ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

treasury was empty, and with an impoverished country, it was with great difficulty Napoleon could raise funds for the campaign. In the meantime, he endeavored to open negotiations with the allies, but failed in the attempt; they would not entertain any propositions coming from him. Murat was so much elated at the return of Napoleon, that he immediately raised the standard of revolt, and with an army of fifty thousand men attempted to wrest Naples from the hands of the allies, and secure himself upon the throne. He was defeated in the first engagement with the Austrians, and fled to France. The Royalists attempted to raise a rebellion in La Vendeé, a district in the southern part of France, where the Bourbon feeling ran high, and by this means distract the plans of Napoleon, and draw his attention from the allies. He was aware of their object, and at once sent a strong force into the district, and put down the rebellion.

While Napoleon was making these preparations, the allies were assembling their forces, and advancing towards the frontiers of France. England had now thrown all her influence into the coalition, and had sent a large body of troops to the continent under the command of Wellington. The time was now approaching when the fate of France and Europe was again to be decided by force of arms, and the respective combatants were exerting all their strength. The efforts of Napoleon to meet the crisis which he saw was drawing nigh, were amost superhuman, and his abilities as a great commander were never more clearly exhibited. He had made up his plan of the campaign with the greatest care and attention, and was almost confident of success. He made Paris the base of his operations, which had been strongly fortified by General Haxo and his engineers, and mounted with seven hundred pieces of cannon. Lyons was also strongly fortified. He had assembled armies at different points on the frontiers to watch the movements of the enemy, who had made their arrangements to advance upon Paris from several points.

The chief reliance, however, was placed upon the main army, commanded by Napoleon in person, one hundred and twenty thousand strong, with three hundred and fifty pieces of cannon. With this force he determined immediately to commence offensive operations in Flanders, on the frontiers of which they were already collected. The object of Wellington was, to invade France direct from Flanders, and the better to conceal his intentions, and divert the attention of Napoleon from the real point of attack, he suggested to the Austrian and Russian commanders, to make a demonstration further south. The ruse however failed, as Napoleon was not to be diverted from the objects he had in view. The force of Wellington and Blucher, and with which the Emperor was likely first to come in collision, numbered one hundred and ninety thousand men, all veterans, and inured to war. As the British and Prussians had not yet united, Napoleon determined to interpose the whole of his force between them, and by striking first upon the right and then upon the left, beat them in detail. His plans were skilfully laid, and well nigh proved successful.

Napoleon left Paris on the 12th of June to join the army, and arrived at Avernes the next day, where he found it encamped. The whole force by the returns on the morning of the 14th, was one hundred and twentytwo thousand four hundred men under arms. The camps were placed behind some hills, about a league from the frontiers, which hid their position from the enemy. The Emperor addressed the troops, calling to their

minds their former deeds of glory-their enthusiasm was raised to the highest pitch.

Wellington and Blucher in the meantime were inactive. Their troops were scattered over several leagues of country, and they were waiting for secret intelligence from Paris, of Napoleon's movements. He had taken every precaution to prevent the allies from knowing his situation. Wellington had, however, learned, by his usual system of bribery and corruption with the worst scoundrels of France, of the collection of large bodies of troops on the frontiers, but waited for confirmation before he should move--his inactivity was almost fatal to him.

On the morning of the 15th, the active operations of the campaign began. At daylight on that morning, the French army crossed the frontiers, and marched direct upon Charleroi. The Prussians, who had been in possession of that place, retired upon the advance of the French, in the direction of Fleurus. It was evident that Napoleon had taken Blucher by surprise, and he had the most sanguine hopes of being able to separate the Prussian and British armies. In order to accomplish this more effectually, he despatched Ney to Quatre Bras with the left wing, fortysix thousand strong-this was an important position, at the intersection of the roads leading towards Brussels. A severe action was fought there the next day. Napoleon, with the main army, seventy-two thousand strong, marched towards Fleurus, from which place the Prussians fell back to Ligny, where he gave them battle the next day, and gained a splendid victory,-the loss of the Prussians was about twenty-five thousand. The victory at Ligny exposed the left flank of the allies, and Wellington seeing that he could not maintain his ground with his left flank uncovered, fell back to Waterloo, and took up a strong position in front of that village. He was closely followed by Napoleon.

