The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1851-01-01
The Siege OF Dantzic.

When Marhal Lf.bvre, in 1907, invested
Danizic, the ceebrated engineer, bou-mard, put il
n a aconditlon 10 sus,nin FsEuiar siege. General
kslkreautb, over whom Bol mard exercised much
ln1lence, Rad under hs command q earrison of
tWslve thov.ahd Prusians and three Russian bat
tallons. For The attack, Nianhal L-febvre led
on mixed muictpds of French, Poles and Ger.
mans, 10 he nsmher OF siyeen thousand. He al
q ways showed hW soldors On example of modestv
and counee; the MsniAI Of the Empire never
.ssgse shAk fss hed riaen from the nnks but Wa
3 always foremos, in mounting breach, or Leading
q on fJrlorn hol1
v Two months, hos.ver, ra.e-d on, and D.ntsic
continued irnpreSpsble. Ii vas not certainly an
vdnreasonably lofG tirne TO spsnd in reducing 30
! Mong place, ~, Nspol~on heeane i'm atent
He who hsd aaonished the universe y i,h the
Iapldily OF his invssons and cUnqupsu, and who
hal recently ~duc-d IN. kingdom of Prussia 10
obedience IN s.v-n ~-ss., had some right 10 com
plain Of Lefesvre's Ariiness. From hi, camD
al Finkrnse'n he surveyed ths whole of Enron.
moved Turkey, ihwA,ensd Russia, looked At ,s
land with impoent dlspNs,rre, concluded tr-aue.
with Germany, cent forth HE commands and
raised soldiers wherever and whenever he wilied
and amid oil this he could not, witbont manif.st
mpatence, think Of the s'ess Of D.n,zc.
"What's Lefebvre about! Whas s he doing !
do MT understand his dAliying" Such we're the
Emperor's abrup. ordinations Whenever dis
patch from the narhsl arrived. containing An ac-
count of the lOral difficulties Of the sNge, Napo-
leon would give rapid glance Of his eagle eye,
and then thro~ing it down csntemp.uou.ly, would
say, "Siuf! deuce take the Asatian and his fine
descriptive stye.'
"Denon," said the Emperor one day, addressing
his favorite artist, 81 must know how matters are
, progressing at Dantzic Go thither Immediately,
present yourself to the Marshal and bring me back
Z drawing of the place. / depend on you. co..
In quarter Of an hour after the delivery of this
imperial mandate, Demon was on the road to Dant-
zic with his pencils and portfolio. He now
upwards OF sixty years old, and had sojourned with
Louis XIV. and Louis XVI. at Versailles, with
Frederick the Great at Potsdsnl with Catherine H.
at ST. Petersburg, and with Voaire al Ferney.
Since the memorable Egyptian expedition, he lad
followed the footsteps OF Napoleon. At Byiau
ball struck piece of ordinance close to the En-
peror and killed three men. Demon, who had
learned in the soil of the Pharaohs to draw from
nature in the midst of the stormiest battle, without
thinking of danger or caring for risk, just then
approached calmly, with his sketching materials in
his hand
'' was just thinking of you" said the Emperor
"but you must retire, Denon-too much peril here
for your head, and too much smoke for your eyes"
Napoleon forgot nothing; the artists perfect cool
ness at Bylau was present to his mind when he
sent him 10 bring back military plan at Dantzic
Arrived at the outposts OF the besieging army,
Demon asked an audience of the Marshal, and told
him his errand Lefebvre, who knew little. and
cared less about the character aud talents of his
visitor, did not give him credit for good faith, but
believed that he came with some sinister design
He measured the artist eisurely with an unfrendly
eye, and then with tone of irony said, "Ah, ah,
so monsieur wants to see Dantzc? He wants to
inspect the state of the siege for himself? Well,
tits really pretty drama III secure him a seat in
the stage box !"
Sosaying, he called sergeant, one of the brave.t
and wthal one of the dullest fellows in the army,
and said Frbacb, you will lead this gentleman
to the spot from whence he will have the best view
OF Dantzc; you understand? on the pacis oppo.
site the bastion of Bischosberg"
eyes Marshal, ," yeplied the yrenndier moving on
81 thank you, Marshal" said Demon as he pre-
pared to follow his guide.
Thank me for nothing" muttered Lefebvre
between MS teeth. so thought he, al the EN-
peror distrusts me, and sends spy to my camp
A rascally policeman, II be bound! He thought
to deceive me with his plans and drawing as it. in
deed, Bonapare were child, that wanted pictures
to amuse him! l fancy | II give my gentleman
Monsieur Demon, as he call: HIMSELF quite enough
of his trade. III teach him how to stand fire
1d'give a days pay for the pleas',reo of seeing him
run away from the bullets
Meantime Demon and his guide walked rapdlv
onward. They crossed the line, aud came
within range of the cannon on the forts, which al
that moment were keeping up most anmatedin-
terchange Of cvilites with the French batteries
Balls and bullets whstlsd about the heads of the
artist and the grenader, and the soil on which the,
trod was deeply furrowed by projectes of variou,
kinds. Precisely at the spot where the missile.
were flying thickest, Firbach paused, and told De
non that they now arrived at the point indi
Gated by the Marshal. Without making any re
mark, the artist stepped into a~hollow dug by tn,
passage Of bomb, and whose raised edge formet
sort of desk; he then calmly opened his portfolio
took out his pencil. and began to sketch
His brave guide looked at him with astonish
ment. "A pleasant place." said he, "to stand ii
and admire the landscape" Then seeing tina
Demon was pursuing his employment verl
lsisurely. " Comrade," said he, will you remain
here long"
"Why do you 2"
.Why-why' Just because It's too no, her
Ne quits agreeable
Ds7eu think ss' Then donii 10. me astsls