The Sun.
London, England, 1845-11-14 00:00:00

Y•)

- LITERATURE. • STORy of the CONSULATE and the EMPIRE
PRANCE under .NAPOLEON. By Al. A.
Vol. V.
It rye have already reviewed three volitmes of this
!ai and after the pains taken in ascertaining its eha-
tter and the abilities of the writer, we had hoped to be
„9,,scire.a ~ further labour in pointing out more of his faults
eve" mis-statements. The present number. how-
soia so extravagant in its details, and abounds
tnany errors both as regards France and Eng:
474°, that it will be necessary to point out a few of
bu ern
h_. , and subjoin extracts in proof. It is a singular.
eo" that Thiers, who seems so anxious to place his
witlintrY in the first rank among civilised nations, and
Who has diminished the merit of every great man in
liirance contemporary with Bonaparte, in order to extol
and&3 greatest calumniator of the French :natipre
ilia (Lne more to lower his hero in public estimatkon.
aattil all the writers who have impartially, or even with
weltial prejudices, criticised the deeds of Napoleon.
(9.rn from him that all the French admirals in Ne!.-
'ti"ed 'stene were rank cowards, that his very theta,namete! that some of them dreamt of his astonishing
ti,j'eries, and in their waking hours could think of no-
etlesre;sthat none would venture to meet him on
m,
and that one to whom the finest fleet ever
raised
by France was entrusted by the Emperor, trembled
sisihe t
"longhts of Nelson, and fled before clouds and
pact °lts which his imagination represented as an English
commanded by the hero of the Nile. The character
sb,u°naparte, too, is represented in the most unfavour-
he':±ight, not intentionally, for M. '.fhiers is constantly
h_urevainnftya,birddeecuislioogni,ums upon Jos great genius„.
.his
and fifty other great qualities,
de -Y of which no doubt he possessed, but virtually
not es him as a great tyrant, as a man who cared
prthing for the destruction of a hundred thousand
eeo
th hreen, and the capture, imprisonment, or death of
e best soldiers and sailors of France, provided he had
only a prospect of obtaining some victory on which his.
say.bibi,itious, restless, and unsocial mind was bent. We
mindadduce extracts to prove these.statements.
Zehintder°. The
f Thiers is altogether of the most forbidding cha-
We can find not one French personage in his
s "el° history for whom he seems to have anything like
re or esteem. They are all brave of course, po.s-1
s,,e. great devotion, and would die
.for France, but sul
eteir defects are placed in such a light that it is, only
.surpsising
'°lllltry how Bonaparte could have governed the
tro,„ With such agents. Talleyrand is represented as
od'," of the most ordinary abilities, slow, hesitating,
ata-,l"Aing only to self. Villeneuve is described as a
most able
; Bernadotte (one of the best generals and
able civic rulers that France ever produced)
isneverentioned but with some imputation on
~: ; all the brothers of Bonaparte
O character
ne to have been very ordinary characters, even
lic%
tit
whose decision of character saved the her.o
atarengo from destruction, when his wavering spi-
er. Quailed before the representatives of the people,
the Whatever other character they possessed during
tileritoup
c a (tat at Saint Cloud, has the smallest degree of
sett allotted to him. Josephine was ruinously and
thßishlY expensive in her toilette ; She was a friend of
the detested Bourbons ; she was constantly annoying
War Emperor, and the Emperor, in his turn, acted to-
pst 4 her like a brute. We hear of no cordiality be-
titeeu til.:,llSeoname; but we hear of the Empress devising
plans to mitigate the severity of the Con-
leave Facts are related, as it were inadvertently, which
hone ao doubt that she was a woman of a feeling and
lilt °arable mind ; and when these became known to
pe I°ole°a, he insulted her by the rudest and frost ins-
is tlesiies language. The murder of the Duke d'Enghien
quo ded " event," or a " great misfortune."
