imagination of the guileless 
 nuns. Wounded soldiers fell across mangers decked 
 with flowers, evergreens, and moss, or overturned cradles 
 of the Infant Saviour ; and the blood of the dying trickled 
 over bunches of immortelles, crowns of roses, and azure 
 blue ribbons. 
 
 As soon as we were firmly established in the Convent 
 of the Nuns of Jerusalem, Breuille led his miners towards 
 two huge buildings, the Convent of St. Francis and the 
 Hospital for Foreigners, which still separated us on this 
 side of the town from the Cor so. The work of the miners 
 in this protracted siege now became everywhere more 
 formidable and arduous than ever. One day it so happened 
 that two parties of miners — one besieged, the others 
 besiegers — debouched at the same moment from their 
 rival galleries in the same cellar ; and there, in a gloom 
 
A SUBTEKRANEAN STRUGGLE 157 
 
 scarcely relieved by the light of their lanterns, they flung 
 themselves upon each other with their tools, their knives, 
 and their sabres, without waiting for any other weapons. 
 It was indeed the war to the knife promised us by Palafox. 
 The furious blows exchanged knocked down around the 
 combatants many of the great stone pitchers used by the 
 Spanish for storing wine and oil, and those who were 
 struck down by pick or matlock were drowned in a mixed 
 flood of wine, oil, and blood. In this subterranean 
 struggle, which left us victors, we only lost two miners. 
 
 Another day one of our miners had just made the 
 opening for getting into a cellar to which he had mined 
 his way, and where the silence and peace of the tomb 
 appeared to reign. Already, pistol in hand, he had 
 pushed his head into the gloom, his lamp flinging but 
 a few rays before him ; and he was trying to make out 
 his bearings with the aid of his compass, when some 
 Spanish in ambush, who had been watching his proceed- 
 ings, fell upon him, and killed him in the gallery at the 
 opening he had just made. Fortunately his comrades 
 behind him were able to make their escape in time. 
 
 The Spanish miners were able to choose their own 
 ground, and to make their works in advance at the points 
 we were hkely to attack. They were therefore less 
 cautious than we were, and their confidence sometimes 
 led them to break the silence we so rigorously observed. 
 Our precautions had the best results for us, and their 
 imprudence lost them many men. Our miners became 
 very skilful in hearing those of the enemy a long way off, 
 and in accurately estimating the position of their mines. 
 They were thus able to avoid them, and we had scarcely 
 ever to deplore a mining catastrophe. 
 
 One evening, for instance, near St. Francis and about 
 
158 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 fifteen feet below the surface of the ground, nine Spaniards, 
 thinking themselves in perfect security, went down into a 
 cellar to prepare a chamber in the path of a gallery we 
 had been excavating, and which was all ready for charging. 
 The noise they made put us on our guard soon enough 
 for us to prepare a similar trap for them ; the powder was 
 hastily laid, and our explosion brought the house down 
 upon them, without damaging the cellar in which they 
 were. The unfortunate fellows remained shut up for 
 some hours without daring to make the slightest noise. 
 But at last, when we thought they had all been dead 
 some time, we heard them struggling to free themselves 
 from their terrible position and calling out piteously for 
 help. We all hastened to aid them to climb out of their 
 tomb. They worked from their side and we from ours, 
 and we were already near enough to give them our hands, 
 when the roof of the cellar, shaken by the crash of 
 the explosion, and also, perhaps, deprived of its supports 
 by our efforts to help, fell upon them. Only three were 
 left alive, one of whom was an officer, whom we rescued 
 with the greatest difficulty from under the stones beneath 
 which he was buried. 
 
 Whilst we were trying to save the Spaniards, the men 
 in the neighbouring house, never suspecting that we were 
 engaged in a service of rescue, rolled shells and lighted 
 grenades upon us ; but for all that. Providence allowed us 
 to accomplish our work of benevolence without shedding 
 the blood of a single member of our party. Our three 
 prisoners were taken to the Duke of Abrantes, and he 
 received them kindly, ordering a good meal to be set 
 before them. From them we learnt to what a deplorable 
 condition the inhabitants of Saragossa were reduced. 
 Although there were so few of us, the blockade was so 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE BESIEGED 159 
 
 complete that no news could reach the town. Even the 
 cleverest messengers, who tried to get in under cover of 
 the darkness by roundabout ways, were sure to fall into 
 the hands of our sentries, who were always on the alert to 
 arrest them. Fresh meat and vegetables were altogether 
 exhausted, and there was nothing to eat but fish and salt 
 meat. A chicken was already worth five piastres (about 
 a pound) . All the mills on the Ebro were in our hands, 
 and the besieged had no means of grinding the corn of 
 which they still had considerable quantities. True, they 
 had made a few hand mills, but they were altogether 
 inadequate, and the people had to be content with grain 
 merely crushed or bruised. This unwholesome diet did 
 almost as much harm as actual famine would have done, 
 and to these evils was added the terror inspired by the 
 bombardment, which had already lasted three weeks. 
 
 Most of the inhabitants had taken refuge in cellars, 
 thinking to be safe there, but in many cases the roofs had 
 been staved in by the fall of bombs. Moreover the air of 
 these damp retreats, far too small for the numbers which 
 crowded into them, was foetid and vitiated in the ex- 
 treme, so that there was really more danger in breathing 
 it than in sharing in the defence in the open. Already 
 all these evils combined had caused an epidemic, which 
 claimed some 300 victims per day, and had even attacked 
 some members of the garrison. Many were no longer 
 strong enough to remove their dead from their houses, 
 and those corpses which were carried into the streets or 
 to the doors of the churches remained there without burial. 
 Often bombs would burst and shatter the dead to pieces, 
 tearing them from their tattered blood-stained shrouds, so 
 that at every turn the most horrible sights met the eye. 
 
 Our prisoners also told us that the irritation of the 
 
160 MEMOIRS OF BAKON LEJEUNE 
 
 people under such an accumulation of woes led them to be 
 guilty of many an unjust act. Only the evening before, 
 they said, when beds were sorely needed for the numerous 
 wounded and dying, a bomb had fallen upon the building 
 containing the military stores, and set fire to it. The 
 people who hastened to put out the flames found some 
 thirty unused beds, which had been left, forgotten and 
 covered with dust, in a granary. They at once shouted 
 ' Treason ! ' murdered the keeper of the stores, and then 
 hanged him from one of the gallows on the Corso with 
 this inscription : ' Assassin of the human race, who stole 
 ten thousand beds ! ' 
 
 Many women, even more eager in the defence than 
 the men, carried their warlike zeal to extravagance. No 
 conjugal or maternal affection checked their ardour, and 
 they were seen in the midst of the greatest dangers, urging 
 on their husbands and sons, who fell beside them or ex- 
 pired in their arms. The fearless heroism of the Countess 
 Burida was, however, equalled by the generosity of her 
 character. Her hands, too weak to wield a sword, were 
 ever ready to distribute aid to the sufferers, and from her 
 private purse she aided many of the brave fellows whose 
 own resources were exhausted. 
 
 On the other hand, the members of the Junta, such as 
 Fathers Bazile and Consolation, Mossen Sas, and Butron, 
 were all possessed with a spirit of the most pitiless 
 cruelty, and few days passed without their hanging some 
 of those whom they accused of weakness or a desire to 
 capitulate. 
 
 Palafox, who was as humane as he was courageous, 
 loathed this system of' terror, but he was compelled to 
 yield to the will of these bloodthirsty monks. Prince 
 Pignatelli Fuentes, who was related to Palafox, and also 
 
THE SUFFERINGS OF PALAFOX .161 
 
 a friend to the French, had received just before the siege 
 the perilous mission of going to persuade the Aragonese 
 to accept Joseph Napoleon as their King. The people 
 wanted to strangle the unwelcome messenger, and Palafox 
 saved his life by feigning severity and detaining him a 
 prisoner in his palace. He did much the same now with 
 some French prisoners in his hands, on whom he lavished 
 in secret as much kindness as he had himself received in 
 France. This generous conduct was very much misunder- 
 stood . in the town, and there was already a party of 
 ferocious fellows who accused him of weakness, and even 
 suggested treason. His health was beginning to give 
 way under the physical and mental strain. For some 
 time now he had rarely left tho cellar in which he had 
 taken refuge from the shells, and whenever he showed 
 himself above ground he was greeted with passionate 
 vociferations from the people, who swore that they would 
 perish rather than submit to a foreign yoke, and the reso- 
 lution he appears to have formed to put an end to the pro- 
 tracted sufferings of his fellow citizens was again shaken. 
 Had he not already done more for the honour of the 
 country than even the most rigorously interpreted laws of 
 war demanded? 
 
 The enemy had tried in vain to retake the Trinitarian 
 Convent. Their last sortie on the 31st, which, as we have 
 seen, was the raost vigorous of any, had been as unsuccess- 
 ful as the rest, and from that date Palafox had given up 
 the attempt. Eogniat was therefore free to call off the 
 engineer officers posted at that point to go with us to the 
 attack on the Convent of St. Francis, which would test 
 our powers to the uttermost. 
 
 General Lacoste had intended the attacks on the 
 northern suburb (on the left bank) and those on the town 
 
 VOL. I. M 
 
162 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 itself to coincide, so as to press the besieged on every side at 
 once, and to intercept their communication by way of the 
 bridge as soon as possible ; above all, he was anxious to 
 assault it by a reverse fire all along the edge of the river, 
 hoping thus to harass the besieged so much that they 
 would be compelled to surrender before long. With this 
 end in view most extensive works had been completed 
 under Dode, a colonel of engineers, including the digging 
 of deep trenches with the establishment of many batteries 
 round the Capuchin Convent, and the firing was just 
 about to begin when an unexpected accident delayed the 
 attack. The Gallego, swollen by the rain in a storm which 
 had broken in the mountains, had so increased the volume 
 of water with which we had covered part of the outskirts 
 of the suburb, that the embankment broke, and some half 
 of our works were inundated. We had to construct 
 a batardeau,' repair the damage done, and dig fresh 
 trenches. 
 
 We had not fired a gun in that direction for some eight 
 days, and the monks came to their windows to look down 
 on us at our work without showing a sign of fear in 
 expression or attitude. We saw them climbing to the top 
 stories of their convent and following every action of ours 
 with inquisitive gaze, changing places and chatting together 
 just as if we were at j)eace. They could look straight into 
 our trenches, and to defilade ourselves from them we had 
 to make our ditches deeper and more winding than we 
 need otherwise have done. But for this precaution, good 
 marksmen stationed on the roofs and belfries of the neigh- 
 bouring buildings could have aimed their wall-pieces 
 at us, and would seldom have missed their mark. The 
 
 ' A batardeau is a wall built across a ditch with a sluice gate for regu- 
 lating the height of the water. — Teans. 
 
ASSAULT OF THE CAPUCHIN CONVENT 163 
 
 poor monks were, however, very soon to lose their sense 
 of security, for their buildings were totally undefended ; 
 not a single earthwork protected this isolated fort, well 
 provided though it was with artillery. The besieged, 
 therefore, when they saw the gabions, fascines, sand- 
 bags, and ladders arrive all ready for an immediate attack, 
 suddenly passed from confidence to terror, and hastened 
 to make preparations for defence. They demolished the 
 enclosure wall of the convent, which masked our move- 
 ments, and began to dig a deep ditch behind where it had 
 been all round the building. 
 
 At eight o'clock in the morning of the 8th, twenty-two 
 pieces of cannon opened fire on the convent, bringing down 
 several pieces of the walls in the course of a few hours. 
 The Marshal, eager to learn the results of our cannonade, 
 started with Eogniat and me about noon to the left bank 
 of the river. When he saw how things were going, he 
 ordered the convent to be carried by assault in his 
 presence then and there. Two hundred grenadiers and 
 three hundred light infantry at once flung themselves in 
 several colmnns from the trenches and dashed into the con- 
 vent before the monks had been able to get away. Four 
 hundred Spaniards, unnerved by the vigorous cannonade, 
 were unable to defend the building, and ran away at our 
 approach. We took the convent, several guns, a flag, and 
 a few prisoners. One battery, however, stationed by the 
 besieged on the bank of the Ebro, took us in the rear and 
 poured out grape shot upon us. Captain Tissot, of the 
 French infantry, however, did not hesitate to lead his 
 brave fellows up to the enemy's guns and take possession 
 of the battery, but his generous effort had been made in- 
 dependently of his chiefs, and he found himself unsup- 
 ported. Meanwhile the enemy's gunboats and five or six 
 
 M 2 
 
164 MEMOIRS OF BAllOX LEJEUX'E 
 
 of their batteries on the right bank of the Ebro opened 
 fire on the httle group of Frenchmen, overwhelming them 
 with grape shot. They were all killed or wounded, and 
 Tissot himself was struck down dead just as he had got 
 hack to our trenches. 
 
 Immediately after the assault of the convent, Colonel 
 Dode constructed communications and epaulments to 
 right and left, to strengthen and cover our troops. He 
 also had loopholes formed in all the walls facing Saragossa. 
 The convent, which was some little distance from the 
 town, had not been disturbed by the bombardment, and 
 the besieged had used it as a hospital. We found all the 
 cells and the church encumbered with the dying. More 
 than 200 dead, still in their clothes, had been piled up in 
 the centre of the convent court, and we thought that they 
 had been brought thither to be burnt. We hastened to set 
 fire to them. The number of the dead of both sexes and 
 all ages, emaciated with fasting, confirmed what our 
 prisoners had told us of the violence of the epidemic and 
 the straits of the besieged. 
 
 Though this convent belonged to a Mendicant order, 
 it was very rich in pictures, sculpture, and gilding, but 
 everything had been broken or injured by the cannonade. 
 Darkness soon overtook us, and our only light was the 
 sinister and flickering glow from the fires slowly consum- 
 ing the bodies of the victims of the epidemic. Groping 
 along and stumbling about amongst the sick, the dead, 
 and the piled-up debris, we made our way through the 
 passages and rooms of the vast building, and presently 
 came to a large library. Its contents were quickly turned 
 to account, as those of others had already been, to dis- 
 sipate the obscurity, and it was by the light of precious 
 jiianuscripts that one of our sappers picked up a gold 
 
A REMARKABLE MORTUARY CHAMBER 165 
 
 crucifix weighing more than a pound. We made torches 
 of other manuscripts to Hght us in our exploration of the 
 network of subterranean passages and rooms beneath 
 the convent, and we penetrated into a very remarkable 
 mortuary chamber at a considerable depth, with a roof 
 consisting of one large vault, which appeared even more 
 extensive than it was by the feeble light of our flambeaux. 
 The four walls were pierced with a number of horizontal 
 niches rather like long ovens, arranged in rows one above 
 the other on the models of the catacombs in which the 
 freed men of the Romans were buried near their former 
 masters. The embalmed or otherwise prepared corpses 
 of the monks were introduced feet foremost without 
 coffins, but vsrrapped in the robes of their order and in 
 winding sheets, after which the orifices were carefully 
 closed and the name of each defunct engraved at the 
 entrance to the cell occupied by him. We gazed silently 
 at the bodies of the monks who had died or been killed 
 during the siege, when there was no time to bury them, 
 and the sad sight made a deep and mournful impression 
 upon us. No one spoke, and each seemed to be thinking, 
 ' Why do we thus trouble the peace of the 'tomb ? To- 
 morrow, perhaps, we shall all be in like case. . . . Let us 
 rather go and explore the ruins of the convent.' 
 
 Immediately afterwards Colonel Dode proceeded to 
 establish a third parallel, which had a strong battery 
 planted upon the Ebro, in order to cannonade the town 
 quay, and support our attack from the right bank. 
 
 Meanwhile Haxo, on that right bank, seeing himself 
 supported by the works of Colonel Dode on the left, 
 pushed on his attack towards the quay, taking with him 
 his engineer officers and sappers, with a view to cutting off 
 the enemy's communication with the bridge. He worked 
 
166 MEMOIRS Of BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 Iiis way, according to circumstances, by means of sap, 
 demolition, or mining, and had already blown up several 
 blocks of houses in succession. The Spanish defended 
 them with a tenacity which seemed greater every day, 
 and before they deserted them never neglected to smear 
 them over with tar, so as to make it more difficult for us 
 to put out the conflagrations. One day a peasant actually 
 had the temerity to run without cover right up to our out- 
 posts and fling some lighted grenades amongst us, a piece 
 of bravado which cost him his life. 
 
 In the attack on the centre, the houses adjoining the 
 general hospital had been the scene for several days of a 
 savage conflict. Tvsrice our miners had blown up, with 
 fourneaux charged with some 800 pounds of powder, 
 different portions of a big hotel or private house over- 
 looking the Corso and opposite the Calle del Befugio, 
 and twice our assaults had been repulsed. At last a third 
 attack left the French masters of the burning ruins ; but 
 a perfect hail of grape shot, bursting borabs, grenades, and 
 shells made it almost impossible for them to judge of their 
 bearings or to take any measures to defend themselves 
 from being killed, or having to draw back yet again. In 
 all the ruined houses we dashed at once into every story, 
 but our progress was contested step by step with equal 
 fury from cellar to roof, and nothing but the death of the 
 leader on the other side secured us the victory. 
 
 Whilst this awful conflict was raging above ground, 
 Breuille had managed to pierce a subterranean gallery 
 from the cellars of the general hospital to the base of the 
 foundations of St. Francis. He was just going to pene- 
 trate beneath the belfry with his mines, so that that great 
 building might crush the church and convent beneath it 
 in its fall, when he heard sounds which betrayed to him 
 
A TEEEIBLE EXPLOSION 167 
 
 that the enemy's sappers were close upon hhii with their 
 countermines, which had indeed already extended several 
 feet beyond his own. The danger was imminent, and there 
 was not an instant to lose. He sent to warn Eogniat 
 at once, and immediately charged his fourneau with 
 3,000 pounds of powder. The troops who hurried up were 
 ordered to make an end of the struggle with the frantic 
 defenders, and a vigorous simultaneous attack was imme- 
 diately made upon the same point so as to draw as many 
 of the enemy as possible into the sphere of activity of the 
 volcano which was to bring about their destruction. 
 
 The brave Colonel Duperoux with his regiment, and 
 Valeze, a lieutenant-colonel of engineers, with his sappers, 
 placed themselves in ambush in the ruins of the hospital 
 to await the signal. At three o'clock in the afternoon, the 
 time agreed on, Breuille had the charge fired, and the 
 terrible explosion flung to a great height in the air a huge 
 portion of the convent and the cloister, but the belfry, 
 which every one expected to see go over, remained erect. 
 Hardly had the mass of falling debris reached the deep 
 funnel or crater which the explosion had opened, before the 
 Colonel and Valeze at the head of their men flung them- 
 selves into the convent and charged the retreating enemy 
 with the bayonet, taking possession of the entire building. 
 The attack was so vigorous that Palafox, imagining at first 
 that we were about to penetrate yet farther into the town, 
 called the whole garrison to arms, and placed the cavalry 
 in order of battle on the Corso and the new market-place, 
 where they waited ready to cut us down. We had hoped 
 that the Spanish would have been intimidated by the 
 magnitude of the disaster, for the explosion had shaken 
 the whole quarter of the town for a considerable distance, 
 but our sudden attack only increased their fury. They 
 
168 MEM(3IES or BARON LE.JEUXE 
 
 contested every inch of the ground, and there was not 
 room to take aim in the desperate struggle. We had to 
 pursue them to the very roofs, where the fighting went on, 
 and those of us who were below saw many fling them- 
 selves from the top of walls some eighty feet from the 
 ground rather than yield to their conquerors, who stretched 
 out their hands to try and save them. 
 
 The Comte de Fleuri, a French emigre, who had led a 
 little troop of peasants along the roofs, penetrated with 
 them into the top of the belfry. In a very few minutes 
 they pierced a number of holes in the roof of the church, 
 through which they poured such a hot fire upon us and 
 so many shells and grenades that on the evening of the 
 10th we were obliged to abandon the building, but we 
 returned to it the next day, and Fleuri and his men were 
 finally flung from the top of the belfry after selling their 
 lives very dearly. 
 
 With a view to being in readiness to direct the arduous 
 attack of February 10, Prost and I stationed ourselves 
 under cover, close to our troops, in a vaulted gateway in 
 the wall of the hospital. We were, however, in great 
 danger, in the restricted quarters we had chosen, of 
 perishing beneath the falling walls, woodwork, and stones 
 which were showered down upon us. We had not meant to 
 do more than get near enough to watch the awfiil struggle 
 which we knew to be about to take place, but our eager- 
 ness for the success of our enterprise, with our wish to see 
 the effect which would be produced by our attack, was 
 greater than our fear of being crushed to death. Before 
 everything had fallen, therefore, we advanced far enough 
 to be eyewitnesses of the extraordinary and awful cata- 
 strophe which occurred. Never, in any war, was there 
 perhaps a more terrible scene than that presented by the 
 
A GHASTLY SIGHT 169 
 
 ruins of the Convent of St. Francis during and after the 
 assault. Not only did the violent explosion destroy half 
 the building, including even the subterranean cellars in 
 which many families had taken refuge and thought 
 themselves safe, but in it perished more than 400 
 workmen who were aiding in the defence, with a whole 
 corps of grenadiers belonging to the Valencia Regiment. 
 The Fuentes gardens, the surrounding suburbs, even to the 
 very roofs of the houses, were rendered horrible by the 
 quantities of mutilated human remains with which they 
 were strewn. Not a step could be taken without stum- 
 bling over torn limbs, often still palpitating, hands or 
 fragments of arms torn from the bodies to which they 
 had belonged, revealing to us how fearful and widespread 
 had been the catastrophe. 
 
 One of the grenadiers who had pursued the Spaniards 
 to the very roof of the church, the wide gutters of which 
 we were searching for hidden or wounded enemies, whom 
 we were now anxious to help, called our attention to two 
 terrible things amongst the ruins, which at any other time 
 would have made us draw back in horror. ' Look,' he 
 said indignantly, ' at those hands torn from the arms of 
 the fanatic Spaniards ; they are quite blackened with the 
 powder they fired at us ! ' and as he pushed them aside 
 with his foot to avoid treading on them, he bent down to 
 raise a mass of remarkably thick and glossy hair. He was 
 examining it curiously, thinking it was a wig which had 
 belonged to some woman, but as he took it up he suddenly 
 dropped it again with an exclamation of horror, for the 
 beautiful ebony masses were still attached to the remains 
 of the head of a young girl with ghastly mutilated fea- 
 tures. The grenadier was no less affected than we were 
 by this melancholy sight, and presently exclaimed in an 
 
170 MEMOIRS OF BAKON LEJEUNE 
 
 excited voice, ' Look at that stream of blood ! Look at 
 the lamentable results of obstinacy and rage ! ' We looked 
 and saw the blood of a number of Aragonese flowing 
 beneath our feet into the gutters of the roofs, whence it 
 poured through the prominent Gothic gargoyles, represent- 
 ing dragons, vultures, and winged monsters. For some 
 eight centuries nothing but rain water had flowed from 
 these gutters and spouts ; but now, by a horrible con- 
 trast, they vomited forth upon the assailants below 
 torrents of human gore. 
 
 The explosion had made a wide opening in one wall 
 near the chief entrance, and torn tip all the pavement of 
 the nave and cloisters. In this upheaval everything had 
 been turned topsy-turvy. The cornice of the nave, the 
 pulpit, the altars of the side chapels, had all been flung 
 down and were partly buried, whilst the bodies of the dead, 
 which had been shut up in the crypts for centuries, had 
 been wrenched from their resting-places and flung upon the 
 surface of the ground. When we entered the breach the 
 Spanish were already returning to the church through the 
 sacristy. They barricaded themselves in the midst of the 
 ruins, behind benches, chairs, and overturned confessionals. 
 Even reliquaries and fragments of the exhumed coffins 
 from the crypts were pressed into the service to make a 
 cover from behind which to fire at us. A shower of balls 
 fell on us from every side, the most murderous coming 
 from the galleries above us, especially through some small 
 openings in one of the big pillars beside the choir, in which 
 were the steps leading up to the belfry. Fortunately the 
 breach in the wall of the church was a very wide one, and 
 our column entered easily through it, quickly invading the 
 whole building. The defenders were driven from their 
 entrenchments and from the lateral chapels by a tremendous 
 
A DEAD BISHOP EXHUMED 171 
 
 bayonet charge, and pursued by our men up the narrow 
 and dangerous spiral staircase in the big pillar even to the 
 roof, great numbers of them falling beneath our blows. 
 
 The struggle in the beautiful but sombre Gothic build- 
 ing was a truly remarkable sight. Through the broken 
 stained-glass windows, with their subdued colouring, a ray 
 of light shot here and there, touching with a celestial glory 
 some group of furious combatants, or the clouds of bluish 
 smoke from the burning powder which was almost saffo- 
 cating us. Eising up from amidst the gloom and clearly 
 outlined against the east window, was the high altar 
 of brown marble, approached by eight steps and sur- 
 mounted by a splendid canopy, originally upheld by 
 eight Corinthian columns, and adorned with numerous 
 angels wearing crowns on their heads. Several of the 
 columns had been broken in the explosion, and some were 
 now standing, whilst others lay on the ground, producing 
 an irregularity of effect which might have been taken for 
 the result of a happy inspiration on the part of their artist. 
 In the nave, which was some 150 or 160 yards long, all 
 was wrapt in gloom from the choir to the breach near the 
 great doorway, and it was here, amidst coffins, bones, and 
 broken marbles, that the hottest struggle took place. 
 
 From one of the old broken coffins protruded the livid 
 shrivelled features and part of the body of a bishop still 
 wrapped in his sacerdotal robes. His dried and bony 
 arms seemed to be pointing at us ; his dark eyes set in their 
 deep sockets, and his mouth with its terrible expression, 
 combined to give him the appearance of some such phan- 
 tom as that of Samuel called from the grave by Saul, 
 and we seemed to hear him cry, ' Saul ! Saul ! why hast 
 thou disquieted me to bring me up ? ' The terrible con- 
 fusion, the carnage going on amongst the bones of the 
 
in MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 long since dead, with the mitred spectre swaying to and 
 fro beneath our feet, combined to make up a picture 
 which to our astonished eyes appeared the very acme of 
 desolation. 
 
 A little later, when I went down after the enemy had 
 been driven from every part of the church, the effects of 
 light were still admirable, but the scene had completely 
 changed. Heretheexhumed remains of monks andprelates, 
 given up to the tender mercies of the soldiers, were being 
 stripped of the rich vestments in which many of them 
 were still wrapped ; there a group of weary, saddened, and 
 exhausted combatants, worn out with the perpetual fight- 
 ing, were eagerly seeking consolation in long draughts of 
 the choice wine left behind by the unlucky Eecollet friars, 
 and presently, when the goatskin bottles in which the 
 precious liquid had been stored were empty, they blew 
 them out, and fell to playing at ball with them like a 
 parcel of children. There, too, were many of our brave 
 army doctors caring with equal solicitude for Spanish and 
 French, and it was impossible not to admire the calm 
 courage with which they faced all manner of dangers to 
 come to our help. Unfortunately, however, their efforts 
 were unavailing to restore two engineer officers of great 
 merit. Captains Vierveaux and Jencesse, whom we lost 
 on that terrible day in the attacks of the centre and the 
 right. 
 
 We took possession of the two chapels and of the houses 
 adjoining the Convent of St. Francis which skirted the Corso, 
 here some hundred feet wide ; and to harass with our fire as 
 much as possible every one who passed along that impor- 
 tant thoroughfare, we placed good marksmen in the belfry, 
 in the very positions where the Spanish had but recently 
 met death rather than yield. From the top of the tower 
 
A BROKEN-HE AKTED WIDOW 173 
 
 we looked down upon streets full of barricades and tra- 
 verses prepared for the further struggle, and also of gibbets 
 laden with victims. All these menacing preparations and 
 ominous-looking objects showed us that the leaders of the 
 people were in anything but a pacific mood. For all that, 
 however, the melancholy way in which the inhabitants 
 crept along in the streets and squares strewn with the 
 dead, seemed to suggest that discouragement was at last 
 setting in, and that it had been with the fury of despair 
 that the Spanish had fought during the preceding day and 
 night. The town was now but a hemmed-in cemetery. 
 The dead everywhere encumbered the ground, and the 
 besieged no longer had the strength to bury or even to 
 remove them. There was really no longer any room left 
 for interment, and the indifference of the passers-by had 
 become such that they would push a body out of their way 
 with the foot as coolly as they would a stone or any other 
 obstacle. Judging from the brisk way in which they 
 moved about amongst the crowds, the women and the 
 monks were the only people who retained their original 
 zeal. 
 
 One day we had just gone down into a cellar where 
 some of our Poles were on watch, when they saw through 
 the grating a Spaniard picking up the lead of some ex- 
 ploded balls in a little garden. They fired at and killed 
 him. He had scarcely fallen when his wife, weeping and 
 pouring forth imprecations upon his murderers in a de- 
 spairing voice, flung herself upon the body. Our soldiers, 
 whose feelings of humanity had kept them motionless in 
 face of the broken-hearted widow, would have generously 
 respected her grief had she not, muttering curses on us 
 the while, torn off her husband's cloak, cartridge case and 
 musket, to take them away with her. This was too much ; 
 
174 MEMOIRS OF BAROX LEJEUNE 
 
 a bullet at once stretched her lifeless across the dead she 
 wished to avenge. A few minutes later a young girl of 
 about fifteen or sixteen years old rushed into the garden, 
 uttering heartrending cries of ' Mi padre ! mi padre ! 
 Alma de mi madre ! ' She seemed to be in the grasp of 
 the most agonised grief, and tore her hair as she convul- 
 sively embraced the dead bodies, trying to recall them to 
 life, and entreating us to kill her too and put an end to 
 her sufferings. Not one of our men was cruel enough to 
 shed the blood of the orphan on the bodies of her parents, 
 but she in her turn had the temerity to provoke us. After 
 several fruitless efforts to carry away her mother's body, 
 she wrapped it in her father's cloak and tried to drag it 
 along with the cartridge box and musket which had cost 
 that mother so dear, urged to this action as much by the 
 imperative necessity of vengeance as by her filial piety. 
 We could not blame the poor child for her hatred of the 
 murderers of her parents, and we heard our Poles call out 
 to her, first in their own Sarmatian language and then in 
 Spanish, ' Malenka nie cekay sien ! Chiquita, no ten 
 miedo ! ' (Don't be afraid, little one.) Few days passed 
 without something of this kind occurring. 
 
 In spite of the great fatigue of our troops, there was 
 less suffering in our camp than in the town. The sky 
 was clear and the sun bright and warm in Spain that year, 
 and though it was as yet only February we enjoyed the 
 mild temperature and all the other delights of an early 
 spring. Strawberries were already red and ripe, laurels, 
 rose and fruit trees were in flower, the air was full of the 
 scent of lavender, rosemary, violets, • and narcissi, invi- 
 gorating our men and saving them from epidemics. 
 
 To shield themselves from the freshness of the 
 temperature at night, the soldiers had carried off to the 
 
AN OPEN-AIR EXHIBITION 175 
 
 camp all the pictures they could from the churches and 
 convents, and the painted varnished canvases proved a 
 first-rate protection alike from the sun, the rain, the cold, 
 and the damp. In default of straw they used the parch- 
 ments of old manuscripts to make their heds, which, if not 
 less hard, were much drier than the bare ground. Under 
 any other circumstances one would have said, ' Better 
 suffer than destroy ; ' but now it was a case of life or death, 
 and the largest books were used to sleep on, the decora- 
 tions of altars, the statues of saints, and the gilded carv- 
 ings in wood to make camp fires, whilst pictures froin 
 the church served to cover in huts. 
 
 A visit to the camp was quite a treat to us, and the 
 exhibition there was really not unlike that once held 
 in the Place Dauphine, opposite the Palais de Justice, in 
 Paris, in 1792, when young artists had not yet been ad- 
 mitted to the honour of showing their pictures in the 
 Louvre. The Poles, who are Catholics and. generally 
 very pious, were particularly pleased with the sacred pic- 
 tures. Little accustomed in their own land to find any- 
 thing equal in merit to the canvases from the sacred 
 buildings of Spain, they were found eagerly gazing at the 
 subjects taken from the Bible or the lives of the martyrs. 
 Generally quiet and self-possessed enough, their imagina- 
 tion was kindled by the sight of these sublime conceptions, 
 and they were inspired by the contemplation of the gene- 
 rous devotion of the martyrs an^ the palms of victory 
 bestowed on them by Heaven. The desire to imitate their 
 noble example gave them strength to persevere in their 
 arduous tasks, and the hope of an eternal recompense sus- 
 tained them as nothing else could have done in all they had 
 to go through. Their bearing, full as it was of resignation, 
 showed us that their powers of endurance were very far 
 
176 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 from being exhausted as yet. The French, on the other 
 hand, who were by nature more high-spirited and volatile, 
 stood privations and fatigue with far less patience. 
 
 One day the Marshal was passing near a group of 
 soldiers looking at a picture, and to his surprise overheard 
 these words : ' The draught of water the good Lord is 
 going to let the old fellow drink is rather like the booty 
 om- Marshal has promised us ! ' The Marshal went up to 
 the men, and saw that they were admiring a picture by 
 Murillo representing Jesus bidding Peter come to Him on 
 the water. 'Well, my friends,' said the Marshal, ' God is 
 speaking to St. Peter here very much as I do to you. 
 God says to Peter, " thou of little faith, wherefore didst 
 thou doubt ? " That is to say, " If thou hadst had faith in 
 my words, thou wouldst not have sunk ; " which means for 
 you, if you have confidence in me, hope will sustain your 
 courage, and perseverance will overcome all obstacles. 
 Yes, my friends, in a few days, you to whom I speak will 
 take Saragossa ! ' The soldiers all listened quietly, and 
 their faces, on which no smile had been seen for days, 
 brightened up with one accord, whilst the cheers with 
 which they escorted the Marshal when he ceased speaking 
 showed what faith they placed in his promises. 
 
 The Marshal was not wrong in his prophecies. The 
 besieged were reduced to a state of the greatest misery, 
 and the cruel measures of repression of the Junta could 
 do no more. For a tini^p they had been able to rule by 
 terror, but now every one with any sense, such as mer- 
 chants, shopkeepers, and rich men with anything left to 
 lose, seeing that it was no good to hope for the long- 
 expected succour, were anxious to capitulate. Others, 
 weakened by famine, fatigue, and anxiety, had had no- 
 thing to save them from starvation but a few ears of corn, 
 
GENEROUS TREATMENT OF STARVING PEASANTS 177 
 
 which they could not even grind, whilst some were so 
 maddened and brutalised by their fury that they were no 
 longer capable of reasonable action. They blindly fol- 
 lowed the orders of the monk-ridden Junta, whose greatest 
 fear was that the French, so soon as they were masters of 
 Saragossa, would suppress the convents of Spain, as they 
 had already done those of France. 
 
 Some hundred wretched peasants, men, women, and 
 children, deserted one morning e»i masse in the direction 
 of the Castillo del Algaferia, and entreated our outposts, 
 who tried to drive them back, to kill them rather than 
 compel them to return to the town. The captain of the 
 guard, too generous to do anything so cruel, took them to 
 the Marshal, who received them with an air of severity, 
 reproaching them in a stern voice for having shed so 
 much French blood by their determined obstinacy. ' You 
 ask to be allowed to return to your homes,' he said ; 
 ' you deserve nothing of the sort.' He then ordered 
 guards to surround the poor wretches, who thought they 
 were to be led to execution, and added, ' Here, take them 
 away, give them something to eat and drink, and when 
 they have recovered a little give each of them two francs 
 and a couple of loaves and take them back to Saragossa. 
 I wish the people in the town to know that we have 
 plenty of provisions, and what they may expect from my 
 generosity.' Henri IV., whose position and noble nature 
 alike compelled him to try and win the hearts of his people, 
 treated them with ho greater magnanimity at the gates 
 of Paris than did the Duke of Montebello these strangers 
 of an alien race outside Saragossa. 
 
 The Swiss troops in the town, who had hitherto fought 
 with unabated courage, were now no longer proof against 
 the terrible tests to which their fidelity was subjected ; 
 
 VOL. I. M 
 
178 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 they began to desert at intervals, and on February 14 a 
 complete company of some fifty Swiss guards, headed by 
 their officers and bringing their arms and baggage, joined 
 our ranks on the rampart near the Capuchin Convent of 
 Jesus. 
 
 On the wa.j from the portion of the town occupied by 
 us to the camp, we had to pass a great many sentinels 
 and vedettes stationed amongst the masses of melancholy- 
 looking ruins, encumbered with the dead bodies of the 
 Spanish and all manner of rubbish. These sentinels kept 
 careful watch on the inhabitants of the still unconquered 
 districts, and reported at once everything that occurred 
 amongst the besieged. The Poles of the three regiments 
 from the Vistula acquired incredible skill in this service. 
 They would at once notice every little opening made by 
 the enemy in the walls, even if it were no bigger than a 
 penny piece, and would point it out to any of us who 
 happened to approach it, warning us to be on our guard. 
 These warnings were generally given by signs, as very few 
 •of us understood Polish, and they were not only very valu- 
 able but also often quite comic on account of the quaint 
 pantomime -with, which our eagerly benevolent friends 
 enforced them. Looking at us with eyes full of meaning, 
 they would point to the dangerous little hole or hidden 
 loop-hole with one hand, whilst they placed a finger of 
 the other on their lips to enjoin silence ; any one who 
 neglected to obey these expressive signals was sure to be 
 immediately shot down, for the apparently insignificant 
 little holes were so close to us that every bullet from them 
 found its billet. Equally well guarded against surprise 
 were the many galleries we had had to pierce in all the 
 different houses belonging to the block. We often had to 
 pass from one block to another by way of narrow streets. 
 
A PATHETIC-LOOKING GROUP OF VICTIMS 179 
 
 where we had not thought it necessary to make traverses. 
 In such cases we made breaches or openings opposite to 
 each other, and the officer when he went on his romids 
 had to jump from one side to the other of the street ; and 
 if he was not quite agile enough to achieve the crossing 
 in a single bound, well-aimed shots would be sure to 
 bring him down dead midway. We lost many officers in 
 this way, but the skill and unwearied watchfulness of 
 our Poles saved the lives of a good many Frenchmen, 
 who were too much disposed to despise the caution which 
 they thought detracted from their courage. I myself 
 twice owed my life to our Poles, and I am very certain 
 that but for them our loss would have been very much 
 greater. 
 
 The victims of the epidemic were now so numerous 
 that we found their bodies abandoned, in the clothes they 
 had worn when alive, in every street and house of which 
 we took possession. Happily for us the air was still so 
 sharp and cold that the corpses dried quickly, and there 
 was nothing repulsive in their appearance, nor was there 
 any bad smell from them. They were very light and easy 
 to lift too, and looked like pasteboard figures covered with 
 dust. I can still see one room in the second story of a 
 house which had been broken into and partially destroyed 
 from the bottom to the top. An explosion had surprised 
 a father and daughter just as they were taking their 
 siesta after their meal by a little round table, on which a 
 few drinking vessels still remained. The old man, who 
 was pretty well dressed and partly wrapped in his cloak, 
 was seated in a big black wooden armchair, and his 
 daughter, also completely dressed, was stretched on a 
 rush mat at his feet. There was nothing in their features 
 to betray what they had suffered, and during the few 
 
 N 2 
 
180 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 minutes I spent near the motionless group I really 
 wondered whether the bodies were real or made of wax. 
 
