ey had, at Innsprueck, the proud satisfaction of
restoring to the seventy-sixth regiment the flags of which they had
been despoiled. He was sent into the Tyrol in pursuit of the Archduke
John, whose rear-guard he caught and cut to pieces at the foot of
Mount Brenner, at the same time that Napoleon, at Austerlitz, brought
the war to a close.

After the peace of Presburg Ney remained in Suabia until the rupture
with Prussia. The day of Jena found him so anxious for the fray that
he attacked the enemy without waiting for orders, and brought the
whole Prussian cavalry upon his small division of some three thousand
men, and held them at bay until Napoleon sent him assistance. Though
Prussia was practically annihilated by the battles of Jena and
Auerstadt, Russia was still to be reckoned with. Napoleon invaded
Poland, and found himself forced into a winter campaign at a
formidable distance from France. Marching and countermarching through
mud and snow the whole army was subjected to horrible suffering; but
even then Ney's impetuous energy was unabated. Napoleon even rebuked
him for "fool-hardiness;" and more than once his only salvation from
destruction was in the slowness and density of the Russians. He took
little part in the dreadful and indecisive battle of Eylau, after
which Napoleon remained for eight days without making any movement;
but it was to him that, at Friedland, Napoleon allotted the post of
honor and of danger, saying, as the marshal went off proud of his
task, "That man is a lion."

Napoleon about this time discovered that "the interposition of France
was necessary in the affairs of Spain;" and after the peace of Tilsit
Ney was only allowed to remain in France long enough to recruit his
forces, before being sent to the Peninsula. A few months later in the
year, when Napoleon visited Spain, Ney was given the command of the
sixth corps there, but he was destined to reap few Spanish laurels,
and it is said that he endeavored to persuade the emperor to
relinquish the hopeless struggle against an entire people. While Soult
was engaged in the difficult task of forcing the English from the
Peninsula by way of Corunna, Ney held Galicia and the Asturias,
destroyed guerilla bands, defeated Sir Robert Wilson, and intercepted
the enemy's convoys; but the whole country was in arms against the
French, who after six months' unceasing struggle, were compelled to
retreat.

[Illustration: Marshal Ney returning the capture