From the Dublin University Magazine.

THE ELOQUENCE OF THE CAMP-NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.

THE sayings of soldiers, and those related to them, have been memorable in all ages. A Lacedemonian mother, addressing her son going to battle, said "Return living with your shield, or dead upon it."

A sentinel who allowed General Joubert to enter Napoleon's tent without giving the password was brought before him-"Go," said he "the man who forced the Tyrol may well force a sentinel,"

Xerxes, menacing Leonidas with the A general officer, not eminently distinoverwhelming numbers of his army, said-guished, once solicited a marshal's baton"Our, arrows will obscure the sun." "It is not I that make marshals," said he "Well," replied the Spartan, "we shall it is victories." fight all the better in the shade. "

. On the field of Austerlitz, a young RusCommanders have been remarkable for sian officer, taken prisoner, was brought bethe ready tact of their improvisations. fore him-"Sire," said the young man, Cæsar stumbled and fell on landing in" let me be shot! I have suffered my guns Africa. He instantly affected to kiss the to be taken."-"Young man," said he, soil, and exclaimed " Africa! I embrace" be consoled! Those who are conquered thee." by my soldiers, may still have titles to glory."

When Dessaix received his death-wound at Marengo, his last words were "Go and When the Duke of Montebello, to whom' assure the First Consul that my only regret he was tenderly attached, received a mortal in leaving life is, that I have not done wound from a cannon-ball, Napoleon, then enough to be remembered by posterity." in the meridian of his imperial glory, rushA drummer, one of whose arms was car-ed to the litter on which the dying hero ried away by a cannon-ball at the moment he received an order to beat the "charge," exclaimed-" I have still one hand left," and beat with the remaining hand.

was stretched, and embracing him, and bedewing his forehead with his tears, uttered these untranslatable words" Lannes! me reconnais-tu ?-c'est Bonaparte! c'est ton ami!"

On catching the first sight of the Mamelukes, drawn up in order of battle on the In the Russian campaign he spirited on banks of the Nile, in view of the pyramids, his troops by the assurance-"Soldiers! Bonaparte, riding before the ranks, cried-Russia is impelled by Fate! Let its des"Soldiers! from the summits of yonder tiny be accomplished!" pyramids forty generations are watching On the morning of the battle of Mosyou." cowa, the sun rose with uncommon splenTo a troop of artillery which had failed dor in an unclouded firmament-" Bein their duty, he said "This flag that you hold !" exclaimed Napoleon to his soldiers, have basely deserted shall be placed in the" it is the sun of Austerlitz." Temple of Mars, covered with crape-your corps is disbanded."

On hearing the first gun of the enemy at Friedland, he exclaimed-" Soldiers! it is an auspicious day. It is the anniversary of Marengo."

It will be recollected that the battle of Austerlitz was commenced at sunrise, and that on that occasion the sun rose with extraordinary splendor.

At Montereau the guns of a battery near his staff were ineffective, owing to having The fourth regiment of the line on one been ill-pointed. Napoleon dismounted occasion lost its eagle-"What have you from his charger, and pointed them with his done with your eagle ?" asked Napoleon. own hands, never losing the skill he acquir"A regiment that loses its eagle has lost all.ed as an artillery officer. The grenadiers Yes, but I see two standards that you have taken. 'Tis well," concluded he, with a smile" you shall have another eagle."

He presented Moreau, on one occasion, with a magnificent pair of pistols as a cadeau. "I intended," said he, "to have got the names of your victories engraved upon them, but there was not room for them."

of his guard did not conceal their terror at seeing the cannon-balls of the enemy falling. around him" Have no fears for me," he observed, "the ball destined to kill me has not yet been cast.'

In his celebrated march from Frejus to Paris, on his return from Elba, one of the regiments at Grenoble hesitated before de

claring for him. He, with a remarkable | ral of the Directory, he treated, not in the instinct, leaped from his horse, and unbut-name of the Directory, but in the name of toning the breast of the grey surtout he Bonaparte. He was not merely comusually wore, laid bare his breast-"If mander-in-chief of the army he was its there be an individual among you," said he, master; and the army felt this, and the who would desire to kill his general-his republican tacitly acknowledged it. The emperor let him fire." oldest generals quailed under the eagle eye of this youth of five-and-twenty.

