MARSHAL NET.*
THERE is a general notion abroad that Marshal Ney was a dashing soldier, with plenty of courage and energy but little brain. It is not difficult to understand bow this idea arose, but it is nevertheless singularly mistaken. The man who won Elchingen was not merely a beau sabreur. Perhaps the arm in which he served, which is popularly supposed to need less intelligence than infantry or artillery, added to the fact that he rose from the ranks, has led many to relegate Ney to the company of Napoleon's generals who won distinction by mere reckless audacity. This was not so, for as early as 1793, on leaving the 4th regiment of hussars, he was presented with a testimonial which mentions intelligence first and then courage as his military qualities. "Even in the midst of danger he has displayed a discernment and a tactical insight that is seldom found." Bernadotte, in hia report to Kleber after the battle of the Roer, wrote : "I owe great praise to the brave Ney. He has assisted me with the intelligence you know so well in him." Pitted against Wellington in the Peninsular war, he showed himself the most capable of all *Marshal Ney, the Bravest of the Brass. By A. Hilliard Atteridge. London: - Methuen and Co. [10s. 6d. net.] the French generals. On the other hand, if dash and insulk ordination, qualities with which Ney was equally well endowed, were more typical of the Napoleonic than of any other epoch, then Ney was the most typical soldier of that epoch. He proved his courage very early in his career when with thirty dragoons and a few chasseurs he charged and defeated two hundred of the enemy's hussars. His first act of insubordina- tion took place even earlier, when he fought a duel with a fencing master, against the rules of the military code of the day. Both he kept to the last—his insubordination as well as his bravery. Before Waterloo, overhearing Napoleon declare that, although the enemy was substantially stronger, yet he had a very good chance of winning, Ney, who had misinter- preted the movements of certain English regiments, broke in, "No doubt, sir, if Wellington were simple enough to wait for you; but I can tell you there are marked signs of a retreat, and if you do not attack at once the enemy will escape you." Some critics ascribe to his precipitate action the loss of the battle of Waterloo, but the part Ney played in the Napoleonic campaign is too well known to need recounting here. Even if the final defeat of the French army at Waterloo was due to his ill-timed impetuosity, no other marshal of the French Empire played a more conspicuous part in the preceding campaigns : in the brilliant victories from the capture of Mannheim to the retreat from Moscow, Ney displayed not one, but all the qualities of the great general. It is impossible, for instance, sufficiently to admire the presence of mind and the tact with which he led the few remnants of the great army through the dangers and untold hardships of the retreat. When the column which he commanded—broken, decimated, suffering—was slowly advancing through a thick wood, a few gunshots were fired in the very faces of the first ranks. Believing themselves lost, they began to fall one on the other in a melee more disastrous than any defeat. It was then that Ney suddenly turned defeat into victory by making his men believe that he expected the attack, which was part of a pre- arranged plan, and that the enemy was lost. The story is told by M. de Segur, who may reasonably be suspected of a natural partiality towards his countryman and companion- at-arms, but it is typical of the man whose sangfroid did not desert him even in the last moment 'When his life was forfeited. He threw in his lot with Napoleon, and lost, and as a result was shot like a common spy in the Luxembourg Gardens on a cold winter morning in the presence of idle spectators, almost within earshot of the children playing in the gardens. When the twelve muskets were levelled Ney took off his hat, and going forward four steps said in a loud voice, "Frenchmen, I protest against my con- demnation. My honour . . ." Then he fell pierced by eleven bullets. One soldier had aimed high and brought down a shower of plaster from the wall behind. The soldiers marched away and left the body of Ney lying on the ground. It is said that one rider leapt over the prostrate form. This was the beginning of the Royalist era in France, Whoever wishes for a detailed account of the life of this most interesting and tragic figure cannot do better than turn to the work of Mr. Atteridge, which presents a wealth of information in an eminently readable manner. A chronological index, however, would add to the usefulness of the volume.
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