comte Jean Rapp

“ I left Napoleon to make known to the Prince of Neuchâtel and the Duke de Vicenze the disgrace with which Junot was threatened. "I am afflicted," said the Prince to me, "to see his troops taken from him; but I cannot but own that he has caused the failure of one of the finest operations of the campaign. See on what the success of war depends; on the forgetfulness, on the absence of a moment: you do not seize the occasion in its flight, it disappears, and returns no more. No one has more courage or more ability. He adds to the qualities of the soldier the most extensive knowledge ”

“ Let the proclamation be read."
"Soldiers!
"This is the battle that you have so long wished for! Henceforth victory depends on you; we want her; she will give us abundance of good winter-quarters, and a quiet return to our country. Behave yourselves as at Austerlitz, at Friedland, at Witepsk, at Smolensko; and let the remotest posterity quote your conduct on this day, and let it be said of you, 'he was at that great battle under the walls of Moscow.'"
The acclamations redoubled, the troops were incessantly demanding to fight, the action soon began. ”

“ Prussia was no longer the valiant nation which entertained the idea of driving us back upon the Rhine. A reverse of fortune had overthrown her; a single blow had levelled her with the dust. She flew to meet defeat: she yielded, and delivered herself up. Never was a nation laid so low. Her fall was about to be completed: all our corps were preparing to march on Berlin, and to take possession of the city. Napoleon, however, reserved that honour for the corps which had most contributed to the victory; namely, that commanded by Davoust. ”

“ Let us, then, march upon them, since forbearance will not check their infatuation. Let the Prussian army experience the fate which it shared fourteen years ago. Let us teach them that if it is easy to obtain an increase of territory and power with the friendship of the great people, their enmity (which can only be provoked by the neglect of prudence and reason) is more terrible than the storms of the ocean. ”

“ Masses of infantry were ready to give the assault as soon as the palisadoes should be destroyed; three bomb-vessels and forty gun-boats pour in a dreadful fire upon Newfahrwasser. Danger, far from dejecting, only animates our soldiers; they swear they will conquer, they swear they will punish the assailants. The troops of the line keep close to the cannon, the artillery points them, as at a review; they damage and dismast a crowd of gun-boats. ”

“ They were on the point of withdrawing, when one of them spoke: 'General', he said, 'we have learned that the other corps of the army have been paid; our soldiers also are resolved to be paid; they are in a state of revolt, but they obey us. We only ask what is due to us, the slight indemnification for so much blood and so many wounds; we only ask for what is indispensable to enable us to perform our march and withdraw to our homes. The troops will not return to order, it is a thing firmly resolved on, until every one be paid.'—'There is not enough money in the chest,' replied the General. ”

“ Napoleon, his guard, Ney, Oudinot, and all the troops which these Marshals retained, had passed. The Admiral, confused by having been duped, forgot the marshes of Lemblin. The bridge, which extended a league and a quarter over this swampy ground, was our only escape; if it had been destroyed, he would have had our fate still in his hands: but Witgenstein commenced the firing on the left bank; he occupied the right; his soldiers were wallowing in plenty; a handful of men, sinking under the burthen of a wretched life, might have been trampled under foot. ”

“ Our frontier roads and towns are filled with conscripts, who are burning with eagerness to march in your footsteps. We will not again be the dupes of a treacherous peace. We will not lay down our arms until we compel the English, those eternal enemies of France, to renounce their plan of disturbing the Continent, and to relinquish the tyranny which they maintain on the seas.
"Soldiers! I cannot better express the sentiments I entertain for you, than by assuring you that I bear in my heart the love which you daily evince for me." ”

“ Say, Sire, Let the kingdom of Poland exist! and the decree will be to the world equivalent to the reality. We are sixteen millions of Poles, among whom there is not one whose blood, arms, and fortune, are not devoted to your Majesty: every sacrifice will appear to us light, if it has for its object the reestablishment of our native country. From the Dwina to the Dniester, from the Borysthenes to the Oder, one word only from your Majesty will command every arm, every effort, every heart. ”

