Part 25 (1/2)
The Austrian ar, about this time, been nearly dispersed by General Jourdan, the Archduke left some divisions of his forces under General Latour, to iress of Moreau, and ith the re and Wurzburg, routed his arreatest confusion, and with immense loss The retreat of Moreau was the consequence of the victories of this Prince After the capture of Kehl, in January, 1797, he assumed the command of the army of Italy, where he in vain eress of Bonaparte, honed the preliain defeated Jourdan in Suabia, as he had done two years before in Franconia; but in Switzerland he met with an abler adversary in General Massena; still, I am inclined to think that he displayed there more real talents than anywhere else; and that this part of his ca, in a military point of view
The most implacable enemies of the politics of the House of Austria render justice to the plans, to the frankness, to the morality of Archduke Charles; and, what is reainst revolutionary France, he alone has seized the trueenthusiasts or slaves; at least, his proclamations are the only ones coht to be, because in them an appeal is made to the public opinion at a tith of armies
The present opposer of this Prince in Italy is one of our best, as well as enerals A Sardinian subject, and a deserter from the Sardinian troops, he assisted, in 1792, our commander, General Anselm, in the conquest of the county of Nice, rather as a spy than as a soldier His knowledge of the Maritime Alps obtained, in 1793, a place on our staff, where, froade was soon conferred on hieneral of division under Bonaparte in Italy, where he distinguished himself so much that when, in 1798, General Berthier was ordered to accoypt, he succeeded him as commander-in-chief of our troops in the tee, and, perhaps, the idea of his being a foreigner, brought on a ed to recall hin in Switzerland of 1799, and his defence of Genoa in 1800, that principally ranked hio he received the command of the ar the inhabitants, and he lived for sorace, after a violent quarrel with Bonaparte, during which many severe truths were said and heard on both sides
After the Peace of Luneville, he seeenerals; but observing, no doubt, their want of views and union, he retired to an estate he has bought near Paris, where Bonaparte visited him, after the rupture with your country, and made him, we may conclude, such offers as tempted him to leave his retreat Last year he was nominated one of our Emperor's Field-marshals, and as such he relieved Jourdan of the codom of Italy He has purchased with a part of his spoil, for fifteen millions of livres--property in France and Italy; and is considered worth double that sum in jewels, money, and other valuables
Massena is called, in France, the spoiled child of fortune; and as Bonaparte, like our former Cardinal Mazarin, has more confidence in fortune than in merit, he is, perhaps, more indebted to the former than to the latter for his present situation; his familiarity has made him disliked at our Imperial Court, where he never addresses Napoleon and Mada
General St Cyr, our second in coreat talents and distinctions He was, in 1791, only a cornet, but in 1795, he headed, as a general, a division of the ar the faeneral, and admits that his
achieve 1799 he served in Italy, and in 1800 he commanded the centre of the ar the victory of Hohenlinden After the Peace of Lundville, he was appointed a Counsellor of State of thehis present ee, he is rather infirone and the wounds he has received Although he has never coeneral-in-chief, there is no doubt but that he would fill such a place with honour to hieneral officers who coarde is already known by his exploits during the last war He had distinguished himself already in 1793, particularly when Valenciennes and Maubeuge were besieged by the united Austrian and English forces; and, in 1794, he commanded the column at the head of which the Emperor marched, when Landrecy was invested In 1796, he was one of the members of the Council of the Archduke Charles, when this Prince coeneral-in-chief, on which occasion he was proain great talents during the can of 1799, when he headed a small corps, placed between General Su in Italy, and Archduke Charles in Switzerland; and in this delicate post he contributed equally to the success of both After the Peace of Luneville he was appointed a commander-in-chief for the Emperor in the ci-devant Venetian States, where the troops co the army under the Archduke Charles were, last summer, received and inspected by him, before the arrival of the Prince He is considered by enerals now employed by the Emperor of Germany
LETTER xxxVI
PARIS, October, 1805
