Louis Constant Wairy - Memoirs of Constant - First Valet de Chambre to the Emperor. Vol IV

Memoirs of Constant

First Valet de Chambre of the Emperor

On the

Private life of Napoleon, His Family and His Court

Translated by Elizabeth Gilbert Martin

With a preface to the English Edition

By Imbert de Saint-Martin

VOL IV

This edition is published by PICKLE PARTNERS PUBLISHING

Text originally published in 1907 under the same title.

Pickle Partners Publishing 2011, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publishers Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Authors original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern readers benefit.

Contents

Chapter I

Chapter I

Passage of the Beresina The deliberation The eagles burned The Russians have their ashes only The Emperor lends his horses to be harnessed to the pieces of artillery The officers simple cannoneers Generals Grouchy and Sebastiani Great shouting near Borizoff Marshal Victor The two army corps The confusion Voracity of the soldiers of the retreating army An officer despoiling himself of his uniform to give it to a poor soldier General disquietude The bridge Credulity of the army Sinister conjectures The enemy abandons his positions The Emperor transported with joy The rafts M. Jacqueminot Count Predziecski The chests of the horses cut by ice The Emperor himself lays hold of the teams General Partonneaux The bridge breaks The cannons pass over thousands of crushed bodies The officers harness themselves to sledges Arrival at Malodeczno Confidential interviews between the Emperor and M. de Caulaincourt Twenty-ninth bulletin The Emperor and Marshal Davoust The project of the Emperor's departure known to the army His agitation on leaving the council The Emperor speaks to me of his project He will not have me depart on the seat of his carriage Impression made on the army by the news of His Majesty's departure Birds frozen by the cold The slumber that death gives Cartridge powder used to salt the pieces of roasted horseflesh Young Lapouriel Arrival at Wilna Prince d'Aremberg half dead with cold The burned carriages The alarm The treasure carriage pillaged.

THE day that preceded the passage of the Beresina was one of dreadful solemnity. The Emperor seemed to have come to his decision with the cold resolve of a man who attempts a despairing deed; nevertheless, a council was held. It was determined that the army should despoil itself of all useless burdens which might impede its march; never was there more unity in the opinions; never was deliberation more calm, it was the calm of men who commit themselves for the last time to the will of God and their own courage. The Emperor had the eagles of all the corps brought together; they were burned; he thought there was nothing else for fugitives to do. It was a sad spectacle, these men stepping from the ranks one by one, and throwing down there what they loved more than their life; I have never witnessed dejection more profound, shame more bitterly felt, for this strongly resembled a general degradation of all the veterans of the Moskowa. The Emperor had attached a talisman to these eagles; then he made it too well understood that he no longer had faith in it. He must be very unfortunate to have come to that; at least it was a consolation for the soldiers to think that the Russians would have nothing but their cinders. What a picture was that of the burning of the eagles, especially for those who, like me, had been present at the magnificent ceremony of their distribution to the army at the camp of Boulogue, before the campaign of Austerlitz!

Horses were lacking for the artillery, and at this critical moment the artillery was the safeguard of the army. The Emperor gave orders that his horses should be taken; he estimated that the loss of even one cannon or artillery wagon would be incalculable; the artillery was confided to a corps composed entirely of officers; it amounted to about five hundred men. It affected His Majesty to see these brave officers become soldiers once more, putting their hands to the pieces like simple cannoneers, and going back through devotion to the lessons of the school. The Emperor called this his sacred squadron! For the same reason which made the officers become soldiers, the other superior commanders descended from their rank without disturbing themselves about the designation of their grade. Generals of division Grouchy and Sebastiani resumed the rank of simple captains.

Near Borozino we were arrested by loud shouting; we thought ourselves cut off by the Russian army; I saw the Emperor turn pale, this was a thunderbolt; several lancers were despatched as quickly as possible; we saw them return waving their flags, His Majesty comprehended the signals, and long before we could have been reassured by the cuirassiers, he said: "I bet that it is Victor!"; so accurately present to his mind were even the possible positions of each corps of the army. Marshal Victor was, in fact, awaiting our passage with keen impatience. It seemed that his army had received some vague tidings of our misfortunes, and was, therefore, prepared to give the Emperor an enthusiastic welcome. His soldiers, still fresh and vigorous, at least in comparison with the rest of the army, could not believe their eyes when they saw us in such a miserable condition; the shouts of Long live the Emperor! resounded none the less on that account.

But when the rear portion of the army began to defile before them, another impression was produced. A great confusion ensued. All those in the Marshal's army who recognized any of their companions left their ranks and ran toward them, offering bread and clothes; they were frightened by the voracity with which these wretches ate; many embraced each other weeping. One of the brave and kindly officers of the Marshal took off his own uniform to give it to a poor soldier whose ragged garments exposed him naked to the cold, putting on his own back a tattered old infantry coat, because he was more capable of resisting the rigors of the weather. If excessive misery withers the soul, on the other hand it sometimes expands it to the highest point, as one may see. Many of the most wretched blew their brains out in despair. In that act, the last which nature indicates to put an end to wretchedness, there was a resignation and coolness that made one shudder. Those who thus assailed their own lives were not seeking death so much as a term to insupportable sufferings, and in this disastrous campaign I saw what vanities are physical force and human courage where that moral force which is born of a determined will is non-existent.

The Emperor marched between the army of Marshal Victor and that of Marshal Oudinot. It was frightful to see these moving masses sometimes halting progressively, the advance corps first, then those that followed, then the last; when Marshal Oudinot, who was ahead, suspended his march for some unknown reason, there would be a movement of general uneasiness, then alarming speeches would begin, and, as men who have seen everything are inclined to believe everything, both true and false tidings easily found credit; the fright would last until the front of the army began to move on, when a degree of confidence was restored.