“ The cavalry, who awaited us, was repulsed by the same shock; they fled in disorder, and we, as well as the enemy, trampled over the bodies of our troops, whose squares had been penetrated. The men who had escaped being wounded were rallied. A squadron of horse grenadiers arrived to reinforce me; and I was enabled to receive the reserves, who came up in aid of the Russian guard. We resumed the attack, which was maintained with terrible fury. The infantry dared not venture to fire; all was confusion; we fought man to man. Finally, the intrepidity of our troops triumphed over every obstacle. ”

“ From the troops, the epidemic had passed to the inhabitants: it committed among them the most dreadful ravages; no age nor sex was spared; those who were afflicted by poverty, and those who were [Pg 259] surrounded by ease and luxury, were alike its prey. All gave way, all perished; the young, first entering on the path of life—the old, whose career was nearly run. Grief reigned in every family; consternation was in every breast. Dantzic, at other times so lively, now plunged in a melancholy silence, only offered in every direction to the saddened eye the pomp and processions of funerals. ”

“ It is in this belief that I wish to fight, conquer, and die, certain that my dying eyes will see victory. Soldiers, do your duty: think on the sacrifice of your cities in flames, and on your children, who implore your protection; think on your Emperor, your lord, who considers you as the nerve of his power, and to-morrow, before the sun shall have gone down, you will have traced your faith and your fidelity on your country's soil with the blood of the aggressor and his warriors. ”

“ Major Legros attacks the wood; two companies of grenadiers march on the village; the troops meet each other, they charge, they drive, they overthrow: the struggle becomes frightful. Captain Capgrau seizes by the hair a Prussian officer: whilst he throws him on the ground, he himself is on the point of being killed; a soldier already touches him with his bayonet. Lieutenant Sabatier turns aside the blow, closes on the Cossack, and runs him through with his sabre; but at the moment he saves his chief, he receives in the throat a wound which compels him to quit the field of battle. ”

“ Napoleon was amused with these jokes, and he smiled whenever allusion was made to the reluctance of the army to cross the Vistula. Some Generals augured unfavourably of the disposition of the troops, and expressed their regret to find that disgust had succeeded enthusiasm. "Have you spoken to them of the enemy?" said the Emperor; "are they without enthusiasm when they face him?" Those men, said he to me afterwards, know not how to appreciate my troops. They do not know that they burn with ardour whenever the Russians and victory are spoken of: I will rouse them. ”

“ But [Pg 231] we were harassed by troops animated by abundance, and by hope of plunder. At every step we were obliged to halt, and fight; we slackened our march over a wasted country, which we should have gone over with the greatest rapidity. Cold, hunger, the Cossacks,—every scourge was let loose upon us. The army was sinking under the weight of its misfortunes; the road was strewed with the dead: our sufferings exceeded imagination. How many sick and wounded generals did I meet in this terrible retreat, whom I believed that I should never again see! ”

“ It was rather late to reply to overtures which had been so ill received. "It would have been better," said Napoleon, "had he explained himself two days sooner; but no matter, I am willing to accede to any thing that is compatible with the dignity and interests of France. I will send Duroc to the King of Prussia. But there is something still more urgent yet. Duroc, set out immediately. Proceed to Nauenburgh, to Dessau, wherever we have wounded troops. See that they want for nothing: visit them for me, each man individually. Give them all the consolation their situation requires. ”

“ When we reached Haguenau, the ... regiment, formerly so illustrious, loudly proclaimed the design of quitting the army, and of repairing with its artillery into the mountains. The cannon were already harnessed, and one battalion had taken up its arms. I was informed of it; I rushed to the spot; I took in my hand the eagle of the rebels, and placing myself in the midst of them, "Soldiers," I cried, "I learn that it is proposed among you to desert us. In an hour's time we shall fight; do you wish the Austrians to think that you have fled from the field of honour? ”

“ The indignant universe would answer us—every state, every people would tell us that it thought that it saw its tomb open by the side of that of Poland; and that in the audacious profanation of the laws on which all societies alike repose, in the insulting contempt which was manifested for them to accomplish our ruin, the world might think itself put in subjection to the temporary purposes of monarchs, and that now it would have no other law. ”

“ Napoleon next proceeded to the camp, and reviewed the third corps; and every individual who had particularly distinguished himself was rewarded, either by promotion or by a decoration. The generals, officers, and subalterns, were assembled round the Emperor. "I wished to call you together," said he "in order to express my satisfaction of your brilliant conduct in the battle of the 14th. I lost many brave men, whom I looked upon as my sons; I deeply regret them; but, after all, they fell on the field of glory—they perished like true soldiers! ”

