"Go," said he, "the man who forced the Tyrol may well force a sentinel.❞

On catching the first sight of the Mamelukes, drawn up in order of battle, on the banks of the Nile, in view of the Pyramids, Bonaparte, riding before the ranks, cried: "Soldiers! from the summits of yonder Pyramids, forty generations are watching you."

The fourth regiment of the line, on one occasion lost its eagle. "What have you done with your eagle?" asked Napoleon. "A regiment that loses its eagle has lost all. Yes; but I see two standards that you have taken. 'Tis well," concluded he, with a smile, "you shall have another eagle."

On the field of Austerlitz, a young Russian officer, taken prisoner, was brought before him. "Sire," said he, "let me be shot. I have suffered my guns to be taken." "Young man," was the reply, "be consoled! Those who are conquered by my soldiers, may still have titles to glory."

When the Duke of Montebello, to whom he was tenderly attached, received a mortal wound from a cannon-ball, Napoleon, then in the meridian of his imperial glory, rushed to the litter on which the dying hero was stretched, and embracing him, and bedewing his forehead with tears, uttered these untranslatable words: "Lannes! me reconnais tu? C'est Bonaparte; c'est ton ami!"

On the morning of the battle of Moscow, the sun rose with uncommon splendor in an unclouded firmament. "Behold!" exclaimed Napoleon to his soldiers, "it is the sun of Austerlitz." It will be remembered that the battle of Austerlitz was commenced at sunrise, and on that occasion, the sun rose with extraordinary splendor.

In the celebrated march from Fréjus to Paris, on his return to France from Elba, one of the regiments at Grenoble hesitated before declaring for him. He, with a remarkable instinct, leaped from his horse, and unbuttoning the breast of his gray surtout, laid bare his breast. "If there be an individual among you," said he, "who would desire to kill his general-his emperor-let him fire."

At Montereau, the guns of a battery near his staff were ineffective, owing to being badly aimed. He dismounted from his horse, and pointed them with his own hands, never having lost the skill he acquired as an artillery officer. The grenadiers of the guard could not conceal their terror at seeing the cannonballs of the enemy falling around their chief. "Have no fears for me," he observed; "the ball destined to kill me has not yet been cast."

To reproduce the highly figurative language used by him in his addresses and general orders, after the fever of universal enthusiasm, in the midst of which it was uttered, has passed

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away, is hazardous and may seem to border on the ridiculous. But let the reader endeavor to transport himself back to the exciting scenes amid which Napoleon acted and spoke. At sixand-twenty he superseded Scherer in the command of the Army of Italy, surrounded with disasters, oppressed with despair, and entirely destitute of every provision necessary for the well-being of a soldier. He fell upon the enemy with all the confidence of victory which would have been inspired by superior numbers, discipline, and equipment. In a fortnight, the whole aspect of things was changed, and here was his first address to the army:

"Soldiers!-You have, in fifteen days, gained six victories, taken twenty-one standards, fifty pieces of cannon, several fortresses, made fifteen hundred prisoners, and killed or wounded more than ten thousand men! You have equalled the conquerors of Holland and the Rhine. Destitute of all necessaries, you have supplied all your wants-without cannon you have gained battles without bridges you have crossed rivers!—without shoes you have made forced marches!—without brandy and often without bread you have bivouacked! Republican phalanxes, soldiers of liberty, alone could have survived what you have suffered! Thanks to you, soldiers !—your grateful country has reason to expect great things of you! You have still battles to fight, towns to take, rivers to pass. Is there one among you whose courage is relaxed? Is there one who would prefer to return to the barren summits of the Apnenines and the Alps, to endure patiently the insults of these soldier slaves? No!there is none such among the victors of Montenotte, of Millesimo, of Dego, and of Mondoir! My friends, I promise you this glorious conquest; but be the liberators, and not the scourges, of the people you subdue."

Such addresses had an electrical effect on the French army. Napoleon passed from triumph to triumph in Italy, with a facility and rapidity which resembles the shifting views of a phantasmagoria. He entered Milan, and then, to swell and stimulate his legions, he again addressed them :

"You have descended from the Alps like a cataract. Piedmont is delivered. Milan is your own. Your banners wave over the fertile plains of Lombardy. You have passed the Pothe Tessino, the Adda-those vaunted bulwarks of Italy. Your fathers, your mothers, your sisters, your betrothed, will exult in your triumphs, and will be proud to claim you as their own. Yes, soldiers; you have done much; but much more is still to be accomplished. Will you leave it in the power of posterity to say that in Lombardy you have found a Capua? Let us go on. We have still forced marches to make, enemies to subdue, laurels to gather, and insults to avenge. To reestablish the Capitol, and re-erect the statues of its heroes; to

awaken the Roman people sunk under the torpor of age, of bondage: behold what remains to be done! After accomplishing this, you will return to your hearths, and your fellow-citizens, when they behold you pass them, will point at you and say: 'He was a soldier of the Army of Italy!"