 So far the hopes Palafox had founded on the rainy 
 season which was to inundate us, and compel us to 
 abandon our trenches, had not been realised, but our army 
 was dwindling day by day through the continual fighting 
 and from illness. We no longer had troops enough to 
 make our attacks at the most favourable moment, and 
 Eoginat was obliged to abandon all idea of gaining more 
 ground towards the left of St. Francis. If Palafox had 
 now been able to realise all the advantages he might have 
 gained by flinging himself with a strong force of his men, 
 say a column of 20,000 determined troops, on to one or 
 the other bank of the river, our position would soon have 
 become very critical, but that General was ill and in his 
 turn suffering from the epidemic. His energy seemed to 
 be declining with his health, and he may perhaps also 
 have been rather afraid to risk leading men out to fight, 
 who, though they were brave enough within walls, had 
 failed in courage before our forces in the plains of 
 Tudela. 
 
 Eogniat, compelled to concentrate his forces, now had 
 all the houses near St. Francis blown up by mines, so as 
 to prevent the enemy from approaching except by the 
 open. He next gained a httle ground on the right, and 
 there estabhshed a blinded battery, in which was placed a 
 howitzer, with which the Corso could be raked ; a httle 
 farther still on the right a twelve-pounder was placed in 
 another blinded battery, and this greatly harassed the 
 besieged, enfilading as it did the whole of the Calle of 
 San Giles, which led to the bridge in the centre of the 
 town. 
 
 Whilst these works were being constructed, our sappers 
 
DEATH OF CAPTAIN LEPOT 181 
 
 were undermining the Corso in several parts ; under 
 Prost they were advancing by six galleries, the first two 
 of which had already reached the other side beneath the 
 theatre and the adjoining house, whilst under Haxo two 
 galleries were being pushed on in the direction of the 
 University. 
 
 One day, as Marshal Lannes was going round the lines 
 of the suburb, a Spaniard, hidden amongst the ruins, fired 
 at him at such close quarters that the inside of his cloak 
 was singed. Irritated at this audacity, Lannes climbed 
 on to the ruins of the Convent of Jesus, and himself fired a 
 dozen shots. The enemy then directed a howitzer on the 
 gap from which the shots proceeded, and one of the shells 
 cut in two Captain Lepot, of the engineers, who was looking 
 over the Marshal's shoulder. 
 
 In the town operations were rapidly proceeding ; but 
 Haxo, who had nearly reached the Puerta del Sol, found 
 that his position was too much exposed. He could not 
 advance farther without running the danger of having 
 the enemy behind him in the entrenchments he was 
 occupying, besides which our troops were now too few for 
 extended or repeated attacks, so that there was nothing 
 for it but to try surprises. It was of the utmost import- 
 ance that the suburb on the left bank of the Ebro should 
 be taken at once, so as to place what was called the Tan- 
 ners' Quarter between two fires. 
 
 The Marshal therefore ordered a simultaneous and 
 general attack upon the town and suburb for the morrow, 
 and at the same time gave instructions that epauiments 
 should be erected during the night on the roads by which 
 he feared the enemy might escape us. 
 
 In the attack on the town we availed ourselves of the 
 position we already occupied, blew up a house, and opened 
 
182 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 a breach with a petard. The Poles at once flung them- 
 selves into the gap and dashed across the fire, pursuing 
 the enemy by way of their own communications. The 
 Spanish were compelled to abandon their circular battery 
 and covered way on the quay, which were taken in 
 reverse. 
 
 The next day our miners set fire to the two chambers, 
 charged with 1,500 lbs. of powder, beneath the University, 
 and the explosion tore open two great breaches, through 
 which we flung two columns of troops, who took possession 
 of the great building. The enemy were now driven to 
 abandon the Corso. 
 
 At the same time the Marshal ordered the Gazan divi- 
 sion to attack the suburb opposite to him. Ever since 
 daybreak all the siege artillery had been playing upon the 
 approaches to the bridge, with a view to intercepting com- 
 munications, and all the parapets were already thrown 
 down. The aim of our principal attack was to get pos- 
 session of the convent near the San Lazaro bridge, which 
 commanded that one connecting link between the town 
 and its suburb. 
 
 About noon a practicable breach had been made at 
 San Lazaro, and our fire with that of the enemy re- 
 doubled at every point. In the plains the noise of the 
 detonations of artillery died away in the distance, but in 
 the streets of the town the roar resounded from every wall, 
 and the crashing of the roofs beneath the bursting bombs, 
 the crackling of numerous fires all blazing away at once, 
 the ringing of the tocsin from every belfry, the hissing 
 and whistling of bullets, bombs, and grape shot, the shrill 
 rattle of the mortars, all jumbled together in one, and 
 supplemented by the echoes flung back from the roofs of 
 the churches, which shook so much that the pictures on 
 
THE COMMANDANT OF THE SUBURB KILLED 183 
 
 the walls were flung upon the heads of the combatants, 
 combined to make up a military music which must have 
 struck terror into the hearts of the besieged, though it 
 filled our troops with delirious joy. 
 
 The enemy had nearly 7,000 defenders in the suburb, 
 when this terrible hail of projectiles cut off their commu- 
 nication with the town. The discharge from our guns 
 made openings here and there in the enclosures of the 
 gardens, and each bullet hole was at once turned to account 
 by the Spanish as a loophole from which to fire at us. 
 
 The walls were, however, everywhere falling before us, 
 and the defenders presently withdrew into the Convents of 
 San Lazaro and Santa Isabel, which we were breaching. 
 Our cannonade had overthrown the big gate of a stable 
 yard in the latter building, and we were just going to dash 
 in, when some peasants on the other side lifted up the gate 
 and held it in position by main force. Twice it was flung 
 down, and twice replaced in the same manner, and we 
 were obliged to knock over the pillars that supported it 
 with our artillery, so as to destroy them with the door, 
 before we could avail ourselves of the breach. A little 
 later, when we did enter, we found a number of Spaniards 
 lying crushed beneath the door, having bravely sacrificed 
 their lives in the struggle to keep it closed. 
 
 On the first rumour of the general attack to be made, 
 the commandant of the suburb had rushed to his post to 
 defend his position, but he was killed in crossing the 
 bridge. The news of his death quickly spread amongst 
 the defenders, and threw them into some confusion, of 
 which the Marshal, who noticed it directly, was not slow 
 to avail himself, for he immediately ordered the attack to 
 begin. 
 
 The sharpshooters at once debouched from the trenches 
 
184 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 and advanced' in skirmishing order, so as to suffer less from 
 the grape shot poured on them from the Spanish batteries 
 on the right bank and the gunboats on the river. Three 
 columns supported this movement, and an oil store was 
 soon broken into and at once became strev^^n with the 
 dead. We then pushed on through narrow passages into 
 several houses, which were vigorously defended, and where 
 every one was put to the sword. Into one of these houses, 
 where our advance had been checked for an hour by the 
 courageous resistance of the Spaniards, Captain Gallard 
 managed to penetrate with his company by way of the 
 roof, and climbed down through the granary, taking the 
 defenders in the rear and putting them to flight. Every 
 one who dared to resist was struck down. Presently, in 
 the midst of the cries of distress of those he had over- 
 whelmed, and surrounded by a smoke so dense that he 
 could see nothing before him, the French captain, who 
 imagined he was finishing off the last of his enemies, was 
 in his turn taken by surprise. He redoubled his efforts, 
 flung himself upon those who were entering the house 
 from below, and fell gloriously, covered with wounds ; but, 
 alas ! it was by the bayonets of Frenchmen that he was 
 struck down, for Captain Clerget, another officer of the 
 same regiment, had broken in the door of the house just 
 at the same time as Captain Gallard got in at the roof, 
 and it was not until too late that the former discovered 
 his fatal mistake, realising that he had had the misfortune 
 to slay a brave brother officer and many of his men. 
 
 As soon as they got a footing in the houses adjoining 
 San Lazaro, our troops were able to penetrate into the 
 court of that convent. They then broke into the wall of 
 the church with the aid of a charge, the monks making 
 a desperate defence. Behind them was a mass of men, 
 
A DESPERATE STRUGGLE AT THE BRIDGE 185 
 
 ■women, and children, who, not having dared to cross the 
 bridge, had taken refuge at the foot of the altar, and now 
 pleaded piteously for mercy. The smoke was, however, too 
 dense for our troops to see the victims whom they would 
 willingly have spared, everything was sacked, and not 
 until all were dead did the cries cease and silence once 
 more reign in the sanctuary. Meanwhile the wide stair- 
 case, the cells, and the passages of the convent were the 
 scene of an equally bloody and obstinate struggle. The 
 convent was completely taken, and from every window 
 monks and soldiers, who had aided in its defence, flung 
 themselves into the Ebro beneath. Our fire was now 
 immediately turned upon the entrance to the bridge, to 
 prevent those still in the suburb from getting back to the 
 town. 
 
 The inhabitants of the suburb were overwhelmed with 
 consternation when they lost their chief at the very 
 moment of the discovery that their retreat was cut off. 
 They gave up any attempt to defend the bridge head or the 
 houses, and wandered airalessly about in scattered parties, 
 trying to escape, but not knowing which way to turn, 
 when they foimid every way out closed by our troops. 
 Three hundred of them, more courageous than the rest, led 
 by one Fernando Gonzales, dauntlessly braved our fusillade 
 and managed to make their way back into the town by 
 forcing a passage across the bridge in the midst of a hail of 
 bullets from the Convent of San Lazaro. The smoke from 
 this fusillade soon wrapped them in so dense a cloud that 
 they were hidden from our view. Very few were wounded 
 in the brief transit, and their chief was fortunate enough 
 to take with him into Saragossa nearly all who had had the 
 pluck to follow him. Some also escaped with the aid of 
 boats, yet others swam across the river, but very many 
 
186 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 were drowned. Another party, numbering about 3,000, 
 tried to flee up country by way of the banks of the Ebro, 
 but General Gazan promptly sent a regiment of cavalry 
 to bar their passage. Their position was desperate, and 
 their strength exhausted from the privations and fatigues 
 of the protracted siege, so they laid down their arms and 
 were taken prisoners. 
 
 The commandant of the suburb, whose death had so 
 discouraged the defenders as to lead to their defeat, had 
 been the French emigre Baron de Versage, who had thus 
 died fighting against his fellow countrymen. 
 
 Although Palafox was so ill that he was scarcely able 
 to stand, he undertook to go to the succour of the suburb 
 with General Philippe de Saint-Marc. Three times that 
 general tried in vain to debouch from the bridge at the 
 head of his troops. A few hundred men did succeed in 
 getting over, but our batteries on the left bank swept 
 so many on the approaches to the quay, that the main 
 body decided that it would be impossible to cross the 
 whole length of the bridge without cover, although the 
 broken-down parapets had been replaced by epaulments 
 of sand-bags and bales of wool. The rest of the Spanish 
 troops therefore remained in the town, and were unable 
 even to prevent us from taking the University buildings 
 on that side. 
 
 We remained masters of the position, and were now 
 able to bombard that part of the town which had hitherto 
 suffered least. We had taken seventeen pieces of cannon 
 and 3,000 prisoners, whilst nearly as many more of the 
 defenders had fallen beneath our fire. This brilliant 
 victory, won in the open by a small division, of which 
 only 600 men took part in the actual conflict against 
 determined and well-entrenched troops, did wonders to 
 
A COURAGEOUS NUN 187 
 
 raise the spirits of the besiegers, and cost Gazan not 
 more than fifty of his men. 
 
 During the confusion of the attack on the suburb, in 
 the midst of a cross fusillade from every side, a nun of 
 the Convent of Saint Elizabeth, whose great age prevented 
 her from running away as quickly as her companions, drew 
 all eyes upon her, as with tottering yet dignified steps she 
 made her way across a square strewn with the dead and 
 wounded. Her disordered robes, and her uncovered head 
 with its thin hair, showed that she had been called to 
 escape from danger in a time of trouble. But the noble 
 expression of her features bore witness to the calmness of 
 her spirit, and she passed through the clouds of white 
 smoke and amidst the clash of arms without showing a 
 sign of fear. She looked like some such ministering 
 angel as appears in dreams, slowly descending from above 
 in a celestial glory, upheld on the wings of hope, and sent 
 from heaven to bring peace to afflicted mortals when 
 their souls are torn by their violent emotions. In the 
 midst of the awful struggle she seemed to be saying, 
 ' Almighty God, I have done no wrong ; I am beneath Thy 
 shield, and will fear no evil.' Her sweet, benevolent old 
 face, and the unruffled calm which radiated from her whole 
 person in the horrible uproar going on about her, aroused 
 the astonishment and interest of every one who saw her 
 pass by ; all dreaded every moment to see her fall, and 
 would have liked to save her, but it could only be done at 
 the risk of life, for to reach her it would be necessary to cross 
 the open square exposed to the fusillade of the Aragonese. 
 But such a grand chance of protecting the weak could not 
 long appeal in vain to Frenchmen. An officer and several 
 men dashed forwards without orders, seized the old woman 
 by the hands, and, supporting her with their arms, quickly 
 
188 MEMOIRS OF BAKON LEJEU^■E 
 
 dragged her out of danger. They were trying in broken 
 Spanish to set her mind at rest by explaining why they 
 had treated her with such scant ceremony, when, to their 
 great surprise, she rephed with a sweet smile and in a 
 feeble voice in excellent French, ' Generous soldiers, I too 
 am French, and your weapons have no terrors for me. It 
 is fifty years since I entered this convent, and I entreat 
 you to let me join my old companions, that I may pray 
 and die with them.' Touched by her noble confidence in 
 him, the young officer overwhelmed her with attentions 
 and had her taken to General Gazan. He too took the 
 greatest interest in the sainted woman ; she was treated 
 with every care and respect, and a few days later she 
 was able to resume her pious occupations. She turned out 
 to be the sister of the celebrated actor Grandmenil and to 
 have been born at Bordeaux. 
 
 As soon as I got back to the town after the expedition 
 to the suburb, I went to have a look at the University 
 buildings, of which we had just taken possession. At 
 three o'clock, when the struggle in the suburb was at its 
 hottest, the three great mines under the University, 
 each charged with 1,500 pounds of powder, were fired 
 at once. Five hundred picked men, some French, others 
 Poles, divided into two columns, flung themselves into the 
 buildings in spite of the fire from the Puerta del Sol and 
 the neighbouring houses. The Spanish, who were begin- 
 ning to be discouraged by all their misfortunes, offered, 
 however, but a feeble resistance. We took the University, 
 and in our pursuit of the defenders we dashed pell-mell 
 with them, by way of the Calle del Sepulcro, right up to 
 the Church of the Trinity, which still remained in the 
 hands of the besieged. Another column penetrated at 
 nightfall, without striking a blow, into a house at a 
 
THE BESIEGED BECOME DISCOURAGED 189 
 
 comer "of the Corso, at which no less than ten previous 
 assaults had been repulsed. At the same time Prost took 
 possession of part of the Palacio Fuentes, which he set 
 on fire with a view to isolating his left flank and guarding 
 against surprise. 
 
 Officers and men were now ahke excessively fatigued. 
 The epidemic was beginning to affect us, and the hospital 
 at Alagon was crowded with the sick and wounded. "We 
 were short of doctors, of nurses, of beds, of food, of linen, 
 in fact, of everything, and the victory of the 18th came 
 in the nick of time to raise the spirits of the troops, and 
 restore all their original energy, whilst it at the same time 
 greatly discouraged the besieged. Harassed and exhausted, 
 shut up within their walls, and no longer able even to 
 walk on the quay, the luckless defenders were actually 
 within sight and earshot of the surrender of the 3,000 
 men who laid down their arms on the other side of 
 the river. The news quickly spread through the town, 
 and neither Palafox nor the Junta tried to deny it. 
 
 The struggle became more bloody as the defence 
 grew more concentrated. The population decreased in a 
 most alarming manner, and every day ten times as 
 many perished from typhus as the day before. This 
 terrible scourge especially attacked the peasants, refugees 
 from the country, and wounded soldiers without fixed 
 homes or relations to help them. There were no longer 
 any regular hospital attendants ; the medicines for the 
 sick were exhausted, and rice water was all that was left 
 to assuage their sufferings. The unfortunate invalids had 
 nothing but a little straw on which to rest on the pave- 
 ments of the long, cold, vaulted passages which form the 
 entrances to all the houses of Saragossa. There they 
 died of hunger or were consumed by the fever, vsdthout a 
 
190 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUXE 
 
 hand to give them a cooHng draught. The Countess 
 Burida and the women who had devoted themselves to 
 succouring the wounded were now either dead themselves 
 or scarcely able to drag themselves to the side of their 
 nearest relations. Gangrene set in rapidly on the slightest 
 wound ; the few sentinels whom the fear of being mur- 
 dered, or some little remnant of courage, still kept at their 
 posts, were struck suddenly down by fever. They were 
 to be seen sitting shivering on the stoxie benches wrapped 
 in their cloaks, their weapons dropping from hands no 
 longer strong enough to hold them, and many actually 
 died before they could be relieved. 
 
 Palaf ox himself, attacked by the epidemic, but harassed 
 still more by the cruel demands of the monks and the 
 harsh measures of the intriguing Junta, to which he was 
 compelled to lend his name, found himself no longer able 
 to bear the burdens of government, and his orders with 
 those of the other military chiefs were already set at 
 defiance. It was feared that Palafox and his colleagues 
 would leave, as they had done in the previous siege, under 
 the pretext of hastening the arrival of succour ; and, to 
 guard against this, those of the inhabitants who still re- 
 jected all idea of capitulation kept a very careful watch on 
 the gunboats, which might facilitate an escape. Of the 
 leading fanatics of the town, many had, however, now 
 succumbed, and in losing their support, Bazile, chief 
 of the Junta, also lost his own power and credit. The 
 clergy and the populace were at last beginning to give 
 up counting on the miraculous protection of Nuestra 
 Seiiora del Pilar, when they found that she disdained 
 to preserve her own church from destruction. The 
 garrison thought that they had now done enough for 
 the glory of the Spanish name, and many influential men 
 
PALAFOX SENDS AN ENVOY TO THE MARSHAL 191 
 
 amongst the inhabitants, finding themselves compelled to 
 yield to necessity, now at last dared to say that the hour 
 had come to leave off fighting. They went to Palafox, 
 whom they found still full of energy, but too ill to retain 
 any more hope of winning the obsidional crown.' He 
 had heard, too, of our successes all over the Peninsula, 
 but he meant to risk one more attempt, which might 
 perhaps enable him to gain time, and to carry out certain 
 generous intentions. He was exceedingly anxious to do 
 something to ameliorate the terrible condition of those of 
 the Aragonese who had survived all their awful sufferings. 
 Too proud, however, to take a step in open daylight 
 which would be sure not to be approved of by the general 
 public, he waited till night to send an envoy to the French 
 Marshal. 
 
 Hoping to get the best possible terms in the deplor- 
 able and humiliating position in which he found himself, 
 Palafox instructed his aide-de-camp, Gassellas, to seek 
 the Marshal and ask for a truce of three days, during 
 which he wished his messenger to be allowed to go and 
 verify the state of affairs in the Peninsula, adding that if 
 the moment for capitulation had indeed arrived, he 
 demanded the same advantages that the Marshal had 
 offered on January 24 ; moreover he asked that the garrison 
 should be allowed to join the Spanish army, taking with 
 them their covered wagons. 
 
 The state of things was, however, very different now 
 from what it had been a month before, and the Marshal's 
 reply contained the following words : 
 
 ' General, I have had you informed of what is passing 
 in Spain. When a man of honour gives his word, it 
 
 ' The obsidional crown was given by the Romans to a commander who 
 held out to the end against a siege.— Teansl. 
 
192 MEMOIRS OF BAROX LEJEUXE 
 
 should be looked upon as sacred. With this letter I send 
 yoii the capitulation of Perrol and of Coruna. I swear 
 to you upon my honour that you have no succour to hope 
 for. There are no longer any Spanish armies : all are 
 destroyed. King Joseph has entered Madrid. All the 
 towns have sent deputations to him, and many Spanish 
 regiments have entered his service. Such, General, is 
 the unvarnished truth. It is permitted to no one in this 
 world to doubt the loyalty and generosity of the French 
 nation. I am ready to grant a general pardon to all the 
 inhabitants of Saragossa, and I promise to respect their 
 lives and property.' 
 
 Dictated by the Duke of Montebello, in the trenches 
 before Saragossa, February 19, 1809, and signed ' Lannes,' 
 Marshal. 
 
 As soon as the envoy had started with this communi- 
 cation, the firing recommenced. 
 
 Much hurt at this refusal and worn out by a consum- 
 ing fever, the noble and chivalrous Castilian, General 
 Palafox, wishing to evade the shame of signing a capitu- 
 lation, resigned the command to Count Phihppe de Saint- 
 Marc ; but as a foreigner that general could not hope to 
 win the confidence of the people who had wanted to hang 
 him six weeks before, and he hastened to transfer his 
 temporary authority to the hands of a new Junta, consist- 
 ing of thirty men chosen from amongst the notables of 
 the town, including several ecclesiastics of high rank, 
 magistrates, and officers of the army, under the presidency 
 of Don Pedro Maria Eio, who was named regent. The 
 Junta passed the night in deliberating on the measures to 
 be taken. 
 
 In the morning, from a kind of observatory in which I 
 was stationed with some other engineer officers, we saw a 
 
THE BESIEGED DEMAND A PARLEY 193 
 
 great crowd of people assembling in the cathedral square. 
 They all seemed so animated that we thought at first they 
 were consulting as to how best to prevent the walls of that 
 quarter from coming down. Anyhow, they were gather- 
 ing together because something of the gravest importance 
 was about to occur, and were all very much agitated. 
 There were no women or monks amongst them this time, 
 and the men, who seemed to differ greatly in opinion, were 
 disputing hotly. It was now easy to see from their 
 behaviour tha.t the question of the capitulation was being 
 discussed, and that the siege was drawing to a close. 
 Whilst the eager discussion was going on, a sharp fire from 
 the fifty pieces of cannon in the batteries was making a 
 most horrible din, and several mines near by exploded. 
 Six new galleries had now reached the other side of the 
 Corso, one under the Law Courts known as La Audiencia, 
 another beneath the theatre, and the other four beneath 
 the biggest hotels. Each chamber had been charged by 
 Breuille's orders with 3,000 pounds of powder. Every- 
 thing was prepared for the various explosions to take 
 place simultaneously the following morning, and we were 
 stationed so as to be able to cross the Corso as soon as 
 the most beautiful quarter of Saragossa had been thrown 
 down. 
 
 Our great desire to have done with it all produced in 
 us a kind of feverish agitation, and the moment fixed 
 seemed still very far off, when at about three o'clock in the 
 morning we saw rise up from the midst of the crowd of 
 irritated men several swords, from which floated white 
 handkerchiefs, as a sign of a desire for peace and a request 
 for a parley. Nothing could possibly have been more 
 interesting to us than these demonstrations, and we 
 hastened in our turn to hold up our handkerchiefs to show 
 
 VOL. I. o 
 
194 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 that we were favourably disposed to listen. A messenger 
 was at once sent to the Marshal to inform him of what 
 was going on, and we stopped the firing near us for a 
 moment. The Spaniards then advanced into the open, and 
 we called out to them to have confidence in us, and to 
 surrender. At the word ' Surrender ! ' {entregarse) , the anger 
 of some of them once more got the better of them, and they 
 began to fight amongst themselves with renewed rage. 
 To bring them to reason we had to resort to the brutal 
 argument of the cannon, that ultima ratio 7'egum, and the 
 whiz of two balls fired over their heads at last decided 
 them to treat definitely with us. One of their officers 
 climbed over a wall with the aid of a ladder, and present- 
 ing himself before us asked that the Marshal should send 
 the same envoy to them as he had done a month 
 previously. 
 
 At four o'clock the order to cease firing all along the 
 line was given, and Saint-Marc, aide-de-camp to the 
 Marshal (who had acted as envoy in the earlier portion of 
 the siege), presented himself at the outposts near the Puerta 
 del Carmen. His eyes were bandaged, and he was taken 
 to the Junta, then in session at the palace occupied by 
 General Palafox near the Portillo, in the least injured 
 quarter of the town. 
 
 Saint-Marc was compelled to cross the whole of the 
 town, and everywhere insulting reimarks about the French 
 were shouted in his ears, till he felt that his life was in 
 the greatest danger amongst the furious fanatics. Arrived 
 at the palace of the Junta, the bandage was removed from 
 his eyes, and he found himself in the presence of forty 
 men whose worn and livid features and angry eyes 
 expressed alike suffering and rage. The new Junta 
 consisted of Palafox, visibly weakened by illness, the 
 
OUR ENVOY BEFORE THE JUNTA 195 
 
 Emigre Philippe de Saint-Marc, and several officers, 
 citizens, and ecclesiastics, including Bazile of the old 
 Junta. The new members were self-controlled and mode- 
 rate compared with those of the former Junta, in which had 
 figured the redoubtable cure of the Church of San Gil, the 
 intrepid Sorgo, Marino, Lios, and Benito ; the ferocious 
 George Arcos, keeper of the big cafe on the Corso, with 
 several others who had now been carried off by typhus, 
 killed in the struggle, or blown up in the explosions. 
 
 In a very short speech Saint-Marc congratulated the 
 assembled members on the admirable courage and devotion 
 which would make the people and garrison of Saragossa 
 for ever famous, and on the fact that they had at last 
 brought themselves to listen to the pleadings of humanity 
 and were about to stop the streams of blood which had 
 been ceaselessly flowing for the last two months. Don 
 Pedro Maria Eio then took up the word, and, speaking in 
 the name of Palafox, he pronounced a pompous eulogy 
 on the heroic conduct of the troops and the inhabitants, 
 and demanded for them honourable terms of capitulation. 
 Saint-Marc answered that every confidence might be 
 placed in the generosity of the Marshal, but that he had 
 orders to demand the surrender of the town at discretion. 
 A cry of indignation burst from the assembly, and it 
 seemed as if there was little hope of a pacific arrangement. 
 The envoy had the greatest trouble to calm the storm 
 and make his voice heard again, but at last his sang-froid 
 and courteous language succeeded in appeasing a few 
 members of the Junta, who tried to calm the others ; 
 and the discussion was again taking a favourable turn, 
 Palafox was even saying that he only wished to treat for 
 the garrison, and that he and the Junta would do all in 
 their power to get the inhabitants to send deputies on 
 
 o 2 
 
196 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 their own account to the Marshal, when an unforeseen 
 incident placed the life of Saint-Marc in the very greatest 
 danger. 
 
 The news of the armistice had rapidly spread amongst 
 the people, and they had all hastened to avail themselves 
 of it to issue from their cellars and from behind their 
 defences to breathe in the open air without fear of being 
 shot down. Unfortunately, however, Breuille and Prost, 
 occupied in subterranean passages a good distance off, did 
 not hear of the cessation of hostilities in time, and they 
 fired a mine at a most inopportune moment. The explo- 
 sion produced a lofty jet of stones, forming a regular 
 pyramid or obelisk in the air, extending to a great height, 
 and visible to the whole population of the town, who, 
 already full of distrust, at once suspected treason. Crowds 
 rushed to the Junta, joining those already round the palace. 
 Shouts for vengeance and death resounded on every side, 
 and all were eager to tear the treacherous envoy to pieces. 
 Palafox, ill as he was, was scarcely able to protect Saint- 
 Marc, whose good faith he never suspected for a moment ; 
 whilst General Philippe de Saint-Marc, who but a little 
 time ago had himself been saved by Palafox from the 
 same furious multitude, was powerless to interfere on his 
 fellow-countryman's behalf. The tumult increased, and 
 the cries of ' Death to the traitor ! ' drowned everything 
 •else. The issue of the crisis appeared extremely doubtful, 
 and the envoy could not help feeling great anxiety, when 
 the door of the council chamber was flung violently open, 
 and a number of Spanish officers with eager faces and 
 holding their drawn swords in their hands rushed towards 
 Saint-Marc, exclaiming that they would not suffer the 
 rights of envoys to be violated in his person. They then 
 ■closed round him, and with generous devotion swore that 
 
NARROW ESCAPE OF OUR ENVOY 197 
 
 they would protect him with their own bodies till the 
 incident which had so roused the fury of the populace 
 could be explained. 
 
 The Marshal had seen the explosion, and, guessing at 
 once the critical position in which it would place Saint- 
 Marc, he immediately sent an officer to explain how it 
 had come about, and to express his regret. It had been . 
 extremely difficult to send the order to cease firing to all 
 the French leaders at once, on account of the great extent 
 and the winding of our trenches. The officer's explana- 
 tions were favourably received by the people, who soon 
 calmed down ; and the deputies chosen by the Junta 
 prepared to accompany Saint-Marc to the Marshal, who, 
 with the other chiefs of the army, was awaiting them at 
 the lock. 
 
 The deputies dared not openly cross the town in full 
 view of those few obstinate men who, still full of energy, 
 wished to prolong the defence, and held in awe those 
 whose strength and courage were alike exhausted by the 
 protracted struggle. Fearing lest these fanatics should 
 be guilty of some fresh excess which would yet further 
 aggravate the sad position of the town, the deputies waited 
 for the night and arrived at the lock with the envoy 
 about seven o'clock the next morning. Saint-Marc, hoping 
 to reach safety more quickly, directed his escort to go to 
 the gate of the town by which he had entered it, where 
 his friend Captain Labedoyere awaited him with a 
 squadron of lancers, all no less impatient than their chief 
 to fly to the succour of the envoy. 
 
 The Marshal, surrounded by his staff, received the 
 deputies with great respect, but with assumed severity, 
 demanding at first that the town should surrender at dis- 
 cretion. In his own heart he really wished to grant 
 
198 MEMOIKS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 honourable terms of capitulation to troops whose courage 
 he admired, and he was also most anxious for every 
 reason to complete his enterprise, as his army was 
 weakened by sickness and fatigue, and the ammunition, 
 indispensable for the successful prosecution of the siege, 
 was beginning to run short. It must be remembered that 
 all the powder, projectiles, and other war material was 
 brought to Saragossa by way of Pampeluna and Bayonne 
 under the greatest difficulties. The Marshal, therefore, 
 feigning to yield to the urgent entreaties addressed to him 
 not to reduce to the last extremities the unhappy people 
 who would rather die than submit to the shameful yoke 
 to which their representatives would have been forced to 
 submit, consented to grant a capitulation. 
 
 The deputies then made an attempt to exact certain 
 conditions. Amongst the requests they made were these : 
 the clergy were to retain their offices, and their ecclesiasti- 
 cal revenues were to be guaranteed ; Ferdinand VII. was 
 to be recognised ; and other equally inadmissible claims 
 were put forward. The Marshal's reply was to have the 
 plan of the siege unrolled before them, that they might 
 realise how little hope there was left ; he pointed out the 
 position of six huge mine chambers under the town, add- 
 ing that they were quite ready for firing, and that 
 each one contained a charge of 3,000 pounds of 
 powder. At these words, which appeared to make on 
 them a profound impression of terror, all the deputies 
 crossed themselves, and one of them, who, like the rest, 
 had followed with the greatest attention all that the 
 Marshal had said whilst pointing to the plan, cried in ac- 
 cents of the greatest grief, as he crossed himself with his 
 thumb on his forehead and mouth five or six times : 'Ah la 
 casa Ciscala ! ' It was his own home. From the exclama- 
 
THE TERMS OF THE CAPITULATION 199 
 
 tions of the deputies we learnt the names of the different 
 buildings threatened, including the Ducal Palace of Villa 
 Vermosa, the Olivar and Cerezo hotels, the theatre, &c. 
 
 The deputies, trembling with anxiety, now hastened to 
 submit, to prevent all these fresh disasters, and signed the 
 following articles : ' A general pardon is granted to the 
 town of Saragossa ; the garrison is to go out with the 
 honours of war ; they will pile their arms 200 paces 
 from the Puerta del Portillo ; the officers will retain 
 their swords, the soldiers their knapsacks ; they will be 
 taken to Prance, where they will remain as prisoners of 
 war ; private property will be guaranteed ; religion will 
 be maintained and respected ; the peasants will return 
 home without molestation ; the officials will take the oath 
 of allegiance to King Joseph.' 
 
 The terms being thus settled, the deputies, accompanied 
 by two of the Marshal's officers, left the head quarters 
 at ten o'clock at night, and not daring to face the furious 
 and anxious populace waiting en masse in the streets of 
 Sarago'ssa, they went to the Palace of the Inquisition, 
 outside the town, where they made known to Palafox and 
 the Junta the result of their mission. Bazile and a few 
 other members of the Junta were very much grieved at 
 the capitulation, but the whole assembly submitted in 
 silence to conditions better than they had dared to hope 
 for; and to insure the prompt execution of the terms 
 agreed on, they at once ordered the commandant of the 
 guards surrounding the Castillo d'Aljaferia to give up 
 the posts under him to the French troops, who occupied 
 them at once. 
 
 The news, which we had wished to keep secret till the 
 morning, was quickly known all over the town. Many 
 infuriated fellows had not even waited for the return of 
 
200 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 the deputies to resort to violent excesses. They had seized 
 some of the artillery with a view to prolonging the defence,, 
 and doubled the guards near the boats to prevent the 
 escape of the members of the Junta who had excited 
 their suspicions. There were but very few of these 
 unreasonable agitators, still they were so excited and 
 menacing that it was likely to be very difficult to make 
 them submit to the terms of the capitulation. They 
 shouted ' Treason ! ' and ran about the streets calling for 
 death to the deputies, and even wanted to murder those 
 who were less fanatic than themselves. Colonel Marco 
 del Pon, commander of a corps of Aragonese grenadiers, 
 who had not only to watch the movements of the enemy 
 outside, but also to put down the rising of the people 
 within the walls, passed a night of the greatest anxiety 
 amongst the mutineers. But the mass of the people, too 
 exhausted and suffering to keep up their violent opposition 
 long, soon separated themselves from the agitators, and 
 applauded the decision arrived at by the Junta. The fierce 
 minority, finding themselves unsupported, gave up their 
 resistance, and this long night, full of tumults, of hopes 
 and fears, was by no means one of the least painful 
 passed through by the unfortunate besieged. 
 
 As soon as ever our guards were posted round and 
 within the Palace of the Inquisition, we lit torches and 
 set off to the rescue of the luckless Prince Pignatelli, 
 Marquis de Fuentes, a grandee of Spain, with whom we 
 had been intimate during his many years' residence in 
 Paris, and to whom we were much attached on account 
 of his many estimable qualities. The Emperor had sent 
 him the year before to Saragossa on a mission of concilia- 
 tion, and he had ever since been languishing in the dun- 
 geons of the Inquisition in spite of all Palafox's efforts to 
 
PRINCE PIGNATELLI DIES OF JOY 201 
 
 alleviate his lot. The poor Aragonese nobleman had 
 nearly lost his reason in consequence of the cruel treatment 
 to which he had been subjected by order of the Junta. 
 When he heard our loud shouts as we approached his 
 prison and saw the glare of our torches, he thought that 
 his enemies were coming to drag him to execution, but 
 when he felt our arms about him he recognised us and 
 called us nearly all by our own names. Alas ! when he 
 found himself free to breathe in the fresh air, once more, 
 his surprise and joy were so great that he was unable to 
 bear the excitement, and a few hours later he expired. 
 General Guillielmi, formerly Captain-General of Aragon, 
 but replaced by Palafox, and several other persons, who 
 had been imprisoned since the beginning of the siege be- 
 cause they were suspected of being favourable to the 
 French, were also now set at liberty and taken to the 
 Marshal. 
 
 At daybreak on the 21st all the posts outside the town 
 were occupied by the French. At noon our troops, few 
 in numbers but imposing from their soldierly bearing, were 
 drawn up in order of battle with lighted matches, facing 
 the Ebro in the Aragon road, with reserves placed in 
 suitable positions to guard against all contingencies. The 
 Spanish column soon came out in good order, carrying 
 their flags and their arms. Never perhaps had any of us 
 before gazed on a sadder or more touching spectacle. 
 Thirteen thousand sickly-looking men, bearing in their 
 bodies the seeds of disease, all frightfully emaciated, with 
 long black matted beards, and scarcely able to hold their 
 weapons, dragged themselves slowly along to the sound of 
 the drum. Their clothes were dirty and disordered ; in a 
 word, everything about them bore witness to their terrible 
 misery ; but in spite of their livid faces, blackened with 
 
202 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 the smoke of powder, and scarred with the deep traces of 
 rage and grief, their whole bearing still radiated forth an 
 indescribable dignity and pride. The bright-coloured 
 Spanish sashes set off their figures, the large round hats 
 surmounted by a few black cock or vulture feathers shaded 
 their foreheads, and the brown cloak or horse blanket flung 
 negligently over the varied costumes of Aragon, Catalonia, 
 or Valencia, gave a certain grace, perhaps even elegance, 
 to the torn garments and tattered rags reduced to their 
 present condition in a struggle so noble, and now covering 
 mere living spectres. The weeping wives and children 
 of the poor fellows, who encumbered the ranks, constantly 
 turned towards the Madonna, to whom they still prayed. 
 When the moment came for the gallant troops to pile 
 their arms and deliver up their flags to us, many of them 
 gave violent expression to their despair. Their eyes 
 gleamed with rage, and their savage looks seemed to say 
 that they had counted our troops, and deeply regretted 
 having yielded to such a small number of enemies. They 
 started for France, and Saragossa was conquered ! 
 Thus ended this memorable siege. 
 
203 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII 
 
 THE WAR IN AUSTRIA IN 1809 — BATTLES OF ABENSBBRG, 
 LANDSHUT, AND ECKMUHL — RATISBON — EBERSBBRG 
 
 I WAS impatient to carry the news of the taking of Sara- 
 gossa to Napoleon, so I started on the very night of the 
 capitulation (February 21) at full speed for Bayonne, 
 where I had left my carriage. Fearing to be hindered 
 by the escort I ought to have taken with me, I braved the 
 danger of crossing, accompanied by one postillion only, a 
 country where guerilla bands were waging war to the death 
 with the French. Those who were taken by our soldiers 
 with arms in their hands were hmig immediately from the 
 olive trees bordering the roads. In one of the narrow 
 lanes T had to go through, a mutilated corpse, hanging 
 from a branch, swaying about like a flag in the wind, 
 barred my passage ; and as it touched me and I was about 
 to push it aside, I had the curiosity to examine it. The 
 body was dried up, but the features were not disfigured, 
 and I saw that it was the corpse of a white-haired peasant 
 with a grey beard, still wearing all his clothes. I was 
 greatly surprised to find that it weighed no more than a 
 pasteboard figure would have done. 
 