“ I take the liberty of addressing your Excellency, to intreat your intercession with his Majesty the Emperor of France and King of Italy, that he may graciously order passports to be granted for myself, the two officers my sons, and the rest of my family, to enable us to retire to the environs of Berlin, or into Pomerania, to one of my estates. Having lost my all by the chances of war, I find it impossible to support the expenses attending a residence in a city where every thing is so enormously dear as in Hamburgh. ”

“ We left behind a few hundreds of men, whom wounds and exhaustion had put out of a condition to follow. Poor creatures! they complained, they groaned, and called for death; it was a heart-rending sight; but what could we do. Every one was bending under the burthen of life, and supported it with difficulty; no one had sufficient strength to share it with others. The Russians pursued us, they wished to pass by main force. Ney received them with that vigour, that impetuosity, which he always displayed in his attacks: they were repulsed, and the bridge became a prey to the flames. ”

“ Napoleon attached but little importance to mere courage, which he regarded as an ordinary kind of merit, common to all Frenchmen: he set a higher value on intrepidity; and he was willing to pardon every fault in an intrepid soldier. When any one solicited a favour, either at an audience or a review, he never failed to enquire whether he had been wounded. He declared that every wound was a quarter of nobility. ”

“ But these arrangements did not prevent the engagement of which Napoleon feared the issue. Four thousand French were attacked by the whole of the enemy's force; but skill, courage, and the necessity of conquering, made amends for our inferiority of numbers: the Russians were driven back. The intelligence of this astonishing victory set our whole force in motion: the Emperor pursued his march with even more eagerness than he had before evinced in suspending it. ”

“ Prussia had thrown aside the mask; she made war against us by insurrection. This event could not be hidden from the soldiers, the Russians had too great an interest in informing them of it. I consequently threw no obstacle in the way of its being made known. Immediately attempts to seduce the soldiers again began to be resorted to. The enemy thought that the confidence and attachment of our troops were shaken. The disproportion between the means of attack and defence, money, promises, every thing was brought into play to engage them to desert. ”

“ The troops used their chief roughly to compel him to levy contributions, but they did not entertain any suspicion against him. His reputation as a man of honour remained unblemished, and his integrity was no more doubted by them than his courage. Such open provocations to murder excited distrust, and the soldiers became more circumspect. Some, however, propagated alarms, and wished that his person should be secured; but the army had the good sense to repel suggestions the complete perfidiousness of which it did not perhaps at first perceive. ”

“ What! have we braved the inclemency of the seasons, the ocean and the desert, have we subdued Europe often united against us; have we extended our glory from East to West, only to return now, like deserters, after having abandoned our allies, and to be told that the French Eagle has fled in dismay before the Prussians. ”

“ The King of Naples endeavoured to extenuate his fault: the troops, the obstacles, all the customary commonplaces were employed. Berthier, who had always loved the Duke, interested himself for him; Caulincourt did the same. Every one pleaded to the utmost in favour of a brave man who could be reproached with nothing but a moment of forgetfulness. But the advantages we had lost were too great. Napoleon sent for me. "Junot has just lost for ever his Marshal's staff. I give you the command of the Westphalian corps: you speak their language, you will show them an example, you will make them fight." ”

“ It was to men so fatigued with fighting and suffering, that the Russians promised repose and abundance. Every attempt to decoy them was used. Gold, silver, threats, the anger of their sovereigns, the voice of their country, were offered and invoked. The Duke assisted his emissaries;—he wrote, intreated, protested, assailed officers, and soldiers. Desertion began to prevail among our foreign troops, they even refused to do any duty. The Bavarians, the Poles themselves, too well acquainted with our misfortunes, feared to make a sacrilegious use of their arms, and remained in a state of inaction. ”

“ If, in spite of all my observations, which I have had formally certified by my Generals, commanders of corps, you do not think fit to wait patiently till the affair of the legion of Lutzow, which has caused the temporary cessation of the revictualling of Dantzic, (of which the arrears, by the way, are only suspended,) and of the other fortresses, is amicably settled, and you attack my forces, I will prove to you that my brave Russians do not stand in dread of the menaces of any one, and that they are moreover ready to shed their blood for the cause of all sovereigns and all nations. ”