.The
laws eed, contrary to all justice, humanity, and national
and lamented because it brought odium on Napoleon,
liiin'oased the whole of the Continental States against
je,C; not because it was a crime of the deepest die, and
heel" d the allies afterwards in excludingits author
till ththe Pale of civil rights, and chaining him on a rock
the 'T hour of his death. The present volume embraces
bl' e 11!story of events after the Duke's murder to the
theseting up of the camp at Boulogne ; and in delineating
Per( "eras, M. Thiers makes all the principal actors
most ridiculous parts. The only sound reflect-
• en Who figured in the scene, appears to have been
thin .ral Decres.Bonaparte was resolved to risk every-
according to M. Thiers, and boldly advance with
Ines otilla on England, and revenge, by a certain con-
domt of London, and, consequently, the United King-
tie',the insolence and disgraces of centuries. For some
froot "e Would listen to no advice which might deter him
tsiedeeell a Project,
and Bonaparte at last changed his
, and
‘,l,_ we give the reasons why
sons• 'e.works of the armament along the coast of Boulognei
tr'sbed, the forts constructed, and the basins dug. e
1,114,,ving completed their task, had now returned to
1414 discipline
exercises. They had acquired a truly admrei_-
Bene, 'cipline and precision of movement; and they p.
paignqs an army not only inured to war by numerous cani-
Lassce and hardened by rude labours, but as perfect in
Nadeevres as though they had spent whole years upon the
genera, ground. The army, perhaps the finest that prince or
•it ever commanded, impatiently expected the arrival
tsn 8 chieftain, newly raised to the throne. It burned to
Pro
elatesiapat him,
in and to follow him to the theatre of a new
d
iv_ us glory.
tatCpoleon was no less impatient to join it. But an impor-
tshe,Pestion had arisen among the professional men, as to
tab iuer 11,
gun-boats composing the flotilla, nutshells,. as
-,44.„.ere called, could brave the English fleet. Admiral
With
4(1 Adrnfral Verhuell had the utmost confidence in
With boats. Both of them had exchanged cannon shots
Inveatllele
English frigates, had gone out of port in all
'aft. w's' and had acquired the conviction that
.these light
ieeiin ere sufficient for clearing the Strait. Admiral Decres,
tostre,,d. to contradict every one, and especially inclined to
eurin4"let Admiral Bruix, thought the reverse. Those of
hstharino officers who were not employed on the flotilla,
trkieiset from prejudice, or from the ordinary inclination to
',flisie„e what we have no part in doing, inclined to the
lerred'iscf the minister Decres. Admiral Ganteaume, trans-
Nat Toulon to Brest, had witnessed an accident
1401 we have mentioned above, and which had caused him
k sexiety for the fate of the army and of the Emperor,
114at,leln he was sincerely devoted. The sight of a gun-1
apwar_9sized before his eyes in Brest oatead, aln.lost kee
ritt4a, bad filled him with anxiety,r and lie hadinstantly
beciden,uPcn the subject to the minister of marine. That
ae s;`, as we have said, was of no importance. The boat
,arratt;ell unskilfully ballasted, the artillery had been ill-
the men were not sufficiently practised, and the
Lodi led
• - touted weight, added to the confusion of the crew,
the shipwreck.
