THROUGH EUROPE S EGYP 
 
 I — WITH — 
 
 nNAPOLEONn 
 
 -ms. 
 
 
 BY H. E. MARSHALL 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 "la _3i 
 
 IN COLOU" 
 
CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
The original of tliis 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/cu31924077092793 
 
THROUGH EUROPE WITH 
 
 NAPOLEOJNT 
 
Napoleon as a boy 
 
THROUGH EUROPE WITH 
 NAPOLEON 
 
 BY H. E. MARSHALL 
 
 Author of "Our Island Story," "Scotland's Story," &c. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY 
 
X 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 I. About a Rocky Island in the Blue Sea . . . i 
 
 II. Lessons and Play 4 
 
 III. School Days 11 
 
 IV. More School Days 14 
 
 V. From Brienne to Paris 18 
 
 VI. Napoleon Becomes Lieutenant 22 
 
 VII. Napoleon Visits his Old Home ... 26 
 
 VIII. Toulon 30 
 
 IX. The Taking of Toulon . . . .34 
 
 X. Napoleon's Marriage 38 
 
 XI. Napoleon Passes the Alps 42 
 
 XII. In the Great Plain of Italy 46 
 
 XIII. The Little Corporal 49 
 
 XIV. About some of the Towns which Napoleon saw 
 
 in Italy 53 
 
 XV. Mantua and Venice 56 
 
 XVI. Napoleon Returns to France 61 
 
 XVII. Napoleon Sets Out for Egypt 63 
 
 XVII I. The Mamelukes . .71 
 
 XIX. The Pyramids . -74 
 
 XX. Napoleon Marches into Asia 78 
 
 XXI. The Return from Egypt ...... 81 
 
 XXII. First Consul of France 85 
 
 XXIII. Napoleon Crosses the Alps 90 
 
 XXIV. The World at Peace 94 
 
 XXV. Napoleon Consul for Life 98 
 
 XXVI. More Belgian Towns 102 
 
 XXVII. The Emperor 105 
 
 XXVIII. The Crowning of the Emperor .110 
 
 XXIX. About the German Empire 113 
 
 XXX. From Ulm to Vienna 117 
 
 XXXI. The Battle of Austerlitz 121 
 
 vii 
 
viii Contents 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 XXXII. War once More 125 
 
 XXXIII. The Battles of Jena and AuersUdt . . ,129 
 
 XXXIV. The Battle of Trade and the War of Commerce 132 
 XXXV. A Winter in Poland 136 
 
 XXXVI. The Peace of Tilsit 141 
 
 XXXVII. Into Portugal 14S 
 
 XXXVIII. Into Spain 149 
 
 XXXIX. Joseph Bonaparte, King of Spain . . 153 
 
 XL. The Maid of Saragossa 157 
 
 XLI. The Court at Erfurt i6a 
 
 XLII. Corunna 164 
 
 XLI 1 1. The Battles of AspernEssling and Wagram . 169 
 
 XLIV. The Empress Marie Louise 172 
 
 XLV. Into Russia 176 
 
 XLVI. The Taking of Smolensk 179 
 
 XLVII. The Burning of Moscow 183 
 
 XLVIII. The Retreat from Moscow 187 
 
 XLIX. Napoleon's Last Great Victory ... 191 
 
 L. A Last Good-bye 194 
 
 LI. The Emperor of Elba ..... 198 
 
 LI I. Corporal Violet 202 
 
 LIII. Napoleon's Last Battle 206 
 
 LIV. The End 210 
 
LIST OF PICTURES 
 
 Page 
 Napoleon as a Boy Frontispiece 
 
 "The Little Corsican Officer" 40 
 
 Napoleon at Lodi 50 
 
 Battle of the Pyramids 76 
 
 Napoleon and the Pope ii3 
 
 The Maid of Saragossa . 158 
 
 The Retreat from Moscow 190 
 
 Waterloo » . . 208 
 
 LIST OF MAPS 
 
 Pae:es 
 Central Europe 8 & 9 
 
 Europe ■ . . - • • • \ ■ • . 68 & 69 
 
THROUGH EUROPE 
 WITH NAPOLEON 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 ABOUT A ROCKY ISLAND IN THE BLUE SEA 
 
 To the south of Europe there lies a blue sea called 
 the Mediterranean. Its name m^ans " in the middle 
 of the land," and if you look on the map you will see 
 that land shuts it in on every side, its only outlet 
 to the ocean being by the Straits of Gibraltar. For 
 this reason the ancients called ' it " the sea in the 
 middle of the land," " the inner sea," or " our sea," and 
 to them it was the centre of trade of the world, for the 
 lands of nearly all the world they knew lay about it. 
 ' The Mediterranean is very blue. This is partly 
 because it lies in the south, and the sunny blue 
 skies above it are reflected in its waters; partly 
 because it is so deep. In places it is forty or fifty 
 times deeper than our grey North Sea. It is far 
 more salt, too. There are two reasons for this. 
 First, because not many large rivers empty them- 
 selves into the Mediterranean ; and second, because 
 the warm sun of the south draws up a great deal of 
 the water, leaving the salt behind. 
 
2 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 In this sunny, blue sea lies the island of Corsica. 
 It is a rugged and beautiful little island, full of high 
 mountains. Except a strip of land on the eastern 
 shore, looking towards Italy, there is hardly any 
 plain in it. What plain there is, is very fertile, and 
 much of the island is thickly wooded. Here are 
 orange and lemon groves; here mulberries, olives, 
 and beautiful grapes grow and ripen ; and the trade 
 of the island consists largely in the export of fruit 
 and timber. 
 
 Corsica lies about fifty miles from the coast of Italy, 
 and for hundreds of years the island belonged to the 
 Republic of Genoa. The people are hardy and brave, 
 and, like all mountain peoples, they love liberty. They 
 hated to be ruled by Genoa, and at last, under a 
 leader called Paoli, they rebelled and fought for 
 freedom. So well did they fight that they nearly 
 drove the Genoese out. Then the Genoese asked 
 the French to help them, and at last, tired of the 
 struggle, they sold the island to France. 
 
 At that the Corsicans were very angry. What 
 right had the Genoese to sell them like cattle to a 
 new master ? they asked. So they went on fighting 
 the French, as they had fought the Genoese. 
 
 Among those who fought were Charles - Marie 
 Bonaparte and his brave wife, L,etizia. Bonaparte 
 was an Italian, but for many ye'drs his family had 
 lived in Corsica. He was a noble; but in Corsica 
 there was little difference between nobles and shep- 
 herds — they were all poor and proud alike. Letizia 
 
A Rocky Island in th^ Blue Sea 3 
 
 was young and beautiful, yet she bore all the hard- 
 ships of war bravely. She followed her husband 
 even to the battle-field. She was often in danger 
 from flying bullets, yet she feared nothing, and 
 thought only of the safety of her husband and the 
 freedom of her country. By mountain paths, steep 
 and narrow; through trackless forests, called in 
 Corsica, " maquis " ; over streams where there were 
 no bridges, Letizia followed her husband. She was 
 only a girl, but she had the heart of a hero, and not 
 until the struggle proved hopeless did she give in. 
 
 For France was great and Corsica little, and brave 
 though the people were, they were at last forced to 
 yield and become part of the French dominion ; and 
 their leader Paoli fled over the se^s. 
 
 So there was peace. But it was the peace between 
 slave and tyrant. The Corsicans hated the French, 
 and many of the French were not greatly pleased 
 with their new possession. It was but a useless 
 mass of rock, they said. It would never be anything 
 but a burden. It cost so much to keep the people in 
 subjection that one Frenchman said he wished he 
 could bore a hole in the bottom of the island and sink 
 it in the sea, and so have done with it- 
 
 And here, in this little island, almost before the 
 roar of battle had ceased, among a people full of 
 sullen anger and bitterness against their conquerors, 
 a little son was born, one blazing August day in 1769, 
 to Charles and Letizia Bonaparte. They gave him 
 the name of Napoleon, but he was not baptized 
 
4 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 until he was nearly two years old. Then, on the 
 same day that his sister Anna Maria was baptized 
 in the Cathedral of Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica, 
 he received the name which he was to make famous 
 all the world over, and for all time to come. 
 
 The house in which Napoleon was born is still 
 shown in Ajaccio. Long ago, however, it was 
 plundered and burned down, and although it has 
 been built again, we cannot say if is really like the 
 house in which he was born or not. But the square 
 in which it stands is still called Letizia Place, and 
 all about the little town of Ajaccio are things which 
 remind one of the small dark-faced boy, who grew 
 up to be one of the greatest men who has ever 
 lived. 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 LESSONS AND PLAY 
 
 Napoleon had several brothers and sisters, and 
 their mother, having only one servant, had a great 
 deal to do, and not much time to look after the 
 children. So she gave them a big, empty room in 
 which to play. The walls and floor of this room 
 were bare, and there was nothing in it except the 
 children's toys. Here they were allowed to do as 
 they liked. They scribbled and drew pictures on 
 the walls, and played at all sorts of games. 
 Napoleon always drew soldiers marching to battle, 
 and played with nothing but a drum and a wooden 
 sword. He used to get up battles, too, between 
 
Lessons and Play 5 
 
 the boys of Ajaccio and the boys of the neighbour- 
 hood. These wars would last for months at a time, 
 during which there would be mdny pitched battles, 
 surprises, and assaults. Napoleon, of course, was 
 always leader, and made the others obey him. He 
 was afraid of no one, and he bit, scratched, and 
 slapped any one, big or little, as he chose. He 
 was often noisy and quarrelsome, and bullied his 
 brothers and sisters, especially Joseph, who was 
 older than he. 
 
 But at times, too, even when he was a very small 
 boy, he would be moody and thoughtful, and would 
 walk about by himself, refusing to speak or play 
 with the others. He was an untidy little boy, not 
 caring in the least how he was dressed. His straight 
 dark hair straggled over his brown face, and his 
 stockings hung down over his shoe-tops, and 
 altogether he must have looked a wild little harum- 
 scarum. 
 
 When Napoleon was about five years old he 
 was sent to a school for little girls kept by nuns. 
 Here he learned to read and to do sums. He be- 
 came so fond of sums, and so good at them, that 
 the nuns called him the little mathematician. 
 
 Soon Napoleon left the nuns' school and went 
 to a boys' school, along with his brother Joseph. 
 Here the boys in class were set opposite each other 
 in two rows, each under a large l!ag. One was 
 the flag of Carthage, the other the flag of Rome, 
 with S.P.Q.R. upon it, which means "Senatus 
 
6 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 Populusque Romanus." That is Latin for "The 
 Senate and People of Rome." 
 
 The boys were arranged like this so that each 
 side might try to learn better than the other, and 
 fight and conquer in lessons, as the Romans and 
 Carthaginians fought in war. 
 
 As Napoleon was the younger of the two brothers, 
 he was put on the side of Carthage. But he did 
 not like that at all, for in history he knew the 
 Romans had always been the conquerors, and 
 he liked to be on the winning side. So Joseph, 
 who did not mind so much, changed with Napoleon, 
 and allowed him to be a Roman. 
 
 Napoleon worked hard at his lessons. By the 
 time he was eight he was so fond of arithmetic 
 that his mother had a little room built for him in 
 the garden, where he might work without being 
 bothered by his brothers and sisters. There he 
 used to spend many hours making all kinds of 
 calculations. But even more than sums he loved 
 soldiers. Every morning, before he went to school, 
 he was given a piece of white bread. This he used 
 to give to a soldier in exchange for a piece of coarse 
 brown soldiers' bread. His mother was not very 
 pleased at this. " Why do you give away your good 
 white bread for a piece of brown ? " she asked him 
 one day. 
 
 " Because," replied Napoleon, " if I am going to 
 be a soldier I must get used to eating soldiers' 
 bread. Besides, I like it." 
 
Lessons and Play 7 
 
 As Napoleon loved soldiers so much, his father 
 and mother decided that he should be one. And one 
 December day a little ship sailed away from Corsica, 
 carrying Charles Bonaparte and his two sons, 
 Joseph and Napoleon, over the sea to France. 
 Napoleon was not yet ten, and Joseph scarcely a 
 year more. He was going to learn to be a priest, 
 and Napoleon to be a soldier. 
 
 Corsica lies about a hundred miles from the 
 shores of France, but from Ajaccio to Marseilles, 
 to which Bonaparte now sailed, is two hundred 
 miles or more. 
 
 Marseilles is a very ancient town. It was founded 
 by the Greeks hundreds of years ago. They called 
 it Marsalia. The people of Marsalia became great 
 sailors and traders, and were masters of the Medi- 
 terranean. Now Marseilles is the chief seaport of 
 France and the second city of the Republic, Paris 
 only being bigger. 
 
 Marseilles does not lie, like so many of our great 
 ports, on the estuary of a river— it is a deep-sea 
 port, not a river port. A deep-sea port has an 
 advantage over a river port in that larger vessels 
 can come into harbour, as a rule. But, on the other 
 hand, without a river behind the port it is neither 
 so easy nor so cheap to carry goods inland. So 
 people have talked of making a canal to join 
 Marseilles with the Rhone, which flows into the 
 Mediterranean not far off. The Rhone, however, 
 although it is the largest river of France, is not 
 
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10 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 very good for navigation. It rises high among the 
 Swiss mountains, and therefore flows very swiftly. It 
 is so shallow, too, that going up-stream steamers 
 have to go empty, or only half laden. So that trade 
 by way of the Rhone is more export than import. 
 But its tributary the Saone, which joins it at Lyons, 
 flows slowly, and is of much use for trade. By 
 canals it is connected with other French rivers and 
 with the Rhine, the great German river, and so 
 the valley of the Rh6ne has become the natural 
 trade route from the south. 
 
 Much of the trade of the Mediterranean passes 
 through Marseilles, but it has two rivals in Trieste 
 and Genoa. In Britain, of two ports the one may 
 rise and the other fall, for some reason or another, 
 but still the wealth brought by trade remains in the 
 country, although it may have gone to another town. 
 On the Continent, however, two rival ports near each 
 other may be in different lands. Then the rivalry 
 between them grows keener. 
 
 Marseilles lies in the warm ^nd fertile Rhone 
 valley, where olive and mulberry trees grow, so it does 
 great trade in oil and silk. It imports raw silk too 
 from the East, which it sends to the silk-mills of 
 Lyons. Thousands of sheep are imported every year 
 from Algiers, so in Marseilles large factories of soap 
 and candles, boots and shoes have arisen. 
 
School Days ii 
 
 CHAPTER HI 
 
 SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 Up the fertile valley of the Rhone, beneath the 
 shadow of the Cevennes, beside the rushing river, 
 past the city of Lyons, with its famous silk factories, 
 then by the slow-flowing Saone Napoleon passed, 
 until, a fortnight after he and his father and brother 
 had set out, they arrived at the town of Autun. 
 
 Here, in this busy manufacturing town, with its 
 fine cathedral and grey remains of Roman times, 
 the boys were sent to school. With his fellows 
 Joseph soon became a favourite. He was a little 
 shy at first, but he was lively and gay, and joined 
 in games with the other boys. 
 
 Napoleon, on the other hand, was silent and sad. 
 His dark face looked sulky, and instead of joining 
 in the games, he liked best to go about by himself. 
 So the boys teased him. They called him " cowardly 
 Corsican," and reminded him that his island had 
 been conquered by the French. At first Napoleon 
 paid no attention. Then suddenly, one day, flashing 
 round on his tormentors, he cried, " If the French 
 had been four against one only, they would never 
 have had Corsica : but they were ten to one." 
 
 But if Joseph was a greater favourite. Napoleon 
 was far more clever. He soon learned to read 
 and speak in French. For to the boys French 
 was a foreign language ; at home, in Corsica, they 
 
12 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 spoke Italian. And although Napoleon learned 
 to speak French very well, all his life long he 
 made mistakes in it, especially in writing. He 
 wrote very badly too— to hide his bad spelling, some 
 people say. 
 
 The little, sulky, lonely boy did not stay long at 
 Autun. In about three months his father came to 
 take him away to the military school at Brienne. But 
 Joseph was to be left at Autun. The two brothers 
 had never before been parted, and although Napoleon 
 bullied Joseph they were very fond of each other. 
 Now that they were in a strange land, far from 
 their home, among people speaking a strange 
 language, they seemed to love each other more. 
 When they knew that they must part, Joseph burst 
 into tears. But Napoleon tried hard to pretend 
 that he did not care. His dark face only looked 
 more sulky than before. But although he tried 
 hard, he could not quite keep back the tears, and 
 one slowly trickled down his cheek. 
 
 Brienne is more than a hundred miles north of 
 Autun, and was in those days a long journey, when 
 there were no trains, and travellers had to ride or 
 drive all the way. Brienne lies near the Aube, a 
 tributary of the Seine, in that part of France called 
 Champagne, from which the wine champagne takes 
 its name. But Brienne itself is now chiefly famous 
 as the place where Napoleon was at school. Before 
 the town hall there stands a statue of him as he 
 looked when a boy. 
 
School Day$ 13 
 
 The school to which Napoleon was now sent 
 was one of twelve founded by ICing Louis XVI. 
 for the children of nobles too poor to give their 
 sons a good education. Once a boy was received 
 as a king's scholar, he was obliged to remain at 
 school for six years, and was not allowed to go 
 home, even for holidays, without special leave. 
 
 Although these schools were called military schools, 
 they were taught by monks, and were really not 
 very different from other schools. The boys, how- 
 ever, wore a uniform, and Napoleon was now dressed 
 in a suit of blue with red facings and white metal 
 buttons. 
 
 At first Napoleon was not happy at this school, 
 even though he was dressed in a uniform and was 
 going to be a soldier. He was dreadfully home- 
 sick. The dull, chalky downs of Champagne seemed 
 to him dismal and uninteresting after beautiful 
 Corsica, with its hills and glenS and sunny blue 
 sky. And here, in this dull land, he must remain 
 for six years ! To a little boy of nine it seemed 
 as if six years would never end. 
 
 As Napoleon was shy, moody, and silent, his 
 schoolfellows teased him. They nicknamed him 
 "Straw on Nose," because they thought that he 
 held his nose in the air, and that Napoleon sounded 
 like the French words for straw on nose— "la 
 paille au nez." They teased him, too, about his 
 country. "You are a conquered nation, a people 
 of slaves," they said. 
 
14 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 This always made Napoleon fierce. " I hope one 
 day to give my country freedom," he would cry. 
 
 Even the masters made him angry, because 
 they taught that Corsica was Italian, and Napoleon 
 hated the Italians almost a.s much as he hated the 
 French. So he sulked, and grew angry, and ended 
 by hating all his schoolfellows. "I will do these 
 Frenchmen as much harm as I can," he said. They, 
 in their turn, disliked him, although many of them 
 feared him, and allowed themselves to be ordered 
 about by him. 
 
 Each boy had a piece of ground given to him 
 for a garden. Napoleon made two of the others 
 give their gardens to him. Round them and his 
 own, he made a fence and planted bushes which 
 in two years grew so thick that no one could 
 see through. Here Napoleon used to spend all 
 his playtime alone, reading arid thinking. And 
 woe to any one who dared to come near to disturb 
 him! 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 MORE SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 After Napoleon had been at school for some time, 
 the boys were all formed into an army. They 
 were drilled, had to obey orders, and form and 
 march in line, like real soldiers. And as in a real 
 army, some were officers. Napoleon was given the 
 rank of captain. But his schoolfellows made up 
 their minds to show him how they hated him. They 
 
More School Days 15 
 
 held a council of war, and declared that Napoleon 
 was unworthy to hold any rank, because he had 
 shown that he did not care in the least for any 
 of them. This sentence was read to him, and then 
 they took away his gold braid and signs of office, 
 and degraded him to the ranks. 
 
 But instead of flying into a fierce passion, as 
 they had expected. Napoleon took his humiliation 
 so quietly that the boys, in place of feeling pleased 
 with what they had done, were sorry. They were 
 not really cruel, and were quite willing to be friends. 
 And Napoleon, surprised that they should try to 
 be kind, came out of his shell and became more 
 sociable. 
 
 Instead of being the butt of the whole school, 
 he now for a time became a sort of captain of 
 games. He had read about the Olympic games 
 and the Roman circus, so now he arranged wrestling 
 and races, in imitation of them. He got up battles, 
 too, one side being Greeks or Romans, the other 
 side Persians or Carthaginians. But this brought 
 Napoleon into trouble, for the warriors used stones 
 for ammunition, and some of the boys were ,hurt. 
 So the headmaster put an end to such dangerous 
 games, and scolded Napoleon severely as he was 
 the ringleader. This made the proud Corsican 
 boy angry, and once more he took to sulking 
 alone. 
 
 One v/inter, when Napoleon had been about four 
 years at school, the boys had lessons about the 
 
i6 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 building of ramparts and fortifications. They were 
 taught the names of the different kinds of forts, 
 their uses, and how best to attack and defend 
 them. While these lessons were going on, there 
 came a heavy fall of snow. This gave Napoleon 
 a grand idea. Instead of fighting like the ancient 
 Greeks and Romans, they would build a fortress 
 of snow, and attack and defend it like modern 
 soldiers. 
 
 All the boys were delighted with the idea. 
 Napoleon drew out the lines of the fort, and soon 
 every one was hard at work with spade and wheel- 
 barrow, eagerly building under Napoleon's direc- 
 tions. 
 
 When the fort was finished, the boys took sides, 
 and fought with snowballs. Napoleon was general, 
 and he commanded both sides, giving orders some- 
 times to the besiegers, sometimes to the defenders. 
 This time the masters were quite pleased, and 
 looked on, cheering those boys who showed most 
 courage and cleverness. 
 
 Soon the fame of the fort spread far, and people 
 came from all round about to see it and watch 
 the fights. These went on as long as the snow 
 lay upon the ground. But at last March came, 
 the sun began to grow warm, the snow melted, 
 and the storming and snowballing came to an end. 
 The masters were not sorry when this happened, 
 as many of the boys had caught bad colds from 
 playing so much in the snow. As for Napoleon, 
 
More School Days 17 
 
 he was more sure than ever that the life of a soldier 
 was the grandest possible, and he felt that he was 
 born to make others obey him. 
 
 As to his lessons, Napoleon learned no Greek, 
 and never did his Latin well. He loved the tales 
 of the Greek and Roman heroes, but he read them 
 in translations. It seemed to him waste of time 
 to try to read them in a dead or foreign language. 
 At arithmetic and geometry he was good. He 
 liked his geography lessons too; but above all he 
 loved history. Whenever he had a spare moment he 
 might be found reading, and it was history and 
 the lives of great men that he read. Indeed he 
 often read when he ought to have been playing 
 games. So he never grew tall ;- and although his 
 shoulders were broad, he was thin and delicate- 
 looking. 
 
 Only once, during all the years that Napoleon 
 was at Brienne, did he see his father. It was in 
 the little bare parlour of the school where visitors 
 were received that father and son met after five 
 long years. Charles Bonaparte had left a child, 
 he found a man, for although Napoleon was only 
 fifteen he spoke and thought as a man. We can 
 imagine what joy it was to him to have news of 
 his dearly-loved home from one who had seen it 
 lately, and how sad he was when his father went 
 away again. 
 
 Napoleon never saw his father again, for hand- 
 some Charles Bonaparte was already very ill, and 
 
i8 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 a few months afterwards he died. He never knew 
 what a great man his son was to be. Yet it is 
 said that when he lay a-dying he called aloud for 
 him. "Where is my son Napoleon? Where is 
 my son, whose sword will make kings tremble, who 
 will change the face of the earth ? " 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 FROM BRIENNE TO PARIS 
 
 Now came the question of what Napoleon was to 
 be, whether soldier or sailor. He himself wanted to 
 go into the navy. But his mother, who loved him 
 dearly, could not bear the thought of so much 
 danger— danger from shot and shell, and from the 
 angry waves too. So Napoleon gave up that idea, 
 and resolved to go into the artillery. 
 
 He had still another year, he thought, to pass 
 in Brienne, when one day he was told that he had 
 been admitted to the military school at Paris. And 
 on the 30th of October 1784 he set out for the 
 capital with four other boys. 
 
 We can hardly think that Napoleon was sorry 
 to leave Brienne. Yet long years after, when his 
 life of blood and fame was over, and he was a 
 prisoner in a lonely island, his thoughts turned to 
 that rugged country, "the fatherland of his thought," 
 he called it. 
 
 It was in dull November weather that this 
 passionate and moody Corsican boy first saw beau- 
 
From Brienne to Paris 19 
 
 tiful Paris, " the City of Light." Paris is not only 
 the capital — it is the very heart of France ; and at 
 the call of Paris every town and village answers 
 and thrills. All the history of France is wrapped 
 in Paris. Which way it leads, to wild revolution, 
 to empire, to democracy, France follows. 
 
 It is here that the ruler, be he King, Emperor, 
 or President, lives. Here meets the Parliament, 
 and here the laws for the ruling of the land are 
 made. Paris is not only the largest town in France 
 —it is the largest on the Continent. It is a city of 
 beauty and splendour, made, it would seem, for sun- 
 shine, light, and happiness. Full of broad streets 
 and stately palaces, crowned with pinnacles and 
 domes, it lies amid its hills, a very queen of cities. 
 Yet this gay city, clothed with such airy grace, 
 breathing of mirth and laughter, has seen days of 
 horror and darkness. The howl of maddened multi- 
 tudes, the roar of starving, frenzied mobs, has 
 sounded through its stately halls.. The fair streets 
 have been sodden with trampled blood, the glorious 
 palaces, wrecked with fire and sword, have been 
 laid in ruins, and the fair face of Paris has been 
 scarred and seared. Yet the finger of time has 
 smoothed away every trace of agony and passion, 
 and still Paris, ever young, though so full of 
 memories, smiles upon the world. 
 
 But although Paris has beauty and power, and 
 is full of history and romance, it has much else 
 too. It lies upon the Seine, the best navigable 
 
20 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 river of France, just where the Marne, another good 
 navigable stream, joins it. And up and down the 
 river, day and night, go ships- laden with mer- 
 chandise. From Paris as a centre, railroads lead 
 out to every port of France, for it is the heart of 
 all the foreign trade. 
 
 Paris, too, in spite of its brightness and beauty, 
 is a city of work and factories. Here are manu- 
 factures of machinery, carriages,, motors ; here are 
 tanneries and boot factories; factories of furniture 
 and perfumes, of china, clocks, and pianos, and an 
 endless list of things. But especially it is famous for 
 its jewellery and its beautiful little trifles, called 
 " articles de Paris." These find a market among the 
 wealthy people of Paris itself, and are easily sent to 
 the still greater and wealthier city of London. 
 
 And besides all this, Paris has a University, and 
 is famous for its schools of painting and sculpture. 
 
 And now the man who was to play upon this 
 Paris, and to play upon France, and make them 
 answer to his will, was quietly learning his lessons 
 in the school upon the Champs de Mars— the Field 
 of the War-God. 
 
 At Paris, as at Brienne, Napoleon worked hard. 
 But although sometimes he still shut himself up in 
 moody silence, he mixed far more with his fellow- 
 students, and took part in their games. The truth 
 was, he was now in his element. It seemed to 
 Napoleon that he was no longer at school, but in 
 a city under arms and in a state of war. His 
 
From Brienne to Paris 21 
 
 masters were no longer monks, but soldiers. All 
 around him he saw men in uniforms. He was no 
 longer awakened from sleep or called to class by 
 the sound of a bell, but by the rat-tat of a drum. 
 Sentinels marched to and fro. Every hour, by 
 night or day, he heard the sharp word of command, 
 the ring and thud of grounding muskets. All the 
 talk was of war, and the boys discussed together 
 the regiments to which they would belong, their 
 uniforms, and arms. So, among sights and sounds 
 that he loved. Napoleon opened out and became 
 more friendly. 
 
 Yet still above all things he remained a Corsican, 
 loving his native land with a fierce love. He 
 began to write a poem on the liberty of Corsica, 
 and recited it to one of his fellows with great 
 gusto, waving a rusty old sword in his hand. 
 Sometimes he would march up and down the 
 fencing - school, his hands behind him, his chin 
 thrust forward, dreaming of how one day he would 
 free his dear land. If his schoolfellows laughed 
 at him and called him "Corsican," he would seize 
 a fencing-stick and cry, "Come on, I'll fight you 
 all," and so in shouts of scorn and laughter would 
 end his dream. 
 
 One of his schoolfellows drew a caricature of 
 Napoleon on the blank page in his atlas, march- 
 ing to help Paoli, while an old professor is trying 
 to hold him back by the pigtail. Underneath he 
 wrote, " Napoleon, run, fly to help Paoli, and deliver 
 
22 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 him out of the hands of his enemies." So in many 
 ways he was teased and laughed at. 
 
 At length the heads of the school heard about 
 it. It seemed to them that in his love for his island 
 Napoleon was forgetting his duty to the King, so 
 he was ordered to appear before them. "You are 
 a King's scholar," they said; "you must remember 
 that, and moderate your love for Corsica, which, 
 after all, is part of France." 
 
 But Napoleon could not moderate his love, and 
 when he remembered that the French had con- 
 quered Corsica he hated them. 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 NAPOLEON BECOMES LIEUTENANT 
 
 When Napoleon had been a year in Paris he 
 passed his examinations, and received his commis- 
 sion as second lieutenant in the^ artillery regiment 
 of La F^re, one of the finest in the army. 
 
 Although Napoleon had beea a year in Paris 
 he knew nothing of the beautiful city. He had 
 hardly ever been beyond the gates of the school, 
 in the Champs de Mars. Now he spent two days 
 paying visits and wandering about the great town. 
 But even yet he was considered as a schoolboy. 
 Everywhere a non-commissioned officer went with 
 him. 
 
 On the 30th of October 1785 Napoleon and 
 another boy, called Des Mazis, with whom he had 
 
Napoleon Becomes Lieutenant 23 
 
 grown very friendly, set out to jbin their regiment 
 at Valence. They were only boys of sixteen and 
 seventeen, but they felt very grand, for now they 
 were real officers. They wore swords and belts 
 and silver collar-clasps. But to their great grief they 
 were not yet allowed to wear the uniform of their 
 regiment, but had to travel in their school uniforms. 
 Still, it was a fine thing to Wear a sword. So 
 they climbed joyfully into the Lyons coach, and 
 were soon whirling away southwards behind spank- 
 ing horses. 
 
 Soon after they started they passed through the 
 forest of Fontainebleau, one of the finest in France. 
 It is famous for its beautiful walks through rugged 
 gorges, for the ground is very rocky, and there 
 are many quarries, both of building and paving 
 stones, in the forest. The streets of Paris are 
 paved, for the most part, with stones from Fontaine- 
 bleau. Here, too, is a splendid palace, once a favourite 
 country-house of the Kings of France. Little did 
 one of the boys think that the day would come 
 when he would live in that beautiful palace, and 
 that he should pass there some of the bitterest 
 moments of his life. 
 
 At Fontainebleau the boys dined, and that evening 
 they reached the little town of Sens, in the depart- 
 ment of Yonne. Yonne is one of the most hilly 
 parts of the basin of the Seine, and its rocky slopes 
 are clad with vines, from which very good wine is 
 made. 
 
24 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 Next day, following the valley of the Yonne, they 
 went on by Joigny, Auxerre, Avallon, and Vermanton, 
 all famous for their wine trade. 
 
 Next they passed by Saulieu, just crossing into 
 the department of Cote-d'Or, fertile and famous for 
 its wheat fields and pasture lands. Then on again 
 to Autun, where Napoleon had been once before 
 and stayed a few months at school, arriving at last 
 at Chalons-sur-Saone, in the agricultural department 
 of Saone-et-Loire. 
 
 Saone-et-Loire is one of the most fertile depart- 
 ments of France, and Chalons has been called the 
 " granary of wheat." Besides wheat, excellent wines 
 are produced, and indeed it is so fertile, and the 
 climate is so good, that, except olive trees, nearly 
 everything grows here which is found in the 
 warmest and sunniest parts of France. 
 
 At Chalons the boys left the coach, and took 
 boat upon the slow-flowing Saone. As far as Lyons 
 they had a pleasant journey, for the river was as 
 smooth as a canal. Lyons is the third city of 
 France. Lying in the warm and fertile valley of 
 the Rhone, where great quantities of mulberry trees, 
 upon which silkworms feed, grow, it is the chief 
 centre of silk manufacture, and half of the silk of 
 the whole world passes through its markets. The 
 water is good for dyeing silk, there are coal and 
 iron mines not far off, so it is not wonderful that 
 Lyons has become a great manufacturing town. 
 
 At Lyons the boys left the Saone, and began their 
 
Napoleon Becomes Lieutenant 25 
 
 journey down the Rhone. Even they could not help 
 seeing the difference in the rivers. Now, instead 
 of flowing smoothly through a pleasant valley, the 
 stream rushed along through wild and rugged 
 country. The very sailors seemed to change with 
 the scenery, and become rough and wild like their 
 land. 
 
 At last the long journey ended at Valence. 
 Valence is a very old town. The Romans called 
 it Valentia. It is a manufacturing town, where 
 silk, gloves, glass, paper, and many other things 
 are made. 
 
 The La Ffere regiment, being one of the best, 
 was one of the most hard-working of the French 
 artillery. The men got up early, and worked hard 
 at marching, drilling, and shooting. Napoleon was 
 in a way still a pupil. He had to begin at the bottom, 
 and serve first as a gunner, then as corporal and 
 sergeant, so that he might know his work in every 
 detail. Then only was he considered fit to be an 
 officer. 
 
 One of Napoleon's first duties as an officer was 
 helping to put down a riot among the silk-workers 
 of Lyons. At this time in the history of France 
 these riots and strikes had become very common. 
 The King, Louis XVL, kept a splendid court, and 
 spent a great deal of money. To get this money 
 the people were year by year taxed more and 
 more heavily, and became poorer and poorer, until 
 some of them lived in the most utter misery and 
 
26 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 wretchedness, having scarcely enough to eat. Then 
 they rebelled. Soon the rebellion spread all over 
 France, and what is called the French Revolution 
 began. 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 NAPOLEON VISITS HIS OLD HOME 
 
 After Napoleon came back from Lyons, he went 
 home to Corsica, on leave. It was the first time 
 that he had seen his native land, his mother, 
 brothers, and sisters, for nearly eight years. To 
 find himself once more in his dear island, among 
 the woods and gardens where he had played as a 
 child, was great joy. He was never tired of 
 wandering through the valleys, of climbing the 
 hills, of making friends with the shepherds in their 
 lonely huts, sometimes spending whole days and 
 nights with them. 
 
 At this time Madame Bonaparte was very poor. 
 She had still four little children to bring up and 
 send to school She was so poor that she could 
 keep no servant. Napoleon's pay as a lieutenant 
 was only about ^^50 a year. Out of that he had 
 to pay for food and lodgings and buy his uniform. 
 But he managed to help his mo„ther too, and pay 
 some of his brothers' schooling. 
 
