The Sun.
London, England, 1845-04-28 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

HISTORY OF THE CONSULATE AND EM-
PIRE OF FRANCE, UNDER NAPOLEON.
By M .A. Thiess. Vol. 111.
This volume has destroyed all the favourable anti-
cipations of a true and impartial narrative of events
which the English reader was led to form from the
details given in the first two parts. M. Thiers being
a man of some standing in society, laying claim to
the character of a historian, and well furnished with
original documents for the work, was expected to re-
late the history of his country during its most event-
ful period, with a correctness and impartiality which
might render it not only acceptable to Frenchmen,
but to all civilised nations. We certainly had looked
to the publication with such expectations, imagining
that a man who had raised himself from the lowest
rank to that of prime minister of France, would have
avoided all undue nationalities—all party spleen and
falsehood, in order to reach a more difficult and more
honourable position than that of a cabinet minister—
a faithful ant elegant historian. We, however, have
been miserably disappointed. Throughout, this
volume, wherever English affairs are mentioned, truth
is obscured by the most perverse and violent dis-
tortion of facts. A colouring in favour of France is
given in every chapter and page, and no merit is al-
lowed to England, except what he could not deny,
that in every principal encounter with the fleets and
troops of France, those of England by some chance or
another came off best. He could not come to any
other conclusion, because the fact is known to all the
world, but it is evident from the excuses which he
invents for the failures of his countrymen, and the
extravagant praise which he bestows on the
most trivial victory, that if he could by any
possibility have had the whole field of history
to himself, the English would have been
denied even the least particle of justice. But,
luckily, this departure from truth brings its own
punishment, and never was mendacity less successful
than in the case of M. Thiers. By inventing pleas of
excuse for the defeats of the French, he has done the
greatest injustice to that gallant and ingenious peo-
ple, and made their admirals and generals utterly
ridiculous. To begin with Admiral Ganteaume,
who he describes as " a very brave man, a good sea-
man, and an excellent officer." This gentleman set
out fr in Brest with a fleet of seven ships of the line,
two frigates and a brig, all fast-sailing vessels, carry-
ing 4,000 troops destined for Egypt. After escaping
the English squadron, and performing wonders, one
of which was " preparing to board an English frigate,"
which, unfortunately for his glory, continued to
manoeuvre- and escape the danger, he reached the
Straits of Gibraltar, and as Admiral Waeren, the
only enemy in that quarter, had but four ships, and
Admiral Keith was locked up in some bay on the
coast of Asia Minor, the gallant Ganteaume had only
to sail direct to Alexandria, land his troops, and
secure Egypt to the French. But, strange to ;a y,
this very breve man was absolutely afraid of every
thing like an English flag. When he saw Warren's
fleet, consisting, as we have said, of four ships, he
vowed he saw seven or eight, and under pretence of
escorting to Toulon a frigate which did not
sail to his liking, he proceeded in that di-
rection with his whole fleet, merely to bear
the lubber of a frigate company till she
could run into a French harbour. He, of course, bad
no intention of entering Toulon himself, but un-
luckily when in the Gulf of Lyons he again caught
sight of the English squadron, and "ran in conster-
nation into Toulon." " This fatal conduct," says the
faithful historian "lost us Egypt ;" yet he affirms, in
another place, if Ganteaume had proceeded direct
from Elba, where he was on the 25th of April, more
than nine weeks afterwards, he might have been the
saviour of the army in Egypt. But " the brave
man, the skilful seaman, and the excellent officer,"
had many adventures during that period. lle stayed
at Toulon precisely one month, and was at last ac-
tually forced out by the urgent remonstrances of the
First Consul, but on going out of the harbour, the
ship Constitution grounded, and two days elapsed
before she could be got afloat. At last, he fairly put
to sea with a gallant fleet, consisting of seven ships
of the line and several frigates, and made sail towards
Sardinia • but when almost within sight of Africa,
one of his captains, in command of the Dix-Aout,
most unskilfully ran foul of the Formidable, and the
Gallant Admiral, so much alarmed at the damage
done by this rencontre, fled again back to Toulon.