!tense,i`vaa not want of stability that Admiral Decres appre-
la
that The flotilla of Boulogne, manceuvring for two sTars
°neaviest squalls had done away with all uncertainty
tabs D._head. But he addressed the following objections to
c,.,a,lPeror, and to Admiral Bruix :
the saundoubtedly,' said he, a twenty-four pound shot has
shipnle force, whether discharged from a gun-boat or from
/44 of the line. It causes the same damage, often even
cult
an
When discharged from a slight vessel, which it is Mil -
/tied dand whose horizontal fire takes effect between
n .1
watr Add to this the musketry, destructive a a
h di •
ce,e and the facility for boarding, and the value of
thongsatl-boats cannot he doubted. They carry above three
fleet 4onfdpins of large calibre, that is to say, as many as a
• '°,ll thirty to thirty-five sail of the line, a fleet
the. -
b is not often easy to assemble. But where have
veapo °ats been seen to ;neasure themselves with the large
elose of the English ? In but one situation that is to say,
tilted! shore, in shallows, amidst which those large craft
roea tab trust themselves, to follow an enemy which, name•
With b;;;igli individually weak, was prepared to riddle them
assailed It is similar to an army enclosed in a defile, and
40"! frem the summit of inaccessibleositions, by a cloud
%al IP d intrepid sharpshooters. But, continued Ad-
n° reach 'suppose those gunboats in mid channel, out
ao "of shoals and sand-banks, and in presence of ships
tt:artl.e ger afraid to bear down upon them ; suppose, still
thni.',ll, Stiff breeze, which would render manceuvring easy
is.tki!"iliii and difficult to your gun-boats, would not these
giants in danger of being sunk in great numbers by the
which they would be obliged to contend?'
hsour
Ps replied Admiral Bruix, we might lose a
uoats out f two thousand; but nineteen hundred
ramped 0 o
er, and they would suffice for the ruin of Eng-
4ter „;44es,' rejoined Admiral Deere., ' supposing the dis-
etews Lae hundred boats not to strike a panic into tbe
of the of. the other nineteen hundred; supposing the number
eoolftniPeen hundred should not prove an inevitable cause
1441:1011, and supposing the officers to preserve their
seed b nor hesitation and alarm would be inevitably f01d37
d37 g catastrophe.'
40,. ention had also been bestowed upon the hypothesis of
.t,p()"'r rlitie.e!3
t cam, or a winter's fog, two equally propitious
q‘sn flies, for in a calm the English ships could not bear
°P°° our boats, in a fog they would be unable to see
t`'evvia '
ee and
both cases' their redoubtable encounter would
tseweuo ' But these circumstances, though occurr ng
rit3.r.thrie.e in. every. season, would not afford sufficient
tr,erloty ho:_ WO tides, that is to say, the space of four-and-
t\\‘‘;7,±l),ll.,..vould be required to get out the.whole fl_otilla_t
1.,q,Y3 in, hours to cross over, and, allowing for the al-
loss of time, about forty-eight hours in the
ilevo it not to be apprehended that in this. interval
thf, sudden change in the atmosphere might sur-
. 4 The !llla. in full operation?
e°l.lotts. objections of the minister Decres, then, were very
C'tl(lQ 4‘BPoleon drew his answers from'his character, his
4e'eN st;Talfort,une, and
.the remembrance of. the St. Ber-
-0 leet.e
~.ttaq.. Ile said, that his most brilliant opera-
pophile in spite of obstacles as great; and
utinrple, some s. necessary to leave to chance as little a
Niue the et flalpg must be left to it. However, while re-
felt 'ban „tleetions, he knew how to appreciate them, and
her °by dint of tempting fortune at length for-
-11 in 0 I,)?°tection, this man knew how to spare himself a
eg,,oseeprt'iter to add a chance of success to his plans. Rash
°nition ' he alwas s evinced consummate prudence in
e4antl. was in order to meet these objections that he
Y reflected upon the plan of bringing, by an un-
Inunceuvre
4i -"gresob, a grand fleet into the Channel."