 The rules about leave do not seem to have been 
 very strict, for, in one way or another, Napoleon 
 had leave from his regiment for a year and nine 
 months. Part of this time he spent in Paris. Then 
 
Napoleon Visits his Old Home 27 
 
 for the first time he began to know something 
 about the beautiful town, and often spent hours 
 wandering alone through the strefets. 
 
 But at last, in June 1788, he was obliged to go 
 back to his regiment. While Napoleon had been 
 away it had been moved from Valence to Auxonne, 
 a little commercial and manufacturing town upon 
 the Saone. 
 
 The country round Auxonne was marshy and 
 damp, for the Saone often overflowed its banks, 
 and for some months in the winter Napoleon became 
 quite ill. But when spring came, and the damp 
 fogs went, he grew better. 
 
 Here, as at Valence, Napoleon V^orked hard. Be- 
 sides drilling and practising gunnery, he read every- 
 thing he could about soldiers. He learned to draw 
 maps and plans, and as he was one of the keenest, 
 soon became one of the cleverest^ of the officers of 
 the regiment. 
 
 But he did not spend all his time in work. He 
 had his share too in all the fun and jokes of which 
 his companions were fond. He took part in dinners, 
 balls, and parties. Indeed since he had become an 
 officer. Napoleon was no longer the moody boy he 
 had been, although at times he might have fits of 
 passion. 
 
 But meanwhile, as the days and months went on, 
 great changes were taking place in France. 
 
 At this time the position of King and people 
 in France was very different from what it was in 
 
28 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 Britain. The people of Britain, through long years 
 of struggle, had gained freedom. Their King was a 
 limited monarch ; that is, the power of the King 
 was held in check by Lords and Commons. But in 
 France there was no check upon the King. He 
 could do as he liked. Under him there were the 
 " three estates "—that is, the nobles, the clergy, and 
 the people. The nobles and the clergy paid no taxes. 
 They were called the privileged classes. They and 
 the King spent a great deal of money. So the third 
 estate — that is, the people — had to pay. Every year 
 the King and nobles spent more and more. Every 
 year the people had to pay more and more. 
 
 As the years went on the people grew more and 
 more miserable, and more and more weary of their 
 rulers. Many of them were very ignorant. They 
 hardly knew what was wrong, or how it might be 
 put right. They only knew that they were poor, 
 miserable, and hungry. Riots, such as you have 
 already heard about, grew more d.nd more frequent ; 
 all the summer of 1789 was stormy with them. At 
 last the people broke out fiercely in Paris. They 
 seized and pulled down the state prison. The King 
 and his advisers were powerless. "It is revolt," 
 said he, when he heard of it. 
 " Nay, sire," replied his minister, " it is revolution. " 
 The revolt spread fast. In July there was a riot 
 in Auxonne. The crowd seized the tax-collector, 
 burst into the custom-houses, wrecked them, and 
 smashed the furniture. The soldiers were called 
 
Napoleon Visits his Old Home 29 
 
 out, but they did little more thkn look on. They 
 surrounded the rioters, but did not try to stop them. 
 The soldiers themselves were of the people, and 
 they felt with them. 
 
 A few weeks later many of the soldiers mutinied 
 and joined the rioters. Soon all over France the 
 revolution was blazing. Everything was turned 
 topsy-turvy, and men knew not whom to follow. 
 
 But Napoleon was no Frenchman. He was a 
 Gorsican, The troubles of France did not touch 
 him, except that he thought perhaps good might 
 come to his dear island out of them. And so in 
 this time of wild unrest he asked for leave and went 
 home once more. 
 
 For the next four years Napoleon divided his time 
 between France and Corsica. Indeed he spent so 
 much of his time in Corsica that at one time his 
 commission was taken away from him. But he 
 gave such good excuses for having been absent 
 that the Minister of War allowed him to go back 
 to his post with the rank of captain. 
 
 Napoleon saw France pass through some of the 
 worst days of blood and terror, but he took no part 
 in them. At this time the lesser struggles of his 
 own island seemed to him more important. 
 
 Corsica, like France, was in a state of turmoil 
 and anarchy. Paoli, the great Corsican hero, had 
 returned from exile, and was everywhere greeted 
 with cheers. 
 
 At first Napoleon loved and honoured his hero, 
 
30 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 as he had when a boy. But soon these two, the 
 grey old hero whose work was done, and the brown- 
 faced lad whose work was only beginning, quarrelled. 
 The story of these quarrels is hard to follow, but 
 at last Napoleon, who had been so great a patriot, 
 took the side of France. Then he and all his family 
 were forced to flee from Corsica in secret, and after 
 many adventures they arrived safely in Marseilles. 
 There Napoleon left his mother and sisters in great 
 poverty, and went to join his regiment, which was 
 now at Nice. From henceforth he was a French- 
 man. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 TOULON 
 
 When the French rebelled against their King, 
 many of the princes and rulers of the other countries 
 of Europe joined together and threatened to make 
 war against France, unless the French people placed 
 Louis upon the throne again. It does not seem as 
 if the allies, as they were called, had much right 
 to interfere between the French people and their 
 King. But perhaps they feared that their own 
 people might follow the example of the French if 
 they did not do something. 
 
 At first Britain did not openly join with the others. 
 But in January 1793 the French put their King to 
 death, and a few weeks after Britain joined the allies. 
 
 If you look on the map you will see how many 
 other lands border on France, and what a great 
 
Toulon 31 
 
 frontier, as the part of one country which borders on 
 another is called, the French had to protect. In 
 the north they were attacked by British, Dutch, and 
 Austrians — for Austria had at that time posses- 
 sion of the Netherlands. Prussians and the Princes 
 of the Empire attacked them along the Upper 
 Rhine; the King of Sardinia at the Piedmontese 
 Alps; the King of Spain in the passes of the 
 Pyrenees. Switzerland only, of all the countries 
 bordering upon France, had not joined the allies. 
 But some of the French themselves joined them, so 
 that France had to fight a civil war as well. 
 
 Among the French who helped the allies and who 
 were helped by them were the people of Toulon. 
 An army of British, Spaniards, and Neapolitans 
 took possession of the fortress, and a squadron of 
 British ships lay in the harbour. 
 
 Toulon is a fine natural harbour on the Mediter- 
 ranean. It is a strong fortress lying at the head 
 of a deep double bay, and after Brest is the most 
 important arsenal and naval port in France. 
 Although it has a commercial harbour too, it is 
 not of commercial importance like Marseilles, but 
 is used almost entirely by the French navy. It is 
 a good place for a naval station, as the bay is 
 well sheltered and the anchorage good. There 
 are shipbuilding yards and graving docks here, as 
 coal and iron can easily be brought from the mines 
 in the Department Gard, and from Ardeche, and 
 even from Isere. 
 
32 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 The other two greatest naval stations of France 
 are Brest and Cherbourg. But they both lie on 
 the northern shore. The south coast of France is 
 cut off, as it were, from the north and west by 
 the Iberian Peninsula, as Spain and Portugal are 
 called. The Mediterranean shore can only be 
 reached through the Straits of Gibraltar, and the 
 fortress of Gibraltar belongs to the British, so you 
 can see how important it was for France that 
 Toulon should be recovered. At this time, too, 
 Toulon was thought to be one of the strongest 
 fortresses in the world, and the command of it 
 meant, to a great extent, the command of the 
 Mediterranean. 
 
 The French revolutionary army, however, at 
 Toulon was badly officered, and the soldiers were 
 almost without discipline. For the revolution which 
 had begun in a demand for liberty and justice from 
 an oppressed people had grown into a horrible war 
 of class hatred. The people had suffered so much 
 from the nobles that, now that they had them in 
 their power, their hatred knew no bounds. Hun- 
 dreds of nobles were put to death for the simple 
 reason that they were noble. No one who had 
 rank or authority was safe, and France ran red 
 with blood. 
 
 The people declared that there should be no 
 more nobles, and no more titles, but all were to be 
 equal. Even " Madame " and " Monsieur," which 
 mean the same as our " Mr." and " Mrs.," were not 
 
Toulon 33 
 
 allowed to be used. Every one was addressed alike 
 as "citizen" or " citizeness." 
 
 In the slaughter of nobles, many of the officers 
 of the army had been killed. Others had fled from 
 the country to save their lives. So it came about 
 that men with no knowledge of how to command 
 became officers, and the soldiers, who were told 
 that all men were equal, were, on their side, little 
 willing to obey. The commander-in-chief of the 
 army before Toulon was a painter. He could, no 
 doubt, paint fine pictures of battles, but he did not 
 know in the least how to fight them. He was very 
 vain, too, and thought that he was doing great 
 things. He rode about in a splendid uniform 
 covered with gold lace, which showed off his fine 
 figure. He pulled his long moustache and looked 
 very fierce and grand, but was° really of no use. 
 Under him he had an army of about ten thousand 
 men, but few of them were real soldiers. Many 
 had joined because they knew that the army was 
 going to sunny Provence, where grapes and figs 
 grew, which they could plunder at will. Some of 
 them had no arms, others did not know how to 
 use them, and every one, high and low, wanted to 
 go his own way. 
 
 Such was the state of the army before Toulon 
 when Napoleon arrived there. 
 
34 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 THE TAKING OF TOULON 
 
 Napoleon was on his way from Avignon to rejoin 
 his regiment at Nice when he came to Toulon. 
 Avignon is an interesting old town on the Rhone. 
 Its streets are narrow and winding, and so swept by 
 wind that it has been called "Avignon the Windy." 
 It has been called " The City of Bells " too, from its 
 many churches and convents. It shares with Rome 
 the honour of having been the seat of the Popes, and 
 for many years both Avignon and the country round 
 belonged to them. Now, like many other towns 
 near, it has silk factories. Napoleon had been sent 
 there to look after some war stores. He arrived at 
 Toulon just after the commander of artillery had 
 been wounded, and the men were without a leader. 
 The post was offered to Citizen Bonaparte, who took 
 it at once. 
 
 It is said by some that the taking of Toulon was 
 due to Napoleon, for he at once saw the weakness 
 of the painter-soldier's plans. He saw that, even had 
 the army been well drilled, it was not large enough 
 to surround and really besiege the town. The 
 thing to do was to get possession of a fort within 
 cannon-shot of the British fleet, bombard that, and 
 so cut the town off from their help. " Toulon is 
 there," said Napoleon, putting his finger upon a fort 
 called Eguillette, marked upon the map. 
 
The Taking of Toulon 35 
 
 The painter laughed, and nudged the man next 
 him. " Here is a rascal who does not know much 
 about geography," he said. 
 
 But what Napoleon meant w^s that, if that fort 
 were taken, Toulon would fall. The painter did not 
 believe him, and would do nothing to help his new 
 commander of artillery— " Captain Cannon," he called 
 him scornfully. 
 
 Other people think that Napoleon has had too 
 much credit for the siege of Toulon, and that his 
 part in it was really very small. However that may 
 be, he seems to have worked very hard. " Do your 
 duty," he said to the other officers, " and let me do 
 mine." 
 
 He had need to work, for when he joined the 
 army they had hardly any artillery at all. In a few 
 days he had forty cannon and everything needed 
 for the building of new forts. He gathered shot and 
 shell too, and built forts and batteries. He wrote, 
 ordered, and fought unceasingly. 
 
 With all his quickness and eagerness. Napoleon 
 was cool and calm. He admired coolness and calm- 
 ness in others too. One day in the middle of a 
 fight he wanted to send an order, and called out for 
 some one who could write. A young soldier, called 
 Junot, immediately came forward. As he was lean- 
 ing against the breastwork of the battery writing, 
 a bullet hit the ground close to him, scattering 
 the earth all over his paper. " Good ! " said Junot 
 calmly, " we won't need any sand." In those days, 
 
36 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 when people had no blotting-paper, they used sand 
 to dry the ink. Napoleon never forgot that young 
 soldier. Later he became a marshal of France and 
 Duke of Abrantes. 
 
 One battery which Napoleon had built was in such 
 a dangerous place that few could be found to man 
 it. So Napoleon put up a notice-board bearing the 
 words, " The Battery of Fearless Men." After that 
 all the bravest in the army were eager to serve 
 there. 
 
 The painter grumbled at the manner in which 
 Napoleon took things into his own hands, but his 
 wife was more sensible. " Leave the boy alone," she 
 said ; " he knows more about it than you do. He 
 does not ask you to do anything. If he wins, the 
 glory will be yours. If he makes mistakes, the fault 
 is his." 
 
 At last the painter was recalled. But an old 
 doctor, who had taken to writing novels, was sent 
 in his place, and things did not go much better. 
 "Are we always to have painters and doctors to 
 command us ? " grumbled the soldiers. 
 
 Then the doctor too was recalled, and a real 
 soldier, named Dugommier, was sent as commander- 
 in-chief. He was eager, quick, knew how to fight, 
 and how to make men obey him. His very look was 
 enough. He was tall and strong, his face was 
 tanned and brown with sun and wind, and from 
 under his thick white hair his eyes shone piercingly. 
 He knew and judged men quickly, and at once he 
 
The Taking of Toulon 37 
 
 saw that the young officer Napoleon Bonaparte 
 knew what he was about. 
 
 For another month the siege went on. There 
 were attacks and counter-attacks, assaults, and 
 sallies, and at last L'Eguillette was taken. "To- 
 morrow, or the day after, we shall sup in Toulon," 
 said Napoleon. 
 
 And he was right. The British ships could not 
 remain under the fire of the French guns, and they 
 made ready to sail away. The people of Toulon 
 were seized with panic. The British ships were 
 their last and only hope. Nothing else could save 
 them from falling into the hands of the terrible 
 revolutionists, so they made ready to go with them. 
 Soon the sea was crowded with boats carrying 
 terror-stricken men, women, and children to the 
 fleet. In their haste many were drowned, some- 
 times whole boatloads being overturned by the too- 
 eager crowds. 
 
 All day the flight lasted. Then about nine o'clock 
 in the evening a terrible explosion shook the earth. 
 The sea seemed to belch forth fire, the dark night 
 was suddenly bright as day, and horrible with noise 
 and smoke. Fierce red flames licked the sky, and, 
 black against the lurid light, showed the shattered 
 hulks of ships. It was the British commander who, 
 before leaving, had set fire to a great part of the 
 arsenal and blown up about a dozen French ships 
 of war. 
 
 Next day the victorious troopg marched into the 
 
38 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 now almost silent and deserted town. Then began 
 horrible scenes of slaughter. Those who still re- 
 mained within the walls were shot down by hun- 
 dreds in cold blood. The victors, mad with revenge, 
 revelled in horrid butchery. 
 
 However hardened Napoleon may have become 
 later, he took no part in this. Grave and silent, he 
 looked on at what he had no power to hinder. 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 NAPOLEON'S MARRIAGE 
 
 After the siege of Toulon, Napoleon was sent to 
 inspect the forts and defences of the coast of 
 Provence. Soon we find him with the army of Italy, 
 as it was called, fighting against the Piedmontese 
 and the King of Sardinia. Italy at this time was 
 not one united kingdom as it is nqw. It was divided 
 into many states, each ruled by a different prince, 
 and Piedmont belonged to the King of Sardinia. 
 These states are all cut off from the rest of Europe, 
 as it were, by the Alps, which are the highest 
 mountains on the Continent. Their steepest sides 
 are turned towards Italy, so that it is easier for 
 an army to pass into Italy than to pass out of it. 
 But the army of Italy was under an officer, who was 
 brave and clever indeed, but so old and ill that he 
 spent much of his time in bed. So although the 
 army lay in strong positions on the hills, the war 
 dragged slowly along, neither side doing much. 
 
Napoleon's Marriage 39 
 
 Soon after Napoleon joined the army, however, the 
 Sardinians were beaten back, and the French gained 
 an entrance into Italy. 
 
 Napoleon by this time had made good friends 
 among the men who were ruling France, and it 
 seemed as if his fortune was made. But these were 
 very wild and uncertain times. Soon his friends fell 
 into disgrace, and Napoleon himself was put into 
 prison for a short time. At last we find him once 
 more, poor and lonely, wandering the streets of Paris, 
 with nothing to do. For he had thrown up his com- 
 mission rather than go to a foot rjegiment, as he had 
 been ordered to do. 
 
 But it was now, when he seemed forgotten and 
 cast aside, that his great chance came to him. 
 
 France, besides having to fight outside enemies, 
 was full of unrest and discontent within its borders. 
 The people were tired of the Convention, as the 
 Government was now called, and wished to over- 
 throw its power. At last the citizens of Paris took 
 up arms, and resolved to attack the palace of the 
 Tuileries. The soldiers of the Convention marched 
 to meet the rebels. But when their leader saw the 
 rebels drawn up in fighting order, he marched back 
 again. 
 
 The members of the Convention then gathered to 
 consult. They knew that their danger was great. 
 They must do something quickly, if they were not to 
 be overthrown. But who was to lead their soldiers. 
 
 Suddenly one of their number called Barras rose. 
 
 D 
 
40 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 " I know the man whom you want," he said. " He 
 is a little Corsican officer who will not stand on 
 ceremony." 
 
 So Napoleon was sent for. 
 
 It was by this time late at night. But Napoleon 
 began to work at once, and by six o'clock next 
 morning- every street leading to the Tuileries was 
 guarded with cannon. 
 
 The rioters had no cannon, but they were well 
 armed with muskets, and thirty thousand of them 
 came crowding along the narrow streets to besiege 
 the palace. 
 
 For many hours the two forces stood facing each 
 other, neither exchanging a shot ; but at last, about 
 half-past four, some one fired. It was a signal for 
 all to begin. Napoleon's cannon- swept the streets. 
 The rioters fled before the hail of grape-shot, leaving 
 their dead upon the ground. By six in the evening 
 all was quiet again. Thanks to " the little Corsican," 
 the Convention had won. And Napoleon had gained 
 for himself the post of commander-in-chief of the 
 army of the Interior. 
 
 But although the Convention had won for the 
 moment, Paris was by no means quieted. So 
 Napoleon had his hands full. 
 
 The Government was now called the Directory, 
 although it was little changed from the Convention. 
 The people were still starving, bread was scarce, and 
 riots frequent. 
 
 Sometimes Napoleon would try , to quiet the people 
 
Napoleon's Marriage 41 
 
 by talking: to them. Once, when he had nearly suc- 
 ceeded in making them go away peaceably, a big 
 fat woman in the crowd cried out, " Don't listen to 
 him. These fine officers, with their gold lace and 
 epaulettes, don't care who starves so long as they 
 have plenty to eat and grow fat upon." 
 
 "My good woman," replied ^Napoleon quickly, 
 " look at me and look at yourself, and then tell me 
 which is the fattest." And as Napoleon was very 
 small and thin, the fat woman had to laugh. The 
 crowd laughed with her, and so they scattered in 
 good humour. 
 
 One day very soon after Napoleon had been made 
 commander-in-chief, a boy of about twelve asked to 
 see him. The boy's name was Eugfene Beauharnais, 
 and with tears in his eyes he tol4 Napoleon that his 
 father had been a soldier. He had fought for the 
 republic, but had been killed among many others, 
 because he was a noble. Now Eugfene came to beg 
 for his father's sword. 
 
 Napoleon was sorry for the boy, and ordered at 
 once that the sword should be given to him. As 
 soon as Eugene saw it he seized it, kissed it, and 
 carried it away happy. 
 
 The next day, Eugene's mother, who was a very 
 beautiful lady, came to thank Napoleon for having 
 been so kind to her boy. Very soon Napoleon began 
 to love this beautiful lady, although she was many 
 years older than he. She loved him too, and in a 
 short time they were married. 
 
42 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 So in a few short months, from being almost penni- 
 less and unknown, Napoleon had become famous 
 and well off, and had married a great lady, who was 
 able to make friends for him among the rulers of 
 the land. 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 NAPOLEON PASSES THE ALPS 
 
 Josephine de Beauharnais had married a great 
 man, or rather, a man who was going to be 
 great, and a few days after the wedding they 
 had to say good-bye to each other. For among 
 the Alps there was still fighting, and Napoleon 
 was ordered off to take command of the army of 
 Italy. 
 
 "You are too young," said a member of the 
 Directory doubtfully. 
 
 " In a year I shall either have Milan or be dead," 
 replied Napoleon, smiling. Milan is the capital of 
 Lombardy, but the words "mille ans," pronounced 
 almost the same, mean, in French, "a thousand 
 years." 
 
 When Napoleon reached the army of Italy, he 
 found it in a very bad condition. The men were 
 in rags and almost starving. They had hardly 
 any cavalry, no baggage horses! of any kind, and 
 no money with which to buy any. They had only 
 thirty cannon, and no powder or shot. Against this 
 beggared and hungry army were arrayed eighty 
 thousand men, with more than tw.o hundred cannon. 
 
Napoleon Passes the Alps 43 
 
 Napoleon made up his mind that his soldiers 
 should no longer sit still and starve. Across the 
 rugged Alps lay the fertile plains of Piedmont and 
 Lombardy. Into these fertile plains Napoleon 
 resolved to carry the war. "Soldiers," he said to 
 his men, "you are starving and almost naked. The 
 Government owes you much, and has nothing to 
 give you. Your patience and courage do you honour, 
 but they have brought you neither glory nor any 
 other good. But I will lead you into the most 
 fertile plains in all the world. There you will find 
 great towns and rich lands. There you will find 
 honour, glory, and wealth. Soldiers of the army 
 of Italy, do you lack courage ? " 
 
 These words, spoken by a commander who 
 seemed little more than a boy to men who them- 
 selves were nearly all young, and who were eager 
 for adventure, who had fame to win, and nothing 
 to lose, were received with cheers. Never before 
 had the soldiers been spoken to in such a way. 
 They had been told of tyrants to be overthrown, 
 of liberty to be won, of chains to be broken. But 
 now the glitter of gold and the hope of gain was 
 held before their eyes, and they marched eagerly 
 behind such a leader. Their battles were no longer 
 to be battles for freedom, but for conquest. 
 
 When Napoleon first took command of the army 
 of Italy he was at Nice. Nice is the chief town of 
 the department of Alpes Maritimes, and lies upon 
 the shores of the Mediterranean, sheltered on the 
 
44 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 north, north-east, and north-west by hills which slope 
 ridge behind ridge to the Maritime Alpes, from 
 which the department takes its name. Being so 
 sheltered, its climate is mild, and during the winter 
 people flock there from all the cold and wet parts 
 of Europe, and especially from the British Isles, 
 in search of warmth and sunshine. From Nice 
 in France, to Spezia in Italy, the coast land 
 is called the Riviera. Between Nice and Genoa 
 it is called the Riviera di Ponente. Between Genoa 
 and Spezia it is called the Riviera di Levante. 
 And all along, among beautiful scenery and under 
 sunny skies, are towns and villages, which, although 
 many of them are engaged in the manufacture 
 of olive oil, silk, and perfumes, get their greatest 
 wealth from the numbers of visitors who flock 
 there every year. 
 
 The Alps guard all the landward borders of Italy. 
 To cross them, Napoleon knew, would be a matter 
 of great difficulty and danger, for the enemy watched 
 the passes well. So he made up his mind not to 
 cross, but to round the mountains. 
 
 Above the Gulf of Genoa, where the Alps curve 
 round the coast, they begin to slope away. Here, 
 too, the Apennines, which run right down the long 
 " leg " of Italy, begin to rise. And between these two 
 ranges is the only spot by which Italy can be reached 
 without crossing high mountains. By this way 
 Napoleon decided to lead his men- 
 It will not be possible to follow Napoleon through 
 
Napoleon Passes the Alps 45 
 
 all his battles. He had to fight two armies — one 
 Austrian and one Sardinian. Against so strong an 
 enemy he knew that his only hope was in quick 
 marches and surprises. He must surround and 
 astonish the foe, and take him at a disadvantage. 
 To do this his own army must travel without bag- 
 gage, so as to be able to move quickly, and his men 
 must trust to finding all they needed for food and 
 clothes in the country to which they went. 
 
 Napoleon knew that if the two armies of his 
 enemies joined and attacked him together, they 
 would be too strong for him. So he tried to keep 
 them apart, and fight first one and then the other. 
 This he succeeded in doing. 
 
 The Sardinian army was the first to be crushed. 
 Not without much fighting did the French cross 
 the hills behind Genoa and Savona, and at last 
 reach the heights, and look down upon the plain, 
 of Piedmont. It was a splendid sight. The one 
 great river of Italy, the Po, rolled through the plain, 
 with its hundreds of tributaries twining in and 
 out among vineyards, rice and maize fields, groves 
 of mulberry trees, and rich meadows, where the 
 crop grows so fast that it may be reaped from four 
 to nine times in the year. And far away beyond this 
 fertile plain rose the snowy boundary of the Alps. 
 The great gate of Italy had opened as by a magic 
 word to the conqueror. " Hannibal forced the Alps," 
 cried Napoleon ; " we have turned them." 
 And as the soldiers gazed upon the beautiful 
 
46 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 sight they cheered their young leader, for already 
 Napoleon had begun to fill his men with that love 
 for him and eagerness to follow him which made 
 him victorious upon a hundred battlefields. 
 
 CHAPTER Xn 
 
 IN THE GREAT PLAIN OF ITALY 
 
 The Po, the largest river of Italy, rises on Mont 
 Viso, one of the Cottian Alps, at more than six thou- 
 sand feet above sea level, and to begin with is but 
 a mountain stream. From its source to where it 
 enters the plain at Revello is only twenty-one miles, 
 but during these twenty-one miles it rushes and 
 tumbles down more than five thousand feet. From 
 Revello it flows on quickly through the plain, becoming 
 broader and broader until, when it reaches Turin, it 
 is a great river, upon which ships may sail all the 
 three hundred miles to its mouth in the Adriatic. 
 
 Below Pavia it is joined by a great tributary 
 called the Ticino, and further on by the Adda, both 
 of which are navigable right up to the beautiful 
 lakes Maggiore and Como, out of which they flow. 
 From Piacenza onward, the Po flows very slowly. 
 Indeed the fall of the land to the coast is so slight 
 that the Po would not flow at all were it not for 
 the rushing mountain streams which pour into it. 
 
 These mountain streams make the river very 
 muddy, for they bring a great deal of soil down from 
 the mountain-sides. This has become much worse 
 
In the Great Plain of Italy 47 
 
 lately, for the trees on the hillsides have been reck- 
 lessly cut down, and no others planted to take their 
 place. The roots of trees help to hold the moisture 
 and keep the soil together, but when this protection 
 is gone, the earth is much more easily washed away, 
 and many places that were once green mountain 
 pastures have become barren rocks. 
 
 As the river flows so slowly, much of this mud 
 brought down from the mountains is deposited in 
 the river bed. So the bed rises higher and higher, 
 until now it is really higher than the surrounding 
 plain. And from Piacenza to the sea, great dykes 
 have been built all along its banks, to keep it from 
 overflowing the surrounding country. These dykes 
 were begun before the time of the Romans, but they 
 have still to be watched, added to, and altered, as 
 the bed of the river changes. 
 
 Italy is a land of sunshine, and the air is dry. Yet 
 the land is fertile, for the rivers, though not of much 
 good for trade, are good for watering the land. You 
 will see from the map how the whole northern 
 plain is crossed and re-crossed by streams. These 
 streams are fed by the heavy rains which fall in the 
 Alps and Apennines. For high mountains always 
 catch the rain-clouds as they blow across the land. 
 They are also fed by the melting in summer of the 
 eternal snows upon the Alps. And of course the 
 hotter the summer sun, the more snow is melted, 
 and comes down in torrents to the valley below. 
 
 Upon the slopes of the mountains (Piedmont 
 
48 Through Europe with' Napoleon 
 
 means "the foot of the mountain") many sheep are 
 fed. And this has led to wool factories being set 
 up at Turin — this and the supply of mountain 
 streams. For Italy has hardly any coal, and a 
 country which has to import coal cannot become 
 a great manufacturing country unless there is a 
 good supply of water-power. And then factories 
 can only be set up where there is water-power. Its 
 lack of coal, its climate, and fine soil have made 
 Italy not a manufacturing, but an agricultural 
 country. Besides this, the scenery of Italy is so 
 beautiful, it has so many towns full of splendid 
 buildings, of pictures and sculpture, it has so much 
 history, and so many of the great things of the 
 world have happened there, that every year many 
 visitors go to it from other lands. In this way much 
 money is brought to the country, and we may be 
 glad, perhaps, that Italy has no coal, and that one 
 of the most beautiful countries of the world cannot 
 be spoiled by smoky factories. 
 
 Now Napoleon marched victoriously through 
 Piedmont, and in a few weeks he lay not far from 
 Turin, the capital. It is a busy, prosperous town, 
 with wide streets and beautiful houses. Lying near 
 the head of the plain, it commands the trade passing 
 through the great Mont Cenis Tunnel. This tunnel, 
 which is nearly eight miles long, was pierced 
 through the Alps, so that both people and goods 
 can pass quickly by train, instead of slowly over 
 the road, as in the days of Napoleon. 
 
The Little Corporal 49 
 
 At Mondovi there had been a battle in which 
 Napoleon had beaten the Sardinians so thoroughly 
 that their King was eager to make peace, and so 
 save his capital, Turin, from destruction. And at 
 Cherasco, about thirty or forty miles from Turin, 
 the peace was signed. By this treaty the King 
 gave up most of his fortresses. It put all the 
 roads leading into France into Napoleon's hands, 
 and so, with the country safe behind him, left him 
 free to march into Lombardy aga;inst the Austrians. 
 
 The poor King of Sardinia was shorn of nearly 
 all his power. He was, indeed, allowed to keep his 
 throne and crown, but he felt that he had been 
 conquered and humiliated, and he became so sad 
 that it was not long before he died. 
 
 CHAPTER Xni 
 
 THE LITTLE CORPORAL 
 
 Napoleon now invaded Lombardy. In order to 
 reach Milan he had to cross the Po. He knew that 
 this would be hard to do, in the face of a watchful 
 foe. So, while he really meant to cross at Piacenza, 
 he pretended to be going to cross at Valenza, about 
 fifty miles farther up, where the Austrian leader 
 awaited him. Having thoroughly deceived the 
 Austrians, he marched quickly to Piacenza. The 
 river here is nearly a quarter of a mile broad, and 
 the ferry-boat could only carry five hundred men 
 at a time, and took half-an-houf to cross. But so 
 
so Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 skilfully did Napoleon manage, that his army was 
 safely over before the Austrian, leader discovered 
 that he had been deceived. 
 
 Napoleon now marched on Milan. As he marched 
 through Parma, another of the states into which 
 Italy was divided, the Duke sent messeng-ers 
 begging for peace. This Napoleon granted on con- 
 dition that the Duke paid a large sum of money, 
 gave stores and horses for the army, and sent 
 twenty fine pictures to France. 
 
 Italy is a land of art. It is full of fine pictures 
 and sculptures. Napoleon thought that he would 
 like to get some of these for France. So now he 
 began a system, which he carried on through all 
 his wars, of making the conquered people give some 
 of their art treasures to France. Such a thing had 
 never been done before, at least in modern warfare, 
 and now it caused a great outcry in all Europe. 
 But that did not stop Napoleon, and from now 
 onward he began to gather the treasures of art 
 which made the Louvre one of the finest galleries 
 in the world. 
 
 To reach Milan, Napoleon had yet to cross the 
 river Adda. Near the town of Lodi there was a 
 wooden bridge, and here Napoleon decided to 
 cross. But the banks were guarded by the whole 
 Austrian army, and the bridge was swept by their 
 cannon. 
 
 Napoleon, placing his cannon opposite that of the 
 enemy, sent his cavalry farther down the stream, 
 
W' 
 
 
 Napoleon ac Lodi 
 
The Little Corporal 51 
 
 to cross by a ford. Meantime he opened fire, and 
 began to rain shot and shell upon the enemy. In 
 the midst of this, his cavalry suddenly appeared on 
 the other side. The Austrians wavered. Then, 
 shouting "Long live the Republic!" the French 
 charged the bridge. But such a terrible fire met 
 them that they too wavered. Then Napoleon him- 
 self seized a standard and urged them onward. 
 The bridge was passed. Right up to the enemy's 
 guns they charged. The gunners died at their 
 posts, but the Austrians were scattered, and fled 
 in utter confusion, chased by the French, until 
 darkness ended the flight and slaughter. 
 
 Napoleon himself called it "the terrible passage 
 of Lodi." The French only lost about two hundred 
 men, the Austrians ten times a& many. After this 
 battle the French were so delighted with their 
 clever leader that they called him the "Little 
 Corporal," which for many a day was his name 
 among his soldiers. 
 
 The road to Milan now lay open, and a few days 
 later Napoleon entered the city in triumph. 
 
 Milan is now one of the richest commercial and 
 manufacturing cities of Italy. It lies in the centre 
 of the fertile plain of Lombardy, upon a navigable 
 river called the Olona, and by canals and waterways 
 it is connected with Lakes Maggiore and Como 
 and with the sea. It also commands the railway 
 line which leads northward through the St. Gothard 
 Tunnel, so that it has plenty of outlet for its com- 
 
52 Through Europe with= Napoleon 
 
 merce, which has greatly increased since the tunnel 
 was opened. 
 
 The St. Gothard Tunnel is more than nine miles 
 long, and through it thunder trains laden not only 
 with finished goods, but with much raw silk from 
 the mulberry trees of Lombardy, to the silk-mills of 
 Switzerland and Alsace. 
 
 Besides its silk trade, which is its greatest, Milan 
 has woollen and glove factories, supplied by the 
 sheep pastures ; cutlery, and machinery even, for 
 iron is found in the plains of Lombardy. It also 
 exports butter, eggs, cheese, and poultry. The 
 two most famous cheeses of Italy — Gorgonzola and 
 Parmesan — come from here. 
 
 But this busy town, as big as our smoky Man- 
 chester, is beautiful too. Like all the great towns 
 of Italy, it has played a part in the history of the 
 world. In the time of the Romans it was one of 
 the great cities of the empire. Its streets are still 
 full of beautiful buildings. Its great cathedral is 
 one of the largest and most splendid in the world, 
 its school of singing the most famous of Europe. 
 Its galleries are filled with fine pictures and price- 
 less art treasures. 
 
 Of these fine pictures Napoleon now claimed 
 twenty for France. 
 
Towns which Napoleon saw in Italy 53 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 ABOUT SOME OF THE TOWNS WHICH 
 NAPOLEON SAW IN ITALY 
 
 The people of Milan opened their gates to Napoleon, 
 and even welcomed him as a deliverer. For the 
 Italians did not love their Austrian rulers, and 
 Napoleon made them believe that he had come to 
 free them. But the fortress held out against him, 
 and leaving some soldiers to take it, he marched on 
 to Mantua. 
 
 As the conqueror advanced, the Austrian army fell 
 back beyond the river Adige, leaving a garrison in 
 Mantua. The war had now reached the borders of 
 the Republic of Venice. Venice was at peace with 
 France, but that did not prevent Napoleon taking 
 possession of Verona, one of the most important 
 and beautiful towns of Venetia. For by so doing 
 he commanded the passes into Tyrol, and made 
 it difficult for fresh troops to reach the Austrian 
 army. 
 
