BOOKS.

MARENGO AND HOHENLINDEN.* _Marengo and Hohenlinclen is the book of a soldier. It is written without the smallest literary art. Colonel Furse is clearly not a practised writer, and he uses many phrases which are meaningless or inadequate. "Taking an impartial

• 1600: Marengo and Hohrniinden. By Colonel George Armand. Purse, C.B. London: W. Clowes. view of this great man," says he, "of his brilliant genius, of his remarkable deeds, it is impossible to deny that he was a great success." To call Napoleon "a great success" is to be guilty of bathos so profound as to be almost heroic. But it is not in such terms that history should be written, and Colonel Purse would have been prudent if he had submitted his manuscript to a wise revision.

However, in such a work as this we can forgive much bad writing, for the merit of the book lies in its military critioism. The author has examined and compared all the existing documents with the utmost care, and though it is difficult after a century to demonstrate the truth, Colonel Purse walks warily among contradictions, and makes clear the many obscurities which surrounded Napoleon's brilliant exploits. Napoleon lived through many glorious years. His first campaign in Italy was such a triumph as few men have ever enjoyed, and yet in some respects the year 1800 was the most fortunate in his career. No sooner did he go to Egypt

than his work was undone. When in 1799 he heard that the territory he had conquered had been retaken from France, he exclaimed : "Italy is lost ! All the fruit of our victories is gone ! It is imperative for me to be off." So with extra- ordinary promptitude and perfect justification he deserted his

army, embarked from Egypt, evading the vigilance of Nelson's fleet, and finally, with the good luck which had not then deserted him, arrived at Frejus. His reception in France must have reassured him immediately. He travelled to Paris through avenues of enthusiastic citizens, who rightly believed that he had come back to save their country. He found the capital in disorder, and the Directory discredited. But in a

brief space he had restored security, had been elected First Consul, and had taken upon his own Atlantean shoulders the manifold responsibilities of France. He was Minister both of War and of Marine; he controlled the Home and Foreign

Offices, as well as the police. To achieve what he did he must have been made of iron, says Rapp, quoted by Colonel Purse. "The First Consul lives in the saddle and in his carriage," wrote this aide-de-camp. "He has no sooner alighted from his carriage, than away he goes on horseback for ten or twelve

hours together. He talks with the men, and examines every- thing himself."

He declared himself that when he returned to France he wished for nothing so much as a period of peace. Colonel Fume believes in the sincerity of this wish. But the Allies, rightly or wrongly, preferred war, and gave Bonaparte his splendid opportunity. He opened another campaign in Italy, crossed the Alps by the pass of Saint Bernard, and at Marengo proved that the French arms were still invincible. It is in his analysis of this battle that Colonel Fame best shows his skill, and if the description lacks the graces, it is masterpiece of exposition which will doubtless be appreciated by all soldiers. The battle opened, as battles have opened so often, with mistakes on either side. Colonel Purse says it is remarkable that Melas, if he had determined on giving battle in the plains, should have allowed the French to capture Marengo, which, being a village traversed by many roads, was a position of great importance. But Melas's fault had this compensation: it persuaded Napoleon that the Austrians

did not intend to offer battle at all. The First Consul was, in fact, attacked a rimproviste. On June 14th, 1800, a

complete army fell upon Napoleon's corps and surprised it. The battle began at nine, and from the very outset the French defended their position stoutly. By noon they had not lost a fact of ground: at one o'clock Lattermann's grenadiers, aided by the heavy fire of the Austrian guns, charged, and carried Marengo. Once Rivaud drove the grenadiers from the village, but they returned, and again ousted the French, who were obliged to fall back at all points. The retreat was conducted with perfect order. Says Kellermann

"My brigade formed line, extended to the right and left of the main road. Always exposed to a deadly artillery fire, covering the infantry, finding for it opportunities for rallying, it withdrew by platoons at a walk, turning about from time to time, and not suffering the enemy to capture a single prisoner in this part of the field. Under trying circumstances it displayed a cool courage, which, recognising danger and death, meets them with firmness."

It was in such a spirit, then, that the French retired before the Austrians, disputing every inch of the ground, and never breaking their ranks. At this moment it was that Napoleon appeared upon the battlefield, and instantly threw forward the Consular Guard in the hope of arresting Ott's advance. The Consular Guard behaved with the utmost gallantry. The German General hemmed them in on all sides, yet could not break them, and there is no doubt that they stemmed the Austrian tide of victory, and made possible the ultimate success of the French. Then at 5 o'clock Desaix arrived, and at his arrival the First Consul instantly stopped the retreat. "We have gone back enough to-day," he said. "You know that my custom is always to sleep on the battlefield." The phrase was enough to put heart into the army, which resumed the offensive under Napoleon's own eye, and to the encouragement of his own

words. Then a sudden piece of good fortune turned the battle. Desaix had sent to ask the aid of Kellermann and his cavalry,

and Kellermann was not slow to take his chance :—

"A glance," writes Colonel Purse, "showed him what aid he might render to the infantry, then beginning to give way in the neighbourhood of Cassina Grosse, were he to charge the advancing Austrians. He seized the favourable moment, wheeled the 2nd and 20th Regiments into column, broke into a gallop, and rushed at the enemy. He thus fell suddenly on the left flank and rear of the Austrians at a moment when their muskets were unloaded, and by this brilliant manceuvre captured General Zach and 2,0(X) men."

Then Kellermann by a brilliant inspiration assailed Lichten- stein's cavalry. "I took the situation in at once," he said, "and halting half my line before it had time to enter into the midst of the enemy, carried it in the direction of the cavalry which had been checked by this manceuvre." So with a handful of men he upset a column of six thousand, and lost no more than twenty in killed and wounded.

Again and again did he charge, until at last the Austrian army retreated in confusion ; and next day at dawn Melas was obliged to open negotiations with the First Consul. He evacuated Piedmont, all Genoese territory, and the most of Lombardy, marching out with the honours of war ; and Napoleon by his signal victory had retrieved the fortunes of France. The death of the valiant Desaix, to whose opportune appearance the victory was largely due, diminished the triumph. But it was a hard-fought field, and for the French arms an imperishable glory. Historiana have been ingenious in dividing the honours. Yet when all deductions are made, the credit is Napoleon's, and Napoleon's alone. He was brilliantly served by his generals. Desaix and Kellermann, Lannes and Victor, all performed prodigies of valour. But the spirit which kept alive the enthusiasm of the troops after hours of fighting was the Consul's own, and, as Colonel Furse says, it was Napoleon who had the courage to risk making the attack with Desaix's troaps, and "in the last phase of the hard-fought field of Marengo the conqueror of Italy showed his insight and the range of his military ability." In conclusion, both the battles are analysed with conspicuous skill, and if Colonel Purse expresses himself clumsily, and now and again appears to contradict his own statements, we easily overlook these faults for the positive merits of his interesting book.