MOSCOW AND WATERLOO.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 215, 18 February 1915, Page 2

MOSCOW AND WATERLOO.

1' was recently stated" tint descend•in!-, of tile Duke of Wellington and: the \ "!u ' d'lOlchingon (Marshal Ney), had met -' r the British flag, at 'the hcad'"rf.ers' staff in France. Marshal Ney. ■ hero of n hundred famous battles, ■d known to Napoleon's armies as the Iravest of the Brave, fought his last great fight against the Duke of Wellington on the plains of Waterloo. On that fi-ld of fame. Wellington also ended his famous military career. His success in !.he. Peninsula against Napoleon's marshals was consistently remarkable. Against superior numbers at Viiniera. August 21. 1S0S; at Oporto, Mav 21', ISO!), at Vitt-nria, June 24, .1813; at NTvlle, November If), 1813; at Talouse, Ap- . ril 10, 1813; and all' oilier victories, against equal numbers at Salamanca. Julv 22, 1S12; at I'amplonn, July 2S. 1812; at St Martial. August 22; 1812: at Ortcz, B'ohruary 28, 1814, and' ail other victories; with an inferi'ori'ty of numbers at Talavera, .Tulv 23; 180!); at Busaco, September 27, 181(1; at Almeida. (Fuentes d'Onor), May 3 and 4. 1811. and all Avert! victories. In these series of victories Wellington rarely liad more than 30,000 Englishmen, but from field to held they ploughed' their way to fame, brilliantly terminating in the overthrow of Napoleon's eagles on tire field'ot" Waterloo. NEY AND MURAT. Ney and Murat were the undoubted paladins'of Napoleon's 20' marshals, IS of wh'om were appointed' May I!), 1804, and j the 1 remaining eight between 1804 and .April, ISIS, Emmanuel de Grouchy was the last to receive his baton. His failure to come to Napoleon's assistance :it. Waterloo compromised Napoleon and led td the rout. Key and Murat were to Napoleon—at the zenith of his power in 180!). after-tile rout of the Austrians ,|at Wagram, wiie n out of 102,000,000 of Ipeoplo in Europe. 82.000,000 were under his domination—what Orlando and Riualdo were to the Emperor Charlemagne 1040. years before. Largely did tliese two heroes—Ney, a cooper's son; Murat a stable Soy—help to cane out the empire of the new Charlemagne. But it was th;- master mind of the great sob dier that, finding them infants in war, moulded them into giant warriors. A tragic coincidence is found in the deaths of these, two immortal soldiers—both were shot as traitors; Murat, at Pizzo, October 13, 1815; Ney at Paris, December 7", 1815. Murat was two years under 50, and Ney only 40. Repeatedly during the struggle in the Peninsula did Wellngton meet the squadrons or* Ney and Murat. He respected the ftrey vafor of impetuous leaders, and never missed the opportunity of commending his men on defeating them. Comparatively few people are aware that Michel Ney, cobbler's son. Marshal of France. Due d'Elchingen, Prince of Moskowa, was more German than French

Iby birth. His birthplace was Sarrelouis. It was in 1805, in the Ulm campaign, that Ney won his ducdum, by his briliant campaign against the Austrians, at Klehingen. He. however, was not created Due d'Elchingen till May 5, 180S - . Five years later Napoleon made hirn Prince of Moskowa (March 25 1813), to commemorate his heroic deeds in the great battle of that name outside Moscow in the Russian campaign i n 1812. Ney's exploits at Jena, Friedland, Austerlitz, Wagram, and Moskoiva. are wonderful to relate, but his halo of glory was won in the terrible retreat from Moscow, and undetraeted from by his prodigies of valor on the plain's of "Waterloo. WINNING A lIAW OF GLORY. When Napoleon commenced his retreat from Moscow on October 10, 1812, he, calling Ney to hit- side, said: "Take charge of the rearguard." Ney obeyed, and casting one long look at the burning Kremlin, put his men in motion. It was at Viasma that the greatest ordeal of Ney's life commenced. Sixty thousand Russian;: attacked the French rearguard of 30,00!) Ney, for seven hours, bent off the superior force, only to encounter countless hordes not much further on. As the awful retreat continued, tornadoes of blinding snow brought about soul-harrowing scenes. The rearguard was (incumbered with the wounded from the battle of Borodino; thousands were there with bandaged heads, arms and legs. Ney put forth superhuman efforts to maintain the formation and the discipline of the rearguard, but swarms of Cossacks and the blinding snow conspired against him. The lionhearted warrior, with indomitable courage, disputed every inch of ground. Nenring Smolensk the Cossacks pitilessly harassed the rear-guard. Ney's artillery had been lost in the snow-drifts; he had no horse, and his clothes were in tatters around him. Snatching a. musket, he shouldered it as a common soldier, exhibiting valour which raised the spirit of his famishing army to such a pitch that in mere desperation, they rushed upon the foe. Ney's bravery thus gained a twenty-four' hours' respite for the entire armv. After further terrible vicissitudes, and unheard of misery, Ney's rear-guard became lost to the mam army. Napoleon was terribly concerned about Ney. He detached as many men as possible to search for him and the lost rearguard. On they toiled throng], whirlwinds of snow and sleet