I,i,Pereed i.I.Y to the new scheme the French fleets were
t;fltralty, e('11 iall directions to deceive the English Ad-
es hem tile%
ttreo etn, an 0 by inducing the English fleets to hunt
e French pportunity might be found of bringing a
117, reari.. division into the Channel when England
ve wen:7e force in that quarter to oppose it. Ville-
Inether, unpin one direction, some other admiral in
ie, one of them was even sent to the East
butte
chance, the English were such fool-z to forget the
ettithere".,7- Villeneuve was sent to the West Indies,
riat "e cut a sad figure although he had General
44 de" alwa s •
fi,. tlO. n 'son. out of his head. All, however, would
,',crteen morning "he fancied he saw Nelson with
sate sixteeit
44, tt for" _ 9 perhaps, eighteen sail ; that is to say
tero Rive hirneiral to his own, ready to come upon him
de-
love attle. On the instant he formed the de-
to Europe.". And here we may
ask,ll,.xtraosfsraetbirrning.
about this formidable Nelson, which does
'eh iol) that
cuuk he i" Great commander and to the gallant men
es tas so l
Nan
oth ong accustomed to victory. We hardly
be, Nelson,
....e!'locharaeter in the work fairly treated
inr,i!es earlyin,
~.mu he so much dreaded, had arrived at Ba.r-
-ren...,4l.essly l‘dittoic, after a prodigiously rapid voyage, sail-
, }twin intended t only nine ships. magining that the
w o retake Trinidad from the Spaniards, he
4.!,esseis thousand men at Barbadoes, rallied the
bsseglal o s'lkamiral Cochrane, and, without staying to
total Trinri,,r_cl,l.t, on the 7th he was in the Gulf of Paria,
4.145 and '`a_d There he discovered his error, set sail
Wes ern to Bari ado 10th made Grenada. He prepared to
sane{ y
ne y!
brought at:11:3 ; to land 'there the troops he had need-
' ikWhat a thence and to return to Europe with eleven
jvars-aed what ener ! It is a new proof, that
Quality of the rsr by sea gy
still more than in war by land—
` W
cices IEI always of more consequence than

r4~ ^.~~.

their nitmber. Ne/son, with but eleven sail, was full of con-
tidence, on those seas on which Villeneuve trembled with
twenty sail, and those manned by heroic sailors!"
On his return, Villeneuve luckily escaped Nelson, but
to his great terror fell in with Calder, and was forced to
fight. Thiers seems to claim the victory. " Thus,"
says he, " ended the battle, which might hay e been taken
for a victory on our side, but for the loss of the two
Spanish ships." These two ships, he avers, were not
fairly taken—they simply drifted into the English line,
and Admiral Calder hurried off with his prizes in the
greatest consternation, lest the gallant Villeneuve should
again come up with him, and it was by accident only-
that the cowardly. English were not annihilated. At
day-break," says Thiers, " the situation of the two
squadrons was clearly discernible. The English were
retreating, but carrying off the two Spanish vessels:"—
" Grief and exasperation became general on board our
vessels. The crews asked to renew the action, and fight a de-
cisive battle. The wind was in our favour, as on the previous
evening, blowing from us towards the English. If at this in-
stant Villeneuve had given the signal to bear down upon the
enemy, without any other order of battle than the order of
speed in sailing, fourteen of the eighteen vessels we still
possessed, being of an equal rate of speed, would have fallen
upon the English at once; the other four would have arrived
soon afterwards, and the battle would certainly have been in
our favour. Roused by the cry which arose among all the
officers, Villeneuve at length gave orders for that move-
ment, and went with Lauriston on board the frigate
l'Hortense' to give his orders verbally to each chief of
division. The Argonaut, the Spanish admiral's ship, having
sprung her mizen-top-yard, required time to fish it. Ville-
neuve would wait for her, which took till near noon. Then
he commenced the chase; but the wind had slackened, and
he saw the English steal away from him without his being
able to gain much upon them even under a press of canvass."
Villeneuve at last, to his great joy, got a sight of
land, and ran into Vigo, and afterwards entered the
roadstead between Ferrol and Corunaa. There he re-
ceived pressing orders from Napoleon " to hasten to
Brest. and give battle to Cornwallis, at the risk even of
annihilation:
"
But (adds the author) there was a sort of fatality attached
to this unfortunate seaman, to disturb his spirit, and to lead
him from pang to pang to the result which he fain would
have shunned, that is to say, to losing a great battle, and
losing it without obtaining the only result that Napoleon
demanded of him, that of being four-and-twenty hours in
the Channel."