The beginning of the end was now near at hand, and the contending armies knew the fate of the campaign was to be decided on the spot where they were then assembling. The field of Waterloo was admirably adapted for a great battle, and had previously been examined by Wellington and the English engineers. It is situated about nine miles from Brussels, and one mile south of the village of the same name. It extends from right to left about two miles. Let the reader imagine two ridges of hills running parallel to each other, and from a half to three-quarters of a mile apart. The descent is gradual into the valley, through which winds a small stream. The position is cut nearly at right angles by a high road running from Brussels to Charleroi; and an unpaved country road runs along the northern crest of hills. Between this field and Brussels, to the north, was an extensive forest, called the "forest of Soignies." The two armies, as they were drawn up in battle array, occupied the opposite ridges of hills, the English the north, and the French the south ridge. On the right of the British lines was a strong built country-house, surrounded by a thick stone-wall, in a grove of trees; the left was protected by an almost inaccessible hedge and deep ditch: these with a strong farm-house in the centre, added much to the strength of the English position. The French right rested in the village of Blanchenois, and in the centre was the village of La Belle Alliance, where Napoleon took up his head-quarters. Both armies took up their position on the evening of the 17th, and during the night rested on their arms.

It had rained incessantly during the 17th, and the great number of horses and carriages passing over the ground reduced it to a state of mud. The

soldiers slept upon the ground in their wet blankets, and passed a cheerless night; but, as uncomfortable as their situation was, there was no despondency in either army. All were awakened to the importance of their position to the magnitude of the stake that was at issue. A quarrel of nearly twenty-five years standing, was now to be settled by the two greatest commanders of the times. There never were two armies which appeared to greater advantage than those which were drawn up at Waterloo. Napoleon had again collected around his standard his old veterans, which the treaty of Paris had set at liberty. They had been victors with him in an hundred battles, and now their feelings were raised to the highest point of enthusiasm. Wellington had also just cause to be proud of his troops-those which had fought under him in Spain were there, and they never appeared in finer array.

The memorable 18th of June opened with a drizzling rain, but the sun soon cleared the clouds away, and a bright day beamed down on the work of death. The two armies, as they took up their positions in the order of battle, presented a beautiful spectacle, and struck all the beholders with admiration. The rays of the sun were reflected from the burnished armor and bristling bayonets of an hundred and sixty thousand men; and the music of an hundred bands fairly made the earth resound with sweet sounds as the heavy columns wound over the opposite hills. The battle commenced about 11 o'clock, and lasted until dark; both armies fought with bravery bordering on desperation. The world knows the result. Treachery and superior numbers accomplished what English valor and discipline had essayed to do, in vain-the defeat of the French. From a retreat, it soon became a total rout-and so hotly were the French pursued by the victorious Prussians, that they were obliged to throw away their arms to save themselves. Napoleon's loss was from thirty to forty thousand men that of the allies, including the former actions, was much greater. When all was lost, the Emperor set off for Paris, and was the first who carried the news of the defeat. He immediately appeared before the Chamber of Deputies, when a stormy time took place. After much persuasion, he abdicated, and retired to Malmaison, the scene of his early happiness with Josephine.

Napoleon determined, at first, to come to America, but finding this impossible, concluded to throw himself upon the supposed generosity of the English. For this purpose, he left Malmaison on the morning of the 29th of June, and arrived at Rochefort on the 3d of July.* He addressed the following letter to the Prince Regent of England, and sent it to Captain Maitland, of the Bellerophon, then lying in the harbor:

66

Exposed to the factions which divide my country, and to the hostility of the great powers of Europe, I have terminated my political career, and I come, like Themistocles, to seat myself by the hearth of the British people. I put my self under the protection of its laws, and claim it from your Royal Highness. as the most powerful, the most constant, and the most generous of my enemies."

On the morning of the 14th he went on board, and was received with the honors due to his high rank; and Captain Maitland immediately set sail for the British isles with his august prisoner. From England he was taken to the island of St. Helena, which had been fixed upon by the allies as his place of exile. He died there, May 5th, 1821.

For a full account of allied treachery and English infamy in this transaction see article, "Doom of Napoleon," in the "Review" for July, 1850.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

THE steamboat in which I had thus unexpectedly embarked, was the Rob Roy, bound for St. Louis, and my white chief was Colonel Sebastian Overton, U. S. A., who had been on a topographical exploration to the Falls of St. Anthony and thereabouts.

It is needless for me to dwell on the new world of wonders in which I now found myself; how amazed and delighted I was with the infinity of unaccountable and beautiful things I saw around me; how everything seemed the work of enchantment to me, and all that; it can be more readily imagined by the reader than described.

Col. Overton made a pet of me, and so infatuated was I with the new order of existence which had broke upon me, that I even consented to give up my home in the wilderness, and go and live with him in the now no longer hated land of the white man.