 Verona is a university town. It is also a strong 
 fortress and headquarters of part of the Italian 
 army. But perhaps to us it is most interesting as 
 the place where Romeo and Juliet, whom Shake- 
 speare tells us about, lived. Juliet's house is still 
 pointed out. 
 
 While he besieged Mantua, Napoleon sent another 
 part of his army to subdue Genoa, which is the 
 
54 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 chief commercial town of Italy. It forms the main 
 outlet on the western side for the fertile plains of 
 Piedmont and Lombardy. For although it seems 
 to lie on the wrong side of the Alps for that, it has 
 good communications inland over much the same 
 route as Napoleon took. Indeed, so low are the 
 hills that at one time it was intended to connect 
 the Adriatic and the Mediterranean by canals and 
 waterways, by means of the rivers Bormido, Tanaro, 
 and Po. 
 
 Besides being a commercial town, Genoa is a 
 strong fortress and headquarters of part of the 
 Italian army. It is called " the Superb," and it 
 seems to rise straight out of the sea, and to be 
 crowned with splendid palaces. It was most impor- 
 tant for Napoleon to gain possession of Genoa, so 
 that troops coming from France might pass safely 
 into Lombardy. 
 
 Napoleon himself marched through Italy to 
 Piacenza, Parma, Reggio, Modena, and at last 
 to Bologna. 
 
 By this time nearly all the north of Italy was in 
 his power. In the south the Kings of Naples and 
 Sicily had made peace with him. There only re- 
 mained the Papal States. Bologna formed part ol 
 the Papal States, but the people were discontented, 
 and welcomed Napoleon gladly. The Pope began 
 to fear the loss of his state, so he sent a messenger 
 to Napoleon, who made peace, for the time at least, 
 on condition that the Pope gave him food, money, 
 
Towns which Napoleon saw in Italy 55 
 
 and horses for his army, and a hundred works of 
 art for France. Bologna, Ferrara, and Ancona were 
 also to be given up to the French. 
 
 Bologna is called "the Learned," and has an 
 ancient and famous university, the oldest in Europe. 
 It is now also an important commercial town and 
 railway junction, with linen factories, supplied with 
 hemp from the plains around, and with water-power 
 from the slopes of the Apennines, upon which it 
 stands. 
 
 From Bologna Napoleon crossed the Apennines 
 to Pistoia in Tuscany. Pistoia has gun factories, 
 and it is said that pistols were first made here, and 
 so got their name. Tuscany has more minerals 
 than any other part of Italy, and iron is also imported 
 from the island of Elba, which lies only six miles 
 from the shore, and which has been always famous 
 for its ore. Even in the time of the Romans 
 Tuscany was famous for its bronze. 
 
 Napoleon next marched to Leghorn, which, after 
 Genoa, is the most important seaport in Italy. He 
 hoped to seize some British ships there; they had 
 been warned in time, however, and had gone. But 
 they had left goods behind them worth ;£475,000, 
 which Napoleon seized for the uSe of his army. 
 
 Being so near Elba, Leghorn has a shipbuilding 
 yard and an iron foundry. It also does great trade 
 in silk, cotton, and wool, and has a grain and 
 petroleum trade with the Black Sea. 
 
 From Leghorn Napoleon went back to Florence, 
 
56 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 the capital of Tuscany, to visit the Grand Duke. 
 He was the brother of the Emperor, but as yet was 
 at peace with France. 
 
 Florence, " the Beautiful," is situated in a rich 
 and fertile valley, and is one of the most interest- 
 ing cities of Italy. It is a city of art, and it is to 
 Florence that modern Italy owes much of its art 
 and literature. Here Dante was born, Boccaccio 
 lived, Savonarola preached and died. Among its 
 many painters were Leonardo da Vinci, Michael 
 Angelo, and Raphael; among its wise men Machiavelli 
 and Galileo. 
 
 So Florence is full of memories. Its streets are 
 lined with splendid palaces; and its treasures of 
 art, its pictures and sculptures, are priceless. 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 MANTUA AND VENICE 
 
 While Napoleon was at Florence, he heard that 
 the fortress of Milan had yielded, and having secured 
 peace in the rest of Italy, he was able to turn all his 
 attention to the taking of Mantua. The Austrian 
 leader, Beaulieu, having lost so many battles, had 
 been recalled by the Emperor, and now an old 
 general, called Marshal Wiirmser, came marching 
 against the French with many fresh soldiers. 
 
 But this new army and new general fared little 
 better than the old. Napoleon, however, had now 
 so few soldiers that he had not enough to besiege 
 
Mantua and Venice 57 
 
 Mantua and fight against Wiirmser too. So he 
 was obliged to raise the siege, and gather all his 
 men to meet the old general. Again, in battle 
 after battle, the Austrians were defeated. The 
 French army marched here and there with such 
 speed as could hardly be believed. Napoleon 
 himself shared all the hardships of his men, glad 
 at times to eat dry bread for his supper, and often 
 sleeping upon the field. At last the campaign was 
 over, and Wiirmser was shut up in Mantua, with 
 twenty-six thousand men. 
 
 Except as a fortress, Mantua is not a town of 
 great importance. It was very unhealthy, being 
 built on islands and surrounded on all sides by 
 marshy ground, and by lakes made by the river 
 Mincio. But, being so surrounded, it formed a 
 splendid natural fortress. It could only be reached 
 by five paths, which were defended by forts, gates, 
 and drawbridges. 
 
 While this second siege of Mantua was going on, 
 the Austrians sent another army against the French. 
 But it was chiefly raw recruits, and Napoleon 
 beat them, as he had beaten all the others. 
 
 For more than four months the Austrians in 
 Mantua held out. Many of the men fell ill from 
 the foul airs which rose from the swamps around ; 
 many died. Food grew scarcef and scarcer, till 
 everything, even to horses, was eaten. At last, 
 worn out by hunger and disease, old Wiirmser 
 gave in. 
 
58 Through Europe with" Napoleon 
 
 After the fall of Mantua, Napoleon marched 
 southwards against his last remaining enemy in 
 Italy— the Pope. As the conqueror marched, the 
 people fled before him. Battles he fought and 
 won, and after nine days' war the Pope was glad 
 to make peace. He gave up to the French con- 
 queror all but a mere pretence of worldly power. 
 For ages the word of the Pope had made kings, 
 and princes, and whole nations tremble. From 
 now onward his power became but a shadow of 
 his former greatness. 
 
 But although the Austrians were now driven out 
 of Italy, they were by no means crushed, and 
 Napoleon next prepared to march into Austria, to 
 fight there. The Austrians had gathered another 
 army, under the Archduke Charles, who, like 
 Napoleon, was young and successful. He had 
 already beaten the French where they had been 
 fighting on the borders of the Rhine, and it was 
 now hoped that he would beat Napoleon. 
 
 Like Italy, Austria-Hungary is a land of moun- 
 tains. Like Italy, it has one great plain, the plain 
 of Hungary, which is surrounded by high moun- 
 tains, of which the Carpathians and the Alps are 
 the chief. Like Italy, it has one great river, the 
 Danube. But unlike Italy, which has a great deal 
 of sea-coast, it has very little. And that little, 
 although very ragged and beset with many islands, 
 has only three good ports— Trieste, Fiume, and 
 Pola. Having so little coast, and being so sur- 
 
Mantua and Venice 59 
 
 rounded by mountains, the climate of Austria- 
 Hungary is very dry. The extremes of heat and 
 cold are also strongly marked, for when water 
 surrounds a country it keeps the air at a more 
 even temperature than when land surrounds it. 
 The dry air of Austria is not only good for grow- 
 ing wheat, but for grinding it into flour. If you 
 buy flour, and ask for Hungarian flour, you will 
 find that it is the dearest kind. But it is so light 
 and fine that it is considered best for making 
 cakes and light pastries. 
 
 Unlike Italy, too, Austria has plenty of coal and 
 iron, so it is a manufacturing country, although most 
 of the people earn their living by farming. 
 
 It was in the mountains of Austria, on the borders 
 of Tyrol, and in the mountains of Carinthia and 
 Styria, that the war now went on. But there, as in 
 the plains of Italy, Napoleon conquered. Trieste 
 and Fiume were in his hands, and he himself was 
 marching upon Vienna, the capital, when the 
 Emperor made peace. 
 
 First a treaty, called the treaty of Leoben, from 
 the name of the town in Austria where it was 
 signed, was agreed upon. Later came another, 
 called the treaty of Campo-Formio. By this treaty 
 Napoleon made the first of those changes in the 
 map of Europe for which he was soon to be famous. 
 Belgium and the Austrian Netherlands, as they 
 were then called, with Corfu and the Ionian Islands, 
 were given to France. The north of Italy was 
 
6o Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 formed into the Cis-Alplne Republic, but was really 
 under France, and to make up somewhat for the 
 loss of these possessions, Austria was given 
 Venetia— that is, all the part of the northern plain 
 of Italy which lies along the coast from Verona to 
 the Gulf of Trieste. 
 
 Venetia had been a neutral state— that is, its 
 people had taken neither one side nor the other. 
 But it was hard to be neutral where Napoleon was 
 concerned. He could see only friends or enemies. 
 He made Venice an enemy, conquered it, and 
 handed it over to another state, So Venice, the 
 beautiful bride of the sea, with all her landward 
 possessions, lost her freedom. 
 
 Venice, which is called the " Bride of the Sea " and 
 " Queen of the Adriatic," seems to rise straight out 
 of it. Its marble palaces are built upon a hundred 
 islands. Here there is neither dust nor din, as in 
 other cities, for the streets are canals, and the 
 carriages small black boats, called gondolas. These 
 move along swiftly and silently, the rower, who 
 stands to row, uttering strange cries as he rounds 
 the corners, to warn others who may be coming 
 in opposite directions. Over the canals there are 
 many bridges, and by the side numberless little 
 lanes and pathways, for those who wish to walk 
 from place to place. 
 
 As a place of trade, Venice has a great history. 
 In the fifteenth century it was a city of powerful 
 merchants and was the heart of European trade. 
 
Napoleon Returns to France 6i 
 
 and its flag was respected on every sea. But when 
 Napoleon invaded it, Venice had lost nearly all its 
 old importance. But now it flourishes again, and is 
 Italy's greatest seaport on the eastern side. Much 
 of the trade of Lombardy passes through it. It is 
 also a naval port, and arsenal, with shipbuilding and 
 torpedo works. But perhaps it is most widely 
 known for the manufacture of beautiful coloured 
 glass, which we call Venetian glass. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 NAPOLEON RETURNS TO FRANCE 
 
 Napoleon, in all his fighting in Italy, did not act 
 merely as a commander and soldier. He acted more 
 like a conqueror and ruler. It seemed as if he were 
 not working for the Republic of France, but for 
 himself. He did as he liked. " Do you suppose," 
 he said, " that I triumph in Italy for the glory of the 
 lawyers of the Directory ? Do you suppose I mean 
 to found a republic ? What an idea ! The nation 
 wants a chief, a chief covered with glory." 
 
 He had covered himself with glory. His soldiers, 
 whom he led with such splendid success, with such 
 skill and daring, loved him, forgetting the many of 
 their comrades who had died that they might con- 
 quer. Yet the discipline in his army was severe, 
 the order perfect. It was because he both blamed 
 sternly and rewarded well that his men loved him. 
 Once, when a division had giv^n way before the 
 
62 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 enemy, he said to them, " Soldiers, I am not pleased 
 with you. You have shown neither discipline nor 
 pluck. You have allowed yourselves to be driven 
 from a position that a handful of brave men would 
 have held against an army. Major, write on their 
 flag, 'They do not belong to the army of Italy.'" 
 And the men, with tears in their eyes, begged for 
 another chance. 
 
 Yet, another time, after a long day's march, finding 
 a sentinel asleep at his post. Napoleon quietly took 
 his place for him. Suddenly the man awoke, and 
 seeing who was standing sentry, fell upon his knees 
 in terror, begging forgiveness. " Friend," replied 
 Napoleon, "you had fought hard and marched far. 
 I happened to be awake, and took your post. 
 Another time you will be more careful." It was 
 little wonder that the men loved the leader of 
 whom such stories were told. 
 
 Napoleon had promised his men a fruitful land to 
 plunder. But when they took him at his word and 
 plundered, they were punished. But he himself was 
 the arch-plunderer, and his men did not lack rewards. 
 " I am the enemy of tyrants," he said, who was 
 himself a tyrant ; " but before all I am the enemy 
 of rogues, robbers, and anarchists. I shoot my 
 soldiers when they pillage." Napoleon's robbery 
 was robbery with order and method, and through it 
 all he pretended to be the friend and deliverer of 
 Italy. It was hard, however, for the Italians to believe 
 in a friend who robbed them. But when they rose 
 
Napoleon Returns to France 63 
 
 against him he called it rebellion, and crushed 
 them. 
 
 While the treaty of Campo-Formio was being 
 drawn up, Napoleon held court with great state 
 at the castle of Montebello nekr Milan. It was 
 like the court of a king, and when Josephine, his 
 beautiful wife, joined him here, she moved like a 
 queen amid the glittering crowds. For to Monte- 
 bello came messengers from the courts of nearly 
 all Europe — from the Emperor, from the Kings 
 of Naples and Sardinia, from the Pope, and from 
 many lesser princes and rulers. 
 
 After the treaty was quite settled. Napoleon said 
 good-bye to his soldiers, and set out for Paris. 
 " Soldiers," he said, " I set out to-morrow. Far from 
 my army, I shall comfort myself with the hope of 
 being soon with you again, ready to fight fresh 
 dangers. Soldiers, when you talk of the princes you 
 have conquered, of the nations you have set free, 
 and the battles you have fought in two campaigns, 
 say, ' In the next we shall do still more.' " 
 
 When Napoleon arrived, the people of Paris 
 greeted him eagerly, and thronged to see him. 
 They changed the name of the street in which he 
 lived to Victory Street, But the rulers, the Directory, 
 had begun to be afraid of this imperious soldier, 
 who looked so small and delicate, and who had 
 yet a will of iron, and seemed to hold the fate of 
 nations in his hand. They were jealous of him, too, 
 for wherever he went, it was the conqueror of Italy 
 
64 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 who was cheered, not the rulers of France. And 
 every soldier declared that it was high time to be 
 done with lawyers, and make the " Little Corporal " 
 king. 
 
 Some new work had to be found for the " Little 
 Corporal" and his restless brain. France and 
 Britain were at this time bitter enemies, and the 
 French were eager to conquer Britain. So Napoleon 
 was now made commander-in-chief of the army of 
 England, as it was called. 
 
 He went to Brest, Cherbourg, Le Havre, Dieppe, 
 Boulogne, Calais, Dunkerque — to all the ports 
 along the coast of France opposite England. There 
 he inspected the fortresses, the ships, the soldiers 
 and sailors, gathered for the great attack. But 
 Napoleon saw clearly that France was not yet 
 strong enough upon the sea to attack Britain 
 directly. So he decided to carry out another plan 
 which he had long thought of. That was to con- 
 quer Egypt, to found a colony there, and thus in 
 some way injure Britain's trade with India and the 
 East. 
 
 Egypt at this time was claimed by the Turks, 
 and formed part of the Ottoman Empire. France 
 and Turkey were at peace, but that made little 
 difference to Napoleon. 
 
 The Directory agreed to Napoleon's plan for 
 conquering Egypt. They were very anxious to get 
 the better of Britain in some way, and they were 
 not a little anxious to get rid of Napoleon, and 
 
Napoleon Sets Out for Egypt 65 
 
 keep him busy at something away from France. So 
 while British ships were watching the northern 
 ports, great and secret preparations were made at 
 Toulon. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 NAPOLEON SETS OUT FOR EGYPT 
 
 For his expedition into Egypt Napoleon gathered 
 together about twenty thousand of his finest soldiers 
 and cleverest officers. Besides that he took with 
 him a hundred learned men, painters, and sculptors. 
 For as he had brought back pictures and art trea- 
 sures from Italy, he meant to bring back treasure 
 of ancient learning from Egypt, and these clever 
 men he took with him to help him. It was perhaps 
 the first time since the days of Alexander the 
 Great that an army had been accompanied by such 
 people. 
 
 Although the preparations were made with great 
 secrecy, the British Government learned that some- 
 thing was going on at Toulon. So Nelson was sent 
 with some ships to watch the Mediterranean. But 
 in May, when the French ships were ready to sail, 
 a great storm arose. It did such damage to the 
 British ships that Nelson was obliged to put into a 
 port on the island of Sardinia to have them mended. 
 
 Sardinia lies in the Mediterranean, just south of 
 Napoleon's old home, Corsica, and separated from it 
 only by the Strait of Bonifacio. Like Corsica, it is 
 very mountainous. It has a fertile soil and good 
 
66 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 fisheries. It has valuable minerals too, but they are 
 not much worked. 
 
 As soon as Napoleon knew that the way was clear 
 he gave orders to sail. So, on a beautiful May 
 morning, just as the sun was rising, the great fleet 
 sailed out on the waters of the Mediterranean. 
 " Soldiers," said Napoleon to them as they set out, 
 " you are one of the wings of the army of England. 
 The eyes of all Europe are upon you. You are 
 going to do more than you have ever done for the 
 prosperity of your fatherland, for the good of man, 
 and for your own glory." Besides speaking to them 
 in this grand way. Napoleon promised each man 
 that he should come home rich enough to buy six 
 acres of land. 
 
 When Nelson found that Napoleon had left 
 Toulon, he sailed up and down the Mediterranean 
 looking for him, but he could not find him. For 
 one thing, Nelson still thought that the French 
 meant to sail towards England, and did not think 
 of looking for them on the road to Egypt. 
 
 Meanwhile Napoleon reached Malta. Malta at 
 this time was governed by the Knights of St. John, 
 under the King of Naples. Napoleon was very 
 anxious to take Malta, for he knew that it would add 
 to the sea power of whatever nation possessed it. 
 Months before he had said, "With Malta, Sardinia, 
 and Corfu, we should be masters of the Mediter- 
 ranean." 
 
 But Valetta was a very strong fortress, and if the 
 
Napoleon Sets Out for Egypt 67 
 
 Knights had shown any resistance, it would have 
 cost Napoleon a great deal of trouble, and a great 
 deal of time, to take. With a British fleet cruising 
 near, he had little time to spare. He needed little, 
 as it turned out, for the Knights of St. John were 
 no longer the gallant knights of crusading times. 
 After hardly a show of fighting, they opened their 
 gates to the conqueror. Malta was taken, not by 
 force, but by treachery. " I took Malta when I 
 was at Mantua," said Napoleon, meaning that he 
 had arranged beforehand with the Knights. 
 
 " It was well," said a friend, as they passed within 
 the mighty walls of the fort, " it was well that there 
 was some one in Malta to open the gates, other- 
 wise we should never have been able to enter." 
 It was true, for later, in 1800, when the British took 
 the island again, it was only after a siege of two 
 years. Since then Malta has belonged to Britain. 
 It is one of Britain's outposts, by the help of 
 which she still remains mistress of the seas. The 
 harbour of Valetta is good, and the fortress, where 
 a garrison of ten thousand British soldiers is 
 always stationed, is one of the strongest in the world. 
 
 But meanwhile Napoleon seized all the cannon, 
 powder, arms, and ships, besides all the gold and 
 silver treasure, belonging to the Knights. He broke 
 up their order, banished them from the island, 
 left a garrison of Frenchmen there, and sailed on 
 his way to Egypt. 
 
 On the 30th of June the French fleet arrived 
 
MOUTHS or 
 
 
 THE NILE 
 
 J*-"- 
 
 ^'**tJ9(^S^ 
 
 
 ^-iAleJ(^ndria*^-A 
 
 P<J 
 
 / Dawdnhour 
 
 f 
 
 \ Kma///a\,^ 
 
 \f 
 
 v\% 
 
 CAIROI] 
 
 ^1\ 
 
 Sarc/io/amei/if- t'cfinf , 
 
70 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 safely before Alexandria, two days after Nelson 
 had left. For the British sailor was still scouring 
 the sea from Naples to Alexandria and the coast 
 of Syria, looking for Napoleon, once or twice just 
 missing his prey by wonderful mischance. 
 
 When Napoleon arrived at Alexandria the sun 
 was setting, a storm was blowing, and such waves 
 were beating upon the shore that it was dangerous 
 to land. But seeing a strange sail in the distance. 
 Napoleon would not wait. He feared that the 
 British were at last upon his heels. " Fortune," he 
 cried, " I ask but five hours. Will you deny them ? " 
 
 And so, in the darkness and the storm, the troops 
 were landed on the shore some miles from Alex- 
 andria. But the waves were so fierce that many 
 of the men were drowned. 
 
 Then through the night the I^rench marched to 
 Alexandria. As day dawned they saw Pompey's 
 Pillar towering over the walls of the city. This is 
 a great column of red granite eighty-nine feet high, 
 which was supposed to mark the grave of Pompey 
 the Great, who was killed here in 48 B.C. But it 
 was really built more than three hundred years 
 later as a landmark for sailors., It was the first 
 of many strange sights which the French soldiers 
 were to see in this new land. "Soldiers," Napoleon 
 had said, "you are going to undertake a conquest 
 the effects of which on civilisation and the trade of 
 the world you cannot know. You are going to strike 
 at Britain a most sure and fatal blow, which we 
 
The Mamelukes 71 
 
 will follow by the deathblow. The first town we 
 shall see was built by Alexander. At every step 
 we will find memories which will make Frenchmen 
 eager to do likewise." 
 
 Now, wearied and hungry as they were, the men 
 attacked Alexandria in the dawning of the day. 
 The Turks and Arabs shut their gates and fought 
 with all their might against this unexpected enemy. 
 But the ancient walls could not stand the onslaught 
 of Napoleon and his legions, and soon the flag of 
 France was floating from the battlements. 
 
 CHAPTER X¥III 
 
 THE MAMELUKES 
 
 Within a week Napoleon had taken Rossetta and 
 Damanhour, two towns near. Damanhour is not of 
 much importance, but Rossetta is interesting. For 
 here one of Napoleon's men found and brought 
 home the Rossetta Stone, which is now in the 
 British Museum. Upon this stone there is writing 
 in three languages. First there is the ancient 
 Egyptian language in hieroglyphics — that is, in 
 figures of birds, beasts, and other things ; next 
 there is a much later Egyptian language in writing, 
 and last there is Greek. All these three writings 
 say the same thing over again, and when this was 
 found out, this stone formed a key by which people 
 have since been able to read much that is written in 
 the ancient Egyptian language of hieroglyphics. 
 
72 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 Rossetta is also interesting as it is at one of 
 the mouths of the great river Nile. A little below 
 Cairo the Nile divides into two branches. One 
 flows north-east, and the other north-west, and both 
 fall into the Mediterranean more than a hundred 
 miles apart. When a river divides like this it is 
 called a delta, because it forms a shape like the 
 Greek letter A, pronounced "delta." 
 
 The delta of the Nile is the most fertile and 
 most important part of Egypt, and its three most 
 important cities are at its three corners — Cairo, 
 which is the capital, is the largest and most im- 
 portant city in the country. It stands just above 
 v/here the river divides, and all the trade, whether 
 coming into or going out of the Nile valley, must 
 pass through it. Alexandria, which is joined to 
 Rossetta by a ship canal, is the second city. It has 
 a good harbour and is the chief port of Egypt. It 
 principally exports grain, cotton, sugar, and onions, 
 grown upon the banks of the Nile. Damietta, at 
 the eastern mouth of the Nile, is the third city. But 
 it is not nearly as prosperous as it used to be, and 
 many of its houses are in ruins. For since the 
 opening of the Suez Canal much" of the trade has 
 gone to Port Said and Ismailia,- just as the trade 
 of Rossetta goes now through the ship canal to 
 the port of Alexandria. 
 
 The Nile is the second longest river in the world, 
 and it is perhaps the most wonderful. No other 
 river is quite like it. Every year it overflows, 
 
The Mamelukes 73 
 
 leaving, as it falls again, a layer of mud upon its 
 banks. This mud is very fertile, and except for 
 this overflowing, Egypt would be a barren waste, 
 like the Libyan Desert on the one side of it and 
 the Arabian Desert on the other. 
 
 As it is, rice, wheat, cotton, maize, sugar-cane, 
 indigo, and many other useful things are grown. 
 Tobacco could very well be grown, but it is for- 
 bidden for reasons connected with custom duties. 
 
 Egypt has thus been called " the gift of the Nile." 
 And so it is. It is a strip of fertile land, only ten 
 or twelve miles wide, which, but for the Nile, would 
 not exist at all, or rather, would only exist as desert. 
 Egypt cannot become a manufacturing country, for 
 it has neither coal, wood, nor oil for fuel, and all its 
 water is needed for watering the land. To supply 
 the houses with oil, oil-bearing plants are grown, 
 such as sesame, mustard, saffron, &c., and lately 
 some trees have been planted, but these are rather 
 for shade than for wood. 
 
 Although when Napoleon landed in Egypt the 
 Turks were supposed to rule the land, they had, 
 in fact, very little power. The power was really 
 in the hands of the Mamelukes. These Mamelukes 
 were a wild and fierce people. Their chiefs were 
 called Beys, and there were always twenty-four 
 of them. For when a Bey died the bravest of his 
 followers was chosen to take his place. When the 
 Mamelukes needed more men they either bought 
 or stole children, very often from Europe, and 
 
74 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 brought them up as soldiers. They were trained 
 to ride, shoot, and endure hardships while they 
 were still very young. So they became the most 
 splendid horsemen and marksmen,, and fierce fighters. 
 Mounted on fiery Arab steeds, armed with beautiful 
 weapons, swords of finest steel, muskets and pistols 
 inlaid with gold, dressed in rich and gorgeous robes, 
 glittering with jewels, they dashed over the country, 
 ruling and oppressing as they chose. Fierce and 
 haughty, they made every one bow to their will. 
 They considered all the wealth of the country as 
 theirs, and they cruelly oppressed the poor Arabs, 
 forcing them to work hard, and taking almost all 
 their earnings from them. 
 
 It was against these Mamelukes that Napoleon 
 now had to fight. He tried to make the Arabs 
 and other peoples of Egypt join him, and help him 
 to conquer their oppressors. But the poor Arabs, 
 who hardly knew what right or freedom meant, only 
 saw in him another conqueror, and were little willing 
 to help him. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE PYRAMIDS 
 
 It was July when Napoleon left Alexandria to 
 march against the Mamelukes and take Cairo. 
 Many of his soldiers were old and tried men. They 
 had endured the heat of Italy cheerfully, for there, 
 although the sun was hot, they had marched through 
 fertile lands well watered and pleasant. At the 
 
The Pyramids 75 
 
 end of the day's march food and wine were always 
 to be had. But now, day by day they marched 
 over burning sand, under a brazen sky, through 
 a land barren and empty, where neither man nor 
 beast was to be seen, and where there was scarce 
 a growing thing but thorny shrubs. 
 
 With feet burned and blistered, with parched 
 tongues and cracked lips, blinded by the glare of 
 the sun upon the sand, maddened by swarms of 
 flies and insects, the march became a torture to 
 the men. Gasping in the intolerable heat, they 
 threw off their clothes, trying to find relief. Was 
 this where the general had promised them six 
 acres of land ? they angrily demanded. 
 
 Even the officers could hardly bear the fiery 
 torment. They pulled off their cockades and trod 
 them in the sand and murmured of rebellion. 
 Napoleon alone seemed cool and calm. He wore 
 his heavy uniform, buttoned up to the throat as 
 usual, when the men were throwing away almost 
 every garment. And when they were gasping and 
 perspiring, he seemed as cool in body as in mind. 
 
 As the army wound along the weary way, many 
 men, too worn out to keep up with the others, fell 
 behind. Then out of the dust of the desert, through 
 the glare of the dazzling sun, a company of fleet 
 mounted Arabs would dash upon the stragglers. 
 Then woe to them ! Muskets cracked, bright steel 
 flashed, and the blood of Frenchmen stained the 
 yellow desert sand. 
 
76 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 For a fortnight the toilsome march dragged on 
 through the seemingly endless desert, until the men 
 began to believe that there was no such place as 
 Cairo. For the first time, they had lost faith in 
 their leader. Then, at last, one day over the un- 
 broken waste of desert there rose enormous masses in 
 straight lines and angles. They were the Pyramids. 
 
 The Pyramids are the tombs of the ancient kings 
 of Egypt, some of whom lived more than twenty-five 
 hundred years B.C. They are enormous blocks 
 of stone and brick, broad at the bottom and coming 
 to a point at the top, many of them being higher 
 than a high church tower. They are one of the 
 wonders of the world, and after thousands of years 
 they still stand, giant memorials of forgotten times. 
 
 Here, in this city of the dead, the Mamelukes 
 awaited their enemy. Drawn out in glittering lines, 
 with cannon pointed and camp entrenched, they 
 waited. 
 
 Through a telescope Napoleon (carefully examined 
 the lines of the foe. He was a great general, but 
 he noticed the smallest details. He now saw some- 
 thing which none of his officers had seen. The 
 enemy's cannon were not on wheels. They were 
 fixed, and could only be fired in one direction. That 
 decided the day. 
 
 Napoleon drew up his men so that they should 
 be out of range of the cannon. Then, pointing to 
 the Pyramids as the battle began, "Soldiers," he 
 cried, " forty centuries look down upon you." 
 
The Pyramids 77 
 
 And there in the sandy desert, under the burning 
 sun, Mameluke and Frenchman fought. Flashing 
 in the sunlight, the brilliant cavalcade came spur- 
 ring on. Again and again it broke against the solid 
 wall of glittering bayonets. The fight was fearful. 
 When the Mamelukes could no longer shoot, they 
 dashed their pistols in the faces of their enemies. 
 When wounded, they crawled on the sand, hewing, 
 hacking, and stabbing all that they could reach. 
 But at last, scattered and thinned by the fearful 
 charge of the French, the Mamelukes fled. 
 
 Many threw themselves into the Nile in the panic 
 of flight. Many were cut down by the pursuing 
 French. Those who escaped carried to all parts of 
 Egypt the fame and terror of Sultan Kebir, the King 
 of Fire, as they called Napoleon. 
 
 Four days after the battle of the Pyramids, 
 Napoleon entered Cairo. Here, through its brilliant, 
 narrow, dirty, ill-paved streets, ride, and walk, and 
 jostle each other, men and women of every country 
 and colour. The jabber of tongues, the shouts of 
 donkey- and camel-drivers, the tinkle of bells, the 
 cries of street merchants, all make up a perfect babel 
 of sound, such as is only to be heard in Eastern cities. 
 
 And here for some months Napoleon made his 
 headquarters, ruling and commanding, fighting and 
 punishing, making new laws for Egypt, just as a 
 few months before he had, after overturning all the 
 kingdoms of Italy, formed them anew to please 
 himself. 
 
78 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 NAPOLEON MARCHES INTO ASIA 
 
 But meanwhile Napoleon's conquests in Egypt 
 had been made useless, for the French fleet had 
 been destroyed. Soon after the French soldiers had 
 been landed, Nelson at last found the enemy he 
 had been seeking so long, although Napoleon had 
 escaped him. W^hen the French and British fleets 
 met, the battle of the Nile was fought, in which 
 the French were utterly defeated. Of that battle 
 you will read in the Life of Nelson. 
 
 When the news of the battle was brought to 
 Napoleon he was filled with grief. Not only had 
 the British, whom he had hoped to crush, been 
 victorious once more, but by that victory he and 
 his soldiers were cut off from France. Then the 
 Turks, no longer having the French fleet to fear, 
 declared war with France, and made ready an 
 army to attack Napoleon in Egypt. 
 
 This army was expected to land in Syria, and 
 Napoleon decided to meet it there. So once more 
 the weary march through burning desert began. 
 With the French army, as before, went the learned 
 men. They were treated with great respect, and 
 rode upon asses. But the soldiers, as they trudged 
 along through the burning sand, jeered at them. 
 They had seen them wandering about the Pyramids, 
 inspecting all the monuments and strange things 
 
Napoleon Marches into Asia 79 
 
 of Egypt, and the soldiers had come to think that 
 the whole expedition had been got up for them, 
 and that they were the cause of all the misery. Yet 
 when any danger arose they had to be protected. 
 They were put in the middle, and the soldiers 
 formed round them. "Make room for the asses!" 
 they would cry ; " make room for the asses ! " 
 
 In those days there was no Suez Canal, and the 
 army marched out of Africa into Asia across the 
 isthmus. But although there was no canal when 
 Napoleon marched across the isthmus, there had 
 been one in olden times, and Napoleon actually 
 gave orders that a new canal should be begun. 
 Nothing came of it, however, and it was left to 
 another Frenchman, called Ferdinand de Lesseps, 
 to plan and carry out the great work much later. 
 This canal was begun in 1859 and opened ten 
 years after, having cost nineteen millions to build. 
 It is about a hundred miles long, and it makes 
 the journey to India about three thousand miles 
 shorter than by the old way round the Cape of 
 Good Hope, and it has been of immense service 
 in the trade of the world. 
 
 After crossing the isthmus, Napoleon took the 
 fortress of El-Arish. Here the garrison were 
 allowed to go free, after promising never again to 
 fight against the French. He next took Gaza, the 
 famous city of the Philistines, from which Samson 
 carried away the gates, and where his grave is 
 still pointed out. The army then marched to Jaffa. 
 
8o Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 Jaffa has now a very poor harbour, but in the 
 days of Solomon it was the port for Jerusalem. 
 In times much later it played a great part in the 
 Crusades, and was captured from the Saracens by 
 Richard Coeur de Lion. Now it is a little town 
 with dirty, narrow streets, but it is surrounded by 
 orange groves, of which fruit it exports great 
 quantities, as well as of other fruits, grain, and 
 wool, and is once more growing in importance. 
 
 When Napoleon reached Jaffa it had strong 
 walls around it, and it was some days before he 
 could make a breach in them. But at last the 
 town was taken by storm. Then the French 
 soldiers rushed in and began a horrible slaughter 
 of the Turks. This at last was stopped by some 
 of Napoleon's officers, and about three thousand 
 wretched men were saved and made prisoners. 
 
 "What do you want me to do with them?" cried 
 Napoleon in anger when he saw the crowd of 
 prisoners. " Have I food to feed them or ships in 
 which to carry them away ? " 
 
 "You told us to stop the slaughter," pleaded the 
 officers. 
 
 "Yes, of women, and children, and old men, but 
 not of soldiers," replied Napoleon, still more angry. 
 
 It was true : there was not enough food for every 
 one. The French soldiers themselves had hardly 
 enough to eat, and it made them angry to have to 
 give some of their scanty fare to prisoners. 
 
 There was only one thing to do, and that was to 
 
The Return from Egypt 8i 
 
 let the men go free after promising that they 
 would not again fight. But that Napoleon would 
 not do. 
 
 " They will fight against us again, whatever they 
 promise," he said. "They have done so already. 
 These are the very men who were set free at 
 El-Arish." 
 