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It was, however, in his harangues to the soldiers, delivered on the spur of the mo-. His eloquence of the field has no examment, and inspired by the exigency of the ple in ancient or modern times. His words occasion, and by the circumstances with are not the words of a mortal. They are which he found himself surrounded, that his the announcements of an oracle. It is not peculiar excellence as an orator was devel-to the enemies that are opposed to him that oped. The same instinct of improvisation he speaks, nor do his words refer to the which prompted so many of his strategical country he invades. He addresses Europe, evolutions, was manifested in his language and speaks of the world. If he designates and sentiments. At an age, and in the the army he leads, it is THE GRAND ARMY! practice of a profession, in which the re- If he refers to the nation he represents, it sources of the orator are not usually avail-is THE GREAT NATION! He blots empires able, e or even accessible, he evinced a fer- from the map with the dash of his pen, tility, a suppleness, and a finesse, which and dots down new kingdoms with the hilt bordered on the marvellous, and which, of his sword. He pronounces the fate of with an audience not highly informed, might dynasties amidst thunder and lightning. easily pass for inspiration. What language His voice is the voice of destiny!

seem to border on the ridiculous. Subli-
mity itself, when the hearer is not excited
to the proper pitch, does so. At present,
after thirty years and upwards of a general
peace, the very generation which felt the
enthusiasm of victory has nearly passed
away, and another has grown up, all whose
aspirations have been directed to far different
objects. Other wants, other wishes, other
ideas, other sentiments-nay, even other
prejudices-have grown up.
In the days
Napoleon's splendor, military renown was
all in all. The revolution had swept away
all political and almost all geographical

it were best to use, what conduct it were To reproduce his highly figurative lanbest to pursue, and what character it were guage, after the fever of universal enthusibest to assume on each occasion which pre-asm, in the midst of which it was uttered, sented itself, he appeared to know, instan- has cooled down, is hazardous. It may taneously and instinctively, without consideration, and without apparent effort of judgment. He gained this knowledge from no teacher, for he never had a mentor; he gained it not from experience, for he had not years. He had it as a gift. It was a natural instinct. While he captured the pontifical cities, and sent the treasures of art of the Vatican to Paris, he was profoundly reverential to the Pope. Seeking an interview with the Archduke Charles, the lieutenant of artillery sprung from the people met the descendant of the Caesars with all the pride of an equal, and all the elevated courtesy of a high-born chevalier. landmarks. An undefined future presented He enforced discipline, honored the arts itself to all minds. The marvellous achieveand sciences, protected religion and pro- ments of the French army itself, led by a perty, and respected age and sex. In the boy on the plains, illustrated in other days city he sacked, he put sentinels at the by Roman glory, heated all imaginations to church doors to prevent the desecration of a point which enabled them to admire what the altar. To set the example of respect may seem to border on bombast in the prefor divine things, he commanded his mar- sent prevalence of the intellectual over the shals with their staffs to attend mass. He imaginative, and of the practical over the managed opinion, and turned popular pre- poetical. judice to the purposes of power. In Egypt, he would wear the turban and quote the Koran. His genius for administration was no way inferior to his genius for conquest. He could not brook a superior, even when his rank and position were subordinate.

In his first Italian campaign, as the gene

Let the reader, then, try to transport himself back to the exciting scenes amidst which Napoleon acted and spoke.

At six-and-twenty he superseded Scherer in the command of the army of Italy, surrounded with disasters, oppressed with despair, and utterly destitute of every pro

vision necessary for the well-being of the 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:

plishing 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!"

Such language was never before addressed to a French army. It excited the solders even to delirium. They would have followed him to the ends of the earth. Nor was such an event foreign to his thoughts. The army no longer obeyed-it was devoted. It was not led by a mortal commander-it followed a demigod. When he sailed from the shores of France,

"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-with-on the celebrated expedition to Egypt, the out bridges, you have crossed rivers!-without destination of the fleet was confided to shoes, you have made forced marches!-without none but himself. Its course was directed brandy, and often without bread, you have bi- first to Malta, which, as is well known, subvouacked! Republican phalanxes, soldiers of mitted without resistance. When lying off Liberty, alone could have survived what you have its harbor, Bonaparte thus addressed the suffered! Thanks to you, soldiers!—your grate- splendid army which floated around him:— ful 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 Appenines 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 Dégo, and of Mondovi !

My friends, I promise you this glorious conquest; but be the liberators, and not the scourges of the people you subdue!"