There he remained for twenty days, and at length
mustered courage to run the risk of looking at the
English. After reaching Porto Ferrajo, then in our
possession, and firing a few shots at the place, he
gallantly proceeded towards his destination, when a
contageous disease broke out in his squadron. He
put the sick on board three ships, and consigned
them to the care of Admiral Linois, and with
four ships of the line and two frigates
having on board 2,000 troops, he steered for Egypt,
and finally anchored off the coast of Africa, a few
days march to the west of Alexandria; but most un-
luckily about the 30th of May—(we wish to be par-
ticular as to dates when speaking of great events)—
" he thought that he perceived the English fleet; he
no longer deliberated, hoisted his boats on board and
slipped his cables, without taking time to weigh an-
chor, lest he should be attacked at his moorings, set
sail, and was not overtaken by the enemy." But,
indeed, there was no enemy there. However, he met
one in his flight, a solitary English ship, the S wiftsure,
half-manned and half-mounted, and, says the histo-
rian, in language rivalling that of Caesar, " to give
chase to her, to surround, rake, and capture her, was
an affair of a few moments. The Gallant Admiral
entered Toulon with the trophy. This ludicrous de-
scription of Ganteaume's adventures is put forth to ac-
count for the loss of Egypt ; but unfortunately for his
purpose, M. Thiers is not satisfied with disgracing
French sailors, he must also exhibit French soldiers in
a still more contemptible light, all for the purpose of
praising Bonaparte, and proving that when he was
not present the French army had not fair play. This
is a strange compliment to his countrymen, for Bo•
naparte was a foreigner. Anything, however, serves
M. Thiers when he detracts from the merits of the
English, and that is always. Menou, after the assassi-
nation of Kleber, commanded in Egypt, and accord-
ing to Thiers was not a very bright General, though
appointed to the chief command by Bonaparte, after
mature deliberation. In this instance he forgets his
favourite, to diminish the glory of the gallant Aber-
cromby. Menou was a bad General, but he bad good
officers under him—Regnier, the gallant Friant,
and the gallant Lanusse, Belliard,.Verdier, and many
others, to whose names he prefixes high-sounding
epithets. Unfortunately, however, they would not
work together. They caballed and even conspired
to depose the Commander-in-Chief. Menou was too
powerful for them altogether—shipped off some to
France, punished others ; yet discontent prevailed,
and paltry disputes disgraced the army, even in the
presence of the enemy, whom, M. Thiers says, the
French might easily have surrounded and driven
into the sea. Phrases of this kind occur so fre-
quently as to become ridiculous, but they are always
accompanied with an if, or a had, or a possible, and a
but. The self-confidence of the army, too, is adduced
as a cause of failure :—" Our troops had formed the
habit of fighting in Egypt one against four—some-
times one against eight, and they thought that the
English could not withstand a charge of the bayonet?'
And Thiers adds with great naivete, " This was a
fatal illusion." Thus, every circumstance was against
the French. They had a bad general, the staff
officers quarielled with him, and with one another like
children, and cried for their beautiful France. They
were soured by exile, and everyone would be master,
and the very English deceived them by not fighting
like the wild Arabs, and standing a charge of the
bayonet. Under such circumstances bribery was easy.
Abereromby and Hutchinson had no merit; envious
fate caused the mischief, and " all that remained to be
done was to capitulate." We will allow M. Thiers to tell
his own tale, and leave the reader to judge if we have
at all magnified his vain-glory and his contemptible
excuses for every failure. The following is his ac-
coutit of the battle of Alexandria. In it we find no
fewer than ten buts, independent of ifs, and one if, a
very important agent in the business, for the Eng-
lish were found to give way," and if Menou had
done so-or-so, they " would have left the French a
secure victory."
"BATTLE OF ALEXANDRIA.
" On the 21st, before daybreak (30th Ventose), our
troops were in motion. The regiment of dromedaries
performed, with exactness, the duty which had been as-
signed to them. They rapidly crossed the dry parts of
the lake Mai Las, alighted before the head of the dyke,
carried the redoubts, and turned the guns against the
enemy. This was enough to deceive the English, and
draw their attention towards the lake Mar4atis. But, to
insure the success of the plan agreed upon, and which
was to be carried out on the sea-side, a precision was
necessary, such as is difficult of attainment when a
manoeuvre is executed in the dark, and still more unat-
tairrible, when there is not at the head one supreme
directing mind to guide the enterprise, and competent
to compute both time and distances.
"The division of Lanusse, manoeuvring in the dark,
advanced without order, and created confusion among
our troops in the centre. The first column, under the
orders of General Silly, marched boldly to the redoubt,
which was thrown up before the Roman camp. Lanusse
directed it in person, and led it-on to the redoubt. But
suddenly he discovered that the second column had
missed its way, and instead of skirting the sea-side to
attack the Roman camp, had approached too close to the
first. He rode towards it, for the purpose or pointirg
out the position assigned to to it. Unfortunately, at this
moment he received a wound in the thigh, which proved
mortal ; a most fatal event, which was to entail deplor-
able consequences. The troops being suddenly deprived
of the c mimand of th;s energetic officer, the attack
slackened. The day, which now began to dawn, enabled
the English to discern the point against which they
should direct their fire. Our soldiers, galled sitnultalie.
dud), by the fire from the gunboats, from the Roman
:camp and the redoubts, evinced adrailable. krmn 5 acid
bravery:' 'But; ere long, all their superior officerse be
weunied, they were left without commanders,
andla