 I arrived without mishap at the Tuileries on February 
 27, where I was received by the Emperor. I found him 
 sitting at a small table, with a pretty child of three years 
 old on his knee. They were very happily eating their 
 
204 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 breakfast out of one plate. The Emperor congratulated 
 me on there being no trace of the wound which he had been 
 told had disfigured me, and listened with great interest to 
 every detail of the siege and surrender of Saragossa. He 
 asked about the health of the Marshal and the state of the 
 army, and expressed a regret which did him honour at the 
 loss of his aide-de-camp, Lacoste. He even instructed me 
 to convey a message of sympathy from him to the widow, 
 and to tell her that he should continue to her the annuity 
 of fifty thousand francs he had given to her husband. 
 
 During our conversation the Emperor fondled the 
 child on his knee a good deal. It was the eldest son of 
 his brother Louis, King of Holland, who had married 
 Marie Hortense de Beauharnais, daughter of the Empress 
 Josephine. The marked tenderness shown for this little 
 nephew, who was a graceful taking boy, led us to think 
 that Napoleon intended him to inherit the throne he had 
 founded; at least there was a rumour to that effect in 
 Paris at this time. After his frugal repast the Emperor, 
 as was his custom, took some coffee without sugar, and 
 the child stretched out his pretty little hands to seize the 
 cup and drink some coffee too, but he pushed it away with 
 a wry face when he found how bitter the contents were. 
 The Emperor said to him, laughing, ' Ah, your education 
 is not complete yet ; you don't know how to disguise your 
 feelings.' I thought these words significant. 
 
 The Emperor promoted me to be Colonel of Engineers, 
 and I took the oath of allegiance according to the form 
 then adopted. Great eclat was always given to the cere- 
 mony of taking the oath, with a view to binding more 
 closely together the officers of the army and the chief of the 
 great empire they had aided in founding. Those newly 
 promoted were summoned one by one to the throne room, 
 
CEREMONY OF TAKING THE OATH 205 
 
 where tlie great of&cers of the Crown were grouped about 
 the Emperor. As we entered we saluted three times in 
 the style taught us by M. Gardel, superintendent of the 
 opera ballets, to whom we had been sent to take a lesson 
 beforehand. This lesson had amused us very ranch, but 
 it failed to give the supple grace of courtiers to most of us, 
 who remained rough soldiers and republicans to boot to 
 the last. When we had learnt to draw back the right foot 
 gracefully, as we respectfully bowed the head and shoulders, 
 we entered the Tuileries and marched proudly into the 
 throne room towards the noble and dignified assembly, to 
 take, in presence of the Emperor, the oath of fidelity to 
 him, which was read out to us by the Duke of Bassano. 
 The clumsiness of some of us in making a salute to which 
 we were little accustomed, made it difficult for the solemn 
 audience to keep from bursting out laughing, which would 
 have been very prejudicial to the dignity of the ceremony. 
 
 The succeeding days were passed in brilliant festivities. 
 The Emperor, often weary of living in state, was very 
 fond of disguising himself with a black domino at masked 
 balls, and sometimes he had the pleasure of not being 
 recognised. The Arch-Chancellor, who was always 
 anxious to please his sovereign, gave a good many of these 
 fetes, at which his pretty niece. Mile. Bustereche, who 
 later became Mme. Lavollee, helped him to do the honours. 
 These balls, at which everything was on a scale of imperial 
 lavishness, were full of the most piquant attractions for 
 the young, and made up to a great extent for all the priva- 
 tions and losses of the war. 
 
 The Empress Josephine, who was losing hope of 
 giving the Emperor a son, had now laid aside the role of 
 a young and pretty woman, to take up that of grandmother 
 to the sweet child the Emperor was so fond of. Few 
 
206 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 women excelled her in that grace which many prefer to 
 beauty, becavise it is far more durable. The Empress 
 knew only too well how difficult it would be for her to 
 retain the affections of a husband younger than herself, 
 and she spared no pains to make his home attractive to 
 him by constantly varying such pleasures as were likely 
 to bind him to it. Far from betraying any jealousy, 
 she gracefully sacrificed her own amour-propre, and sur- 
 rounded herself with the most remarkable young women 
 of the day. She summoned the most famous artists of 
 the day to the concerts at Malmaison, including the cele- 
 brated Mme. Grassini, as much admired for her beauty of 
 form and face, and for her wit, as for her fine contralto 
 voice ; and the great soprano, Crescentini, with other stars 
 of the Italian Theatre. Inspired, no doubt, by their 
 brilliant audience, these talented musicians excelled them- 
 selves in the force and beauty of their renderings of their 
 beautiful themes, and Zingarelli's touching music was 
 never more greatly appreciated by the public than in the 
 scenes of despair between Eomeo and Juliet, which were 
 represented before the Court by most skilful actors. Talma, 
 who wore, like the rest of us, the Court costume of the 
 time, gave, with the help of his wife, a few scenes from 
 ' Othello,' filling us with terror, and impressing us with all 
 the greater horror because they were acted without any 
 of the paraphernalia of a theatre, which would have given 
 them something of unreality. They were rendered with 
 such truth to nature, in the very midst of us, that each 
 one felt as if he were looking on at an actual tragedy, and 
 we were all deeply affected. Then we were allowed to 
 breathe freely again, for we repaired to the dancing rooms, 
 whilst later the most recherche supper renewed our ardour, 
 making us forget in the delights of the dance and of the 
 
QUEEN HORTENSE 207 
 
 table the fact that the sun had risen some hours before. 
 Just a few whist tables were scattered about at these 
 gatherings, but I never saw any one use them, except a few 
 of the elder and more distinguished diplomatists, such as 
 the Austrian Envoy, Von Cobenzel ; the Baden Ambassa- 
 dor, Von Terret ; the Marquis de Suchesini, representative 
 of Italy, and Prince Talleyrand. 
 
 During one of the evenings I passed at Malmaison the 
 Empress begged me in a very gracious and touching 
 manner to make a copy for her of my picture of the 
 Bivouac at Austerlitz, which had attracted crowds at the 
 Salon, and had been placed in the Diana Gallery of the 
 Tuileries by the Emperor. The Empress already foresaw 
 the coming divorce, and though of course she did not 
 confide her premonition to me, it was evident that she 
 wished in her future isolation to have about her any 
 portraits and souvenirs she could collect of the husband 
 she loved. I promised to make the copy, but the new war 
 prevented me from having time to do it. 
 
 In the beautiful palace, later the residence of the 
 celebrated banker and politician Lafitte, but at this time 
 occupied by Queen Hortense, that lady gave to all the 
 festivities a character at once piquant and refined. The 
 charming grace of the mistress of the house pervaded 
 everything ; rather fascinating than beautiful, and secure 
 of pleasing all who were brought under her influence, she 
 gathered about her a delightful circle. The leaders of the 
 army, the ministers and indeed all the chief men of the 
 Empire, had married young and beautiful women who 
 formed part of the Court of the Empress. The beauty of 
 these young brides and the richness of their toilettes 
 added fresh lustre to the brilliant fetes presided over by 
 Queen Hortense, and it was a delight to meet at them 
 
208 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 such ladies as the Duchesses of Bassano, Vicenza, 
 Montebello, Elchingen, Abrantes, and Rovigo, with the 
 Countesses of Duchatel, Eeille, Barral, Saint-Martin, 
 Eenaud -de - Saint - Jean - d' Angely, Visconti, Lambert, 
 Mathieu, Favier, Mathis, P^laprat, Gazani, &c. 
 
 Amongst those who added fresh lustre to the circle of 
 Queen Hortense, I must mention specially the graceful 
 young bride of General de Broc. This interesting and 
 remarkable couple were, alas ! fated to have but a short life. 
 It might well have been said of their home that it was 
 one of those rare spots on this earth of ours in which the 
 joys of the innocent and the pure could still be enjoyed. 
 General de Broc was killed in battle, and Queen Hortense 
 was devoted to his young widow, but her friend was torn 
 from her one day in a most tragic manner when they 
 were out walking together. The two ladies were crossing 
 a plank spanning the Cascade de Grezy in Savoy, and 
 the Queen went boldly over without accident, quite 
 undisturbed by the noise of the rushing water beneath. 
 Madame de Broc, however, in following her, hesitated, her 
 foot slipped, and she fell into the gulf below and was in an 
 instant lost to sight. In her despair the Queen ran back 
 and was ready to fling herself over after her. Efforts 
 were made with pitchforks to rescue the victim of the 
 terrible accident, but the fear of wounding her was so 
 great that nothing resulted but the tearing of her clothes, 
 and the body was not recovered until life had long been 
 extinct. Full of sorrowful regret, the Queen founded a 
 hospital and erected a tomb near the scene of the cata- 
 strophe in memory of her friend, inscribing on it : ' Here 
 Madame la Baronne de Broc, aged twenty-five years, 
 perished in sight of her friend. Oh all you who visit this 
 spot, think of those who love you and be careful how you 
 
VICTORY OF OIUDAD REAL 209 
 
 attempt to cross this abyss ! ' When the misfortune • 
 happened, all Paris was deeply afflicted ; but such is the 
 life of great cities that only a few hearts continued to 
 grieve, pleasures of one kind or another soon consoled 
 the rest. 
 
 Meanwhile the Emperor of Austria had ordered the 
 calling out of so many men, that the army of the 
 Archduke Charles was raised to a strength of 300,000, 
 and its organisation had been completed by the pro- 
 motion of a great many generals. The news from 
 Germany was becoming urgent, but the Emperor, 
 anxious to throw the odium of beginning the hostilities, 
 which would break the peace so useful to Europe, upon 
 Austria, gave no orders to his own troops in Germany, 
 which would have betrayed his desire to be ready to 
 recommence the war ; on the contrary, he did everything 
 in his power to encourage his enemies to suppose that we 
 were living in perfect security, and that it would be quite 
 easy to surprise us. The Austrian Ambassador, Prince 
 Metternich, continued to treat with us as if we were at 
 peace ; but the Emperor, true to his policy of forcing the 
 Court of Vienna to take the initiative, never relaxed his 
 vigilance, and was often found bending over his maps 
 studying the chances of the war he knew to be about to 
 break out. 
 
 On the very day when Marshal Victor brought the 
 news of the victory of Ciudad Eeal, the Emperor was 
 exercising at Paris that best of all royal prerogatives, 
 the remission of capital sentences. The laws of the 
 Republic condemned to death emigrants taken with arms 
 in their hands fighting against Prance, and a French 
 lieutenant-general, the Comte de Saint- Simon, had been 
 made prisoner leading Spanish troops in a fight near 
 
 VOL. I. p 
 
210 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 Madrid. He was dragged before a court-martial, and the 
 sentence of death was about to be carried out. The more 
 generous the Emperor had been in allowing emigrants 
 to return, the more severely had he punished those who 
 added to his difficulties in pacifying France by joining 
 those who were fighting against her. It really did seem 
 necessary in this case to make an emphatic example. 
 For several days the Emperor resisted all appeals on 
 behalf of the condemned, but at last, having decided to 
 remit the sentence, he allowed the Empress Josephine, 
 the protectress of all the unfortunate, to present to him 
 the daughter of the condemned Count. The young girl 
 flung herself at the feet of the Emperor, and bathed with 
 her tears the hands stretched out to raise her, when her 
 petition for the life of her father was granted. This act 
 of clemency had a far better effect in France than the 
 carrying out of the punishment would have had. 
 
 I was now occupied all day at Prince Berthier's quar- 
 ters in marking with pins on our maps the position of all 
 the troops we had in Germany, and of the reinforcements 
 on their way to join them, with that of the stores of pro- 
 visions, forage, shoes, &c., the parks of artillery and trans- 
 port wagons, and even those movements of the enemy 
 which we had been able to ascertain. The various corps 
 represented by movable pins with different-coloured heads 
 on the maps of Germany, the Tyrol and Italy, looked very 
 like the chessmen on a board whose movements we could 
 combine as they took it in turn to play. This guess-work 
 prepared us for the more serious operations we were pre- 
 sently to undertake on the ground represented on our 
 maps. There was no time now for me to go on with my 
 painting and fix on canvas my memories of the army, but 
 my enthusiasm for the art was kept up by constant visits 
 
THE DECISIVE MOMENT APPROACHES 211 
 
 to the chief French painters of the day, such as Eegnaud, 
 Vincent, David, and the worthy pupils of the last-named, 
 my friends Gorodet, Gros, and Gerard, whose work did so 
 much to spread the renown of the great deeds of the 
 Empire. Gerard, whose business capacity was equal to his 
 talent, had already made his fortune, and he and his wife, 
 the pretty fascinating Eoman girl he had married when a 
 student in her native city, entertained at their dinners 
 and receptions the chief celebrities of the day, including 
 Corvisart, the Emperor's skilful physician ; the clever 
 chemists Fourier and BerthoUet ; Cuvier, whose name 
 alone means more than any adjective we could use in 
 connection with it ; Monge, the profound geometrician ; 
 Von Humboldt, the illustrious traveller ; Guerin, the 
 sjonpathetic painter of ' ^neas and Dido ; ' Talma ; Mile. 
 Georges, Mile. Mars, with many others. My friendship 
 with the great artists of the day and the good advice they 
 were generous enough to give me were of service to me in 
 helping me to remove the chief defects of my early works, 
 and render them more worthy of being offered to the public. 
 They themselves, indeed, welcomed a brother artist who 
 had been able, without exposing them to any of the 
 dangers of war, to give them in his painting some idea of 
 the many interesting scenes he had witnessed. 
 
 The weather was now dreadfully bad, a continuous 
 downpour of rain had damaged all the roads by which we 
 had to return to the campaign, and swollen the Danube 
 to such an extent that the ravages made by its waters 
 were greater than had been known for more than a century. 
 All this had doubtless delayed the Austrians from assuming 
 the aggressive. But the decisive moment was approaching, 
 and the Emperor was watching for it in the Tuileries. A 
 series of signals arranged by Guilleminot from Passau and 
 
 p 2 
 
212 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 Munich to the telegraph o£&ce at Strasburg, were to an- 
 nounce to him in a few hours that the time had arrived 
 for him to leave Paris and place himself at the head of 
 the army. 
 
 The chief French corps were those under Marshal 
 Davout, occupying Wiirzburg, Bamberg, Nuremberg, and 
 Eatisbon, and the Emperor stationed the Bavarian army 
 around and beyond Munich, giving the command to 
 Marshal Lefebvre. Marshal Massena started for Ulm 
 and Augsburg with 40,000 men. Marshal Bernadotte took 
 command at Dresden of the Saxon army, joining it to 
 the troops under General Dupas, the Wiirtembergers 
 gathered together at Elwingen, and the Polish army 
 under Prince Poniatowski was to threaten Cracow, whilst 
 the Russian division under Suvoroff (son of the great 
 general who had aided the Austrians against the French 
 in Italy in 1799) was also to enter Galicia. 
 
 Having thus made every preparation for a brilliant 
 attack all along the Danube, the Emperor gave his final 
 orders on March 31 to the Prince of Neuchatel, sending 
 him to take command of the army till he arrived to do so 
 in person. The Prince took me with him in his carriage, 
 and also his two secretaries, the estimable Baron Leduc 
 and the indefatigable Salomon, whose special business it 
 was to look after the movements of the troops, and who, 
 though he had been badly wounded and still had a ball in 
 his thigh, never remitted his arduous efforts by day or by 
 night. 
 
 The roads were not then what they are now, smooth 
 and easy to drive over, but very irregular paving stones in- 
 flicted positive torture on travellers whose carriages had not 
 easy springs, and the best constructed vehicles were often 
 broken. This was in fact our fate at the gates of Epernay ; 
 
I START JFOR THE SEAT OF WAR 213 
 
 for though we had paid our postboys very highly to make 
 our carriage dash over the ground at furious speed, it 
 was broken close to the charming source of the Sillery, 
 and much to our regret we had time whilst our vehicle 
 was being repaired to breakfast at Epernay and taste 
 the wine of the district. 
 
 At Metz the Prince reviewed the troops which were 
 on their waj^ to Germany, and on the third day we arrived 
 at Strasburg. In 1788, when I was a child, it had taken 
 the Marshal de Contades, then Governor of Alsace, eight 
 days to post the 100 leagues between Paris and Strasburg, 
 and now in 1843 I can do the 200 leagues between Paris 
 and Toulouse with the mails in forty-four hours without 
 being jolted or meeting with any obstacles. This differ- 
 ence, with the way in which distances have been every- 
 where bridged over, shows the wisdom of the immense 
 expense incurred by the State in the improvement of every 
 branch of the public service. 
 
 The Levis, Jewish merchants at Strasburg, made me 
 pay a very high price for the six horses and the carriages 
 I was obliged to buy for the campaign. I directed my 
 servants to go to Eatisbon with those of the Prince and 
 of his staff, whilst I myself accompanied him in his in- 
 spection of the fortifications of Kehl and of the troops on 
 their way to join the army. On the ninth day these pre- 
 liminary tasks were all achieved, and the Commander-in- 
 Chief let me rejoin him in his carriage to go with him to 
 Donauwerth on the Danube. 
 
 Prince Berthier now found himself placed for several 
 days in a position of most onerous responsibihty, for he 
 was provisional Commander-in-Chief with precise contin- 
 gent orders, which did not as yet apply to the state of 
 things in the districts in which he found himself. 
 
214 MEMOIRS OF BAEON LEJEUXE 
 
 Ilis first care was to press on the niarcli of the troops 
 and of the convoys, and to ensure their reaching tlieir de- 
 stination without hindrance. This important work detained 
 him at Strasburg till April 11, and everything indicated 
 that the enemy, drawn up between Passau, Branau, and 
 Salzburg on the other side of the Inn, was ready to cross 
 that river. 
 
 In fact, the Prince heard on the way that on the 10th 
 the Court of Bavaria and Marshal Lefebvre had received 
 from the Archduke Charles the following letter, dated 
 from head quarters, April 9, 1809 : 
 
 ' In accordance with a declaration from his Majesty 
 the Emperor of Austria to the Emperor Napoleon, I beg to 
 inform the Commander-in-Chief of the French army that 
 I have orders to advance with the troops under my orders, 
 and that I shall treat as enemies all who offer me any 
 resistance. 
 
 (Signed) ' Charles.' 
 
 Several proclamations addressed to the Bavarians 
 urging them to join the Austrian army accompanied this 
 letter. After sending this simple notice by one of his aides- 
 de-camp, the Archduke crossed the Inn. On the ap- 
 proach of his army the Bavarian troops drew back upon 
 Munich, whilst the whole of the Boyal Family left that city 
 and retired beyond the Danube. On the 13th we arrived 
 at Dollingen at the same time as the King and Queen of 
 Bavaria. The Royal Family and their Court were alike 
 grieved and anxious, and Prince Berthier had to do his best 
 to reassure them, telling them from the Emperor that he 
 promised to avenge the aggression, and very soon to make 
 the King of Bavaria, at the expense of Austria, more 
 powerful than he had ever been before. 
 
PRINCE BERTHIER'S ANXIETIES 215 
 
 The Archduke, uncertain as to his plan of campaign, 
 which he had had to modify several times against his will, 
 •only advanced some six leagues in six days in a hesitating 
 manner by way of the right bank of the Danube opposite 
 the Bavarians, whilst on the left bank his advanced posts 
 from Bohemia met the French on the 13th at Ambers: and 
 Hirshem. Our divisions had orders to fall back upon 
 Ingolstadt and Kelheim, leaving at Eatisbon only one 
 division of infantry and one corps of cavalry as advance 
 guards to the army on the two banks. They would 
 thus be able to retire in case of need on one side or the 
 other according to circumstances. When he arrived at 
 Donauwerth on the 14th, Prince Berthier heard at the 
 same time of the advance of the Austrians by way of 
 Bohemia, and of the attack on the Bavarians. In the 
 intense anxiety which these movements caused him, the 
 Marshal feared that we might lose the advantages offered to 
 us by the Ingolstadt and Eatisbon bridges, and he ordered 
 Marshal Davout and General Oudinot to support each other 
 in bearing down upon Eatisbon by both banks, so as to 
 retain that town and command these two passages across 
 the Danube as bases for the later operations of the Emperor. 
 This manoeuvre was not without inconvenience, since it 
 laid bare our left wing on one side of the Tyrol, and de- 
 stroyed the parallelism of our order of battle with that of 
 the enemy. . 
 
 On the 15th, however, Prince Berthier went to 
 Augsburg to confer with Marshal Massena, returning to 
 Donauwerth on the 16th. On the same day Jellachich 
 •entered Munich and attacked Massena's right. The 
 anxiety of Prince Berthier now became greater than ever, 
 and it grieved me very much to see a man who was always 
 so cahn and courageous under fire, and whom no personal 
 
216 MEMOIKS OF r.AEON LEJEUXE 
 
 danger could intimidate, trembling and sinking beneath 
 the weight of responsibility thrown on him now. It was 
 not the enemy he feared ; he would rather have been killed 
 than compromise the position of his General, whom he 
 might be exposing to the risk of the loss of a battle by 
 hazarding combinations of which he was not sure the 
 Emperor would approve. In this harassing perplexity we 
 had during four days and nights to go constantly back- 
 wards and forwards between Ingolstadt and Donauwerth, 
 so as to be always on the spot where the danger was 
 greatest. 
 
 Fortunately the Archduke Charles, expecting to meet 
 a very formidable enemy, hesitated as rnuch as we did, 
 advancing slowly and settling on no definite plan, thus 
 giving time for our troops to come up and the Emperor to 
 arrive. 
 
 The Emperor, informed in Paris on the evening of 
 April 12 of what was going on, started that same night 
 with the Empress Josephine, and leaving her at Strasburg 
 reached Donauwerth on the 18th. The position of Prince 
 Berthier was immediately changed. The army had no 
 longer for its head a man overwhelmed with powers toO' 
 great for him, acting for another whose combinations he 
 was afraid of upsetting, but it was commanded by the Em- 
 peror himself, that skilful generalissimo, who resumed the 
 leadership of an army ready for battle, who in a moment 
 detected the weak and strong points of his adversary, and 
 did not hesitate to begin the attack. A great struggle 
 between two illustrious chiefs was now to begin. 
 
 The campaign of 1809 was indeed the grandest spectacle 
 offered to the world during the all too short duration of' 
 the Empire, and I count myself fortunate not only to have 
 been one of the actors in the fine drama, but also to have 
 
EFFECTS OF THE AKRIVAL OF NAPOLEON 217 
 
 survived to record with the brush and with the pen what 
 I witnessed. 
 
 On April 18 several volleys of artillery announced to 
 the army the arrival of the Emperor, who greeted his 
 troops in the following finely conceived and inspiring pro- 
 clamation : 
 
 ' Soldiers ! the territory of the Confederation has 
 been violated. The Austrian General would like us to fly 
 at the mere sight of his army, and to abandon our allies. 
 I have come to j'^ou with lightning speed. 
 
 ' Soldiers ! you were around me when the sovereign 
 of Austria came to my bivouac in Moravia ; you heard 
 him implore my clemency and swear eternal friendship 
 with me. "We have conquered in three wars : Austria 
 owes everything to our generosity : she is three times 
 perjured ! 
 
 ' Our past successes are a sure guarantee of the victory 
 awaiting us. 
 
 ' Let us march, then, and let our bearing be such that 
 the enemy will recognise their conquerors.' 
 
 The news of the commencement of the war and of 
 this brief address electrified the French and our allies, 
 while the Austrians, who heard the volleys from our 
 cannon, understood the cause of the demonstration, 
 and were as much intimidated by the arrival of the 
 Emperor as they had been encouraged by his prolonged 
 absence. 
 
 It was his soldiers' eager devotion to him which en- 
 abled Napoleon to get them to make the long rapid marches 
 which brought his forces punctually to the very points 
 where the enemy least expected to meet them. In twenty- 
 four hours from his arrival, the Emperor was thus in his 
 turn ready to take the offensive. Directly he reached 
 
218 .MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 Donauwerth on the evening of the 18th, the Emperor 
 had written the following urgent lines to Marshal Massena, 
 and they were not without effect : 
 
 ' One word will be enough to make you understand 
 the position. The Archduke Charles has debouched from 
 Landshut upon Eatisbon with three corps, estimated as 
 80,000 strong. Davout, leaving Batisbon, is marching 
 towards Neustadt. That Marshal will act against the 
 Austrian army, but the enemy is lost if your corps, de- 
 bouching before daybreak by way of Pfaffenholfen, falls 
 upon the rear of Prince Charles. Between the 18th, 
 19th, and 20th, therefore, all the affairs of Germany will 
 be settled. . . .' The Emperor added with his own hand 
 at the bottom of this letter : ' Activity ! activity ! speed ! 
 I rely on you.' 
 
 After ordering his other generals to be at Ingolstadt 
 as soon as they heard the cannon, he started with Prince 
 Berthier for that town, where their carriages awaited 
 thera. Not nearly so well served in that respect as the 
 Emperor and Major-General, I only found three of the 
 horses I had sent from Strasburg, but fortunately I was 
 able to secure several others, though at a very high 
 price. 
 
 On the 19th, then, the Emperor was at Ingolstadt, and 
 on the same day Marshal Davout, in accordance with the 
 orders he had received, left but one regiment at Ratisbon 
 to retain possession of that great town, relying upon the 
 power of the colonel in command to hold it somehow for 
 forty-eight hours at least. Unfortunately that of&cer was 
 guilty of the imprudence of using up all his cartridges 
 the first day in a fusillade he could have avoided if he had 
 burnt the bridge, but he was afraid to take upon himself 
 the responsibility of destroying that important communi- 
 
HOW THE FBEXCH LOST EATISBON 219 
 
 cation, which he had orders to guard against the Austrians. 
 Either from weakness or out of pity for the inhabitants, 
 he did not draw upon the resources of the town to 
 replace his exhausted stores, and although he might cer- 
 tainly have waited until the loopholed doors and win- 
 dows behind which he and his men were stationed had 
 been shattered by the cannonade of the enemy, he was 
 actually guilty of capitulating, of allowing himself to be 
 disarmed, and of giving up the town in obedience to the 
 reiterated and almost simultaneous summonses to do so 
 from General Kolovrath on the left bank, and the Prince 
 of Lichtenstein on the right. This prompt defection 
 detracted from the brilliant results the Emperor expected 
 to achieve the next day, but for all that it only delayed for 
 forty-eight hours the defeat of the enemy, on whom we 
 were about to take a signal revenge. It was merely for the 
 sake of concentrating as large a force as possible upon the 
 point indicated by the Emperor, that the Marshal had left 
 so few men at Eatisbon. When, however, he turned his 
 back on that town and on the Austrian army, to place his 
 troops in line on the left of the other corps the Emperor 
 had ordered to advance, the enemy thought he was in 
 retreat, and were encouraged to attack with superior 
 forces the St. Hilaire and Friant divisions at the village 
 of Peissing. Two French regiments were hotly engaged 
 there, and the 52nd, bringing up the rear, had to repulse the 
 successive charges of six regiments, driving them back 
 one after another, and by this heroic resistance covering 
 the movements of the advance corps. A little later, at 
 about two o'clock, General Morand defeated an Austrian 
 division, driving it on to the corps under Marshal Lefebvre, 
 a whole regiment of the enemy's dragoons being cut down 
 by the Bavarian cavalry. ' In this struggle, known as the 
 
220 JIEMOIES OF BAROX LEJEUI^E 
 
 battle of Thann, the Austrian loss was very great. It 
 was after this affair that Davout's corps was able to take up 
 its position in line with the other corps of the army. 
 
 On the 20th the Emperor arrived at Vobourg, where 
 he learnt that the Archduke's forces, numbering 80,000 
 men, were advancing upon Abensberg to give him battle. 
 He mounted at once, and we accompanied him in the 
 reconnaissance he made of the line of his own oiitposts 
 and the position of the enemy. He returned to Vobourg 
 in the evening to issue his orders, after which he informed 
 his generals that the next day would be a second Jena. 
 
 On the 21st the Emperor went to the central division 
 of the army, to place himself at the head of the Wiirtem- 
 bergers and Bavarians. As soon as he arrived amongst 
 them, he told them that he had come to fight in their 
 midst, to prove to them how great was his confidence in 
 the courage and loyalty of his allies, and to remind them 
 of the many glorious actions in which their ancestors had 
 won renown in times past. 
 
 The Prince Boyal of Bavaria translated into German 
 one sentence after another as the Emperor spoke, and 
 officers repeated the translations throughout the ranks. 
 A general cheer was then given for the Emperor, making 
 him feel secure of victory. 
 
 The Bavarian General, Von Wrede, opened the 
 attack on the enemy's lines at Siegenburg. At about two 
 o'clock Marshal Davoiit on his side engaged the corps of 
 the Archduke, which was advancing towards Abensberg, 
 putting it to rout and compelling it to retreat towards 
 Ratisbon. Marshal Lannes then charged the Austrians, 
 vigorously driving them back as far as Bohr, and forcing 
 them to retire upon Eoffenberg. Thus pressed on every 
 side they withdrew towards Landshut pursued by the 
 
BATTLE OP ABENSBERG 221 
 
 Bavarian divisions under Lefebvre and by the Wlirtem- 
 bergers under the French General Vandamme. The 
 battle only lasted a few hours, and cost the Austrians 
 eight flags, tvv^elve pieces of cannon, and 18,000 men, who 
 were taken prisoners some by the Bavarians and others 
 by the Wiirtembergers, who all fought most valiantly. I 
 never saw our French soldiers so covered with blood or so 
 excited as these brave Germans were, but they had fewer 
 opportunities of distinguishing themselves than we had, 
 and eagerly availed themselves of this chance. 
 
 The result of the battle of Abensberg was to cut the 
 forces of the enemy in two ; one half under Prince Charles 
 on our left withdrew towards Eatisbon, whilst the other 
 on our right under General Hiller made for Landshut. 
 This first success was of vital importance, for through it 
 Prince Charles lost all the advantages he ought to have 
 gained in taking the initiative, scattering his forces to 
 points widely distant from each other, whilst at the same 
 time it concentrated those of the Emperor on an area a 
 few leagues in extent, and led up to the other victories 
 which were to follow it in rapid succession. 
 
 On the 21st the Emperor slept at Bohr in the lodgings 
 prepared for the Austrian Archdukes, and at seven o'clock 
 on the morning of the 22nd he started for Landshut. 
 Major-General Prince Berthier ordered me to go and urge 
 on Marshal Davout's and Marshal Lannes' pursuit of the 
 Archduke, who was on his way to Eatisbon, and to return 
 quickly to tell the Emperor what amount of resistance the 
 French were likely to meet with. I joined and marched 
 with our advance guard, following the rear guard of the 
 enemy as far as beyond Langwahl, where they made a 
 fairly long stand, and I was leaving Marshal Lannes 
 about two o'clock to go back to the Emperor, when I 
 
22:^ MEMOiKS or baeox lejeune 
 
 heard the noise of prolonged and continuous firing. 
 Eager to get to the scene of action, I left the deep lanes, 
 where I could not see more than a hundred yards on either 
 side of me, cut across the fields, and making straight for 
 the direction in which I heard the cannonade, I gained a 
 height from which I could see in the distance helow me 
 the course of the Isar, the town of Landshut, with the 
 French troops in pursuit of General Killer's corps retiring 
 on Landshut, where he defended the suburbs, attacked on 
 the right bank by the French cavalry under Marshal 
 Massena, and on the left by the forces under the Emperor. 
 The grand spectacle spread out beneath surprised and 
 delighted me, and I felt like a second Moses looking down 
 from Mount Sinai upon the Israelites in the plain. But 
 the scene before me was far more imposing even than 
 that which had met his eyes, for the infantry and cavalry 
 were moving, and the clouds of smoke were rising up in 
 one of the most beautiful and fertile valleys of Germany, 
 the whole lit up by the bright spring sunshine. I tried to 
 make out the exact position of the various corps which 
 were manoeuvring over meadow land nearly surrounded 
 like an arena by the hills, from the top of one of which I was 
 looking down. I recognised the cavalry of the advance 
 guard of Marshal Massena engaged with General Killer's 
 corps defending the town of Landshut, where he was 
 covering the retreat of the great convoys of artillery and 
 baggage endeavouring to escape by way of the Vienna road. 
 The ramparts bristled with the Austrian guns, the smoke 
 from which prevented my seeing the heads of the columns 
 of French troops with whom the enemy fought as they 
 debouched along the right bank of the Isar. 
 
 From the side where I was, that is to say on the left 
 bank, the suburb of Landshut was hemmed in by the 
 
-BATTLE OF LANDSHUT 223 
 
 Morand division, who were trying to get in before the 
 enemy had burnt the two bridges across the river, here 
 divided into two arms, flowing between the suburb and 
 the town. Attack and defence were ahke supplemented 
 by a brisk cannonade. 
 
 Behind our infantry Hues the cavahy, under Marshal 
 Bessieres, was grouped in divisions in two masses on the 
 vast grassy plain, in the centre of which I recognised the 
 group I sought, that surrounding the Emperor. Without 
 losing any more time I set off again to join him, and as I 
 cast the last look behind me I thought I could make out a 
 considerable body of troops, in white uniforms, advancing 
 along the Isar, and raising about them great clouds of 
 dust. From the colour of their uniforms I gathered that 
 they were enemies, and I guessed that they could not be 
 seen from the valley, so I made all the greater haste to 
 warn the Emperor, lest he should be taken by surprise. 
 When I was halfway down the hill I completely lost sight 
 of them myself, and I soon reached the Emperor quite out 
 of breath and with my horse covered with foam. When 
 I had given him an account of what I had seen, he asked 
 me several times if I did not think it must be the corps 
 under Prince Ferdinand, or that under the Archduke Maxi- 
 milian, on their way to surprise him. I knew no more 
 than he did, and dared not express an opinion one way or 
 the other. I only insisted on the necessity of immediate 
 precautions being taken. Without showing the slightest 
 emotion, he sent several of&cers to reconnoitre the enemy's 
 columns, and ordered his aide-de-camp, General Mouton, 
 to go and press on the attack on the suburb and bridge of 
 Landshut with several battalions, pointed out the positions 
 to be taken up on the hills of the amphitheatre above us 
 by the two divisions of infantry at hand, had batteries of 
 
224 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUXE 
 
 ■artillery stationed halfway up, hid reserves behind inequali- 
 ties of the ground, and, having turned every advantage to 
 the account of those who were to receive battle, and 
 arranged everything for the crushing of any enemy which 
 should dare to enter the arena, he put himself at the head 
 of General Dallemagne's cuirassiers, and started at a gallop 
 to meet the enemy and draw them into the ambush just 
 prepared for them. 
 
 In about a quarter of an hour- the Emperor caught sight 
 of the same clouds of dust and the same column as I had 
 seen from the hill, and pausing to look at them through 
 his field glass, he asked me the same questions as he had 
 done before. We were soon able to make out the officers 
 he had sent to reconnoitre galloping back, and they told 
 us that the troops in white, whose rapid march was raising 
 such volumes of dust, were several Bavarian and Wiirteni- 
 berg regiments which had surprised a great Austrian con- 
 voy of pontoons, ammunition, baggage, and provision 
 wagons, which had been retreating towards one of the 
 bridges on the Lower Isar, but whose drivers were now 
 being made to go at their topmost speed with blows from 
 the fiat of their escorts' swords, for fear of their being re- 
 taken by the enemy. The wagons were covered with 
 white canvas, which had led to my error when I saw 
 them in the distance. 
 
 The Emperor was very much put out with me for mis- 
 leading him as I had done, and said I might have led to 
 the failure of the attack on Landshut ; but we were all 
 glad to have furnished him with an occasion for giving as 
 such a masterly lesson in tactics. 
 
 We quickly returned to Landshut, where the enemy 
 was desperately defending the bridges, firing from the 
 windows of all the neighbouring houses, and I feared that 
 
THE FREXCH ENTER LAJSTBSHUT 225 
 
 I was about to witness a repetition of the bloody scenes of 
 Saragossa. I turned to account the experience I had won 
 in that terrible siege, and I was preparing to make our 
 troops defile behind some walls, to protect them from the 
 numerous projectiles, when General Mouton, impatient at 
 the prolonged resistance, led the grenadiers of the 17th 
 regiment through the flames consuming the first bridge, 
 and established them in the houses of that very block. 
 Our fusillade now became in its turn unbearable ' to the 
 Austrians, and without losing a moment our pioneers pressed 
 on with skill as great as their courage over the burning 
 beams of the second and more important bridge, and 
 reaching the entrance gate, broke it in with blows from 
 their hatchets. Following close behind them, our engineers 
 re-established the passage by extinguishing the flames and 
 flinging on the smouldering beams the doors and planks 
 torn from the houses of the village. The French carried 
 Landshut at the bayonet's point. It would be difficult to 
 describe the disorder into which we had thrown the Aus- 
 trians, who, as they fled along the Vienna road, fell beneath 
 our blows and the charges led by Marshal Massena. The 
 town was encumbered with carriages loaded with the sick 
 and wounded, provisions and baggage ; with ammunition 
 wagons, and with several pontoon trains, of all of which 
 we took possession, together with thirty pieces of cannon 
 and 9,000 prisoners. 
 
 After this great day (April 22) the Emperor slept at 
 Landshut, and during the night several of the Archduke 
 Charles's friends and aides-de-camp, not knowing that the 
 town was occupied by the French, entered it and fell into 
 our hands. 
 
 On Sunday, April 23, the corps under Marshal Massena 
 passed through Landshut before daybreak, on its way to 
 
 VOL. I. Q 
 
226 -AIEMOIES OF BABON LEJEUXE 
 
 join that of Marshal Davout, which was advancing on 
 our left in the direction of Eckmiihl, keeping on its right 
 the divisions under Marshal Lannes and General Oudinot, 
 with the confederates led by Marshal Lefebvre. At ten 
 o'clock in the morning the Emperor started for Eckmiihl. 
 He was as yet in ignorance of the fact that the enemy were 
 masters of Eatisbon, and he meant to drive Prince Charles 
 in that direction, thinking that he would find the town 
 closed against him. The Archduke was already quite cut 
 off from the corps of General Hiller, who, in consequence 
 of the defeats related, was retreating by the Vienna 
 road. 
 
 The army of Prince Charles was, however, still larger 
 than ours, for it numbered more than 100,000 men. 
 Moreover, he had at his command a few leagues beyond 
 the Danube the still unbroken force of the Count of Belle- 
 garde. 
 
