augereau

on the next day, while bonaparte was dictating his letters to bourrienne, marmont, one of his favorite aides-de-camp, who was discreetly looking out of the window, announced that he could distinguish at the end of the avenue the waving plume of murat and the somewhat massive form of augereau.

murat was then, as we have said, a handsome young man of twenty-three or four. he was the son of an innkeeper of labastide, near cahors; and his father being also postmaster, murat, at an early age, learned how to manage horses, and in time became an excellent horseman. then through i know not what caprice of his father's (who probably wanted to have a prelate in the family), he had been sent to a seminary, where, if we may judge from the letters which are lying before us, his studies did not extend so far as to give him a proper knowledge of orthography.

luckily, or unluckily for him, the revolution opened the doors of the seminaries. young joachim took flight and enlisted in the constitutional guard of louis xvi., where he distinguished himself by his extreme opinions, his duels, and his courage.

[pg 453]

dismissed, like bonaparte, by that same aubry who in the five hundred continued to wage such severe war upon patriots, he met bonaparte, became intimate with him, hastened to place himself under his orders on the 13th vendémiaire, and followed him to italy as aide-de-camp.

augereau, whom the reader will remember having met at strasbourg, where he gave young eugene de beauharnais fencing-lessons, was seventeen years older than murat, and had already, when we renew our acquaintance with him, reached his fortieth year. after having stagnated for fifteen years in the lower grades, he had been transferred from the army of the rhine to the army of the pyrenees, under dugommier.

it was in that army that he won successively the grades of lieutenant-colonel, colonel, and brigadier-general, in which last capacity he defeated the spaniards on the banks of the fluvia in such brilliant fashion that he was at once elevated to the rank of general of division.

we have spoken of the peace with spain, and have given expression to our opinion upon that peace, which made a neutral sovereign, if not an ally, of one of the nearest relatives of louis xvi., whose head had just fallen by order of the convention.

after the peace was signed, augereau joined the army of italy under schérer, and contributed largely to the victory of loano. at last bonaparte appeared, and then began the immortal campaign of '96.

like all the older generals, augereau deeply deplored the fact, which fairly aroused his scorn, that a young man of twenty-five should be given command of the most important army of france. but when he had marched under the young general's orders; when he had contributed his share toward the taking of the pass of millesimo; when, as a result of a man?uvre suggested by his young colleague, he had beaten the austrians at dego, and had captured the redoubts of montellesimo without knowing to what end they had been taken—then he appreciated the power of the genius[pg 454] which had conceived the clever scheme of separating the sardinians from the imperial troops, thereby assuring the success of the campaign.

he went directly to bonaparte, confessed his former predispositions, and apologized manfully, and, like the ambitious man he was, while realizing his lack of training, which must indubitably operate against him, he asked bonaparte to allow him to share in the rewards which the latter distributed to his young lieutenants.

the fact that augereau, one of the bravest of the generals of the army of italy, had, on the day succeeding this interview, carried the intrenched camp of ceva, and penetrated into alba and casale, made it all the easier for bonaparte to grant this request. finally, meeting the enemy at the bridge of lodi, which bristled with cannon and was defended by a terrible fire, he rushed upon the bridge at the head of his grenadiers, took thousands of prisoners, released masséna from a difficult position, and took castiglione, which was one day converted into a duchy for him. at last came the famous day of arcola, which was to crown for him a campaign which he had made glorious by so many daring exploits. there, as at lodi, the bridge had to be crossed. three times he led his soldiers to the middle of the bridge, and three times they were repulsed by a storm of grape-shot and canister. finally, perceiving that his ensign had fallen, he seized the flag, and with head down, not knowing whether he was followed or not, he crossed the bridge and found himself in the midst of the enemy's artillery and bayonets. but this time his soldiers, who adored him, followed. the guns were captured and turned against the enemy.

the victory, one of the most glorious of the campaign, was so justly recognized as being entirely due to his valor, that the government presented him with the flag which he had used to arouse the ardor of his soldiers.

like bonaparte, he also reflected that he owed everything to the republic, and that the republic alone could[pg 455] give him all to which his ambition aspired. under a king, as he well knew, he would not have risen above the grade of sergeant. the son of a mason and a fruit-seller, a common soldier and a fencing master at the outset of his career, he had become a general of division, and at the first opportunity he might, thanks to his own courage, become commander-in-chief; like bonaparte, although he was not endowed with his genius; like hoche, although he did not possess his integrity; or like moreau, although he had not his learning.

he had just given proof of his cupidity, which had injured him somewhat with those pure republicans who sent their gold epaulets to the republic to be melted up, and wore woollen ones in their stead, until gold should be plentiful.