 Then Napoleon gave an order which is one of the 
 blackest things against his memory. " Let them be 
 shot," he said. 
 
 So the wretched prisoners were led out of the 
 town to the sandy shore, and there, to a man, they 
 were shot and bayoneted in cold blood. They did 
 not try to escape. They met death with the hope- 
 less courage of the Eastern. It was fate. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 THE RETURN FROM EGYPT 
 
 After the horrible slaughter of Jaffa, the French 
 marched on to Acre. We reniember this town 
 chiefly as a town famous in the time of the Crusades. 
 It was called St. Jean d'Acre, from the Knights of 
 St. John who settled here. It was the port by which 
 the Crusaders generally landed. Among these was 
 Richard Coeur de Lion, who took the town from the 
 Saracens. 
 
 In the time of Napoleon there was a cruel ruler 
 who lived there, called Jessar Pasha, "the Butcher." 
 Napoleon sent a message to this chief, hoping to 
 
82 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 win him to his side. But the Butcher cut off the 
 messenger's head and threw his body into the sea 
 in a sack. 
 
 So Napoleon began to besiege Acre. But now he 
 had more than Turks against him. For Sir Sidney 
 Smith, a British captain, was anchored in the bay, 
 with two British ships, and he helped the Turks 
 with men and guns. 
 
 For two months the siege went on. Napoleon had 
 no battering-guns with which to break down the 
 walls, for Sir Sidney Smith had seized his ships as 
 they were coming from Alexandria with them. So 
 he could make little impression. Then the plague 
 broke out among his men, and at last, sorely against 
 his will, Napoleon was forced to= give up the siege 
 and march back. In the darkness and silence of a 
 May night the French army crept away. Thus 
 ended Napoleon's dreams of power in the East. He 
 had been beaten by the one enemy who was always 
 to beat him— the British. For had no British ships 
 been in the bay of Acre, the town might have fallen. 
 " Had St. Jean d'Acre fallen, I would have changed 
 the face of the world," said Napoleon, 
 
 The retreat from Acre was one long agony. The 
 sun blazed down upon the weary and now dis- 
 heartened soldiers, many of whom were wounded 
 and ill. Those who were too ill to walk were carried 
 in litters. But sometimes the men, tired of carrying 
 their wounded comrades, and themselves scarcely 
 able to drag along, would throw them down, and 
 
The Return from Egypt 83 
 
 leave them to die by the wayside or fall into the 
 hands of the terrible Turks. 
 
 Sometimes the thirsting troops would see a cool 
 oasis, with waving palm-trees and glimmering water- 
 pools, in the distance. Eagerly they would press 
 forward, only to find, a few moments later, that 
 what they had seen was a mirage, a deceitful 
 picture of the desert. 
 
 Sometimes, when they did find water, it was so 
 foul or salt that their thirst was made worse rather 
 than better. And all the way tbey were beset by 
 pursuing Turks and wild desert Arabs, so that 
 many more died on the march than in the battle. 
 But at last their miseries were ended, and the worn- 
 out army reached Cairo again. 
 
 Here Napoleon set himself once more to the 
 ruling of Egypt, and by a great victory over the 
 Turks at Aboukir Bay he blotted out the memory 
 of his defeat at Acre. 
 
 All during the time of the Syrian campaign 
 Napoleon had had no news of France. Now some 
 old newspapers came into his hands. From them 
 he learned that things were indeed going ill at home. 
 Italy was lost, and all his great conquests were 
 wiped out as if they had never been. 
 
 " The fools have lost Italy," he exclaimed. " All 
 the fruits of my victories have disappeared. I must 
 leave Egypt." 
 
 But he had no ships in which to carry his army 
 home. So he resolved to go alone, taking only 
 
84 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 about five hundred men with him, and leaving one 
 of his generals in charge of the campaign, which 
 from the beginning had been utterly useless. 
 
 Napoleon made all his preparations with great 
 secrecy. He dare not tell his soldiers that he was 
 going to desert them. One dark August night, 
 under the pale light of the twinkling stars, as 
 silently as possible, the company rode down to the 
 harbour of Alexandria. Quickly and stealthily the 
 men went on board two waiting vessels. The horses 
 could not be taken, so they were turned loose. 
 They, left riderless and free, turned by instinct and 
 galloped back to Alexandria. There the people, 
 awaking in fear at the sound of horses galloping 
 wildly through the streets, thought it was some 
 new invasion, until it was discovered that the 
 horses belonged to the French army. 
 
 In spite of some victories, the Egyptian campaign 
 had been an utter failure. For a year of fighting, 
 suffering, and misery, there was "no gain to show. 
 There was, on the other hand, the loss of a fleet 
 of ships, of more than six thousand soldiers, besides 
 many guns and cannon. 
 
 But when Napoleon returned to France, the people 
 greeted him more joyfully than ever. They were 
 weary of the rule of the Directory, and longed for 
 a change. Napoleon had never meant to be a 
 soldier and conqueror only; he meant to be a ruler 
 too. He now saw his chance and took it. 
 
First Consul of France 85 
 
 CHAPTER XXil 
 
 FIRST CONSUL OF FRANCE 
 
 Soon after Napoleon returned from Egypt he was 
 made commander of all the troops round Paris. 
 Then one day he appeared at the head of his soldiers 
 in the courtyard of the palace in which the French 
 Assembly, or Parliament, sat. Amid a fearful noise 
 of shouts, beating of drums, and tramp of feet the 
 Assembly was turned out at the point of the bayonet. 
 That night Napoleon slept in the palace of the 
 Luxembourg, with the title of Consul of France. 
 
 There were three other consuls. But that was a 
 mere pretence. Napoleon was the true ruler. One 
 morning on the walls of Paris a placard appeared 
 like this : — 
 
 POLITICAL SUBTRACTION 
 
 From 5 Directors 
 take 2 
 
 There remains 3 Consuls 
 From them take 2 Consuls 
 
 and there remains i Bonaparte. 
 
 So you see that already people knew that Napoleon 
 was master. 
 
 It was October when Napoleon returned from 
 Egypt. By the middle of December he was First 
 Consul, and for the next few months he gave him- 
 
86 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 self up to ruling. Under his firm hand France, 
 which had been torn and tossed in wild unrest for 
 eight years, now seemed to find a little calm. 
 
 But all around the borders of France there was war 
 still. Austria and Britain were her chief enemies. 
 With Britain, at this time, Napoleon would have 
 been glad to make peace, could he have done so on 
 his own terms. Austria he mearit to crush, and to 
 crush in such a way as would make Europe ring 
 with the name of Bonaparte. He meant to do great 
 deeds at which the world would stare and wonder. 
 He meant to have peace too, but peace after victory. 
 
 The army of Italy was still fighting under a brave 
 general called Massena. But now he was shut up 
 in Genoa, a British fleet bombarding him from the 
 sea, and an Austrian array surrounding him on land. 
 Food was growing scarce, and his men were but 
 worn-out skeletons. The Austrians believed that 
 they should very soon beat him, and then they would 
 be able to march into France. On the Rhine was 
 another army under a leader called Moreau, whose 
 fame was scarcely less than Napoleon's. 
 
 Napoleon now gathered a third army, called the 
 Reserve, with which, he gave out, he was going to 
 march to the help of Massena. But the Austrians 
 laughed at the Reserve army, for it was made up of 
 ill-fed, half-clothed, raw recruits. Napoleon went to 
 Dijon to review these new recruits. But he stayed 
 there only two hours and was soon speeding on his 
 way to Geneva. 
 
First Consul of France 87 
 
 For three months Napoleon had been silently and 
 secretly gathering troops which by different ways 
 had been sent towards Switzerland. There, too, 
 engineers had been sent to examine the passes 
 through the Alps. Now everything was ready, and 
 the great commander also went speeding to the land 
 of snow mountains. 
 
 Switzerland is the only country in Europe which 
 has no sea-coast whatever. On every side it is 
 surrounded by other lands. Yet in the struggle and 
 wars of nations Switzerland has suffered less than 
 some. There are few battlefields here, and for 
 hundreds of years the name of Switzerland has 
 stood for freedom. High mountains form a great 
 part of the boundaries of Switzerland, and the 
 country itself is full of mountains, there being little 
 flat land. This would make it hard to conquer. 
 
 Many of these mountains are so high that snow 
 lies upon them all the year round. For the higher 
 you rise in the air the colder it becomes. Just as 
 the further north you travel the colder it becomes, 
 until near the pole snow lies all the year round. 
 Thus on a Swiss mountain - side you can pass 
 through several climates. 
 
 In the low valleys and slopes are found rich fields 
 where abundant crops of corn and vines, tobacco 
 and fruits, grow as in the plains of sunny France, 
 and where figs and almonds will ripen in the open 
 air. Higher up on the mountain slopes are the 
 meadows, where sheep and cattle graze, and where 
 
88 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 dairy-farming and cheese-making are carried on in 
 summer. For in winter both flocks and shepherds 
 come down to the valleys to shelter from the fierce 
 cold and snows until the spring returns. Higher 
 still are wild regions where no one lives even in 
 summer, and where only the chamois is hunted. 
 And above that again is the region of perpetual 
 snow, where scarcely any animal can live, and only 
 the most hardy alpine plants can grow. 
 
 One reason why Switzerland has not been fought 
 over so much as some other lands is that it would 
 not be a great prize when it was conquered. 
 
 Although the country is beautiful the land is not 
 very fertile. More than a quarter of it is glaciers 
 and stone, or is in other ways quite useless, either 
 as agricultural or pastoral land. It has also no 
 mineral wealth. Its wealth lies in the hardy, thrifty, 
 industrious character of its people. Therefore, 
 although it has no sea-coast, canals, or navigable 
 rivers, which fact makes commerce difficult, and 
 although it has no coal, which makes manufactur- 
 ing difficult, it has become a manufacturing country. 
 The energies of the people have adapted the con- 
 ditions of their country to their needs. Thus, the 
 place of coal is supplied by the plentiful water-power 
 of countless streams which come from the mountain- 
 sides. These streams are always full, for the high 
 mountains catch the rain-clouds in winter, and in 
 summer the sun melts the eternal snows which lie 
 upon their summits. 
 
First Consul of France 89 
 
 And to such good purpose do =the Swiss use this 
 water-power that many Swiss villages are lit with 
 electric light, while villages of the same size in 
 this country would be lit by oil-lamps, or at best 
 by gas. 
 
 The manufactures are those which require either 
 little raw material, or which are made of the raw 
 material supplied by the country itself. Thus, much 
 of Switzerland being covered with forest, a great 
 industry in wood- carving, wooden clocks, and 
 musical boxes has grown up. Great quantities of 
 cheese and condensed milk are made upon the 
 alpine pastures. Woollen cloths are made from 
 the wool of the sheep and goats> 
 
 Of the manufactures which require imported 
 material watch-making is one of the chief. This 
 does not require much or heavy material, as the 
 value of the article, when finished, lies greatly in 
 the skill of the workmen. Many Swiss towns, too, 
 manufacture silk, the raw material for which can 
 easily be brought from Italy and France, where it 
 is grown. This is especially so since the boring of 
 tunnels through the Alps. Embroidery, on muslin 
 and linen, is another great Swiss industry. 
 
 But the beauty of the country is perhaps what 
 adds most to its wealth. For each year thousands 
 of people go there from every country of Europe. 
 In the winter, they go for skating and tobogganing, 
 in the spring and autumn, to sail upon the lakes 
 and climb the mountains, until, as every geography 
 
90 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 book will tell you, it has become the playground 
 of Europe. 
 
 Geneva, to which Napoleon now went, is one of 
 the largest towns in Switzerland. It is the chief 
 seat of the watch factories, and besides being in a 
 very beautiful situation, it is in|;eresting in many 
 ways. It was here that Rousseau was born. Calvin 
 lived here, and John Knox, too, for a short time. 
 
 When Napoleon arrived he gathered his engineers 
 around him and began to study the map of the Alps. 
 
 " Is it possible to pass ? " he as^ed, 
 
 " It is barely possible," said an engineer. 
 
 "Very well," replied Napoleon ;= " let us be going." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 NAPOLEON CROSSES THE ALPS 
 
 Napoleon now began one of his most famous 
 marches. Once before he had passed the Alps 
 by rounding them. This time he meant to cross 
 them, and, while the enemy awaited him in front, 
 appear suddenly behind. 
 
 The army was divided into four, each part going 
 by a different way. The paths through the mountains 
 are called passes. The passes which Napoleon now 
 chose were the Great St. Bernard, the Little St. 
 Bernard, the Mont Cenis, and the St. Gothard. 
 
 Napoleon himself went by the Great St. Bernard. 
 
 It was a tremendous march which now began, 
 for in places there was not even a track, and the 
 
Napoleon Crosses the Alps 91 
 
 men had to stumble as best they could over rough, 
 broken, stony ground. Up and up they struggled, 
 for a pass is only comparatively low; that is, low 
 when compared with the huge mountains near. 
 The Great St. Bernard pass is more than eight 
 thousand feet above sea-level. It was hard enough 
 for men laden with knapsack and gun to toil up- 
 wards, but to drag heavy cannon up was still harder. 
 The path was so terrible that it was found to be quite 
 impossible to bring them up on their carriages. 
 No wheels could pass over the ground, so each 
 cannon was taken from its carriage, and was put 
 into the trunk of a tree, which had been hollowed 
 out to fit it. A hundred men were then harnessed 
 to each tree-trunk, and so the cannon were dragged 
 over snow and ice, along narrow, giddy paths where 
 only the chamois or the goatherd had left a path. 
 The carriages were taken to pieces, the wheels 
 were slung on poles and carried on men's shoulders. 
 
 Food for the army had to be carried too. This 
 was laden on mules. They were sure-footed, hardy 
 beasts, accustomed to the wild mountain - sides, 
 and so could carry weight even over the rough 
 path. But with the cavalry horses it was different. 
 The men dismounted, and each man led his horse 
 as best he could. 
 
 Thus for five days an endless stream of men 
 and horses passed among the silent hills, churning 
 the white snow into a brown morass, filling the 
 still air with the hum of voices, and the clank and 
 
92 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 jingle of steel, awaking the echoes with the sound 
 of drum and trumpet. On and on went the men, 
 slipping, sliding, panting, breathless, hardly daring 
 to pause in places lest those behind should be 
 thrown into confusion, stumbling knee-deep into 
 snowdrifts, clambering round boulders, but always 
 upward and upward. At last they reached the 
 summit of the pass. 
 
 Here is the Hospice of St. Bernard, founded 
 hy St. Bernard de Menthon nearly a thousand 
 years ago. And here all the year round live the good 
 monks of St. Bernard, ever ready to aid travellers, and 
 seek for those who may be lost among the mountains. 
 In this they are helped by the famous St. Bernard 
 dogs, whose sense of smell is so strong that they 
 can find travellers, even when they lie buried in 
 the snow. 
 
 Here it is so high, and therefore so cold, that 
 the winter lasts nine months. Only in July, August, 
 and September does the snow melt. And even 
 then the little lake beside the Hospice is sometimes 
 frozen over during the night. When the wearied 
 soldiers reached the top of the pass the good monks 
 gave them a meal of bread and= wine and cheese, 
 and then the long descent began. For the horses 
 and mules this was almost more difificult than the 
 ascent. But sliding and stumbling they at last got 
 over the worst of the road with no serious accident. 
 
 But a new difficulty now arose. Fort Bard had 
 to be passed. This was only a little fort held by 
 
Napoleon Crosses the Alps 93 
 
 four hundred Austrians, but, perched upon a rock, 
 it commanded the tiny town through which the 
 road lay, and the whole pass, which here is not 
 more than fifty yards wide. 
 
 For some time the French tried in vain to take 
 the fort. Then at length they discovered a narrow 
 goat-track leading round it, and out of gun-shot. 
 By this, one by one, the infantry passed, but it 
 was impossible to take the artillery that way. So 
 in the dead of night the artillery-men entered the 
 village. They spread chaff and straw upon the 
 street, and having muffled every belt or buckle 
 that might clatter or jingle, they drew the cannon 
 through the town, almost under the noses of the 
 unsuspecting Austrians. 
 
 Then, the last difficulty being passed, the French 
 poured like an avalanche down upon the plain of 
 Italy. 
 
 The news of Napoleon's wonderful march soon 
 reached the famished garrison of Genoa, and the 
 thought that help was near renewed their sinking 
 courage. But day after day passed, and no rescuing 
 French army appeared before the walls. Still they 
 hoped on, sick at heart and weairy. But at length 
 the last spark of hope died, and brave Massena 
 gave in. They had absolutely nothing left to eat 
 but knapsacks and shoes, grass and roots. 
 
 "No terms are too good for you," said Lord 
 Keith, the British commander. So the French were 
 allowed to march out with all the honours of war. 
 
94 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 THE WORLD AT PEACE 
 
 Meanwhile Napoleon was marching on Milan, 
 passing through Italy in a kind of triumph. It did 
 not suit his plans to relieve Genoa, so he left the 
 garrison to starve, while he prepared for a great 
 battle in which all was to be won or lost. 
 
 And so at last French and Austrian met again 
 upon the field of Marengo, a little village not far 
 from the town of Alessandria. 
 
 At daybreak on the 14th of June the fight 
 began. It was a fierce and terrible battle. The 
 Austrians numbered nearly twice as many as the 
 French. At one time the French fled from the 
 field, crying "All is lost." Again they rallied, but 
 step by step they were driven backward, and at last 
 fled once more. The Austrian leader was an old 
 man of over eighty. He was weary of long fighting, 
 and about three o'clock in the afternoon, believing 
 the victory won, he left the field. 
 
 But at this moment a French officer who had 
 been at some distance rode up, with fresh troops. 
 "I fear it is a battle lost," he said to Napoleon. 
 
 "I think it is a battle won," replied he. And 
 rallying his men, and ordering a sudden charge of 
 cavalry, he turned defeat into victory. Soon it was 
 the Austrians who were fleeing from the field in 
 utter rout. 
 
The World at Peace 95 
 
 So completely crushed was the Austrian army 
 that next day their leader sent a flag of truce to 
 Napoleon, begging for peace. And by the treaty 
 which followed all Northern Italy was given up, 
 almost as it had been at the treaty of Campo- 
 Formio. Thus at one blow was Italy reconquered. 
 
 Having thus startled the world, and covered his 
 name with glory, Napoleon returned to Paris. He 
 had been gone less than two months. All along the 
 way people crowded to cheer him as he passed. In 
 Paris the houses were lit up night after night in his 
 honour. For hours together crowds would stand 
 round his palace hoping to catch a glimpse of the 
 conqueror of the Alps, of the victor of Marengo. 
 Napoleon was delighted with all the fame he had 
 won. " A few more events like this campaign, and 
 I shall perhaps go down to posterity," he cried. 
 
 France now made peace with all Europe. But it 
 was not until many months later that peace was 
 made with Britain. First, Napoleon persuaded 
 many of the powers of Europe to join together 
 against Britain in what was called an Armed Neu- 
 trality. But Nelson put an end to that by winning 
 the Battle of the Baltic. Next, Sir Ralph Aber- 
 crombie and Lord Keith beat the French in Egypt, 
 and at last drove them out of that country again. 
 By this time both the French and British people 
 wanted peace, so on the 25th of March 1802, after 
 fifteen years or more of war, peace was signed. 
 This was called the Peace of Amiens. 
 
96 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 Among other things in this treaty, Britain received 
 the islands of Ceylon and Trinidad, and agreed to 
 give back the island of Malta to the Knights of 
 St. John. 
 
 Meanwhile Napoleon was busy ruling France, and 
 these few years are really the best part of all his life. 
 In them he did many good things for France. And 
 these lasted when all his great conquests faded, and 
 his vast Empire crumbled into pieces. 
 
 Ever since the Revolution France had been tossed 
 about from one form of government to another. 
 Now again the country had a safe and steady 
 government. 
 
 At the Revolution the French had done away with 
 all religion. With that had gone Sunday, and the 
 week was made to have ten days instead of seven. 
 Napoleon had fought against the Pope and had 
 taken his lands away from him. Now he made 
 friends with the Pope, and brought back the Roman 
 Catholic religion to France once more. He did not 
 do this because he cared about such things, but 
 because he thought that it was wise. He had tried 
 to make friends with the people of Egypt, who were 
 Mussulmans, by telling them that he too was a 
 Mussulman, and that he had overthrown the Pope, 
 but now when it suited him he made friends with 
 him. 
 
 A new university was now opened. The Bank of 
 France was founded, new laws were passed. These 
 new laws which were made in the, time of Napoleon, 
 
The World at Peace 97 
 
 and which received the name of the Code of Napo- 
 leon, are the laws by which France is still ruled. 
 
 It was now, too, that Napoleon founded the Legion 
 of Honour. This was an honour given to any one 
 who had done anything worthy of reward. It was 
 given to soldiers or civilians alike. And to this 
 day it is considered perhaps the greatest honour a 
 Frenchman may win. 
 
 At the Revolution even the names of the months 
 and the number of the years had been changed. 
 The 22nd of September was New Year's Day, and 
 1792 was year i. The months were called by names 
 which were supposed to explain them. January was 
 called Rainymonth, February Windymonth, and so 
 on. In writing letters to people in other countries, 
 who counted the days and years in the old way, this 
 was very awkward. Indeed it must have been very 
 awkward for the French themselves, and very diffi- 
 cult to remember. So, soon after this the French 
 people gave it up, and went back to the old way. 
 
 In fact in every way they became more like other 
 people again. Men and women were no longer 
 called citizen and citizeness, but Madame and Mon- 
 sieur. Many of the nobles who had fled returned to 
 their homes. They brought back with them the 
 grand manners of the time of Louis, and by degrees 
 the drawing-room of the First Consul began to look 
 like the court of a king. 
 
 "You see everything returns," said Napoleon to 
 an old and stern republican. 
 
98 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 "Yes," he replied bitterly, "everything returns— 
 everything except the two millions of Frenchmen 
 who died to destroy what you are building up 
 again." 
 
 Before the Revolution France had been divided 
 into provinces. Each province had its own customs, 
 and sometimes even a language of its own. To do 
 away with this, France was at the Revolution divided 
 into eighty-seven departments. These departments 
 were all made as much as possible the same size, 
 and were called after the chief rivers or mountains 
 which they enclosed. This has never been changed, 
 and France is still divided into departments, although 
 the old names of the provinces are still used too. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 NAPOLEON CONSUL FOR LIFE 
 
 Gradually Napoleon's power grew greater and 
 greater. But still he had only been made Consul 
 for ten years. The Senate now proposed that the 
 time should be increased to twenty years. But 
 that did not please Napoleon. So he thanked them, 
 and said that he could not rule longer than ten 
 years, unless it was the will of the people. The 
 voice of the people must be heard first, he said. 
 
 So the people were asked. But the question 
 which they were asked was not "Shall Napoleon 
 be Consul for twenty years ? " but " Shall Napoleon 
 be Consul for life?" 
 
Napoleon Consul for Life 99 
 
 All over the country books were sent, in which 
 people could write their names, and say "Yes" or 
 "No" in answer to this question. Only a few 
 hundred said "No," although many did not vote 
 at all, and so Napoleon was proclaimed Consul for 
 life on the 15th of August 1802. 
 
 But this time of peace for France and for Europe 
 did not last long. By the peace of Amiens, you re- 
 member, Malta was to be given back to the Knights 
 of St. John. But the British were very slow to do 
 this. They feared that if they did the island would 
 very soon fall again into the hands of Napoleon. 
 For he was doing many things on the Continent 
 which showed that he wished to gain for France 
 more power than was safe for the peace and liberty 
 of the rest of Europe. 
 
 Among other things, he made himself Grand 
 Mediator or Overlord of Switzerland. The very 
 name of Switzerland has since the days of Tell 
 stood for liberty. It made every country in Europe 
 angry that Napoleon should so try to crush the 
 old spirit of freedom. Yet Britain alone sent a 
 messenger to protest against such oppression and 
 greed. But Napoleon would not listen. "These 
 are only trifles," he said. However, as long as he 
 did such things Britain resolved to keep Malta. 
 But Napoleon was determined that Malta should 
 be given up. " I would rather see the British in 
 the suburbs of Paris," he said, "than in Malta." 
 
 Both countries, at this time, hated and were jealous 
 
100 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 of each other. Both knew that the peace of Amiens 
 was not truly a peace, but only a truce. Napoleon 
 tried his best to ruin British trade. And on i6th 
 May 1803, little more than a year after the signing 
 of the peace, war was once more declared by Britain. 
 
 Napoleon made believe to be very angry when 
 war was declared. Perhaps he" was angry, for 
 although he hoped one day to crush Britain, he 
 was not yet ready. Many of his soldiers had gone 
 on leave after their hard years of fighting. Most 
 of the cannon had been sent to the foundries to be 
 recast, and in many ways he was unprepared. 
 
 But with Napoleon a difficulty only brought out 
 his quickness and genius. Soon men were every- 
 where gathering and drilling. Soon every port 
 was noisy with shipbuilding, and hundreds of flat- 
 bottomed boats were got ready to carry a great 
 army over the sea to invade Britain. Harbours 
 were enlarged to make room for this new fleet, all 
 France indeed was busy with preparation. 
 
 Napoleon himself visited the ports and harbours 
 to see how the works were going on. Then he 
 made a tour through Belgium. 
 
 Belgium is a very small country, and has very 
 little coast-line, only forty miles in all. And the 
 whole of that forty miles is a long, low, almost un- 
 broken, sandy shore. The sea is kept from flowing 
 over the land either by natural sand-banks or by 
 stone walls. Along this shore Ostend is the only 
 port, and it is chiefly a passenger port, Ostend itself 
 
Napoleon Consul fpr Life lOi 
 
 being a fashionable seaside town, where every year 
 thousands of people go for holidays. 
 
 The great port of Belgium, to which Napoleon 
 now went, is Antwerp on the Scheld. It is not 
 only the greatest seaport in Belgium but one of 
 the finest in the world. It is also one of the 
 strongest fortresses, and is the chief arsenal of the 
 kingdom. It is thought that an army of two hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand would be required to 
 besiege it, and that even then it could hold out 
 for a year, 
 
 Belgium has need of very strong fortresses, as 
 it has no natural barriers to keep enemies out in 
 time of war. Neither high mountains, nor wide 
 rivers, guard its borders. It lies, too, surrounded 
 by other lands — France, Germany, and Holland, and 
 for this reason it has often become the battlefield 
 of other nations in quarrels not its own. 
 
 But the same causes which make Belgium easy 
 to invade make trade with it easy. So Antwerp 
 has become an outlet for Gernian as well as for 
 Belgian commerce. It is also the most convenient 
 port by which British goods can reach central 
 Europe. 
 
 Antwerp has manufactures too, for it can easily 
 get coal from the coalfield which stretches along 
 the valley of the Meuse and the Sambre, from 
 Liege to Charleroi, and from there on to the 
 borders of France. This coalfield is really the same 
 as the French coalfield of Valenciennes 
 
102 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 Antwerp has also long been famous for its 
 diamond-cutting industry. And besides all this trade, 
 Antwerp is one of the most interesting towns of 
 Europe. Its narrow streets are" full of quaint old 
 houses and beautiful churches, the chief of which is 
 the Cathedral, with its splendid spire. Its galleries 
 are full of beautiful pictures, and some of the most 
 famous Flemish artists lived and worked here, of 
 whom perhaps Rubens, Van Dyke, and Teniers are 
 the best known. 
 
 But when Napoleon visited Antwerp it was not 
 the great port that it is now. He was quick to see, 
 however, what a strong position the town held, 
 and he at once gave orders for the building and 
 improving of docks and harbour. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 MORE BELGIAN TOWNS 
 
 From Antwerp Napoleon went to Brussels. 
 Brussels is now the capital of Belgium and has 
 been called the " little Paris," so full is it of beautiful 
 streets and buildings. Besides being the capital, 
 it has also breweries, leather - works, and other 
 important manufactures, and is famous for its 
 lace. 
 
 Most of Belgium is quite flat. The only hills 
 are in the Ardennes in the south-east, and they 
 are not very high. Here there is much good 
 pasture-land where sheep, cattle, and horses are 
 
More Belgian Towns 103 
 
 bred. Flanders horses have long been famous. 
 You remember, perhaps, that Henry VIII. rudely 
 called his wife, Anne of Cleves, a Flanders mare. 
 
 The soil of Belgium is very sandy by nature, 
 but the people have tilled it so carefully that now 
 it has become in many places very fertile. Much 
 flax is grown, from which the famous Brussels 
 lace is made, and which supplies the linen-mills 
 of Ypres. 
 
 Having a great coalfield and also good iron ore, 
 Belgium is really a mining and manufacturing 
 country, more than an agricultural one. In the 
 valley of the Meuse from Liege to Namur, among 
 the ruined castles of days gone by, rise tall factory 
 chimneys, and the flames from iron-furnaces light 
 up the sky, and the clatter and clang of machinery 
 sounds all day long. 
 
 Of this district, Liege is the centre. Here 
 are g:un-factories and cannon-^foundries, engine, 
 machinery, and cycle works. Liege fire-arms are 
 famous all the Continent over. In the suburb Seraing 
 is the famous Cotterill ironworks, founded about 
 a hundred years ago by an Englishman, John 
 Cotterill. Here the first locomotive made on the 
 Continent was built. 
 
 There is an old Latin verse which says, " Brussels 
 rejoiced in noble men, Antwerp in money, Ghent in 
 halters, Bruges in pretty girls, Louvain in learned 
 men, and Malines in fools." Malines, however, whether 
 famous for fools or not, gave its name to a beautiful 
 
 H 
 
104 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 kind of lace, but very little is made there now. And 
 Bruges, once one of the centres of the world's trade, 
 seems to have stood still for several centuries, so 
 that, wandering along its narrow, crooked streets, 
 and by its many canals, one can easily picture what 
 it looked like many many years ago, 
 
 Ghent is said to be famous for halters, because in 
 olden times the people of Ghent were often unruly, 
 and once, having rebelled against their lord, they 
 were made to appear before him with halters round 
 their necks, as a sign of submission. Now the city 
 is famous for its nursery gardens. It exports whole 
 cargoes of flowers, being indeed called "the town 
 of flowers." For although it is not a seaport it is 
 connected with the Scheld, and so with the sea, 
 by a ship canal. It has also cotton and linen 
 factories, and exports coal, wood, flax, etc. 
 
 But to us, one of the most interesting things about 
 Ghent is that there, in 1340, John of Gaunt, the son of 
 Edward I., was born, and from that received his name. 
 
 Napoleon visited all these busy towns, taking 
 great interest in the manufactures, and asking ques- 
 tions about all he saw. Then he returned to Paris, 
 visiting Rheims on the way. 
 
 Round Rheims the hills are planted with vineyards, 
 and it is one of the chief centres for the wine trade 
 of Champagne. It is also one of the great centres 
 of the woollen trade, and manufactures a special 
 kind of cloth, a mixture of silk and wool. 
 
 But Rheims is chiefly interesting and famous as 
 
The Emperor 105 
 
 the crowning-place of the kings of France. There, 
 in the grand cathedral, the kings of France had 
 been crowned and anointed ever since the twelfth 
 century. Napoleon, as he stood beneath the splendid 
 dome, was full of secret longings and desires. He 
 knew himself to be one of the greatest rulers that 
 France had ever had. But he was still uncrowned. 
 He was neither king nor emperor, but only Consul. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVn 
 
 THE EMPEROR 
 
 Napoleon, like all stern rulers, had enemies. 
 There were many people in France who hated him, 
 and who, in spite of all they had suffered under 
 the Bourbons, longed to have a king again. So 
 there were plots to kill Napoleon and to put the 
 brother of Louis XVI. on the throjie. 
 
 About this time one of these plots was discovered 
 and, rightly or wrongly, many people were put to 
 death; others were imprisoned, others banished 
 from the land. 
 
 Among those who were put to death was the 
 Duke d'Enghien, one of the greatest nobles of 
 France. Nothing was ever proved against him, 
 and after a mere mockery of a trial, in the dead 
 of night, he was led out into the courtyard of the 
 castle of Vincennes, and shot at six o'clock one 
 grey March morning. 
 
 All the princes of Europe were filled with horror 
 
io6 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 at this murder, for it was little else. But they 
 did nothing to avenge it, and then the friends of 
 Napoleon used the plot to gain what he had long 
 wanted. That was to make him king in name as 
 well as in deed. They said that he must make his 
 rule so sure, that not only should he govern during 
 his life, but his children after him should rule. 
 They said that people were less likely to try to 
 kill Napoleon if they knew that after his death he 
 would be succeeded by a Bonaparte, and that there 
 was no hope that a Bourbon should ever again sit 
 upon the throne. 
 
 " At sight of the danger from which our hero has 
 been saved," they said, "we cannot but think that 
 those who wished to destroy the Consul strove to 
 destroy France. Great Man ! finish your work, and 
 make it immortal as your glory. You have brought 
 us out of the confusion of the past ; you help us to 
 enjoy the blessings of the present; make us also 
 sure of the future." 
 
 So, with many grand speeches and much flattery, 
 Napoleon was asked to become Emperor. He took 
 that title rather than king, because he thought it 
 would please the soldiers better. Besides, it re- 
 minded people of the great Emperor Charlemagne, 
 whose kingdom had stretched far over other lands, 
 and whose greatness Napoleon wished to equal 
 or surpass. 
 
 On the i8th of May 1804 he was proclaimed 
 Emperor of the French. 
 
The Emperor 107 
 
 The "little corporal" had come far. He who, a 
 few years before, had wandered almost penniless 
 among the streets of Paris, was now the greatest 
 man in all the land. He seemed to have reached 
 the very highest power that man could hope for, 
 and he was not yet thirty-five years old. 
 
 No sooner did Napoleon become Emperor than 
 he made all his brothers and sisters princes and 
 princesses, and gave titles to many of his friends. 
 Clad in splendid robes, and surrounded by a glitter- 
 ing company of officers, the Emperor and Empress 
 drove through the streets amid the cheers of the 
 people, and especially of the soldiers. 
 
 Now truly the French Republic was at an end. 
 The people no longer ruled. The army was the 
 greatest power in the land, and Napoleon was both 
 the master and the darling of the army. 
 
 Every ruler in Europe, except the Kings of Great 
 Britain, and of Sweden, and the Czar of Russia, 
 sent messages to the new Emperor, wishing him 
 good fortune. Some of the lesser German princes 
 even came themselves to Paris, so great was his 
 power over all Europe. 
 
 Soon after he was proclaimed Emperor, Napoleon 
 went to Boulogne to review the army, which was 
 still making ready to invade Britain. 
 
 Boulogne is the chief station in France of the 
 North Sea fisheries. It is a port, and does a good 
 deal of trade, but it is chiefly a mail and passenger 
 packet station between Britain and France. But 
 
io8 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 it imports a good deal of raw material and has 
 manufacturies of cloth and leather. 
 
