The Sun.
London, England, 1828-07-09 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF
LONDON, 1828, _

Savary, Duke of Rovigo—a name well known
and justly respected by the friends and adherents of
Bonaparte, was the son of an officer highly distin-
guished under the old monarchy, and made his first ,
campaign in the service of the republic. At an
early period of life he
.had the good luck to attract
the notice of Napoleon, then a General, under whose
auspices he followed the French army to Egypt,
where he was appointed aid-de-camp -to Dessaix, re-
turned with Napoleon back to Paris, assisted him,
though in a subordinate capacity, in his successful de-
signs on the consulate of the 18th Brumaire (to which,
throughout his entertaining volumes, our annalist is
perpetually referring as a sublime and almost un-
equalled conception) and was, ultimately, as a re-
ward for his fidelity, and unshrinking devotion,
raised to a dukedom, and appointed Inspevitor of the
Police. Thew facts sufficiently prove that he must
have been well acquainted with the nature and cha-
racter of Napoleon's plans, and, so far as that con-
summate judge of human nature permitted his own
personal peculiarities to be unfolded, with the Em-
peror himself: at any rate he saw and knew enougi-,
of Napoleon to be enabled to refute many of those
atrocious calumnies with which the little great both
of France and England have delighted and
still delight to load him. It must not be
forgotten, however,—a strict regard to justice
compels us to state this—tliat in reading the Duke
of Rovigo's memoirs, we are reading the memoirs
of a devoted and unflinching partisan ; of one who
idolizes the memory of his great patron, and who—
though he has thrown their proper hue over many
of the tainted facts of Scott's " Life of Napoleon,"
that most romantic of all his novels—has still written
in the biassed spirit of-an adherent. Savary him-
self, if we may judge from the style of the com-
ments which he perpetually makes on passing
events, is an intelligent sober-minded individual.
He is not, we suspect, nor ever was, much of a
statesman, but possesses, as in his connection with the
Duke d'Enghein's death, decision, and no ordinary
share of foresight. Another thing to be respected
in him is, that when others shrunk from the Em-
peror in his sorrows, Savary stood firm; when
others courted the restored Bourbons, he went into
exile ; and endured the utmost severity of persecu-
tion, rather than compromise, by thought, word, or
deed, the slightest particle of his admiration for Na-
poleon. Such a man, at all times, and under all
circumstances, deserves consideration.
His present volumes treat of the Emperor, from
the period of his departure for Egypt down to the
hostilities that took
.plaee between France and
Russia in 1806. Within this pregnant interval are
comprised the events of the far-famed Egyptian
campaign; the appointment of Bonaparte to the First
consulate; the death of the Duke d'Enghien; and,
lastly, the never-to-be-forgotten battles of Marengo,
Austerlitz, and Holienlinden. Of all these extra-
ordinary events, the Duke d'Enghien's affair it is
that has obtained for Bonaparte the greatest noto-
riety. His admirers may forget his high military
and diplomatic genius ; but his enemies will take
good care that whatever become of the fame of the
warrior and statesman, the murderer of the Duke
d'Enghien shall, at least, net be forgotten. And
what, after all, was the nature of this very atro-
cious assassination ? simply this :--the French Police
ascertained that an organized band of conspirators,.
whose expellees were lavishly defrayed by the Ca-
binet of St. James's, was forming in England for
the express purpose of re-establishing the mo-
narchy, by the death, if necessary, of Bonaparte.
Just at this crisis Pichegru and Cadoual (chief conspi-
rators) landed on the Norman coast, and found their
way to Pads, while Gen. Dumourier quitted Eng-
land at the same time for the Continent. Fortu-
nately for Napoleon the plot was discovered; when
it was found, on examination of seine of the
prisoners, that a great personage, no one could
say who, was implicated in the treason. Inven-
tion was, of course, instantly at work to ascertain
the name and quality of this " great unknown," and
at last it appeared, from the report of a spy em-
ployed for the purpose, that the Duke d'Enghien,
who then resided on the French frontier, led
a very mysterious life, that he frequently ab-
sented himself from home for days together;
crossed the borders, no one could say why ;
and was besides in active correspondence with a
person named Dumoutieres. This name was mis-
taken by the spy for Dumourier; and he it was who,
by his very mysterious and signifizant account of
the Duke's occupations, first determined the French
Cabinet to act with decision. The unfortunate
Bourbon was accordingly hurried off to Paris, tried,
(though his trial, we confess, was but a summary
one), and condemned to death. His execution took
place immediately--Talleyrand having intercepted
a letter which he had written to Bonaparte implor-
ing mercy—to the surprise of the First Consul,
who was not aware of it till it was over. When
we remember that this was the third attempt that
had been made on the life of the First Consul,
our horror of the execution will be diminished, and
we shall be inclined to believe the statements made
by Napoleon at St. Helena, that the Duke was put
to death by the agency of Talleyrand, who, by way
of a wind-up to the business on the very night of
the Bourbon's execution, gave a masked ball_ to the
whole corps diplomatique, at Pa(id ti facts }:i•lisioa
eb% In his present
ismv[iiomal volume, rwiaNe,ffeassi
ra clear%y,above,
1,
rd himselfte are
p againstroft ae
transaction; in this
was
')l'atosslet
r of the
The remaining portion of the Duke of Rovigo's
Memoir is chiefly taken up with miscellaneous anec-
dotes, few of which are new, while all (or at least
the-majority of thorn) tend to put the Emperor in a
most amiable light. Speaking of that stupid and
new justly exploded calumny, the massacre of the
sick at Jaffa, Savary observt s

them
ar efo
found
I,),laii.is'n,ta,°,Gideeensesie
The hospital, however, still contained lowly soldiers who
were in a state bordering upon madness, much more owing
to the terror which the malady inspired, than to the inten-
sity of the pain. General Bonaparte determined to re-
store them to their wonted energy. He paid them a visit,
reproached them for giving way to dejection, and yielding,
to chimerical fears; and in order to convin.T them, by the
most obvious proof, that their appiel.,;:tsions were ground-
less, be desired that the bieedipg tumour of one of the sol-
diers should he umcovered before him, and pressed it will:
his inns hand, This act of heroism restored confidence to
the sick, who no longer thought their case desperate:
Each one recruited his remaining strength, and praesaer.exd..
to quit a place which, but a moment before, h
bse iioni the
lil•Pe°. exhausted'r-isell i lint-t-
-peeted never to' leave. . A grenadier,
spellafg;rl plague
from aldii smbaedde.
to him a few encouraging words :—"
4, :ourd
greaterTiie Grazegr‘aestiff,:(,,,,tro:idi,,ollitia
Ge-
neral," replied the warrior;
agits:tghaetrecouritg•algi, dis.
made to die in an hospitasls-'t'han
by .
played by these unfortunate men, ,
the
uneasiness of mind no le
a requisition ut• the officers' horses,
Bonaparte would not
1 s andg LttlTl ethi:oeestsl:lle rulf:m;el;e7u°vriseteinroa,fsdalierr transport
tpiliaeeed disposalui)ono
of
army.
... .
au d, ending one of them missing,
delivered up his own,
was keeping '
he sent for the groom, who
inadequate, be made d
and hesitated to give it up. The General growin,g impa-
tient at this excess of zeal, darted
a threatening look; the
whole stud was placed at the disposal of the sick ; and vet
it is this very act of magnanimity which the perverseness
of human nature has delighted in distorting. I feel ashamed
to advert to so atrocious a calumny ; hut the man, vans,
simple assertion was Muni sufficient to Ore it currency,
has not been able to stifle it by his suiNequent disavowal.