 The enemy's troops, protected by the Danube, were 
 extended along a line perpendicular with that river, and 
 were stationed on heights approached by marshy slopes 
 which made our advance extremely difficult, whilst clumps 
 of woods dotted about on the hills prevented either side 
 from judging of the numbers of the enemy. This last 
 iact greatly influenced the events of the day. The enemy 
 saw but a very small portion of our army, but they were 
 greatly discouraged by our previous successes, and sup- 
 posed that there were ten times as many of us as there 
 really were behind the woods, so they never dared call out 
 their reserves, but kept them back for a moment of yet 
 more urgent need. We, on the contrary, though a little 
 anxious about the attack we were threatened with on our 
 left, which was anything but strong, were emboldened by 
 three days of victory, and seeing but a small party of the 
 
A FIERCE STRUGGLE 227 
 
 enemy before us we threw prudence to the winds, and 
 full of confidence in the skill of our great leader, we 
 showed a bold front everywhere, and that carried us 
 through. 
 
 The Emperor arrived at the head of the Lannes and 
 Massena corps, the Wiirtembergers, and two divisions of 
 cuirassiers, and about two o'clock he was on the heights 
 above Eckmuhl. He had no sooner got there than he 
 saw Marshal Davout's corps approaching, and learnt that 
 when that general had reached the woods at eleven 
 o'clock, he had met the enemy and at once opened fire ; 
 Davout had already gained some ground, and his cavalry, 
 led by General Montbrun, had several times successfully 
 charged that of the Austrians before Dunzling, when he 
 made out the whole position of the enemy's army, their 
 white lines stretching in zigzag fashion for a distance of 
 two or three leagues between the numerous clumps of 
 verdure crowning the heights. The formidable artillery 
 with which the Austrians were provided replied to our 
 cannonade, and raised long clouds of smoke above the 
 marshes and meadows, which were ploughed up by the 
 balls. 
 
 Thus far Marshals Davout and Lefebvre, fearing that 
 they would not be supported in time, had hesitated to 
 cross the streams and marshes still separating them from 
 the principal line of the enemy, but when they saw in the 
 distance the smoke of the cannonade from the Saint-Hilaire 
 division rising from the heights of Lindach, which told 
 them of the approach of the corps led by the Emperor, 
 they urged their troops forward, and the struggle at once 
 everywhere became very fierce. 
 
 Meanwhile Marshal Lannes' division on our right had 
 crossed the Laber stream, to take the village of Eoking, 
 
 a2 
 
'i28 MEMOIRS OF BAEOX LEJEUXE 
 
 which was hotly defended by the Eosemberg Corps, and 
 cHmbed the heights, driving the enemy before them on to 
 the Batisbon road. 
 
 The Wiirtembergers, directed by the Emperor, tried to 
 penetrate into Eckmiihl, from which they were vigorously 
 repulsed but without being discouraged ; the French 
 officers leading them three times resumed the offensive, 
 and making fresh efforts they at last took the bridge, 
 village, and castle of Eckmiihl, the windows of which 
 were crowded with troops. 
 
 The enemy, beaten in these two villages, now retired 
 by way of the Leuchling heights on the two villages of 
 . Upper and Lower Leuchling. Then crossing the valley 
 they debouched rapidly under the fire of Marshal Davout, 
 and climbed towards him in close column, but the Marshal 
 swept down from, the wooded heights where he had taken 
 up his position, joined hands with General Eriant's 
 division, himself led it to the charge, and drove the 
 Austrians before him ; after which the Marshal rallied his 
 attacking columns, and climbed to the assault of the 
 village of Upper Leuchling. There a fierce struggle took 
 place. The Saint-Hilaire division attacked the wood 
 covering the village, and met with a stubborn resistance. 
 
 On the right the Nansouty division of cuirassiers, with 
 whom I was at the time, protected the Saint-Hilaire 
 attack. This division crossed the meadow at a gallop, 
 the horses often sinking in the mud up to the chest, and 
 falling in the deep ruts which hundreds of balls were 
 tearing out beneath our feet, covering us with splashes of 
 black peat and mud ; but though these impediments led to 
 our arriving in great disorder on the firm ground occupied 
 by the enemy, whose squadrons charged us fiercely to 
 prevent our reforming, our action supported that of General 
 
THE TAKING OF PiCKMUHL AND LEUCHLING 229 
 
 Saint-Hilaire, whose division had great ditiiculty in taking 
 the village. This charge of our 4,000j cuirassiers was 
 so brilliant and successful that we heard the French 
 infantry on our right shouting enthusiastically, 'Bravo, 
 bravo ! Vivent les cuirassiers ! ' 
 
 At the same moment General Friant, on the left of 
 General Saint-Hilaire, pressed on the attack on Upper 
 Leuchling, the two generals succeeding in simultaneously 
 entering the village, every street and garden of which was 
 strewn with the dead. 
 
 The Austrians, driven from all the positions they had 
 taken up, were now exposed to a cross fire from the corps 
 under Marshals Lannes, Lefebvre, and Davout. 
 
 At about half -past four. Prince Eosemberg was almost 
 surrounded in the two villages of Upper and Lower Leuch- 
 ling, but he set his troops an example of extraordinary 
 valour and devotion, defending his position for nearly an 
 hour, and repulsing with the bayonet several charges and 
 assaults. Nearly all his Hungarians fell in this action, 
 and at last the position was given up to us, the enemy 
 retiring in disorder. The taking of the villages of 
 Eckmlihl and Leuchling was the most glorious of the 
 day's achievements by our brave regiments. The 10th, 
 19th, 59th, and 72nd Regiments held the most advanced 
 positions throughout the day. These regiments seemed 
 to be inspired with a bold spirit of emulation, vying 
 vsdth each other in their intrepidity ; and in the despatches 
 the praise they so well deserved was liberally accorded to 
 them. 
 
 After the charge of the Nansouty cuirassiers, I was on 
 my way back to the Emperor, who was directing the whole 
 of the battle from a height above^Eckmlihl, when I met a 
 gentleman on foot wearing a simple blue frock-coat and a 
 
230 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUXE 
 
 military cap, with nothing about him to indicate his rank. 
 He asked me if I could tell him where the Emperor was, 
 and as I was pointing to the spot where I hoped to find 
 him, one of the many bullets aimed in our direction pierced 
 his breast. Indifferent to a fate which we each of us 
 expected at any moment, I did not trouble to find out who 
 he was, but went on to join the Emperor. When I reached 
 him, he asked me if I had met General Cervoni. I replied, 
 ' I do not know him.' The Eraperor then added, ' I have 
 sent for him, and he left Marshal Lannes to join me. I 
 can't think where he is.' ' Sire,' I answered, ' a gentleman 
 asked me a minute or two ago where you were.' ' That 
 must be he,' said the Emperor. ' Go quickly and bring 
 him here. I am anxious to speak to him.' ' But, sire, the 
 gentleman was killed as he was speaking to me. That 
 corpse stretched on the ground about a hundred paces off 
 has a blue coat on.' The Emperor sent at once to ascertain 
 if it were indeed General Cervoni, and it turned out that 
 it was that unfortunate of&cer. He had for two years 
 commanded the Marseilles division, and had just arrived 
 post haste to take up a command under Marshal Lannes, 
 for which he had long been asking. The Emperor ex- 
 pressed the most lively regret at the loss of this meritorious 
 gentleman, whom he pitied deeply for being killed just as 
 he left his carriage, and without having had any share in 
 the victory. 
 
 The army of the enemy retired in disorder on Eatisbon, 
 availing themselves, however, of every clearing in the 
 woods to reform their ranks and harass our march. At 
 every step our light cavalry had to charge, whilst that of the 
 Austrians also attacked us with considerable courage, though 
 almost always without success. In one of the cavalry 
 melees the Archduke Charles, who had placed himself at 
 
RETREAT OF THE AUSTRIAN ARM if 231 
 
 the head of the Austrians to encourage them, was sur- 
 rounded and all but taken prisoner. 
 
 Our masses of cavalry, flanked on the right and left by 
 the infantry marching through the thick woods, advanced 
 by the main road, and it was nearly eight o'clock in the 
 evening when they came upon a formidable body of cavalry 
 and infantry drawn up in line before Egolfsheim to bar our 
 passage. The only light was that of the moon, which was 
 reflected from the sabres, helmets, and breastplates of the 
 imposing arrays of the thousands of horsemen who were 
 about to cross swords. The Austrian cuirassiers attacked 
 our Nansouty and Saint- Sulpice Corps with the fury of 
 despair, and a terrible m^lee ensued, in which the artillery 
 did not dare to fire for fear of shooting down their own 
 comrades. A few gunners cut down at their posts gave 
 the alarm to the whole of the artillery of the enemy, who 
 fled pell-mell with the routed Austrian cuirassiers, who, 
 wearing no armour but their breastplates, lost many men, 
 as soon as they turned their backs on us, our cuirassiers 
 thrusting them through and through. The Austrian infantry, 
 hoping to check the united torrent of fugitives and their 
 pursuers, quickly formed in several squares, but were 
 overturned without daring to use their weapons, as they 
 could not distinguish in the gloom between friends and 
 foes, so that thus defeated the squares were taken prisoners 
 en masse. The rest of the Austrian army, with their corps 
 broken up and hopelessly mixed together, passed the night 
 in retreating in the greatest disorder towards Eatisbon. 
 If Colonel Coutard, who had been left to defend that town, 
 had had the sense to burn the bridges before capitulating. 
 Prince Charles's army, deprived of those bridges and of an 
 easy way of retreat to Bohemia, would have fallen entirely 
 
232 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUXE 
 
 into our power, whereas as it was a large part of it managed 
 to escape. 
 
 The Emperor ordered our cavalry to pursue the enemy 
 at the sword's point, but the darkness increased and the 
 march became more and more arduous. Presently, there- 
 fore, remembering moreover that his troops must be ex- 
 hausted with fatigue, many divisions having marched 
 twelve leagues that day before they began to fight, and 
 being anxious to reserve their strength for the next day, 
 he ordered the pursuit to cease and the army to bivouac 
 beyond the village of Koffering, which had been taken 
 and occupied at nine o'clock in the evening. 
 
 The Emperor took up his head quarters at Egolfsheim, 
 where he hoped to get a little rest, but he had hardly 
 had time to spread out his maps, and Major-General Prince 
 Berthier had scarcely opened his portfolios to issue his 
 orders for the next day, when the village was found to be 
 on fire from some of the shells thrown into it in the evening. 
 It would have been difficult to extinguish the flames, so 
 it was left to burn, and the fire served to warm us. We 
 passed the night in the gardens of the village beneath the 
 stars ; but our sleep, which we found all too short, was 
 several times interrupted by our duties as aides-de-camp. 
 "When daylight returned we found we had about 20,000 
 prisoners, including the wounded who had been aban- 
 doned, and that we had taken fifteen f5ags, a good deal 
 of artillery, and a great many first-rate horses. Our soldiers 
 sold the best of these horses at four or five louis d'or each. 
 I bought three, but an hour afterwards some horse fanciers 
 relieved me of my purchases without my knowledge, with 
 the result that my part of the booty of the day of Eckmiihl 
 was the loss of fifteen louis d'or and the gain of many a 
 pleasant memory. 
 
TPIE EMPEROE MARCHES ON RATISBON 233 
 
 At daybreak on the 24th, Marshal Massena received 
 orders from the Emperor to make for Straubing, and there 
 cross the Danube so as to harass the retreat of the 
 Austrians through Bohemia, whilst Napoleon himself, 
 ■with his cavalry and the corps of Marshal Lannes and 
 Davout, marched on Ratisbon. 
 
 It v^ras nine o'clock when our advance guard met that 
 of the Austrians in the plains about the town. The 
 numerous cavalry of the enemy awaiting us in order of 
 battle presented a most imposing appearance. Our regi- 
 ments of carabineers (the elite of the French cavalry, not 
 only on account of their height, but of their chivalrous 
 bearing) had had no chance of crossing swords during the 
 previous days, and their leaders, anxious to show off their 
 skill, begged for them to have the honour of taking their 
 share in the fighting. This request was granted, although 
 they belonged to the reserve. The carabineers, wearing 
 broad felt hats and uniforms turned back with red, were 
 drawn up in columns of squadrons, and when the trumpets 
 sounded the signal they dashed forward at a gallop ; 
 the earth shook beneath the onrush of 2,000 horses, 
 and- the gaze of all was riveted upon the intensely 
 interesting evolution, whilst every heart beat high with 
 expectation. The Austrians received the shock with great 
 courage, but they could not stand against it ; they were 
 overturned, swept away as by a thunderstorm, and this 
 charge of our carabineers outside Eatisbon will ever be 
 engraved alike on our memories and in the annals of our 
 wars as one of the most brilliant feats of arms of the age. 
 
 Two other charges from our cuirassiers completed the 
 defeat of the Austrian cavalry, who fled pell-mell like a 
 flock of sheep, not all of them succeeding in entering the 
 town. If our infantry had only had time to follow these 
 
2M MEMOIIJS OF B-^EOX LEJEUNE 
 
 rapid movements, they would have got in vi^ith the enemy's 
 cavalry, and as it was there was only just time for the 
 Austrians to barricade the gates before our artillery came 
 up and began bombarding them, whilst the enemy crowned 
 the top of all the crenelated walls with infantry, and placed 
 cannon in all the embrasures. 
 
 After all our efforts and our pursuit of the routed 
 cavalry, we discovered that during the night the enemy 
 had constructed a bridge of boats above the town. 
 Marshal Lannes sent some infantry and artillery to attack 
 this bridge, and the fugitives were thrown into great dis- 
 order. Our fire shattered and sank several boats, the 
 bridge was broken, and retreat in that direction became 
 impossible ; all who were not able to get back into the 
 town were taken, in spite of their being protected by a 
 considerable number of guns, which fired on us from the 
 heights of the left bank of the river. 
 
 Our efforts were now concentrated on the gates Of the 
 town, which we tried to enter. Our infantry, dotted about 
 in the gardens at half range from the ramparts, riddled 
 the artillerymen at their embrasures with bullets, and 
 protected the troops who were bringing ladders from- the 
 neighbouring village, with which to climb to the assault 
 as soon as a practicable breach had been made. Whilst 
 this was going on the Emperor, who was on horseback 
 near the town, was struck on the heel by a ball. Either the 
 pain was not very great or he managed to hide it, for he 
 merely sent for his surgeon Yvan, not even letting us take 
 him out of range of the falling balls. He sat down on a 
 drum, and Yvan dressed the wound, which was really a mere 
 contusion. The Emperor then remounted his horse, and it 
 was not until some hours afterwards that the army knew of 
 
OUR ATTACK ON RATISBON 235 
 
 the danger their chief had been in. When the troops did 
 hear of it they hastened up from every direction and sur- 
 rounded the Emperor, who to reassure them galloped 
 through their ranks in the midst of enthusiastic cheering 
 and touching expressions of devotion. 
 
 The day, a most laborious one, passed without our 
 having succeeded in effecting a practicable breach, and we 
 were beginning to be afraid we should have to go through 
 a regular siege. During the confusion several quarters of 
 the town had been set on fire, and many of the buildings 
 of the luckless city were wrapped in dense clouds of smoke. 
 As night approached these clouds became dashed with 
 crimson, and the whole place was illuminated by the lurid 
 glow of the flames. The atmosphere was perfectly calm, 
 and there was no wind to disperse the smoke, which rose 
 in majestic-looking columns to the sky. 
 
 I can still see in imagination the crests of the partly 
 destroyed walls, dashed with a thousand varying tints, and 
 crowned with eager, desperate defenders, standing out 
 against the sombre glow of the conflagrations, whilst above 
 the heads of the besieged rose masses of black smoke 
 assuming many a different form, tongues of flame and 
 columns of steam, as yellow as sulphur, shooting up here 
 and there. At a considerable height above it all floated 
 light vaporous, ever shifting clouds, lit up by the silvery 
 beams of the moon. 
 
 The ancient walls of Eatisbon had not been built to 
 resist artillery, and after our twelve-pounders had been 
 firing on one spot for some few hours, we at last saw the 
 fall of a house adjoining the enceinte, succeeded very soon 
 by that of a large piece of the wall itself, making a wide 
 opening. The chief difficulty now was to get to the base 
 of the wall, for to do so we had to cross, without any cover. 
 
236 MEMOIRS OF BAEOX LE.TEUNE 
 
 the wide promenades or boulevards surrounding the town. 
 These boulevards were lit up as brightly as by day by the 
 light of the moon and the conflagration, and moreover 
 the enemy swept them v^ath grape shot. Our infantry 
 had been stationed under the shelter of a few houses, and 
 when they had to cross the open to march to the assault 
 the first ranks fell, and there was some little hesitation 
 amongst the others. A second attempt was not more 
 successful. Their chief, the impetuous Marshal Lannes, 
 impatient at the delay, now exclaimed, ' I am going to 
 show you that I am still a grenadier ! ' and flinging himself 
 to the head of the column he crossed the esplanade, 
 followed by the assailants carrying ladders. 
 
 Captain Beaulieu, of the engineers, who had previously 
 reconnoitred the way and the state of the breach, led the 
 Marshal and his aides-de-camp to the right spot, and they 
 were the first to arrive at the edge of the ditch, the 
 counterscarp of which had fortunately not been put into 
 a good state of defence. A few soldiers were able to 
 climb the wall and jump into the fosse, others went down 
 on ladders. Beaulieu and Labedoyere, leading the way, 
 climbed up by the most practicable portions of the breach, 
 repulsing a few Hungarian grenadiers who made an attempt 
 to defend it. In a few seconds all the ladders were placed 
 in position without disorder, the soldiers following their 
 brave officers, and the column scaled the ramparts and 
 got down into the town in the midst of a hot fusillade. 
 As they advanced towards the Straubing gate our grena- 
 diers came upon a body of terrified Austrians crouching 
 against a wall, who laid down their arms. The Marshal's 
 orders were to march direct upon the bridge, to cut off all 
 possibility of retreat ; but our men did not know the way, 
 and had got wrong, when they met a French vivandUre of 
 
KATISBON ON EIEE 237 
 
 the 65th Eegiment, who had stopped in the town, and 
 who, dehghted to see her fellow-countrymen again, offered 
 to lead them right, and took them towards the bridge 
 through the thick of the firing. The streets and squares 
 were encumbered with carriages and all manner of property 
 which the inhabitants had been trying to save in the 
 terrible conflagration. Our troops were, however, advancing 
 rapidly through the burning streets, when they came 
 to a dozen wagons and some carriages loaded with 
 barrels. They were about to pass them, when an 
 Austrian of&cer ran up to them and shouted in a distracted 
 kind of way, ' Don't go on ! they are full of powder ! ' 
 Every one shuddered, and, no longer thinking of fighting, 
 our men joined the Austrians in a helter-skelter attempt 
 to remove as far as they could the thousands of pounds 
 of powder which were likely soon to blow the whole 
 town to pieces. Our haste did indeed save us from that 
 disaster, but when we at last got to the bridge the 
 gates were already barricaded and defended by the whole 
 Austrian artillery, massed upon the other bank and pouring 
 a terrible fire upon the town. 
 
 Marshal Lannes, compelled to abandon the idea of 
 taking the bridge, now contented himself with making 
 the five or six thousand Austrians scattered about the 
 town lay down their arms and ordering them to aid our 
 troops in putting out the fire. A few minutes later a big 
 suburb on the left bank of the river burst into flames. 
 Very soon there remained not a single house, and it was 
 by the melancholy light of the flames that we made our 
 way to the Imperial head quarters in the Carthusian 
 Abbey near the gates of Eatisbon, where we were able to 
 take a little rest. Thus about midnight ended the fourth 
 day of the new war, the sixth since the arrival of the 
 
238 MEMOIRS OF BAEON LEJEUNE 
 
 Emperor. Even ancient history contains no record of so 
 remarkable a series of events in so short a space of time. 
 Four victories achieved in four days ! A splendid opening 
 of the campaign of 1809, the most brilliant of all the 
 campaigns of the Empire ! 
 
 On the morning of the next day — the 25th — we vpent 
 over the unfortunate city, a great portion of vs^hich was 
 still on fire. What had once been an extensive suburb 
 on the left bank was now one huge furnace. The streets 
 of the town were strewn with the Austrian dead and 
 wounded, some of the bodies partly consumed by the flames. 
 Our hearts were torn at the sight of the inhabitants 
 wandering about amongst the smouldering ruins, and the 
 Emperor was so much touched by all the terrible misery 
 that he promised the poor creatures that he would have 
 the homes they had lost rebuilt at his own cost. 
 
 The rest of the day was spent by Napoleon in having 
 the wounded seen to and in reviewing his troops. 
 
 I was present at this review (at which I received a 
 money grant — I had been made colonel of engineers 
 two months before) , and I was near the Emperor when 
 he was nominating those who were to fill up the vacant 
 sub-lieutenancies in the 52nd Eegiment. He had asked 
 the colonel to order out from the ranks the most deserving 
 of the non-commissioned officers ; and as the Emperor 
 passed before them the brave fellows proudly presented 
 arms, answering his questions and receiving with delight 
 the Imperial baptism, ' I make you an officer.' When 
 he had reached the seventh or eighth sergeant the 
 Emperor noticed a handsome young fellow with fine but 
 stern-looking eyes, and of resolute and martial bearing, 
 who made his musket ring again as he presented arms. 
 ' How many wounds ? ' inquired the Emperor. ' Thirty,' 
 
EETEEAT OF ARCHDUKE CHARLES 239 
 
 replied the sergeant. 'I am not asking you your age,' 
 said the Emperor graciously ; ' I am asking how many 
 wounds you have received.' Eaising his voice, the 
 sergeant again replied with the one word, ' Thirty.' 
 Annoyed at this reply, the Emperor turned to the colonel 
 and said, ' The man does not understand ; he thinks I am 
 asking about his age.' 'He understands well enough, 
 sire,' was the reply ; ' he has been wounded thirty times.' 
 ' "What ! ' exclaimed the Emperor, ' you have been 
 wounded so often and have not got the cross ! ' The 
 sergeant looked down at his chest, and, seeing that the 
 strap of his cartridge pouch hid his decoration, he raised 
 it so as to show his cross. He said to the Emperor, with 
 great earnestness, ' Yes, I've got one, but I've merited a 
 dozen ! ' The Emperor, who was always pleased to meet 
 spirited fellows such as this, pronounced the sacramental 
 words, ' I make you an officer ! ' ' That's right, Emperor,' 
 said the new sub-lieutenant, as he proudly drew himself 
 up ; ' you couldn't have done better ! ' 
 
 Meanwhile Archduke Charles had begun his retreat 
 on Vienna by way of the wretched Bohemian roads, has- 
 tening his movements the more because he had heard of 
 the forced marches of our troops on the same town, where 
 we were likely to arrive before he could, as we were going 
 thither by a more direct route and also by less steep and 
 better roads. 
 
 The Massena Corps was advancing between those 
 under Lannes and Davout, so that it protected both. 
 Massena had had orders to march on Ebersberg, and the 
 Imperial Staff followed that movement. Having been 
 sent with an order, I was on my way back to head quarters, 
 when I came upon Marshal Massena just as he was leading 
 the Claparede division against several battalions of the 
 
240 :memoirs of baron lejeune 
 
 enemy's rear guard, posted in a hamlet on a branch road, 
 and it was in the midst of a shower of bullets that I gave 
 an accovmt of my mission to the Prince, watching mean- 
 while the conflict I am about to describe. 
 
 The first brigade of the Claparede division was com- 
 manded by General Cohorn, who met the Austrians on 
 the branch road mentioned above. A few battalions only 
 had been stationed there to protect from a distance the 
 approaches to the bridge of Ebersberg. They were easily 
 repulsed and pursued as far as the narrow road which leads 
 down to the bridge. This road, raised from about twelve 
 to fifteen feet above the sandy meadows, often apparently 
 flooded by the Traim, and with clumps of wood here and 
 there, was rather more than half a mile long. The river, 
 which was deep and rapid, here divided near the town 
 into several arms, each spanned by a wooden bridge. The 
 largest of the bridges, which was more than 1,200 feet 
 long, abutted on to the gates of the town, and the Emperor 
 had given orders that every effort should be made to pre- 
 vent the enemy from destroying this bridge, which was so 
 necessary to our advance. The Austrians had already 
 piled up faggots and smeared the bridge with tar ready for 
 setting it on fire, when Cohorn's troops dashed down the 
 roadway pell-mell with the fugitives they were pursuing. 
 
 Hitherto our troops had been deploying in woods, 
 where they could not see more than a hundred yards 
 before them, but when they debouched from the forest the 
 sight which met their eyes may well have surprised them. 
 Beyond the long causeway on the other side of the bridge 
 spanning the river and leading to the very walls of the 
 town, the houses rose as in an amphitheatre, every 
 window crowded with troops, whilst the terraces of the 
 castle bristled with artillery, and every Jieight over- 
 
THE FRENCH TAKE EBEESBEEG 241 
 
 looking Ebersberg was covered with batteries of artillery, 
 and more than 30,000 men stood ready to fire down 
 tipon us if we got into the town. Under any other 
 circumstances it would have been wise to pause and at 
 least organise our attack on the formidable preparations 
 for defence, but our troops were already launched against 
 and mixed with the enemy. Their onslaught was tremen- 
 dously vigorous ; any manoeuvring to the right or to the 
 left was impossible, retreat would have been even more 
 perilous than advance, and Cohorn, recognising that his 
 only chance of success was in audacity, urged his men on, 
 encouraging them by himself marching at their head. As 
 soon as the enemy's gunners caught sight of us they con- 
 centrated all the fire of the artillery upon the roadway and 
 the bridge, the gates of which were immediately closed 
 even against fugitive battalions, who, finding them- 
 selves exposed to the fire of their own comrades, flung 
 themselves from the bridges and the roadway on to the 
 islets in the river, where they were compelled to lay 
 down their arms. All the killed or wounded on the bridge, 
 whether French or Austrians, were pitilessly flung into the 
 water, even carriages laden with the Austrian wounded 
 encumbering the way were flung over, and a dash was 
 made for the gates, which were barricaded from within the 
 town. They, however, very soon gave way beneath the 
 blows from the hatchets of our pioneers. 
 
 Cohorn' s intrepidity had saved the bridge, and it helped 
 us to secure the town also. After the terrible dangers 
 they had escaped his troops debouched into a square full 
 of infantry, and found themselves exposed to the fire from 
 them as well as from the windows of the houses and 
 castle above them. Cohorn's brigade suffered fearfully, 
 and defended themselves with their bayonets only, but 
 
 VOL. I. E 
 
242 MEMOIES OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 Claparede's second brigade came to their aid at double 
 quick pace, crossing the bridge in a continued hail of grape 
 shot. Many French generals were wounded, and had their 
 horses killed under them. 
 
 Our artillery, which promptly arrived on the left bank, 
 answered that of the Austrians, which was working such 
 havoc amongst our men that they would really have had 
 to give way and lose ground had not General Legrand's 
 division come to the rescue. It was on this occasion that 
 Legrand made his stern reply to General B. who came up 
 to make a suggestion to him as to whither he should lead 
 his column. ' Eh ! ' he said, 'get out of my way now ; 
 you can give me some advice later ; we are not here to 
 make phrases ! ' 
 
 When General Cohorn saw that he was supported, he 
 led his men rapidly up towards the castle, whilst the bat- 
 talions left behind drove in the doors of the houses and 
 killed all those who had been firing at them from the 
 windows. Claparede also pushed on for the castle, but he 
 and General Cohorn were both repulsed and compelled in 
 their turn to take refuge in the houses and fire at the 
 Austrians from the windows. General Hiller meanwhile 
 flung a number of shells into the town, and on every side 
 fire broke out in the houses, the wounded Austrians, with 
 which they were crowded, dragging themselves out into 
 the streets to escape the flames. 
 
 General Legrand, eager to put an end to the struggle, 
 in his turn led his men to the assault of the castle, whilst 
 Claparede attacked it on the flank. Our pioneers drove in 
 the gates, and opened a passage for us ; the Austrians 
 shut up in the castle tried to defend themselves, but 
 ended by laying down their arms, whilst others got out 
 through the gardens to the hill behind Ebersberg, where 
 
WE EVACUATE EBERSBERG 243 
 
 they were pursued, a bloody desperate conflict taking 
 place, in which first one and then the other side was 
 successful. 
 
 Whilst this was going on above the castle, shells were 
 poured by the Austrians into the little town of Ebersberg, 
 with a view to driving us out of it. On every side we 
 were surrounded by flames ; our position became no longer 
 tenable, and we were compelled to withdraw from it. 
 One regiment of cavalry which had got into the town, 
 but could penetrate no farther, had already had to retrace 
 its steps over the bridge to save the men and horses from 
 annihilation. We wanted to avoid going up by the long 
 arduous ascent to the castle, and the only other way out 
 was by the gate opening on to the Vienna road. At this 
 gate there were a number of vaulted arcades, beneath 
 which the road, only wide enough for a single carriage, 
 passed, debouching at the base of the steep heights 
 covered with gardens enclosed within hedges, behind 
 which the Austrians were in ambush, and thus protected 
 were able to fire at almost close quarters upon the heads 
 of the French columns as they issued at quick pace from 
 the narrow defile. A scene as terrible was enacted here as 
 that at the passage of the bridge. The street leading to 
 the gateway was of a good width, but the houses were on 
 fire, and burning brands fell upon the wounded Austrians, 
 who were trying to save themselves. Cohorn, however, 
 had no choice, and he ordered the head of his column to 
 keep together, fix bayonets, and charge for the gardens, 
 trampling down all the unfortunate wretches in the way. 
 Our brave fellows, shouting ' Forward ! forward ! ' vwth 
 one voice, flung themselves in good order and at quick pace 
 beyond the arcades, the first rank to issue receiving such 
 a volley of bullets that not a man remained standing. 
 
 E 2 
 
244 MEMOIRS OF BAEOX LEJEUNE 
 
 The second rank climbed over the bodies of their com- 
 rades, only to be in their turn thrown down. Imbued 
 with the same zeal, the same cry of ' Forward ! forward ! ' 
 continued to ring out, and twenty ranks went down in 
 succession, without checking the advance of those press- 
 ing on behind, with burning brands upon their backs, which 
 they were trying to shake off as they struggled over the 
 masses of the dead and dying, forming such a terrible 
 hindrance to their progress. Presently, however, the 
 Austrians no longer had time to reload either muskets or 
 cannon, the struggle was continued with the bayonet, and 
 General Killer's troops, no less courageous than their 
 assailants, did not yield their position until they found 
 themselves threatened in the rear by the cavalry of 
 General Durosnel and Marshal Bessieres, who had 
 crossed the Traun at Lambach and at Wels when they 
 decided to retreat. 
 
 The Claparede and Legrand divisions, vidth the whole 
 of Marshal Massena's corps, their artillery, ammunition 
 wagons, and the cavalry of the advance guard, now made 
 their way at a gallop through the same gate, crushing to 
 pulp and powder beneath their wheels and the feet of 
 their horses the bodies of from five to six hundred French 
 and Austrians, piled up in a space but a few feet wide, as 
 they pushed on to bivouac in the gardens on the hill of 
 Ebersberg. 
 
 As we, with the Emperor, followed the advance 
 guard, and our horses' feet sank in the mud made up of 
 the still warm flesh and blood of the dead, a feeling of 
 intense horror and disgust, of which I have never been able 
 fully to shake off the memory, came over us. The street 
 was strewn with terrible-looking corpses, half consumed by 
 fire, and even our glory in victory could scarcely enable us 
 
A WASTED STRUGGLE 245 
 
 to choke down our emotion at having bought that victory 
 so dear. Bearing in mind the narrow space in which the 
 struggle had taken place, it had been more bloody than any 
 of our wars, though we had seen a good many more victims 
 reduced to a similar condition in the bogs of Pultusk and 
 Golymin. 
 
 In the order sent to Marshal Massena on May 1, the 
 Emperor had foreseen the resistance we should meet with 
 here, for he had said, ' The enemy will take up an 
 advantageous position at Ebersberg, but will be driven 
 from it by the corps which will cross the Traun at 
 Lamsbach.' The advanced guard of this corps was con- 
 fided to General Durosnel, whose march had been re- 
 tarded by the many streams and ravines he had had to 
 cross, for he had made his way straight across country 
 in the direction from which he heard the firing, having 
 failed to find the roads on the right bank of the Traun. 
 If he could only have arrived two hours earlier, he would 
 have saved the lives of many brave grenadiers.' 
 
 The Emperor was much moved by all the suffering he 
 had witnessed, and it was with a heavy heart that he 
 passed the night in the gardens of Ebersberg surrounded 
 by his soldiers, like some father who finds the best conso- 
 lation for his sorrows in the bosom of his family ; and our 
 brave fellows were in their turn comforted for the loss of 
 their comrades by the presence in their midst of their 
 Emperor, sharing their couch of straw, their fatigues, and 
 their privations. 
 
 The pretty little town of Ebersberg was still burning at 
 
 ' As a matter of fact, the struggle at Ebersberg, with all its terrible 
 bloodshed, was wasted, for Lannes, having already crossed the Traun higher 
 up, was about to attack the Austrians in the rear, and they would soon have 
 been between two fires. — Teans. 
 
246 MEMOIRS OP BARON LEJEUXE 
 
 the foot of the mountain, and the Austrian prisoners were 
 employed to put out the flames. The night was calm and 
 fine, the moon lighting up the gardens. Our troops gathered 
 in groups to chat together round some thousands of bivouac 
 fires at very short distances from each other, the wood of 
 the hedges and the trees, the bright-looking summer houses, 
 arbours, and refreshment rooms — everything combustible, 
 in fact — serving for fuel, and by their merry crackling 
 making us forget, as we warmed ourselves at them, the 
 absence of the supper which would soon have made us go 
 to sleep if we had had it. I don't suppose any nocturnal 
 fete was ever more brilliantly illuminated, or that there 
 was ever more eager talking at any bivouac, for each one 
 was congratulating himself on his escape in one or another 
 episode of the awful struggle of the day. The names of 
 Cohorn, Massena, and Legrand were the most often quoted 
 with admiration. Then each survivor spoke of the com- 
 rades killed here or there at his side ; regretted the loss 
 of a coat-sleeve or cloak which had been burnt, a shako 
 which had been lost, or told of the explosion of his 
 cartridge box as he made his way through the flames of 
 Ebersberg, and the words, ' Did you see this ? Did you see 
 that ? ' were passed from mouth to mouth, followed by an 
 account of the episode referred to. 
 
 The Emperor, feeling the need of doing something to 
 assuage his compunction at the thought of all the blood 
 he had seen flowing in the horrible butchery, gave up 
 several hours to the good work of consolation, and sum- 
 moned to his aid the Comte Daru and M. Maret, Duke of 
 Bassano, who had been with him as his secretaries since 
 the commencement of the campaign. Seated on piles of 
 fagots brought for the fires, and by the light of candles 
 
A FORTUNATE MISTAKE FOR ME 247 
 
 set upon drums, the Emperor and these gentlemen worked 
 for some hours in this rural council chamber, the secre- 
 taries holding their paper on their knees, preparing decree 
 after decree for the Emperor's signature, ordering the 
 construction of roads, the excavation of canals, the founda- 
 tion of hospitals, &c., rewards to be given for great services, 
 and so on. It was eleven o'clock when the Emperor, 
 having given his instructions for the next day to 
 Prince Berthier, ordered the Count and the Duke to 
 open their portfolios, and at two o'clock they were still 
 at work. 
 
 Owing to my absence at Salzburg, M. Maret had not 
 seen me for some time, and when he was asked for a 
 pension for the widow of Colonel Lejeune, who had been 
 killed, it was said, a few days before, he thought I had 
 fallen, and showed, considerable interest in the matter 
 when, at the bivouac I am describing, he presented the 
 order for this pension to Napoleon for signature. The 
 Emperor seemed surprised and grieved at the news, ex- 
 pressed a regret which did him honour, and added to his 
 signature these generous words, ' I double the pension.' 
 The double pension thus ordered was duly paid to Mme. 
 Lejeune, and she enjoyed it from that time until two 
 years ago ! A few days after the incident just related 
 occurred, the Emperor, having issued some orders which 
 it would be difficult to execute, said to Prince Berthier, 
 ' Send a colonel of engineers ; ' and the Prince replied, ' I 
 will send Lejeune.' ' Oh, no, you won't,' exclaimed the 
 Emperor ; ' he is dead — so dead, in fact, that I ordered a 
 double pension for his widow three days ago.' ' But, sire, 
 I have just been speaking to him.' ' Well, I never ! send 
 him to me.' So they fetched me, and directly I appeared 
 
24:8 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUXE 
 
 the Emperor began to laugh, and said, ' Well, I see I 
 was wrong ; I thought it was he ! ' Then resuming his 
 grave manner he gave me his orders without further ex- 
 planation. A little later Prince Berthier and the Duke 
 of Bassano told me all about this fortunate mistake, and 
 I was able to thank the Emperor myself for his generosity. 
 
249 
 
 CHAPTEE IX 
 
 THE TAKING- OF VIENNA — BSSLING 
 
 Those to whom was assigned the melancholy task of 
 clearing Ebersberg of the hmnan remains encumbering 
 its streets, and opening a passage for the rest of the army, 
 had not time to dig a grave anything like large enough to 
 hold the many officers and men forming the elite of our 
 troops who had fallen in the struggle. More than two- 
 thirds of the bodies were therefore with infinite regret 
 flung into the river and carried down by the rapid waters 
 of the Traun to the Danube, where they were rolled over 
 and over in the many windings of that great river till they 
 found a final resting-place in the depths of the Black Sea. 
 No prayers could be offered up for their repose at their 
 sad funeral. History will — at least so I hope — preserve 
 ihe memory of all that we owe to those who won the 
 admiration of the whole army at a period rich in brilliant 
 feats of arms, and point out as a useful lesson for the 
 future the fact that all this blood would not have been shed 
 if the division which the Emperor had ordered to advance 
 by way of Steyr to attack General Hiller's forces in the 
 rear, and compel him to retire from Ebersberg without 
 fighting, had come in sight of his army in time to cause 
 him uneasiness, or if the news of the powerful diversion 
 
250 3IEM0IRS OF BARON LEJEUXE 
 
 about to be effected in his favour could have reached 
 Massena at the right moment.' 
 
 The right wing of the invading army was covered by 
 the Itahan contingent under Prince Eugene, who had 
 against him the Austrian forces commanded by the Arch- 
 duke John, whom he had beaten at Piava and Sacile. 
 
 Our forces were divided from that army by the moun- 
 tains of the Tyrol, into which the Austrian Marquis von 
 Chatter and the Count von Giulay had penetrated with 
 their corps, each with a view to encouraging the revolt of 
 the Tyrolese, and placing them once more under the 
 domination of Austria. 
 
 Marshal Lefebvre with the French and two Bavarian 
 divisions fortified Salzburg, and marched upon Innsbruck, 
 the capital of the Tyrol. Our flanks on either side were 
 therefore well covered. At Augsburg in our rear the 
 Emperor had formed an army of all the troops which had 
 not been able to arrive in Bohemia in time for the open- 
 ing of the campaign. It was, therefore, with a sense of 
 being secured on every side that we were about to begin 
 our march on Vienna. We expected to give battle on 
 a grand scale on the heights of Molck or St. Polten, 
 where we supposed the enemy to be awaiting us in the 
 best possible positions for the defence of Austria. 
 
