mine. He had not even a shirt to put on his back, and a handkerchief was given him to wipe his face, which was covered with frost. A loaf of bread was offered him which he devoured with the eagerness of a starving man, and then sat down exclaiming, "None but men of iron frames can support such hardships; it is physically impossible to resist them; and there are limits to human strength, the farthest of which have been endured."

Segur relates an anecdote of him when called from the wreck of the army to Paris, which was worthy of Murat. Passing through a small town with only two others, where the Russians were daily expected, their appearance enraged the already exasperated populace, and they began to press with murmurs and execrations, around his carriage. At length some of the most violent, attempted to unharness the horses, when Davoust rushed among them, seized the ringleader, and dragging him along, bade his servants fasten him behind his carriage. The boldness of the action perfectly stunned the mob, and without a show of resistance, they immediately opened a passage for the carriage, and let it move untouched through their midst, with its prisoner lashed on behind.

Of his after career, I have already spoken. When Bonaparte returned from Elba, Davoust, among the first to welcome him, was made Minister of War. He is accused of having treated the fallen Napoleon, after his second overthrow, like a man destitute àlike of honour or shame. But there is no proof he ever uttered the language put into his mouth, and he held on firmly to the last. He finally gave in his adherence, though not in the most manly or heroic style, and returned to his country seat. The next year, however,

be obtained permission to reside in Paris, and three years after, 1819, he was given a seat in the chamber of Peers. He lived but four years after this, and died in June, 1823, of a pulmonary affection. His son succeeded to his wealth, and his peerage.

V.

MARSHAL ST. CYR.

His Life-Character-Profession of a Painter-Combat at BiberachBattle of Polotsk-Battle of Dresden.

LOUIS GOUVION ST. CYR, was a different man from many of the other marshals. His character was more firm and complete-settled on a broader basis. and capable of greater development. Though he seems not to have run his career with the same uninterrupted success as the others, and he is sometimes called unfortunate; yet the cause is to be found in himself. Less impulsive and more methodical than those daring spirits which cast light around the mighty genius they followed-his devotion less warm and his admiration less enthusiastic-his complaints. and recriminations meant more in the ears of Bonaparte than those of such men as Murat, and Junot, and Lannes. The penetrating mind of the Emperor, which fathomed at a glance every character that came under his observation, saw less to love and more to fear in St. Cyr, than in them. The anger of the latter was not a sudden spark that kindled and went out; and when once estranged he was not easily won over. Even his hatred was not impulsive, but rooted itself in his judgment and thoughts rather than in his passing feelings. Power was not likely to be conferred on a man whose stern independence diminished

144

HIS EARLY LIFE.

the value of the gift. Still he had no cause to complain of fortune, nor of the neglect of Napoleon, if we except the long delay of his marshal's baton.

He was born at Toul, of humble parentage, in April, 1764. His parents designed him for a painter, and in his youth he went to Rome to study the great masters, before entering on his career. There his

mind became filled with those wonderful creations of art, and his youthful ambition pointed to a field as unlike the one he was to tread as it well could be. In ordinary times he might have been a respectable painter, perhaps a distinguished one. But his life was to be one of action rather than of imagination— his hand was to wield a sword instead of a pencil, and to enact great scenes on a battle-field rather than trace them on canvass. The breaking out of the Revolution summoned him, with thousands of others, to a field of great exploits, and overturning all at once. his schemes as an artist, sent him forth into the world a soldier of fortune. He enlisted as a private in a company of volunteers and marched to the Rhine, where the Republic was making its first struggle for existence. He rose rapidly from one grade to another till, at the age of thirty-one, he found himself general of division. His promotion was not owing so much to his personal bravery and deeds of daring, as to his knowledge of military tactics.

In 1798 he combatted under Massena in Italy; and after that commander was compelled to withdraw from Rome, on account of the insurrection of his troops, was appointed in his place and by his reputation as a just man and his wise management, restored subordination and discipline. When Bona

parte returned from Egypt, St. Cyr was sent to the Rhine to take part in that victorious campaign.

The theatre on which Moreau was to act, was the angle made by the Rhine, where it bends at Basle from its western direction, and flows north along the shores of Germany and France. The famous Black Forest is enclosed in this bend of the river. Here the Austrian General, M. de Kray, was posted, with his lines reaching almost from Constance to Strasburg-ready to dispute the passage of the Rhine with the French. St. Cyr had served under Moreau a long time, and on this very ground, and the latter placed great confidence in his judgment. The third corps, composed of twenty-five thousand men, was placed under his command, and formed the centre of the army. But at the outset an unhappy cause of division arose between the two generals, which never healed, and ended finally in an open rupture. Not satisfied with dividing the army into four corps, each complete in itself, with cavalry, artillery, &c., thus leaving much discretionary power to each general, Moreau insisted on taking the separate command of one corps himself. This St. Cyr opposed on the ground that his attention would be too much taken up with the affairs of this single corps, and the general movements of the army neglected. The end proved that he was right; but Moreau, persisting in his arrangements, as he most certainly had a right to do, the co-operation of the former was not so hearty and generous as it ought to have been. Thus, at the battle of Engen, and afterwards at Maeskirch, where Moreau was hard pushed, and came near losing the day, St. Cyr did not arrive on the field till the fight was over. The officers around Moreau accused St.

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