The primitive Republican. (Columbus, Miss.) 18??-1852, 1852-04-08
From the N. .. PfcayHAe.
The Last Of the Marshals m Napoleon.

since we chronicled the death of Soult; who, /
Of all this band of illustrious soldiers, had
the longest and most uniformly successful
career, as boy-soldier under the monarchy
who lived his fOurscore years and upwards,
without meeting any serious reverse, to i'm
pair his glory or his fortunes. Marmont
(the telegraph fAispells it NJ. Armond) now
follows nina younger man by few years.
and soldier Of reputation scarcely behind
that of Soult, but clouded, in his latter
years, by rhisfortuhes and suspicious, WHICH
attach to his name vague, but still inefa-
cable charge of treachery and ingratitude.-
! Volumes have been written, in accusation
and reply, upon his conduct in the defence
of Paris, where he commanded in 1914, |
when it capitulated to the allies and forced
the abdication of Napoleon at Fontainbleau
and, strange coincidence, on his conduct in
defence of the same city in 1880, where he
commanded during the revolution of July,
and the expulsion of Charles x. In the
first case he has warm defenders, On princi-
pie, as brave and faithful; in the second,
unhappily, the imputation of gross miscon-
duct is Onl " avoided on the humiliating plea
of failing capacity; he did not do his duty
because he had lost his mind. The faint of
these failures has followed him ever since.
He has enjoyed very little public confidence,
but has lived of late years very discomfort
ed and unhappy life.
This is a sad contrast 10 the brillancy Of
his early career. Marmont was one of the
J earliest of the young officers whom the eye
of Napoleon singled out to attach to himself
at the first dawn of his fortunes At the
age of eighteen he was at the Beige of lou
lou-Where Bonaparte acquired his own first
distinction-and attracted the notice of the
f future Emperor at the same time with Ju-
not. When Bonaparte became general in
! 1895, and was invested with the command
! of the army of the interior, he recalled
) Marmont to Paris, from the army of the
: Rhine, to be one of his aids; and afterwards
q took him with him on his Italian campaigns.
. At the head of his troop Marmont had the
! glory of taking the first piece of cannon at
n the dreadful battle of Lodi; and so distin-
;. guished himself that he was selected to be
) the bearer, to the Directory in Paris, of the
. standards and trophies of the CAMPAIGN
3 He executed this duty in public amidst i'm
IS posing ceremonies with great eclat. He went
- with BOnaparte to Egypt; and on his way wa'
% the first man to disembark at Malta, anC
" with his troop captured the standard of tht
y Order Of the Knights-for which feat b,
\ was created general of brigade on the spot
"A Bonaparte selected him as one of the part,
20 of confidential friends who returned wit
a him from Egypt, Marmont's course on th
a. eighteenth Brumaire procured him from th
If First Consul the appointment as one of th
IL CounsellOrs of State, and the command 0
=, y the artillery of the army of reserve. HI
n was at MaFengo, and contributed so much t
N that astonishing victory-as chief in com
mand Of the artillery-that he was create
general of division, at tWenty-seven years Q
age. He was afterwards at the capture Q
Is Ulm; and won the battle of Castel Nuov
against great odds, with so much skill, tina
ed in the after creation of titles he was Gale
ne Duke of Ragusa-ffom the name of th
ch town near which the victory was gained
ne He fought at Wagram; was next Governo
~ of Illyria, and then succeeded Massena i
ID the command of the French army in PortU
ng gal, where he encountered the Duke of We
40 lington without success. In the heat q
lct fight at Ctidad Rodrigo Marmont was struc
'st in the side by shell, which inflicted tw
eS CHASTITY wounds, and compelled him to sui
In NIT to the amputation of his right arm.
This disabled him from active service unit
nd the fatal campaign of 1913, when Franc
m made such herculean exertions against nea
ed ly all Europe. Marmont commanded a
Use vision at Lutzen, Dresden and Liepsic. I
this last battle his remaining hand We
SIX manned. In all the desperate struggle
he which followed, until the overwhelming ma
nd ses drove Napoleon back upon Paris, Ma
e. mont was foremost in daring. To him an
to Marshal Mortier Napoleon committed th
of defence Of the capital and whatever ma
xe be possibly said of his after conduct, it neyt
of has been denied that he fought the battle
MS. there with personal daring not to be su
ted passed. With only one arm, and that criI
rd- pied, he was in the hottest of the fight, b
nd horse was shot down, his hat perforated wit
nd bullets, and several soldiers bayoneted act
nd ally by his side. Up to the close of tn
RY contest Marmont was the very beau ideal
ted chivalry and personal bravery. The aeeus
an ton brought against him afterwards of ha
Sc ing sacrificed or betrayed the Emperor
hes the capitulation, has always seemed to
en- undeserved; on the contrary his stipulation
per for the life and liberty of Napoleon, und
ing circumstances which he had grounds
i'm think desperate, should acquit him of al
lile thing more than error of opinion, if the
were one. But the charge operated to thrC
ro stain upon him, which his most earnest d
e fences could not obliterate.
as He accepted a peerage and a commissi,
Oh from Louis XVIII; and was denounced
orv Napoleon on his return from Elba,
~ treaehery, in the transactions at Paris al
ain FOntainbleau in 1914. Marmont accomp
tla- MED the King in his retreat to Client, col
for handing the escorting army. On that Q
her casion, it is said, the communications b
Of tween the two corps we're destroyed on
on critical occasion, because Marmont, suspeC
;no ing treason in his staff, wrote his secret {
&c ders himself, of course with his left han
which was crippled; and it was utterly il
roo possible to decipher the name Of a sing
place on the route be prescribed. The CO
s;r sequences was, that the rear guard was ca
% tured. After the second restoration he
~. y. tired to his farm, and did not emerge un
80 July, 1850, when Charles the Xth ma
tbo him Military COmmandant Of Paris.
Nobody appears to defend his militia
dispositions during the celebrated three da,
They were feeble, contradictory, and acce
..tfy rated rather than retarded the fall Of Char
ms Xth. Marmont, however, remained true