 All the Emperor's dispositions were made with that 
 expectation, which, however, was not realised. The 
 Archduke Charles did not try to recross the Danube to 
 take up a position behind the Enns by way of the bridge 
 of Mautern, of which he was still master ; and General 
 Hiller, who with 40,000 men in the advantageous position 
 of Ebersberg had failed to defeat us, dared not await us 
 
 ' Massena is said by some historians to have known of the ' diversion 
 in his favour,' and to have attacked Ebersberg without orders.— Teans. 
 
I AM WOUNDED BY MY OWN MEN 251 
 
 alone on level ground, on plains where he would need to 
 deploy far larger forces than he now had. Our troops, 
 irritated at all the losses they had sustained, set out on 
 the pursuit of General Hiller with feelings of irritation 
 and indignation, which made things very unpleasant for 
 the inhabitants of the Austrian province we were entering. 
 The good Germans, whom we all liked on account of their 
 hospitable ways, had been kindly treated during our first 
 invasion, but they were not so fortunate this time, so they 
 all fled before us, and we often had a good deal of trouble 
 to prevent our men from being too exacting and re- 
 venging themselves on those compelled to entertain us. 
 When we entered Enns, I was wounded by some of our 
 own people in one of the scuffles which so often occur in 
 which an officer feels obliged to interfere to prevent wrong- 
 doing. Only ten days before the people of Enns had been 
 talking of soon devastating France ! and to-day their 
 protectors had fled, and they themselves were experiencing 
 all the horrors of war. One of the sad vicissitudes of fate 
 which overtake monarchs and victors in the midst of 
 their most brilliant successes was recalled to our minds a 
 few days later, when about thirty leagues from Enns we 
 came in sight of the towers of the castle of Dirnstein, 
 rising from the summit of a huge rock, as if to defy 
 from afar any approaching assailants, however victorious 
 hitherto. On the day when we drew near Dirnstein, the 
 Emperor, noticing its towers rising up into the sky a few 
 miles off on our left, pointed them out to Prince Berthier 
 and Marshal Lannes, who were riding near him, with 
 the words, ' It was there , that Bichard of England was 
 treacherously seized on his way home from Palestine, 
 where he had vanquished the Saracens, and was shut up for 
 a year by order of the Emperor of Austria, who demanded 
 
252 MEMOIRS OF BAROX LEJEUNE 
 
 a great ransom. King Richard had been more fortunate 
 than any of us three at Saint Jean d'Acre, but not more 
 courageous, although he did receive the nickname of 
 Coeur de Lion, which I think I might also well bestow 
 on you two. With the confidence and loyalty of a noble 
 nature he was marching through a country at peace with 
 him when he was betrayed by an Austrian Archduke, and 
 sold to the Emperor Henry VI., who kept him captive. 
 How far removed are we now from those barbarous times ! 
 I have had princes, kings, and emperors who were my 
 enemies in my power, and far from tampering with their 
 liberty, 1 have not exacted from them a single sacrifice of 
 their honour. Will they do as much for me ? ' After 
 these words the Emperor remained silent, and as he rode 
 on, kept his eyes fixed on the ruins of the castle. Six 
 years later he was himself to be held captive on an arid 
 rock in mid ocean, far from France and from all who were 
 dear to him. 
 
 General Hiller had burnt the bridge over the Enns 
 when he retreated, and our troops were compelled to 
 spend the whole of the 4th in preparing for the passage 
 of the river. The artillery set to work to construct a 
 bridge on piles, and the engineers having succeeded in 
 seizing several boats on the Danube which had belonged 
 to the enemy, had them brought up to the Enns and 
 made a bridge of boats which was ready before that on 
 piles. Our army then rejoined us at Enns, Marshal 
 Lannes having reached that place by way of Steyr on the 
 right bank of the river. The Emperor waited at Enns 
 till the bridges were finished, and the next day. May 6, 
 I followed him to Amstetten, and on the 7th to St. 
 Polten. 
 
 Our columns had already crossed a portion of the 
 
THE FRENCH MARCH ON VIENNA 253 
 
 Danube, down which boats laden with provisions for us 
 were making their way, but at Mautern, opposite Krems, 
 the enemy still occupied both banks and a bridge across 
 the river. Marshal Lannes now received orders to go and 
 take that position and to seize the boats forming the 
 bridge, or if he could do no more at least to burn them. 
 I was at the same time sent off to expedite as much as 
 possible the landing of our provisions lest they should fall 
 into the hands of the enemy, and to get them conveyed to 
 us by other routes. This task was promptly executed, 
 and on the evening of the 8th I was able to enter Sigars 
 kirchen vsdth the Imperial staff, only some five leagues 
 from Vienna. 
 
 As ordered by the Emperor, the position at Mautern 
 was taken and the bridge burnt, but General Hiller had 
 been able to use it the evening before to cross to the left 
 bank. As the Archduke Charles would not now dream of 
 attacking us on the right bank, and as there were no more 
 obstacles for Marshal Lannes to overcome, he began his 
 march that very night so as to arrive at Vienna at day- 
 break. 
 
 The suburbs of Vienna are completely enclosed within 
 a huge entrenched camp, built in former days as a protec- 
 tion against the Turks and Hungarians. We expected to 
 meet with a hot resistance, and I was told off to lead one 
 of the assaults, but the fortifications were not defended at 
 all, and a few discharges from our artillery were enough 
 to vpin us possession of the whole of the suburbs, where 
 part of the inhabitants quietly awaited our arrival in their 
 homes. The Emperor took up his head quarters on the 
 same evening (May 9) at Schonbrunn, the Saint-Cloud of 
 the Emperors of Austria. 
 
 The town of Vienna, protected on the northern side by 
 
254 MEMOIRS OF BAROX LEJEUXE 
 
 one of the minor arms of the Danube, is surrounded by a 
 strong enceinte of twelve curtains relieved by bastions at 
 the angles of the polygon ; where these terminate are as 
 many grand fagades with demi-lunes, dry ditches, alarm- 
 posts, and covered ways, the glacis of which forms a 
 beautiful esplanade enclosing the whole city. This 
 esplanade between the town and the suburbs is used as a 
 promenade by the inhabitants. When debouching by 
 way of the streets of the suburb known as that of Maria 
 Hilf on to this promenade, we attempted to march into 
 the tovsTi, the garrison, the greater part of which was 
 looking down on us from the ramparts, poured out such 
 a hail of bullets and grape shot that we were compelled 
 to be careful. This showed us that Vienna meant to 
 close her gates upon us, and that we need not count upon 
 the passive obedience she had shown us in our first 
 invasion in 1805.' The Archduke Maximilian found him- 
 self at the head of from fifteen to sixteen thousand men 
 of proved valour, and in addition to that a numerous body 
 of well-armed citizens, who gave proof of the greatest 
 devotion to their princes. Public feeling, which was very 
 bitter against us, urged the most stubborn resistance on 
 the military chiefs, but most fortunately for us all this 
 eager patriotism was entirely wanting in the skilful 
 guidance necessary to turn it to really good account. 
 During the fifteen days which had elapsed since the news 
 must have reached him of the defeat of the Austrians 
 at Landshut, Eckmiihl, and Eatisbon, the Archduke 
 Maximilian had failed to utilise either the inhabitants or 
 the well-stocked arsenal for the organisation of a formi- 
 dable defence. The approaches to the principal gates were 
 
 ' Napoleon had then taken possession of Vienna without striking a 
 single blow Tkans. 
 
AN ENVOY WOUNDED 255 
 
 not even palisaded. For all this, however, if the defence 
 v^rere only sustained for a iew days it would give Prince 
 Charles time to arrive at Vienna before we could take 
 possession of it, so it behoved us to hasten its fall by 
 every means in our power whilst his army was far enough 
 off for our task, though still difficult, to be not altogether 
 impossible. The Prince lost a good deal of time in 
 Bohemia, whilst we wasted not a moment. 
 
 Marshal Lannes, no longer able to doubt that a stout 
 resistance would be offered, now sent two officers with a 
 flag of truce to ask that the gates of the town might be 
 opened to us to avoid the horrors of an assault and a 
 siege. No sooner had the envoys reached the promenade 
 than they were assailed by the populace and charged by 
 hussars with drawn swords, and M. de Saint-Marc, 
 engaged though he was on a pacific mission, barely 
 escaped with his life, and returned minus one cheek, which 
 had been slashed off by a sword. 
 
 The Emperor, hearing of this treatment of a messenger 
 bearing a flag of truce, ordered a regular attack to be 
 made at once vpith a view to forcing the enemy to abandon 
 the town, or at least to prevent the Austrians from 
 shutting themselves up in it. Whilst our preparations 
 were being made, a continuous fire was kept up from the 
 ramparts on the suburbs with a view to dislodging us. 
 The inhabitants of these suburbs, finding themselves 
 deserted by their natural protectors, sent a deputation to 
 the Emperor to beg him to intercede in their favour. 
 The Emperor received the messengers graciously, and had 
 a letter from Prince Berthier to the Archduke Maximilian 
 given to them, charging them to deliver it themselves, as 
 after the incident of the morning he could not send one 
 of his own officers. Instead of receiving a favourable 
 
256 MEMOIRS OF BAEON LEJEUXE 
 
 answer to this letter, the people of the suburbs only found 
 the firing redoubled, absolutely no consideration being 
 shown even for the numerous women and children. 
 
 We therefore set to work to place some twenty 
 howitzers in the houses overlooking the esplanade, keep- 
 ing them masked until nightfall, when we meant to sweep 
 the ramparts and deal out death with the shells from 
 them. Whilst we were preparing this attack, the troops 
 under Marshal Massena broke into the town on the 
 north-east, took possession of the Prater, and held them- 
 selves ready to bar the passage of all who attempted to 
 leave the town and escape by the way of the bridge over 
 the Danube, or of any Austrians who should attempt to 
 come to the aid of the town. 
 
 The day of the 10th passed in a cannonade from both 
 sides, one to check our preparations, the other to protect 
 them. Meanwhile, the Emperor having learnt that one 
 of the young Archduchesses had been unable to leave on 
 account of illness, issued orders that we were to avoid 
 pointing our cannon in the direction of the Imperial 
 palace. 
 
 At nine o'clock in the evening a hot fire was poured 
 out from all our howitzers, to the great surprise of the in- 
 habitants. The sky above the esplanade was immediately 
 lit up by numerous far-reaching streaks of vivid light, re- 
 sembling a brilliant display of fireworks, and ere long the 
 flames of some eight or ten conflagrations, which con- 
 tinued to burn in different quarters of the town through- 
 out the night, revealed many a terrible scene of desolation. 
 The Archduke Maximilian, having learnt before day- 
 break that we were so placed as to cut off his retreat by 
 way of the main bridge, sent some battalions to attack us, 
 but they were beaten and pursued. The Prince then lost 
 
CAPITULATION OF VIENN^A 257 
 
 hope of being able to defend the burning town, and fearing 
 to be made prisoner in it, he spent the whole morning 
 in sending out all his troops, and every one who could 
 escape, before the passage was completely closed to them. 
 He resigned all his power to the Count von Urbria, Grand 
 Chamberlain of the Emperor of Austria, and as soon as 
 further retreat had become impossible without risking 
 the great danger of running the gauntlet of Massena's 
 artillery, the few troops still remaining in the town hoisted 
 a white flag. It was at noon on May 11 that this signal 
 appeared, and messengers were sent to our outposts with 
 proposals for capitulation. 
 
 Marshal Lannes at once ordered the firing to cease, 
 and a parley was begun. A deputation of superior o&cers, 
 clergy, nobles, and chief functionaries of the town waited 
 on the Emperor at Schonbrunn, and demanded of him 
 oblivion of the past, security of life and property, and the 
 restoration of order in the town, where the populace had 
 given themselves up to anarchy and pillage. The capitu- 
 lation was accepted, the terms were drawn up in accord- 
 ance with the wishes of the deputies, and our troops took 
 possession of the town. At nine o'clock on the 12th, our 
 battalions entered Vienna in good order, where they at 
 once assumed the role of protectors against the populace 
 rather than that of conquerors of a taken city. The 
 Emperor then issued an order of the day to the army, in 
 which the following passages occur : 
 
 ' Soldiers ! the people of Vienna, widowed and forsaken, 
 will be treated with respect by you ; I take them under 
 my special protection. Be good to the unfortunate 
 peasants, and to the good citizens who are so worthy of 
 your esteem ; do not be proud of your success, but see in 
 it onlj' the result of the Divine justice, which has made 
 
 VOL. I. s 
 
258 :\[EMOffis 01? baeox lejeune 
 
 you the instruments for the punishment of the ungrateful 
 and the perjured.' 
 
 The Emperor had not forgotten that in the former 
 invasion of 1805 the civic guard of Vienna had behaved 
 with admirable loyalty and self-control, and he therefore 
 now again allowed them to retain their arms, and aid us 
 in protecting their fellow-citizens. General Andrassy, who 
 a month before had still been ambassador at Vienna, was 
 named governor of the town, where his generous and up- 
 right character had won him the esteem of all, and this 
 choice was a proof to the Viennese of the Emperor's 
 friendly sentiments towards them. 
 
 Thirty days only had elapsed since the Emperor was 
 called from the peaceful festivities of Paris to place him- 
 self at the head of his army, and during this brief space 
 of time he had conquered and dispersed 300,000 enemies 
 and taken possession of their capital. 
 
 Chance and luck had really nothing whatever to do 
 with all these miraculous successes, which were entirelj^ 
 the result of the genius of Napoleon, whose wisdom and 
 foresight, with his patient unwearying activity, prepared 
 everything and settled every combination beforehand,' and 
 who, though he was well able to insure prompt obedience, 
 yet knew even better how to inspire all his subordinates 
 with a confidence and devotion which made nothing 
 appear impossible to them when they were working for 
 him and carrying out his instructions. These feelings of 
 confidence in their chief were so deeply engraved on the 
 heart of all his soldiers that they laughed to scorn the 
 word 'impossible,' which the Emperor had struck out of 
 his vocabulary. 
 
 The taking of Vienna was, however, but the prelude of 
 yet greater tasks awaiting us. In retreating the Archduke 
 
WE DECIDE TO BBIDGE OYER THE DANUBE 259 
 
 Maximilian had burnt the main bridge over the Danube, 
 so that it was no longer possible for us to occupy both 
 banks. The Emperor's next care was therefore to arrange 
 some means of getting over the river, so as to go to meet 
 Prince Charles, who was marching on Vienna with all his 
 forces. 
 
 The great width and depth of the Danube, with the 
 rapidity of the stream, made it seem as if any attempt to 
 span it must fail, and this was very evidently the opinion 
 of the enemy, but for all that everything was prepared 
 for the bold undertaking, which was immediately put in 
 hand. 
 
 Already on the 11th, even before the town was taken, 
 Marshal Lannes had received orders to occupy the islands 
 of the Danube a little above Vienna and opposite Nusdorff, 
 so as to make a bridge there. Five or six hundred men 
 did land on the islands, but were repulsed with great loss 
 by the Austrian s under General Nordman. This partial 
 success restored the confidence of the enemy, making thera 
 more than ever sure that we should never succeed in 
 making a bridge ; and this, perhaps, led to their placing 
 fewer obstacles in our way than they might have done 
 during the succeeding days. 
 
 Beconnaissances were made about three miles below 
 Vienna, and the village of Ebersdorff, opposite Aspern and 
 Essling, was pointed out to General Bertrand of the 
 Engineers, and to General Pernetti of the Artillery, as the 
 point at which the bridges were to be made. A narrow 
 but deep creek served as a floating dock for our pontoons 
 and boats, and we were able to launch them without being 
 seen. The town was so near that we could easily obtain 
 all it contained of any use to us, and of the many islands 
 about us we chose the largest, called Lobau, which was 
 
 s 2 
 
260 MEMOIRS OF B.UlOX LEJEUNE 
 
 more than five miles in circumference, as the best base 
 for our operations, which were very soon begun. 
 
 During the few days when the Imperial Staff occupied 
 the palace of Schonbrunn, I went several times to see the 
 treasures of Vienna, such as the statues by Canova, and 
 also to look up my old friends. Many of our officers were 
 doing their best to console the young ladies who had been 
 left behind in the precipitate flight of the princes and the 
 notables of the Court and of the army, who had bequeathed 
 to their conquerors the task of wiping the tears shed at the 
 loss of husbands or lovers. 
 
 I also very often went to the much-vaunted promenade 
 of the Prater, and was so delighted with the remarkable 
 beauty of its trees that I made many sketches in the 
 shady woods, getting as much pleasure out of doing so 
 then as I do now in looking at them when I can get time 
 to open my old portfolios. They call up again the charm- 
 ing impression made on me by those solitudes, where the 
 only sound to break the stillness was the trickling of 
 water or the chirping of the birds making love in this 
 sweet month of May. The freshness and the quiet con- 
 trasted indeed with the noise and confusion of conflict, 
 and with the terrible hurly-burly of that awful and still 
 recent day at Ebersberg, and I counted myself lucky to 
 be able to forget it all, if only for a moment, in the pro- 
 found quiet which surrounded me here. 
 
 It was three days since I had had more than a few 
 moments of rest, and my duties already called me to go 
 and help in the construction of the bridges being thrown 
 across the Danube at Ebersdorff. 
 
 In the first instance I was sent by Prince Berthier to 
 press on the work, and to return and report to him what 
 was going on in the docks. I passed the day there, and 
 
I AM NEARLY SUFFOCATED IN A SWAMP 261 
 
 towards midnight, when the weary workers were resting 
 for a few minutes, I started in pitchy darkness to return to 
 Schonbrunn to give an account of my mission. I did not 
 know the way, and wandered about for a long time in the 
 swampy meadows, which had been flooded by the Danube 
 six weeks before. I could no longer see where I was 
 going, my horse began to tremble, and his nostrils were 
 inflated with terror as he felt the ground giving way 
 beneath his feet. In a fury of rage he resisted my efforts 
 to spur him on, and whilst I was struggling with him the 
 mud suddenly opened before us, the horse fell, and for a 
 quarter of an hour I was in a most critical position. But 
 apparently my time had not yet come, and I managed to 
 scramble out unhurt. I remounted the noble animal, who 
 had done his best to save me from the catastrophe, and I 
 arrived at Schonbrunn at two o'clock in the morning. I 
 woke up Prince Berthier, told him how far the work had 
 advanced, and he went to the Emperor with the news of 
 the progress of the bridge, taking leave of me with the 
 words, ' Well done ! Go and change your clothes now ; 
 you are covered with mud.' 
 
 On this same day, which had begun so badly, I 
 experienced several other annoyances such as are all too 
 numerous in war, and are more felt then than at any 
 other time. When I left Strasburg, I had confided the 
 three fine horses I bought from the Jew Levi for 
 one thousand and several hundred francs to one of my 
 servants, a man named Graf. He had been told to take 
 special care of one of the horses, the most expensive 
 of the three, which had been wounded in the foot ; and 
 proiid of the confidence I had placed in him, the man had 
 promised to prove himself worthy of it. The army had, 
 however, advanced so rapidly, that he had so far not been 
 
2(32 MEMOIRS OF BAROX LEJEUXE 
 
 able to join me. I was awaiting his arrival with impatience, 
 and on this unlucky day, May 16, when I was at dinner 
 with my comrades, I saw Graf come in at the door with 
 a face lit up with pleasure at seeing me again. His happy 
 expression made me feel sure that he brought good news, 
 and I asked him if he had had a pleasant journey. ' First- 
 rate, sir,' was the reply. ' And Zephir has quite recovered ? ' 
 I said. ' Ah, sir,' he answered, his bi-ight expression un- 
 changed, ' what a fine horse ! Everyone stopped to 
 admire him, and such a good-tempered beast too.' ' Well, 
 then, my good fellow, he is quite cured ? ' And Graf, still 
 with a smile on his face, replied, ' Ah, sir, what a fine horse 
 he was ! but his leg got inflamed on the march — it was a 
 pity — and he died at Stuttgart ; I have brought you the 
 certificate of his death.' Very much annoyed at the loss 
 of such a valuable mount at this critical time, I hastened 
 to inquire, ' And what has become of Sultana ? ' ' Sultana ? 
 Oh, yes, what a proud, strong creature she was ! She 
 gave me no end of trouble. She jumped and sprang about 
 to such an extent that she broke her thigh, and the 
 veterinary surgeon had her killed.' ' What ! ' I shouted, 
 ' what do you say, killed ? ' ' Yes, sir, at Lintz, and here is 
 the certificate.' ' And Alezan ? ' ' Yes, yes, sir, Alezan is 
 a famous fellow, so brave and as strong as an ox. I was 
 able to make him do anything I liked. You may pride 
 yourself on having made a very good bargain when you 
 bought him. He ate for four, and he is fat and no mistake. 
 You must come and look at him.' I was beginning to 
 smile and to feel a little cheered, when the wretched fellow, 
 still laughing and looking perfectly contented, added, ' Look 
 out of the window, sir, there he is on the road, only some 
 forty paces off. It was so hot he fell down in an apoplectic 
 fit. I was not able to bleed him, and he is dead.' ' What a 
 
A BL"SV DOCKYARD 263 
 
 fool you are with your praises of the dead ! ' cried my com- 
 rades with one voice ; but I, used to this sort of cojitretemps, 
 for I had very often had to send my carriages on in Italy, 
 Spain, and Poland, did my best to put a good face on the 
 matter, and took from my belt what little money I had 
 left to buy horses to replace those I had lost. Since then, 
 in my campaigns in Spain, Kussia, Saxony, and on the 
 Ehine, I have lost no less than thirty horses in one way 
 or another, four of which were killed under me, several 
 were eaten by our soldiers on the isle of Lobau, in Eussia 
 and at Torgau, whilst the rest were taken or killed in battle 
 at Dennewitz, Leipzig, and Hanau. 
 
 Part of the army had already got near to Ebersdorff, 
 and reconnaissances had been made as far as opposite 
 Presburg, six leagues lower down. Generals Pernetti and 
 Bertrand had had everything they could get in the town 
 taken down to the place where the bridge was being made, 
 including timber, planks, beams, posts, piles, rails, anchors, 
 chains, ropes, small boats, wherries, pontoons, forges, 
 engines, workmen's tools, &c. &c. The dockyard, where 
 the preliminary works were carried on, was behind a little 
 copse, which screened our proceedings from the enemy, 
 alongside of the creek already mentioned, in which the 
 boats, also well out of sight, were floated as the work pro- 
 ceeded. Hundreds of officers and thousands of soldier 
 artisans were busily engaged in cutting up and preparing 
 the wood, most of which was very unsuitable and of a 
 heterogeneous character. The pontoon detachment and 
 marines of the guard crept along the river at night in little 
 boats, testing the depth of the water and choosing the best 
 spots for anchorage. We had not nearly anchors enough, 
 and we supplemented them by filling open chests with 
 cannon-balls. Extraordinary activity prevailed day and 
 
^64 ME.Mon;s of B-Viiox lejeuxk 
 
 night in the dockyard, and on the morning of the 19th the 
 trestles, the rafts, with some eighty or a hundred boats, the 
 baulks, the abutments, everything in fact, was ready to be 
 placed in position in a few hours. Barges were prepared 
 to send the advanced guard over to the opposite bank, and 
 several boats were tied together in pairs as flying bridges 
 to take the workmen to and fro. The Emperor, seeing 
 that the work had advanced as far as circumstances per- 
 mitted, now gave the order for the bridges to be thrown 
 across, and that operation was attempted at the beginning 
 of the night. The waters of the Danube had already risen, 
 putting us to some inconvenience and causing us great 
 anxiety, but for all that the battalions of the Molitor .divi- 
 sion crossed in rowboats and took possession of the island 
 of Lobau, exchanging a few shots with the Austrians. 
 
 On the morning of the 20th the bridges were fixed, and 
 we could communicate fully with the island of Lobau. 
 Marshal Massena's corps was the first to cross, followed by 
 that under Marshal Lannes, with wagons laden with the 
 necessary pontoons and boats for spanning the reraaining 
 arm of the Danube separating the island of Lobau from 
 the plain of Essling on the left bank. This small arm, 
 from about 120 to 150 feet wide, was pretty deep, and the 
 swollen state of the river was likely to make the work of 
 bridging over the last bit difficult enough. The point 
 chosen was where the plain jutted out considerably towards 
 the island of Lobau. This position projecting from our 
 bank allowed our artillery to sweep its surface in both direc- 
 tions, and thus protect the troops who were about to land 
 on the opposite bank. The Austrian troops opposing us 
 were not numerous, but they contested the passage hotly, 
 though they were finally repulsed by the battalions flung 
 across to the left bank by General Molitor and led by 
 
OUR ADVANCED GUARD CROSSES THE DANUBE 265 
 
 M. de Sainte-Croix, one of the aides-de-camp of Marshal 
 Massena, who was well worthy to second a general so able. 
 The indomitable courage of this young officer, combined 
 with his bright and cultivated intelligence, his charming 
 face and taking manners, had greatly pleased the Emperor, 
 who, with a view to his advancement, had confided to him 
 the' leadership of these battalions. Sainte-Croix, advanc- 
 ing in front of his men, left them no excuse for hesitation, 
 and everything turned out in accordance with the wishes 
 of the Marshal. 
 
 Whilst our advanced guard was drawing off the enemy, 
 our engineers hastily raised behind the skirmishers at 
 the apex of the angle occupied by us, a retrenchment 
 or breastwork in the form of a crown-shaped bridge 
 head, whilst behind them again we were working be- 
 neath the showers of balls which fell amongst ' us, and 
 launched the boats which were to make the bridge. We 
 had very little wood left for this purpose, and we had to 
 cut some on the island. Whilst we were thus engaged, 
 the water continued to rise, increasing the rapidity of the 
 current, and adding to our difficulties ; but in spite of 
 everything the little ten-span bridge was finished on the 
 evening of the 20th, and the troops who had reached the 
 island of Lobau began to cross over to the left bank. The 
 rest of the troops hastened their march ; but it was only 
 with difficulty and by dint of very great caution that they 
 were able to cross the long defiles of narrow bridges, still 
 anything but firmly fixed. 
 
 As soon as the Molitor division was ready to pass on 
 to the plain of Essling, the advanced guard, led by Sainte- 
 Croix, promptly debouched from the little wood which 
 screened the point of passage ; but the cavalry of the 
 enemy soon drove them back, compelling them to return 
 
266 MEMOIRS OF BARt)X LEJEUXE 
 
 to shelter. Slowly, however, the numbers of the French 
 troops increased along the front, and they in their turn 
 now repulsed the enemy's cavalry, which drew back to 
 some distance on the plain. This manoeuvre led us to sup- 
 pose that the Austrian force was small, or that the enemy 
 were trying to draw us into an ambuscade, so we did not 
 pursue, our light cavalry alone advancing beyond the 
 villages of Aspern and Essling, in which they took up 
 their quarters without opposition during the night. 
 
 At midnight the Emperor was still in a state of great 
 uncertainty, ignorant whether he had the enemy in front 
 or not. About one o'clock, however, news was brought 
 to him that a far-stretching line of fires had been noticed 
 on the heights in the direction of Bohemia, at a consider- 
 able distance from our left wing. There could be little 
 doubt that they were the camp fires of a considerable force, 
 and Marshal Massena, who had climbed up into the belfry 
 at Aspern to get a better view, was also of that opinion. 
 
 The whole of the night of the 20th I remained at the 
 bridge, hard at work trying to strengthen it and aid the 
 crossing of the troops who were about to take up their 
 position on the plain in the following order of battle 
 Massena's corps on the left in the direction of Aspern 
 that of Marshal Lannes on the right towards Essling 
 whilst the cavalry under Marshal Bessieres was to take 
 its stand between the two villages. The Emperor and 
 his Guard also arrived before daybreak. 
 
 The darkness had not yet dispersed on May 21, when 
 our cavalry vedettes were compelled to retreat before a 
 large body of the enemy's sharpshooters, heralding the ap- 
 proach of the Austrian army, some 170,000 strong, which 
 had advanced upon us during the night without our having 
 been able to perceive it. Of this force a body of 60,000 
 
BEGINNING OF THE BATTLE OF ESSLIXG 267 
 
 cavalry with 300 pieces of cannon were already deploying 
 in a semicircle with a view to surrounding us. 
 
 At daybreak only 25,000 of our men had crossed the 
 river, and the skirmishers were already engaged all along 
 our line, which occupied about two miles and a half be- 
 tween Aspern, Essling, and Ebersdorff. The Danube had 
 now risen more than three feet, and made our bridges very 
 insecure. The soldiers would never have had the heart to 
 venture on these rickety planks, washed and shaken by 
 the rushing waters, but that they were impatient to get 
 to the plain to join the comrades who were already at- 
 tacked, and whose danger they recognised. A body of 
 Austrian cavalry, supported by a good many guns, advanced 
 to retake the three villages we occupied to begin with. 
 Ebersdorff being too far off from our right wing, the 
 Emperor ordered it to be abandoned before it was attacked, 
 and the troops from it came up to aid in the defence of 
 Essling, whilst the artillery of the enemy, eager to dis- 
 lodge us from that position, showered shells and balls 
 upon our cavalry drawn up in front of it. All these pro- 
 jectiles fell into the luckless village, which was soon on 
 fire. On our left the village of Aspern was occupied by 
 several battalions of the Molitor division, and moreover 
 covered by our cavalry. A yet more formidable attack 
 was directed by the Austrian s upon this point ; thousands 
 of shells soon set fire to the village. Marshal Massena 
 perceived from the fierceness of the onslaught what the 
 Archduke Charles was aiming at, and all the importance 
 the enemy would attach to the possession of Aspern, from 
 which they hoped to debouch upon our bridge, destroy it, 
 and take us all prisoners in the plain by cutting off our 
 retreat. On the discovery of this scheme the genius of 
 Massena rose to meet the emergency, and of the two 
 
268, MEMOIRS OF BAROX LEJEUNE 
 
 terrible days which I am about to describe he was the 
 chief hero. His example redoubled the courage of the 
 10,000 troops under him, and enabled them to withstand 
 the obstinate efforts of the three Austrian corps which 
 dashed themselves against us a hundred times at least in 
 the forty-eight hours of the struggle. 
 
 Our one aim in this two days' battle was to end the 
 war and obtain peace. We were not successful, but no 
 victory could have been more glorious to our arms than 
 the long-sustained, unflinching resistance which intimi- 
 dated a force four times larger than our own, with every 
 means at its disposal for completely crushing us, and 
 prevented it from daring to interfere with our retreat. 
 
 We were soon wrapped in thick clouds of black smoke 
 rising from the burning village of Aspern, through which 
 the sun, as yet but little above the horizon, shone like a 
 blood-red globe of fire, giving a crimson hue to the whole 
 landscape. This phenomenon, which would have aroused 
 the superstitious fears of the heathen, made us all say 
 with a smile, ' We are going to have hot work,' and it 
 turned out that we were right. 
 
 Whilst the Emperor was advancing slowly across the 
 plain of Essling, so as to give the rest of his forces time 
 to come up. General Hiller's corps was trying to pass 
 between the river bank and Aspern, so as to make straight 
 for our bridge ; but the Molitor division barred his passage, 
 and prevented him from reaching the Danube. Mean- 
 while, at about ten o'clock in the morning, an enormous 
 boat which had got loose from its moorings was carried 
 down by the current, and broke one of our larger bridges 
 by falling on it, so that our communication with the 
 plain was interrupted for several hoiirs. The news of 
 this serious accident was brought to the Emperor just as 
 
MASSENA DRIVES THE AUSTRIANS OUT OF ASPERN 269 
 
 the aim of the Austrian movement upon Aspern had fully 
 declared itself. Behind the enemy's cavalry we could 
 now see a considerable column of infantry converging on 
 the same point, the village was soon surrounded by a 
 swarm of skirmishers on foot, and the attack became so 
 vigorous that General Molitor was driven out of Aspern. 
 These two untoward incidents occurring simultaneously, 
 the Emperor thought it prudent to advance no farther on 
 the plains ; and though his troops had gained a good deal 
 of ground in the centre, he ordered the movement to be 
 suspended, and the troops to remain on the defensive only 
 until the arrival of reinforcements. The enemy noticed 
 this halt, and seemed also to have been aware of the break- 
 ing of our bridge. They at once became far more daring, 
 and for several hours we were overwhelmed by a terrible 
 cannonade from a battery of some sixty pieces, whilst 
 the Eosemberg division, protected by the artillery, advanced 
 fearlessly upon us. Marshal Lannes, however, repulsed 
 every attack with the Boudet division only. The enemy's 
 cavalry then charged several times with such tremendous 
 force that we were in danger of being broken up ; but the 
 valiant Greneral Lassalle, at the head of our light cavalry, 
 fell upon the Austrians, putting them to rout and com- 
 pelling the terrible battery of artillery to retreat for a 
 moment at a gallop. This respite was, however, of 
 but very short duration for the French centre. 
 
 On the left the Austrians had entered Aspern, and it 
 was absolutely necessary to dislodge them. Massena, 
 therefore, who had had all his horses killed, marched on 
 foot with drawn sword at the head of the grenadiers of 
 the Molitor division, forced his way into the village, 
 crowded as it was with Austrians, drove them out, and 
 pursued them for some twelve or fourteen yards beyond 
 
270 MEMOIRS OF BAROX LEJEUXE 
 
 the houses. But here the French troops found themselves 
 face to face with the strong force under Hiller, Bellegarde, 
 and Hohenzollern, advancing rapidly in their direction. It 
 was hopeless for the division to attempt to engage such 
 superior numbers in the open plain, so Mass^na recalled 
 the pursuers and ordered them to hold Aspern. 
 
 The enemy, ashamed apparently of this first defeat, 
 returned to the charge with 80,000 men and more than a 
 hundred pieces of cannon, which were soon pointed on 
 the village. To make the more sure of victory, the Austrian 
 troops, who were expected to carry all before them, were 
 in ranks far too closely serried ; and Massena, noticing 
 this error, opened fire with his few remaining pieces upon 
 the densely packed masses of men, every shot working 
 terrible havoc amongst them, though their onrush was 
 not checked for a moment. In a very few minutes the 
 village was completely surrounded by troops ; and hidden 
 from view in the dense clouds of smoke from the cannon, 
 the musketry, and the fires which at once broke out, 
 the combatants, almost suffocated by the smoke, crossed 
 bayonets without being able to see each other ; but neither 
 side gave way a step, and for more than an hour the terrible 
 attack and desperate defence went on amongst the ruins 
 of the burning houses. 
 
 Whilst this horrible scene was going on on our left — ■ 
 where the French had also to drive back General Hiller, 
 who was struggling to reach our smaller bridge — news 
 was brought to the Emperor that our men had managed 
 to repair the large bridge and that reinforcements were 
 beginning to arrive. These tidings were promptly made 
 known to all who were interested, and greatly revived our 
 hopes. 
 
 It was now a little after four o'clock, and the united 
 
OUH BRIDGE IS BROKEN 271 
 
 corps of Hiller, Bellegarde, and Hohenzollern had suc- 
 ceeded in taking half the village of Aspern. Massena 
 still held the church and cemetery, and was struggling to 
 regain what he had lost. Five times in less than three 
 hours he took and retook the cemetery, the church, and 
 the village, without being able to call to his aid the 
 Legrand division, which he was obliged to hold in reserve 
 to cover Aspern on the right and keep the enemy from 
 getting in on that side. Throughout this awful struggle 
 Massena stood beneath the great elms on the green oppo- 
 site the church, calmly indifferent to the fall of the 
 branches brought down upon his head by the showers of 
 grape shot and bullets, keenly alive to all that was going 
 on, his look and voice, stern as the quos ego of Virgil's 
 angry Neptune, inspiring all who surrounded him with 
 irresistible strength. 
 
 No less fierce was the struggle in the centre. Marshal 
 Lannes, with the Boudet division, protected by the 
 village of Essling, formed the front line of our army 
 between Essling and Aspern ; whilst Marshal Bessieres 
 covered this line with the cavalry, the Emperor with his 
 Guard forming the reserve. 
 
 When the news reached us that our bridge was broken, 
 the wind was blowing the masses of smoke rising up from 
 Aspern towards us, wrapping us in a black cloud, whilst 
 the blood-red sun shed its lurid light upon the scene. 
 Hitherto, as I have already said, we had been able to 
 repulse the charges of the enemy's cavalry, and had even 
 driven off the sixty pieces of cannon which had been pour- 
 ing such a murderous fire upon us, but now we were forced 
 to wait till our communications were reopened before we 
 could continue to act on the defensive. This enabled the 
 enemy to rally. The Archduke again attacked the village 
 
'2lZ MEMOIltS OF BAROX LEJEUNE 
 
 of Essling, defended by Marshal Lannes, but he failed to 
 enter it, and the Hungarian cavalry under him again and 
 again charged that commanded by Marshal Bessieres, but 
 each time they were thrown into disorder and compelled 
 to draw back for a considerable distance by the cavalry 
 divisions under Generals Lassalle and Espagne. In the 
 course of a few hours the last-named troops flung them- 
 selves at a gallop upon the enemy's squares, broke them 
 up, and dashed several times right through their ranks, 
 carrying off fourteen guns. It was in this capture of 
 artillery that General Fouler was killed at the head of 
 his men, and it was whilst carrying off the same guns that 
 General Espagne fell mortally wounded by a cannon-ball. 
 The Archduke, being unable to get the better of Marshal 
 Lannes and General Boudet at Essling, Massena now 
 ordered some 90,000 men with 200 pieces of cannon to 
 deploy to our front. We owe many thanks to the Austrian 
 gunners, for, whether from nervousness or awkwardness 
 or in haste, they certainly aimed very badly. I was very 
 often close to the Emperor on the left of Essliijg whilst 
 all these terrible projectiles were raining upon the centre of 
 his army, and though his features expressed absolute in- 
 difference to his own danger, I could not help^seeing that 
 he was keenly anxious about his men, compelled to remain 
 inactive under such a hail of missiles. The sound of the 
 bullets crashing, not a hundred yards behind him, on the 
 high felt caps, the bayonets, and the very breasts of his 
 Guards, seemed to tear his heart, and he evidently longed 
 to be able to put a stop to the storm. But at last the 
 repairing of the bridges was achieved, and part of General 
 Nansouty's large body of cavalry came up to our support. 
 As the regiments of cuirassiers formed in order of battle 
 to the sound of the cannon-balls falling on and penetrating 
 
TEEUIBLE STRUGGLE IN ASPERN 273 
 
 helmet and breastplate, we could see the brave fellows 
 under fire calmly closing tip their ranks and awaiting 
 without a sign of fear the signal to charge. 
 
 It was seven o'clock, the sun was just setting, and the 
 enemy seemed to be about to outflank us on the right, 
 when Marshal Bessieres, still full of the zeal he had shown 
 in the many extraordinary charges he had already led, 
 received orders from the Emperor to advance at the head 
 of the cuirassiers just arrived, and drive the enemy off 
 before night. 
 
