THE MARSHALS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 184, 25 July 1908, Page 4

THE MARSHALS.

HOW THEY FOUGHT FOR NAPOLEON Probably no men who ever bore arms faced greater or more frequently recurring personal perils than the children o? tlm French Republic, who, by the will of their old comrade Napoleon Bonaparte were transformed into the bulwarks of his empire as marshals of France. Whatever was the variety of their merit as scientific soldiers, whatever may have been their individual failings, unscrupulousness, jealousies, or rapacity, there has never been any question that they were lighting men to the backbone. If their master loaded tliem with wealth and honours, it was because he knew they were above and beyond all men in at least one priceless characteristic, which, in its most consummate form, is certainly a gift bestowed upon few. A story is told of Marshal Lefcbvr;, Duke of Dantzic, which illustrates his own consciousness of the qualities that had made him what he was. lie was vexed at the tone of envy and unkindness with which a companion of his childhood, who met him iii his prosperity, spoke of his riches, titles, and luxury, and said in reply: "Well, now you shall have it all, but at the price which. 1 have paid for it. We will go into the garden, and I will fire a musket at you sixty times, and then, if you are not killed, everything shall be yours.'' Indeed, the trial which Lefebvre proposed to his friend was not in the least exaggeration of the circumstances which every marshal had passed through in his early days when he was a subaltern and was bringing himself to notice; circumstances, too, which might well again present themselves to him in any campaign, even after he had attained the highest rank. At Eylau, Augureau escaped death by a marvellous turn of fortune, for his corps, though it held its ground, was reduced from 15,000 to 3,000, all his stall' were either killed'or wounded, and he himself, wounded more than once, hud his uniform rent with bullets. At Zurich Messena was in the hottest part of the fight, keeping his hand upon the pulse of the battle where it throbbed with greatest emphasis. Everyone knows of Marshal Ney's heroic conduct during the retreat from Moscow—how he took a musket in his hand and fought as the last man in the rearguard, saving, as was acknowledged, 40,000 lives. At Ratisbon, after the first and second attacks on the fortifications had failed with scathing loss, and to attempt the task again seemed to involve certain destruction to the stormers that the men would not undertake it, Marshal Lannes cried: "Come, I am going to show you that I was a grenadier before I became a marshal, and that I am one still," seized a scaling ladder and began to carry it to the breach, thereby stirring up a wave of enthusiasm which at once carried the French columns forward to a great success. Murat was ever the first, even after he became King of Naples, in the brilliant charges that he conducted, and it is told how he had the superlative audacity to ride along far in front of his squadron and to wave back the threatening clouds of Russian cavalry, awing them into retirement by the astounding influence of his magnificent personality and dauntless mien.

At Lutzcn, Bautzen, Dresden, on the terrible field of Leipzig, in the marvellous campaign of 1814. it might almost be said that it was the marshals who fought, and that the rank and file seconded their efforts, rather than that the men fought under the direction of these chiefs, if the marshals had been absent, not all Napoleon's genius, not all the valour of soldiers fighting desperately against armed Europe, could have so long maintained the mighty efforts. And so to the bitter end—the abdi'cntion of Fontainbleau—where was finally dissolved " the godliest fellowship of famous knights whereof the world holds record." Their monarch, indeed, returned, but only a few of the paladins could be again gathered together to his standard, and on the fatal field of Waterloo how were the services of the absent on.>s missed! As Napoleon said, "Si mon pauvrc Ucrthicr avalt etc ici"; if Mural had led the gallant squadrons which were expended in ill-conceived charges; if Oudinot had commanded the stately grenadiers; if Macdonald's tactical ab:lity and stern determination had been available; if . —Cornhill Magazine.