iNo man unionist them expected to see' Acy alive again. When all hope was ab- ( auiloned, a squad of Poles hoard the faint cries of "Vivo l'Emporour!" com- ! n T /J™ 1 *>»' "v« bank. There thov beheld *oy, at «... head of his emaciated rfiir-giiaril bcatinjr off swarms of Cos-waci-.s. A I olisli officer hastened to TSTa--I'Oloon with tho nows: "Nov is aafo'" In a„ outburst of rapture. Napolooi, exclaimed: "T have two millions of -old in my vaults aUhoTuileries; T would wil-bn-ly havo s ,von it, all to save Marshal W, tho Bravest of tl 1; . Brave; the man with the lions heart."

"xvmnv akk rim kagles?" Before >:,.,- and his famished rearfliiard wore found. Napoleon had ordor-<-d that the ea g !os of the regiments bo Wi eeted and burnt, so they would not ■ all into tin- Lands of the foe. Tin- Empvror nwailed Xoy's arrival. At last ho appcard before >,apo!ooi> emaciated with TT- rO, S 1 ' sl,v I >l,w is '""1 Imnnrr. Hi.', clothes were in tatters, and he was o shirt. At cverv defile, since soparatuie; from the main army, he and n* tatlrw! band of Frenchmen had iieaton oil (he oven-meroasimr swarms of ( ossaeks Findiiifr Xe,v hemmed in by a Wsian battery, with the pililoss sllow . dakes above, and the relentless Oassachs »'hiia . the !!uss,a ; , .eencral called upon him to surrender. "Surrender!" cried Ni'V. with hair dishevelled, and eyes of dohanoe. "Tell your oomir.amlcr-in-ehiof that a marshal of France neve,- Surrenders!" Xhpoloon embraced Xov as «■ "'.oilier embraces a child, and officers ■■>« d soldiers _«.ir,|„l ronnd 11„. ]mh , Vm to man;- Uii'M- joy at his return. \,. v wais-d (he incomparable valour of his 1 roups c; r the re;ir.''..i:.'rd, and then. >-,„.- in,": sit, Mm ivmmnds „f iviinionis with- »»( standards, claimed, as if awaking from n dream, "'Whore are file ea<dos'"- ; N'apob'on's head , n! |,.,,;-. "Hotter »iv • '""• •■';!'- (;• 11... Ifimes o, an h.(,"0.,'r enemies ~■::,]( „ V 1.,. (1,,.,,, ■• ,„, ~.,;,, l.eheld !1„. sorrow (d 1 his illustrious chief ; "" ! v,-m:,r1 ; ..,!, "Xever mind. sire, the v'" '» ' v "l. ■■'•"'•:'.''•■'u'!" "Mv faithful ,:"'.' ,'■""■.:'>''■''"■"• "•'•' ,m ,l: ' vi ' » ( ,'":'; i ! ; , ;;: r :;..„;;''; , V - VM soldier '/;:;■' l '- ■ ; "' I'l'ss-aV posts, Nov. 'lelieeralelv walk!-' back, tired the last •reach bohYt of H,e fatal campaign at the advaiuanj: Russians, and then throw tiic musket into the stream. General

,Dumas had crossed the German side o! : th(> stream, and was waiting in a housi for orders, when a man with a long anil matted beard, his emaciated face blackened with gunpowder, his whiskers singed, by fire; entered. Dumas looked at the man. "Who are youn" he asked "1 am. the rearguard of the Grand' Armv '—MrrsliaT Ney. I have iired' the last 'mils! >'t' shot on the bridge of K'owno; T have thrown into the Nienten the hist of the French arms; and 1 have walkod' hither, as you see, across the forest." NETS' LAST GREAT FIGHT.