 The Emperor would have preferred waiting to strike a 
 decisive blow until more fresh troops, eager for the fray, 
 had arrived ; but it was so painful to him to see so many 
 of his men struck down as they passively waited, that he 
 decided to order three regiments of cuirassiers to be formed 
 into three columns and led at a trot in the direction of the 
 hottest fire from the enemy's artillery. 
 
 Marshal Bessieres, General Saint-Germain, and Colonel 
 Margaron, therefore, advanced with their cuirassiers, and 
 after several gallant charges routed the artillery of the 
 enemy, and put to flight the corps of infantry and cavalry 
 which came up to support them. We thus remained 
 masters of the ground, and having got rid of the enemy 
 on one side we had the satisfaction of finding hostilities 
 cease in that direction about eight o'clock, just as the 
 night was beginning. / "^ 
 
 On the left, however, the struggle was far from being 
 over, and an awful battle was still raging in the streets 
 and behind the walls of the village of Aspern. The enemy, 
 irritated at the stubborn resistance of so small a body of 
 troops, redoubled their efforts to dislodge them before night- 
 fall, and went on fighting by the Hght of the conflagrations 
 alone. The history of our wars relates no more thrilling 
 
 VOL. I. T 
 
•J 7 4 MEMOIKS OF BARON LEJEUXE 
 
 incident than this long and obstinate struggle, in which 
 our troops, disheartened by the ever fresh difficulties with 
 which they had to contend, worn out by fatigue, and 
 horrified at the carnage around them, were kept at their 
 posts by the example and exhortations of Massena and his 
 of&cers alone. General Molitor had lost some half of his 
 men, and the enemy were hurrying up from every side. 
 The struggle was maintained under these terrible condi- 
 tions until eleven o'clock, when we remained masters of 
 Aspern and of the whole line between it and Essling. At 
 that late hour of the night the Carra-Saint-Cyr division 
 succeeded in coming up to the support of Massena's left, 
 and in relieving that General of his anxiety as to the 
 movements of General Hiller. The enemy withdrew to 
 bivouac at a distance of about four cannon shots in our 
 rear. Quiet was at last restored, and the silence was only 
 broken by a few shots fired now and then in the distance 
 to keep the sentinels on the alert. In the calm of the 
 ■ensuing night columns of flame from the conflagrations 
 in Aspern and Essling rose majestically on the right and 
 left of our camp, as if to light up the scene of the struggle 
 •of the morrow, for which we must very soon prepare. 
 Our pontoon detachment meanwhile was busy repairing 
 the damage caused by the rising of the river, and by the 
 various floating objects brought down by the flood, which 
 had become entangled amongst our ropes. Our sappers 
 were hard at work strengthening the reliefs of the bridge 
 head, and the Emperor and his staff stretched themselves 
 •out upon the grass near by to snatch a few moments of 
 repose, often interrupted to press on the passage of the 
 troops. 
 
 During the night of May 21 and 22, the grenadier 
 ^corps under General Oudinot, the Saint-Hilaire division, 
 
TILE EMPEROR'S PLAN OF BATTLE 275 
 
 part of the Guard, several regiments of light cavalry, with 
 quantities of artillery, ammunition, and provision wagons, 
 crossed the bridge in one continuous stream, surmounting 
 the greatest difBiculties, whilst we were occupied in placing 
 the small bodies of troops, as they arrived, according to the 
 directions of the Emperor on ground which we had now 
 been able to reconnoitre. We were filled with admiration 
 for the eagerness with which the men pressed on to the 
 aid of their comrades. 
 
 At three o'clock on the morning of the 22nd we 
 suddenly heard the cannonade of the enemy all along our 
 line, and we were afoot again long before daybreak. 
 At four o'clock the Austrian columns took up their 
 positions from one end to the other of our front, extend- 
 ing indeed beyond it on either side, and the battle began 
 again. Audacity and skill alone could bring us through 
 against such superior forces, and neither was wanting to 
 the Emperor or to those under him. He very soon de- 
 termined to concentrate his attack on the enemy's centre, 
 so as first to divide the Austrian forces and then to crush 
 the vsdng on our right, which would assure us the victory 
 over the second wing on our left. We started to convey 
 the orders to this effect. 
 
 I had to go backwards and forwards from the field of 
 battle to the bridges, and from the bridges to the out- 
 posts, to keep the Emperor informed of all that was going 
 on, so that I was able to get a very general notion of what 
 occurred on this awful day. 
 
 The shape of the field of battle might be compared to 
 that of a huge outspread fan, with the Danube forming 
 the sides, and the bridge the radiating point. The French 
 army occupied the small inner rays or ribs of the fan 
 between the wider outer rays and the handle, whilst the 
 
 T 2 
 
276 MEMOIRS OF BAEOX LE.IEUXE 
 
 Austrian army was advancing upon us from every point 
 of the wide outspread semicircle, extending on the right to 
 EssHng and on the left to Aspern. 
 
 Marshal Lannes, retaining his position of the evening 
 before, defended Essling with the Boudet division, having 
 on his left the Saint-Hilaire division and General Oudinot 
 with the corps of grenadiers, whilst the cavalry under 
 Marshal Bessieres, the Nansouty cuirassiers, and part of 
 the Guard, were between Saint-Hilaire and Massena, who 
 still occupied Aspern with the Legrand and Carra-Saint- 
 Cyr divisions supporting his left. General Molitor, who had 
 suffered so much on the 21st, was placed in reserve behind 
 Aspern with the few men left to him, and small parties of 
 troops, arriving one after the other from the bridge, took 
 up their stand as reserves at its head. On the right bank 
 of the Danube, meanwhile, Marshal Davout with the 
 great park of artillery, the ammunition, and all the re- 
 maining corps of the army, were waiting their turn at the 
 .entrance to the bridge, eager to cross it. 
 
 The enemy's troops mancBuvred as on the day before, 
 advancing in a hesitating manner; the infantry and 
 artillery firing continuously, the general impression con- 
 veyed to us being that they were intimidated by the 
 extraordinary resistance they had met with. 
 
 When the Emperor perceived how far beyond our 
 lines those of the enemy stretched on either side, he 
 felt sure that he would find any individual point he might 
 elect to attack weak, and harassed as we were by the 
 terrible cannonade, which became more and more murder- 
 ous as the artillery drew nearer to us, he ordered the 
 whole line to advance, and told Marshal Lannes to attack 
 with the utmost possible vigour the Austrian centre, part 
 of which had already taken possession of a few houses on 
 
THE AUSTMAIS8 ARE UEIVEN BACK 277 
 
 the right of EssHng, whilst the other wing was making a 
 furious assault on Aspern. 
 
 It was hardly hght when Marshal Lannes commenced 
 his movement, leaving General Boudet on his right to 
 defend Essling; and forming his remaining divisions in 
 columns according to regiments with the cavalry in the 
 second line, he marched proudly forward in that order, 
 and very soon came up with and attacked the enemy. 
 General Saint-Hilaire and the o2nd Regiment led the way, 
 the Oudinot corps and the columns moving up to his 
 support, the enemy everywhere wavering and drawing 
 back before our troops. We eagerly pressed on our ad- 
 vantage, and the Austrians were thrown into a disorder 
 which insensibly spread all along their line. In a very 
 few minutes we had broken the enemy's ranks, and their 
 troops drew back in several divergent directions. The 
 Archduke Charles thought from this that the whole of the 
 French army had succeeded in crossing the bridges during 
 the night and was advancing upon him, and for a moment 
 he seems to have despaired of rallying his forces. How- 
 ever, by the most courageous efforts, in which he exposed 
 his own person with a reckless contempt of death, he suc- 
 ceeded in leading back to the charge several corps which 
 had withdrawn, himself retaking the flag of one of his 
 regiments, that under Colonel Zack, and planting it 
 almost in our ranks. Vain efforts only ; for all who 
 returned to the charge were overthrown or taken prisoners. 
 Flags, guns, and some 500 men were in one moment 
 taken possession of by the French, and all the Archduke's 
 aides-de-camp were killed or wounded as they stood 
 around him. He succeeded, however, in reforming seve- 
 ral ranks, but they were soon broken up and driven back 
 by General Oudinot, who continued to advance. 
 
278 MEMOIRS or barox lejeune 
 
 Marshal Bessieres, at the head of several columns of 
 cmrassiers, then made his way through our division, and 
 several times charged the Austrian infantry and cavalry. 
 Our cavalry threw the enemy's ranks into disorder, and 
 drove them back upon their rear gt^ard as far as the village 
 of Breiteulee, which had been but an hour before the head 
 quarters of Prince Charles. It was when he was leading 
 one of these cavalry charges that the French armjr lost 
 General Durosnel, one of the Emperor's aides-de-camp. 
 His horse was killed under him, and he was taken prisoner. 
 We had long thought him dead, when the signing of peace 
 restored him to us. It was from him that we learnt into 
 what disorder the Austrian army had been thrown, and 
 with what devoted courage the Archduke had behaved at 
 this critical moment, when our troops had cut the enemy's 
 forces in two, and were advancing rapidly across the plain 
 with enthusiastic cries of ' Vive I'Empereur ! ' 
 
 This joyful signal of victory resounded all along our 
 first line, rousing the jealousy of the second corps, which 
 had not been able to take part in the charge. Bssling had 
 a momentarj' respite from the attacks of Eosemberg, 
 Massena had succeeded in repulsing Bellegarde, and the 
 Guard, still small in numbers and held in reserve, had 
 advanced on the plain to the support of the divisions 
 engaged with the enemy. The Emperor now checked 
 the zeal of Marshal Lannes, who was pressing on in 
 advance of his men, and told General Oudinot to mode- 
 rate his attacks so as to give time for the main body of 
 the cavalry to come up with Marshal Davout's 40,000 
 men, some of whom were beginning to arrive. The 
 Emperor had already issued orders for Davout's corps to 
 take up their position in the centre of the battle, so as to 
 crush first one and then the other of the enemy's remain- 
 
OUE BRIDGE IS BROKEN 279 
 
 ing wings, the centre and the right wing being aheady 
 routed. It was not yet seven o'clock, and everything 
 promised the most glorious issue of the day for the French 
 arms. The very heavens, which were still calm, seemed 
 propitious to us ; but Providence was about to put our 
 courage to the most terrible proof. 
 
 The fine warm weather in which we had been re- 
 joicing for a whole month had caused the premature melt- 
 ing of the snow, resulting in the periodical rising of the 
 Danube taking place now instead of as usual in the middle 
 of June. So far we had thought the increase of the volume 
 of water to have been merely one of the effects of a passing- 
 storm, which would not interfere long with our plan. 
 But instead of subsiding the inundation spread all along 
 the river, and the wind, which blew strongly in the 
 direction of the current, added to the force of the flood, 
 which swept down with it all manner of objects torn from 
 the banks, such as trees, stacks of fodder, rafts, boats, &c., 
 which were flung violently amongst the slackened ropes 
 of our larger bridges, breaking them and dragging away 
 the anchors, which were not strong enough to resist such 
 pressure. The force of the current became terrible, and 
 at seven o'clock our brave pontonniers and marines, having 
 done everything humanly possible to prevent the cata- 
 strophe, were driven to despair of being able to keep 
 open communication, for it was cut off by the breaking of 
 one of the bays of the large bridge. An aide-de-camp of 
 General Bertrand brought this fatal news to the Emperor 
 in the midst of our success, telling him that the state of the 
 river and of our boats was such that he must not count upon 
 the arrival of the 70,000 men waiting on the right bank. 
 
 This terrible contretemps came upon us like a thunder- 
 clap, but the Emperor received the tidings with resigna- 
 
280 MEMOIRS OF BAEOX LEJEUNE 
 
 tion. Prince Berthier and Marshal Lannes also accepted 
 it without uttering one word of discouragement, disguising 
 the painful impression they could not fail to feel. We 
 spoke in whispers of the catastrophe, taking care not to 
 let the news be noised abroad, but we could not help being 
 greatly dejected at the knowledge tjhat oux only hope of 
 securing the victory was gone. The Emperor sent me at 
 once to the bridges to find out whether it were not pos- 
 sible by means of row-boats or flying bridges to bring over 
 at least some men and ammunition. 
 
 Napoleon, though the enemy were in retreat before him, 
 now felt himself compelled to order Marshal Lannes to halt 
 and take up a position supported on the right by Essling, and 
 on the left by a stretch of undulating ground running in the 
 direction of Aspern, and connecting him with Massena. 
 
 In the thirty hours' struggle sustained by our infantry 
 and artillery, our ammunition had been nearly all con- 
 sumed, and the stores which our park of reserve artillery 
 was to have brought to us could not now arrive. We 
 were therefore obliged to slacken fire, so as to make the 
 powder and shot still left to us last longer. The Austrians 
 may have noticed this, but what probably opened their 
 eyes to our critical position, leaving them in no doubt as 
 to the untoward incident which had occurred, was the 
 movement of concentration which now took place, our 
 army, instead of further pursuing the enemy, though they 
 offered no resistance, prudently assuming the defensive. 
 Moreover, the Austrian spies stationed on the heights of 
 Bisamberg saw all that went on at our bridges, and sent 
 frequent messages to the Archduke, who thus learnt that 
 our communications were cut off. 
 
 The Archduke, therefore, who had been much sur- 
 prised at our halt, was reassured at the very moment 
 
DEATH OF GE.NERAL SAINT-HILAIRE 281 
 
 when he thought all was lost, and set to work to stop the 
 retreat, reform his lines, and lead his troops once more to 
 the charge. His strong body of artillery, which had drawn 
 back to avoid the capture of the guns, returned to the 
 battle field, and the cavalry, refreshed by the rest they had 
 had, reappeared at the front and made several charges, 
 which were, however, without effect. 
 
 The Emperor had ordered Marshal Lannes gradually to 
 resume his former position, whilst General Saint-Hilaire, 
 who had been in the front, reformed his columns with a 
 view to withdrawing them, and during that manoeuvre he 
 was attacked, and for some time exposed to the fire of the 
 whole of the Austrian artillery, numbering more than 200 
 pieces of cannon. 
 
 Under this terrible hail of balls and grape shot Marshal 
 Lannes' corps slowly fell hack, and their resolute attitude 
 seems to have intimidated the enemy, for they did not 
 dare come to close quarters, but endeavoured to crush our 
 troops from a distance. The brave General Saint-Hilaire, 
 the pride of the army, as remarkable for his wit as for his 
 military talents, was so devoted to the Emperor, who 
 returned his affection, that he had been fighting on for a 
 long time in spite of a serious open wound, and he was 
 now one of those who fell beneath the grape shot of the 
 enemy. He was carried back to us in a dying state. 
 
 "With the calm presence of mind which always distin- 
 guished him in danger. Marshal Lannes placed himself at 
 the head of his troops in lieu of the friend who had just 
 fallen, and imbuing the men with his own sang-froid, he 
 reminded them with a laugh of the fact that he led their 
 retreat at Marengo under just such a fire from the Aus- 
 trians as this, but that for all that the day had ended in 
 a brilliant victory for the French. ' Come, come, my 
 
282 MEMOIRS OF BAEOX LEJEUNE 
 
 friends,' he cried, ' the Austrians are worth no more, and 
 we are worth no less, than at Marengo ! ' Marching 
 quietly on foot amongst his men, who shared his confi- 
 dence, the Marshal repulsed several charges of cavalry, 
 and finally took up his position on the undulating ground 
 already referred to, extending from Essling to Aspern. 
 These two villages were still occupied by the French, but 
 both were being vigorously attacked, for the Archduke, 
 finding his centre so fiercely assailed, had ordered the 
 wings of his army to redouble their efforts against Essling 
 and Aspern in the hope of checking the impetuous charge 
 of Marshal Lannes. 
 
 My duties having now called me to the bridges, I was 
 unable to follow the further course of events on the battle 
 field. The scene at the bridges was, however, not less 
 intensely interesting than it had been on the plain of 
 Essling, for the swollen waters were destroying everything, 
 men and their work alike falling victims to its ravages. 
 To reach the bridges I had to cross the island of Lobau, 
 where our wounded were lying about amidst the brush- 
 wood, having dragged themselves thither in the hope of 
 getting help. And they did get it ; but, my God ! of 
 what a terrible nature that help was ! Everywhere limbs 
 were being cut or sawn off to save the lives of their 
 owners. The Larreys and the Percys,^ in spite of, or 
 rather because of, their compassionate hearts, were hard 
 at work in their blood-stained amphitheatre, their very 
 mercy making them apparently recklessly cruel. How we 
 should all shrink from the very idea of glory, if in seeking 
 it we always had to cross such meadows as these, strewn 
 with limbs cut off from the bodies they had belonged to, 
 
 ' Larrey and Percy were great French surgeons of the time of Napoleon. 
 — Teans. 
 
COMPLETE DESTRUCTION OF OUR BRIDGES 283 
 
 and to look on at the work of mutilation and dissection 
 characteristic of what is called the ambulance department 
 of an army ! Fortunately, however, the brilliant results 
 of the victory we always feel sure of gaining, generally 
 make us quickly forget the horrors we have gone through 
 in achieving it. 
 
 The bridges I had helped to construct and thought so 
 firm, having crossed them already, some twenty times, 
 were all but completely destroyed, all that remained 
 being a few portions which had been with difficulty made 
 fast in the hope of saving them from being swept away by 
 the current. Here and there five or six boats still held 
 together, and in one place there were as many as twelve, 
 but there were wide gaps between with absolutely nothing 
 to bridge them over. The river, which had risen some 
 eight feet, and was at least a third wider than when I had 
 last come down to the bridges, was rolling along at a tre- 
 mendous pace, carrying with it all manner of floating 
 objects. Where the chains of the anchors had held they 
 had been too short to save the boats, for they had been 
 swamped and sunk. Our brave marines and pontonniers 
 did their very utmost to arrest the worst mischief, but 
 their little boats got entangled in the ropes, and many went 
 down with those in them unable to rally from the colli- 
 sions they were powerless to avoid. Big boats and rafts 
 coming down stream at the speed of a galloping horse fell 
 across the few jportions of the bridges still intact, and the 
 stream, impeded for a moment in its course, dashed over 
 them with renewed force, great waves flinging themselves 
 against every obstacle with a hissing thunderous roar. To 
 complete our misfortunes, a big watermill built on two 
 boats was first set fire to, and then purposelessly cut adrift 
 and launched on the current by the Austrians. The huge 
 
284 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 "burning mass, vomiting forth clouds of black smoke from 
 the tar with which it had been smeared, bore down upon 
 us and added to our anxiety for what little was left to us 
 of our bridge of boats. With admirable intrepidity a good 
 many of our marines now flung themselves into small 
 boats and hastened off to fling anchors, chains, and ropes 
 on to the floating firebrand in the hope of bringing it to 
 a standstill, though they knew it was probably filled with 
 explosives, and would presently blow up and destroy 
 everything near it. At whatever cost, its progress must 
 be stopped before it fell upon our boats and set them all 
 on fire. Our marines and engineers did not succeed in 
 entirely averting the catastrophe, as several pontoons were 
 set alight, but neither were their brave efforts quite 
 thrown away, for they managed to turn aside the fiery 
 furnace into an open space where a span of our bridge 
 was broken away. When the burning mill passed me I 
 was near enough to touch it, and the heat was so intense 
 that I and the men with me coald not help recoiling and 
 feeling a momentary horror at finding ourselves at the 
 mercy of fire and water at once. 
 
 The Danube had now risen so high as to inundate 
 some of the woods of the Prater, and the deer from them 
 were trying to escape by swimming, some of them passing 
 under our bridges. Whilst we were all doing our best to 
 extinguish the flames of the burning boats, a herd of deer 
 was just passing, and our soldiers, who were always ready 
 for a bit of fun whatever the danger they were in, flung a 
 number of ropes over the fugitives, of which there were 
 about twenty. A stag and two hinds, numbed with cold 
 and terror, were caught and hoisted on board alive. The 
 antlered stag, generally so proud and vigorous, so ready to 
 defend itself, now remained motionless but for its trem- 
 
I TAKE BAD NEWS TO THE EMPEROR 285 
 
 bling, whilst its great eyes, from which the big tears 
 were rolhng down, expressed its presentiment of the fate 
 awaiting it, for of course a capture of game was looked 
 upon as most lucky at this juncture. 
 
 I soon recognised the impossibility of organising a ser- 
 vice of row-boats for taking troops and ammunition over, as 
 they would inevitably have drifted into the hands of the 
 enemy. The difficulty of getting skiffs over was not so 
 invincible as for the big boats, which were carried quickly 
 over such great distances that, in spite of every effort on 
 the part of the rowers, they would shoot past the island 
 of Lobau and run ashore far below it on the left bank, the 
 ground occupied by the enemy. There was not the same 
 risk in going from the island of Lobau to the right bank, 
 because our troops were stationed all along it as far as 
 beyond Presburg, and there was no danger of drifting 
 boats falling into the hands of the enemy. The employ- 
 ment of flying bridges was still less possible, the current 
 being far too strong for them. In spite of everything, 
 however, we did all we could to remove the wounded at 
 least by degrees. General Bertrand and the engineer 
 officers and men did all in their power to mitigate the 
 disasters overwhelming us, turning aside the fresh fire- 
 brands that were launched on us and saving the stores on 
 the banks. 
 
 It was with the very deepest regret that I went back 
 to tell the Emperor he must not hope for the arrival of the 
 rest of the army. During my absence the struggle, which 
 was still hotly maintained, had approached a good deal 
 nearer to the villages of Bssling and Aspern. The attack 
 was still sustained much as before on Aspern, but it had 
 been doubled and tripled on Bssling. Many of our guns 
 were already dismounted, whilst others, which had become 
 
286 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUXE 
 
 useless from the exhaustion of our ammunition or the loss 
 of our teams, which could no longer be replaced, had been 
 carried off. The Emperor, having no more troops of the 
 line to meet the masses of Austrians who had rallied to 
 crush Marshal Lannes and General Oudinot, at last had 
 recourse to his own Guard. Stationed as they were behind 
 him, they had been suffering terribly from the long-sus- 
 tained fire of the enemy, which had become so hot during 
 the last few hours as to be all but insupportable, and they 
 were all eager to take part in the fray. 
 
 A fresh and most heroic struggle now began. The 
 Emperor ordered Marshal Bessieres to lead the cuirassiers 
 and cavalry of the Guard against the masses of advancing 
 troops, and to charge them with a bold front, not so much 
 in the hope of securing victory as of breaking their ranks 
 and saving our own army. Whilst Marshal Bessieres, at 
 the head of the cavalry, was overthrowing several of the 
 enemy's columns, the Archduke bravely led his own picked 
 corps of Hungarian grenadiers, hitherto held in reserve, 
 up to our guns, which they approached without drawing 
 trigger, but a terrible hail of grape shot arrested their 
 progress. The Archduke, however, did all he could to 
 encourage them and urge them on ; but the raw young 
 grenadiers under Oudinot, many of them almost beardless, 
 charged and actually drove back once more these seasoned 
 Hungarian troops, whose waxed moustaches with ends 
 twisted into the shape of horns gave them a most for- 
 midable appearance. The Archduke then called up his 
 cavalry, which suddenly fell upon us and drove us back. 
 Our retreating horse made their way between the lines 
 of our infantry, so that their pursuers received our fire 
 almost at close quarters. Our vigorous onslaught, which 
 overthrew a large number of the enemy, at last checked 
 
A SUCCESSFUL BREACH OF DISCIPLINE 287 
 
 the Archduke's attack upon our centre, and led to his 
 leaving Marshal Lannes unmolested for a moment. 
 
 The course of events was, however, far more rapid at 
 Essling. General Boudet's troops, worn out with fatigue, 
 had been compelled to evacuate the village between three 
 and four o'clock, and the Emperor, recognising what mis- 
 fortunes would result from the loss of the position for the 
 rest of the day, ordered his aide-de-camp, General Mouton, 
 to go and retake it with four battalions of fusiliers of the 
 Young Guard, whilst General Eapp, another of his aides- 
 de-camp, was sent to the support of Marshal Massena at 
 Aspern, with some battalions of light infantry of the 
 Guard. Just as these two generals were starting, one for 
 the right, the other for the left, as ordered by the Emperor, 
 M. Alexandre de Laville, an aide-de-camp of Marshal 
 Bessieres, returning from the cavalry scuffle in which he 
 had been engaged, met General Bapp, and pointing out 
 to him the masses of enemy advancing upon Essling, he 
 said, ' General Mouton will certainly be crushed if you 
 do not go to his support.' Eapp hesitated for a moment 
 between obedience and his desire to save his fellow officer, 
 and then, urged on by De Laville, he marched upon 
 Essling. The Emperor was at first annoyed at this breach 
 of discipline duly reported to him by De Laville, but later, 
 when success had been secured by the disobedience, he 
 rewarded those who had thus taken the initiative with 
 promotion. 
 
 The village of Essling was already completely occu- 
 pied by the enemy, but General Mouton's troops charged 
 into it with fixed bayonets in spite of all opposition, and 
 succeeded in entering the large farm, already on fire, which 
 had been defended for a long time by General Boudet, and 
 was now held by an Hungarian battalion. A second Hun- 
 
288 3IEM0IRS OF BARO^: LEJEUXE 
 
 garian corps was entrenched in the cemetery, which was 
 taken by assault by the Imperial Guard under Gleneral 
 Gros. As that general bad not men enough to retain 
 possession of prisoners, it would have been dangerous to 
 take them, so no quarter was given, and 700 Hungarians 
 were put to the sword amongst the tombs, after which 
 two corps of the Guard took up their stand in the village, 
 presenting an appearance as forbidding as their assault had 
 been terrible, so that the enemy, discouraged by the loss of 
 so many men, did not venture on any further attack of our 
 position, though they still riddled us with bullets. This 
 murderous fire also reached the two corps of the Guard held 
 in reserve, and they actually lost more men than if they 
 had been in action. The Emperor, full of admiration of 
 their courageous calm beneath this terrible fire, to which 
 he had himself also been exposed for two days, and 
 anxious to do them justice, spoke of them in the gazette 
 of the battle in the following terms : 
 
 ' The skirmishers under General Curial burnt powder 
 for the first time on this day, and proved their strength. 
 General Dorsenne, commanding the Old Guard, placed 
 them in the third line, forming a wall of brass which 
 alone was enough to check every charge of the Austrian 
 troops.' 
 
 This General Dorsenne was, without exception, the 
 handsomest man of the army. He was very particular 
 about his toilette, and gave a great deal of time to the 
 care of his beautiful long black curls. But this devotion 
 to bis appearance did not prevent him from being, as was 
 Murat, who resembled him in this respect, one of the 
 bravest soldiers of France. The seasoned troops under 
 him followed his example in the carefulness of their get- 
 up, and this gave to the Old Guard an appearance so 
 
OUR SMALLER BRIDGE IS BROKEN 289 
 
 brilliant that it set a mark upon the epoch to which they 
 belonged. 
 
 Just when the pursuit on either side had everywhere 
 ceased, and it appeared as if the Archduke, fearing, per- 
 haps, to be too venturesome, was beginning to be disposed, 
 as the saying goes, to provide us with a golden bridge 
 for the retreat he desired us to make, the fatal news 
 was brought to Prince Berthier of the breaking of our 
 smaller bridge. He at once sent me to try and remedy 
 the mischief, which was a difficult task enough. How- 
 ever, by means of ropes, trestles, beams, chesses, and 
 planks laid crosswise, I did manage to connect the pon- 
 toons and make our only means of communication with 
 the island of Lobau bear for a short time longer. I then 
 hastened back with this news to the Emperor, who ordered 
 me to go to Marshal Lannes and ascertain how much 
 longer he thought he could maintain his position. When 
 I reached that officer his horses had been killed, and I 
 found him crouching with a few officers behind a bit of 
 rising ground which protected them up to the waist only. 
 Between this group and the enemy were some 300 
 grenadiers, the little remnant of the gallant army with 
 which Marshal Lannes had been defending the position 
 since the morning. The scattered bodies of infantry were 
 protected from the charges of the enemy's cavalry by a 
 few hurdles only, which had served to mark the limits of 
 different properties. The Marshal's reply to my inquiry 
 was, ' I have but the few men you see, and we will hold 
 out to the end ; but I have no more cartridges, and do 
 not know where to get any.' Then, vexed at seeing me 
 exposed to the grape shot ploughing up the crest of the 
 breastwork behind which he was to some extent sheltered, 
 he made me dismount and tell him what was going on 
 VOL. I. D 
 
290 MEMOIRS or BAKOX LEJEUXE 
 
 elsewhere, reminding me how, three months before, at 
 Saragossa, we had been crouching together in a trench in 
 an equally critical position, and that the town had yielded 
 on just such a day as this. I left with him a handsome 
 young fellow officer, since disfigured by wounds, De 
 Septeuil by name, and went to give the Emperor his 
 reply in the words, 'I will hold out to the last.' As I 
 rode off, I was covered with the dust raised by the grape 
 shot from the enemy, and I doubted very much if I should 
 get back alive ; but I was even more anxious about the 
 fate of the Marshal. 
 
 I had scarcely reached the Emperor when Prince 
 Berthier said to me, ' The small bridge is broken again. 
 'Go quickly and see what can be done.' I hastened off, and 
 we succeeded in mending it yet again, but the river was 
 ■still rising, and we had little hope of maintaining it intact 
 for any time. All our wounded were now dragging them- 
 selves to this small bridge, crowding the approach to it, each 
 eager to be the first to cross. Driven back by the car- 
 penters, whose work they impeded, their position was one to 
 ■draw tears from the spectator. The less mutilated amongst 
 them endeavoured to clamber up the ropes into the boats, 
 but climbing one over the other they got in each other's 
 way, and not a single one succeeded in getting over the 
 bridge. Many wounded horses, abandoned by their owners 
 but accustomed to follow them, added to the confusion by 
 pushing in amongst the unfortunate fugitives. All huddled 
 together on the banks and approaches to the bridge, they 
 were soon overwhelmed by the water, which continued to 
 rise. The crowd became so great that the wounded were 
 unable to move back, and we had to look on whilst men 
 and horses were drowned without being able to do anything 
 to help them, for a way of retreat for the army must be 
 
.MARSHAL LANXES IS MORTALLY WOUXDED 291 
 
 secured before anything else. ' Let us save the Emperor ! ' 
 were the words which passed from mouth to mouth. In 
 this terrible disorder that was our one hope ; it behoved 
 us all to do our utmost to save him from being either taken 
 prisoner or killed, and I now hurried back to Prince 
 Berthier to beg him to do all in his power to induce the 
 Emperor to retreat to the island of Lobau whilst it was 
 still possible. Napoleon was most unwilling to desert his 
 army, and would not consent to leave until I had described 
 to him the distressing state of things at the bridge. At 
 last, slowly traversing on foot the little wood, which had 
 also been turned to account as an ambulance, I had the 
 satisfaction of leading the Emperor to the group of wounded 
 accumulated near the bridge. All, when they saw us 
 approach, roused themselves tocry, ' Vive I'Empereur ! ' and 
 tried to draw yet more closely together so as to leave room 
 for him to pass. Hitherto the Emperor's features had 
 maintained their absolute calmness of expression, but now 
 they suddenly relaxed, and his cold bright eyes were 
 dimmed as he fixed them on the ground before him. He 
 only recovered his composure when the removal of the 
 wounded began ; and he was watching the long file moving 
 away, when Marshal Lannes was carried up mortally 
 wounded. Directly he caught sight of , him Napoleon 
 hurried to his side with an expression of indescribable 
 grief. 
 
 As soon as I had left the Marshal, the remnant of his 
 men had been put quite hors de combat by the grape shot 
 of the enemy, and he had been the very last to retire, 
 almost alone and on foot. One of the many balls still 
 ploughing up the plain had carried off both his legs. Two 
 or three officers accompanying him, wounded though they 
 were themselves, with a few grenadiers and dismounted 
 
 u 2 
 
292 ME:\roiRS of baron lejeune 
 
 cuirassiers, had carried him to the little wood, where first 
 aid was rendered. There he was joined by others of his 
 troops less seriously wounded, and they made a litter for him 
 with their muskets, a few branches of oak, and two or three 
 cloaks. Bathed with sweat, their brows contracted with 
 suffering, their complexions blackened with exposure to 
 the sun and the fumes of the powder they had been burning 
 for two whole days, and many of them bleeding from their 
 wounds, everything about the brave fellows bore witness 
 to their valour and devotion. Most of them had one arm 
 at least in a sling, and used the other to help carry the 
 litter. The head of the Marshal, who was all but insensible, 
 had sunk upon the hands of one of the officers who with 
 anxious care were carrying the precious burden. The 
 melancholy procession halted on the little bridge when it 
 came in sight of the weeping Emperor, hastening, all over- 
 come with grief, to meet his dying friend. Every heart 
 was torn at the sight of sorrow so sincere, and tears poured 
 down the cheeks of veterans whom no personal danger 
 could have moved to emotion. The Emperor flung him- 
 self upon the litter, threw his arms round his friend, and 
 holding him in a close embrace as the tears rained upon 
 his face, he inquired anxiously, ' Do you know me, dear 
 friend? It is Bonaparte, it is your friend.' The Marshal, 
 who had recovered consciousness, responded with a few 
 affectionate words, and the doctor, seeing that this painful 
 scene was likely to hasten the all too rapidly approaching 
 end, expressed his fears to the Emperor, who retired after 
 once more pressing in both his own the hand of the brave 
 friend whose skill had increased with his experience, and 
 who Napoleon had hoped would yet aid him in some hun- 
 dred future victories. The Marshal was too exhausted to 
 be taken farther then, and he remained for the night on 
 
I SEEK A BOAT FOR THE EMPEROR'S RETREAT 293 
 
 the island of Lobau, which the Emperor did not leave 
 without going to see him once more. 
 
 The enemy, worn out by the unexpected resistance 
 they had met with at every point, kept at a distance from 
 us now, harassing us only with the fire from their artillery, 
 which in the course of a single day had poured out on us 
 no less than from 3,000 to 4,000 pounds of iron in the 
 form of balls and grape shot. No further incidents occurred 
 before the night set in. The Austrian army, three times 
 more numerous than our own, had from 8,000 to 10,000 
 men killed and 16,000 wounded, including amongst the 
 former twelve generals, and amongst the latter 700 non- 
 commissioned and 87 superior officers, whilst 1,500 pri- 
 soners, including one lieutenant-general, were taken, with 
 fourteen pieces of cannon and four flags, trophies very 
 dearly bought and forming but a poor compensation for 
 the loss of the illustrious Marshal Lannes, such a general 
 as Saint-Hilaire, and so many brave and valued officers 
 and men. 
 
 I was charged to devote my whole attention to the 
 preservation of the little bridge, which was so much 
 menaced by the rising floods that I really feared the island 
 of Lobau itself would be presently submerged. The rise 
 of the water not another two feet would bring about this 
 result, and we could see from the marks on the trees that 
 it had already once reached that height. Fortunately, 
 however, our fears were not this time realised. 
 
 At ten o'clock in the evening, Major-General Prince 
 Berthier told me to go to the main branch of the Danube 
 and prepare a boat to secure the passage of the Emperor 
 to the right bank. 
 
 It was the time of the new moon and it was pitch 
 dark, black clouds so completely covering the sky that I 
 
1194 MEMOIRS OF BAItOX LEJEUNE 
 
 had not even the hght of the stars to guide me, and as I 
 splashed through the puddles caused by the rising of the 
 river, I began to be afraid I should lose my way. The vs^ind 
 too was beginning to rise, and the moaning of the trees 
 stifled that of the many wounded lying near. I often 
 stumbled over their feet as I made for the bank of the 
 river at the point where there remained but a few relics 
 of what had been our bridges. 
 
 The best of the boats was quickly manned with 
 fifteen rowers, a couple of pilots, and a few good swimmers 
 in case of accidents ; and I started to go back to tell 
 the Prince that all was ready. When I had got about 
 halfway, and as I was groping along in this, one of 
 the darkest nights I had ever known, with my hands 
 outstretched to guard myself from running up against a 
 tree, I came in contact with some one else advancing from 
 the opposite direction, and using exactly the same pre- 
 cautions. Then a husky and weary voice inquired 
 brusquely, ' Who are you ? ' ' It is I, sire,' I replied, for I 
 recognised the Emperor ; and Prince Berthier, who was 
 close behind the Emperor, whispered to me, ' Is the boat 
 ready? ' ' Yes,' I answered ; ' I will take you to it.' 
 
 When we got to the bank the Emperor sounded his 
 watch, which struck eleven, and turning to Prince Berthier 
 he said, ' The time has come ; give the order for retreat.' 
 My young fellow officer, Edmond de Perigord, now a lieu- 
 tenant-general, then lit a torch, and with difiiculty pre- 
 venting it from being blown out by the wind, he held it 
 whilst by its vacillating light and using my sabretache as 
 a desk, I wrote the two lines which ordered Marshals 
 Massena and Bessieres to withdraw to the island of Lobau 
 at midnight and there take up their position. Prince 
 Berthier signed the message, and the Emperor said to me. 
 
ESCAPE OF THE EMPEROR 295 
 
 ' Go and take that order.' The next moment, showing no 
 anxiety in spite of the pitchy darkness and of the rising 
 storm, which was adding to the force of the wind and the 
 waves, he stepped into the boat with the three officers 
 attending him, the moorings were cast loose, the bark shot 
 forward hke an arrow from a bow, and in an instant it had 
 disappeared. The torch was extinguished by the fury of 
 the wind ; some four paces from the bank there was no- 
 thing to indicate the direction taken by the fugitives, the 
 new Csesar and his fortunes were swallowed up in the gulf 
 of darkness, and might perhaps be sucked down into the 
 abyss never to reappear, whilst I remained the sole witness 
 to the catastrophe. I could not get over the terrible 
 anxiety which seized me when the torch went out, and it 
 troubled me greatly until quite late the next day, when I 
 learnt that the Emperor, though the force of the current 
 had carried his boat a long way down, had succeeded in 
 reaching the opposite bank without accident, and was now 
 engaged in arranging for the sending of provisions over to 
 the island of Lobau. 
 
 After the departure of the Emperor, the terrible drama 
 which had been going on for two days seemed drawing to 
 its close, but it was by no means over for me. 
 
 I had not seen a sign of my men or my horses since 
 sunset, and had no idea where to look for them. It would 
 have taken too long to seek them, and besides I could not 
 cross the battle field on foot and at night without losing a 
 great deal of precious time. I was feeling very much put 
 out at the contretemps of the absence of my people when 
 I got to the bridge, but amongst the crowd hastening to 
 cross it I recognised one of the sappers of our engineer 
 corps, leading the saddled and bridled horse of an Hun- 
 garian hussar. ' Who gave you that horse to hold ? ' 
 
296 MEMOIRS OF BAROX LEJEUXE 
 
 I inquired. ' Captain Franjais, of the mining corps,' was 
 the reply. ' Do you Imow me ?' 'Oh, yes. Colonel.' 'Well, 
 tell the Captain that I take this horse for the service of 
 the Emperor. I will return him to-morrow, or if he is killed 
 pay twenty-five louis d'or for him ; ' and seizing the bridle 
 I sprang into the saddle and dashed off at a gallop, my 
 only fear now being that I might be shot by our own men, 
 who would, perhaps, take me for a Uhlan or Hungarian 
 hussar. 
 