"Soldiers!-You are a wing of the army of England. You have made war on mountain and plain, and have made sieges. It still remains for you to make maritime war. The 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; you have great destinies to fulfil, battles to wage, and fatigues to sufier."

Such addresses acted on the army with electrical effect. Bonaparte had only to walk over northern Italy, passing from tri-covered the towers of Alexandria, BonaWhen the men from the mast tops disumph to triumph in that immortal compaign with a facility and rapidity which resembled the shifting views of a phantasmagoria. He entered Milan, and there, to swell and stimulate his legions, he again

addressed them:

parte first announced to them the destination of the expedition:

"Frenchmen!-You are going to attempt con

quests, the effects of which on the civilization

Be..

and commerce of the world are incalculable.
hold the first city we are about to attack. It was
built by Alexander."

"You have descended from the summits of the Alps like a cataract. Piedmont is delivered. Milan is your own. Your banners wave over the As he advanced through Egypt he soon fertile plains of Lombardy. You have passed the Po, the Tessino, the Adda-those vaunted bul- perceived that he was among a people who warks of Italy. Your fathers, your mothers, your were fanatical, ignorant, and vindictive, who wives, your sisters, your betrothed, will exult in distrusted the Christians, but who still your triumphs, and will be proud to claim you as more profoundly detested the insults, extheir own, Yes, soldiers, you have done much, actions, pride, and tyranny of the Mamebut much more is still to be accomplished. Will lukes. To flatter their prejudices and conyou leave it in the power of posterity to say that firm their hatred, he addressed them in a in Lombardy you have found a Capua? Let us go on! We have still forced marches to make, proclamation conceived in their own Orienenemies to subdue, laurels to gather, and insults tal style: to avenge.

"To re-establish the capitol, and re-erect the "Cadis, Sheiks, Imans, Charbadgys, they will statues of its heroes; to awake the Roman peo- say to you that I have come to destroy your reple, sunk under the torpor of ages of bondage;-ligion! Believe them not. Tell them that I come behold what remains to be done! After accom- to restore your rights, and to punish your usurpVOL. XIII. No. II.

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ers, and that I, much more than the Mamelukes, I rectory with the haughty tone of a master respect God, his prophet, and the Koran! who demands an account of his servants, and as though he were already absolute sovereign of France:

Tell it to the people that all men are equal before God Say that wisdom, talents, and virtue, alone constitute the difference between man and

man.

"Is there on your land a fine farm?-it belongs to the Mamelukes. Is there anywhere a beauti ful slave, a fine horse, a splendid house ?-they all belong to the Mamelukes. If Egypt be really their farm, let them show what grant God has given them of it. But God is just and merciful towards his people. All Egyptians have equal rights. Let the most wise, the most enlightened, and the most virtuous rule, and the people will be happy.

“There were in former days among you great cities, great canals, and vast trade. What has destroyed all these, if it be not the cupidity, the injustice, and the tyranny of the Mamelukes?

"Cadis, Sheiks, Imans, Charbadgys, tell it to the people that we also are true Mussulmans. Was it not we that subdued the Pope, who exhorted nations to war on the Mussulmans? Are

we not also friends of the Grand Signor?
"Thrice happy those who shall be on our side!
happy those who shall be neuter: they will
have time to be acquainted with us, and to join
"But wo, wo to those who shall take arms for the
Mamelukes, and who shall combat against us! For
them there will be no hope! They shall perish!"

with us.

After quelling the revolt at Cairo, he availed himself of the terror and superstition of the Egyptians to present himself to them as a superior being, as a messenger of God, and the inevitable instrument

of Fate:

"Sheiks, Ulemas, Worshippers of Mahomet, tell the people that those who have been my enemies shall have no refuge in this world nor in the next! Is there a man among them so blind as not to see Fate itself directing my movements?

left you surrounded with such splendor? I left you "What have you done with that France which I peace-I return and find war. I left you the millions of Italy-I return and find spoliation and misery! What have you done with the hundred thousand brave French, my companions in arins, in glory, and in toil? THEY ARE DEAD!"

Bonaparte was remarkable for contemptuously 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 his campaign to the private soldiers of his army:

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

What grandeur, combined with what pride, we find in these last words!