 When Napoleon arrived here he was received with 
 cheers even louder than those which had greeted 
 him as he drove through the streets of Paris. 
 There were grand ceremonies, and much speech- 
 making. At the review which he held Napoleon 
 gave the Cross of the Legion of Honour to many 
 old soldiers who had fought with him in Egypt and 
 in Italy. 
 
 Napoleon loved to act a part. He loved to please 
 and astonish people both in great and little things. 
 So he would say to his officers, " Find out what 
 men have fought in Egypt or in Italy, and tell me 
 their names and numbers." Then as he walked 
 down the lines, if he saw a man whose number he 
 had been told of, he would go up to him and say, 
 "Ah, so you are here. You are a brave fellow. I 
 remember you at Aboukir. How is your old father? 
 What, you have no medal ! See ! I will give you 
 the Cross." 
 
 And the men, quite deceived by this little piece of 
 acting, would say to each other, " See, the Emperor 
 knows us all. He remembers our names, and even 
 knows about our families." So they became more 
 willing than ever to fight and die for such a 
 commander. 
 
 There is another story told of Napoleon about this 
 time which is much pleasanter to remember. 
 
 Two British sailors who had been kept prisoner 
 
The Emperor 109 
 
 in France managed to escape. They reached 
 Boulogne, and there remained in hiding for some 
 time, living as best they could, for they had no 
 money, and how to cross the sea they did not know. 
 But at last they succeeded in getting together 
 some small pieces of wood and a bit of sail-cloth. 
 Out of this they made a tiny boat. It was only 
 about four feet wide, and very little longer. But 
 in this tiny cockleshell they made up their minds 
 to set sail, and try to reach home. It was better 
 to be drowned than to be shot, they thought; 
 and they certainly would be shot if they were dis- 
 covered. 
 
 So one day, seeing a British ship not far out to 
 sea, they launched their little skiff, hoping to get 
 near enough to be picked up by her. But they had 
 only gone a very short way when they were seen and 
 brought back by the French. 
 
 The story of these two daring men went through 
 the camp, and at last even Napoleon heard of them. 
 He always loved brave deeds, so he ordered the men 
 and their boat to be brought before him. When 
 they appeared, he looked at them in surprise and 
 admiration. 
 
 "Is it true," he asked, "that you thought of 
 crossing the sea in this tiny boat?" 
 
 " Sire," they answered, " if you doubt it, give us 
 leave to go, and you shall soon see." 
 
 " I do give you leave," replied Napoleon ; " but you 
 shall not risk your lives. You are free. And when 
 
no Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 you get back to London, tell them there that I love 
 brave men, even if they are my enemies." 
 
 The Emperor then gave them some money and 
 sent them on board a ship going to England. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 THE CROWNING OF THE EMPEROR 
 
 Although Napoleon had been proclaimed Emperor, 
 and accepted by the people of France, he had not 
 yet been crowned. Now he felt that to be crowned 
 and anointed by the Pope would make his throne 
 more sure. So he sent a friend to Rome, to ask 
 the Pope to come to crown him. 
 
 Pope Pius VII. did not want to crown Napoleon, 
 and acknowledge him as the rightful ruler of France. 
 But he saw that nearly all the other rulers of Europe 
 had acknowledged him, so he thought it better to 
 do so too, as perhaps he might in that way win 
 something good for the Church. He consented, 
 therefore, to come to Paris to crown the Emperor. 
 
 The Pope, as head of the Church, had been 
 treated with fear and reverence by the proudest 
 of kings in all ages and in all countries. They 
 had knelt to him as to one greater than themselves. 
 But Napoleon had grown so proud that he could 
 not bear the thought of kneeling to any one. So, 
 although he very well knew the hour at which 
 the Pope might be expected to arrive, he arranged 
 to meet him as if by accident whil^ out hunting. 
 
The Crowning of the Emperor iii 
 
 As the Pope's coach drove along the road leading 
 to the palace of Fontainebleau, which had been 
 prepared for him, he met the Emperor, booted and 
 spurred, and riding upon a horse. 
 
 The Emperor got off his horse, and the Pope, 
 in his beautiful robes and white silk shoes, left 
 his coach, and walked a few steps along the muddy 
 road to greet him. 
 
 The young Emperor and the old Pope embraced 
 each other, then the servants, having received 
 their orders before, drove the coach up between 
 them. The footmen opened both doors at once, 
 and as the Pope stepped in at one side the Emperor 
 stepped in at the other, so neither went in before 
 the other. But Napoleon took care that he had 
 the seat of honour, on the right side. Thus Pope 
 and Emperor drove to Fontainebleau. 
 
 There were a great many preparations for the 
 coronation to be made, for Napoleon meant it to 
 be a very fine affair. But at last everything was 
 ready, and on the 2nd of December the coronation 
 took place. The day was cold and bleak, but the 
 streets of Paris were lined with people, eager to 
 see the Emperor and Empress as they drove in 
 their gilded carriage to the Church of Notre Dame. 
 
 The church was thronged with fair ladies and 
 splendid men glittering with jewels and lace, and 
 as the Emperor entered, wearing upon his head 
 a wreath of golden bay-leaves like a Caesar, the 
 archways of the dim old church rang and rang 
 
112 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 again with shouts, " Long live the Emperor ! Long 
 live the Emperor ! " 
 
 The notes of the organ rolled, the voices of the 
 choir rose and fell in chant and hymn. But as the 
 long ceremony went on, Napoleon yawned and fid- 
 geted. To him there was nothing sacred or solemn 
 in the service. The grand display added something 
 to his pomp and glory ; that was all. 
 
 At last the Pope with trembling hands lifted 
 the crown to place it upon the young Emperor's 
 head. But Napoleon, seizing it out of the Pope's 
 hand, himself placed it upon his own head, took 
 it off, placed it for a moment on the head of the 
 Empress, and then returned it to the cushion upon 
 which it had rested. Again the organ pealed, and 
 the exultant words of the "Te Deum" rang out 
 through the church. 
 
 The Emperor was crowned. 
 
 A few months after the coronation at Notre 
 Dame, Napoleon went to Italy. Here, in the great 
 cathedral at Milan, he again crowned himself. This 
 time the title he took was King of Italy, and this 
 time the Pope sternly refused to have anything to 
 do with it. At Paris he had received only empty 
 promises and insults as his reward, and he now 
 knew that he had nothing to hope from the new 
 Emperor. 
 
 At Notre Dame Napoleon had been crowned with 
 the crown of Charlemagne. At Milan it was the 
 ancient iron crown of Lombardy that he placed 
 
-f"*^^^i./- 
 
 Napoleon aud th« Pope 
 
About the German Empire 113 
 
 lipon his head. This crown of Lombardy is a plain 
 circle of iron, covered with gold. The iron circle 
 is said to have been made froiii the nails of the 
 Cross. 
 
 As Napoleon placed this ancient crown upon his 
 head he cried aloud, " God has given it to me. Let 
 him who touches it beware." 
 
 The great musician Beethoven was living at this 
 time. He was a republican, and he admired Napoleon 
 very much, believing him to be a true republican, 
 and he dedicated one of his most beautiful pieces 
 of music to him — " From Beethoven to Bonaparte," 
 he wrote upon it simply. Now, when he heard that 
 Napoleon had made himself an Emperor and a King^ 
 he tore off the dedication in wrath, cursing him as 
 a tyrant. Many years later he sadly dedicated the 
 music again to Napoleon, but this time he wrote 
 upon it— 
 
 " To the memory of a great man." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 ABOUT THE GERMAN EMPIRE 
 
 It was now two years since war between France 
 and Britain had been declared. Yet the French 
 had done nothing except make great preparations. 
 
 The British, too, had made great preparations. 
 Volunteers flocked in from every side. Every man 
 who could hold a gun was eager to help to defend 
 his country. Soon, besides the regular soldiers, there 
 
114 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 were three hundred and fifty thousand men in arms. 
 Everywhere along the coast beacons were built 
 and watches were set. On every hill-top bonfires 
 were laid ready, so that should the dreadful " Bonny," 
 as he was called, land, the news could be Hashed 
 from peak to peak, to warn men to rally to the 
 defence of their homes. Night and day the watch 
 was kept, but the " Ogre of Corsica," of whom such 
 dreadful tales were told that women and children 
 trembled at his name, never arrived. 
 
 The British fleet scoured the seas, watching the 
 ports of France, guarding the shores of Britain. 
 In vain the French admiral tried to decoy the 
 British ships away. For it was Napoleon's great 
 plan to decoy the British far away on some false 
 scent. Then, protected by French warships, his 
 great navy of flat-bottomed boats" would sail across 
 the Channel, and a hundred thousand men would 
 be poured upon the English shore before the British 
 fleet could return to stop them. 
 
 But the British admirals were too wary. The 
 time never came when the weather was calm enough, 
 and the British far enough away, to make the cross- 
 ing safe. So the great army of England remained 
 in camp at Boulogne, drilling and manoeuvring, and 
 helping to build harbours, and cut canals, while 
 waiting until the time should come for them to 
 conquer Britain. 
 
 But while Napoleon was placing crowns upon his 
 own head, the rulers of Europe were again joining 
 
About the German Empire 115 
 
 against him. For they saw that the Emperor's 
 power, and desire for still more power, were becom- 
 ing so great that none of their crowns were safe. 
 
 Sweden, Russia, and Austria joined the alliance. 
 But, on the other hand, Spain and Britain having 
 quarrelled, Spain joined with France against the 
 others. Once more Europe was ablaze with war. 
 Upon the Rhine, in Tyrol, and in Italy, there was 
 noise of battle. Napoleon gaVe up the idea of 
 invading Britain in the meantime. The army of 
 England was marched away from the camp at 
 Boulogne to the borders of Germany, The Czar 
 of Russia gathered a great army and sent it to 
 join the Austrians. When they joined, it was in- 
 tended that both armies should march together 
 into France. 
 
 But the Austrians began to fight before the 
 Russians joined them. Napoleon did not wait for 
 France to be invaded. He marched into Germany to 
 meet his enemies. And long before the Russians 
 could arrive to help them, the Austrians were shut 
 up in the town of Ulm. 
 
 Ulm is a town of Wurtemberg, one of the states 
 of the German Empire. The German Empire, like 
 the British Empire, is made up of several different 
 states, but in a very different way. The British 
 Empire is made up of four home countries— Eng- 
 land, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales— and a great 
 many colonies and dependencies. But in none of 
 these states except in India ar.e there any kings 
 
ii6 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 or princes under the King. In Britain there is 
 only one king. There is no longer, as there used 
 to be, a separate King of Scotland, or of Ireland, 
 and although the eldest son of bur King is called 
 the Prince of Wales, it is only a title. He holds 
 no court in Wales. 
 
 In Germany, however, it is quite different. The 
 German Empire now consists of twenty-two states 
 over which kings and princes rule, three states 
 which are republics, and Alsace-Lorraine, which is 
 an imperial province. And over the whole of these 
 states and their kings is the Emperor. 
 
 Prussia is the largest of these states, and the 
 King of Prussia is also Emperor of Germany. Each 
 king or prince rules in his own country in things 
 which matter only to his own country. But things 
 which matter to the whole empire are settled by 
 the Reichstag, as the German Parliament is called. 
 
 The Reichstag is held at Berlin, the capital of 
 Prussia. Under its control are the Post Office, the 
 army, and the navy. So none of the kings or princes 
 of the empire can declare war, or make treaties 
 with any other country, on his own account. That 
 is done by the Reichstag. In its hands are also 
 the railways, for in Germany these are ruled by 
 Government, not by private people as with us. 
 
 In the time of Napoleon, however, the German 
 Empire had not yet been formed. Most of the 
 German states, and others besides, were part of 
 the Holy Roman Empire, which had been founded 
 
From Ulm to Vienna 117 
 
 by Charleraagrne a thousand years before. The title 
 of Emperor over this empire did not descend from 
 father to son, but the princes miet together on the 
 death of the Emperor and chose another from 
 among their number. At this time the Austrian 
 Archduke, Francis, was Emperor. And although 
 the Emperors had at one time been very powerful, 
 now, in the time of Napoleon, they had become very 
 feeble. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 FROM ULM TO VIENNA 
 
 Some of the German states sided with Napoleon 
 in this new quarrel which had begun. Others tried 
 to be neutral. But Napoleon cared little for that, 
 and he marched across their lands when it suited 
 him. 
 
 The Austrian leader, Mack, although he was not 
 cowardly, was stupid and unlucky, and now, as you 
 know, Napoleon had succeeded in shutting him up 
 in Ulm. 
 
 Like so many other countries, Germany may be 
 divided into highland and lowland. Nearly all the 
 north is a flat, level plain. Nearly all the south is 
 hilly. Wnrtemberg, of which state Ulm is now the 
 second town, lies in the hilly part. Here are the 
 Black Forest Mountains, so called from the dark 
 forests of fir trees with which they are covered. 
 
 Most of the German rivers rise in the mountains 
 of the south and flow northward. The slope of the 
 
ii8 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 land is very slight, so they flow slowly, and are there- 
 fore good for navigation. This is of great importance 
 in a country so large as Germany, as it provides a 
 cheap way by which goods from the middle of the 
 country may reach the sea, and also by which goods 
 from other countries may be carried far inland. 
 
 The Danube, however, upon which Ulm stands, 
 does not flow northward from where it rises in the 
 Black Forest, but eastward into the Black Sea. It 
 begins to be navigable at Ulm, although it is not of 
 great importance as a German river, being chiefly 
 important as the great Austria-Hungarian river. 
 But Ulm early became of consequence as a town 
 and fortress. For it guards some of the Alpine 
 passes, and it is at the end of a valley connecting 
 the Danube with the Necker, which also rises in the 
 Black Forest and is a tributary of the Rhine. Thus 
 it stands where roads north and south, east and 
 west, meet and cross. 
 
 But when Napoleon besieged the town, the forti- 
 flcations had long been neglected. And although 
 there was plenty of food within the walls, Mack 
 weakly gave in after six days' siege. 
 
 The weather had been wet and dreary, but now 
 the sun shone out as Napoleon, surrounded by his 
 brilliant suite, stood upon a hill outside the town 
 to receive the Austrian officers: As the weather 
 had been so wet, a large fire had been lit, and beside 
 it Napoleon waited. With bowed heads and sorrow- 
 ful hearts the Austrians came to lay down their 
 
From Ulm to Vienna 119 
 
 swords. "Here is the unfortunate Mack," said 
 their leader, as he first of all passed before the 
 conqueror. 
 
 Then in mournful silence twenty-three thousand 
 men, horse and foot, filed past. For a whole day 
 soldiers streamed out of the gates of Ulm, some 
 laying down their arras in moody wrath, others 
 flinging them down in helpless indignation, that 
 they had not been allowed by their leader to fight 
 and die rather than weakly 3deld. With tears of 
 anger they gave up their standards, which were to 
 be sent to Paris to grace the triumph of the 
 conqueror. 
 
 In Tyrol, in Italy, everywhere that the French 
 and Austrians met, the Austrians were defeated, 
 until at last a flying remnant of Mack's once 
 splendid army took refuge in the mountains of 
 Tyrol. There was nothing now to hinder Napoleon 
 from marching on to Vienna, the beautiful capital 
 of Austria. 
 
 He marched by Augsburg, one of the chief cities 
 of South Germany. It stands upon a high moorland 
 which stretches northward to the Danube. Here 
 the Wertach joins with the Lech, a tributary of the 
 Danube, and its good water-power early made Augs- 
 burg a centre of cotton and woollen factories. 
 
 Napoleon next passed on to Munich, the capital 
 of the kingdom of Bavaria. Munich stands upon 
 a high plain, covered in the south with pine forests 
 and overshadowed by the mountains of Tyrol. 
 
120 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 The broad streets are full of beautiful houses and 
 palaces. Here many fine pictures and art treasures 
 are gathered, and Munich is famous for its school 
 of painting. It is also famous as a manufacturing 
 city of artistic industries. Here beautiful glass and 
 china are made, and works in bronze, silver, and 
 gold. It is perhaps the most famous art city of 
 Germany. Yet, although it may seem a curious 
 mixture, it is almost better known for its beer. 
 Hops grow well on all the Bavarian valleys, and 
 Munich, having a good water-supply, and being 
 a point at which most of the railways meet, has 
 naturally become the centre for the manufacturing 
 of beer. 
 
 From town to town Napoleon marched on, until, 
 having met with but little resistance, he reached 
 Vienna. 
 
 The Emperor Francis, knowing that Vienna could 
 not stand a siege more than a few days, made up his 
 mind to leave the town. And on the 13th of Novem- 
 ber, less than a month after the taking of Ulm, the 
 French entered Vienna. 
 
 Vienna is one of the most beautiful cities on the 
 Continent. The old fortifications have now been 
 levelled and made into boulevards, called the Ring- 
 strasse. There may be seen crowds of finely-dressed 
 gay folk riding, driving, and walking. There are 
 splendid shops, picture galleries, theatres, halls, and 
 everything that is needed to make a brilliant capital. 
 
 But besides this Vienna has important commerce 
 
The Battle of Austerlitz 121 
 
 and manufactures. It stands upon the Danube, just 
 where that river leaves the highlands to enter the 
 plain of Hungary. It commands passes through 
 the Alps to Trieste, so that its trade has outlets in 
 all directions. China, glass, silk, cotton, and woollen 
 goods are among its manufactures. 
 
 CHAPTER XXkl 
 THE BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ 
 
 Ever3rwhere Napoleon seemed to triumph. But 
 while he was at Vienna, living in the Emperor's 
 beautiful palace of Schonbrunn, bad tidings came to 
 him. He heard that the French and Spanish fleets 
 had been utterly destroyed in the battle of Trafalgar. 
 All hope of ever invading Britain was now gone. 
 
 " I cannot be everywhere," cried Napoleon angrily, 
 when he heard the news. 
 
 That the French had again been defeated by sea 
 made the Emperor more eager to win fresh fame 
 by land. The Austrian army was shattered, but 
 the Russians were still to beat. So from Vienna 
 Napoleon marched out to meet them. Upon the 
 plain of Austerlitz, not far from the town of Brunn, 
 a great battle was fought. It has been called "the 
 battle of the three Emperors," for there were three 
 Emperors present — the Emperor of Germany (the 
 Holy Roman Empire), the Emperor of Russia, and 
 the Emperor of the French. 
 
 The morning of the 2nd December dawned cold 
 
122 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 and bleak. A thick white fog shrouded the land. 
 But with the first streak of day both camps were 
 astir. Through the white dimness came muffled 
 sounds, and ghostly figures loomed and passed. 
 Then suddenly the fog lifted, and the sun shone out 
 in golden splendour. The French soldiers greeted 
 it with a shout. It seemed to them as if it rose to 
 do honour to their own Emperor, for it was the 
 anniversary of his coronation day. " The sun of 
 Austerlitz has risen," cried Napoleon in exultation. 
 
 In the fog the two armies had moved close to 
 each other, and now the fight began. It was a 
 terrible battle, and raged all the short winter's day. 
 "It was absolute butchery," says one who fought 
 there. " We fought man to man." 
 
 For a time it seemed uncertain who should win, 
 but when night fell the Russians and Austrians were 
 flying from the field. Many lay there dead, and 
 twenty thousand were prisoners. 
 
 Thus once more Napoleon had triumphed. And 
 now Austria made peace with France, and the 
 Russians marched away to their own land. This 
 peace was called the Treaty of Pressburg, from the 
 name of the town at which it was signed. 
 
 Pressburg at one time was the capital of 
 Hungary, and here the kings of Hungary used to be 
 crowned. Like Vienna, it is on the Danube, and lies 
 pleasantly on the slope of the Little Carpathians. 
 
 By the treaty which was now signed the map of 
 Europe was again changed. Austria gave up the 
 
The Battle of Austerlitz 123 
 
 Venetian lands which she had had so short a time. 
 These were added to Italy, of which Napoleon was 
 King-. Tyrol and Voralberg were taken from Austria 
 and given to the Elector of Bavaria, one of the 
 German princes who had helped Napoleon, as a 
 reward. The Elector of Wurtemberg, who had also 
 helped him, was rewarded with other lands, and 
 both these princes were made kings. 
 
 These states and some others Napoleon now 
 formed into the Confederation of'the Rhine. " Con- 
 federation" comes from two Latin words— con, "to- 
 gether," and fcedus, "a league." And besides his 
 other titles, Napoleon called himself Protector of this 
 confederation. 
 
 Although the states forming the Confederation of 
 the Rhine had each their own ruler, they were 
 really all under Napoleon. They had to do as he 
 commanded them. He took away the old German 
 laws, and the lands were ruled by the new French 
 laws— the Code Napoleon. 
 
 By these bold and haughty deeds Napoleon had 
 more than usurped the place of the Emperor Francis. 
 So that beaten ruler gave up his claim to be called 
 Emperor of the empire, for it had now become 
 nothing but an empty title. After this he called 
 himself Emperor of Austria only. Thus the grand 
 empire which had lasted for more than a thousand 
 years was shattered into bits, to be formed again 
 and held together for a few years by the might 
 and power of the great conqueror of Europe. But 
 
124 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 his empire, too, fell to pieces, and it was not until 
 1871 that the German Empire which we know to- 
 day was finally formed. 
 
 Napoleon had made up his mind not only to be 
 great himself but to make his whole family great. 
 " I can no longer have shabby relatives," he said. 
 " Those who will not rise with me shall no longer 
 be of my family. I am going to make a family of 
 kings." 
 
 So he made his brother Joseph King of Naples. 
 His brother Louis, who had married Josephine's 
 daughter Hortense, was made King of Holland. 
 General Murat, who had married Napoleon's sister 
 Caroline, was made Archduke of Berg. He made 
 Eugene Beauharnais marry the daughter of the King 
 of Bavaria, and a little later he made his brother 
 Jerome marry the daughter of the King of Wiirtem- 
 berg. In every way Napoleon tried to make his family 
 great, and so surround himself with splendour. 
 
 Corsicans are all proud, and Napoleon's brothers 
 and sisters soon learned to be as haughty and 
 arrogant as any princes of long descent. They 
 talked to great people with ease, and were as much 
 at home in a palace as they had been in their poor 
 Corsican cottage. " To see your airs," said Napoleon 
 once to his sisters, "one might think that I had 
 received the crown from the late King my father." 
 
 At the Revolution the French had destroyed the 
 old nobility. Napoleon now determined to make a 
 new nobility, and to many of his bravest generals he 
 
War once More 125 
 
 gave the titles of prince, duke, or count. With these 
 titles they received lands either in some conquered 
 country or in France. So the places of the old nobles 
 were to a great extent filled up, and the court of the 
 Tuileries became again one of the most brilliant 
 in Europe. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII 
 WAR ONCE MORE 
 
 All this time Prussia, the greatest of the German 
 states, had held aloof. The King was very un- 
 willing to plunge his people into war. So he tried 
 to be neutral and keep the peace. The King of 
 Prussia had a large and, it was thought, well-drilled 
 army. So that as long as Napoleon had the Russians 
 and the Austrians to fight, he was not sorry, perhaps, 
 that Prussia should keep peace. He even tried to 
 bribe the King not to fight by offering to give him the 
 electorate of Hanover. The electorate of Hanover 
 was of course not his to give. It belonged to the 
 King of Britain. 
 
 But now, having got rid of the Russians and 
 the Austrians, Napoleon was very insulting to the 
 King of Prussia. Whether he really meant to 
 insult him, and so drive him to war, or whether he 
 was only bent on having his own way, without 
 caring how he hurt others, does not matter. A 
 new war, this time between France and Prussia, 
 soon began. 
 
 Britain, Russia, and Austria would all have helped 
 
126 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 Prussia, but King Frederick William, after having 
 held back for so long, now rushed into war before 
 his own plans or those of the allies were ready. 
 
 Although Prussia had a great army, many of the 
 officers were old, and the couptry had been so 
 long at peace that they had forgotten the best 
 ways of fighting. 
 
 Napoleon, on the other hand, was always fighting, 
 always watchful, always ready. So just as he had 
 quickly marched against the Austrians, before the 
 Russians had time to come to help them, now he 
 marched against the Prussians before either they or 
 their friends were ready. 
 
 The Prussian army entered Saxony, and forced 
 the King of that state to join them. Saxony is 
 one of the most important industrial states of 
 Germany, and one of the most thickly-peopled parts 
 of Europe. It has both iron-fields and coal-mines. 
 And besides these two chief factory-bringing 
 materials, it has silver, lead, copper, and tin mines. 
 Indeed the mountains which bound Saxony in the 
 south, and separate it from Bohemia, are called 
 the Erz Gebirge, or Ore Mountains. 
 
 One of Germany's chief rivers, the Elbe, passes 
 through Saxony, and is navigable all the way. So 
 Saxony has become a great centre of factories. It 
 has long been famous for its cotton goods. Its 
 gently-sloping valleys make good sheep-pastures, 
 and Saxony wool and woollen goods are famous 
 the world over. Besides its busy factories. Saxony 
 
War once More 127 
 
 has beauty too, and that brings much money to 
 the land every year. The hilly part to the south, 
 on the borders of the Elbe, is so beautiful that it 
 is called Saxon Switzerland. 
 
 The Prussians marched right into Saxony, and 
 took up a position on the river Saale, a tributary 
 of the Elbe. At Naumburg they had their stores 
 and ammunition. Napoleon, having found this out, 
 resolved to cross the Saale, get behind the 
 Prussians, and cut them off from their stores. 
 
 At Saal-field, a little manufacturing town on the 
 Saale, the first real battle took place. Here the 
 young and gallant Prince Louis, the brother of the 
 King, was killed. This made the Prussians very 
 sorrowful, for the Prince was much loved. 
 
 Napoleon crossed the Saale, and with quick 
 marches reached Naumburg, which is a quaint and 
 interesting old town surrounded with vine-clad hills, 
 from the grapes of which it manufactures wine. 
 
 Napoleon seized the town and blew up the gun- 
 powder stores. 
 
 The French were now behind the Prussians, and 
 had cut them off from their stores, as Napoleon 
 had intended. The Prussians began to fall back. 
 Half of the army marched northward, and half 
 marched towards Jena, another town on the Saale. 
 Napoleon too, with a great part of his army, 
 marched towards the same place. And it was 
 near Jena that the great battle of the campaign 
 was fought. 
 
128 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 Jena is a university town, and is interesting 
 because Schiller and Goethe, two great German 
 poets, both lived there. Above the town is a hill 
 called the Landgrafenberg. Napoleon saw that 
 this point was very important, and he ordered some 
 cannon to be dragged up to the top. 
 
 Napoleon never troubled to think whether a thing 
 was difficult or not. If he wished anything to 
 be done, and ordered it to be done, it had to be 
 done, and there was an end of it. "Impossible," 
 he said, was only to be found in the dictionary of 
 fools. The order which he had now given was one 
 which it was very difficult to carry out. There was 
 no road up the Landgrafenberg by which cannon 
 could be taken to the top. So one had to be cut 
 through the rocks. The work was tremendously 
 hard, and all night long the soldiers toiled, hewing 
 and digging. But they were cheered by the sight 
 of a short, grey-coated figure, who moved among 
 them, speaking words of encouragement. Well 
 they knew that grey coat and three-cornered hat. 
 It was the Emperor himself who had come to watch. 
 Gladdened by his presence, the men worked harder 
 than before, wondering at the watchfulness of their 
 leader, who seemed to take neither rest nor sleep. 
 
 When day dawned the summit of the hill was 
 crowned with men and guns. 
 
The Battles of Jena and Auerstadt 129 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII 
 THE BATTLES OF JENA ANP AUERSTADT 
 
 Like the dawn of Austerlitz, the dawn of Jena 
 was shrouded in mist. Not until ten o'clock did 
 the thick clouds roll away and the warm October 
 sun shine out. Then, and not till then, did the 
 Prussian leader see that he had to fight, not a small 
 part of the French army, as he had thought, but 
 more than eighty-three thousand men, under the 
 great Emperor himself. He himself had scarcely 
 more than half that number. 
 
 Once more the battle raged, and once more it 
 ended in a great victory for Napoleon, and the 
 Prussians were scattered in fearful rout. 
 
 On the same day, and at the same time, another 
 battle was fought. This was at Auerstadt, about 
 fifteen miles away. It was fought by the other half 
 of the Prussian army, against the French under 
 General Davoust. 
 
 King Frederick William was with this army, and 
 at Auerstadt the Prussians far outnumbered the 
 French. But still the result was the same, and the 
 French won the day. The fleeing remnants of both 
 armies met, and mingled, and fled to the nearest 
 fortresses for safety. Thus in one day the great 
 army of Prussia was crushed. 
 
 Troops of French soldiers now poured into Prussia 
 from the mountains of Thuringia and Saxony, chasing 
 
130 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 the wandering fragments of the Prussian army from 
 place to place, allowing them no time to gather or 
 make a stand. 
 
 Prussia is for the most part a great level plain. 
 It has no high mountains to guard its borders and 
 form barriers against an enemy. This, as you know, 
 is good in times of peace, as it makes trade easy ; but 
 in times of war it is a misfortune. Such a country 
 must trust to its fortresses. And now the Prussian 
 fortresses fell one after the other into the hands of 
 the French. W^hether the garrisons were overcome 
 with fear at Napoleon's great name, or whether some 
 of them betrayed their country, for one reason or 
 another the fortresses made little resistance, but 
 gave in quickly, one after another. 
 
 Spandau, which guards the capital, Berlin, was 
 among the first to fall. It stands where the Havel 
 and the Spree join, and is a very strong fortress. 
 It is in this fortress that the Germans keep a great 
 sum of money in gold. It is called the Imperial 
 War Fund, and is kept there to be ready at all times 
 in case of a great war. There is also an arsenal 
 here, where war stores are kept, and gun and gun- 
 powder factories. 
 
 After Spandau, Stettin fell. Stettin is not only 
 a fortress and headquarters of part of the German 
 army, it is also an important seaport. It is the 
 nearest seaport to Berlin, which adds to its im- 
 portance. It lies at the mouth of the Oder, which 
 is navigable right up to the Austrian frontier, so 
 
The Battles of Jena and Auerstadt 131 
 
 that goods can be easily carried inland. The Oder is 
 shallow, and, unlike many of the German rivers, it is 
 rapid. But a gjeat deal of money has been spent 
 to make it suitable for modern ship traffic. Breslau, 
 one of the most important manufacturing and 
 commercial towns of Germany, also lies upon the 
 Oder, and Stettin forms the natural port by which 
 its machinery, iron goods, sugar, beer, glass, and 
 other commodities find their way to distant lands. 
 
 Stettin, too, exports a great deal of corn and 
 sugar. The beetroot, of which this sugar is made, 
 grows on the plains around, and in Stettin there 
 are sugar factories. It has also shipbuilding yards 
 and factories of machinery, for although there is no 
 iron near, Stettin stands upon a coalfield. 
 
 Kustrin, another strongly-fortified town where the 
 Oder and Warthe join, was next taken. Lastly 
 Magdeburg gave in. This is a very strong fortress 
 and busy commercial and manufacturing town. It 
 is the centre of the German sugar trade. It is sur- 
 rounded by fertile plains, where much beetroot is 
 grown. It has splendid communication both by 
 water and railways, and has become important as 
 a manufacturing town, for both coal and iron can 
 easily be brought, by rail or river, from the famous 
 mines of Upper Silesia. 
 
 Thus all round the capital the fortresses fell, 
 and even before Magdeburg yielded Napoleon 
 marched in triumph to Berlin. 
 
 Berlin stands on the river Spree, in the middle of 
 
132 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 a low sandy plain. Except that it lies in the middle 
 of the country, it does not seem to be a very good 
 place for a great industrial city and the capital of 
 the country, but it is both. Among its many in- 
 dustries are all kinds of iron goods, machinery, &c,, 
 china, carpets and furniture, linen, cotton, and woven 
 goods. It also manufactures a great many " ready- 
 made" clothes. Altogether it is one of the most 
 important commercial and manufacturing towns of 
 Europe. 
 
 Berlin is about a third the size of London. The 
 German Emperor lives there, and the German 
 Parliament, called the Reichstag, meets there. It 
 is a beautifully ordered and clean city, and its finest 
 street, Unter den Linden, is lined with splendid 
 shops, hotels, and other buildings. "Unter den 
 Linden " means " under the limes," and the street 
 is so called from the limes with which it is planted. 
 
 Berlin is also a university town, and has a great 
 technical school, where nearly four thousand students 
 go to learn trades and mechanics. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 THE BATTLE OF TRADE AND THE WAR 
 OF COMMERCE 
 
 It was while Napoleon was at Berlin that he 
 issued an order called the Berlin Decree. By this 
 decree he forbade any country in Europe to trade 
 with Britain. British goods, wherever they were 
 
The Battle of Trade 133 
 
 found, were to be seized. Every British subject 
 discovered on the Continent was to be made prisoner. 
 
 Napoleon hoped in this way to ruin British trade, 
 and thus at last to conquer his greatest enemy. 
 He had hoped to do this by conquering Egypt. 
 That had failed. He had hoped to invade Britain. 
 The battle of Trafalgar, by ruining his fleet, had 
 made that impossible. He was now trying to 
 conquer all Europe in order at last to conquer 
 Britain. He meant to conquer the sea by way of 
 the land, he said. He hoped to cut off our little 
 islands from the rest of the world, in the matter 
 of trade, so that in time the people, worn out by 
 poverty and famine, would be easily crushed. A 
 nation of shopkeepers, Napoleoti scornfully called 
 us, and by taking away our customers he thought 
 to ruin us. 
 
 But his whole continental system, as it was 
 called, was absurd. The countries of Europe had 
 been so torn with wars that their manufactures, 
 trade, and industries had suffered. Britain too had 
 been at war; but the wars had been carried on 
 at sea, or in foreign lands, so trade at home did 
 not suffer so much. 
 
 Britain was at this time, perhaps more than any 
 other, the workshop of the world. The people on 
 the Continent could not do without British goods. 
 So everyrwhere there was smuggling, bribery, and 
 cheating. 
 
 §ome people got licences to trade with Britain. 
 
134 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 They were allowed to take shiploads of French 
 goods to Britain, and bring back British goods in 
 exchange. But the British did not want French 
 goods, so these people used to buy up old damaged 
 silks, things which were out of fashion, and that 
 no one wanted, very cheaply. With this shipload 
 of useless rubbish they sailed away, threw it 
 into the sea, and came back with a load of British 
 goods which they had bought. And things became 
 so dear in France and all over the Continent, that 
 these merchants got such a good price for the 
 merchandise which they brought that they were 
 able to spend money on buying rubbish to throw 
 into the sea. 
 
 But in spite of all the smuggling and cheating, 
 things which people needed every day, things which 
 even the poorest could not do without, such as boots 
 and shoes, woollen and cotton cloths, sugar and even 
 medicines, became dearer and dearer. It was as if 
 some tyrant came into a town, and, in order to ruin 
 the shopkeepers, commanded them to shut up shop. 
 
