Claude-Jacques Berthier

“ As for Berthier, since you have been with me, you see what he is—he is a blockhead. Yet it is he who does it all; it is he who gathers a great part of the glory of the army of Italy." I told him that this erroneous opinion could not last long; that each person would be allowed his merit, and that at least posterity would judge rightly. This observation seemed to please him.
Berthier was a man full of honour, courage, and probity, and exceedingly regular in the performance of his duties. Bonaparte's attachment to him arose more from habit than liking. ”

“ He who is not in this indifference, and still prays to God to enlighten him on the choice of a state of life, and who, instead of conforming to God's will, rather asks God to conform to him, resembles a pilot that pretends to wish his vessel to advance, yet in reality does not want it to stir : he first throws out his anchor, and then unfurls his sails. God does not shed his light on souls thus disposed. ”

“ The instant he had read it, he flew into the arms of Berthier, exclaiming: “My friend, I am betrayed; are you among the number of conspirators? Jourdan, Lasnes, Mortier, Bessieres, St. Cyr, are you also forsaking your friend and benefactor?” They all instantly encompassed him, begging that he would calm himself; that they all were what they always had been, dutiful and faithful subjects. “But read this paper from my prefect, Salmatoris; he says that if I move a step I may cease to live, as the assassins are near me, as well as before me.” ”

“ Berthier heaved a sigh of relief and Bertrand hurried out to unfasten the horses.
"You are impatient, Prince," said the Emperor almost gaily, as he strode with a firm step to the door. "You are afraid those cursed Prussians will put the Corsican ogre into a cage and send him at once to His Victorious Bourbon Majesty King Louis XVIII. Not so, my good Berthier, not so. The Star of my Destiny has not yet declined. I've done all the thinking I wanted to do. Now we'll to Genappe, where we'll rally the remnants of our army and then quietly await de Marmont's return with the millions which we want. ”

“ Madame Deschwanden justly argued, that, unless Berthier were a fool, he would know very well that an attempt at intervention with the queen must fail. 'But then,' she added, shrugging her shoulders, 'he may be a fool—most men are fools!'
Percenez with natural good taste said nothing of the Intendant's pursuit of the girl, and the reason he had formed, on that account, of desiring to place her in a security from further annoyance, now that Berthier knew she was in Paris, and was aware, or could inform himself at any moment, where she was staying. ”

“ But there was really no place to put them. “Those poor young men are interesting and in despair.” They had, nevertheless, to be sent back, but managed to join the army later, and so it was that Alexander Berthier began in the Yorktown campaign a military career which he was to end as marshal of France, and Prince of Wagram and Neufchâtel. ”

“ But if a young man who is under no obligation from accidental causes to follow a particular state, and who feels no supernatural leaning for the state of perfection, has a right intention, and refers to God the choice which he is about to make of some state belonging to the Christian life, he falls evidently under the case spoken of by a Lapide when he says : " God leaves many entirely free to choose their state of life : In multorum arbitrio omnino relinquit ut eligant vel matrimonium vel coelibatum." ”

“ At nightfall, the chief returned weary and depressed to the windmill, and instructed Berthier to order the retreat. Then, beside a watch-fire, he sank down on a bench into a deep slumber, while his generals looked on in mournful silence. All around them there surged in the darkness the last cries of battle, the groans of the wounded, and the dull rumble of a retreating host. After a quarter of an hour he awoke with a start and threw an astonished look on his staff; then, recollecting himself, he bade an officer repair to the King of Saxony and tell him the state of affairs. ”

“ Helena, forgetting his old opinions, "Berthier has his talents, activity, courage, character—all in his favour." Forgetting that he himself had taught Berthier to be imperious, he derided his rather pompous manner, saying, "Nothing is so imperious as weakness which feels itself supported by strength. Look at women." Berthier, with his admirably lucid mind, great physique, methodical powers and ambition, would have made his name in any profession. He undoubtedly chose to be second to Napoleon ”

“ The courier whom Berthier had sent to Milan has just arrived. You have had no time to write to me; that I can understand very well. In the midst of pleasures and amusements it would have been too much for you to make the smallest sacrifice for me. Berthier has shown me the letter you wrote to him. It is not my purpose to trouble you in your arrangements or in the festivities which you are enjoying; I am not worth the trouble; the happiness or the misery of a man you love no longer has not the right to interest you. ”

“ Berthelot, Pierre Eugène, a French chemist, born at Paris; professor in the College of France; distinguished for his researches in organic chemistry, and his attempt to produce organic compounds; the dyeing trade owes much to his discoveries in the extraction of dyes from coal-tar; he laid the foundation of thermo-chemistry; b. 1827.
Berthier, Alexandre, prince of Wagram and marshal of France, born at Versailles; served with Lafayette in the American war, and rose to distinction in the Revolution; became head of Napoleon's staff, and his companion in all his expeditions ”

“ Are we to infer from this that, when God does not call a soul to one state more than to another, she may lightly and giddily embrace the state which flatters most the tendencies of nature? By no means. In all his actions man should be guided by reason ; and to put this reason aside where there is question of taking a determination on which depends the happiness of a whole life, would be the strangest and most fatal blindness. The Christian in all his works must follow the guidance of faith : and is the light of faith ever more necessary to him than in the choice of a state of life ? ”

“ Berthier replied that "the orders of the Emperor were positive, and left no point in dispute. When the Emperor delegated his authority obedience became a duty; however great might be the pride of the Dukes of Elchingen and Abrantès, they had enough justice to understand that their swords were not in the same line as the sword of the conqueror of Zurich." Still, the Prince foresaw the future, and appealed to the Emperor himself, but the Emperor was obdurate. "You are out of humour to-day, my dear Masséna. You see everything black, yourself and your surroundings. ”

