MOREAU, John Victor, one of the greatest generals of the French revolution, was born at Morlaix, in the year 1763. He was the son of a respectable advocate, who had destined him for the same profession; but having early conceived a decided predilection for the army, he enlisted in a regiment, in which he served for a short time, until his father purchased his discharge, and sent him to resume his studies. He did so with considerable success, and at length became prévôt de droit at Rennes, where he exercised a sort of supremacy over the students, by whom he was greatly beloved. In 1787, when the ministry wished to effect a revolution in the magistracy, he joined in resisting the attempt, and having figured in the early troubles, as chief of the youth of Rennes, was called “the general of the parliament.” At the commencement of the revolution, he raised a company of volunteer gunners, of which he became captain, and having organized and instructed it, he continued to serve in the same capacity until the year 1792. Far from foreseeing the part which he was destined one day to perform, he became tired of a situation which seemed to lead to nothing, and took measures to get admitted into the gendarmerie, where he aspired only to a subaltern rank. But, happily, his wishes were not complied with, and he enrolled himself in a battalion of volunteers which was then setting out to join the army of the North.

He made his first campaign under Dumouriez, as commandant of a battalion; in 1793, he became general of brigade, and the following year he was promoted to the rank of general of division, on the recommendation of Pichegru, who immediately confided to him a corps destined to act in maritime Flanders. Moreau took possession first of Menin, then of Bruges, Ostend, Nieuport, the island of Cassandria, and, lastly, of Sluys, which capitulated on the 26th of August. At the moment when he made this conquest for the republic, the revolutionists of Brest were sending his aged father to the scaffold as an aristocrat. This venerable old man, whom the people of Morlaix called the father of the poor, had undertaken to manage the property of some emigrants; and this was employed as a pretext to destroy him. Moreau had already become disgusted with the revolutionary system, and such an event naturally increased his detestation. He conceived that he had no longer any country but the camp, nor any home but his tent in the field.

From this time, however, he began to lay the foundation of his military reputation, and commanded, with great distinction, the right wing of the army of Pichegru, which, during the celebrated winter campaign of 1794, subjugated Holland to France. Supported by the suffrages and friendship of his general-in-chief, and esteemed by all for his talents and bravery, he was appointed to the command of the army of the North, when Pichegru went to assume that of the army of the Rhine and Moselle; and immediately devised a plan of operations worthy of a consummate general, which he communicated to the revolutionary government established in Holland, and peremptorily required them to sanction. After the retreat of Pichegru, he assumed the chief command of the army of the Rhine and Moselle, and, in the year 1796, opened that, campaign which became the foundation of his military fame. Having driven back Wurmser towards Manheim, he effected the passage of the Rhine near Strasburg, attacked the Archduke Charles at Rastadt, forced him to abandon the course of the Necker, and, on the 11th of August, fought a battle near Heydenheim, which lasted seventeen hours. The Austrians having retired on the Danube, Moreau advanced, and soon found himself opposed by General Latour, who was daily receiving reinforcements; but believing himself supported by the diversion, or rather the parallel invasion, of Jourdan towards Ratisbon, he continued his forward movement. The discomfiture and retreat of Jourdan, however, disconcerted all his combinations, and, leaving his flank completely uncovered, obliged him to retire. This retreat commenced on the 11th of September, and, though severely criticised by Napoleon, is unquestionably one of the finest operations of the kind recorded in the history of war. At first he appeared desirous to occupy both banks of the Danube; then suddenly repassing the Lech, he defeated, one after another, in his retrograde march, all the enemy’s corps which sought to intercept his retreat. In spite of the greatest obstacles, he succeeded in debouching into the Brisgau, passed the Rhine at Brisach, and preserved on the right bank two bridge-heads, one at Brisach, and the other at the fort of Kehl. This fine retreat from the frontiers of Austria and Bavaria to the banks of the Rhine was generally and justly admired. Though pressed by superior forces, with both his flanks uncovered, he showed a religious respect for the neutrality of Switzerland, and preferred forcing a passage through the defiles of the Black Forest, already occupied by the imperialists, to the violation of a neutral and friendly territory; an example but rarely imitated. Nor was this all. With a noble superiority[7:15:496] to all feelings of rivalry, Moreau, having learned that Bonaparte found himself hard pressed by the Austrian forces in Italy, detached a corps sufficient to reinforce him, and received, in return for this seasonable aid, the warmest acknowledgments from Carnot, then at the head of the war department.

At the opening of the next campaign, 1797, Moreau, resuming the offensive, effected the passage of the Rhine, in open day, by main force, and in the face of the enemy ranged in order of battle upon the opposite bank. This brilliant operation took place on the same day that the preliminaries of Leoben were signed by Bonaparte, and the immediate consequences were the surrender of the fort of Kehl, and the capture of nearly forty thousand prisoners, besides several standards. The army passed the rest of the summer in its positions.

