The Plymouth pilot. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1851-1852, 1851-11-05
MARSHAL NEY.

ry, almost unparalleled GOODNESS in the
hour of peril, and excellent judgement.
In the first two all writer's are agreed,
but the last is not so generally conceded
to him. No man can deny he was brave
for there can be no appeal from, the de-
cision Of heroes who named him as the
.bravest of the brave" Such distinc-
tion in the times in which he lived, was
not won by ordinary actions. In an ar
my where Divoust, Junot. Murat and
Lannes commanded, to be crowned the
/ bravest of the brave, was the highest
honor that chieftain could desire. But
his courage was not rash headlong like
! that of Junot and Murat The enthusi-
asm born in the hour of battle, amid the
tossing of plumes and the trampling of
the host, the roar of cannon and the shout
of triumph has always been found sufficert
TO hurl man to any scene of carnage and
peril. Junot could Coolly sit and write
at Bonapart's dictation while the shot
whistIed thick around him, and laugh
ingly shake the dirt from the paper, as a
cannon ball ploughing past, threw the
dirt over it. saying this is luck, shall
have no need of sand" Murat could
ride up to whole company of Cossacks.
and disperse them with single wave of
his hand. Davoust could forage like a
lion amid the enemy at Monticello while
the cannon shot wasted around him so
awfully. that he said himself afterwards,
81 could hear the bones crash in my di-
vision like hailstones on the windows" )"
Yet each of these was one among thou
sand similar heroic acts and yet they
gained for their authors no such title as
that given to Ney. There was reason
for this. 1t was herOism called forth
by the emergency, such as is often ex
hibited by the common soldier in the heat
of battle. Ney's courage was something
more than all this. 1t dared just as much
without any apparent excitement. His
thoughts were just as clear, and his eye
as calm and quiet amid the falling ranks
as f he were standing on some far off OBJ
servatory, looking over the scene of
slaughter; he would stand almost within
the blaze of 200 cannon and while his
horses was sinking under him and whole
companies melting before his eyes, give
orders as calmly as though manGuvering
at grand review. 1t was his wonder
full, almost marble frmness that in mo-
ments of sudden and EXTREMIST danger
that filled other heroes with astonish-
ment. He would stand within musket
range Of har0 worked battery, with
storm of bullets sweeping around him, eye
its operations and scan its assailable
points with the most imperturable qu
etness. The terrific charge of cavalry or
the fierce shock of bayOnets could not in
terrupt his clear gaze or disturb the natu-
raj operations of his mind; the cry in his
own ranks. "saurit qui pet" or the
full belief that all was lost, could not
shake his rock-fast steadiness. One
would have thought him a marble man
with no ordinary nerves, had they not
seen him in desperate charge. Then
his eye glanced like an eagles and tow
ering amid the storm of battle and mid
the clash of sabres, he seemed an embod
led hurricane sweeping over the field.
Much of this doubtless was constitutions
al, and much of it owing to the object
he had in view The overthrow of the
enemy absorbed every thought within
him, and he had none to give to danger
and to death. Where he placed his mind
he held. and not all the confusion aud
uproar of battle could divert it. He would
not allow himself to see any thing else,
and was therefore almost as insensible
to the danger around him as deaf, dumb,
and blind man would have been He
once expressed the true secret of this con-
dition of mind, when after display Of
one of these instances of calmness, amid
awful carnage, one of his officers asked
him if he never felt fear; he replied, 81
never had time" This was another way
of saving that fear and danger had moth
ing to do with the object before him,
and therefore he would not suffer his
thoughts to rest on them for single mo-
ment-though it would not require much
time we should think to see the danger
of marching into the flash of hundred
cannons and feel thrill of terror as the
quick discharges left him almost alone
amid his dead and dying guard But he
had trained his mind not to see these
things for the time being. This devotion
and concentration of all his powers. gave
him great advantage in moments of peril,
and when the fate of battle was turning
on single thought, and when other men
would have become conf used in the con-
fusion around them, he was clear as ever,
and thus he was frequently enabled to
redeem all, when all seemed to be lost
He would not be beat; and in the last ex-
tremety concentrated his energies like
dying man for final blow, then planted
1t where the clearest dictate of wisdom
would have done. His tenacity of reso-
luton was equal to his cOuragP-he dis