he had allowed his soldiers three hours' pillage in the town of lago, which had risen against him. he did not take active part in the pillage, it is true, but he bought at a ridiculously low figure all the articles of value which his soldiers had brought away. he had with him an army wagon, which was said to contain property worth a million; and "augereau's wagon" was known throughout the army.

having been notified by marmont, bonaparte was expecting him.

murat entered first and announced augereau. bonaparte thanked murat with a gesture, and intimated that he and marmont should leave them alone. bourrienne also rose to go, but bonaparte detained him by a movement of the hand; he had no secrets from his secretary.

augereau entered. bonaparte held out his hand to him, and motioned to him to sit down. augereau sat down, put his sword between his legs, his hat on its hilt, his arms on the hat, and asked: "well, general, what is it?"

"it is," said bonaparte, "that i want to congratulate you upon the fine spirit of your army corps. i stumbled upon a duel yesterday, when one of your soldiers was fighting a comrade from moreau's division, because the latter had called him monsieur."

[pg 456]

"ah!" said augereau. "the fact is that i have some rascals who will not listen to reason on that score. this is not the first duel that has been fought for that very reason. therefore, before leaving vicenza this morning, i published an order of the day forbidding any man of my division to make use, either verbally or in writing, of the word monsieur, under penalty of being degraded from his rank, or if he were a common soldier, depriving him of the right to serve in the armies of the republic."

"then, having taken this precaution," said bonaparte, looking fixedly at augereau, "you do not think, do you, that there will be anything to prevent your leaving your division for a month or two?"

"ah, ha!" exclaimed augereau; "and why should i leave my division?"

"because you have asked my permission to go to paris on personal matters of business."

"and a little on your affairs, also, eh?" said augereau.

"i thought," said bonaparte dryly, "that you knew no distinction in our affairs?"

"no, no," said augereau, "and you should be pleased that i am modest enough to be satisfied always with second place."

"have you not the second place in the army of italy?" asked bonaparte.

"to be sure; but i did a little something toward that myself, and circumstances may not always be so favorable."

"you see," said bonaparte, "that when you are no longer useful in italy, or when opportunities are few, i find occasion for you to be useful in france."

"why? tell me. are you sending me to the assistance of the republic?"

"yes, unfortunately, the republic is in poor hands just now; but poor as they are, it still lives."

"and the directory?"

"is divided," replied bonaparte. "carnot and barthélemy incline toward royalty, and they have with them, it[pg 457] must be confessed, the majority of the councils. but barras, rewbell, and la reveillière-lepaux stand firm for the republic and the constitution of the year iii., and they have us behind them."

"i thought," said augereau, "that they had thrown themselves into hoche's arms."

"yes; but it will not do to leave them there. there must be no arms in the country that are longer than ours; and ours must reach beyond the alps, and if necessary bring about another 13th vendémiaire at paris."

"well, why do you not go yourself?" asked augereau.

"because if i went it would be to overthrow the directory and not to sustain it. and i have not done enough yet to play the part of c?sar."

"and you send me to play the part of your lieutenant. well! that satisfies me. what is there to be done?"

"make an end of the enemies of france, who were only half wiped out on the 13th vendémiaire. as long as barras pursues a republican course, second him to the best of your ability and courage; if he hesitates, resist him; if he betrays, collar him as you would the meanest citizen. if you fail, i shall be in paris within the week with twenty-five thousand soldiers."

"well," said augereau, "i will try not to fail. when shall i start?"

"as soon as i have written the letter which you are to take to barras." then, turning to bourrienne, he said: "write."

bourrienne had paper and pen in readiness, and bonaparte dictated as follows:

citizen-director—i send you augereau, my right arm. for everybody else he is in paris on a furlough, having some business to attend to; for you he is the director who keeps pace with us. he brings you his sword, and he is instructed to say to you that, in case of need, you may draw upon the budget in italy to the extent of one, two, or even three millions.

[pg 458]

it is, above all, in civil wars that money becomes the vital nerve.

i hope in the course of a week to hear that the councils are purified, and that the clichy club no longer exists.

health and fraternity, bonaparte..

p.s.—what is all this we hear about robberies of diligences along the highroads of the midi by chouans, under the name of companions of jehu? put your hand on four or five of the rascals and make an example of them.

bonaparte, according to his habit, read over the letter, and then signed it with a new pen, which did not make his writing any more legible; then bourrienne sealed it and gave it to the messenger.

"tell them to give augereau twenty-five thousand francs from my cash-box, bourrienne," said bonaparte. and to augereau he added: "when you are out of funds, citizen-general, send to me for more."