“ She had been wronged by the chief-clerk in her father's office. This young man died suddenly, leaving her enceinte. She then espoused the second clerk, Berthier, in 1837, after having been on the point of accepting Lousteau. Berthier was cognizant of all the head-clerk's doings. In this affair both acted for a common interest. The marriage was measurably happy. Madame Berthier was so grateful to her husband that she made herself his slave. ”

“ So well had Berthier planned and executed this agreeable surprise for the disconsolate princess, whom he had found weeping over all that had been endeared to her by the fondest associations, that she never suspected his design in delaying their departure from Vienna.
"Come in, Berthier," said the emperor, opening a side door, "and let the empress thank you. There, Louisa, thank him—embrace him who planned this pleasure for you."
How frequently genius effects great ends by the simplest means! It is most interesting to see the greatest difficulties give way before its magic influence. ”

“ Directly it was known in Paris that Berthier had been seen at Senlis, his wife started in her light carriage, taking with her the two hounds, Pigeon and Poulet, and accompanied by one of the electors, M. de la Rivière.
At Senlis it was reported that Berthier had been seen in the neighbourhood of Compiègne. At the tavern where he supped, Pierre and Jean and the hostess described his person to the elector.
'It is he,' cried madame; 'we are on the track. ”

“ To be content ever to play an inferior part, to see all honour and renown fall to the share of another, yet loyally to efface self and work for the glory of a friend, denotes a sterling character and an inflexibility of purpose with which few can claim to be endowed. Nobody doubts that, if it had not been for Napoleon, Berthier, good business man as he was, could never have risen to the fame he attained; still it is often forgotten that without this admirable servant it is more than doubtful if the great Emperor could have achieved all his most splendid success. ”

“ In 1796 he was promoted to serve as a general of division under Bonaparte in Italy, where he distinguished himself so much that when, in 1798, General Berthier was ordered to accompany the army of the East to Egypt, he succeeded him as commander-in-chief of our troops in the temporary Roman Republic. ”

“ Like Berthier's method, Thompson's apparatus is not without its disadvantages, and the purpose of this paper is to set these forth, as well as to suggest a uniform method of working by means of which the great and irreconcilable differences in the results obtained by some chemists might be overcome. It has already been observed that a coal rich in hydrogen shows a low heating power by Berthier's method, and it will become evident on further reflection that the higher the percentage of carbon the greater will be the indicated calorific power. ”

“ Even when secondary views, such as hope of temporal advantages, are connected with the supernatural motive, the vocation is still to be accepted. For, among other advantages, the religious state also comprises temporal good : and this good can be taken into account, provided it is neither the chief nor the only motive that sways us to enter religion. The gold dug up from the mine is none the less gold because some earth clings to it ; [10] so, a religious vocation does not cease to be true, though linked in a secondary way with some human motives. ”

“ We trust that this modest translation will be instrumental in spreading more correct views on the Christian Life, and in preventing many from rushing into a state of life from unworthy motives, and especially without consulting God. Father Berthier's book will be a light to the clergy and the laity ”

“ Berthier bore no malice, and showed his bravery by himself opposing the enemy with musket and bayonet; and on one occasion, with Bessières, Murat, and Rapp, he saved the Emperor from a sotnia of Cossacks.
When Napoleon quitted the army at Vilna he left the major-general behind to help the King of Naples to withdraw the remnant of the Grand Army. Marching on foot through the deep snow, with fingers and nose frostbitten, the sturdy old veteran of sixty endured the fatigue as well as the hardiest young men in their prime ”

“ The perfection of an order is not always a pledge of its security. The contemplative life, though less perfect than the mixed, is, nevertheless, safer. Salvation is there surrounded with greater protection. [13]
Cloistered houses have the immense advantage of shutting out all occasion of sin that is to be found in the world. Those who, in the world, have learned to know their weakness, do well in preferring them as their place of rest, and as a port after shipwreck. The approbation of the Church is the basis, the support, and the strength of religious societies. ”

“ Look at women, for example.”
Berthier accompanied the Emperor in his carriage during his campaigns. As they drove along, the Emperor would examine the order-book and the report of the positions, whence he formed his resolutions, adopted his plans, and arranged the necessary movements. Berthier noted down his directions, and at the first station they came to, or during the first moments allotted to rest, whether by night or by day, he made out, in his turn, all the orders and individual details with admirable regularity, precision, and despatch. ”

“ The handsome boy adjutant with the long hair sighed deeply without removing his hand from his hat and galloped back to where men were being slaughtered.
Napoleon rose and having summoned Caulaincourt and Berthier began talking to them about matters unconnected with the battle.
In the midst of this conversation, which was beginning to interest Napoleon, Berthier’s eyes turned to look at a general with a suite, who was galloping toward the knoll on a lathering horse. It was Belliard. ”

“ Early in August Berthier was at Saint Cloud making arrangements to reinforce Davout in Silesia, owing to the growing hostility of Austria, when, on the 16th, arrived the news that Joseph had had to evacuate all the country west of the Ebro. But Napoleon and Berthier could not go to his help until after the imperial meeting at Erfurt in September. However, on reaching Spain, the magic of the Emperor's personality soon restored the vigour and prestige of the French arms. ”

“ Berthier recovered himself, and wrenched a musket from one of the guard, and with it defended himself, madly striking right and left.
The plaster-cast dealer seized a pike, and smote at him with it; the blow fell on Berthier's fingers, and he dropped the gun, [Pg 258] screaming with pain. Knives were unsheathed, and the infuriated people rushed in upon him.
'Stay, stay!' cried Madame Plomb, uncoiling the long yellow strip of silk from her head. 'Strangle him; I have promised him this.' She threw the coil about his throat, his hands went up into the air; his feet were tripped up, and he fell. ”