 But in this case what are the people of the town 
 to do? They must have food, they must have 
 clothes. So the people of the town, seeing that 
 they are not allowed to go openly and buy what 
 they need, go secretly to the back doors of the 
 shops and buy. 
 
 The shopkeepers are ready enough to sell; but 
 they say, "This is dangerous. If we are caught 
 we shall get into trouble, so you must pay more." 
 
The Battle of Trade 135 
 
 So in the end it is the customers who suffer, and 
 the shopkeepers are as well off, or better off, than 
 before. Of course if the tyrant opened other shops 
 just as good and as cheap as the "old ones, the shop- 
 keepers would suffer, as the people would naturally 
 go where they could buy safely and cheaply. 
 
 But this was what Napoleon did not and could 
 not do. There were no other ^ops. People had 
 to buy from Britain. 
 
 And as things grew dearer and dearer it was 
 the people, not the kings and rulers, who suffered 
 most. Napoleon had driven kings from their thrones 
 and humbled proud princes, but the people had 
 not hated him for that. Sometimes they were glad 
 to be rid of their old masters, and hoped for happier 
 times under new ones. But now, when he showed 
 that he did not care whether they were hungry 
 and cold and miserable, so long as he gained his 
 own ends, whole nations began to hate him. 
 
 Napoleon was a great genius. He was also a 
 great dreamer. He carved a splendid empire for 
 himself out of Europe, he conquered and gave away 
 kingdoms and crowns, and beyond all that he built 
 glorious castles in the air. \Vhat he would do 
 he thought was done. " Impossible," as you know, 
 he thought was a word only for fools. He did not 
 see now that he had set himself to do the impos- 
 sible. And by the Berlin Decree he perhaps dealt 
 himself the first of many blows, which were at last 
 to bring his splendid empire to the ground. 
 
136 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 CHAPTER XXXV 
 
 A WINTER IN POLAND 
 
 Now, once more, Napoleon turned from the battle 
 of trade to the battle of blood. 
 
 Crushed and dispirited, the King of Prussia tried 
 to make peace. But Napoleon asked too much— 
 his terms were too hard. He demanded the whole 
 of Prussia, as far as the Vistula. Crushed though 
 he was, the King was not ready to yield as much 
 as that. The Russians, too, werd now marching to 
 help him. So the war went on, and it was now 
 carried into Poland. 
 
 Poland had once been a great state and free 
 country. But it had grown weak with quarrels 
 within its own borders. Then the three great states 
 around it— Austria, Prussia, and Russia — had seized 
 Poland and divided it amongst them. This was 
 called the Partition of Poland. There were three 
 partitions, and after the last, in 1795, there was no 
 Poland left. Russia, indeed, had some excuse for 
 this robbery, for part of the land had been taken 
 from Russia by Poland years before. So the Czar 
 was only taking back what had once belonged to 
 himself. But Prussia and Austria had no excuse 
 at all. 
 
 Although the Poles had no longer a country, 
 although for ten years they had been merely the 
 subjects of Russia, Prussia, and Austria, they had 
 
A Winter in Poland 137 
 
 not yet forgotten that once they were free— that 
 once they were a nation. And now, as Napoleon 
 marched through the land, he allowed the Poles 
 to think that he had come to coflquer their tyrants 
 and set them free again. Believing this, many of 
 the Poles joined the French army, to fight against 
 the Russians. 
 
 When Napoleon reached Posen, one of the most 
 ancient Polish towns, and one of their strongest 
 fortresses, he was welcomed as a liberator. The 
 streets were decorated, and he entered under an 
 archway bearing the words, "To the Liberator of 
 Poland." 
 
 The march through Poland was terrible. As a 
 general rule, it had been the custom to stop fight- 
 ing during winter, and begin again in the spring. 
 But Napoleon bound himself by no such rules. So, 
 through rain, sleet, and snow, over roads knee- 
 deep in mud, the army moved on. The sufferings 
 of the soldiers were great. Their boots and clothes 
 were worn out, and not nearly warm enough. For 
 the winter so far north is much colder than in 
 France. Food was hard to get, no bread was to 
 be had, the water was muddy and bad, the houses 
 were mere hovels, where men, cows, and pigs all 
 lived together. "And this is what the Poles have 
 the impudence to call a country," said the French 
 soldiers in disgfust. "In Poland we have found a 
 fifth element," said Napoleon ; " it is mud." 
 
 Thus, fighting and marching, in cold, wet, and 
 
138 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 hunger, the army passed the Vistula. The Vistula 
 is the great river of Poland, and with its tributaries 
 is one of the great trade rivers of Europe. Much 
 of the wood, grain, flax, and hemp from the Russian 
 forests and steppes finds an outlet by this river. 
 
 Now at last, seeing that his men were utterly 
 worn out, Napoleon consented to rest. He took 
 up his headquarters at Warsaw, the capital of the 
 province. Warsaw stands upon a coal and iron 
 field, and besides being beautifully situated above 
 the banks of the river, it is an important commercial 
 town. It has a great many manufactures, among 
 which are machinery and electroplate ; and it ex- 
 ports much flax and wheat from the Russian plains. 
 
 The French army found quarters in the little 
 villages along the banks of the Vistula, in a line 
 stretching almost to the German town of Danzig, 
 at its mouth. 
 
 The Vistula is both a German and a Russian 
 river, and Danzig, although a German town, gets 
 much of its importance from the quantities of wheat 
 which it exports from Poland and West Russia. It 
 is also the out-port for the manufactures of Warsaw 
 and Lodz, which is the chief manufacturing town of 
 Poland. But Danzig is not merely a seaport. It 
 has manufactures of its own, and is one of the chief 
 commercial cities of northern Europe. It is also a 
 garrison town. 
 
 Napoleon's weary soldiers were only allowed 
 about a month's rest. For the Russians, more used 
 
A Winter in Poland 139 
 
 to the bitter cold than the French, began to make 
 ready for battle as soon as the swamps and marshes, 
 hardened by frost, made it once more possible for 
 horses and cannon to pass. 
 
 At a little place called Preuss Eylau, not far from 
 Konigsberg, a terrible battle took place. Konigs- 
 berg is a strong fortress, the headquarters of part 
 of the German army, a university town, and an 
 important seaport. At this university the famous 
 German philosopher Kant used to teach. He is 
 called the "Sage of Konigsberg," and is buried 
 here. 
 
 Konigsberg does great trade with Russia in 
 wheat. It also exports much wood and flax, both 
 of which grow well in the plains of East Russia. It 
 is, too, the headquarters of the amber industry. 
 Amber is found all along the Baltic shores from 
 Pillau to Grosz Hubenicken. This part is known as 
 the amber coast. After a storm the shore is often 
 strewn with amber, but amber-gathering is a royal 
 monopoly, and people may not even pick up pieces 
 on the shore. Amber is a kind of antediluvian gum 
 formed from vegetable juices. Besides what is 
 found upon the shore there are amber mines, the 
 chief being at Palmnicken. The ancients used to 
 prize amber very highly, and think that it had magic 
 powers, such as guarding people from being 
 poisoned. Now it is chiefly used for cigarette- 
 holders and pipe mouthpieces. 
 
 All the plain of East Prussia, and indeed all the 
 
140 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 shore of the Baltic, is covered with hundreds of tiny 
 lakes. The land is very flat, but, drained by these 
 lakes, it is dry, and marshes are unknown. But on 
 the bitter February day on which the battle of 
 Preuss Eylau was fought, the lakes were frozen so 
 hard that the men fought upon the ice as upon the 
 land. The day was dark and lowering. Heavy clouds 
 covered the grey sky, a bitter wind drove the frozen 
 snow, stinging the faces of the hungry, ill-fed men, 
 who the night before had supped on nothing but 
 potatoes. 
 
 Yet in the midst of all this misery and discomfort 
 both sides fought with a terrible, brutal courage. 
 "The Russians fought like bulls," said the French. 
 Their famous Cossack horsemen charged, and 
 wheeled, and charged again. Cannon roared, 
 muskets cracked and rattled. And amid the 
 screams and horrid clangour of battle, the silent 
 white snow whirled and fell, to be trampled and 
 reddened with the blood of fifty thousand men. At 
 last the short winter's day was over, and darkness 
 covered the dreadful field, which in the morning had 
 lain so white and unstained. 
 
 Both sides claimed the victory. But indeed it was 
 only a useless slaughter. "What a massacre!" 
 cried a French officer, as next day he rode across 
 the field. " What a massacre, and without result ! " 
 
The Peace of Tilsit 141 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI 
 THE PEACE OF TILSIT 
 
 After the battle of Preuss Eylau, both armies 
 were so shattered that until the winter passed 
 there was little more fighting. Napoleon even 
 tried to make peace with King Frederick William, 
 offering him this time much better terms than 
 before. But the King answered that he could only 
 make a peace which would include the Czar of 
 Russia; so no peace was made. 
 
 With the coming of summer, the struggle began 
 once more. After some fierce fighting, the war 
 came to an end with a battle fought near the 
 little town of Friedland, on the river Alle, about 
 twenty-six miles from Konigsberg. 
 
 From dawn to dark the battle lasted. The 
 Russians fought fiercely and well. But Napoleon, 
 as he rode about among his cheering, saluting men, 
 cried again and again, "To-day is a lucky day. 
 It is the anniversary of Marengo." So, roused by 
 the memory of that great fight, the French fought 
 with double courage. At last the Russian army, 
 broken and dismayed, fled across the Pregel, 
 followed closely by the pursuing French. Then, 
 driven still at the sword's point, day by day they 
 fled, in utter rout, until they passed the Nieman. 
 Behind this broad river they found shelter from 
 their foes. 
 
142 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 Upon the one bank lay the remains of the Russian 
 army, upon the other the French. And now that 
 his army was shattered, the Czar sought for peace. 
 And Napoleon, for many reasons, was ready to 
 listen. 
 
 In the middle of the Nieman, opposite the town 
 of Tilsit, a gaily-decorated and curtained raft was 
 moored. Over it iloated the eagle of France and 
 the eagle of Russia. Here the two Emperors met 
 and embraced, like brothers rather than enemies. 
 They then went within the curtains and talked for 
 a long time, no one being near to hear what was 
 said. But when they came out again they seemed 
 more friendly than before. 
 
 After this meeting the town of Tilsit, which is 
 in Prussia, but only a few miles from the Russian 
 frontier, was declared neutral, and both Emperors 
 went to live there, and held their courts each in 
 a different part of the town. 
 
 Now, instead of the horror of war, the town was 
 full of gaiety. There were riding parties, dinners, 
 and balls. And the Emperors, who a few days 
 before had been bitter enemies, seemed to have 
 become the best of friends. 
 
 The Emperor of Russia was young and hand- 
 some. He was full of splendid dreams, and eager 
 to be great. Napoleon too was young — he was 
 only thirty-seven, and already he was the greatest 
 conqueror, soldier, and statesman in the world. 
 He was often fierce^ hard, and cruel ; but when 
 
The Peace of Tilsit 143 
 
 he chose he could seem friendly and lovable. 
 He conquered men and women as he conquered 
 peoples. Now he won the heart of the young 
 Czar. "I never had more prejudices against any 
 one than against him," he said; "but after three- 
 quarters of an hour of talk they all vanished as a 
 dream. Would that I had seen him sooner." 
 
 The poor King of Prussia was asked to come 
 to Tilsit from Memel, where he had taken refuge 
 after the battle of Friedland. Memel is the most 
 easterly port in Prussia, and it is the centre of 
 the Baltic timber trade. It was the last fortress 
 left to the King of Prussia. 
 
 Napoleon, who treated the Czar so kindly, treated 
 the King of Prussia very coldly. He and his Queen, 
 who came with him, were not allowed to live in 
 Tilsit. They had to put up with a little mill-house 
 outside the town. Napoleon tried in many ways 
 to make the Prussian King and Queen feel that 
 they were crushed and beaten enemies. It was 
 only out of friendship to the Czar, he said, that 
 the King had been asked to Tilsit at all. And in 
 the drawing up of the treaty no pity for him was 
 shown. By it Frederick William lost half his 
 states. Part of these Napoleon made into a new 
 kingdom, called Westphalia, which he gave to his 
 brother Jerome. 
 
 Queen Louisa of Prussia was a very beautiful 
 woman. She was brave too, and loved her country, 
 and had encouraged her people to fight against 
 
144 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 Napoleon. So he hated her, and she as truly hated 
 him, for having conquered them. It was hard for 
 this proud Queen to meet a man, whom she 
 thought of as an upstart and a brigand, as an 
 equal. Yet now, for the sake of her country, she 
 tried to please him. She knew that much of 
 Prussia was lost, but when she heard that Napoleon 
 meant to take the fortress of Magdeburg she was 
 very sad, and tried hard to persuade him to let her 
 keep it. 
 
 One day at dinner Napoleon admired a rose 
 which the Queen wore. 
 
 "Will your Majesty take it in exchange for 
 Magdeburg? " she said, holding it out to him. 
 
 Napoleon bent over her hand, saying pretty 
 things about its beauty. The Queen's eyes filled 
 with tears, but the Emperor pretended not to see 
 them. He did not take the rose> but kept Magde- 
 burg. 
 
 Prussia was now little more than a province of 
 France, her King little more than a vassal. And 
 both the King of Prussia and the Czar of Russia 
 were forced by the treaty of Tilsit to agree to 
 Napoleon's continental system, and shut out British 
 traders from their lands. 
 
 Then, after everything was arranged, Napoleon 
 returned to Paris. 
 
Into Portugg,! 145 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII 
 INTO PORTUGAL 
 
 All this time, in spite of the Berlin Decree and 
 the continental system, Portugal went on trading 
 with Britain. Now, soon after Napoleon returned 
 to Paris, he sent a message to the Prince Regent 
 of Portugal, telling him that he must stop trading 
 with Britain, must seize all British goods and 
 property in Portugal, and declare war with Britain. 
 If he did not do all this. Napoleon threatened that 
 he would declare war with Portugal. 
 
 Portugal is only a little country, quite unable to 
 stand against such a powerful conqueror as Napo- 
 leon. So the Prince Regent agreed to all that 
 was asked, except the seizing of British goods. 
 That he would not do. So Napoleon prepared to 
 fight. 
 
 If you look on the map, you will see that Spain 
 and Portugal together form a broad peninsula, sur- 
 rounded on all sides by the Atlantic and the Medi- 
 terranean, except where it is cut off from France 
 by the high mountains of the Pyrenees. 
 
 France at this time had hardly any navy. Napo- 
 leon had not enough ships in which to send his troops 
 by sea. To make war on Portugal he would have 
 to pass through Spain. So he now made a secret 
 treaty with the King of Spain by which his troops 
 were to be allowed to pass through that country. 
 
146 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 And when by the help of Spanish soldiers he had 
 conquered Portugal, he promised to divide it with 
 Spain. 
 
 Spain and Portugal are naturally and geographi- 
 cally one. The mountains of Portugal are merely 
 the continuations of the mountains of Spain, and 
 the frontier between the two lands is quite un- 
 protected. 
 
 The whole of the peninsula, both of Spain and 
 Portugal, is a high tableland, ribbed across and 
 ringed around by still higher mountains. 
 
 The rivers of Portugal, too, are the rivers of 
 Spain. They are mostly long, passing through the 
 whole breadth of the peninsula. But as they rise 
 high, they are for the most part rapid, narrow, and 
 winding, and of little use in commerce. "The rivers 
 of Spain," it has been said, " have long names, narrow 
 channels, and little water." The chief of them are 
 the Douro, the Tagus, and the Guadiana. But it is 
 only after they reach Portugal that they become 
 navigable and of any use for trade. In summer- 
 time, when in Spain they are almost dried up, in 
 Portugal they are still full of water. 
 
 But although the rivers are not of much use in 
 commerce, they are very valuable for watering the 
 land. 
 
 As a rule, an island has a much moister climate 
 than a continent. It also has a more even climate. 
 The Iberian Peninsula, as Spain- and Portugal are 
 called, is almost an island. Yet inland it has one 
 
Into Portugal 147 
 
 of the driest climates in Europe, and inland the 
 extremes of heat and cold are very great. 
 
 For this there are one or two reasons. The table- 
 land is so high, and it comes so near the coast, that 
 the rain-laden winds from the Atlantic are robbed 
 of all their moisture long before they reach the 
 centre of Spain. The winds from the south blow 
 over the dry Sahara, and here the Mediterranean 
 is so narrow that they cannot gather much moisture 
 from it. Another reason for the dryness of the cli- 
 mate is that such forests as there used to be in Spain 
 have been recklessly cut down, and no new trees 
 have been planted to take their place. That makes 
 the climate drier than it need be, for trees gather 
 and hold the rain in their wide-Spreading branches 
 and roots. Portugal, therefore, and the fringes of 
 Spain, gather all the moisture, and the centre of 
 Spain is left dry. In summer the high tableland 
 is scorched by the sun, in winter it is swept by 
 bitter winds, and much of it has become bleak and 
 barren desert. Around this arid plain is a circle of 
 rich and fertile land, gleaming with the gold, and 
 green, and purple of wheat-field, vineyard, and 
 orchard. 
 
 The kingdom of Portugal was at this time ruled 
 by a Regent. The Queen, Maria I., was mad, and 
 her son, Prince John, ruled foi* her. Now when 
 the Regent heard tha,t Napoleon was gathering an 
 army to fight him, he made up his mind to leave 
 the war to Britain, and take his poor, mad mother 
 
148 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 away to Brazil, which was then a- Portugese colony. 
 So, one wet and cold November morning the Queen 
 and Prince and many of the nobles set sail, leaving 
 a sad and mourning people behind. 
 
 Meanwhile Napoleon had gathered a large army 
 at Bayonne, a strongly-fortified town close to the 
 Pyrenees, but on the French side of them. This 
 army, under Marshal Junot, now came marching 
 quickly through Spain to Lisbon, the capital of 
 Portugal. They crossed the Pyrenees, which, next 
 to the Alps, are the highest mountains in Europe. 
 Over the wind-swept plain they came, across rivers, 
 down rugged valleys, by muddy tracks which could 
 scarcely be called roads. The men grew weary, 
 but Junot urged them onward The land was 
 barren and bare, and they had often hardly enough 
 to eat. For, as was usual with Napoleon's armies, 
 they carried no supplies with them, but trusted to 
 finding what they needed in the land they passed 
 through. " I will not have the march kept back 
 because of supplies," said the Emperor. "Twenty 
 thousand men can find food anywhere, even in a 
 desert." Most of the soldiers in this army were 
 mere boys, raw recruits, unused to such hardships. 
 Many of them dropped out of the ranks, overcome 
 with weariness, and were left by the wayside to die. 
 
 At last, little more than a month after they had 
 set out from Bayonne, they arrived, footsore, hungry, 
 and ragged, at Lisbon, too late. The ship carrying 
 the Queen and Prince was already far out to sea. 
 
Into Spain 149 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII 
 INTO SPAIN 
 
 From its high tableland, the shores of Portugal 
 slope sharply to the sea. The coast is very un- 
 broken, there are few bays or islands, the tides and 
 currents are rapid and dangerous, and all this, to- 
 gether with its narrow, swift rivers, gives the country 
 few good harbours. But of these Lisbon is the best. 
 It is a really fine natural harbour, and its trade is 
 important, as it is a port of call for British and con- 
 tinental steamers on their way to and from Africa 
 and Brazil. 
 
 Lying upon the grand bay of the Tagus, Lisbon 
 is in situation one of the most beautiful cities in 
 Europe. Like Rome, it is built upon hills, and 
 terrace upon terrace, its dazzling white houses, red- 
 roofed and nestling in green gardens, rise above the 
 blue waters. " He who has not seen Lisbon does 
 not know what beauty is," say the Portuguese. Yet 
 this fair city, little more than a hundred and fifty 
 years ago, was laid in ruins. On All Saints' Day, 
 i75S> it was wrecked by a fearful earthquake. 
 Nearly every one was in churdh when the walls 
 began to rock and fall, and thousands were crushed 
 to death as they knelt in prayer. A great tidal 
 wave swept in from the sea, and the roar of the 
 waves and the crash of falling houses mingled with 
 shrieks of terror and pain. The air grew dark with 
 
150 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 dust, fire broke out, and, driven by a fierce wind, 
 spread rapidly from house to house, destroying what 
 the earthquake had spared. Many dirty and dark 
 alleys were destroyed, and when the town was built 
 again, the streets were made broad and regular, and 
 now Lisbon is one of the cleanest towns of the 
 Continent. 
 
 Beside Lisbon, the only other important town in 
 Portugal is Oporto. It is from this town that the 
 whole country takes its name, and it is also from 
 it that the wine " port " is named. Port is made 
 from the grapes which grow in the valley of the 
 Douro, upon a grey and seemingly barren soil. 
 
 Now French uniforms were to be seen in every 
 street in Lisbon, and soon they began to take 
 possession of the whole country. There was little 
 fighting. Had there been in the Portuguese army 
 even a handful of bold and resolute men, it might 
 have gone ill with Junot's raw and worn-out soldiers. 
 But there were none such. 
 
 Everywhere the French pulled down the royal 
 arms of Portugal, and set up those of Napoleon. 
 Many of the Portuguese soldiers were sent away to 
 France, so that they might not have a chance of 
 fighting for their country even if a leader should 
 appear. The Portuguese people were made to pay 
 great sums of money to the conqueror, who declared 
 that the House of Braganza — that is, the royal 
 house of Portugal — had ceased to reign. 
 
 And while all this was happening, French troops 
 
Into Spain 151 
 
 kept on pouring into Spain, in far greater numbers 
 than were needed to conquer little Portugal. 
 
 "Write descriptions of all the provinces through 
 which you pass," said Napoleon, as he sent them 
 away. " Describe the roads and the nature of the 
 land. Send me sketches, that I may see the distance 
 of the villages, the nature of the country, and the 
 resources of the land." All this was not necessary 
 if he merely intended to pass through the land to 
 reach Portugal. No, he had another design, far 
 greater than the conquest of Portugal, in his 
 mind. 
 
 The Spanish people had been told to treat these 
 French soldiers as friends, but not to allow them 
 into any of the fortresses. Napoleon, however, de- 
 termined to get possession of the fortresses. And 
 he did so, often by treachery. At one place, for 
 instance, leave was asked to bring all the sick into 
 the fort. This was granted. But no sooner were 
 the seemingly sick men carried within the walls 
 than they sprang up, fully armed, overpowered the 
 garrison, and were soon in possession of the fort- 
 ress. By such tricks the French had soon many 
 of the strongest places of Spain in their hands. 
 
 Spain at this time was badly ruled. The King, 
 Charles IV., was old and foolish. All the power was 
 in the hands of the Queen, who was not a good 
 woman, and of Manuel Godoy, her favourite. He 
 was not a good man, but he had been given the 
 beautiful name of the Prince of Peace, because 
 
152 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 at one time he had helped to make a peace with 
 France. 
 
 The King's eldest son, Ferdinand, hated Godoy, 
 and quarrelled with him. So the court of Spain was 
 full of strife. Now both sides appealed to Napoleon 
 for help. It was rather like mice putting their 
 heads into a cat's mouth. The King and Queen 
 began to think so, and they decided to run away, as 
 the Queen and Prince of Portugal had done, and 
 take refuge from all their troubles in America. 
 
 The royal family were then at the palace of 
 Aranjuez, about thirty miles southof Madrid. They 
 began to prepare for their long journey to Seville, 
 where they intended to set sail. 
 
 But when the people found out what they meant 
 to do, they were very angry, and broke out into a 
 riot. They burst into Godoy's palace in search of the 
 man they hated. They could not find him, so they 
 wreaked their vengeance on the beautiful furniture 
 and pictures, leaving the palace a waste of splinters 
 and rags. Meanwhile, he, trembling in fear, was 
 hiding in a roll of matting in the attic. 
 
 There for two days he remained, and at last, 
 driven by hunger, he crept out. He hoped to escape 
 unseen, but at once he was seized, and would have 
 been torn to pieces by the angry mob, had not 
 Prince Ferdinand begged for his life. 
 
Joseph Bonaparte, King of Spain 153 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX 
 JOSEPH BONAPARTE, KING OF SPAIN 
 
 Now the weak old King of Spain, trembling for 
 the life of his friend, the Prince of Peace, decided to 
 give up the throne to his son Ferdinand. He hoped 
 in this way to quiet the riot. But the people, when 
 they heard the news, went mad with joy, and to 
 show it, they burned and sacked the houses be- 
 longing to Godoy, his friends, and relatives, while 
 they proclaimed Ferdinand King with shouting 
 and cheering. 
 
 But their joy was shortlived. Almost at once the 
 old King began to be sorry that he had given up the 
 crown, and wanted it back again. And meanwhile 
 French troops were closing in round Madrid. 
 
 Soon it became known that Napoleon himself was 
 coming. And hearing that his father and mother 
 were going to meet the Emperor, Ferdinand re- 
 solved to go too, and lay his case before him. The 
 people were very unwilling that he should go, for 
 they felt sure that some evil would befall their young 
 King. At one place, as he travelled through the 
 land, they cut the traces of his horses, thinking to 
 make him give up his intention. But he went on. 
 
 As there was still no sign of Napoleon when 
 Ferdinand reached the border, he crossed into 
 France, and met him at Bayonne. 
 
 There too came the old King, the Queen, and 
 
154 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 Manuel Godoy. Beyond their own borders, sur- 
 rounded by French soldiers, they were Napoleon's 
 prisoners. They had of free will, it seemed, walked 
 into the trap. 
 
 And now Napoleon told them that it was useless 
 to quarrel about who should be King of Spain, as 
 he wanted the throne for one of his own family. 
 "The House of Bourbon has ceased to reign," he 
 said, in his usual grand way. 
 
 What could the poor Spanish Kings do? The 
 whole country was in the hands of the French, and 
 they themselves prisoners in a foreign land. So at 
 the bidding of Napoleon they signed away the crown 
 and throne of Spain. 
 
 Without striking a blow, Napoleon had added 
 two more kingdoms to his conquests; and with 
 Spain went all her rich colonies in the West. But it 
 had been done by base treachery. Even he himself 
 long after said, "The whole thing wears an ugly 
 look since I have fallen." 
 
 It is said that Napoleon now sent for his brother 
 Lucien, with whom he had quarrelled, and offered 
 him the throne of Spain. But Lucien would not 
 come. He thought himself happier living quietly at 
 home than sitting upon such a dangerous throne. 
 Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland, too, refused the 
 throne. Then, without telling him why he was 
 wanted. Napoleon sent for Joseph, who was already 
 King of Naples. 
 
 Joseph, who had always allowed himself to be 
 
Joseph Bonaparte, King of Spain 155 
 
 bullied by Napoleon, came. And when he reached 
 Bayonne he was much surprised to find that he 
 was " King of Spain and the Indies." 
 
 Napoleon then made General Murat King of 
 Naples, in place of Joseph. 
 
 But the people of Spain would have no Bonaparte 
 to reign over them. The Spaniards are the most 
 polite and courteous of men. They are idle and 
 indolent too, seldom showing any energy. But now 
 they were thoroughly roused. To a man they re- 
 belled. From every town and village they flocked, 
 ready to fight for their freedom and their King. 
 
 Meanwhile the new King Joseph, guarded by 
 French troops, came to live in the capital. 
 
 Except that Madrid lies nearly in the middle of 
 Spain, it has nothing to make it a good capital. It 
 is the highest capital in Europe, standing upon an 
 enormous, almost barren and uncultivated, treeless 
 tableland. In summer it is unbearably hot; in 
 winter it is wet, bleak, and cold. In summer the 
 little river on which it stands is a dry bed, and never 
 at any time is it of the slightest use for trade. 
 
 Yet, being the capital, the residence of the King, 
 and the seat of Government, Madrid has become a 
 bright and gay city, and the centre of the few rail- 
 ways which cross the peninsula. Its streets are wide 
 and planted with trees, and it has one of the finest 
 picture-galleries in Europe, or indeed in the world. 
 
 The Spaniards are a courteous and polite people, 
 but now they received their new King in sullen 
 
156 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 silence. And as Joseph looked at the dark faces 
 which surrounded him, he felt that he had not a 
 friend among them. 
 
 Everywhere there was fighting. Yet so sure was 
 Napoleon that now everything would go on in Spain 
 just as he wished, that he left Bayonne, and set out 
 on a tour through some of the French towns. 
 
 Before he left, he wrote a long letter to his officers, 
 full of proud confidence. " There is nothing to fear 
 in Castille or Leon," he wrote. "There is nothing 
 to fear in Aragon or Catalonia. There is nothing 
 to fear about communications between Burgos and 
 Bayonne. General Dupont holds the only point of 
 danger, but with twenty-five thousand men he has 
 more than he needs, with which to command great 
 results," 
 
 But even as Napoleon wrote^ messengers were 
 speeding northward, over dreadful roads, which 
 are to this day the worst in Europe, with the news 
 that General Dupont and all his men had surren- 
 dered to the Spaniards at Bailen. 
 
 At last the spell was broken, and defeat, not victory, 
 followed the French. Napoleon, the conqueror of 
 kings, was not yet the conqueror of peoples. And 
 now a people not easily moved had been roused 
 to wrath against him. All through enslaved Europe 
 the news from Spain sent a stir of hope. The 
 hearts of whole nations beat again with the thought 
 that perhaps they might yet be freed from tyranny. 
 
 Napoleon was furiously angry. " Could I have 
 
The Maid of Saragossa 157 
 
 expected that from Dupont!" he cried. "A man 
 I loved ! He had no other way to save his soldiers ? 
 Better, far better, to have died with arms in their 
 hands. You can always supply the place of soldiers. 
 Honour alone, once lost, can never be regained." 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 THE MAID OF SARAGOSSA 
 
 The French had taken the fortress of Barcelona 
 by treachery. Now the Spaniards besieged them 
 there. Barcelona has been called the Manchester 
 of Spain. It is the second city of the kingdom, and 
 not only is it a manufacturing town, but it lies 
 amidst many other busy industrial towns, which is 
 unusual in Spain; for it is a country very far 
 behind in trade and commerce. 
 
 Although Spain is more rich in minerals than any 
 other country in Europe, its mines are little worked. 
 This is partly owing to the character of the people, 
 who lack energy. They prefer to beg in the sun- 
 shine, rather than work for their daily bread in 
 the darkness of the earth. Indeed the mines which 
 are worked are chiefly in the hands of British, 
 French, and German traders. 
 
 Among its minerals Spain has coal ; but it is little 
 worked, partly because both road and water-ways 
 are bad, and it is difficult to distribute the coal over 
 the country to the places where it is needed. For 
 this reason manufactures are few. 
 
158 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 But coal can be brought fairly easily from the 
 chief coalfield, near Oviedo, along the valley of the 
 Ebro, to Barcelona. And it is in Catalonia, as the 
 province in which Barcelona lies is called, that 
 the people are most energetic and hardy. It is also 
 the most thickly peopled part of Spain. And here, 
 in the midst of waving palm-trees, vine and orange 
 groves, rise the tall chimneys of cotton and woollen 
 factories. Besides being a manufacturing town, 
 Barcelona is the best seaport of Spain. A quarter 
 of all the foreign trade passes through it. 
 
 While the Spaniards besieged this busy town of 
 Barcelona, the French besieged Gerona. Gerona is 
 a quaint and interesting town, dnd one of Spain's 
 chief fortresses. It held out for seven months 
 against thirty-five thousand French. There was 
 only a small garrison within the walls. But men, 
 and women too, fought, and not till all their 
 ammunition was gone, not until they were gaunt 
 and starving skeletons, did they give in. 
 
 Near Gerona there are forests of cork-trees, for 
 which Spain is famous. The best champagne-bottle 
 corks in all the world come from Gerona. Cork is 
 the outer bark of a kind of evergreen oak. When 
 the bark is stripped from the trees, it grows again 
 in eight or ten years. And each time it grows 
 better. The first bark is taken from the tree when 
 it is about fifteen or twenty years old. This is 
 very coarse, and is generally used only for rustic 
 work. It is called virgin cork. A cork-tree will 
 
The Maid of Saragosaa 
 
The Maid of Saragossa 159 
 
 live, and go on bearing bark, for about a hundred 
 years. 
 
 Besides these towns, Saragossa, the central city 
 of the valley of the Ebro, was besieged. It is a 
 truly Spanish town. Many of the streets are wind- 
 ing and narrow, and the people still dress in the 
 picturesque Spanish costume. It is a university 
 town, and has a beautiful cathedral, and since 
 railways have been built, it has begun to be busy 
 and prosperous. 
 
 But Saragossa lies in a barren region. The whole 
 of Aragon, shut in by mountains from the rain-laden 
 winds, is treeless and dreary, except here and there, 
 in a kind of oasis, where fruit-trees and vines grow 
 in the deep valleys of some of the larger streams. 
 
 The fortifications of Saragossa were poor ; but 
 the hearts of the people were stout. Day by day 
 they held out, the women fighting beside the men. 
 One woman, named Maria Augustin, became famous, 
 and was called " the Maid of Saragossa." She fought 
 beside her lover, helping him to fire the cannon of 
 . which he was in charge, and when he fell dead, she 
 still went on fighting and worked the cannon herself. 
 
 Hunger and disease fought, too, against the brave 
 defenders. Still they held out. The French at 
 last gained possession of a convent which was 
 almost within the walls. Their leader then sent a 
 summons to the town. It was short and sharp. 
 "Headquarters, St. Engracia. Surrender," was all 
 it said. 
 
i6o Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 The reply was as sharp. "Headquarters, Sara- 
 gossa. War to the knife." 
 
 At last, hearing of the defeat at Bailen, where 
 Dupont and all his men had laid down their arms 
 to the Spaniards, the French gave up the siege 
 of Saragossa and marched away, "Foil'd by a 
 woman's hand, before a battered wall." 
 
 Afterwards, when the war of liberation was 
 over, Maria Augustin received medals, as did other 
 soldiers, in reward for her bravery, and her portrait 
 was bought by people all over Europe. It was 
 long ere the name of the Maid of Saragossa was 
 forgotten. 
 
 Saragossa was saved for once, but the French 
 came again ; and again the town was besieged. At 
 last the French broke through the defences. But 
 even then the town would not yield. From street 
 to street the people fought. Every house was a 
 fortress, and had to be stormed separately. At 
 last, after three weeks of this street fighting, worn 
 out by hunger and famine, the gallant defenders 
 gave in. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI 
 
 THE COURT AT ERtfURT 
 
 With fighting going on all around him. King 
 Joseph did not stay long in Madrid. Ten days 
 after he had arrived there, he left again. The 
 night before he left, two thousand servants de- 
 serted the palace ; nearly all liis courtiers went 
 
The Court at Erfurt i6i 
 
 too. So he fled, almost alone, to Vittoria, beyond 
 the Ebro. 
 
 And now Spain was not left to fight her war of 
 liberation unaided. Britain had been at war with 
 Spain. In the battle of Trafalgar the fleet of Spain 
 had been destroyed with that of France. " But the 
 kingdom thus nobly struggling against the usurpa- 
 tion and tyranny of France can no longer be con- 
 sidered as the enemy of Great Britain," said King 
 George. "It is recognised by me as a natural 
 friend and ally." 
 
