RECOLLECTIONS OF MARSHAL MACDONALD.* THE reminiscences of one of Napoleon's
Marshals, who shared in most of his famous campaigns, cannot fail to be of interest to the English as well as the French reader ; and Mr. Simeon deserves congratulation, not only for having undertaken his task, but also for having performed his work as translator admirably. It is rare that a tale does not lose by translation, especially when one of its chief attractions is a certain artlessness of narration ; but, happily, the Recollections of Marshal Macdonald are as pleasant in their English dress as. in the original. The introduction by their editor, M. Camille Roussel, might well have been omitted, inasmuch as it con- tains little but extracts from the book itself. Probably, how- ever, the translator felt a certain diffidence in ruthlessly cutting out the remarks of a French Academician. The Marsha/ himself tells the story of his life with a charming simplicity and candour,—being not at all averse to the recital of his many services to France, his many feats of arms, his good and evil fortunes, and his extraordinary acumen as a General and stra- tegist. Indeed, there can hardly ever have lived a commander who was so invariably in the right as he was. The successes that he enjoyed were owing generally to his foresight and plans ; the reverses in which he shared were occasioned almost always by the disregard of his advice. Had Napoleon only listened to this counsellor, to the exclusion of all others, he would never have seen Elba, nor suffered the final defeat on the field of Waterloo. And yet the Marshal is no braggart. The place that he held in the councils of his great chief, and the part that he played in the most extraordinary military drama that the world has ever known, were really his, and in no way does he wilfully exaggerate their importance ; it is merely that, looking back upon the past after a considerable lapse of time, he has often found himself unable to distinguish between what he should have liked to have done and what he did do, what he ought to have said and what he did say. He gives at full length prolonged debates and arguments between himself and others, and gives himself always the right in them ; and so, too, in his really graphic accounts of battle- fields, of attacks and retreats, his is always the central figure around which the action moves, and it is with his own prowess that his narrative is chiefly concerned. So far from losing by this attitude on the part of the narrator, the story, after a certain fashion, distinctly gains by it in interest. The honesty of the author is so obvious, and the occasional vehemence of his self-justification carries away the reader and converts him into a partisan. His Recollections too, it must be remem- bered, were not written for the public, but were put together as an occupation for his life in his country retreat, and for the future perusal of his son. Sixty-five years have passed since * Recollections of Marshal Macdonald. Translated by S. I.. Simeon. London Richard Bentley and Son.
they were written, and now his granddaughter, Madame de Pommerenl, has rightly determined that the public should profit by them. He himself disclaims any right to be heard as an impartial historian at the same time that he warns his son against all historians. To only three qualities does he lay claim, "honour, fidelity, and disinterestedness;" and those are qualities which one would be slow to deny to him. If the exact truth of history is not to be found in his story, the failure is not due to any wish to hide or pervert it upon his part.
The son of Neil Macdonald, a proscribed Jacobite who had taken service in France, the Marshal was born about 1765 at Sedan. From his earliest youth he was inspired with an enthusiastic desire to follow in his father's footsteps and enter the Army, a wish that he was not able to fulfil without some difficulty. When once the chance was given him, he certainly made the most of it. He was a Colonel at the age of twenty-eight; a General of Division at twenty-nine; Governor of Rome at three-and-thirty. Eleven years later, he was created Marshal on the field of battle of Wagram, and in the same year was made Duke of Tarentum,—a rapidity of advancement which he owed in the first place to his own gallantry in the field; secondly, to the French Revolution, which apparently, after a short moment of indecision, preferred promoting him to taking off his head; and finally, to the rather tardy recognition of his services by Napoleon. He served the Revolution well and faithfully; happily, his position as a soldier prevented him from sharing in its government, and even from knowing of the excesses which it was committing. There was little wonder, considering what it did for him, that he "adored the Revolution," as, with his usual frankness, he once told the Comte d'Artois at St. Cloud, when, as Major-General of the Royal Guard during the reign of Louis xvm., he was seated at the King's table. Frankness of speech, however, was a quality upon which the Marshal particularly prided himself, and of which he gives us several examples. Not even Napoleon at his worst moments was spared the blunt directness of his tongue. We may note, by-the-way, that in spite of all the favours that he heaped upon them, Napoleon's Marshals were suffi- ciently outspoken in their comments on their master. Macdonald tells a story of how upon one occasion, during the retreat from Leipsic, Augereau, who had been sent to his assistance, failed to support him. Meeting him amid the disorder of retreat the next day, he demanded an explanation of his conduct in deserting a comrade and disobeying Napoleon's command. Angereau's answer was perfectly simple :—" That idiot does not know what he is about ! Have you not observed that he has completely lost his head in these recent events, and in the catastrophe by which they have been followed? The coward ! He abandoned and was prepared to sacrifice us all; and do you suppose that I am fool enough to let myself be killed or made prisoner for the sake of a Leipsic suburb ? You should have done as I did, and have gone away." If that is a fair speci- men of the temper of Napoleon's Generals during defeat and disaster, one is disposed to wonder how his armies ever hung together at all. Macdonald himself bears witness to an occa- sional incapacity, and what might almost be called cowardice, on the part of Napoleon in the days of his reverses,—both probably to be attributed to physical exhaustion and a kind of reckless despair at the thought that fortune was deserting him. Indeed, it is difficult to find even in Macdonald's de- scription of his own relations with his chief, any trace of that blind faith and reverent awe with which Napoleon's soldiers• were supposed to regard him. The language that Augereau made use of was gentle compared to the abuse in which Van- damme is said to have indulged, though it must be admitted to the latter's credit that he gave vent to his feelings after a victory, and not after a defeat. Macdonald at least was guiltless on that point, and though outspoken enough when his opinion was asked, was as little disposed to censure and reproach his leader behind his back, as he was to flatter him to his face in the days of prosperity. It is fairly evident, however, that neither he nor the other Generals were inspired with an implicit trust in Napoleon's .good lack and genius, and that, as a rule, the other Marshals were almost as ready to thwart their master as they were to conspire against each other. Time after time Macdonald has to complain of the almost open treachery of his colleagues. It is extraordinary how, in spite of the jealousies and intrigues that were rife among his lieutenants, Napoleon managed to keep the control of his armies at all; and one rises from the
perusal of Macdonald's Recollections, in which he is very far from evincing a blind admiration of his hero, with an even higher opinion of Napoleon's superhuman influence than one would have entertained from a more flattering report.
Marshal Macdonald was the last to leave Napoleon after the capitulation of Paris, and the last to rejoin him when he re- entered France. He was also the last to desert Louis XVIII. in the days of doubt and adversity. He was no politician : the Government, whatever it was, was always to him the Government to which he owed allegiance as a soldier, and it was an allegiance which he loyally paid. Apart from the interest which his Recollections have as throwing a curious light upon the relations of Napoleon with his Generals, they are also interesting as recording the life of a very honest and single-minded gentleman. In favour or in disgrace—and the Marshal was very often in the latter position, owing to the jealousy of his colleagues—he still remained the blunt and straightforward soldier. Modest he could hardly be said to be, but his simplicity of character is beyond all question.
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