His speech after the battle is also a chefd'œuvre of military eloquence. He declares his contentment with his soldiers--he walks through their ranks-he reminds them who they have conquered, what they have done, and what will be said of them; but not one "Tell the people that since the world was a word does he utter of their chiefs. The world, it has been written, that after having destroyed the enemies of Islamism--after having emperor and the soldiers-France for & beaten down their crosses, I should come from perspective--peace for a reward--and glory the depths of the west, to fulfil the task which has been committed to me. Show the people that in the holy volume of the Koran, in more than twenty places, what happens has been foretold, and what will happen is likewise written."

I can call each of you to account for the most hidden thoughts of your heart; for I know all, even the things you have not whispered to another. But a day will come when all the world will plainly see that I am conducted by 'orders from above, and that no efforts can prevail against

me."

When Charlatanism was the weapon most effective, he there scrupled not to wield it for the attainment of his ends.

After the 18th Brumaire, surrounded by his brilliant staff, he apostrophized the Di

for a recollection! What a commencement, and what a termination !—

"Soldiers! I am content with you; you have covered your eagles with immortal glory. An army of one hundred thousand men, commanded by the emperors of Russia and of Austria, have been, in less than four hours, cut to pieces and dispersed; whoever has escaped your sword has been drowned in the lakes. Forty stand 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, for ever 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 rivals to fear.

Soldiers! when the French people placed upon my head the imperial crown, I entrusted my self 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, he 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 fight, he apostrophized his soldiers in the following manner:-"Those," pointing to the enemy, "and yourselves, are you

not still the soldiers of Austerlitz!" This was the stroke of a master.

"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 deserts 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.

"The forests, the defiles of Franconia, the Saale, and the Elbe, which your fathers had not traversed in seven years, you have traversed in seven days, and in this interval you have fought four fights and one pitched battle. You have sent the reand to Berlin. You have made sixty thousand nown of your victories before you to Potsdam prisoners, taken sixty-five standards, six hundred pieces of cannon, three fortresses, and more than twenty generals; and yet nearly one-half of you still lament not having fired a shot. All the provinces of the Prussian monarchy, as far as the banks of the Oder, will be in your power."

It is true, and it will occur to every mind, that a large part of the force of this eloquence of the camp in the case of Bonaparte, depended on the astounding character of the facts which he had the power of repeating. Even now, after these miracles of military prowess have been repeated in as many versions by an hundred contemporary historians in every living language, we cannot read these simple references to them without being overwhelmed with amazement. The narrative of them borders often on the impossible, and forcibly impresses us with the justness of the adage, that truth is often more wonderful than fiction, and that the Soldiers! we will not lay down our arms un-historian has often to record that from til a general peace has restored to our commerce its liberty and its colonies. We have, on the Elbe which the novelist would shrink. and the Oder, recovered Pondicherry our Indian establishment, the Cape of Good Hope, and the Spanish colonies. Who shall give to the Russians the hope to resist destiny? These and your

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selves. Are we not the soldiers of Austerlitz?"

He commenced the Prussian campaign by a speech that burned and flashed like lightning itself

"Soldiers! I am in the midst of you. You are the vanguard of a great people. You must not return to France unless you return under triumphal arches. What! shall it be said you have braved the seasons, the deep, the deserts, conquered Europe, several times coalesced against you, carried your glory from the East to the West, only to return to your country like fugitives, and to hear it said that the French eagle had taken flight, terrified at the aspect of the Prussian armies? Let us advance, then; and since our moderation has not awakened them from their astonishing intoxication, let them learn that if it is easy to obtain any increase of power from the friendship of a great people, its enmity is more terrible than the tempests of the ocean."

At Eylau, he thus honored the memory of his brave warriors who had fallen :

"You have marched against the enemy, and you have pursued him, your swords in his reins, over a space of eighty leagues. You have taken from him sixty-five pieces of cannon, sixteen standards, and killed, wounded, or captured, more than forty-five thousand men. Our braves who have remained on the field of battle, have died a diers." glorious death. Theirs is the death of true sol

At Friedland, he again apostrophized his army :-

"In ten days you have taken one hundred and twenty pieces of cannon, seven standards, killed, wounded, or captured sixty thousand Russian prisoners; taken from the enemy all its hospitals, all its magazines, all its ambulances, the fortress of Koenigsberg, the three hundred vessels that were in the port, laden with every species of munitions, and one hundred and sixty thousand muskets, that England had sent to arm our enemies. From the banks of the Vistula you have passed to those of