Three years hence, June IS; 1815, we for the last time meet Marshal Ney on liis final field of battle—Waterloo. Ney, on that Sabbath morn, nearly 100 years ago, when the clouds ceased to weep, after the deluge of the two days he- ' fore, and the sun spread its rays overth? embattled hosts of England' and France, led hy giants in the art of war —Napoleon and Wellington—was early astir. Thirt day meant do or diit for Ney. His dilemma was a terrible one. He had compromised Napoleon the day before at Quutre Bras, and called down his wrath ;iipon him, and in fighting' for Napoteon, in this the last throw of the Imperial dice, he had broken his- oath of allegiance to the Bourbon King. Louis XVTir. \ NTey well knew that if the battle was lost, the Bourbons would' have him shot —as a traitor! Never was Ney more anxious to retrieve himself than on this fatal day. A little after 11 o'clock Nev led on Napoleon's attack, amidst the deafening thunder of artillery and' musketry. Under his command were enormous squadrons of infantry, supported bv great masses of cavalry'and artiilerr. Wellington watched' Ney lead on the charge; he watched'the'British squares receive it. But, like angry waves dashing against inpenetrabl'e cl'i'ffs, Ney, reinforced, charged again and again. Wellington perceived that Nev was fighting with all the reckless valor of the Achilles; hurling his troops against the British squares, now against farmhouse of Hougemont, tlren. against La Have Sainte; urging on the infantrv; urging on the cavalry ;• .urging orr the artillery; always in the- thickest of the fight: often without a hat; sometimes on a magnificent charger; other times on foot. When the battle had' raged some hours, and Ney's furious charges against the British squares had failed, in sheer desperation he cried aloud. "Another horse. This is the fifth that has been killed under me; more cavalry; tell Kellerman to charge. I' will break those British squares or die." And on rushed the cavalry reserves like an unchained tornado.' But those granite British squares were immovable—as firm as the cliffs of Dover. Back Ney was hurled once more. His cry was-now. "Give me infantry; more infantry. Tell dTrion to mass the artillery., T will break those"' British squares or die." It was now dusk. On came the masses of the reserves of infantry; on came 150 pieces of artillery: on came Ney like some Trojan hem. The British squares, still as firm as the Himalayas,, saw ,the lion-hearted Nev .baffled again. One more charge—sunTrine, terrible and convincing—and the ; heroic military career of Marshal Ney, ;lia<f ended. He, by Napoleon's command' ; led on the Old Guard in its last charge on the battlefields of Europe: Foaming at the mouth, with an unnatural glare in his eyes, without that, and with sword aloft. Ney, proudly advancing, exclaimed: "Come and see how a Marshal of France dies on the fie'd of battler" But he was not to be killed in battle by British nor Prussian bullet, but by the muskets of Frenchman in Bourbon na,VCRUEL FATE-SHOT AS TRAITOR. Tn ISOI Napoleon had presented Nev With a, magnificently wrowrht and bejewelled Egyptian sabre. When Ney returned to France after the rout at Waterloo and the recall of the Bourbons, this sabre betrayed his hiding place. Ney was tried in'thc House of Peers in Franco, on a charge of .being a traitor to Louis XVTII. of France, to whom lie had sworn allegiance before the Hundred Days. The Marshal's lawyers raised the point that Ney was no longer ai Frenchman since his natice, Sarrelouis, had been taken from Franco. "I am a Frenchman," Ney interrupted, "and will die a Frenchman. For 25 years I have fought for the glory of France and on ; more than a hundred fields of battle and I am being tried as a traitor to !• ranee!" Ney was found guilty, and on December 7, 1815, the sentence was , read to him, The officer commenced to n IVS, , tl . tlcs: "P"nce of Moskowa, , Due d'Elchingen, Marshal of France, , Peer of the realm, etc., when Ney inter'- . rupted, Cannot you say, 'Michel Ney once a French soldier, and soon to he a heap of dust.' The famous marshal! I , at 8 o clock m the morning, was brought to the appointed place of execution. He declined to have his eyes bandaged, exclaiming: "For five and twenty years' I jiave faced ball and bullet." Then lookins the firing squad in the face, he said: I, Michel Ney, declare before God and man that I have never betrayed France. May my death render her happy. Vive la I<ranee!" Then this far-famed warrior gave his last command: "Soldiers i lire. ' { The Duke of Wellington's intervention I was sought to save the life of Ney, but ho could not move without express orders from his Government. A better fate should have awaited thij qrcat paladin of the Napoleonic wars. Like Caesar, .he died surrounded by his! enemies. J I