The republic was then on the verge of a crisis, brought on by the struggle which had taken place between the executive directory and the councils, that is, between the revolutionary principle and the commencement of monarchical ideas. But it was not until after the 18th of Fructidor (4th of September 1797) that Moreau, challenged by the directors, whom force had rendered triumphant, gave up to them the correspondence of the Prince of Condé with Pichegru, which had been seized at the commencement of the campaign, in the baggage-waggons of an Austrian general, and which he had hitherto kept back, partly from regard to his old friend and benefactor, partly from κ a desire to await the issue of the struggle between the government and the councils. Being almost at the same moment ordered to Paris, by that portion of the directory which had proved victorious, and to which he had been denounced, Moreau, on the 7th of September, transmitted to that body a copy of one of his proclamations, the effect of which, he said, had been to convert many persons favourable to Pichegru, “for whom he had long lost all esteem and respect.” This letter, which was then strongly condemned by the public, as an act of excessive weakness, did not, however, appear in the same light to Pichegru himself, by whom it was regarded with indifference; and it is certain" that his friendship for Moreau suffered no diminution in consequence. But, however this may be, it did not conciliate in favour of the writer the good will of a suspicious government, and Moreau was even obliged to resign, and to shelter himself in retirement.

He remained unemployed until towards the end of the year 1798, when he received the title of inspector-general, which was a mere nominal appointment; but in the month of April 1799, the misfortunes which had attended the recommencement of war rendered his talents necessary. Of all the French conquests, that of Italy appeared to be in the greatest danger. Moreau was therefore sent to the army commanded by Scherer, on the Adige, where he remained several months without command, and witnessed defeats which his counsels could neither prevent nor repair. Scherer, however, finding all his resources exhausted, devolved on him the task of saving the army. Moreau had already, in a council of war, signified his opinion, that the army should retire on Piedmont, avoiding any serious engagementwith the Austro-Russian army, which had already acquired a decided superiority, and was now rapidly advancing under Marshal Suwarof. At length, after long resisting the entreaties of the other generals, he accepted the command of the army, when it had retired behind the Adda. Being soon forced from his position at Casano, he retired in good order on the Tesino; and having carried his right towards the Apennines, he formed a sort of intrenched camp behind the Po and the Tanaro, between Alessandria and Valentia. On the 11th of May he repulsed the Russians near Bassignano, and then passed the Bormida; but being assailed by the greater part of the forces under Suwarof, he was obliged to evacuate Valentia and Alessandria. The war had now assumed a counter-revolutionary character, and every advance of the allies was favoured by insurrections of the peasants, who joined them on all sides. In this critical situation Moreau retired upon Coni, and took up a position on the Col di Tende, causing the division of General Victor to defile by his right, in order to maintain his communications with General Macdonald, who was then rapidly advancing from the kingdom of Naples in order to join him. In the view of seconding this operation, Moreau penetrated into the country of Genoa by the Apennines, the passages and heights of which he occupied; and he hoped immediately to resume the offensive. But in vain did he quit Genoa with fifteen thousand men, and beat the corps with which the Austrian general Bellegarde attempted to oppose him; in vain did he relieve Tortona, and drive the enemy as far as the Voghera: the victory which Suwarof gained over the army of Naples at the Trebbia rendered all his efforts unavailing, and forced him to regain the shelter of the Apennines.

Moreau had just been appointed to the chief command of the army of the Rhine, when Joubert arrived to replace him in that of Italy. Being on the point of fighting a battle,—which, by the fall of Mantua, and the junction of Kray with Suwarof, had become inevitable,—Joubert wished to leave the direction of it to him; but he refused, and begged permission to combat under the orders of the new chief of the army. At this battle, which was fought at Novi, and in which Joubert fell, Moreau run the greatest risks, having had three horses killed under him, and his uniform pierced by balls. After a fierce conflict, the French army was defeated; but Moreau operated his retreat with so much superiority, that he almost nullified the victory which the allies had gained.

In proceeding to assume the command of the army of the Rhine, Moreau reached Paris at the moment when the Directory was sinking under the weight of contempt, hatred, and its own imbecility. The faction which had formed the design of overturning it, persuaded that nothing but the adhesion of a general of great reputation could restore consideration to the government, sounded Moreau, who, distrusting his ability to direct the affairs of his country amidst the conflict of parties, refused to attempt such a task. It is known that he afterwards regretted bitterly this distrust in himself.