 So British troops were sent to help the Spaniards 
 in their struggle. And thus began for us the war 
 which we call the Peninsular War. 
 
 The Portuguese, taking heart at the example of 
 their neighbours, rose too. It was in Portugal 
 that the British, under Sir Arthur Wellesley, first 
 landed, in the beginning of August 1808. By the 
 end of that month the French were beaten out of 
 the country, and the war was carried into Spain. 
 
 It will be impossible to follow all this war. The 
 story of it belongs to another place, especially as 
 Napoleon himself was very little with his soldiers in 
 Spain. The Spaniards were not always victorious, 
 even after the British came to help them. Both 
 they and the Portuguese were divided into parties 
 who did not always work or fight together. Yet 
 the French suffered many a blow. 
 
 But meantime, even while this great struggle 
 was going on, Napoleon was turning his eyes and 
 
i62 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 thoughts to still greater conquests. He had dreams 
 of conquering Turkey, and from there passing on 
 through Asia to India, and at last "Britain would 
 tremble and bow the knee before the Continent." 
 
 But for this the friendship and help of the 
 Czar was needed. So now Napoleon arranged a 
 meeting with Alexander, in order to renew the 
 friendship of Tilsit, which seemed to have cooled. 
 That, indeed, was scarcely wonderful, for Napoleon's 
 continental system was very hard on the Russian 
 people. 
 
 Napoleon wanted, too, to show all the world how 
 powerful he was, and frighten Europe, especially 
 Austria and Prussia, with a display of this power, 
 so that if they had any thoughts of rebellion, they 
 would give them up. 
 
 The meeting took place at Erfurt, in the hilly 
 country of Thuringia, which, like Saxony, has 
 many small industrial towns, although the mining 
 industries are by no means so important. Erfurt 
 is perhaps most interesting as the place where 
 Luther was a monk, and the cell in which he 
 lived for about three years is still to be seen. 
 
 Now the quiet old town was brilliant with 
 uniforms, and the streets made noisy with the 
 tramp of feet, and the thunder of saluting guns. 
 For Napoleon gathered round him a court of all 
 his vassal kings. There were so many of them 
 that they were quite common. " Be quiet ; it is 
 only a king," an ofificer would say, when his men 
 
The Court at Erfurt 163 
 
 began to cheer some splendid procession, thinking 
 that one of the Emperors was coming. 
 
 During the day the two Emperors talked, and 
 dined, and rode together. In the evening there 
 were balls and parties. Then, having made a 
 grand display, Alexander and Napoleon said good- 
 bye to each other, the one riding off to his capital, 
 St. Petersburg, the other hurrying to fight in Spain, 
 And silence once more fell upon Erfurt. 
 
 A few days after he left Erfurt, Napoleon was at 
 Vittoria. He was no longer the brilliant Emperor, 
 but a soldier, eager for war and victory. Great 
 preparations had been made to receive him. But 
 instead of going to his palace, he went into the 
 first inn he came to, called for maps, and was soon 
 deep in plans for ending the war. 
 
 The Spaniards, rejoicing in their first victories, 
 had thought to carry all before them. But now 
 they had the greatest soldier in all the world 
 against them. And with him had come many fresh 
 troops. 
 
 From Vittoria to Burgos, and on ever nearer and 
 nearer to Madrid, the French advanced, sweeping 
 all before them. Through olive-groves and vineyards 
 and wheat-fields, or again by desolate valleys and 
 barren hills, they marched, until they reached the 
 Sierra de Guadarrama, the hills which guard Madrid 
 on the north. 
 
 Here, at the pass Somosierra, the Spaniards were 
 strongly posted. But Napoleon charged up the 
 
l64 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 pass, captured the guns, and the Spaniards fled, 
 some to Segovia, others to Talavera. 
 
 The way to Madrid was now" unguarded, and 
 next morning, 2nd December, the French troops 
 appeared before it. Two days later Madrid sur- 
 rendered. 
 
 CHAPTER XLII 
 CORUNNA 
 
 For a few weeks Napoleon stayed in Madrid, 
 altering the laws, issuing proclamations, and making 
 plans like a conqueror. But Spain was still uncon- 
 quered. In the north, in the province of Galicia, 
 were British troops under a gallant Scotsman, Sir 
 John Moore. At Seville, the capital of Andalusia, 
 lay a Spanish force. 
 
 Seville is one of the most delightful towns in Spain, 
 as well as one of the most prosperous. For with 
 careful dredging the sand has been cleared away 
 from the channel of the Guadalquiver, upon which 
 it lies, so that steamers can come right up to 
 Seville. It has silk factories, and trade in fruit and 
 tobacco, and it lies in a region of gardens. 
 
 Here roses blossom all winter, and our spring 
 flowers bloom in January. Here are vineyards, 
 orange, olive, and cork groves, and fertile wheat- 
 fields. Here the sky is always blue. In winter, cold, 
 frost, and snow are almost unknown, but the summer 
 is scorchingly hot. 
 
 But more than its present prosperity, it is the 
 
Corunna 165 
 
 beauty of its buildings and the history of its past 
 that make Seville interesting. Here is the famous 
 Alcazar Palace of the ancient Moorish kings, and 
 the Giralda, once the prayer-tower of a Moorish 
 mosque. For Spain was once conquered by the 
 Moors, and they gave to Spain some of its most 
 splendid palaces. The most famous is the Alhambra 
 at Granada. 
 
 Seville was the birthplace of Murillo and Velas- 
 quez, two famous Spanish artists. It was here that 
 Columbus was received in state when he returned 
 from his first voyage of discovery. And after the dis- 
 covery of America, Seville became very famous and 
 prosperous, although later it lost that prosperity, 
 which it is now only recovering. 
 
 Not far from Seville lie the Rio Tinto and Tharsis 
 copper mines, in one of the richest mineral districts 
 of Spain. These mines were known to the Phoe- 
 nicians and to the Romans, and are still among the 
 most important copper mines in the world. They 
 are now in the hands of British and German traders. 
 All round are villages where the miners live. It is 
 a desolate region, covered with slag and refuse, 
 where nothing will grow. Every green thing is 
 killed by copper fumes and the smoke from 
 furnaces. 
 
 At Valentia, upon the eastern coast, there was 
 fighting too. The province of Valentia is full of 
 barren hills and fertile valleys. All kinds of fruit 
 and grains and fibres grow here, two or three crops 
 
i66 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 being gathered one after the other every year. 
 Orange-trees often have ripe fruit, green fruit, and 
 blossom all at the same time. 
 
 Much of this fertility is due to the splendid system 
 of watering by canals, which the Moors made, when 
 they possessed the land. Indeed it is chiefly where 
 these canals still exist that the land is fertile. But 
 in many places they have been allowed to go to 
 waste, and much of the land which was cultivated 
 in the time of the Moors, or even in the time of 
 the Romans, is now barren and useless. And nearly 
 half of Spain is uncultivated, but upon the barren 
 slopes and plains much esparto grass grows, for it 
 likes dry heat, and will grow where other things 
 requiring moisture cannot. 
 
 Even where the Spaniards do till the soil they 
 do it in very old-fashioned ways. The land is 
 generally dug and hoed by hand, and where ploughs 
 are used, they are old-fashioned wooden ones drawn 
 by oxen. The crops when ripe are cut down by 
 sickles, the grain is trodden out by oxen, and 
 winnowed by hand. Such a thing as machinery for 
 farm work is unknown. The carts are drawn by 
 oxen or mules, and in many places the roads are 
 so bad that no cart can pass over them, and goods 
 have to be carried upon the backs of mules in 
 panniers. 
 
 Napoleon meant to send armies under different 
 generals to every part of Spain where there was 
 a rising. He himself meant to march into Portugal. 
 
Corunna 167 
 
 But he now heard that Sir John Moore was march- 
 ing towards Salamanca, so he resolved to go to meet 
 him and crush him. 
 
 Sir John had hoped to join with other British 
 and Spanish troops. But in this he had been disap- 
 pointed. His army alone was not strong enough 
 to meet Napoleon's forty thousand. So as Napoleon 
 advanced Sir John retreated through the bleak 
 hills of Galicia to Corunna. 
 
 The weather, which had been good, now became 
 wet and cold. But both armies marched rapidly 
 over the rough and almost unmade roads. Napo- 
 leon made quite sure of trapping the British. "Say 
 in the newspapers that thirty-six thousand British 
 are surrounded," he wrote to " King " Joseph. But 
 the British were by no means surrounded, and 
 again and again, as the retreat went on, the French 
 were repulsed. 
 
 At Astorga Napoleon suddenly left the army. 
 Giving his general, Soult, the command to "drive 
 the British into the sea," he galloped away towards 
 Paris. For he had ill news. Austria was arming 
 to fight, and Russia was like to join. Perhaps, too, 
 Napoleon was glad of an excuse to leave Spain; 
 for it did not seem so certain that this campaign 
 against the British was going to succeed, and it 
 might bring but little glory to his name. 
 
 By this time the British army on its retreat to 
 Corunna had become almost a rabble. The men 
 were worn out, but they hated to retreat, and 
 
i68 Through Europe wit|t Napoleon 
 
 wanted to fight. So discipline gave way, and at 
 times it seemed as if the army would become little 
 more than an armed mob. 
 
 At last, after a journey of two" hundred and fifty 
 miles, Corunna was reached. But there were no 
 ships awaiting the British soldiers to carry them 
 home. So for a few days Sir John spent the time 
 bringing his disordered troops into order again, 
 and making ready to fight the French should they 
 appear. 
 
 At last the British ships arrived in the bay. But 
 the French too arrived, and made ready to fight. 
 And on the 15th of January the battle of Corunna 
 took place. 
 
 The French were beaten, but the victory cost the 
 life of the British general. "I have always wished 
 to die like this," he said as he lay dying. " I hope 
 the people of England will be satisfied. I hope my 
 country will do me justice. It is a great satisfaction 
 to know that we have beaten the French." And 
 thus, if not quite victorious, at least pointing the way 
 to victory, this brave and gentle soldier died. 
 
 And there on his last battlefield Sir John was laid 
 in a soldier's grave. Next day his men sailed 
 homeward, for the French were too badly beaten to 
 try to hinder them any more. 
 
Aspern-Essling and Wagram 169 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII 
 
 THE BATTLES OF ASPERN-ESSLING AND 
 WAGRAM 
 
 The Peninsular War was by no means over. The 
 Duke of Wellington, then Sir Arthur Wellesley, 
 now took full command. It was ;not, however, until 
 after five more years of fighting that the French were 
 at last swept out of Spain and Portugal, and driven 
 beyond the Pyrenees once more. But the story of 
 all that belongs to British history more than to the 
 story of Napoleon, and it is with Napoleon that we 
 have to do. 
 
 When Napoleon arrived in Germany in April 1S09, 
 he found his army between the Danube and the Isar, 
 stretched out in a long line from Regensburg to 
 Augsburg. Quickly he drew his army together and 
 advanced to meet the Austrians. 
 
 Day by day as he advanced, he fought. Day by 
 day the Austrians were beaten and driven towards 
 Regensburg. It was a five days' battle, each day a 
 victory. Never had Napoleon's genius as a, soldier 
 seemed greater. Never had he been so sure and 
 calm. 
 
 Regensburg, which Napoleon now stormed, lies 
 upon the Danube where it becomes navigable for 
 steamers. It rose to importance in the days when 
 commerce was carried through the Alpine passes 
 and along the Danube. It is still an interesting 
 
lyo Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 town, for there, more than in any other German 
 town, may be seen old and beautiful houses, where 
 the great merchants used to live six or seven 
 hundred years ago. 
 
 A few miles down the Danube is the Walhalla, 
 or Hall of the Chosen. This is a splendid hall built 
 of marble, within which are placed busts of all great 
 men belonging to the German races. This hall was 
 not there when Napoleon stormed and took Regens- 
 burg. It was built later by Louis I., King of Bavaria, 
 who also built a Hall of Liberation in memory of the 
 war of freedom which was now beginning. 
 
 Napoleon, after storming Regensburg, marched 
 into Austria, and once more took Vienna. 
 
 Meanwhile it was not only the Austrians who were 
 fighting. In Tyrol the peasants had risen under a 
 brave leader called Hofer. In Germany, in Poland, 
 and in Italy, everywhere, the people rose. In many 
 places they won battles. But after all, where Napo- 
 leon led, there was the heart of the fight. And he 
 was everywhere victorious. 
 
 The Austrian army was now on one side of the 
 Danube and the French on the other ; and it seemed 
 as if it would be impossible for either to cross. But 
 the Danube, which is a rapid, deep, and narrow river 
 until it reaches Vienna, here opens out broadly, and 
 is covered with islands. The largest of these is 
 called Lobau. By these islands Napoleon succeeded 
 in crossing, and took possession of two little villages 
 on the opposite side, called Asperh and Essling. 
 
Aspern-Essling and Wagram 171 
 
 Here for two days a fearful battle raged, called 
 from these villages Aspern-Essling, or sometimes 
 the battle of the Marchfield. This was one of the 
 fiercest of Napoleon's battles, and so well did the 
 Austrians fight that for him it was a check. Under 
 cover of the darkness he drew his troops back to 
 the island of Lobau. Had the Austrians followed 
 up, perhaps the war might have ended differently 
 from what it did. But they had lost too many men 
 and were too weary to follow. 
 
 Both sides, indeed, were so worn out that some 
 weeks passed without much fighting. Then Napo- 
 leon again crossed the Danube, and on the 6th of 
 July, at Wagram, another villagp on the left bank, 
 a second battle took place. 
 
 The Austrians again fought with splendid courage, 
 and when night came, of the fifty thousand who 
 lay dead, nearly as many were French as Austrian. 
 It was one of the fiercest battles ever fought, and 
 to Napoleon it counted barely a victory. 
 
 Yet for the Emperor of Austria it was enough. 
 He was not made of the stern stuff of heroes and 
 patriots. Once more he yielded. And on the 14th 
 of October the treaty of Schdnbrunn, so called 
 from the name of the beautiful palace in Vienna 
 where Napoleon was living, was signed. 
 
 By this treaty Austria lost still more land. 
 Napoleon took for France the lands lying round 
 the Adriatic, so that Austria had no seaport left. 
 Parts of Upper Austria, Galicia, and Bohemia, were 
 
172 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 given to Napoleon's vassal kings to reward them 
 for having helped him. For it must be remembered 
 that Napoleon's great armies were not made up 
 only of Frenchmen, but of men from every country 
 which he had conquered, or over whose ruler he 
 held sway. 
 
 About this time, too, Napoleon once more quar- 
 relled with the Pope, and took all his land away 
 from him. The Pope in return excommunicated 
 the Emperor. Napoleon then^ took the Pope 
 prisoner. He was sent to Fontainebleau, where he 
 remained for more than three years, living in 
 great splendour, but still a captive. Now having 
 the Papal States, all Italy, from north to south, 
 was under Napoleon's rule. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV 
 THE EMPRESS MARIE LOUISE 
 
 After the treaty of SchSnbrunn was signed. 
 Napoleon returned to Paris. 
 
 And now one of the strangest things in his life 
 happened. You remember that long ago, when the 
 Emperor was a poor soldier, he had married a 
 beautiful lady, called Josephine de Beauharnais. 
 He had loved her very much. "To live for Jose- 
 phine—that is the history of my life," he had written 
 then. "I prize honour since you prize it; I prize 
 victory since it pleases you." 
 
 Now glory, if not honour, was heaped upon him. 
 
The Empress Marie Louise 173 
 
 He had piled victory upon victory, but he forgot 
 what he had written as a young and eager boy. 
 He put away his beautiful wife, and married the 
 Duchess Marie Louise, the daughter of his late 
 enemy the Emperor of Austria. 
 
 One reason why Napoleon did this was that his 
 pride had grown with his power. He still loved 
 Josephine, but he longed to have a great lady for 
 his wife — a princess, the daughter of a long line 
 of kings, to be the mother of his children. 
 
 Marie Louise was little more than a girl. She 
 had hated Napoleon, and once when she heard 
 that he had been defeated, she said that she was 
 glad, and hoped that it would happen again. Now 
 she came to be his wife, because her father told 
 her, perhaps, that this marriage would help to 
 bring peace and freedom to her country. She now 
 became the Empress Marie Louise. 
 
 The war in the peninsula still went on, but 
 otherwise Europe seemed to have a breathing- 
 space. Yet Napoleon did not cease adding to the 
 realms of France. 
 
 When the Emperor made his friends and brothers 
 kings, he expected them to obey him absolutely. 
 He expected them to think, not first of the sub- 
 jects that they had been given to rule, but first of 
 Napoleon and of France, and then perhaps of their 
 subjects. 
 
 Napoleon had made his brother Louis King of 
 Holland, but for a long time now he had been very 
 
174 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 angry with him. For Louis seemed to want to rule 
 Holland for Holland's good, and not as his brother 
 ordered him. One of his chief misdeeds was that 
 he set aside the continental system, and allowed 
 his people to trade with Britain. For a long time 
 Louis tried to resist Napoleon's orders, but at 
 last, tired of a mere pretence of ruling, he gave 
 up his throne, and went away to live quietly in 
 Bohemia. 
 
 Napoleon then added Holland to France. 
 
 Holland is an absolutely flat country. Much of 
 the land, indeed, lies below the level of the sea, and 
 has to be protected by great dykes. The rivers, 
 too, flowing through this flat land, and bringing 
 down great deposits of mud, have to be guarded 
 by dykes. So the Dutchman has a constant fight 
 with the water for his land, and in spite of dykes 
 and canals, much of it is still watery fen-land. 
 
 But the Dutchman is hardy and industrious. 
 Nearly three-fourths of the country is pasture or 
 agricultural land, and Holland is famous for horses 
 and cattle, butter and cheese. It has manufactures 
 too, but these, owing to the fact that Holland has 
 no coal, are chiefly on the coast, as are all its large 
 towns. Holland has not only no coal ; it has no 
 minerals at all, except china clay. It has therefore 
 become famous for its china and earthenware, one 
 kind of which we call " delf," from the town Delft, 
 where it is made. Its chief industry is shipbuilding, 
 but it also makes gin— often called "Hollands," or 
 
The Empress Marie Louise 175 
 
 sometimes " Schiedam," from the name of the town 
 where it is made. 
 
 Besides this, Holland has manufactures of sugar 
 and cigars, and, as is natural from its great quan- 
 tity of cattle, it has many leather and margarine 
 factories. 
 
 Of course, since coal began to be used for manu- 
 facturing, the trade of Holland has suffered in some 
 ways from the lack of it. But it has a fertile soil, 
 good seaports, splendid communication inland, by 
 canal and rail, a fine position in regard to other 
 countries, an industrious people, and it comes next 
 to Great Britain in its number of colonies, and 
 so it continues to be a wealthy and prosperous 
 country. 
 
 Besides this rich pastoral country, Napoleon an- 
 nexed to France all the German coast as far as 
 the frontier of Denmark, as well as the seaport 
 towns of Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubeck, thus shut- 
 ting out British trade entirely from the northern 
 shores of the Continent. He gave orders that all 
 British goods, and the goods of all British colonies, 
 were to be seized and burned, and made laws for 
 punishing those who traded in them. But in spite 
 of all this, smuggling went on to a tremendous 
 extent all over his vast empire. 
 
176 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 CHAPTER XLV 
 INTO RUSSIA 
 
 On the 20th of March 1811 a little son was born 
 to Napoleon, who at once gave him the title of King 
 of Rome. Now with a son to follow him upon the 
 throne, Napoleon seemed to be at the very height 
 of his glory. " Now begins the finest epoch of my 
 reign," he said. At forty-one he seemed to have the 
 world at his feet. Really his downfall had begun. 
 
 The people of Russia had found Napoleon's conti- 
 nental system very hard, and the Czar became 
 less and less inclined to make his people keep the 
 Berlin Decree. As more and more British goods 
 were allowed to pass into Russia, Napoleon grew 
 more and more angry. There were other reasons 
 for quarrelling, and at last war between the two 
 rival Emperors, who had sworn to be friends at 
 Tilsit and at Erfurt, broke out. 
 
 Napoleon decided utterly to crush his great rival, 
 and to force all Europe over which he had control 
 to help him. 
 
 At Dresden, the capital of the kingdom of Saxony, 
 he gathered all his vassal kings. There, in a blaze 
 of splendour, he dazzled the world once more. 
 Dresden was a good place for such a display. It 
 is a fine city, a residential place, and one of the 
 art centres of Germany, being famous for its splendid 
 collection of pictures. It is a manufacturing town 
 
Into Russia 177 
 
 too, being on a navigable river 'and in the middle 
 of a coalfield. It has many manufactures, among 
 which are gold and silver ornaments and artificial 
 flowers, Dresden china, however, is not made at 
 Dresden, but at Meissen, a little farther down the 
 river. 
 
 For some days Dresden was gay with feasting 
 and merry-making, with ceremonies and spectacles, 
 then Napoleon set out once more to play his deadly 
 game of war. 
 
 Through the land, all beautiful in the fresh green- 
 ness of early summer, under sunshine and blue 
 skies, marched the mighty army, six hundred thou- 
 sand strong. From all the states of Germany, from 
 Prussia, Austria, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Poland, 
 Switzerland, even from Spain and Portugal, soldiers 
 had come to swell the stream which poured across 
 the Niemen into Russia. 
 
 "Russia is dragged by her fate. Let us carry 
 war into her territories, and put an end for ever 
 to her haughty influence," said Napoleon to his 
 army. 
 
 "Soldiers," said Alexander, "you fight for your 
 religion, your liberty, and your native land. Your 
 Emperor is with you ; and God fs the enemy of the 
 aggressor." 
 
 On the 23rd of June the Grand Army crossed the 
 Niemen in three great streams. As Napoleon rode 
 along, his horse stumbled. " What bad luck ! " cried 
 some one. " A Roman would have turned back." 
 
lyS Through Europe wijth Napoleon 
 
 But Napoleon went on, his troops cheering as they 
 reached the other side. 
 
 It was a barren, empty country into which they 
 had come. No enemy even awaited them. A few 
 horsemen watched as they marched. "Why do 
 you come into Russia ? " they asked. 
 
 "To conquer you," was the reply, and the horse- 
 men galloped silently away, and disappeared into 
 the forests beyond. 
 
 The weather had been very hot. Now a thunder- 
 storm came on, and, soaked with sudden dashes of 
 rain, the men trudged over miles of muddy road 
 to Vilna. 
 
 It was an immense country into which Napoleon 
 now marched; for more than half of Europe is 
 Russia. And all this great traCt of land is for the 
 most part a plain. The only mountains are the Urals 
 on the eastern and the Caucasus on the southern 
 borders. There is indeed a little group, called the 
 Valdai Hills, south of St. Petersburg, but they are 
 not a thousand feet high. They form, however, low 
 though they are, the main watershed of Russia. 
 
 The immense rolling plains of Russia stretch right 
 northward to the Polar regions, and from there 
 icy winds sweep down, unchecked by any moun- 
 tain range, making winter very cold. The climate 
 is very dry, too, and the summer hot ; for, being on 
 all sides far from the great seas, the winds have lost 
 most of their moisture before they reach Russia. 
 
 Vilna is full of narrow, dirty streets, flanked by 
 
The Taking of Smolensk 179 
 
 great houses. Here the roads to Konigsberg, 
 Warsaw, St. Petersburg, and Moscow meet and 
 cross. And now it is a great railway junction and 
 the centre of the timber and grain trade of Western 
 Russia. For more than a third of Russia is covered 
 with forests which supply timber, tar, and turpentine 
 in great quantities. And upon the rolling plains 
 much grain and flax and hemp are grown, although, 
 as in Spain, the Russian peasants' ways of farming 
 are very old-fashioned. The Russian peasant, too, 
 is very ignorant, and lives in great misery and 
 poverty. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI 
 THE TAKING OF SMoLeNSK 
 
 When Napoleon reached Vilna he found it empty. 
 Two days before, a great part of the Russian army, 
 which had been quartered there, had marched away. 
 But before they went they had burned the stores 
 and magazines. All round, the country was wasted, 
 villages were burned, and food of every kind, both 
 for man and horse, destroyed. This was done so 
 that the French might find as little as possible in 
 the way of shelter or food. 
 
 With the French army came an enormous bag- 
 gage-train. But Napoleon had so long accustomed 
 his armies to believe that they would find all they 
 required in the countries they invaded, that this 
 part of the army was very badly managed. Already 
 the soldiers began to suffer from hunger. 
 
i8o Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 At Vilna, Napoleon remained three weeks. Then 
 he marched on again to Polotsk, and then to Vitepsk, 
 on the Western Dwina. There are two rivers of that 
 name in Russia— the one, a good navigable river, 
 falls into the Baltic at the town of Riga ; the other, 
 the Northern Dwina, falls into the White Sea at 
 the town of Archangel. But although it too is navig- 
 able a good way up, it has dangerous bars of sand 
 at its mouth which prevent its being of much use. 
 Besides, being so far north, the port of Archangel 
 is frozen for a great part of each year. Indeed 
 this is so with all the ports and all the rivers of 
 Russia. But some are closed for longer some for 
 shorter time. 
 
 All the rivers of Russia are long, and, as you would 
 guess from the flatness of the country, they flow 
 slowly, and they are apt to overflow their banks. 
 Much of the country through which they pass is 
 marshy. But one curious thing about Russian 
 rivers is that it is nearly always the left bank which 
 overflows. The right bank is higher, and therefore 
 nearly all the large towns are to be found on that 
 bank. 
 
 The right bank of a river is that on your right 
 hand when you stand facing its mouth. 
 
 As Russia is such a large country, and as it has 
 so little sea-coast in comparison to its size, it is 
 a good thing that it has long rivers, and that they 
 are navigable for such long distances inland. The 
 Volga, which is the longest river in Europe, is 
 
The Taking of Smolensk i8i 
 
 connected by canals and other rivers with the Black 
 Sea, the White Sea, and with the Baltic, so that 
 Russia has a splendid system of inland communi- 
 cation. 
 
 As Napoleon advanced into the country, the 
 Russians, who were divided into two armies, re- 
 treated. At Vitepsk there was three days of fight- 
 ing. Napoleon called it three victories, but the 
 Russians were not routed, and still retired in good 
 order. 
 
 At last Smolensk, on the Dnieper, "the key to the 
 gate of Russia," was reached. 
 
 Here the two Russian armies, which had been 
 marching by different routes, joined. The part which 
 had come from Vilna was under Barclay de Tolly. 
 He was a cool and cautious German. But his fore- 
 fathers had been Scots who had fled from Scotland 
 at the time of the Jacobite rebellion in 1715. The 
 other part was under Bagration, a brave and eager 
 Russian. These two generals unfortunately hated 
 each other. And indeed the whole army disliked 
 Barclay, because he was a foreigner, and because he 
 had retired instead of facing the enemy and fighting. 
 
 Now, at Smolensk, the Russians made a stand. 
 They called this town " Smolensk the Holy," because 
 it guarded the way to their sacred city Moscow. 
 And it was said that great misfortune would over- 
 take Russia were Smolensk allowed to fall into the 
 hands of the enemy. 
 
 Around and in the town a terrible fight took 
 
i82 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 place. All the autumn day cannon roared, shells 
 screamed and burst, and a spattering- hail of grape- 
 shot thinned the ranks. When night came the 
 Russians quietly withdrew and marched on the way 
 to Moscow. Behind them they left their holy city 
 a blazing ruin. The houses were mostly of wood, 
 and from street to street the flathes leaped, roaring 
 and crackling. Clouds of sparks,, columns of smoke, 
 flew upward, glowing in the darkness. And when 
 at dawn the French entered the city, it was to find 
 silent streets, strewn with ashes and heaped with 
 dead, but hardly a living man. 
 
 Napoleon had indeed taken Smolensk. But when 
 he got it, it was only a pile of ruins, and had cost 
 him twelve thousand men. When, however, the 
 Russians heard that their city was lost, they were so 
 angry that the command was taken from Barclay de 
 Tolly and given to Kutusoff, an old general of no 
 great skill, who had been defeated at Austerlitz. But 
 he was a Russian, which Barclay was not. 
 
 Now, along dusty, sandy roads, past burned and 
 deserted villages and towns, through dreary, silent, 
 barren plains, the retreat and chase went on. The 
 air was hot and close, the sun shone pitilessly. The 
 men marched wearily, for they were parched with 
 thirst and always hungry. For a month they had 
 little to eat, except what they could find by scouring 
 the country far and wide. At last they reached the 
 little village of Borodino, and there found Kutusoff 
 encamped, barring the way to Moscow. 
 
The Burning of Moscow 183 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII 
 THE BURNING OF MOSCOW 
 
 For two days the armies lay opposite each other, 
 each preparing for battle. The weather had now 
 grown colder, and a bitter wind swept the plain, but 
 on the 7th September the sun rose clear and bright. 
 " It is the sun of Austerlitz," said Napoleon, as he 
 watched it, meaning that he would have good luck 
 that day. 
 
 Soon the thunder of battle began. Both sides 
 fought fiercely. Forts were taken, and lost, and 
 taken again. The battle swayed this way and that. 
 But when at last it was over, the Russians were 
 marching from the field, yet not in rout, but slowly 
 and in good order. The French claimed the day, but 
 among the eighty thousand dead-, there were nearly 
 as many of the French as of the Russian army. 
 
 Borodino is the deadliest battle of all Napoleon's 
 wars, and it is known as " the generals' battle," for 
 twenty-two Russian and eighteeh French generals 
 were among the slain. 
 
 Once more the chase began, the French following 
 the Russians through country which they purposely 
 left desolate behind them. At last, one beautiful 
 autumn morning about a week after the battle of 
 Borodino, Napoleon and his array caught the first 
 sight of Moscow, from the summit of a little hill 
 called the Hill of Salvation, which overlooks it. 
 
i84 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 " Moscow ! Moscow ! " The cry ran down the 
 lines. To the weary men Moscow was the haven 
 of rest towards which they had been struggling those 
 hundreds and hundreds of dreary miles. Now it lay 
 before them, glittering white in the sunshine, with 
 its many-coloured roofs, gilded domes, spires, and 
 turrets. "The Asiatic town of countless churches, 
 Moscow the Holy," cried Napoleon, reining in his 
 horse. "There at last is the faijious town. It was 
 time ! " 
 
 Until Peter the Great built St. Petersburg, Moscow 
 was the capital of Russia, and lying as it does in 
 the heart of the country, far away from other Euro- 
 pean lands, it is there that one sees the true Russian 
 national life. 
 
 Moscow has grown up round its fort, called the 
 Kremlin, which stands upon a slight hill, and seems 
 to dominate the city. " Over Moscow there is only 
 the Kremlin; over the Kremlin there is only the 
 heavens." Within the battlemented wall of this 
 fortress are gathered churches and palaces, and 
 round them cling all the memories and history of 
 the people. To the Russian it is holy ground. 
 
 Moscow is also the seat of the oldest Russian 
 university, and it is the busiest and most commercial 
 inland town, being the centre of the Russian rail- 
 ways. It is upon a navigable river, and has splendid 
 communication in all directions by the Volga, Oka, 
 Don, Dnieper, and Western Dwiha. It lies near one 
 pf the chief Russian coalfields. It has cotton and 
 
The Burning of Moscow 185 
 
 silk factories, and is altogether a place of wealth 
 and importance, and its broad streets are full of a 
 busy, stirring life. 
 
 But when Napoleon and his army marched through 
 the streets, they were silent and deserted. Here and 
 there a timid or scowling face might be seen. But 
 the streets echoed with a hollow sound, and the 
 empty houses stared down upon the soldiers with 
 closed shutters, like sightless eyes. 
 
 For days every one who could leave the city had 
 been hurrying away, and the roads had been full of 
 a constant stream of clattering carriages and rum- 
 bling carts laden with people and their goods. The 
 night before Napoleon had entered, the troops too 
 had gone. All night long the steady tramp, tramp, 
 had sounded through the streets. The great military 
 stores had been burned or destroyed, the prisons 
 opened, and the prisoners set free, the fire-engines 
 made useless, and the great city, mostly built of 
 wood, left to the mercy of the rabble and the foe. 
 
 Scarcely two hours after the last soldier had gone, 
 the French arrived. And when they found the city 
 silent and empty, they broke into the deserted 
 houses, robbing and wrecking them, decking them- 
 selves in ridiculous finery, drinking wildly, until the 
 army became a drunken mob. 
 
 But at last the noise of laughter and carouse 
 ceased, and the city sank to rest. The weary soldiers, 
 who for many weeks had slept under the open sky 
 and on the bare ground, slept this night in splendid 
 
i86 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 palaces and on soft couches, wrapped in silken 
 covers. 
 
 But in the middle of the night the cry of fire arose. 
 Soon the city was bright with flames, and morning 
 dawned before they were put out. 
 
 Again, when night came, the fire broke out, and 
 not in one place only, but in many. From every 
 quarter, north, south, east, and west, fire burst, until 
 the city was a blazing sea of flanje. A strong wind 
 arose, blowing the flames, now here, now there, till 
 palaces and churches, shops and houses, were 
 wrapped in fire, and sank together in piles of charred 
 and blackened ashes. 
 
 For two days Napoleon gloomily watched the 
 fearful destruction from the Kremlin. Then that too 
 took fire, and at last, yielding to the entreaties of 
 his officers, Napoleon rode from the burning town, 
 through a whirlwind of flame, a raging hail of 
 sparks, and rolling clouds of smoke. 
 
 He took refuge in a palace belonging to the Czar 
 which was beyond the city. But even there the heat 
 of the flames was so great that the stones were hot 
 to touch. Whenever the fire seemed to die down 
 in one place, it kindled again in another. But at 
 last, when four-fifths of the city lay in blackened ruin, 
 when there was little left to burn, the flames ceased. 
 
 Napoleon then returned to the Kremlin, and there 
 he awaited an answer to a letter which he had 
 written to the Czar by the light of the burning city. 
 It was a letter proposing terms of peace. But no 
 answer to it ever came. 
 
The Retreat from Moscow 187 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII 
 THE RETREAT FROM MOSCOW 
 
 Day after day passed. At first there had been 
 food enough for the great army— splendid wines and 
 dainty fare, such as they were little accustomed to, 
 but they soon gave out Now of bread there was 
 none, and only horseflesh for meat. The Russians 
 had swept the country bare. It was in vain that 
 the French soldiers scoured it in search of food. It 
 was in vain that Napoleon issued proclamations to 
 the peasants, telling them that they would be well 
 paid for anything that they might bring. Their 
 hatred of the French was such that not all the gold 
 in the country could tempt them to Moscow. They 
 would rather have cut off their right hands than 
 have helped Napoleon in the slightest. 
 
