The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-22 00:00:00

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admirable ideas, both of which have beer? retained in
our administrative organization ; the division of the
country into arrondissements and the Council of Stale
" Thus 111. Sieyas was the author of all the adminis-
trative circumscriptions of France. He had already
conceived the division into departments and induced its
adoption ; he wished on this occasion that the cantonal
administrations, which existed to the number of fire
thousand, should he superseded by administrations of
arrondissement, which, much less numerous, were a
more convenient intermediate between the commune and
the department. The principle only was laid down in
the Constitution ; but it was agreed that a law should
ere long reform, upon this principle, the administrative
system in France, and put an end to the communal
anarchy, a melancholy picture of which has been given
above. There was to be a tribunal of first instance for
each arrondissement, and a tribunal of appeal for several
united departments.
" The second of the creations of M. Siey;, which be-
longs exclusively to himself, is the Council of State, a
deliberative body attached to the executive power, pre•
paring the laws, supporting them before the legislative
power, adding to them the regulations which ought to
accompany the laws, and rendering the laws adminis-
trative. This is the most practical of his conceptions,
and, with the preceding, it must outlive the present and
subsist in future times. To the honour of this legis-
lator, be it said, Time has swept away all the ephemeral
Constitutions of the Revolution, but the only parts of
these Constitutions which have survived have been
his work."
Nearly his whole Constitution was adopted and
without an absolute power like that of Solon, Lycur-
gus, or Mahomet, and " such as it was," adds M.
Thiers, blaming Bonaparte, "if the conqueror of
Marengo had not afterwards made two considerable
changes in it—the addition of the imperial succes-
sion and the retrenchment of the Tribunate—this Con-
stitution might have furnished a career which would
not have been the triumph of absolute power." We
give as specimens of the work two extracts, one de-
scribing the passage over the Alps, and the other the
close of the decisive battle of Marengo, and it is worthy
of observation that both these important events would
have been entirely frustrated had the Austrian officers
done their duty. The French army was allowed to
dd)oitch('; on the plains of Lombardy, entirely owing tp
the negligence and stupidity of the officer-who com-
manded the impregnable fortress of Bard, and Gene-
ral Melas, who had gained the battle of Marengo,
gave up the victory for a dinner. The following is
M. Thiers' description of the descent of the French
army from St. Bernard, and the manner in which it
escaped destruction :
" The First Consul halted for a short time with the
monks, thanked them fir their attentions to his army,
and made them a magnificent present, for the relief of
the poor and of travellers.
" He descended rapidly, suffering, himself, according
to the custom of the country, to glide down upon the
snow, and arrived the same evening at Etroubles. Next
day, after paying some attention to the park of artillery
and to the provisions, he set out for Aosta and Bard.
Having ascertained that all he had been told was true,
he resolved to send the infantry, the cavalry, and the
four-pounders by the path of Albaredo, which would be
possible, if the path were repaired. All the troops were
to goand take possession of the dCbouche of•the moun-
tainsin advance of Ivrea, and the First Consul designed,
meanwhile, to make some attempt on the fort, or at least
find means to turn this obstacle, by making his artillery
cross one of the neighbouring Cols. He ordered Ge-
neral Lecchi, at the head of the Italians, to ascend on
the left, to penetrate by the Grassoney road into the valley
of the Sesia, which terminates near 'the Simplon and
Lake Maggiore.

" The object of this movement was to keep the Simplon
road open, to gire the hand to a detachment that was
descending by it, and to reconnoitre, in short, All the
roads passable for wheel carriages.
" The First Consul, at the same time, directed his
attention to the fort of Bard. The French were in pos-
session of the only street composing the town, but could
only pass through it under such a shower of balls that it
would be scarcely possible to get through with artillery,
though the distance was but two or three hundred
fathoms. The commandant was summoned, but he re-
plied with firmness, like a man fully sensible of the im-
portance of the post entrusted to his courage. Force
alone, then, could make us masters of the pass. The
artillery which had been planted on the mountain of
Albaredo produced no great effect; an escalade was
attempted on the outer inclosure of the fort; but some
brave grenadiers, and Dufour, an excellent officer, were
uselessly wounded or killed. All the while, the troops
were proceeding alonr, the path of Albaredo. Fifteen
hundred labourers had done the most urgent repairs re-
quired by that path. In places where it was narrow, it
had been widened by the removal of gravel from the
sides; too rapid slopes had been diminished by cutting
steps to prevent the feet from slipping; in other places,
trunks of trees were thrown over ravines, which it would
otherwise have been too difficult to cross, and used as
bridges. The army advanced successively, man by man,
the cavalry leading their horses by the bridle. The
Austrian officer commanding the fort of Bard, seeing
our troops filing iu this manner, and mortified at not
having it in his power to stop their march, sent word to
M. de Melas, that he had witnessed the passage of a
whole nymcp , _
it would arrive without a single piece of cannon.
"Meanwhile, our artillery made a remarkably bold
attempt ; this was, to pass with a piece beneath the very
guns of the fort, under favour of the night. The enemy,
unluckily a arned by the noise, threw pot-grenadoes,
which lighted the road as though it had been broad day,
and enabled them to pour upon it a shower of projectiles.