On the arrival of Bonaparte, who had escaped from Egypt, Moreau consented to serve under the orders of that general, and, by his influence and means, to promote the revolution which was then preparing. But scarcely had it been effected at Saint-Cloud, on the 18th of Brumaire (9th of November 1799), when he saw reason to apprehend that he had concurred in giving a tyrant to his country. Being almost immediately called to assume the command on the Rhine and the Danube, he introduced several important changes into the constitution of the army. He began by placing the corps of the wings and centre under the orders of three lieutenants upon whom he could implicitly depend. He then formed a corps of reserve, amounting to nearly one third of his whole force, and destined to act only under his own orders. His plan, which consisted in penetrating into Suabia, and even into the heart of the hereditary states, was not approved by Bonaparte, who, thinking only of reconquering Italy, wished to make the army of the Rhine merely an army of observation. But Moreau stuck firmly to his plan, and resisted. Napoleon felt greatly offended; and this dispute as to the co-operation of the two armies proved the germ of that mutual hatred which sprung up between these celebrated rivals, and which was probably one of the causes of their common ruin. Nevertheless, as the prompt success of the operations on the Rhine could alone open to Bonaparte a passage into Italy, by drawing off the [7:15:497]Austrians from those positions where they might have intercepted his communications with France, it became necessary to yield, and to leave to Moreau all the honour of the conception of the plan of campaign, and all the means for carrying it into execution. Accordingly a sort of arrangement took place at Paris, where General Dessoles, head of the staff of the army of the Rhine, discussed the subject with Napoleon, and ultimately succeeded in inducing him to give way to the opinion of Moreau.

The success of the campaign which ensued was throughout decisive. At its commencement Moreau, having led Field-marshal Kray, who was opposed to him, to entangle himself in the valleys descending from the Brisgau, effected the passage of the Rhine at Stein. He encountered the enemy, first at Stockach, where he defeated him, and then fought successively the battles of Engen and Moeskirch, in both of which he was victorious. Kray, forced to abandon his line of operations, had retired in good order beyond the Danube. Moreau immediately marched into Suabia, upon which the imperial army repassed the river; but being overtaken by the French, it was once more defeated at Bibè-rach. The Austrians then retired into their intrenched camp at Ulin, and being thus separated from the Tyrol, could undertake nothing calculated to change the course of events, or obstruct Napoleon in effecting the passage of the Great St Bernard. In this way the victories gained by Moreau facilitated the conquest of Italy; and he even detached a corps of twelve thousand men to reinforce the army of the First Consul. Finding, however, that neither his demonstrations, nor his rapid incursions into Bavaria, could induce Marshal Kray to quit his unexpugnable position at Ulm, Moreau conceived the design of crossing the Danube below that place, and throwing himself between the Austrian army and its magazines, that is, upon its line of communications. To pass the river above Donawerth, to force the enemy’s army to quit its intrenched camp by detaching it from its base of operations, and to oblige it to retreat, leaving Bavaria uncovered; such was the bold plan, the complete execution of which crowned the talents of the general by whom it had been devised. Having advanced beyond the Lech, Moreau attacked the Austrians along their whole line, crossed the Danube at Blenheim by main force, and, on the left bank of the river, in the plains of Hochstadt, obtained, by similar manoeuvres, on the !9th of June, an advantage similar to that which Bonaparte had gained at Marengo only three days before. Kray having at length abandoned his position at Ulm, Moreau marched in pursuit of the marshal, whom he once more vanquished at Neuburg; he then entered Bavaria, again defeated the Austrians at Landshut, and only suspended his operations after having caused them to sign, on the 15th of July, the armistice of Parsdorf, in imitation of the convention entered into at Alessandria.

This suspension of arms continued until the end of November, when Moreau, having returned to his army, announced to it the resumption of hostilities. His adversary was now the Archduke John, and the army opposed to him amounted to an hundred and twenty thousand men. This numerical superiority of force inspired the Austrians with such confidence that they assumed the offensive. The two armies were then separated by the course of the Inn. The archduke passed the river, and the left wing of the French, being opposed to the mass of his army, Moreau retreated, and continuing his movement on Hohenlinden, succeeded in drawing the enemy into the defiles near that place. The moment for striking a blow had now arrived. At this place, on the 3d of December 1800, he delivered to the Austrian army that bloody and decisive battle, in which there was not a French corps that did not come into action and cover itself with glory. The contest began in the centre, and. soon became general; but all the efforts of the Austrians to debouch from the forest into the plain proved unavailing. The corps of Gen eral Richepanse, marching across the forest, turned the Austrian centre, which it soon put to flight; and this was followed by that of the remainder of their army. Thus terminated this memorable battle, which was completely gained by the literal and precise execution of the plan prescribed by the general-inchief, particularly in regard to the flank movement of Richepanse on the enemy’s line of retreat, which decided the fortune of the day. At four o’clock, eleven thousand prisoners and a hundred pieces of cannon were in the hands of the victors; and these trophies would have been still more considerable had not the long winter night and the bad state of the roads favoured the retreat of so many broken and disunited corps. More than six thousand Austrians remained on the field of battle, whilst the loss of the French did not exceed two thousand five hundred men killed and wounded. To the congratulations of his generals, Moreau replied by attributing to them the principal share in the glory of the day; and the only indication of joy which escaped him was betrayed by the observation he made to them: “My friends, yon have conquered peace.”