All this obloquy cast on poor Villeneuve is to lessen
the disgrace of Trafalgar. But Villeneuve would not,
or could not, come to Brest, notwithstanding the follow-
ing pressing order from the Emperor:—
"' I hopenVice -Admiral Villeneuve, that you arrived at
Brest. Set out, lose not a moment, bring my united
squadrOns into the Channel, and England is ours i We are
all ready, everything is embarked. Be here but for twenty-
four hours, and all is ended. (Imperial Camp of Boulogne,
22d of August. )"
He had taken shelter in the bay of Cadiz, in the very
opposite direction, for the best reason in the world.
His whole fleet would have been annihilated by the
vast force the English:had ready to meet him. Napoleon
then "called Villeneuve a coward, and even a traitor, and
directed orders to be instantly drawn up for bringing him
by force from Cadiz into the Channel if he were gone to
Cadiz." Decres, however, contrived to frustrate the order,
as he considered the assemblage of the English fleets
between Ferrol, Brest, and Portsmouth to be "horribly
dangerous." Then his wild rage fell upon Decte and
though Decres knew perfectly well, and Napoleon also,
that Villeneuve had gone into Cadiz, still the farce was
kept up. Napoleon was " incessantly upon the sea-shore,
looking for some sudden arrival upon the horizon. Naval
officers, stationed with their glasses upon the various
points of the coast, were employed to observe all that
was visible upon the sea and to report to him."
At last Decres persuaded him that the fleets
had sailed for Cadiz. Then follows a scene
which we will leave M. Thiers to describe.

It represents Bonaparte in the very worst light—a
tyrant, and even a tyrant to his intimate friends; a hypo-
critical deceiver, who knew that his admirals could not
accomplish impossibilities ; who covered his own defeat
at Boulogne by heaping upon them disgrace ; who made
their treachery and their cowardice, as he was pleased
to call their judicious and only safe measures, pretences
for breaking up the camp, and marching with his whole
army against Germany—schemes which he had already
prepared, and which he would have carried into effect
had even all his fleets ventured to obey his crders. But
we doubt if any such orders ever were given. Never
was a scene for effect better got up in France, but Franco
only, than the following :
" It was with deep grief, mingled with violent bursts of
anger, that Napoleon at length gave up all hope of seeing his
fleet arrive in the Straits. Such was his irritation, that a

man for whom he entertained no ordinary friendship, the
learned Monge, who almost every morning made a very
military breakfast with him in the imperial hut on the sea-
shore, Monge, on seeing him in that disposition, discreetly re-
tired, judging that his presence would be troublesome. He
went to M. Darn, then principal secretary at war, and told
him what he had seen. At the same instant M. Darn him-
self was called, and had to repair to the Emperor. He found
him agitated, talking to himself, and not seeming to perceive
the persons around him. Scarcely had M. Daru arrived, and
still stood silent and waiting for orders, when Napoleon went

up to him, and addressing him as if he had been acquainted
with everything, said, ' Do you know where Villeneuve is ?
He is at Cadiz !' Then he launched out into long and fierce
invectives against the weakness and incapacity of all who
surrounded him, said that he was betrayed by the cowardice
of mankind, deplored the ruin of the most splendid, the most
secure of all the plans he had ever conceived in his life, and
displayed in all its bitterness the grief of genius abandoned
by fortune. Suddenly mastering his agitation, he all at once
calmed himself, and with a surprising facility recalling his
mind from those closed-ways of the ocean to the open roads
of the Continent, he dictated, for several hours in succession,
with an extraordinary precision and presence of mind, the
plait which will be given in the following book. It was the
plan of the immortal campaign of 1805. There was no
longer the slightest trace of irritation either in his voice or
in his countenance."

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