Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Volume II

O'Meara, vol. ii., p. 128.

404

See Gourgaud, tom. ii., p. 372.

405

Philippeaux died during the siege, of a fever brought on by fatigue. Buonaparte spoke of him with more respect than he usually showed to those who had been successful in opposing him. One reason might be, that the merit given to Philippeaux was in some degree subtracted from Sir Sidney Smith. The former was a Frenchman, and dead – the latter alive, and an Englishman. – S. – "Sir Sidney Smith behaved very bravely, and was well seconded by Philippeaux, a Frenchman of talent, who had studied with me as an engineer." – Napoleon, Voice, &c., vol. i., p. 210.

406

Related by Miot as communicated to him by Murat. – S. – "Le sort de l'Orient est dans cette bicoque; la chute de cette ville est le but de mon expédition; Damas doit en être le fruit." – Miot, p. 184.

407

"La victoire est au plus opiniâtre." – Miot, p. 199.

408

Miot, p. 199.

409

Caffarelli was shot in the elbow, and died of the amputation of the limb. He had before lost a leg, which induced the French soldiers, who disliked him as one of the principal contrivers of the Egyptian expedition, to say, when they saw him hobble past, "He, at least, need care little about the matter – he is sure to have one foot in France." He had some days' delirium before he died; but Count Las Cases reports, (vol. i., p. 220,) that whenever Buonaparte was announced, his presence – nay, his name alone – seemed to cure the wanderings of the patient's spirit, and that this phenomenon was renewed so often as the general made him a visit. – S.

410

Las Cases, tom. i., partie seconde, p. 384. The extravagance of Napoleon's plan unavoidably reminds us of the vanity of human wishes. The cause to which he ascribes it is the mistake of a captain of a frigate, who, instead of forcing his way to Acre, against the opposition of two ships of the line, was unfortunately taken by them. This is a mode of reasoning which Napoleon was very ready to adopt. The miscarriage of his plans was seldom imputed by him to the successful wisdom or valour of an enemy, but to some accidental circumstance, or blunder, which deranged the scheme which must otherwise have been infallible. Some of his best generals were of a different opinion, and considered the rashness of the attack upon Acre, as involving the certainty of failure. Kleber is reported to have said, that the Turks defended themselves with the skill of Christians, and that the French attacked like Turks. – S.

411

O'Meara, vol. i., p. 331.

412

Warden's Letters, p. 156.

413

Voice from St. Helena, vol. ii., p. 333.

414

History of the British Expedition to Egypt, vol. i., p. 127.

415

Miot gives a melancholy, but too true a picture, of the indifference with which soldiers, when on a retreat, regard the sufferings of those whose strength does not enable them to keep up with the march. He describes a man, affected by the fear of being left to the cruelties of the Turks, snatching up his knapsack, and staggering after the column to which he belonged, while his glazed eye, uncertain motion, and stumbling pace, excited the fear of some, and the ridicule of others. "His account is made up," said one of his comrades, as he reeled about amongst them like a drunkard. "He will not make a long march of it," said another. And when, after more than one fall, he at length became unable to rise, the observation that "he had taken up his quarters," was all the moan which it was thought necessary to make. It is in these cases, as Miot justly observes, that indifference and selfishness become universal; and he that would be comfortable must manage to rely on his own exertions, and, above all to remain in good health. – S.

416

See Thibaudeau, tom. ii., p. 272; Martin, tom. i., p. 315; Desgenettes, Hist. Médicale de l'Armée d'Orient, p. 97; Larrey, Relation Chirurgicale de l'Armée d'Orient, p. 117; Lacretelle, tom. xiv., p. 299. "I feel ashamed," says Savary, "to advert to the atrocious calumny; but the man whose simple assertion was found sufficient to give it currency, has not been able to stifle it by his subsequent disavowal. The necessity to which we were reduced of using roots as a substitute for opium, is a fact known to the whole army. Supposing, however, that opium had been as plentiful as it was scarce, and that General Buonaparte could have contemplated the expedient attributed to him, where could there be found a man sufficiently determined in mind, or so lost to the feelings of human nature, as to force open the jaws of fifty wretched men on the point of death, and thrust a deadly preparation down their throats? The most intrepid soldier turned pale at the sight of an infected person; the warmest heart dared not relieve a friend afflicted with the plague; and is it to be credited that brutal ferocity could execute what the noblest feelings recoiled at? or that there should have been a creature savage or mad enough to sacrifice his own life, in order to enjoy the satisfaction of hastening the death of fifty dying men, wholly unknown to him?" —Memoirs, tom. ii., p. 106.

417

Gourgaud, tom. ii., p. 323.

418

"Brave Desaix! He would have conquered any where. He was skilful, vigilant, daring – little regarding fatigue, and death still less. He would have gone to the end of the world in quest of victory." – Napoleon, Antommarchi, vol. i., p. 376.

419

Jomini, tom. xi., p. 420; Thibaudeau, tom. ii., p. 297; Gourgaud, tom. ii., p. 320.

420

Gourgaud, tom. iii., p. 328.

421

Miot, p. 249.

422

"Les Turcs maintenaient le combat avec succes; mais Murat, par un mouvement rapide comme la pensée, dirigea sa gauche sur les derrières de leur droit," &c. – Buonaparte to the Directory.

423

Gourgaud states, that from three to four thousand Turks were driven into the sea. Berthier calculates the number at ten thousand: "L'ennemi ne croit avoir de ressource que dans la mer; dix mille hommes s'y précipitent; ils y sont fusilés et mitraillés. Jamais spectacle aussi terrible ne s'est presenté."

424

"This is probably the only instance, in the history of warfare, in which an army has been entirely destroyed. It was upon this occasion that Kleber, clasping Buonaparte round the waist, exclaimed, 'General, vous étés grand comme le monde!'" – Thiers, tom. x., p. 323.

425

"Notwithstanding his unheard-of destiny, Napoleon has often been heard to say, in speaking of Sir Sidney Smith, 'Cet homme m'a fait manquer ma fortune.'" – Thiers, tom. x., p. 314.

426

See Las Cases, vol. iii., p. 11; Savary's Memoirs, vol. i., p. 112; and Miot, p. 265.

427

"There existed no secret correspondence, whether private or official. Ten months had already elapsed, and we were still without news from Egypt." – Bourrienne, tom. ii., p. 309.

428