When Bonaparte sailed from the shores of France, on the celebrated expedition to Egypt, the destination of the fleet was confided to none but himself. Its course was directed first to Malta, which, as it was known, submitted without resistance. When lying off its harbor, he thus addressed the magnificent army which floated around him :

The

"Soldiers !-You are a wing of the Army of England. You have made war on mountain and plain, and have made sieges. It is still reserved for you to make a maritime war. legions of Rome, which you have sometimes imitated, but not yet equalled, warred with Carthage by turns on the sea, and on the plains of Zama. Victory never abandoned them, because they were brave in combat, patient under fatigue, obedient to their commanders, and firm against their foes. But, soldiers, Europe has its eyes upon you; and you have great destinies to fulfil, battle to wage, and fatigues to suffer."

When from the mast-heads of the vessels his troops discovered the town of Alexandria, Napoleon first announced to them the destination of the expedition :

--

"Frenchmen -You are going to attempt conquests, the effect of which upon civilization and the commerce of the world is incalculable. Behold the first city we are about to attack! It was built by Alexander."

Bonaparte was remarkable for breaking through the traditions of military practice. Thus, on the eve of the battle of Austerlitz, he adopted the startling and unusual course of disclosing the plan of the campaign to the private soldiers of his

army:

"The Russians want to turn my right, and they will present me their flank. Soldiers! I will myself direct all your battalions; depend upon me to keep myself far from the fire, so long as, with your accustomed bravery, you bring disorder and confusion into the enemy's ranks; but if victory were for one moment uncertain, you would see me in the foremost ranks, to expose myself to their attack. There will be the honor of the French infantry-the first infantry in the world. This victory will terminate your campaign, and then the peace we shall make will be worthy of France, of you, and of me!"

His speech after the battle is a chef d'œuvre of military eloquence. He declares his satisfaction with his soldiers-he walks through their ranks he reminds them whom they have conquered, what they have done, and what will be said of them; but not one word does he utter concerning their chiefs.

The Emperor and the soldiers-France for a perspective-peace for a reward-and glory for a recollection! what a commencement and what a termination !

"Soldiers! I am satisfied with you; you have covered your eagles with immortal glory. An army of one hundred thousand men, commanded by the Emperors of Russia and Austria, has been, in less than four hours, cut to pieces and dispersed; whoever has escaped your sword has been drowned in the lakes. Forty stands of colors, the standards of the Imperial Guard of Russia-one hundred and twenty pieces of cannon, twenty generals, and more than thirty thousand prisoners, are the results of this day, forever celebrated. That infantry, so much boasted of, and in numbers so superior to you, could not resist your shock, and henceforth you have no longer any rival to fear. Soldiers! when the French people placed the imperial crown upon my head, I intrusted myself to you; I relied upon you to maintain it in the high splendor and glory which alone can give it value in my eyes. Soldiers! I will soon bring you back to France; there you will be the object of my most tender solicitude. It will be sufficient for you to say,' I was at the battle of Austerlitz,' in order that your countrymen may answer, Voila un brave!"

On the anniversary of this battle, Bonaparte used to recapitulate with pleasure the accumulated spoils that fell into the hands of the French, and he used to inflame their ardor against the Prussians by the recollection of those victories. Thus, on the morning of another conflict, he apostrophised his soldiers in the following manner :

"Soldiers! It is to-day one year, this very hour, that you were on the memorable field of Austerlitz. The Russian battalions fled terrified; their allies were destroyed; their strong places, their capitals, their magazines, their arsenals, two hundred and eighty standards, seven hundred pieces of cannon, five grand fortified places, were in your power. The Oder, the Warta, the desert of Poland, the bad weather-nothing has stopped you; all have fled at your approach. The French eagle soars over the Vistula; the brave and unfortunate Poles imagine that they see again the legions of Sobieski. Soldiers! we will not lay down our arms until a general peace has restored to our commerce its liberties and its colonies. We have, on the Elbe and the Oder, recovered Pondicherry, our Indian establishments, the Cape of Good Hope, and the Spanish colonies. Who shall give to the Russians the hope to resist destiny? These and yourselves, Are we not the soldiers of Auster

litz?"