 A few scattered bivouac fires dimly lit up the paths of 
 the little wood and those across the plains, and making 
 my way along the wide spaces between the fires, I 
 soon arrived at Aspern. The glow from the red ashes of 
 the houses which had been burnt was not bright enough 
 for me to ascertain to whom to apply for information as 
 to the Marshal's whereabouts. I had already had to turn 
 back from one street, too much encumbered by debris for 
 me to get through it on horseback, and was trying another, 
 when a sentinel challenged me with ' Wer da '? ' the ' Who 
 goes there ? ' of the Austrians, to which I answered with- 
 out hesitation, ' Stabsofficier ' (Staff officer). A young 
 officer, deceived, no doubt, by the trappings of my horse, 
 then came forward and said politely, ' Darf ich fragen wie 
 viel Uhr es sei ? ' (May I ask what time it is ?) ' Mitternacht ' 
 (midnight), and without further explanation I put spurs 
 to my horse and galloped off as I had come. Some twentj- 
 Austrian bullets immediately whistled about my ears. I 
 dashed back into the little wood, lying flat on my horse, 
 and there I was received with more bullets, for I was sup- 
 posed to be part of a cavalry charge. The darkness and 
 Providence preserved me, however, and I shouted as I drew 
 rein, ' Don't fire ; I am French ! ' A terrible voice then 
 suddenly shouted angrily, ' Who is the d d fool who 
 
I AM THE BEAEER OF THE ORDER FOR RETREAT 297 
 
 ventures to pass my outposts ? ' ' Oh, it is you, General 
 Legrand ! ' I exclaimed, recognising the voice. ' I am 
 looking for Marshal Massena ; I did not know you had left 
 Aspern, and I have just come from there ! ' ' My dear 
 fellow, what imprudence ! ' was the reply. ' I don't know 
 exactly where the Marshal is, but he ought to be quite 
 close to us in the little wood near one of those fires.' I 
 asked several other people, but the answer was always the 
 same, ' I don't know.' I was still wandering about in the 
 wood, my horse treading often on cinders still simmering, 
 little dreaming that the heat from them was all the warmth 
 the hero of these two terrible days could find, when I 
 came upon some one lying alone on the ground wrapped 
 in his cloak, without so much as a bit of straw to serve as 
 a couch. A brusque voice cried, ' Don't ride over my legs.' 
 ' Why, it is the Marshal himself ! ' I exclaimed. ' What a 
 hunt I have had for you ! ' Then dismounting I said to 
 him in a low voice, 'I bring you the order for retreat.' 
 ' I expected it, and I am ready,' was the reply. ' Does 
 Bessieres know ? ' ' No, Marshal,' I answered, ' but I am 
 going to tell him.' ' Very well, be off, and mind the bridge 
 is ready ; it is midnight, and I shall cross at once.' I easily 
 found Marshal Bessieres, surrounded by his cavalry, and 
 before daybreak all had silently retreated to the island of 
 Lobau, except a few companies left to defend the entrance 
 to the bridge, which, however, the enemy made no attempt 
 to attack. 
 
 Back again on the island, Marshal Massena took com- 
 mand of the army, remaining there for three whole days, 
 during which it was impossible to obtain anything like 
 provisions enough from the right bank of the river, so 
 that we were obliged to kill and eat our horses. All our 
 efforts were concentrated on finding some means to re- 
 
298 ME.AKHRS OF BAIJON LE.JEUNE 
 
 move the wounded and to obtain provisions. Marshal 
 Lannes was one of the first to be taken to the other side, 
 and for two days we hoped his life might be saved, 
 but he died at Vienna on May 31. On the evening of 
 the 23rd the Danube began to go down, and I went all 
 over the island to the different spots where our troops 
 were encamped beneath the grand old trees, and our brave 
 fellows, after going through such terrible experiences, were 
 at last able to indulge in a little repose, and to stretch 
 themselves to sleep beneath the far-spreading branches, 
 secure in the knowledge that the Emperor was doing 
 everything in his power liberally to supply all their 
 needs. 
 
 Meanwhile the Italian contingent had arrived, the 
 Viceroy in command met and embraced the Emperor 
 at Ebersdorff on the 25th, and the union of all the forces 
 of the Grande Armee cheered us all with the hope of being 
 able soon to achieve a brilliant revenge. Thus ended the 
 great battle of Essling,' which reflected so much glory on 
 the Erench arms, inasmuch as by dint of marvellous 
 courage and perseverance 50,000 men, cut off from all 
 hope of succour, and short of ammunition though they 
 were, yet kept back for three days an army 160,000 strong 
 backed by a river in flood, and with all the resources of a 
 patriotic country at their command. 
 
 ' Generally spoken of by English historians as the battle of Aspern. — 
 
 TliANS. 
 
299 
 
 CHAPTEE X 
 
 WAGBAM — ZNAIJI — KLAGENFUETH 
 
 I WAS not able to cross the Danube and return to Ebers- 
 dorff until the '25th. After having shared the fatigues and 
 privations of the army during the preceding days, I was 
 glad enough to get back to plenty and to be able to have 
 a httle repose, but the last was of very short duration. 
 The Emperor was not a man to lose any time. He always 
 aimed at rapidly concluding a glorious peace, and all his 
 energies were directed to winning that peace by some 
 decisive victor}'. The first thing done was to restore the 
 bridges and withdraw the wounded and artillery still re- 
 maining on the island of Lobau. The Guard and those 
 corps which had suffered most passed over to the right 
 bank, where they were quickly reorganised, the gaps being 
 filled up by the fresh troops which had arrived from 
 France, so that in a short time the Emperor was at the 
 head of a larger army than he had had before the battle of 
 Essling. 
 
 The Archduke Charles had also received reinforcements, 
 and was encamped with his increased forces a little dis- 
 tance from, the banks of the Danube. He seeraed anxious 
 to alarm us by threatening to cross the river to Neuburg 
 above Vienna, and to Presburg below that town, where he 
 had had a very strong bridge head constructed. 
 
 General Pajol, commanding our light cavahy, being 
 
300 MEMOIKS OF BAKOX LEJEUXE 
 
 thus threatened hy this feigned passage of the river at 
 Neuburg, I was sent to him on May 27 with orders to 
 reconnoitre the state of the enemy's works and advise our 
 General on the best measures of defence to adopt. The 
 Austrians, I found, had made very extensive entrench- 
 ments on the left bank, but they were all of a purely 
 defensive character. I climbed on to the Leopoldsberg, 
 from which I got a good view of the works, of which I 
 made a plan. I was in full sight of the enemy, who 
 poured a regular volley of shot upon me ; but I relied on 
 the clumsiness of the marksmen, and was able to complete 
 my sketch. I had also to pass in review and repor^ on 
 the state of the newly arrived troops in the same district, 
 and the enemy cannonaded us for ever so long without 
 hitting a single man. On the evening of that very day 
 the monks of the Closterneuburg Abbey entertained me at 
 a banquet as sumptuous as any that could have been given 
 in a big city in time of peace. The orchestra of the con- 
 vent, accompanied by the music of a fine organ, was 
 supplemented by the band of our 26th Eegiment, and it 
 seemed to me a truly wonderful experience to pass in a 
 few minutes from the tumult of war to the pleasures of 
 the table and the enjoyment of the finest music. 
 
 Our time was now chiefly occupied in military works 
 outside the gates of Vienna, such as the reconstruction of 
 the bridges and the reorganisation of the army. Being 
 so near the town, where many of the richest families still 
 remained, we were able to avail ourselves of the generous 
 hospitality of the inhabitants, and the arduous toil imposed 
 upon us by the war was relieved by many a pleasant 
 recreation. I was able, for instance, to indulge in doing 
 a little painting at the house of the venerable Casanova, 
 the painter of battle scenes, who had long been well known 
 
SECOND SPANNING OF THE DANUBE 301 
 
 in Paris, and had now retired to Vienna, where he was en- 
 gaged in painting incidents of the wars of the Austrians 
 with the Turks. I went, too, sometimes to the clever 
 engraver, Mansfeld, who lent me his burins ; and to the 
 residences of the Princesses of StaremBerg, Czartoriska, 
 Trautmansdorf, Bathiany, &c., who got all the members 
 of the staff who were able to draw or to write poetry to 
 contribute something to their albums. 
 
 The construction of the bridges was confided to General 
 Bertrand, General Bogniat, of the engineers. General 
 Lariboisiere, of the artillery, and the pontonniers and 
 marines of the Guard. The same site was chosen as before, 
 but the bridges were wider and constructed in a much 
 more scientific manner. For the passage of the infantry 
 strong pile bridges were constructed, capable of withstand- 
 ing the force of the river freshets ; stockades were firmly 
 planted at distances of about 300 feet in the bed of the 
 stream, so as to protect the bridges from the shock of 
 floating bodies, whilst bridges of larger boats provided 
 crossings, well protected from every kind of accident, for 
 the use of the cavalry and the passage of all the material 
 of war. These parallel bridges thus rendered traffic to 
 and fro between the banks as easy as in the streets of a 
 town.' Fortifications were erected on the islands of the 
 Danube, the most zealous activity reigned in every depart- 
 ment of the various works, and it was easy to see that it 
 would not be long before the Emperor was ready to ad- 
 vance upon the army of the Archduke, and attack the 
 enemy on the very same battle field as before. 
 
 Meanwhile the Austrians seemed to be still uncertain 
 what to do next, and had evidently arrived at no plan for 
 
 ' This second spanning of the Danube before the battle of Wagram was 
 one of the grandest engineering feats of any campaign — Tkans. 
 
30:^ MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUXE 
 
 a grand attack. They appeared to have some idea of 
 threatening our rear in the direction of Hungary, and made 
 great preparations for crossing the Danube opposite 
 Presburg. Marshal Davout was ordered to oppose their 
 passage, and I was sent to him to urge him to compel 
 any Austrians who crossed to return to the left bank. 
 
 Nothing could be more picturesque or quaint than the 
 appearance of the fine town of Presburg perched on the 
 hills, looking down on the river and the islands with which 
 its course is dotted. These islands had been clothed with 
 thick forests of lofty trees, but the last floods had torn up 
 thousands of venerable giants, many of which lay prone 
 or were being carried along by the current. Only the 
 saplings, too weak to resist, which had bent to the storm, 
 remained growing ; but though they had risen again now 
 the tempest was past, they had as yet but little foliage. 
 The trunks lying about, stripped of their foliage and their 
 bark by the water or by the floating objects which had 
 been dashed against them, made the islands look like 
 great timber yards, full of wood waiting to be sawn. The 
 Austrians had made use of the trunks thus encumbering 
 the ground, as if they had been an abattis of impenetrable 
 wood, to fortify the approaches to the entrenchments of 
 the bridge head they had constructed on the largest of the 
 islands opposite the big bridge. At first sight it seemed 
 as if it would be very difficult to dislodge them from this 
 position. I wanted to give the Emperor an idea of the 
 state of things, so I climbed to a lofty spot, and I was 
 making a plan of the fortifications, which I meant to let 
 the Marshal have also, to help him to decide on the order 
 of his attack, when, defying every obstacle in the way, he 
 ordered the charge to be made (June 7). Springing from 
 tree to tree, our grenadiers succeeded in less than half an 
 
KING MURAT C AERIES OFF THE POPE 303 
 
 hour in climbing up to the entrenchments, which they 
 assaulted simultaneously at five or six different points, 
 killing all who attempted to defend them. The entrench- 
 ments were then occupied by our men, the Austrians' bridge 
 was burnt, and one colonel with thirty men were taken 
 prisoners. The plan I had hastily made merely served to 
 illustrate my account to the Emperor of the boldness of 
 the successful enterprise. I did not leave till I had also 
 made a sketch of the works the Marshal had had con- 
 structed opposite the bridge head, so as to blockade it. 
 My notes on this occasion contain also a memorandum of 
 the terrible fusillade and cannonade to which we were 
 exposed not only when this coup de main took place, but 
 throughout the whole of the day. 
 
 It was but sixteen days since our retreat from Essling, 
 and the bad news had already spread all over Germany, 
 completely changing the attitude towards us of those inte- 
 rested in the overthrow of Napoleon. The political 
 horizon became everywhere overclouded, and distressing 
 tidings reached us at Ebersdorff. Prussia hastened to 
 renew the preparations for war which had been suspended 
 when at the news of our victories at Eckmiihl the Tyrol 
 again revolted, and the Bavarians had been compelled to 
 abandon Innspruck. Austria endeavoured to spread the 
 insurrection, whilst England pressed on her own arma- 
 ments, aided Austria with subsidies, and landed troops in 
 Italy opposite Naples, threatening Eome. King Murat 
 was even obliged to carry off the Pope on July 6, and in 
 France fresh revolutionary plots were formed against 
 Napoleon. 
 
 Without quitting Vienna, however, the Emperor was 
 clever enough to frustrate all the efforts made against him 
 at a distance, and the skill and energy with which he 
 
304 MEMOIRS OF BAliOX LEJEUXE 
 
 pushed on the preparations for his next attack confirmed 
 the confidence of his troops in him, a confidence which 
 even all that had occurred at Essling had failed to 
 shake. 
 
 Marshal Davout's corps, opposite Presburg, protected 
 us from any attempts the Archduke John might make to 
 pass from the left to the right bank of the Danube, whilst 
 the army of Italy covered us at a distance from any 
 attack which might threaten us from the direction of 
 Hungary. 
 
 The work on our bridges was pushed on with extra- 
 ordinary rapidity. The huge chain which had been forged 
 by the Turks for barring the passage of the Danube, and 
 had for two centuries hung as a trophy of victory over the 
 Ottoman power from the roof of the arsenal of Vienna, 
 was taken to Ebersdorff and fastened across the river to 
 strengthen the stockades raised in advance of the bridges 
 to protect them from being set on fire or injured by floating 
 objects. 
 
 Lobau, with the islands near it, full as they were of 
 troops and encampments, forges, rope factories, repairing 
 sheds for mending the boats &c., resembled the big 
 arsenals of the chief French ports just before the starting 
 of some maritime expedition. The month of June was 
 spent in completing these extensive works, and during it 
 I was able to snatch a few hours for my favourite pursuit 
 of painting. In one of my recent excursions in the service 
 of the army I had witnessed one of the too frequent acts 
 of pillage which it had been my business to endeavour to 
 repress, but it had struck me as tragi-coixiic rather than 
 horrible, for at thirty one laughs at everything, and with 
 no idea of doing anything more than enabling my fellow 
 of&cers to share my amusement I had made a sketch of 
 
MISTAKEN SEVERITY AND ITS RESULTS 305 
 
 the scene. I only relate the insignificant little episode of 
 this drawing of mine to illustrate how much at heart the 
 Emperor had the honour of France on every occasion, 
 however trivial. 
 
 To maintain discipline and repress pillage had always 
 been one of the duties of the leaders of the army, but 
 during a war so many fortuitous circumstances make it 
 necessary for soldiers to forage for their provisions that a 
 general is often obliged to be blind to their excesses. 
 Often enough indeed such generals as Mansfeld and De 
 Broglie, with others as severe as they, who had mercilessly 
 hanged men for stealing a cabbage or a chicken from the 
 peasants in an enemy's country, have soon afterwards lost 
 battles through the disaffection of their troops. When by 
 the Concordat concluded by the First Consul in 1801 he 
 re-established the Church in France, Napoleon had taken 
 a great step towards the restitution of public morality, 
 and he was very severe on any tampering with it. During 
 the disorders of the Eevolution he had been very indignant 
 at seeing the mob decked out in priestly vestments, and at 
 the desecration of the sacred ornaments of the Church in 
 profane orgies. Young soldiers like myself had been 
 accustomed to seeing misguided men behave in this manner, 
 and were in the habit of laughing at them. I was no 
 wiser than my comrades ; I did not realise that to deserve 
 respect one must honour that which others revere, and 
 I thoughtlessly made a water-colour sketch of the scene 
 I am about to describe. 
 
 On the day when our army was approaching Ebers- 
 dorff, our soldiers with the excellent appetites travelling 
 gives had gone some distance from the camp to get pro- 
 visions. In the midst of the confusion into which the 
 unexpected visit of our troops threw the village, a cottage 
 
 VOL. I. X 
 
30(i MEMOIES OF BAROX LEJEUNE 
 
 took fire and the flames spread to the neighbouring houses. 
 The first thought of our young soldiers was to rescue the 
 villagers, but in throwing out the objects they were 
 anxious to save they came upon the provisions &c. which 
 had been hidden from us by their owners, and which had 
 attracted so many unwelcome visitors. Loaves of bread, 
 lumps of lard and vegetables, were now piled up out of the 
 reach of the fire, mixed helter-skelter with the clothes, 
 household linen, furniture, kitchen utensils, jars of wine, 
 •and casks of beer of the luckless peasants. The fire was 
 scarcely extinguished before our thirsty soldiers fell upon 
 the liquor and drank more than was good for them. Then, 
 having quickly taken. their fill, and seeing that nothing but 
 trouble would come of further delay, they started to go 
 back to the camp laden with provisions, which in their 
 very unstable condition they found much too heavy to 
 ■carry. 
 
 The road to the camp was soon strewn with the debris 
 ■of the booty, each man throwing away what he could not 
 take with him, till the track was marked with a long uneven 
 line of scattered fruits, ducks, saucepans, hams, linen, fat 
 .geese, clothes, and even books, for some of our soldiers were 
 •educated men, who cultivated literature when their brains 
 were not muddled with wine. In their reckless gaiety, 
 many of the high-spirited young fellows had decked them- 
 selves out in women's clothes, putting the petticoats on 
 over their uniforms, and the blackened faces of the grena- 
 diers, with their huge moustaches, presented a most comic 
 appearance beneath the caps and above the bodices and 
 short skirts of the peasants as they capered, shouted, and 
 roared with laughter, whilst near them stood the owners 
 of the stolen property, weeping in angry bitterness. One 
 ■soldier, mounted on a donkey which had belonged to some 
 
A SKETCH OF MINE DISPLEASES THE EMPEROR 307 
 
 peasant, and wearing a saucepan as a helmet, was dragging 
 back to camp a lamb, a sack of vegetables, the cure's spit 
 with his joint of meat on it, and a doll ; another, his clothes 
 all in disorder, had made a luckless villager don his helmet 
 and breastplate, and drive in front of him the pig fattened 
 for the use of the family, whilst he himself, with the 
 peasant's cap on his head and so tipsy he could hardly keep 
 himself steady, was trying to console the weeping daughter 
 of his victim, who would not leave her old father in the 
 hands of the intoxicated troopers. What shocked the 
 Emperor most, when, thinking to please him, some one 
 showed him this sketch of mine, was the fact that in the 
 midst of the scene of fire and pillage with the grotesque 
 medley of dancing and weeping figures such as is only seen 
 in times of war, some of the soldiers were amusing them- 
 selves with sacred objects taken from the burning sacristy. 
 One was wildly brandishing in the air a barber's wooden 
 block with the cure's tonsured and powdered wig upon it ; 
 another, reeling with intoxication, had put on a stole em- 
 broidered with silver, with other sacerdotal ornaments, in 
 which he was preaching wisdom and sobriety to his com- 
 rades. The Emperor was annoyed at this profanation of 
 religion, and, angry with the author of the sketch for seeing 
 anything comic in such a scene, he sent a message to me to 
 the effect that I had better employ my brushes in the perpe- 
 tuation of beauty and of noble actions. ' Lejeune,' he said, 
 ' has distinguished himself by many deeds of brilliant 
 comage ; it would be more worthy of his talent if he were 
 to represent them.' 
 
 On June 14 the army of Italy had gained a great vic- 
 tory over the Austrians near Eaab, and, in ordering his aide- 
 de-camp General Lauriston to go and besiege that town, 
 the Emperor also gave instructions that I was to be sent 
 
 X 2 
 
308 MEMOIKS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 first to reconnoitre the position, to press on the siege, and 
 then to push a reconnaissance as far as possible in the 
 direction of Comorn and Pesth, the latter being the chief 
 town of Hungary. Eaab capitulated on the evening of 
 the 22nd, and at daybreak on the 23rd I was already ten 
 miles away from it on the heights opposite Comorn. 
 
 I had taken from our outposts of the army of Italy 
 General Montbrun's light cavalry division, which the 
 Viceroy had placed at my disposition to echelon along the 
 road I had to take, so as to insure me everywhere a point of 
 support to meet every contingency which might arise. I 
 came in sight of the town on a beautiful morning ; the 
 bayonets of the defenders and the new brass cannon 
 mounted on the ramparts of the suburb on the right bank 
 of the Danube gleaming in the sunshine. 
 
 Having placed my troops in a position from which they 
 could observe my movements and come to my aid if neces- 
 sary, I started to reconnoitre the place in broad daylight, an 
 operation always difficult and requiring great audacity. The 
 venture was of the most absorbing interest to me, and all 
 the young officers who were to be left behind out of danger 
 were eager to accompany me. The discussion with them 
 was really touching, but it behoved me to go alone, so as 
 to attract less attention, and I was obliged to be content 
 with choosing the fleetest of their horses, on which I could 
 skim along like a swallow and brave the firing on the 
 glacis of the town as I examined its enceinte and fortifica- 
 tions. By a lucky chance the sentinels and the troops in 
 the town, still absorbed in thinking of their last defeat, 
 and never dreaming that the French could be so near, 
 mistook my party for a corps of Austrians who had escaped 
 after the battle of Eaab, and at first paid little attention 
 to the officer scudding along the crests of the covered ways 
 
I PENETRATE TO THE HEART OF HUNGARY 309 
 
 as he examined the shape and condition of the walls and 
 ditches. 
 
 Profiting by this lull in the enemy's vigilance and the 
 extraordinary swiftness of my steed, I pushed on for 
 several leagues along the road to Pesth, from which I was 
 not more than some ten miles distant. I saw no troops 
 whatever, so riding back I halted on a plateau command- 
 ing a view of the greater part of Comorn, of which I 
 made a plan. I had to hurry over the last lines, how- 
 ever, for some horsemen had meanwhile been sent out 
 from the town to reconnoitre my party, and the news 
 they took back led to my work as an engineer being cut 
 short by a sharp cannonade, draughtsman and plan being 
 covered with dust as the balls ploughed up the ground. I 
 thanked General Montbrun's division and the officers who 
 had accompanied me for their help, and remounting my 
 posthorse I set out for Eaab, arriving there on the 24th. 
 I was present at the parade which took place in that town 
 when the Viceroy allowed the imprisoned garrison to 
 march past him with their arms, their flags, and all the 
 honours of war. I also accompanied Prince Eugene on 
 a reconnaissance of the interior of the town and of 
 its fortifications. The next day, the 26th, I went to 
 Schonbrunn, fifty leagues from Comorn, where I gave an 
 account to the Emperor of the happy way in which I had 
 turned to account the few days of my absence, during 
 which I had not had one night's rest. Apparently m- 
 significant as this trip was, I treasure up the memory of 
 it more than of any other because it enabled me to boast 
 that I was the only Frenchman who had the honour of 
 penetrating, arms in hand, to the very heart of Hungary. 
 Thousands of Frenchmen, it is true, reached Pesth, but 
 it was as prisoners. It was this feat which in 1810 won 
 
310 ilEMOTES OF BAKOX LEJEUXE 
 
 for me the distinction of the Order of St. Leopold of 
 Hungary, of which the Emperor of Austria made me a 
 knight. 
 
 I was scarcely back at Vienna before I had to help at 
 the works for the passage of the Danube. Everything 
 was progressing rapidly ; the various corps of the army 
 were approaching Ebersdorff, and the Emperor was con- 
 centrating all his great resources. The Archduke Charles, 
 still unable to make up his mind what it would be best to 
 do, seems to have hoped that some such occurrence as 
 that of Essling would draw us again into his net, and 
 with his army considerably increased he awaited us in 
 the same positions as those he had occupied a month 
 before, which he had now covered with redoubts and 
 entrenchments. 
 
 The news received by the Emperor from his armies 
 at a distance was most satisfactory, and calculated to 
 encourage him in his ulterior schemes. In Spain and 
 Portugal, Marshals Soult and Ney with General Suchet 
 had beaten our enemies a few days before at Lugo, Oviedo, 
 Gallegos, and Belchite. In Dalmatia, Marshal Macdonald 
 had entered Laj^bach, General Marmont had won a victory 
 at Gospich on the 21st, and taken possession of Fiume 
 on May 28 ; the victory of Eaab had followed on June 14 ; 
 that town had been taken on the 22nd ; on the 26th 
 General Broussier had entered Gratz, and on June 30 
 Marshal Davout defeated the troops of the Archduke 
 Ferdinand outside Presburg. 
 
 Amongst all these battles and victories there was one 
 action so remarkable and so brilliant that I feel impelled 
 to describe it here from the accounts of eyewitnesses. 
 During the taking of Gratz by General Broussier, and 
 when the struggle was at its fiercest, Colonel Gambin, of 
 
A GALLANT DEFENCE 311 
 
 the 84th Eegiment, was ordered with two of his battahons 
 to attack the suburb of Saint-Leonard, where he made from 
 four to five hundred prisoners. This vigorous assault led 
 General Giulay on the enemy's side to imagine that he 
 had to deal with a whole army, and he hurried to the aid 
 of the suburb with considerable forces. Gambin did not 
 hesitate to attack them, and he took from them the 
 cemetery of the Graben suburb, but was in his turn in- 
 vested by the Austrian battalions, and found it impossible 
 to rejoin the main body of the French. He accepted the 
 situation, spent the whole night in fortifying the cemetery 
 and the adjoining houses, and, his ammunition being 
 exhausted, he actually kept at bay some 10,000 assail- 
 ants with the bayonet alone, even making several sorties 
 to carry off the cartoixches on the dead bodies with 
 which his attacks had strewn the ground near the 
 cemetery. General Giulay now directed the fire of all 
 his guns and of five fresh battalions on this handful of 
 brave men, who had already for nearly nineteen hours 
 withstood a whole army. General Broussier was at last 
 able to send Colonel Nagle, of the 92nd, with two batta- 
 lions to the aid of the 84th. The enemy vainly en- 
 deavoured to prevent the two regiments from meeting. 
 Colonel Nagle overthrew every obstacle, got into the 
 cemetery, and after embracing each other the two officers 
 with their united forces flung themselves upon the 
 Austrians, took 500 of them prisoners, with two flags, 
 and carried the suburb of Graben by assault, finding 
 no less than 1,200 Austrian corpses in its streets. 
 When the Emperor heard of this feat of arms he was 
 anxious to confer the greatest distinction he could on 
 the 84th Eegiment, and ordered that its banner should 
 henceforth bear in letters of gold the proud inscription. 
 
312 MEJIOIRS OF BAKOX LEJEUXE 
 
 ' One against ten.' It was with men such as these we 
 were now to march on Wagram. 
 
 Every day, except when Napoleon himself visited the 
 island of Lobau, a young officer named De Sainte- Croix 
 came from Marshal Massena to give the Emperor an 
 account of all that was going on there. The brilliant and 
 intelligent young fellow often climbed the loftiest trees to 
 watch from a distance the preparations going on on the 
 plain for rendering impregnable the approaches by which 
 the Archduke expected the French army to attempt to 
 advance. The Emperor took great delight in hearing 
 about all these details, and ordered the erection of en- 
 trenchments and batteries in the same direction, so as to 
 confirm the Austrians in their error. He even made us 
 take from the enemy an island occupied by them, the 
 possession of which really would have been necessary to 
 us if we had meditated an attack on the old battle field 
 of Essling. It was on July 2 that Major Pelet, aide- 
 de-camp to Marshal Massena, was ordered to take this 
 position. At the head of 600 skirmishers he went 
 to the island in boats in broad daylight, killed or took 
 prisoners all its defenders, and then raised an entrench- 
 ment to protect his own men from the artillery fire at 
 once directed on them by the Archduke. A number of 
 Croats were sent to dislodge our troops, but they were 
 driven back, and whilst the fire from some twenty pieces 
 of cannon was concentrated upon the newly taken island 
 our pontonniers succeeded, beneath a hail of shot, in 
 establishing a bridge in the rear of our skirmishers, so as 
 to insure to them the arrival of succours, or, if need were, 
 a way of retreat. 
 
 Our preparations were now complete. The island 
 of Lobau was well fortified ; the double stockades and 
 
OUR PREPARATIONS ARE COMPLETE 313 
 
 the pile bridges were well consolidated ; all the boats de- 
 stined for the rapid construction on emergency of seven 
 or eight bridges over the narrow arm of the Danube 
 separating the island of Lobau from the left bank were 
 hidden upstream, where they could easily be put together in 
 a moment and flung across the narrow space. In a word, 
 everything was just as the Emperor wished it to be. 
 Most of those wounded at Essling had resumed their 
 places in the ranks, and were amongst the most eager to 
 secure a victory after their previous defeat. The Emperor 
 then ordered the combined forces waiting some twenty 
 leagues off, to join him, and in thirty hours his whole grand 
 army of 200,000 men had assembled with admirable pre- 
 cision within sight of the ramparts of Vienna. Nothing 
 could be more solemn or more deeply interesting than this 
 gathering of forces before a great battle ; and in the case 
 of that of Wagram, the hour, the scene, the circumstances 
 of the time, all combined to make it one of the most re- 
 markable, whether of ancient or modern times. Many 
 and most striking were the vicissitudes to be witnessed 
 in its course by the numerous spectators, for during two 
 long days victory vacillated between the two armies 
 before it was finally assured to the French flag. 
 
 In the afternoon of July 3, the Emperor, having issued 
 his orders with the greatest foresight, took up his head 
 quarters beneath the tents on the island of Lobau, so as 
 to be within sight of the final preparations, the aim of 
 which was to put the enemy on the wrong scent, and 
 to draw their attention with their chief forces upon the 
 old point of passage opposite Essling, where the Emperor 
 meant to make a false attack only. This would lead the 
 Archduke really to expose his left wing, whilst protecting 
 it in the direction of our right on the side of the castle of 
 
314 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 Enzersdorff, which the Austrians had fortified hke a citadel. 
 Everything succeeded according to the Emperor's wishes, 
 and a circumstance which at first sight appeared disastrous 
 for us, in the end seconded our enterprise at the point 
 above indicated. The elements, so cruel to us six weeks 
 before, now came to our aid and fought on our side. 
 
 It had been intensely hot all day on July 4, and 
 never, perhaps, was the air more fully charged with elec- 
 tricity. On either side the troops waited in vigilant sus- 
 pense, resting under arms, and oppressed with the weight 
 of the stagnant atmosphere. The sun set behind heavy 
 masses of cloud torn by occasional flashes of lightning, 
 followed by the distant rumbling of thunder, prophetic of 
 that of the battle to come. So far the storm only 
 threatened our adversaries, but it slowly gathered about us, 
 wrapping us in an obscurity so dense that it seemed to 
 us better suited to slumber than to war. Each one was 
 doing his best to protect himself from the rain, which 
 was beginning to fall, when at about ten o'clock in the 
 evening the Emperor had the order to attack silently 
 communicated to us. Our pontonniers and the marines 
 of the Guard immediately loosened the boats and put 
 them together across the little arm of the Danube, with- 
 out being either seen or heard by the enemy's sentinels. 
 
 Captain Baste, of the navy, commanding the marines 
 of the Guard, with five gunboats, threw 1,500 skirmishers 
 on to the left bank, who had orders to advance with the 
 bayonet without firing a shot, so as to escape notice in the 
 darkness. The wind drove our boats in the right direc- 
 tion, and the noise it made in the branches of the trees 
 prevented the enemy from hearing us. Flashes of light- 
 ning and claps of thunder rapidly succeeded each other, 
 the clouds were rent asunder, and a downpour of rain of 
 
CROSSING OF THE DAXUBE AT NIGHT 315 
 
 extraordinary violence baffled the vigilance of the sentinels, 
 and V7hen they at last gave the alarm we had gained a 
 footing on their ground, and 3,000 men led by Sainte- 
 Croix were arriving in columns behind our advanced 
 guard. The bridges had been so well prepared before- 
 hand that one of them, consisting of twenty-five boats tied 
 together, was by means of a very simple evolution flung 
 in less than five minutes across the water, in the form of 
 a quarter of a circle, the two end boats being fastened one 
 to either bank. The sullen roar of the enemy's cannon 
 and the flashes of fire from their guns now began to 
 mingle with the thunder and lightning from the sky. A 
 flash suddenly revealed to me when I least suspected it 
 that I was standing side by side with the Emperor, whose 
 profile with the little cap and the grey cloak stood out 
 distinctly for a moment. It was really like a scene of 
 apotheosis, for thousands of balls of the largest calibre 
 were raining upon lis. It is thirty-seven years now since 
 that awful day, and yet the grand scene still rises vividly 
 before me. 
 
 Our batteries replied to those of the Austrians, and it 
 was under a terrible fire of bombs, shells, round shot, and 
 grape, which crossed each other above our heads, that we 
 made our way over the bridges below Enzersdorff, which we 
 left behind us on our left. Neither the darkness nor the 
 storm, which continued to rage with fury, nor the deluge 
 of rain, which drenched us to the skin, checked the ad- 
 vance of our columns for a moment, and long before day- 
 break the whole army had arrived on the plain. Marshal 
 Massena being on the left. General Oudinot in the centre, 
 and Marshal Davout on the right, whilst the corps of 
 Marshal Bernadotte, the Viceroy, General Marmont, and 
 the Guard formed the second line and the reserve. 
 
316 MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUXE 
 
 A bright and glorious summer's day succeeded the 
 a,wful night of storm, and when the sun rose on July 5 
 the enemy had the painful surprise of finding that instead 
 of arriving opposite to the batteries which were to work 
 their destruction, the French forces were drawn up in 
 battle order on the extreme left. 
 
 The Emperor had thus turned and avoided all the 
 entrenched corps, and rendered the elaborate and costly 
 works of defence absolutely useless. This compelled the 
 Archduke to alter all his plans, to leave his fortified posi- 
 tions, and, losing all his advantages, to come out to fight 
 half a league from his redoubts. The French, on the 
 other hand, joyfully recognising the skill with which the 
 Emperor had managed to evade the terrible obstacles pre- 
 pared to check their advance, augured the very best results, 
 and marched on with renewed confidence to the victory of 
 which they now felt assured. The stronghold of Enzers- 
 dorff was bombarded so vigorously that it was soon unable 
 further to defend itself, and was completely destroyed, 
 being literally reduced to ashes. Colonel Sainte-Croix 
 had orders to take possession of it, and he took prisoners 
 the battalions defending the crenelated walls. General 
 Oudinot, leading the French centre, came upon the well- 
 fortified castle of Saxengang, defended by 900 Austrians, 
 whom he forced to capitulate, taking from them twelve 
 pieces of cannon. These two feats of arms were achieved 
 before nine o'clock in the morning, on the right of the 
 ground where the fighting was to go on for the rest of 
 the day. 
 
 Whilst the advanced corps of the Austrians were draw- 
 ing back to change front and prepare to receive battle, the 
 Emperor was advancing across the plain, protected on the 
 left by the Danube, his line of battle being perpendicular 
 
BEGINNING OF THE BATTLE OP WAGEAM 317 
 
 with that river. The two armies thus soon faced each 
 other, and the battle began immediately after the troops 
 had deployed. On our left, Marshal Massena marched 
 along the Danube upon Essling, leaving Oudinot on his 
 right ; Bernadotte made for Easdorff, and Marshal Davout 
 on our extreme right for Neusiedel, the light cavalry cover- 
 ing the whole of the right of our army, and the other 
 corps marching in serried ranks behind that first line. The 
 artillery parks and reserves had completed the transit of 
 the bridges, and towards noon the Emperor had all he 
 needed at hand concentrated in a small space. 
 
 About two o'clock we saw the Austrian army taking 
 up a position on the heights beyond the Eussbach stream, 
 and preparing to contest its passage. Thus far the re- 
 sistance on the Austrian side had been feeble, and it was 
 only with the Bernadotte corps that the struggle had been 
 at all severe, the enemy having for a moment hoped to 
 beat the Saxons, whose cavalry had received several 
 vigorous, charges, each time, however, repulsed with great 
 courage. 
 
 Marshal Davout had orders to outflank the enemy on 
 our right in the direction of Neusiedel. General Oudinot 
 took possession of Groshoffen. The fire of both armies 
 now came into brisk play all along the line, and between 
 five and six o'clock the battle became general. The 
 struggle lasted for several hours, and after terrible carnage 
 Wagram and Baumersdorff were taken by the French. 
 The Archduke Charles then came up with fresh troops, 
 and, rallying the fugitives, he assumed the offensive. At 
 the same moment the Saxons under Marshal Bernadotte 
 penetrated into Wagram on the opposite side to that by 
 which General Oudinot had entered it, and in the dark- 
 ness, intensified by the smoke from the firing, these two 
 
318 MEMOIRS OF BAROX LEJEI'XE 
 
 parties of Frenchmen mistook each other for enemies, and 
 inflicted great losses on their own comrades. Thanks to 
 this cruel mistake, the Austrians were able to retake 
 Wagram and Bamiiersdorff, where they passed the night. 
 
 The battle raged till ten o'clock in the evening, and 
 never was I in a more terrible fusillade. It seemed simply 
 impossible for any one to escape ; but Major-General Prince 
 Earthier and his officers remained in the thick of the fight 
 for two whole hours. Prince Berthier and two of my fellow 
 staff officers had their horses killed under them. 
 
 The Emperor and his staff spent the night at Easdorfif, 
 and our outposts occupied a curve of more than three 
 leagues in extent between our extreme right and left. 
 jSTothing decisive had as yet occurred, and we expected 
 that the next day the Emperor would strike a great blow 
 at whatever point of the enemy's line he thought best. 
 
 At two o'clock in the morning of the 6th, Prince 
 Berthier ordered me to go all along the line of our vedettes, 
 beyond Aderklaa to our extreme right, and to penetrate 
 as far as possible into the Austrian lines to ascertain 
 whether preparations were being made for attacking us 
 or for retreat. I obeyed these instructions, and having 
 passed Aderklaa, occupied by our troops, I managed, 
 screened by the tall wheat with which the plain was 
 covered, to reach the enemy's lines without being seen. 
 Complete repose reigned everywhere, and I had reached 
 the heights of Neusiedel, almost in the centre of the 
 Austrian encampments, when I saw their troops noise- 
 lessly resuming their arms, and advancing slowly in battle 
 order towards the French army. Day would soon break, 
 and I must avail myself of the twilight to escape the 
 vedettes and take the news to the Emperor of the ap- 
 proaching attack. The danger of my position was extreme, 
 
THE AUSTRIANS APPAEENTLY GAIN GROUND 319 
 
 and in order to cross the stream of Eussbach I had to 
 make a wide detour, so that it was nearly five o'clock 
 before I got back to head quarters. A hot fusillade was 
 already being exchanged with our centre, and our troops 
 were so vigorously attacked that they abandoned Aderklaa, 
 and drew back on Easdorff. The Austrian corps under 
 General Bellegarde dashed upon us with an audacity which 
 nothing could withstand, and our ranks suffered greatly 
 under the terrible cannonade. It is really no exaggera- 
 tion to say that I saw balls rush through the air and 
 ricochet from the ground much as hail rebounds in violent 
 storms. In this part of the battle field we lost a good 
 deal of ground with many men, and I felt very anxious as 
 to the result of the day. 
 