 The autumn had been unusually warm, the sunny 
 weather had lasted late, but at length it came to an 
 end. A slight snow fell as a warning that the fear- 
 ful Russian winter was about to begin. It is a 
 winter of keen cold, such as the French had no 
 knowledge of. They were ill fed and worse clothed, 
 and in no way fit to endure it. 
 
 Again Napoleon wrote to Alexander. Again no 
 answer was returned. 
 
 Then, seeing the uselessness and danger of trying 
 to spend the winter in a barren country, hundreds 
 and hundreds of miles from his own kingdom, 
 Napoleon gave the order to marclj back. 
 
l8S Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 Napoleon had to face defeat. Yet even to himself 
 he would not own it. 
 
 " Moscow has been found not to be a good military 
 post," he writes. " It is necessary for the army to 
 breathe in a wider space." 
 
 At first Napoleon tried to march southward, so 
 as not to return over the desolate country of his 
 former track. But he was soon turned back by a 
 Russian force, and obliged to march the way that 
 he had come. 
 
 The sick and wounded were left behind, so as 
 not to burden the army. But every soldier was 
 laden with booty. Gold and silver plate, silk and 
 gems were piled in wheelbarrows, beautiful carriages 
 were laden with all kinds of spoil, and a train of 
 Russian prisoners marched bowed beneath heavy 
 loads. 
 
 So the march began. But spon the road was 
 strewn with these splendid spoils. Hunger, fearful, 
 gnawing hunger, took hold upon the men. There 
 was nothing to eat but horseflesh. When a horse 
 died, the men fell upon it like hungry wolves, tearing 
 it to pieces. They were ready to kill each other for 
 a few potatoes or a handful of rye. All order, all 
 discipline was lost. Many broke from the ranks, 
 and wandering about, seeking vainly for food, 
 perished on the barren steppes. 
 
 Harassed by Cossacks, the wretched army still 
 pressed forward. Then came the snow, and with 
 it bitter cold. The snow fell arid fell, blotting out 
 
The Retreat from Moscow 189 
 
 the road, blotting out every landmark. Blinded by 
 the whirling flakes, chilled to the bone by cutting 
 winds, the men wandered on, hardly knowing 
 whither. Numbed and frozen, unable to crawl 
 farther, many fell, and the white snow became their 
 winding-sheet. At night perhaps they bivouacked, 
 and in the morning a circle of white mounds alone 
 told where they had lain down to sleep their last 
 sleep. 
 
 Pursuing Russians killed those who straggled 
 behind. Often they had no strength to resist. 
 Sometimes even they had no arms, for their muskets 
 would drop from their frozen fingers and be left in 
 the snow. 
 
 Yet, through all the misery and cold and famine, 
 a few lived and struggled on. " Smolensk ! Smol- 
 ensk ! " they said. That was their goal, the paradise 
 of rest and plenty to which they pressed. 
 
 But when Smolensk was at last reached, they 
 found neither rest nor plenty there. The town was 
 as much a ruin as Moscow had been. The stores 
 of food and clothes were exhausted. 
 
 After a few days' halt the retreat continued. Near 
 the town of Borisoff the river Beresina had to be 
 crossed by two frail bridges. And here one of the 
 most terrible scenes of the war took place. 
 
 While the French crossed they were attacked by 
 the Russians. As men frantic with terror crushed 
 on to the bridges, one of them gave way, and all 
 upon it were thrown into the half-frozen river below. 
 
190 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 Over the second bridge the French now rushed 
 madly, trampling and killing each other in their 
 haste, shot down in crowds by the Russian bullets. 
 Shrieks of terror and pain filled the air, mingling 
 with the crash and thunder of the Russian guns 
 and the savage cheers of the Russian soldiers. 
 Twelve thousand at least perished at this fearful 
 crossing. The rest continued their march of agony 
 towards Vilna. 
 
 Ten days later a miserable, ragged, limping crowd 
 crept into that town. " Remove all strangers from 
 Vilna," Napoleon had written. "The army is not 
 beautiful to look upon just now." But ere the 
 ragged remnant of the once Grand Army had 
 reached Vilna, Napoleon had deserted it. He had 
 heard that there was a rising in Paris. So leaving 
 his soldiers to their misery, wrapped in furs, he 
 hurried as fast as horses could carry him home- 
 ward, by Warsaw, Dresden, Erfurt, and Mainz, to 
 Paris. 
 
 Meanwhile the miserable spectre of an army 
 staggered on, chased by the pitiless Cossacks. At 
 last, in the middle of December, they crossed the 
 Niemen, and found a refuge for a time in and near 
 Kbnigsberg. Of all the magnificent army that had 
 set out to conquer Russia, not twenty thousand 
 famine-stricken men returned. 
 
Napoleon's Last Great Victory 191 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX 
 NAPOLEON'S LAST GREAT VICTORY 
 
 It should not be forgotten that of all the Grand 
 Army scarcely a sixth were French, and of those 
 the best officers and men returned. So almost 
 at once Napoleon was able to raise a new army. 
 True, most of the new recruits were boys under 
 twenty, but the magic of his name was still so 
 great that they were eager to fight for him. And 
 he had need of all this eagerness, for Prussia, follow- 
 ing the example of Spain, and encouraged by the 
 news of Napoleon's awful defeat in Russia, resolved 
 to fight once more for freedom. 
 
 Men rich and poor, old and young, flocked to 
 the standard. Ladies brought their jewels, and the 
 Czar of Russia marched to meet his old friend, 
 whom, it is true, he had forsaken, and almost be- 
 trayed, at Tilsit. It was at Breslau that they met. 
 Tears came into the eyes of the old King as he 
 greeted Alexander. "Wipe them," said he; "they 
 are the last tears that Napoleon will ever cause 
 you to shed." 
 
 The Prussian leader was Bliicher, a rough old 
 man, but brave and loving his country well, and 
 loved by his men. It was he who, after Jena, held 
 out longest against Napoleon, only surrendering 
 when resistance was useless and hopeless. 
 
 By the middle of April Napoleon was upon the 
 
192 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 banks of the Saale. He crossed the river, and it 
 was at the village of Grosz-Gorschen that the first 
 battle of the new war was fought. It was fierce 
 and long, and after it was over the Prussian and 
 Russian allies fell back to Leipsig. But to Napoleon 
 it was no victory. He took no prisoners, and nearly 
 as many French as allies lay dead upon the field. 
 
 Leipsig, where the allies now lay, is a garrison 
 town and headquarters of part of the German army. 
 It is also one of the important commercial towns 
 of Germany, and is the centre of the German book 
 trade. There is here a very interesting Museum 
 of the Book Trade, which shows how books have 
 been made in all ages. 
 
 The trade in books at Leipsig brought trade in 
 leather for binding, and its nearness to the Saxony 
 coalfields, and its position at the point where 
 many roads join, have all helped to make the town 
 a trade centre. It is one of the largest fur markets 
 in the world, besides having trade in cloth, linen, 
 glass, and many other things. 
 
 From Leipsig the allies fell back to Dresden, and 
 from Dresden they still fell back to Bautzen, a busy 
 little town upon the Spree. Here, upon the wooded 
 hills above the Spree, they took their stand, and 
 here another battle was fought. 
 
 For two days this battle lasted—two beautiful 
 spring days— and again the bloodshed was terrible. 
 Again the allies drew back, but they went calmly 
 and coolly; there was no flight, no disorder; they 
 
Napoleon's Last Great Victory 193 
 
 lost neither guns nor men. " What," cried Napoleon, 
 "all that bloodshed, and no results! Not a gun, 
 not a prisoner! These people will not leave me 
 a nail." 
 
 At last, after these two uncertain victories, if 
 victories they could be called, Napoleon agreed to 
 a truce, which was signed on 4th June 1813. Both 
 sides wanted time to make new plans, and to get 
 their armies into better order. A Peace Congress 
 now began at Prague, the capital of Bohemia, which 
 is a country of hills and valleys. Prague is full of 
 old houses and monuments, and its university is 
 the oldest of German-speaking universities. It is 
 a city of the past, but a city of the present too. 
 It is near a field of iron ore, and also near the 
 chief coalfield of Bohemia, and has manufactures 
 of machinery and other things. 
 
 But the Peace Congress which now sat here was 
 of little use ; for Napoleon was not willing to give 
 up the smallest part of his conquests. And after 
 nine weeks' truce, war broke out again, with this 
 difference, that Austria had joined the allies, and 
 Napoleon had another foe to fight. 
 
 Napoleon had spent the time of the truce drilling 
 and perfecting his army. Now his forces lay at 
 Buntzlau in Silesia ; at Zittau, a linen manufacturing 
 town on the borders of Bohemia; at Pirna, which 
 guards the chief pass from Bohemia; at Leipsig; 
 and at Dresden. 
 
 If you look on the map you will see that the 
 
194 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 army thus formed a circle round Dresden. And at 
 Dresden, in the centre of the circle, was Napoleon. 
 
 In a larger circle, facing the French, lay the 
 armies of the allies, at Prague, at Berlin, and at 
 Breslau. Upon this mighty chess-board the men 
 now moved. 
 
 At first the allies were successful. Twice the 
 French were defeated. Then the fight closed round 
 Dresden. Here there was a two days' battle, fought 
 in dashing rain, on fields of mud. Such torrents 
 of rain poured upon the men that both they and 
 their weapons were soaked. Guns became useless. 
 It was a hand-to-hand fight with sword and 
 bayonet. It ended in victory to the French. It 
 was Napoleon's last great victory. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 A LAST GOOD-BYE 
 
 While Napoleon had been winning the battle of 
 Dresden, Bliicher had defeated the French not far 
 from Liegnitz, on the Katzbach, a tributary of the 
 Oder. It was at this battle that Bliicher got the 
 name "Marshal Forwards" by which his men loved 
 to call him. He waited steadily until a good many 
 Frenchmen had crossed the river, then he said 
 " Now I have enough Frenchmen on this side. Now 
 Forwards ! " The battle was won and Bliicher earned 
 a new name. 
 
 Three days after Katzbach, when the French were 
 
A Last Good-bye 195 
 
 pursuing the allies, who were falling back from 
 Dresden to Prague, they were cut to pieces at Kulm, 
 in Bohemia. A week later Marshal Ney was de- 
 feated at Dennewitz, near the little town of Juterbog. 
 Thus in a fortnight Napoleon had gained one battle 
 and his generals had lost five. 
 
 The days when by one victory he could conquer 
 a kingdom were over. "The chess-board is very 
 confused," said Napoleon. 
 
 For the rest of the month the Emperor moved 
 restlessly about, now into Bohemia, now into Silesia, 
 at length to Leipsig. And it was round that town 
 that the last battle of the campaign was fought — the 
 Battle of the Nations it has been called. 
 
 On the i6th of October the battle began. On the 
 19th Napoleon and his beaten army were streaming 
 across the Elbe, leaving behind them thousands 
 dead, thousands more prisoners, besides hundreds 
 of cannon, stores, and ammunition, and, greatest of 
 all, a mighty empire shattered and crumbling into 
 dust. It was just a year since the Grand Army had 
 begun its fearful march from Moscow. 
 
 Without an army Napoleon Could not hold his 
 vast conquests. Without an army he could only be 
 King of the French, and of all his great forces only 
 about forty thousand men hurried towards the 
 borders of France. 
 
 Napoleon marched by Erfurt, where a few years 
 before he had been surrounded by such splendour. 
 At Hanau, a quaint little town famous for its gold 
 
196 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 and silver work and diamond-cutting, the Austrians 
 barred the path. But Napoleon cut his way through, 
 and reached Frankfurt-on-Main, one of the important 
 commercial cities of Germany, sheltered by sunny 
 vine-clad hills, and the centre of many railroads lead- 
 ing out to all parts. At last at Mainz, where the 
 Rhine and the Main join. Napoleon crossed the 
 Rhine, and was once more in his own land. 
 
 And when the pursuing Germans reached the 
 Rhine, and saw it wind glittering and beautiful 
 before them, between its vine-clad hills, they raised a 
 cry of joy, " The Rhine ! the Rhine ! " And falling 
 upon their knees, they thanked God that the invaders 
 had been driven beyond the river, and that at last 
 their country was their own again. 
 
 Although the Rhine rises in Switzerland, and 
 reaches the sea through Holland, it is the greatest 
 of German rivers. "Father Rhine," the Germans 
 call it. It is navigable almost from the borders of 
 Switzerland to its mouth, but it is most important 
 below Mannheim. By means of canals it is con- 
 nected with many other rivers — the Rhone, Sa6ne, 
 Scheldt, Meuse, and Danube. It serves as a great 
 highway of commerce, helping, among other things, 
 to spread abroad the coal and iron of which, next 
 to Great Britain, Germany produces the most in 
 Europe. 
 
 The beauty of the Rhine, its vine-clad hills topped 
 with grey old castles in every stage of ruin, brings 
 many visitors every year, These vine-clad hills 
 
A Last Good-bye 197 
 
 produce, too, many famous white wines. Sheltered 
 by the Vosges on one side and by the Schwartzwald 
 on the other, the Rhine valley from Basel to Mainz is 
 warmer and drier than many parts of Germany. 
 But perhaps the best wine-growing districts are 
 from Mainz to Bonn. 
 
 All over Europe the nations now began to throw 
 off French yoke. The Dutch and Germans tore the 
 tricolour down, and once more their own standards 
 floated out on the breeze. Everywhere the German 
 fortresses which were held by French soldiers sur- 
 rendered or were taken. 
 
 On the 9th of November Napoleon reached Paris, 
 and here the allies sent to him conditions of peace. 
 Much that he had conquered was to be given back, 
 but not all. The Rhine was still to be the boundary 
 of France. Belgium, Savoy, and Nice also were left 
 to him. But Napoleon did not yet believe in his 
 defeat. He would not give up any of his conquests. 
 So the allies marched into France, and another war 
 began. 
 
 The allies fought, not with France, they said, but 
 with Napoleon. " We thought to find peace before 
 we touched your borders; now we come to find it 
 here." 
 
 Many of the people of France had been weary of 
 Napoleon and his wars. But now that the foe had 
 marched into their beloved land, they rose to defend 
 it. Napoleon once more prepared to take the field. 
 
 Qn Sunday, 23rd January, he held a last and 
 
198 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 splendid reception in the palace of the Tuileries. 
 When the courtiers were gathered^ Napoleon walked 
 into the hall with the Empress Marie Louise and his 
 little son, now just three years old. Holding one by 
 either hand, he turned to his court. "Gentlemen," 
 he said, " France is invaded. I go to put myself at 
 the head of the army. I leave to you that which 
 I hold dearest— my wife and son." 
 
 Two days later Napoleon said good-bye to Marie 
 Louise. They never saw each other again, for 
 when Napoleon returned to Paris his power was 
 broken, and Marie Louise refused to share the 
 fortunes of a fallen King. 
 
 CHAPTER LI 
 
 THE EMPEROR OF ELBA 
 
 At Brienne, where Napoleon had fought with 
 snowballs in his boyish days, he now fought with 
 more deadly weapons. At first he was successful, 
 then he lost. Then in four days, with his old 
 quickness, he won four victories, at Champaubert, 
 Montmirail, Chateau-Thierry, and Vauchamps. 
 
 Never perhaps in all his triumphant campaigns 
 had Napoleon shown more his great genius as a 
 soldier. Nearly always he had fought against 
 armies smaller in numbers or less well drilled 
 than his own. Now he had to fight against far 
 greater numbers, and his soldiers were for the most 
 part young and untrained— " Marie Louises" they 
 
The Emperor of Elba 199 
 
 were called, from the name of the Empress. Yet still 
 Napoleon wrung victories and triumphs from the foe. 
 
 But at last, after the war had been flung this 
 way and that, after marches and counter-marches, 
 after taking of towns and burning of villages, until 
 Marne, Aube, and Aisne, some of the fairest pro- 
 vinces of France, had become a desert, the allies 
 began to march on Paris. 
 
 Round that fair city, which never since the days 
 of the Maid of Orleans had heard the shouts of 
 a foreign foe, the horrors of war raged. For one 
 long day Prussians filled with bitter hate against 
 their conqueror, half-savage Russians, Austrians, 
 Dutch, people of every country which Napoleon 
 had enslaved, surged in a red circle of fire and 
 death about the city. Then it yielded. 
 
 On the 31st of March 1814 the Emperor of Russia 
 and the King of Prussia rode side by side into the 
 city, and passed through the "streets filled with 
 people, some sullen and angry, others rejoicing as 
 at a great deliverance, and shouting, "Long live 
 the Emperor Alexander! Long live the King of 
 Prussia 1 " 
 
 Marie Louise had already fled, taking her little 
 son with her. Napoleon, hurrying from the battle- 
 fields of Champagne, reached Foiitainebleau, to hear 
 that the fight was over. 
 
 " On to Paris ! " he cried. 
 
 "Sire, it is too late," replied an officer. "Paris 
 has yielded." 
 
200 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 Napoleon had been Emperor of half Europe. 
 He had been a king of kings, making and un- 
 making them at will. In a few years he had built 
 up his mighty empire. In a few months he had 
 lost it bit by bit, until now not even his own 
 capital remained to him. Thefe the allies ruled, 
 and on the 2nd April 1814 the Senate declared that 
 Napoleon had ceased to reign. 
 
 But still Napoleon did not believe that all was 
 lost. At Fontainebleau he reviewed his troops. 
 His Old Guard, men who had been with him 
 through every campaign, were still eager to fight 
 for him. "To Paris! to Paris!" they shouted. 
 
 But the officers were weary of it all. "We have 
 had enough of war," said one. " Let us not begin 
 a civil war." 
 
 So at length, seeing no help for it. Napoleon 
 wrote out and signed his abdication— that is, the 
 paper by which he gave up all claim to the crown 
 of France. "The allied Powers having declared 
 that the Emperor Napoleon is the only cause which 
 prevents peace being brought back to Europe, he, 
 faithful to his oaths, is ready to descend from the 
 throne, to leave France, and even give up his life 
 for the good of his country." 
 
 With his own hand Napoleon had placed the 
 crown upon his head; with his own hand he now 
 signed away his power. A few days later the 
 Peninsular War came to an end with the battle of 
 Toulouse, in which the French were defeated. Had 
 
The Emperor of Elba 201 
 
 the armies in Spain only known what was happen- 
 ing in Paris, there would have been no need to 
 fight that battle at all. 
 
 On the 20th of April Napoleon said good-bye to 
 his troops in the courtyard of Fontainebleau. His 
 men loved and admired him still. Tears rolled 
 down their bronzed cheeks, sobs choked them. " I 
 cannot embrace you all," he cried, "but I embrace 
 you in your general." And putting his arms round 
 him, he kissed him. He kissed the standard too, the 
 splendid eagle of France, which had led them so 
 often under burning suns or cloudy skies, through 
 the parching heat of summer or the snows of winter. 
 
 Then the fallen Emperor stepped into his carriage 
 and was whirled away southwards. He was an 
 Emperor still, for the allies allowed him to keep 
 his title. But his empire was only the little island 
 of Elba. 
 
 At first, as Napoleon drove through France, the 
 people cheered him on his way. But as he went 
 farther and farther south, where the people had 
 never loved him, and where they now hated him, 
 he was greeted with curses fierce and loud. The 
 peasants cared little for "glory." They only knew 
 that their sons and brothers and fathers had been 
 taken from them, never to return. They knew that 
 the vineyards were untilled and the fields a barren 
 waste, for the workers lay dead in many a distant 
 land. So they cursed the man whose pride had 
 brought such sorrow and poverty upon them. 
 
202 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 At last the anger and hatred of the people grew 
 so great that Napoleon was forced to disguise him- 
 self as an Austrian officer to save himself from their 
 fury. And thus he fled southwards until he reached 
 the shore, and there set sail for Elba. 
 
 CHAPTER LII 
 CORPORAL VIOLET 
 
 Although the peasants of France had cursed 
 Napoleon as he passed, the people of Elba welcomed 
 him gladly. And here for a little time the great 
 Emperor played at empire. His empire was not 
 more than ninety square miles in extent. Like 
 Corsica, Elba is full of hills, and has a rough, jagged 
 coastline. The soil is fertile enough, but is not 
 greatly cultivated, and the chief industry is mining. 
 The iron mines of Elba are famous, and the ore is 
 so good that it is much used for making Bessemer 
 steel. Bessemer was a man who found out, and 
 gave his name to, a way of changing iron into steel. 
 
 Elba has no coal, so most of the iron is exported 
 to France, Britain, and the United States. There 
 are also marble and alabaster quarries, tin, lead, 
 and silver mines ; but the iron mines are the most 
 important. 
 
 Here Napoleon had his little army of a few hundred 
 men. Here he held court with as great state and 
 ceremony as in the Tuileries, although his palace 
 was little more than an ordinary country-house. 
 
Corporal Violet 203 
 
 Meanwhile the brother of Louis XVI., whom the 
 French had beheaded, was proclaimed King of 
 France. He called himself Louis XVIII., as the 
 little son of Louis XVI. had been called Louis XVII., 
 although he never reigned, but died in prison in 
 i795> while France was still a republic and Napoleon 
 a struggling soldier. 
 
 Louis was old, fat, and feeble. He was fond of 
 eating and drinking, and the people called him, not 
 Louis Dix-huit (i8th), but Louis des huJtres (of the 
 oysters). He was not stupid, but he was not clever 
 enough to rule at such a time, when all France, 
 and indeed all Europe, was turned upside down, 
 and full of discontent, every one struggling for some- 
 thing, they hardly knew what. 
 
 When the French soldiers who had been im- 
 prisoned in German fortresses were set free and 
 came back to France, the discontent grew worse. 
 For they, having spent so many years fighting, could 
 not settle down to a life of peacq. They longed for 
 their great leader again, and he was soon weary of 
 playing at empire in his little island. 
 
 It began to be whispered that the great Emperor 
 was not gone for always. "He will come again with 
 the spring flowers," said his friends. So the violet 
 came to be his emblem. His friends wore violets. 
 Pictures of bunches of violets were sold, in which, 
 if you look carefully enough, you can see among 
 the flowers the faces of Napoleon, of Marie Louise, 
 and of the little King of Ronie. "Do you like 
 
204 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 violets?" people asked each other. If the answer 
 was "Yes," then it was known that person was not 
 a friend; but if the answer was "Ah, well," the 
 person was a friend. So there was much mysterious 
 talk of " Corporal Violet." But all this plotting was 
 very open, and no one paid much attention to it, 
 and nothing would have come of it had Napoleon 
 himself not been weary of his island. 
 
 He had been there just eleven months when he 
 made up his mind once more to try' his fortune. He 
 escaped from Elba easily enough, and landed near 
 Cannes on March ist, 1815. 
 
 Cannes is on the south coast of France, and was 
 easily reached from Elba. It has a mild and dry 
 climate, and, like the places on the Riviera, has 
 become a favourite spot for invalids to pass the 
 winter. 
 
 From Cannes Napoleon marched to Grasse, famous 
 for its acres of flowers, especially roses, which are 
 grown for scent-making. 
 
 Anxiously Napoleon hurried on to Grenoble. This 
 town, lying upon the spurs of the Alps, guarding 
 the routes from the Mont Cenis and the Little St. 
 Bernard, is a very strong position. It is the centre 
 of the French glove trade, and for forty miles around 
 all the villages are engaged in the manufacture. 
 Skins are supplied from the flocks of kids which 
 feed upon the hill slopes around, and many are 
 imported also. 
 
 And here it was that an army was sent to stop 
 
Corporal Violet 2o5 
 
 Napoleon. He already had a little army, for he had 
 brought his soldiers with him from Elba; but few 
 others had joined. Now he advanced against the 
 enemy alone. " Soldiers," he cried, " if there is one 
 amongst you who desires to kill his Emperor, he can 
 do so. Here I am." And he threw back his coat as if 
 awaiting the blow. But not a weapon was raised. 
 Instead, a shout of " Long live the Emperor ! " rang 
 out, and every man marched over to his old leader's 
 side. 
 
 At Lyons the Bourbon generals fled, and Napoleon 
 entered the city in triumph. Ney, one of Napoleon's 
 old generals, whom he had called "the bravest of 
 the brave," marched to stop him, vowing to bring 
 his old master back in an iron cage, like a wild beast. 
 But he had not marched far before he too declared 
 for Napoleon, and at Auxerre joined his army. 
 
 And so, as on and on Napoleon passed, the little 
 man in the big grey coat, which the soldiers knew 
 and loved, drew them to himself. His army grew 
 larger and larger. Men tore the white cockade 
 of the Bourbons from their hats, and trampled 
 it under foot. Once more the tricolour was every- 
 where. 
 
 In the middle of the night King Louis fled from 
 Paris towards Belgium, and at last, on 19th March, 
 Napoleon once more reached Fontainebleau. The 
 next day he entered Paris. 
 
 While the allies were gathered at Vienna trying 
 to bring order into disordered Europe, they had 
 
2o6 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 been suddenly startled by the news that Napoleon 
 had left Elba, and was making his way to Paris. They 
 had not agreed very well, but now this new danger 
 made them forget their quarrels. Quickly they 
 gathered their soldiers, and by June armies were 
 marching against France from all sides. From 
 Russia, Prussia, Sardinia, Austria, from Holland 
 and Belgium and the German states, and, not least, 
 from Britain, came troops. 
 
 But Napoleon did not wait for France to be in- 
 vaded. He marched northward.- He hoped with 
 his usual quick daring to win some splendid battle, 
 and with one stroke shatter the power of the allies, 
 and seat himself again upon the throne of France. 
 
 CHAPTER LIII 
 NAPOLEON'S LAST BATTLE 
 
 It was m Belgium that Napoleon's last great 
 battle was fought. The Duke of Wellington com- 
 manded a great part of the allied troops which 
 were gathered there. Some of these occupied 
 Enghien, Brain le Comte, and Nivelles; others lay 
 at Brussels and Ghent. His cavalry was at Halle, 
 Oudenarde, and Gramont. 
 
 The Prussian troops, led by grim old Bliicher, 
 lay along the banks of the Meuse and the Sambre, 
 occupying Lifege, Givet, Namur, and Charleroi, 
 
 Brussels is the capital of Belgium. But at Ghent 
 there was King Louis, and whether Napoleon would 
 
Napoleon's Last Battle 207 
 
 march on Brussels or on Ghent, or by which route 
 he would come, the allies did not know. 
 
 But at last, on 15th June, Napoleon attacked the 
 Prussians at Charleroi. They fell back to Ligny, 
 and there the next day a stern battle was fought 
 between the French and the Prussians. In the 
 heat and dust of a summer's day, from two o'clock 
 until the sun went down in the darkness and rain 
 of a sudden thunderstorm, the battle raged. Napo- 
 leon won the victory, but lost many men ; and the 
 Prussians and their leader were as defiant as ever. 
 
 At the same time Ney attacked the British, who 
 were now gathered round the farmhouse of Quatre 
 Bras (fours arms), so called because it stands where 
 four roads meet from Charleroi, Brussels, Nivelles, 
 and Namur. Here too the fighting was fierce and 
 terrible, but the French were driven back. Napoleon, 
 however, had done what he had meant to do. He 
 had separated the two armies, and he hoped to be 
 able to beat that under Wellington before Bliicher 
 could come to help him. But Bliicher and Wellington 
 had promised to try to keep together and help 
 each other. 
 
 It was upon the i8th of June, upon the field of 
 Waterloo, that Napoleon made his last stand, fought 
 his last fight— and lost. 
 
 The night had been wet and blustry. In the 
 morning rain still fell, and the fair fields of Waterloo 
 about the farms of La Haye Sainte and Hougoment 
 were sodden and marshy, and it was not until nearly 
 
2o8 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 twelve that the battle began. All day long, under 
 a cloudy, stormy sky, the battle raged. It was a 
 fight of all the nations, and in Wellington's army 
 alone five languages were spoken. 
 
 And while at Waterloo the thunder of war roared 
 and crashed, Bliicher with his Prussians was toiling 
 over rain-soaked roads, his cannon sinking axle- 
 deep in mud, his men splashing and ploughing 
 through deep pools, stumbling wearily onward to 
 join the battle. "We can go no farther," they cried 
 despairingly. 
 
 "We must, my children; I have given my word 
 to Wellington. You would not have me break it," 
 replied Bliicher. So they struggled on, but it was 
 late in the afternoon before they reached the battle- 
 field. 
 
 The end of the long struggle was now near. 
 Napoleon ordered his Old Guard, which he had 
 kept in reserve, to advance. But when he saw them 
 bend and then break and scatter before the British 
 charge, he turned deadly pale. "Why, they are 
 in confusion ! " he cried, hardly able to believe it 
 possible. " All is lost. Let us save ourselves." 
 
 In utter rout and panic the French fled from 
 the field. The wearied British soldiers left the 
 pursuit to the Prussians. Under the light of the 
 moon and till the dawning of the day the chase 
 went on. For many miles the roads were ghastly 
 and horrible. Again and again the French tried to 
 take refuge in the villages by the way. Again and 
 

 3 A"«u 
 
 .^n^ 
 
 r -' 
 
Napoleon's Last Battle 209 
 
 again they were driven forth, fleeing before the 
 terrible hurrah of the exultarft Prussians, who 
 slaughtered them without mercy. 
 
 To Charleroi, to Philippeville, and on to Paris 
 fled Napoleon, tears of anger and despair running 
 down his pale cheeks. On the night of the 20th of 
 June he reached Paris. 
 
 On the 19th the capital had been rejoicing over 
 the victory of Ligny. On the 21st came the fearful 
 news that the Emperor had returned alone, and 
 that the great army of France was no more. 
 
 And now Napoleon learned that, as he was no 
 longer great and successful, the people of Paris did 
 not want him. Of the soldiers vvho adored him few 
 were left. So once more he abdicated. His second 
 reign, which had lasted only a hundred days, was over. 
 
 By his own people Napoleon was ordered to leave 
 Paris. By his own people he was hurried south- 
 ward to Rochefort, the great arsenal and naval port 
 of southern France. 
 
 He was ordered to leave France, but British men- 
 of-war were watching every port, and escape was 
 impossible. So at last he gave himself up to the 
 commander of the Bellerophon, and was taken to 
 England. To the Prince Regent he wrote : " I come 
 to seat myself on the hearth of the British people. 
 I put myself under the protection of their laws, 
 which I claim from your Royal Highness as the 
 most powerful, the most constant, and the most 
 generous of my enemies." 
 
210 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 Sadly Napoleon watched the shores of France 
 disappear. He never set foot in France again, 
 never more savr its sunny shores. He was only 
 forty-five, but his life of splendour and excitement 
 was done. 
 
 It had been Napoleon's dream to conquer Britain, 
 and add these islands to his empire. Now as a 
 fugitive he was not even allowed to land there. He 
 was kept on the Bellerophon until a letter was 
 brought to him which told him that "General 
 Bonaparte" was to be sent to St. Helena, a little 
 island in the South Atlantic. 
 
 CHAPTER LIV 
 
 THE END 
 
 And now the great Emperor who had ruled over 
 millions of people was once more only General 
 Bonaparte. Perhaps it would have been better had 
 the British left him his title. But they had never 
 acknowledged him as Emperor, and it seemed too 
 late to begin now. It would have been only an 
 empty title, for now at St. Helena Napoleon was 
 not free, as he had been at Elba. 
 
 At Elba, small though his empire was. Napoleon 
 was still a ruler. He could still make laws and 
 levy taxes, was still surrounded by an army and 
 a court. At St. Helena he was a prisoner, and a 
 prisoner in a lonely island 2000 leagues from Europe, 
 900 leagues from the nearest continent. 
 
The End 211 
 
 St. Helena is very small, not more than twenty- 
 one miles all round, and from a distance it looks 
 like a shapeless mass of black rock rising out of 
 the sea, and topped by a cone. This is Diana Peak, 
 the highest point in the island. It is part of an old 
 volcano, and the soil is chiefly lava, but, especially 
 upon the western side, the island is fertile, and 
 side by side plants of both tropical and temperate 
 climates grow. Here may be found apples and 
 tea, breadfruit, plums, nutmegs, and gooseberries, 
 all within the space of a few miles. Many of the 
 slopes, too, are a blaze of yellow broom in spring- 
 time. 
 
 At James Town, where Napoleon landed, there is 
 a; safe harbour, protected by natural rocks of lava. 
 It is a British coaling-station, and is still kept forti- 
 fied. But to Napoleon it seemed a hateful place. 
 And little wonder. After his life of splendour and 
 excitement, it was terrible to be shut away in this 
 lonely island in the middle of the wide ocean. Yet 
 it was only in such a lonely place that Napoleon 
 could be allowed any freedom at all. In Europe 
 he would have been shut up in some fortress, or, 
 if Bliicher had had his way, he would have been put 
 to death. 
 
 At St. Helena he had a comfortable house, ;£i2,ooo 
 a year to spend, he had his own servants and officers 
 about him, and twelve miles of country through which 
 he might wander at will, without being watched. Yet 
 he was miserable. It was little wonder. He who 
 
212 Through Europe with Napoleon 
 
 had played with kings and kingdoms, making and 
 unmaking them, moving them here and there at 
 will, like chessmen on a board, had now nothing 
 to do. 
 
 He who had been dreaded by half the world was 
 now of no importance. It mattered not whether 
 he lived or died. So the dreary years dragged on 
 in petty quarrels about petty things, in reading, 
 writing, and chess-playing. 
 
 Then after five years the great conqueror lay 
 dying. As he lay, already muttering and un- 
 conscious, a great storm swept the island. It 
 dashed the waves against the rocky shore ; it bent, 
 broke, and uprooted the willows about his house. 
 But Napoleon lay unheeding it; his wandering 
 mind was dreaming of other days. " France — army 
 —Josephine," he muttered. Then he lay still. 
 
 The wind too sank to rest, and when the golden 
 sun of May, shining once more over calm blue 
 waters, slid beneath the waves, the restless, stormy 
 spirit passed with it. 
 
 A few days later, followed reverently by those 
 few of his friends who had clung to him to the 
 last, sharing his lonely exile, he was laid to rest, 
 under the willow trees where he had often sat. 
 British soldiers carried the coffin, upon which was 
 laid the sword and cloak he had worn at Marengo, 
 British soldiers fired a volley and lowered their 
 banners in salute over the grave of their great enemy. 
 And there they left him in a nameless tomb. 
 
The End 213 
 
 Eighteen years later, in the darkness of an 
 October midnight, by the faint light of lanterns, 
 the coffin was once more dug up and carried away 
 to France, with the permission of the British 
 Government. 
 
 At the Hotel des Invalides in Paris it was received 
 by the nobles and the King of France, who, Bourbon 
 though he was, desired to do honour to the great 
 Emperor dead. "Sire, I present the body of the 
 Emperor Napoleon," said the Prince de Joinville, 
 who had brought it from St. Helena. 
 
 " I receive it in the name of France," replied the 
 King. 
 
 So for the last time the greatest soldier the world 
 has ever seen was laid to rest beside the Seine, 
 among his people, as he himself had wished. 
 
 THE END 
 
printed by Kallantyne, Hanson ^ Co. 
 Edinburgh Csf Lgndon 
 
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