FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   1412   1413   1414   1415   1416   1417   1418   1419   1420   1421   1422   1423   1424   1425   1426   1427   1428   1429   1430   1431   1432   1433   1434   1435   1436  
1437   1438   1439   1440   1441   1442   1443   1444   1445   1446   1447   1448   1449   1450   1451   1452   1453   1454   1455   1456   1457   1458   1459   1460   1461   >>   >|  
ince Joseph; the Duchy of Berg to Prince Murat; to the Princess Eliza, Lucca and Massa-Carrara; and Guastalla to the Princess Pauline Borghese; and while, by means of treaties and family alliances, he was assuring still more the co-operation of the different states which had entered into the Confederation of the Rhine,--war was renewed between France and Prussia. It is not my province to investigate the causes of this war, nor to decide which first gave cause of offense. All I can certify is this, frequently at the Tuileries, and on the campaign, I heard the Emperor, in conversation with his intimate friends, accuse the old Duke of Brunswick, whose name had been so odious in France since 1792, and also the young and beautiful Queen of Prussia, of having influenced King Frederic William to break the treaty of peace. The Queen was, according to the Emperor, more disposed to war than General Blucher himself. She wore the uniform of the regiment to which she had given her name, appeared at all reviews, and commanded the maneuvers. We left Paris at the end of September. I will not enter into the details of this wonderful campaign, in which the Emperor in an incredibly short time crushed to pieces an army of one hundred and fifty thousand men, perfectly disciplined, full of enthusiasm and courage, and fighting in defense of their country. In one of the first battles, the young Prince Louis of Prussia, brother of the king, was killed at the head of his troops by Guinde, quartermaster of the Tenth Hussars. The prince fought hand to hand with this brave sub-officer, who said to him, "Surrender, Colonel, or you are a dead man," to which Prince Louis replied only by a saber stroke, whereupon Guinde plunged his own into the body of his opponent, and he fell dead on the spot. On this campaign, as the roads had become very rough from the continual passage of artillery, my carriage was one day upset, and one of the Emperor's hats fell out of the door; but a regiment which happened to pass along the same road having recognized the hat from its peculiar shape, my carriage was immediately set up again, "For," said these brave soldiers, "we cannot leave the first valet of the little corporal in trouble;" and the hat, after passing through many hands, was at last restored to me before my departure. On the Emperor's arrival at the plateau of Weimar, he arranged his army in line of battle, and bivouacked in the midst of his guard. Abo
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   1412   1413   1414   1415   1416   1417   1418   1419   1420   1421   1422   1423   1424   1425   1426   1427   1428   1429   1430   1431   1432   1433   1434   1435   1436  
1437   1438   1439   1440   1441   1442   1443   1444   1445   1446   1447   1448   1449   1450   1451   1452   1453   1454   1455   1456   1457   1458   1459   1460   1461   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Emperor
 

campaign

 
Prussia
 

Prince

 
regiment
 

carriage

 

France

 
Guinde
 

Princess

 

killed


opponent
 

defense

 

brother

 

battles

 

troops

 
country
 

fought

 
officer
 
Colonel
 

prince


Surrender

 

quartermaster

 

stroke

 

replied

 

Hussars

 

plunged

 

happened

 

passing

 

trouble

 

corporal


restored
 

bivouacked

 

battle

 
arranged
 

departure

 

arrival

 

plateau

 

Weimar

 
soldiers
 
fighting

continual

 

passage

 
artillery
 

immediately

 

recognized

 

peculiar

 

decide

 

offense

 

renewed

 

province