 On our right the Prince von Eosemberg endeavoured to 
 drive back the French under Marshal Davout occupying 
 Groshoffenand Glinzendorf. This attack, at first extremely 
 vigorous, gradually slackened, for the Prince had relied on 
 the support of the Archduke John, who was to have joined 
 him from Presburg, but he never came up at all that day. 
 Marshal Davout, noting the irresolution of the enemy, 
 redoubled his resistance, overthrew the Austrians and 
 drove them back to the heights of Neusiedel. 
 
 It will thus be seen that a fierce cannonade was going 
 on all along the semicircle formed by our line. Though 
 on our right Marshal Davout was gaining a dearly bought 
 success, the enemy was continuing to advance on our 
 centre, riddling us with projectiles, whilst on our left the 
 Austrians were rapidly gaining ground, and approaching 
 our bridges, of which they were endeavouring to get pos- 
 session. It was in this direction that the struggle, which 
 lasted to the very end of the battle, was fiercest, and the 
 idea appears to have occurred to the Emperor that he 
 
320 MEMOIRS OP BARON LE.TEUNE 
 
 might reap an advantage from this very circumstance by 
 in his turn vs^heehng Marshal Davout's corps upon the 
 extreme left of the Austrians so as to turn them, and, 
 cutting them off from the reinforcements they expected 
 from Hungary, drive them back upon Bohemia. 
 
 The Italian, Bavarian, and Saxon contingents were 
 engaged between our centre and our left in endeavouring 
 to repulse the vigorous assaults of the Kollovrath corps, 
 w^hich had joined forces with those under Bellegarde and 
 Klenau. The Carra-Saint-Cyr division, which had tried 
 to retake Aderklaa, had been beaten and driven back. 
 The Saxons had endeavoured to support the French, but 
 they had been compelled to retreat in the greatest dis- 
 order, and had only been able to reform their ranks behind 
 the Legrand and Molitor divisions, which checked the 
 enemy's pursuit. 
 
 The Emperor's head quarters were at Easdorff, which 
 occupied about the centre of our operations, and it seemed 
 to us there as if Klenau had already reached our rear, and 
 was threatening our bridges, which he seemed likely to 
 take, as he had driven General Boudet back upon them. 
 The Emperor, however, showed no uneasiness about 
 Klenau's movements, but allowed him to lose time and 
 ground by thus withdrawing from the principal point of 
 the battle field, he himself meanwhile giving his whole 
 attention to what was going on at the centre, where the 
 corps under Kollovrath and Bellegarde seemed ready to 
 surround us. 
 
 The Emperor had kept in reserve close at hand the 
 Macdonald corps, the heavy cavalry, his Guard, and nearly 
 300 pieces of cannon, but the balls of the enemy were 
 already beginning to fall amongst these troops. Marshal 
 Bessieres, one of the group immediately surrounding the 
 
A BOLD ilAXCEUVRE 321 
 
 Emperor, was wounded by a ball, which killed his horse ; 
 several distinguished officers were carried off by a fire 
 which we were eager to silence, and the enemy's cavalry, 
 gallantly led by the Prince von Lichtenstein, charged us 
 furiously. We were all anxious and intensely annoyed at 
 being compelled to remain inactive. 
 
 The very moment when the Archduke seemed con- 
 fident of success, and those under him, in the intoxication 
 of victory, neglected the necessary precautions in case of 
 defeat, when we were beginning to lose heart, whilst our 
 pressing danger made us wild to take part in the struggle, 
 was also the moment for which the Emperor had waited 
 to surprise the enemy by an unexpected attack. He 
 seized the opportunity by ordering General Lauriston to 
 advance at a trot with sixty pieces of artillery, the Guard 
 commanded by General Davout, and forty guns of position 
 led by Aboville to within pistol-shot range of the centre 
 of the Austrian line, and there to pour upon the enemy 
 such a terrible fire of grape shot as should make a great 
 gap in their ranks. The corps under Macdonald and 
 Oudinot, the cavalry of the Guard, and the heavy cavalry 
 were sent to cover this movement, to dash into the gap 
 and mow down all the troops which might otherwise rally 
 and return to the attack on us. This bold manoeuvre was 
 executed with extraordinary promptitude and precision. 
 The huge column of 200 teams, dragging the cannon and 
 ammunition wagons, dei^loyed in less than five minutes 
 over a space of some '2,200 yards. At the same moment 
 the showers of balls which had been raining upon us 
 ceased to worry us, we resumed the offensive, put the 
 enemy's artillery to flight, cut down their cavalry, and 
 pushed on without opposition over ground strewn with 
 the dead. The terrible fire from 100 cannon in a re- 
 
 VOL. I. "^ 
 
322 MEJIOmS OF BAROX LEJEUNE 
 
 stricted space set light to the standing corn, and the 
 conflagration spread all over the plain. The village of 
 Aderklaa, which the Austrians endeavoured to hold, became 
 a prey to the flames, which rose to an immense height, 
 and our cavalry, deploying in the midst of the enemy's 
 squadrons, spread the ravages of the fire and carried off 
 many prisoners. 
 
 At the same time General Macdonald and General 
 Eeille, with the infantry of the Guard, advanced in columns 
 at the double, overthrowing all before them and retaking 
 Wagram at the same time as Marshal Davout outflanked 
 the enemy's left, threatening to turn them and cut off 
 their retreat. 
 
 At this critical moment of the battle I received orders 
 to go to the road to Hungary and reconnoitre what was 
 going on beyond the Archduke John's position ; and it 
 was still broad daylight when I got back at eight o'clock 
 in the evening, having seen nothing of any kind to cause 
 anxiety. Suddenly, however, I saw some of our foragers 
 returning to the camp stripped almost naked, and all but 
 out of breath with running, shouting as they came, ' Sauve 
 qui peut ! ' 
 
 I at once tried to ascertain what had terrified them, 
 but I could see nothing, and those I questioned were as 
 much in the dark as I was. Braving the cavalry of the 
 enemy, which could rapidly scour across the vast plain, I 
 made all possible haste back to camp, where I found 
 every place in a state of confusion. The terrified men 
 were upsetting the saucepans on the fires ; mules and 
 horses were being hastily laden anyhow ; tents were being 
 overturned, drums and trumpets were sounding on every 
 side. The cavalry mounted, the infantry formed in squares, 
 and everybody eagerly inquired of every one else, ' What 
 
A FALSE ALARM 323 
 
 is it ? What is it ? ' I galloped at full speed to the Em- 
 peror's tent, found him as much taken by surprise as 
 any one, and as I drew up he was just flinging himself on 
 to his horse, half dressed, without his cap, and with 
 slippers instead of boots on his feet ; for when he was told 
 of the alarm he was being rubbed with a rheumatic brush 
 by his Mameluke servant Eoustan. I approached him and 
 told him that though it was still quite light and I could see a 
 long distance off, I had noticed absolutely nothing alarming. 
 Charles de Perigord, one of the Staff officers, now came run- 
 ning up, exclaiming, ' Sire, it is really nothing, only a few 
 
 cowards who ' ' What do you call nothing ? ' answered 
 
 the Emperor. ' I tell you there is no such thing as a small 
 matter in time of war ; nothing compromises an army so 
 much as a careless security. Go and find out what it 
 really is, and come back and give me a more sensible 
 report.' Then, having sent some other officers to recon- 
 noitre, the Emperor completed his toilette and awaited 
 their return. 
 
 Meanwhile the greatest confusion prevailed in the rear 
 of our army, for those waiting with the carriages, provi- 
 sions, and all the paraphernalia of war, hearing the noise, 
 began to run away in disorder. For a moment there 
 seemed to be a regular rout, and if it had continued we 
 might well have been anxious. It was just at the entrance 
 to the bridges that the panic was greatest amongst the 
 non-combatants. Many even of those who had the Danube 
 between them and the enemy fled, abandoning their car- 
 riages and baggage, which had been overturned in the 
 strange scuffle, and did not consider themselves safe till 
 they were behind the ramparts of Vienna. 
 
 Our messengers returned at last to assure us that the 
 enemy were nowhere to be seen, and order was restored 
 
 Y 2 
 
o-il ME.M(jrRS OF BARON LEJEUXE 
 
 before the cause of the alarm was discovered. Later 
 however, it was ascertained that some fifty Austrian horse- 
 men, whose retreat to the main body of their army had 
 been intercepted in trying to join that at Presburg, had 
 cut their way through a httle village where our unarmed 
 foragers had been collecting straw. The blows they re- 
 ceived when they were least expecting them inspired them 
 with such terror that they communicated it to every one 
 else, and as they ran away shouting at the top of their 
 voices the alarm spread with incredible rapidity. 
 
 An army less lucky than ours generally was marches 
 with far less confidence than we did, and I cannot help 
 thinking that we should have been wiser to take precau- 
 tions to guard against these blind panics, which a skilful 
 €nemy could turn to such great advantage. 
 
 The panic led to several very comic scenes, the one I 
 am about to relate amongst others. Meal time being near, 
 a superior officer of the Guard had climbed into the baggage 
 wagon of his battalion to get out some delicacies of diet 
 for distribution to his fellow officers, but the cry of ' Sauve 
 •qui pent ! ' which the officer himself was too busy to 
 notice, made the driver run to his horses, which had not 
 been unharnessed, spring into the saddle and start off at 
 a gallop. The shock threw the officer down, the cover of 
 the wagon shut upon him, stifling liis shouts, and 
 there he had to remain, half-suffocated amongst the bottles 
 and provisions, till a league further on the vehicle was 
 brought to a standstill in the block at the entrance to the 
 bridge, and the driver opened his prison and set him free. 
 Absent when his corps resumed their arms, he was sup- 
 posed to be dead ; and his account of his misadventure, 
 when he had been engaged in fetching something to add 
 
TERKIBLE SUFFERINGS OF THE WOUNDED 325 
 
 to the cheer of his battaHon, was greeted with shouts of 
 laughter from his comrades. 
 
 All the corps vmder the Archduke continued to retreat, 
 and the next day the Emperor took up his quarters at 
 Volkersdorff, a few leagues beyond Wagram. Here he 
 created princes, counts, barons, and knights, and gave 
 increases of pay. I shared in the rewards, for it was then 
 that I received my title of Baron. 
 
 Before resuming his pursuit of the enemy, the Emperor 
 gave orders that all the wounded should be seen to. The 
 Austrians were as well cared for as our own men, and the 
 inhabitants of Vienna turned out in crowds to seek the 
 sufferers and carry them off the field of battle. Count Daru, 
 chief commissary of the army, and Baron Larrey, chief 
 surgeon, superintended with generous zeal the attendance 
 on the wounded, but their numbers were so great that in 
 spite of every effort many who were hidden amongst the 
 corn were not found until after five days of terrible suffer- 
 ings beneath the burning sun of July. Some were dread- 
 fully burnt by the fire which had consumed much of the 
 crops during the battle ; others, too weak to drag them- 
 selves away from the decomposing bodies of the men 
 killed beside them, were consumed by a wasting fever and 
 had had nothing to assuage their thirst but their own 
 tears of despair, which fell upon their dry parched lips, 
 and the sweat which poured from their brows. Others, I 
 shudder to relate, drank the water they passed themselves 
 to relieve their horrible thirst. They cried aloud for help, 
 and those who sought them also shouted, but the closely 
 growing crops covering the wide-stretching plain, trampled 
 down and broken though they were, stifled the sound of 
 their feeble voices, and the charitable persons anxious to 
 bring help to the dying had in many cases the greatest 
 
326 MEMOIRS OF BAROX LEJEUNE 
 
 difficulty in finding them. It was heartrending work for 
 us who had to go the day after the battle to the aid of 
 the unfortunate creatures. As at Marengo, I came upon 
 several Austrian officers lying on the plain who had had 
 parts of their bodies carried away by balls, and who, 
 though they still retained all their mental faculties, could 
 not hope to survive. They entreated me to cut short their 
 suffering by a pistol shot, and I, who would have killed 
 them if I had met them sword in hand the day before, had 
 not the courage to render them this cruel service. I 
 would have begged Larrey to give them a draught which 
 should lull them into the painless sleep of eternity, had I 
 not known that it is wrong to doubt the power of God, 
 who is able to restore even those whose lives seem hope- 
 lessly doomed. It never does to despair, as is proved by 
 a thousand happy examples, for Larrey, who was often 
 accused of cruelty, and who would not have used the knife 
 so often if there had been time to await the result of 
 milder but less certainly efficacious measures, did indeed 
 save some whose cases seemed most hopeless. 
 
 The victory of Wagram, which once more plunged 
 Austria into mourning and consolidated the power of the 
 Emperor, did not secure peace, and we had to make yet 
 further efforts to win it. The Austrian forces, though in 
 retreat, were still very numerous, and the insurrection in 
 the Tyrol was assuming a serious character, which naight 
 be turned to account by our enemies. 
 
 The Emperor having heard that the principal forces of 
 the Archduke were returning by way of Znaim on Moravia, 
 determined to follow them. 
 
 The Erench daily gained marked advantages over the 
 Austrians, who, hotly pressed by the corps under Marmont, 
 Oudinot, and Marshal Massena, tried to make a stand at 
 
STRUGGLE AT ZNAIM 327 
 
 Znaim, which the Archduke was strongly fortifying and 
 had covered by his artillery, and which was originally so 
 ■strongly situated at the junction of the rivers Taya and 
 Lischen as to be considered impregnable. 
 
 Marshal Mass^na was the first to be engaged at Znaim, 
 and his position was critical enough during the whole of 
 the 10th whilst the other French corps were still a long 
 way off. 
 
 The fighting was resumed on the 11th. At first a 
 storm accompanied by heavy rain damped the ardour of 
 the combatants, and restored to the Austrians certain 
 advantages of the ground by inundating the field of battle. 
 Our cavalry, however, at last succeeded in crossing the 
 Taya at several different points in spite of the rain of 
 the day before, and the Legrand division followed it. 
 The Massena and Marmont corps in their turn crossed 
 the river under the eye of the Emperor, who had just come 
 up with his Guard, his cavalry, and the infantry under 
 Davout and Oudinot. The Archduke Charles, finding him- 
 self attacked on every side, now recognised that, in spite of 
 the success he had just achieved at several points, it would 
 be impossible for him to maintain the fine position he had 
 taken up at Znaim, and without further hesitation he 
 ordered the retreat. 
 
 His army retired in good order, whilst the fusillade 
 was kept up as hotly as ever. 
 
 In the midst of the scattered firing all along the line 
 — some hundred different little combats were going on — 
 the cry was heard, ' Cease firing ! Cease firing ! Here 
 comes the bearer of a flag of truce to sue for peace.' 
 
 It was very difficult to transmit this order to cease 
 firing, for both sides were eager to continue the struggle 
 and many of the French and Austrian officers who were 
 
328 MEMOIRS OF BAEOX LE.TEUXE 
 
 sent with the news of the demand for peace were them- 
 selves wounded. 
 
 The Emperor's tents were quickly pitched on the 
 plateau opposite to and overlooking Znaim, the camp was 
 established around them, and the last rays of the setting 
 sun lit up a scene of unrivalled beauty. At the base of 
 the wooded hills flowed the pretty river, and beyond 
 stretched a smiling landscape dotted with gardens, just 
 now rendered animated by the numerous soldiers, some of 
 whom were eagerly climbing the cherry trees and devour- 
 ing the fruit, which I believe they would have been just 
 as ready to pick if the firing had still been going on, though 
 this pause in hostilities in such a delightful neighbourhood 
 was a regular fete for them. 
 
 The Archduke Charles, seeing that nothing but a 
 treaty of peace could now save the Austrian monarchy, 
 had decided to demand an armistice for negotiations. 
 The Emperor, no less desirous to conclude peace, received 
 the Prince von Lichtenstein, who had been chosen as 
 envoy, with every possible distinction. 
 
 July 12 was spent in the going to and fro of couriers 
 between the two camps, to arrange the conditions of the 
 armistice which was to precede the treaty of peace, and as 
 soon as the preliminaries were signed, the Emperor entered 
 Znaim. He admired its site and its surroundings so much 
 that he asked me to make a sketch of the whole scene, 
 with a view to the exhibition later of a panorama of the 
 grand battle field, such as that of the interview between 
 the Emperors at Tilsit with the crowds who vsdtnessed it, 
 to which every one was then flocking in Paris. 
 
 On June 12 the Emperor ordered his troops to occupy 
 the cantonments abandoned by the Austrians, in accordance 
 with the articles of the armistice. 
 
PROCLAMATIOX OF THE EMPEKOR 329 
 
 Before starting for Vienna on June 13, the Emperor, 
 unwilling to leave the army without some public expression 
 of his gratitude to God for all the brilliant successes his 
 arms had achieved, addressed a circular to the bishops 
 from his camp at Znaim, telling them to have a public 
 thanksgiving in all the churches. 
 
 ' Jesus Christ,' said the Emperor, ' although He was of 
 the seed of David, tells us that His kingdom is not of this 
 world, and He ordered Christians to render unto Caesar 
 the things that are Ccesar's. I,' he added, ' am the inheritor 
 of the power of Csesar. I shall persevere in the grand 
 work I have undertaken, and of which I have now all but 
 achieved the completion, that of restoring religion and 
 public worship ; I shall maintain the independence of 
 thrones and nations, I shall wean the church from things 
 temporal and perishable, whilst leaving to her the care of 
 our eternal interests, of the affairs of the soul with the 
 direction of consciences, and her ministers, thus set apart 
 to her service shall be compassed about with the reverence 
 which we alone are able to secure to them. Such is our 
 will.' 
 
 One must know what war means to be able to appre- 
 ciate the joy of returning to a peaceful roof, beneath which 
 one can give oneself up to repose withovit dreading the 
 sound of the trumpet calling one to horse. It was with 
 this sense of relief that we all returned to Schonbrunn, 
 and were able for a whole day to wander about its fine 
 conservatories and gardens, and to visit our friends in 
 Vienna. The next day we made a pilgrimage to 
 Ebersdorff, recalling many a touching memory of the 
 bridges, islands, and battle fields of EssHng and Wagram. 
 It is impossible to describe the immense interest, fraught 
 aHke with pain and pride, with which I gazed once more 
 
330 MEMOIRS OF BAROX LEJEUXE 
 
 on the ashes of the twenty villages burnt down in the 
 plains during those terrible days, and the still recent 
 traces of the grand evolutions which had ploughed up the 
 ground in every direction, death claiming the while so 
 many victims. The freshly disturbed soil everywhere 
 marked the sites of the graves of our brothers, our friends, 
 and our enemies. The whole landscape was wrapped in 
 a melancholy silence, the ground was strewn with rags 
 which had once been uniforms, and with broken armour, 
 whilst the only moving figures were those of a few soldiers 
 here and there engaged in picking up muskets, swords, 
 breastplates and balls, with a view to earning the reward 
 promised by the Emperor for every weapon brought into 
 camp. There were no other crops to be gathered in, and 
 the cultivators of the fields only visited them now to 
 mourn over their losses. There was but one consolation 
 for us — the princes of the land had themselves brought 
 this desolation upon their people, which they might 
 easily have spared them. Not a curse was muttered 
 against us by the good-natured Germans, and we on our 
 side respected their natural grief. 
 
 I was often sent by the Emperor to the hospitals, to 
 give comforting messages from him to the wounded, to 
 ask if he could do anything for their families, and to 
 see that nothing was lacking which could hasten their 
 recovery. Of course I appreciated the confidence shown 
 in me by choosing me for these visits of inspection, but I 
 should have greatly preferred the perilous honour of going 
 to take a redoubt by assault in the open air to having to 
 make the round of the wards in the magnificent hospitals 
 of Vienna, crowded with the wounded, hundreds of whom 
 were daily carried off by tjrphus fever. The effects of this 
 fever on its victims were like those of the cholera, for 
 
A GRAKD STORM IX THE TYROL 831 
 
 they quickly became delirious, and so disfigured as to be 
 unrecognisable. I saw several in the convulsions of 
 tetanus fall out of bed and roll about naked on the floor, 
 suffering the most horrible tortures. It is appalling to 
 think how many perished in this way. 
 
 Percy and Larrey set an example of great courage to 
 their young fellow surgeons compelled to spend whole days 
 in the polluted atmosphere, and the survivors were not at 
 all intimidated by the death of those of their comrades 
 who succumbed. I never left the hospitals without 
 admiring their steadfastness and thanking God for guiding 
 me to choosing a profession less sad than theirs, and 
 above all for saving me from having to invoke their aid on 
 my own behalf. 
 
 I was now commissioned to go to the Tyrol to insist 
 on its evacuation by any Austrian troops which might 
 still remain there, and to take over the fort of Saxem- 
 burg, which was to be given up to us. Nothing could 
 have been more delightful to an artist than to be 
 ordered to cross the beautiful mountains and valleys of 
 the Tyrol in the most beautiful season of the year. I very 
 soon secured an equipage to my mind, and I had reached 
 Miirrschlag, situated on the lofty pass separating Austria 
 from Styria, when I noticed that a great storm was 
 gathering. It was but noon, yet it soon became as dark 
 as at midnight, and the rumbling of the tempest echoed 
 through the mountains, whilst in the obscurity the forests 
 assumed a hue of the deepest gloom as the wind bent 
 their branches to the earth and stripped them of their 
 foliage. A heavy downpour of rain deluged me in my 
 open carriage ; but drenched to the skin as I was, I enjoyed 
 watching the magic effects of nature in this angry mood, 
 though I must confess that I felt a little nervous amongst 
 
332 MEMOIRS OF BAI!OX LEJEUXE 
 
 these wild districts when the fury of the blast drove my 
 horses and carriage in the direction of the precipices with 
 which they are intersected. This brilliant display of 
 superhuman grandeur was, however, perhaps specially got 
 up for my benefit with a view to impressing me with the 
 beauty of nature, even when wrapped for a moment in the 
 sombre colours of a tempest. 
 
 The storm did not last long, and the sun came out 
 again. The rain drops reflected its beams like diamonds. 
 The valley was bathed in light, and, warmed by the flood 
 of rays, was converted for the nonce into a celestial land, 
 from which ethereal vapours rose on every side. The scene 
 filled me with a kind of ecstasy, and my soul seemed to 
 take to itself wings and float away into space with the 
 clouds of mist. I wondered how anyone, free to do as he 
 likes and with plenty of money, could help loving to travel, 
 for it is only those who do who can see Nature under her 
 best aspects, and enjoy the vivid impressions they produce. 
 When I think of the lovely valleys of the Tyrol, and recall 
 the effect they had upon me, I felt sure that the gate of 
 heaven is at the brink of the waterfalls of the Miirr at 
 Klagenfurth, at Villach or at Spital on the Drave, and I 
 have not the slightest doubt that Homer, Virgil, and Dante, 
 when they described the entrance to hell or to the Elysian 
 fields, were thinking of the spots on earth which had seemed 
 to them most luxuriantly beautiful or most savagely 
 forbidding. 
 
 The sturdy inhabitants of the Tyrol, whose passionate 
 indignation at their separation from Austria and incorpora- 
 tion with "Wiirtemberg and Bavaria in 1805 was ever on 
 the increase, waged war upon us from their mountain 
 fastnesses with indomitable courage and skill, harassing us 
 the more as they attacked us in the rear, and the insurrec- 
 
KEVOLT IN THE TYROL 333 
 
 tion even seemed likely to spread to the route by which 
 our reinforcements were expected from France. The 
 Kings of Wiirtemberg and Bavaria, the greater portion of 
 whose troops were with us in Austria, were for a time 
 very uneasy about the revolt in the Tyrol, where the news 
 of our luckless defeat at Essling had been greeted with the 
 greatest enthusiasm, no one supposing that we should be 
 able to recover from it. The people indeed were so much 
 emboldened by it, that a general rising took place through- 
 out the whole of the Tyrolean Alps, the Austrian General 
 Buol and the Marquis de Chateler doing all in their 
 power in the name of the Emperor of Austria to fonaent dis- 
 content and spread the insurrection. Many able men, such 
 as Andreas Hofer, Hartel, Arco, Speckbacher, Schmidt, 
 Adel, and others, with the Capuchin monk Haspinger, 
 placed themselves at the head of the insurgent peasants, 
 giving their orders in the name of God and the Holy 
 Virgin, and fighting with extraordinary courage. Several 
 French detachments were taken prisoners on their way 
 across the Tyrol. Innsbruck was retaken, the Bavarians 
 were repulsed, and the enthusiasm of the Tyroleans over 
 these few isolated successes, achieved during the months of 
 June and July, rose to its highest pitch. 
 
 The Emperor, who was always generous to the French 
 emigres, had had the Marquis de Chateler's sequestrated 
 estates in France restored to him but two years before, 
 and he was very indignant to find that this man, forgetting 
 all the claims of gratitude, was one of the most eager in 
 stirring up enemies against him. He therefore now sent 
 to De Chateler a message to the effect that the decree of the 
 Eepublic condemning to death any emigre who should 
 bear arms against his country would be put in force in his 
 case. The Marquis was at first greatly dismaj'ed, but he 
 
o6i MEMOIRS OF BARON LEJEUNE 
 
 soon recovered courage, and redoubled his efforts, showing 
 the most bitter animus against us. It was in the midst 
 of the success his efforts had won for the Austrians and 
 the insurgents, that the news reached them of the armistice 
 of Znaim, and they received orders to conform to its con- 
 ditions. But the Tyrolesehad aheady begun to look upon 
 themselves as the saviours of the Austrian monarchy, and 
 they could not bring themselves to relax their efforts. The 
 Austrians alone, and that most reluctantly, agreed to retire 
 and relinquish the country to us. Such was the state of 
 things in the districts for which I was bound, where a 
 contingent made up of French and Russians was under 
 the command of General Kusca. 
 
 On July 30 I left Klagenfurth, the picturesque situation 
 of which I greatly admired, and I found General Eusca 
 at Villach. We went together as far as Spital, and there 
 he gave ine several of his officers with the men under 
 them to go and take over the fortress of Saxemburg, 
 where I arrived at daybreak on August 1. The Austrians 
 were fully prepared for our reception, and the meeting was 
 far more friendly than I had expected it to be. I passed the 
 day in examining the state of the ramparts, magazines, &c. 
 I did not notice anything very remarkable about this fort, 
 and though it is situated at the top of a mountain I think 
 I could have taken it quite easily if it had not been given 
 up to me, for it is closely overlooked by several quite 
 accessible heights from which it could be at once disabled 
 by our modern projectiles. I drew a plan and made 
 several sketches of the position, which I sent the next 
 day to Prince Berthier with an account of my mission, 
 not forgetting to acquaint him with the bad disposition 
 towards us of the people of the country, who might 
 have incited the Austrian soldiery to maltreat us. The 
 latter, however, though they greatly outnumbered us. 
 
FEEiXCir PRISONERS IN DANGER 335 
 
 behaved with far greater loyalty than was agreeable 
 to the Tyrolese. With but a few hundred Italian soldiers, 
 I was in the midst of eight or ten thousand Austrians, 
 who, under the leadership of General Schmidt, now 
 evacuated the Tyrol and withdrew to Hungary. The 
 grave courtesy of generals, officers, and men was really 
 remarkable under the melancholy circumstances in which 
 they found themselves. The gallant fellows wanted 
 peace as badly as we did, and if their columns had been 
 made up of Frenchmen I could not have been better or 
 more fraternally treated. 
 
 In the rear of the troops, however, the attitude of the 
 people was very menacing, and the heights were covered 
 with peasants, who watched with regret the departure of 
 their protectors. I thought it prudent therefore to hasten 
 to rejoin General Eusca, who was now advancing upon 
 Lientz, the chief place in the Pusterthal. 
 
 We passed the 4th and 5th of August with General 
 Busca and the Italian Generals Souqui and Arrezi, and 
 during these two days a terrible storm raged around us, 
 completely covering our camp and the neighbouring 
 districts with snow. We wanted to push on towards 
 Brixen, but we heard that the Austrian General Buol 
 was escorting several hundred French prisoners to us, 
 and that the Tyrolese threatened to kill them all if we 
 advanced further into the valley. To avoid rendering it 
 impossible for the Austrian General to protect them by 
 approaching nearer, we awaited them at Lientz, enduring 
 agonies of suspense as to their fate till they were safely 
 amongst us, expecting everj' moment to have the pain of 
 hearing that some of them had been murdered. During 
 the 6th some of the inhabitants of Lientz and the neigh- 
 bouring villages went to their houses and brought out 
 
336 MEMOIliS OF BARON LEJEUXE 
 
 their arms, which they gave up to us. This apparent 
 submission was, however, as we shah see, only intended 
 to luh our jealous vigilance. 
 
 On the same day — Sunday, August 6 — General Eusca 
 placed his division, all in full dress, in order of battle, on 
 the heights to receive the troops under General Buol, 
 who had just passed our outposts and were to halt for 
 the evening on the plain below our position, where we 
 had already marked out their encampment. General Bviol 
 handed over to us the two hundred prisoners he had brought 
 with him, and as soon as his eight or ten thousand men had 
 taken their places in the meadow below. General Eusca sent 
 me to invite their leader and sixty of his officers to come and 
 share the dinner we were having prepared. He also sent 
 wine and bread to the Austrian soldiers, which were 
 accepted ; but the more important affair still to be settled 
 was not arranged quite so easily. One of the conditions 
 of the armistice was that no artillery should be taken out 
 of the Tyrol by the Austrians, and when I asked General 
 Buol to have the twelve pieces of cannon he had brought 
 with him taken to our camp, he found it very difficult to 
 obey the orders he had received on the subject, and his 
 staff did all they could to induce him to refuse. I insisted, 
 however, and the irritation against me became intense 
 when I ordered four pretty little pieces of cannon of small 
 calibre, ornamented with .very fine sculptured designs, to 
 be placed with the regular war artillery. A colonel with 
 a very ugly face and absolutely no nose at all advanced 
 upon nre with flashing eyes and said to me in French, in 
 a very gruff and arrogant tone, ' Those cannon belong to 
 me, and they won't be taken away whilst I draw breath ! ' 
 Then, placing his hand on his sword with a threatening 
 gesture, he added, ' If you want them, come and take them.' 
 
MY LIFE IS IN GREAT DANGEK 337 
 
 Without moving, I answered with a smile : ' The 
 treaty in question says cannon, without specifying their 
 cahbre. Later, if you hke, I will give these gentlemen 
 the entertainment of watching a single combat between 
 you and me, if they think that will amiise them ; but 
 before I do anything else I have got to fulfil my mission. 
 When I have the honour of knowing your name, I can ask 
 the Emperor to give you back your cannon.' 'I am the 
 Prince of Linange,' was the reply, ' and I shall take away 
 my cannon.' The dispute became hotter and hotter ; the 
 group closed in round me and my comrades, whilst other 
 officers joined it, and presently one of them, who spoke 
 French very well, and to whom all the others gave place, 
 although he wore nothing to indicate his rank, came up 
 and began doing all he could to increase the irritation 
 against me In spite of the uproar I managed to preserve 
 my presence of mind, turning a deaf ear to all offensive 
 epithets which I could not otherwise have passed over, 
 but my position was momentarily becoming more critical. 
 
 General Eusca, who from his position on the heights 
 saw with anxiety the excitement in the camp below, 
 where the soldiers were arming and preparing to attack 
 us, now sent an Italian officer to me to find out what it 
 was all about. That gentleman, being on horseback, was 
 able to see me as I looked down from my steed on to the 
 angry group of officers surrounding me, and recognising 
 the danger I was in he waited but to meet my eyes and 
 thus telegraph encouragement to me before he galloped 
 off again. The authority of General Buol was already 
 being set at defiance, and the new-comer, who was evi- 
 dently a Frenchman, kept urging the Prince of Linange to 
 insult me further. I reahsed that if I lost my temper my 
 Hfe would be the forfeit, and I was still calm when I 
 
 VOL. I. 2 
 
338 MEMOIRS OF BAEOX LEJEUXE 
 
 caught the name of the man who had made my position 
 so dangerous. It was General the Marquis de Chateler, 
 and directly it fell upon my ears, I of course remembered 
 what the Emperor had told me about him. Kallying the 
 courage which was perhaps beginning to fail me, I 
 looked fixedly at the Prince and the Marquis, and said, 
 ' The taking away of your cannon is not the most painful 
 part of my mission, but to deliver over to a court-martial 
 any emigres I may happen to meet with, especially the 
 Marquis de Chateler, whom I will feign not to know, that 
 his life may be saved.' These words produced far more 
 effect than I expected, for both officers remained mute and 
 apparently confounded. At their sudden change of ex- 
 pression, the rest, who did not understand French well, 
 waited to have my words translated to them, and there 
 was a moment of hesitation, but what really brought me 
 safely out of the affair was that the Italian of&cer, Seroni 
 by name, had lost no tirae, and we now saw a cloud of 
 dust approaching, raised by eight pieces of cannon being 
 driven up at a gallop, the gunners with matches lighted. 
 In some four seconds they were drawn up, pointed and 
 ready to pour forth grape shot, protected by our division, 
 which was also on the alert to attack at a signal from me. 
 This prompt arrival of artillery, with our energetic action 
 generally, did more than all my arguments ; the crowd 
 dispersed, the pretty little cannon were given up with 
 the rest of the artillery, and when they were amongst our 
 ranks, I repeated to the officers my invitation to dinner. 
 They made no reply ; the Marquis de Chateler was the first 
 to withdraw, and the Prince remained to the last, watch- 
 ing me with his repulsive eyes. I thanked him, however, 
 for the honour he had been willing to do me in measuring 
 swords with me in the presence of the two armies, and 
 
THE PEASANTS ATTACK US ON EVERY SIDE 339 
 
 placed myself at his disposal if he still cared for a meeting 
 with me. He took no notice of what I said, and I retired. 
 I heard the same evening that the Prince of Linange was 
 an emigre from Alsace, and was surnamed the Monster 
 because of his ughness, perhaps also on account of his 
 character, for he was ahke the cleverest and most trouble- 
 some bully in the Austrian army. Order was completely 
 restored, but when the dinner hour arrived not one of our 
 invited guests appeared, so sixty French officers took their 
 places, and we merrily drank the health of the sulky 
 fellows . 
 
 We spent the 7th at Lientz in gleaning information as 
 to what was going on in the villages near, and learnt that 
 the insurgents were gathering in large numbers at certain 
 points preparatory to attacking us in the town and in our 
 camp. I at once took all possible measures for the defence, 
 had barricades greeted at the weakest points, and on the 
 side of the camp caused ladders to be fixed on either side 
 of the walls, so as to facilitate our communication with 
 the outlying troops, and ordered the removal of various 
 blocks of rock encumbering the ford of the Drave between 
 the camp and the gate of the town. General Busca also 
 took necessary precautions, and we awaited the enemy. 
 
 A little before daybreak on August 8 the peasants 
 swept down from the mountains and attacked us on every 
 side at once. They thought to surprise us, and were, in 
 their turn, greatly disconcerted at meeting with such un- 
 expected resistance. The hordes flung themselves upon 
 us with the greatest fury, but in such disorder that their 
 losses were very much greater than ours. One of the 
 attacking columns penetrated into the quarter of the town 
 where I happened to be, and for a moment I was in a 
 very awkward position, but I soon saw half a battalion of 
 
340 ME.MOJliS OF BAEOX LEJEUXE 
 
 our men climbing down the ladders referred to above, and, 
 falling on the rear of my assailants, the French troops had 
 soon destroyed them all, not one being left alive. I shall 
 never forget the horror with which I saw so many white 
 or fair-haired heads fall beneath our blows in the melee, 
 for it was patriotism alone which had inspired their 
 owners to attack us, and I hated to be compelled to order 
 no quarter to be given to those who would have assassi- 
 nated us. ' Kill the devil lest he should kill you,' says the 
 proverb ; and the enraged peasants, as they dashed upon 
 us, rolled over, and fell at our feet, continued to strike at 
 us even when mortally wounded. I lost ten of my 
 Italians, and had a good many more wounded at this one 
 point. 
 
 The next day I climbed up to the ruins of a strong old 
 castle on the heights above the town, and remained sitting 
 amongst them for some time. Just at the entrance to 
 these ruins rose a gigantic lime tree, some thirty feet in cir- 
 cumference, its huge roots deeply embedded in the crevices 
 of the rock ; sole survivor, it seemed to me, of its contem- 
 poraries of two hundred years ago. Seated beneath the 
 shade of this veteran of the valley, I had a splendid view 
 of the surrounding country. On my way back to the 
 town, I heard that the insurgents, relying on their thorough 
 knowledge of the country, were preparing to surprise and 
 murder us all in the night. We therefore kept watch till 
 the morning, but nobody came. 
 
 General Busca, anxious to show his gratitude for my 
 co-operation, made me a present of a very fine horse and 
 overwhelmed me with attentions. The General, noted 
 for his combined culture and courage, was an Italian by 
 birth, having been born at Nice, where he began life as a 
 doctor. When the Eevolution broke out in France in 
 
A VIGILA^'T GENI'^RAL 341 
 
 1791-92, he hurried to take part in it with extraordinary 
 enthusiasm, and his audacity soon led to his rising to 
 the rank of general in the French army. He prided 
 himself on being able to keep a more vigilant watch 
 than any other nran of his time, and as a matter of 
 fact'he did not go to bed once during the fortnight I was 
 with him. Still I must admit that when he did not keep 
 himself awake by repeating the passages he knew by heart 
 in Homer, Horace, Virgil, and other authors, he would 
 often fall asleep at table or even when engaged in conver- 
 sation. He told me that one day when he was in the 
 department of Var, the Austrian General Scharf sent an 
 envoy to him to summon him to evacuate the district 
 which the Austrians, invited by the inhabitants, had just 
 occupied. ' We were in my garden,' said the General, 
 ' near a flower bed full of tulips, many of which were in 
 seed. This made me think I would imitate the conduct 
 of a certain King of Eome, and with my riding- whip I cut 
 off the heads of the flowers, saying to the officer, " If 
 what you tell me is true, that is how I should treat the 
 inhabitants, and that," I added, as I trod down the stalks 
 which had remained standing, " is what I should do to 
 the enemy ! " This pantomime quite dumbfounded the 
 Austrian, and put an end to the interview.' I already 
 knew what a terrorist General Eusca was, and I quite be- 
 lieved his story; but I contented myself with silently 
 thinking, ' Se non e vero, e ben trovato.' 
 
 END OF VOLUME I. 
 
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