The archduke having taken refuge behind the Inn, Moreau pursued him without intermission, gained another victory at Lauffen, and having passed the Salza, occupied Saltzburg, penetrated into the hereditary states, and, continuing his advance, carried terror to the gates of Vienna. Nor did he suspend his march until the Archduke Charles, who had been again placed at the head of the imperial army, announced to him that the emperor had resolved to make peace, whatever might be the determination of his allies; and this declaration served as the basis of the armistice of Steyer, signed on the 25th of December. This campaign of twenty-five days placed Moreau in the rank of the greatest captains, and entitled him to the homage of public admiration, which was paid to him on his return to Paris.

Bonaparte presented him with a pair of pistols magnificently mounted, observing that he had wished to have had his victories engraved on them, but found that there would not be room; a forced eulogium, which betrayed the ill-dissembled jealousy excited by so many triumphs. Napoleon knew that Moreau had been indebted for his victories to the rare devotion of the secondary generals, and the good spirit of the army, which he had captivated by his natural benevolence; he was not ignorant that Moreau commanded with firmness, but never with harshness, preserving always towards his principal officers the affectionate tone of a comrade; and that his head-quarters resembled a family circle, where all objects of public interest connected with war and administration were discussed with the most perfect freedom.

This last consideration had given great umbrage to Bonaparte; and Moreau, who was deficient in civil prudence, acted in such a manner as to increase the suspicion with which he was regarded. His house became the rendezvous of persons avowedly inimical to the consular government; and he was by imperceptible degrees drawn into that fatal connection with Pichegru and his associates which eventually proved the cause of his ruin. The particulars of this affair, with the arrest, imprisonment, trial, and sentence of Moreau, will be found narrated in the historical portion of the article France, to which the reader is accordingly referred. On the 10th of June 1804, he was sentenced to two years’ detention, which, by the influence of Fouché, was commuted into permission to travel, on condition that he should retire to the United States, and not return to France without the leave of Bonaparte. He accordingly set out for Spain, escorted by gendarmes, and in 1805 embarked at Cadiz for the United States, where he resided for about eight years, beloved and respected by all who knew him.
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After the disasters which befel the French grand army in the retreat from Moscow, and when Napoleon, with incredible energy, was repairing his losses, and about to renew the contest in Germany, the Emperor Alexander, aware that he had no general capable of contending with that wonderful man, made secret overtures to Moreau; and the latter having decided to embrace the offers of the Czar, and join him in the approaching contest, embarked on the 21st of June 1813 with Μ. de Svinine, counsellor of the Russian embassy, and on the 24th of July entered the port of Gottenburg. At Stralsund he passed three days with his old companion in arms Bernadotte, then Crown Prince of Sweden, and having concerted with him the plan of the ensuing campaign, proceeded to join the allied sovereigns at Prague, where, as might have been expected, he was received in the most flattering manner.

The plan of the allies consisted in debouching from Bohemia with their grand army, in order to turn and attack Dresden, which formed the pivot of Napoleon’s operations. The attack commenced on the 26th of August, and was resumed the following day, when Moreau, having advanced to observe a movement of the French, was struck by a cannon ball, which fractured the knee of the right leg, and, passing through, carried away the calf of the left. He fell into the arms of Colonel Rapatel, exclaiming, “I am done for, but it is pleasant to die in so good a cause.” Being removed to an adjoining house, he there underwent amputation of the right leg, and the same operation was performed on the left, which had been too much shattered to admit the possibility of its being saved. In this horribly mutilated condition, the allied army being now in full retreat, he was transported to a considerable distance on a blanket covered with curtains, and the following day carried as far as Laun, where he lingered in agony till· the morning of the 2d of September, when he expired. At the time of his death he had prepared for publication a proclamation to the French, which the Emperor Alexander had approved, and in which he explained the object of his return to Europe, the most questionable act of his life; namely, to assist the French in emancipating themselves from the despotism of Bonaparte, and to sacrifice his life, if necessary, to restore prosperity to his country, all the true sons of which he invited to rally round the standards of independence. It is unfortunate for his memory, however, that he died in arms against his country; that his personal wrongs obliterated all sense of the duty which he owed her as a son, whoever might be at the head of her government; and that, having joined the enemies of her glory, he fell in the moment when the arms of France were victorious. As a warrior, however, Moreau was superior to all the generals of the Revolution, Napoleon excepted; he combined the caution of Fabius with the cool determination of Turenne; in every succeeding campaign his genius shone forth with increased splendour; and his last achievement at Hohenlinden exhibited an union of scientific combination with precise and vigorotís execution which has seldom been equalled and never surpassed, (a.)