I soon became accustomed to the steamboat, as I was taught to call it, and delighted to ramble all over it with my friend, the Colonel.

"Ernie, mon cher enfant," said he to me one day, as we stood on the forecastle, gazing at the scenery: "I don't believe you are an Indian, anyhow. Your eyes are blue and your skin fair, now that the paint has worn off, and your hair curly and light brown at the roots, where it has not been dyed."

in

66

My father was a half-breed, and my mother a pale face," said I. "Well, I thought there could be but diablement little of the pure Indian you, for you are no more like them than I am. You say your mother

was a white; what was her name, do you know?"

"I know nothing of her," I replied, only what my father told me, and that was only that she was a white, and that she died when I was born. Whether she was Français or Anglais, I do not know."

"English, I'll be bound, there is none of Jean Crapeau about you?" "I dont know."

แ Well, I never was as much astonished in my life as when I saw you perched up on that tree, like a bizarre de marmose as you were, and the way you pitched into me with your couteau for laughing at your monkeyshines. But your mother-you say your father never told you anything about your mother? That was very strange.'

"I never asked him but once, and then he promised to tell me, but it was just before I got lost, and, of course, that put an end to all informa tion on the subject."

"Apropos," said the Colonel, lighting a cigar, "now is a good time→→ just sit down here by my side, and, as well as you can, give me a narra tive of your adventures." I had merely mentioned the fact before; I now gave him, as well as I could, about my chasing the heron, my roosting in the old sycamore, my discovery by the Aricarees and fortunate escape, some general outlines. They amused him exceedingly, and he frequently stopped me to declare that it was the most astonishing thing he ever

[blocks in formation]

heard of in his life, and it kept him in an immoderate fit of laughter all the time. I observed that the Colonel expressed freely his curiosity, and especially his astonishment, in a manner that an Indian would have thought disgraceful to his character.

As the boat turned a bend, I was interrupted in my story, which so amused my patron, by beholding in the distance, like the enchantment of a magician, a scene so strange, so splendid, so magnificent and unaccountable, that I stood speechless.

"It is the city of St. Louis," said the Colonel, tossing away his cigar with a nonchalance that came nearer my Indian ideas of stoicism than I could possibly do myself, and I could not but turn and ask:

"Did you ever see anything, Monsieur le Colonel, that astonished you so much as that?"

"Many a time," replied he, laughing, "I dont see anything particularly astonishing in that; come, the supper-bell is ringing, let us go down to tea."

When tea was over I found myself amid the din and uproar of a great city. We were at the wharf: I was bewildered by the swarm of hackmen, porters, draymen, whom I fancied, not knowing their real object, had some hostile intent, probably to take the boat by storm; and one, who seized hold of Colonel Overton's trunk, got a rap from me with footstool that he won't forget.

It is needless to say how bewildered, astonished, and delighted I was with the grand city of enchantment, and everything in it. This can readily be imagined. When we arrived at the hotel, which I conceived to be some magnificent palace, we were shown into a vast gorgeously adorned room -the parlor, and presently in came a beautiful young woman, and with a cry of delight she rushed forward and threw herself into Colonel Overton's arms, and covered him with kisses and embraces. The Colonel was extremely astonished, even more so than I, for a moment; but in an instant he seemed to recover from the first paroxysm, which nearly threw him into fits; and then he returned her embraces with a right good will. After an eager and somewhat lengthy chattering between them, as they sat on a sofa, my patron turned to me, who was seated on a small velvetcovered stool, and said,

"Ernie, mon prince, this is my squaw-they call her in French-Madame.-Madame Overton, let me acquaint you with Monseigneur Ernie, Prince des Pawnees."

Madame looked at me with a merry, inquisitive smile, and then rising, made a profound courtesy, with,

"Je donne les baises-mains à Monseigneur."

I replied by ducking my little pate to the soft, rich carpet at my feet, in all gravity; when, exclaiming, “ Quel, bijou !" she caught me up in her arms and smothered me with kisses.

We soon became great friends, Madame Lenora-as I was taught to call her and I. She spoke French with all fluency, and, moreover, had a knack of talking with her eyes and fingers, and the expressive varyings of her beautiful countenance, which I could have readily understood, had she possessed no other means of communication. I became devotedly attached to her and the good Colonel, both of whom overwhelmed me with kindness, and won my whole heart with bonbons and sugar-plums, which, being entirely novel to me, I must confess I had the weakness to relish

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »