The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-12-07
Centenary of the Execution
of Ney, Napoleon's Marshal

FAs a Frenchman, [ fought the bat
ties of France. Now let me die a
Frenchman. Since this is not the
place to invoke the faith of treaties,
1 lodge my appeal With Europe and
posterity.''
Such was the answer of Michel Ney,
Napoleon's great marshal, when he
faced his accuserS after the defeat
and exile of his imperial master. His
friends urged him to take advantage
of the fact that he was an Alsatian,
and should therefore come under the
act of amnesty which saved from
prosecution all the Inhabitants of the
coded provinces. Ney bravely and
proudly refused, and he was found
guilty of high treason and sentenced
to DEATH
1t was just one hundred years ago
to-day that the sentence was carried
out, and on the seventh of December,
1915, the brave and brilliant leader
who had been called by Napoleon tho
''braVe des braves breathed his last
1t was+'Ney who begged Napoleon
to declare himself Emperor; who
fought ga1lant1y- at Jena and Eylau
and F'ried1and; who received from Ma
po1eon the titles of Duke or Elch1n-
gen and Prince de la Moskowa. in
recognition of great battles won by
his genius, and who commanded the
harassed rear-guard in the terrible re-
treat from Moscow. AT the restora-
ton of the tBourbons he was made a
peer. and was placed in command of
the army sent to check Napoleon upon
the latter's escape from Eiba. The
81 ght of his old leader was too much
for him.. and, instead of bringing
Napoleon back to Paris in an iron
cage" as he had promised the King,
he went over to his cause with all his
men. At Waterloo, he commanded
in person the last charge of the Old
Guard.
When Napoleon's army was defeat
ed and disrupted, Ney made no at
tempt to escape, and was arrested as a
traitor. His trial was a cause celebre.
A military court martial was appoint
ed to try him, but the members re-
fused to sit in judgment on the case
of the great warrior. The trial then
took place before the House of Peers. |
Ney was in Paris at the time of the
capitulation, and should have shared
in the amnesty extended to all persons |
in the capital by the allied powers, |
but Ney's counsel, Dupin, was ordered
TO refrain from resting his defense on
that point.
New admitted everything, and /
among those who voted his condemna- |
ton were several of his comrades in
transformer marshaIs and officers of
he empire The Duo de Broglie alone !
defended him, but in vain.
Early in the morning of the seventh |
Of December the sentence was read TO /
Sey in his cell .fMarecha1 de France, |
Due d. E1chingen, Prince de la Mos I
covva'' the court officer read, but !
Ney impatient1y interrupted with, !
Say Michel Ney, and soon no more |
IF him.
Shortly before his execution Ney
vas visited by his wife and children, |
md babe them fond farewell The
anguished woman, upon leaving the
prison, ran wildly to the Tuileries to /
make a last appeal at the feet of the
ding, but she was refused admittance
IN the ground that ''she had not suf-
icient object" While she was still
begging for admission. to the royal
presence, Ney was led out to the en-,
rance of the Grande venue de FObser-
vatoire- ~
{ The sun was just rising, and, with
ais face to the gray light of the
1awning day, Ney gave the com
nand, Now, soldiers, straight to the
learts 1t was rumored that blank
cartridges were used. and that Ney
vas spirited away to America, and
nanY French resi- dents of Louisiana
lainl to be descended from Michel Ney