Part 18

The third, styled the army of the Rhine, had at its head General Count Rapp; and its business was, to protect the frontiers of Alsace. It was estimated at eighteen thousand men.

The fourth, called the army of the West, was employed in La Vendée; and, after that country was quieted, it was to be incorporated in the grand army. It consisted of seventeen thousand men; and General Lamarque was its commander-in-chief.

The first corps of observation, stationed at Béford, was commanded by General Lecourbe. It had to defend the passages from Switzerland, and Franche Comté; and to form a communication, according to circumstances, by its left with the army of the Alps, or by its right with the army of the Rhine.

The other three corps, the commanders of which were Marshal Brune at Marseilles, General Clausel at Bordeaux, and General Decaen at Toulouse, were to maintain the tranquillity of the country; and, in case of need, to oppose any invasion, that the Spaniards might attempt on the one side, or the Piedmontese and English on the other.

These four corps of observation amounted together to about twenty thousand men.

They were to be supported and reinforced by ten thousand soldiers, and fifty thousand national guards receiving pay.

The two armies of the Rhine and of the Alps were to be the same, fifty thousand men of the line, and a hundred thousand chasseurs and grenadiers of the national guard.

In fine, the army commanded by the Emperor in person was to be augmented by a hundred thousand national guards, who would have been stationed in a second line; and by sixty thousand regulars, who, as well as those mentioned above, were daily forming in the dépôts.

All these resources, when they should be disposable, and they might be before the end of the campaign, would have mounted the strength of the acting army to more than three hundred thousand fighting men; and that of the army of reserve, namely the national guards in the second line, or in the fortified towns, to four hundred thousand men. They would have been recruited, the first by levies from the conscriptions of 1814 and 1815; the second, by calling into service fresh battalions of the flank companies.

The whole army was superb, and full of ardour: but the Emperor, more a slave, than could have been believed, to his remembrances and habitudes, committed the fault of replacing it under the command of its former chiefs. Most of these, notwithstanding their addresses to the King, had not ceased to pray for the triumph of the imperial cause; yet they did not appear disposed to serve it with the ardour and devotion, that circumstances demanded. They were not now the men, who, full of youth and ambition, were generously prodigal of their lives, to acquire rank and fame; they were men tired of war, and who, having reached the summit of promotion, and being enriched by the spoils of the enemy or the bounty of Napoleon, had no further wish, than peaceably to enjoy their good fortune under the shade of their laurels.

The colonels and generals, who entered on their career subsequent to them, murmured at finding themselves placed under their tutelage. The soldiers themselves were dissatisfied: but this dissatisfaction did not abate their confidence of victory, for Napoleon was at their head.

On the 14th the Emperor directed the following proclamation, to be issued in the orders of the day.

"Avesnes, June 14, 1815.

"Soldiers,

"This is the anniversary of Marengo and of Friedland, which twice decided the fate of Europe: then, as after Austerlitz, as after Wagram, we were too generous! We trusted to the protestations and oaths of the princes, whom we left on the throne! Now, however, in coalition against us, they aim at the independence and the most sacred rights of France, They have commenced the most unjust of aggressions. Let us then march to meet them: are not they and we still the same men?

"Soldiers, at Jena, against these same Prussians, now so arrogant, you were but one to three, and at Montmirail one to six! Let those among you, who were prisoners to the English, give you an account of their hulks (pontons), and of the dreadful miseries they endured.

"The Saxons, the Belgians, the Hanoverians, the soldiers of the confederation of the Rhine, groan at being obliged to lend their arms to the cause of princes, who are enemies to justice, and to the rights common to all people. They know, that this coalition is insatiate. After having devoured twelve millions of Polanders, twelve millions of Italians, a million of Saxons, six millions of Belgians, it would devour all the states of the second order in Germany.

"Madmen! a moment of prosperity has blinded them. The oppression and humiliation of the French people are out of their power! If they enter France, they will find in it their graves.

"Soldiers, we have forced marches to make, battles to fight, hazards to run; but, with firmness, victory will be ours: the rights, the honour, and the happiness of our country will be reconquered.

"To every Frenchman, who has any heart, the moment is come, to conquer or die!"

The plan of the campaign adopted by the Emperor was worthy the courage of the French, and the high reputation of their chief.

Information given by a hand to be depended upon, and agents furnished by the Duke of Otranto, had made known the position of the allies in all its particulars. Napoleon knew, that the army of Wellington was dispersed over the country from the borders of the sea to Nivelles: that the right of the Prussians rested on Charleroy; and that the rest of their army was stationed in échélon indefinitely as far as the Rhine. He judged, that the enemies' lines were too much extended; and that it would be practicable for him, by not giving them time to close up, to separate the two armies, and fall in succession on their troops thus surprised.

For this purpose he had united all his cavalry into a single body of twenty thousand horse, with which he intended to dart like lightning into the midst of the enemies' cantonments.

If victory favoured this bold stroke, the centre of our army would occupy Brussels on the second day, while the corps of the right and of the left drove the Prussians to the Meuse, and the English to the Scheldt. Belgium being conquered, he would have armed the malecontents, and marched from success to success as far as the Rhine, where he would have solicited peace anew.

On the 14th, in the night, our army, the presence of which the Emperor had taken care to conceal, was to commence its march: nothing indicated, that the enemy had foreseen our irruption, and every thing promised us grand results; when Napoleon was informed, that General Bourmont, Colonels Clouet and Villoutreys, and two other officers, had just deserted to the enemy.

He knew from Marshal Ney, that M. de Bourmont, at the time of the occurrences at Besançon, had shown some hesitation, and was backward to employ him. But M. de Bourmont, having given General Gérard his word of honour, to serve the Emperor faithfully; and this general, whom Napoleon highly valued, having answered for Bourmont; the Emperor consented, to admit him into the service. How could he have supposed, that this officer, who had covered himself with glory in 1814, would, in 1815, go over to the enemy on the eve of a battle?

Napoleon immediately made such alterations in his plan of attack, as this unexpected treason rendered necessary, and then marched forward.

On the 15th, at one in the morning, he was in person at Jumiguan on the Eure.