The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-06-12
Augereau's
 Centenary

tI took the son of a peasant and
 made him a marshal. or a duke, when
 I found he had telents.'' Thus Ma
 poleon, who conquered Europe with
 the aid of officers most of whom were
 of humble origin. Today is the cen-
 plebeian nobles of Napo1eon's inn
 periaI court-Pierre Francois Charles
 Augereau, created by the Corsican
 Duke of Castiglione, as well as a
 scure parents. he began his military career in the armies of Bourbon
 France, and later entered the Nea- po1itan service. For a time he sup ported himself as a fencing master in Naples. In 1792 Augereau joined the republican army guarding the
 Spanish border, and rose rapily in
 rank
 Augereaus connection with Napo- leon began during the Italian cam paign, in which he was the connan- l der of a division, and one of the Corsican. To him as much as to Ma poleon were due the brilliant victories | of the French at MilIesirno, Dego and CastiIg1ione. At Lodi, where the Austrians defended the bridge over 1 which the French must pass fwith such desperate valor, Augereau leEds the l decisive charge, and he was the hero of the bloody combat of Arco1a. On his retugn to France Augereau took part in the revolution of the 18th of Fructidor. He had become l intensely Jealous of his former com rade, Bonaparte, and as a result he was kept in ignorance of the Bru-
 maire revolution of 1799. From then until 1901 he commanded in Holland and on the Lower Rhine, but was then retired, until in 1904, when he was chosen as one of the eighteen generals | 0 m a w . appointed Marshal of France and given the title of Duke of Casti1gh- one, a recognition of his vaIor in the | battle of that name.
 In subsequent battles Marshal Au- gereau distinguished himself, espe- l cially at Jena and Eylau and the | fierce struggle at Leipsic. Tn 1914 he commanded a, reserve army at Lyons, 1 and might have made a diversion in favor of Napoleon, but he preferred to submit, and was rewarded with a command under the Bourbons. When Marshal refused to enlist under his banner. Later he had a change of heart, and offered his sword to his former master. but was sternly re- fused.
 Augereau's last public appearance was in the role of a member of the Chamber of Peers, which sat in judg- | ment on his former conrade in arms | Marshal Ney, and sentenced him to death. He then returned to his es- | tates, where he died of dropsy on
 June 12, 1916.
 Marshal Augereau's military record, although somewhat tarnished by his 1 severity the Spaniards while com | manding the French army in Cata-
 1onia, was on the whole a brilliant one. | and a complete Justification of the 1 theory that blue blood is not a neces- i sity in achieving success in, warfare Napoleon's success was largely due l to his ability to choose as his officers
 men of exceptional genius, and he sell dom made mistakes in his judgment l When he found that he had erred he did not permit sentiment to interfere
 with the prompt dismissal of the un- ! worthy general. Much the same spir- ! it has been manifested by Joffre in
 the present war, with the result that
 many who were considered great are now small, and many who were small are now great.