MY LORD:--”I would give my brother, the Emperor of Germany, one further piece of advice Let him hasten to make peace This is the crisis when, he must recollect, all Statesextinction of the, dynasty of Lorraine must iraph to be inserted in the Moniteur, he discovered an 'arriere pensee', long suspected by politicians, but never before avowed by himself, or by his Ministers
”That he has detere of dynasties, because a usurper can never reign with safety or honour as long as any legitimate Prince may disturb his power, or reproach him for his rank” Elevated with prosperity, or infatuated with vanity and pride, he spoke a language which his placeht prens do not read in these words their proscription, and the fate which the most powerful usurper that ever desolated mankind has destined for them, it may be ascribed to that blindness hich Providence, in its wrath, sorand examples of the vicissitudes of human life
”Had Talleyrand,” said Louis Bonaparte, in his wife's drawing-room, ”been by my brother's side, he would not have unnecessarily alarmed or awakened those whom it should have been his policy to keep in a soft slumber, until his blows had laid them down to rise no more; but his soldier-like frankness frequently injures his political views” This I n Ah not to miss a word If it was really ned as a defiance to other Princes, it was unbeco the individual to whom it was addressed, a premeditated declaration that our Emperor expected a universal as prepared for it, and was certain of its fortunate issue
When this Sieyes is often consulted, and publicly flattered, our politicians say, ”Woe to the happiness of Sovereigns and to the tranquillity of subjects; the fiend of mankind is busy, and at work,”
and, in fact, ever since 1789, the infaured, either as a plotter or as an actor, in all our dreadful and sanguinary revolutionary epochas The accomplice of La Fayette in 1789, of Brissot in 1791, of Marat in 1792, of Robespierre in 1793, of Tallien in 1794, of Barras in 1795, of Rewbel in 1797, and of Bonaparte in 1799, he has hitherto planned, served, betrayed, or deserted all factions He is one of the few of our grand cri his associates, has been fortunate enough to survive them Bonaparte has heaped upon him presents, places, and pensions; national property, senatories, knighthoods, and palaces; but he is, nevertheless, not supposed one of our Ees have differed froeneration, and of overthrow He has too high an opinion of his own deserts not to consider it beneath his philosophical dignity to be a contented subject of a fellow-subject, elevated into supreers His modesty has, for these sixteen years past, ascribed to his talents all the glory and prosperity of France, and all her ard of his counsels, and to the neglect of his advice Bonaparte knows it; and that he is one of those crafty, sly, and dark conspirators, erous than the bold assassin, who, by sophistry, art, and perseverance insinuate into thethe ideas of their plots, in such an insidious manner that they take theenius; he is, therefore, watched by our Ireat blow is intended to be struck, or some enormous atrocities perpetrated A hien, and the ru, he was every day shut up for some hours with Napoleon Bonaparte at St Cloud, or in the Tuileries; where he has hardly been seen since, except after our E of Italy
Sieyes never was a republican, and it was cowardice alone thatand benefactor; although he is very fond of his own metaphysical notions, he always has preferred the preservation of his life to the profession or adherence to his systems He will not think the Revolution coood one, until so of France, by the grace of Sieyes He would expose the lives of thousands to obtain such a compliment to his hateful vanity and excessive pride; but he would not take a step that endangered his personal safety, though it ht eventually lead him to the possession of a crown
Fro, Sieyes had, before the Revolution, an income of fifteen thousand livres--per annum; his places, pensions, and landed estates produce now yearly five hundred thousand livres--not including the interest of his o he was exiled, for some time, to an estate of his in Touraine, and Bonaparte even deliberated about transporting him to Cayenne, when Talleyrand observed ”that such a condeer that colony of France, as he would certainly organize there a focus of revolutions, which ht also involve Surinam and the Brazils, the colonies of our allies, in one common ruin In the present circumstances,” added the Minister, ”if Sieyes is to be transported, I e could land hiland, Scotland, or Ireland, or even in Russia”
I have just heard fro anecdote, which he read to eneral, dated Ulm, the 25th instant, and, if true, it explains in part Bonaparte's apparent indiscretion in the threat thrown out against all ancient dynasties
Aenerals (and hitherto the most irreproachable of all our uished