Out of thirteen artillerymen who had volunteered to
draw that piece of cannon, seven were killed or wounded.
This was sufficient to dishearten the bravest men ; when
an ingenious method, though, withal, a very dangerous
one, was thought of. The street was covered with straw
and dung ; tow was fastened about the pieces, so as to
prevent the slightest sound from the jar of those im-
mense masses of metal upon their carriages ; the horses
were unharnessed, bold artillerymen, dragging them by
main strength, ventured to pass under the batteries Of
the fort, along the street of Bard. This contrivance suc-
ceeded completely. The enemy, who fired from time to
time, by way of precaution, bit some of our gunners ;
but very soon, in spite of this fire, all the heavy artillery,
was removed beyond the defile, and this formidable ob-
stacle, which had given the First Consul more concern
than the St. Barnard itself, was overcome. The artil-
lery horses had taken the path of Albaredo."
The following extract describes the change which
took place when Desaix came to the relief of the con-
queror of Marengo :
" Half the day was spent. M. de Midas fancied him-
self sure of the victory, which he had so dearly purchased.
This old warrior, who, for courage at least, proved him-
self worthy of his adversary on that memorable day, re •
turned to Alexandria, worn out with fatigue. He left
the command to M. de Zach, the chief of his staff, and
sent off couriers to all Europe, to proclaim his victory and
the defeat of General Bonaparte at Marengo. This chief
of the staff, invested with the command, then formed the
bulk of the Austrian army into marching columns, on the
high road from Marengo to San Guliano. He put at the
head two regiments of infantry, and then the column of
Lattermann's grenadiers, followed by the baggage train.
He placed General Oreilly on the left, and Generals
Kelm and Haddick on the right, and endeavoured to gain
in this order that high road to Piacenza, the object of so
many efforts, and the salvation of the Austrian army.
" It was now three o'clock. If no new circumstance in-
tervened, the battle might be considered as lost by the
French, unless they could, on the morrow, with the
troops shifted from the Tessina and the Adda to the Po,
retrieve the misfortune of the day. Desaix, however,
with Boudet's whole division, had not yet cometp :
would he arrive in time? On this circumstance depended
the issue of the battle. The aides-de-camp of the First
Consul had been galloping in quest of him ever since
morning. But, long before they reached him, Desaix,
on the first cannon-shot fired on the plain of Marengo,
had instantly wheeled about. Hearing this distant re-
port, he had concluded that the enemy, whom he frad
been sent in search of to Novi, on the Genoa road, was
at Marengo itself. He had immediately dispatched
Savary, with a few hundred horse, to Novi, to see what
was going forward, and had waited with his division,
listening intently to the cannon of the Austrians
and the French, which never ceased thundering in the
direction of the Bormida. From Savary having
discovered no trace of the enemy in the environs of
Novi, Desaix was confirmed in his happy conjecture,
and, without further delay, marched for Marengo, send-
ing before him several aides-de-camp to apprise the First
Consul that he was coming. He had marched the whole
day, and, at three o'clock, his heads of columns at length
appeared at the entrance into the plain, in the vicinity
of San Giuliano. He himself, preceding them at a
gallop, rode up to the First Consul. Happy inspiration
of a lieutenant equally intelligent and attached! happy
fortune of youth ! If, fifteen years later, the First
Consul, now so well seconded by his generals, had found
a Desaix on the field of Waterloo, he would have pre-
served the empire, and France her preponderant posi-
tion among the powers of Europe.
" The presence of Desaix changed the aspect of things.
He was surrounded; he was made acquainted with the
occurrences of the day. The generals formed a circle
about him and the First Consul, and discussed with
warmth the critical position of the army. Most of them
advised retreat. The First Consul was not of this
opinion, and he earnestly pressed Desaix for his.
Desaix, surveying the devastated field of battle, then
drawing out his watch and looking at the hour, replied
to General Bonaparte in these simple and noble terms:—
" Yes, the battle is lost; but it is only three o'clock;
there is time to gain another." General Bonaparte, de-
lighted with the opinion of Desaix, prepared to avail
himself of the succour brought him by that general, and
of the advantages ensured to him by the position taken
ever since morning. He was, in fact, in the plain, on
the right, while the enemy was on the left, in marching
column, on the high road, advancing towards San
Giuliano. Desaix, arriving from San Giuliano, with
6,000 fresh troops, and facing the Austrians, might stop
them short, while the bulk of the rallied army should
fall upon their flank. Orders were forthwith issued in
accordance with this plan.
" The three demi-brigades of Desaix were formed in
advance of San Giuliano, a little to the right of the high
road; the 30th deployed in line; the 9th and 59th in
close columns on the wings of the former. A slight un-
dulation of the ground concealed them from the enemy.
On their left were the rallied and somewhat recovered
wrecks of Chambarlhac's and Gardanne's troops under
General Victor; on their right, in the plain, Lannes,
whose retreating movement was suspended, then the
consular guard, then Carra St. Cyr, who had kept as
near as possible to Castel Ceriolo. The army then
formed a long oblique line from San Giuliano to Castel
Ceriolo, and between Desaix and Lannes, and a little in
rear, was placed Kellermann's cavalry in the interval.