Memoirs of General Count Rapp, first aide-de-camp to Napoleon

by comte Jean Rapp

"From the commencement of the campaign our soldiers had been in a state of irritation, well calculated to promote the secret views of the enemy: they were acquainted with the disastrous affair of Waterloo, they knew all the details of it; but they had too much confidence in the skill of that celebrated man, with whom they had five times triumphed over all Europe—they had too often seen him, by sudden inspirations, regain his hold of victory when she was escaping from him, to believe that his military genius had on the sudden abandoned him; they were perpetually thinking of this disaster, and they could never think of it without rage. Persuaded as they were that our troops had continued the same, and that they had to do with the same enemies, such a defeat appeared to them inconceivable. Not knowing the true cause of it, they attributed all our misfortunes to treason. Traitors had given intelligence of our plans; traitors had commanded false manœuvres, traitors had raised the cry of sauve qui peut! There were traitors among the generals, among the officers, among the soldiers; and who knew whether there were none but in the army of the north? Who knew whether the corps, of which they were a part, their regiment, their company, were not infested with them? Could they reckon on their chiefs, on their comrades? Every one was suspected, it was necessary to distrust every one!

"Such was the language in which anger found vent, which malevolence caught up, magnified, envenomed, and which every soldier in the end repeated and believed. This idea soon became the medium through which every thing was explained. Accustomed to keep the field, they saw themselves with pain compelled to retreat before an enemy whom they despised. It would have been natural to attribute his progress to an immense numerical superiority. They chose to explain it otherwise; their chiefs were in correspondence with the Austrians. Several circumstances, as unfortunate as they were unavoidable, concurred to give to this opinion an appearance of probability, in the prejudiced eyes of these soldiers. The first of these was the order which General Rapp received, to disband the army, and to dismiss each soldier separately, without money and without arms. The next was, an injunction sent to him by the government to deliver to the Russian commissioners ten thousand musquets taken from the arsenal at Strasburg. These two despatches obliged him to enter into a correspondence with the Allies. The frequent interchange of messengers which took place on this occasion produced a bad effect on their minds. The mystery which the General was obliged to observe, to conceal from the troops the removal of the firearms, increased the irritation; malevolence raised it to its height. It was loudly said that Count Rapp had sold himself, that he had received several millions of francs from the Austrians to introduce them into the fortress, and that if he discharged the soldiers individually, and without arms, it was in consequence of an agreement to deliver them up to the enemy.

"As soon as these seeds of discontent had been once sown in the different corps, they were developed of themselves; the instigators had nothing more to do than to observe their progress, to combine the incidents calculated to augment the disorders, and to render inevitable the catastrophe which they were preparing.

"Although General Rapp was far from suspecting such a plot, he had taken, in some way, all the measures that he could take to frustrate it. As soon as the ministerial despatch relative to the disbanding the troops reached him, he had despatched with all speed to Paris one of his aides-de-camp, the chief of squadron Marnier. This officer saw the ministers repeatedly, and represented to them into what violence the army would be led, if the whole amount of the pay due to it was not discharged; but he could only obtain, notwithstanding the most earnest solicitations, a bill for 400,000 francs, on the chest of the war department. His return with this trifling sum, destroyed all the hopes that had been excited. The General-in-chief, who saw the troops getting more and more exasperated, left nothing untried to allay the storm. The want of money was the principal cause of dissatisfaction. To put an end to this source of discontent, Count Rapp endeavoured to raise a loan in Strasburg. The inhabitants having demanded of him a security, he solicited from the minister of Finance authority to pledge the stores of tobacco in the town: the minister refused it. Nevertheless, by the interposition of General Semelé, who commanded the fortress, a sum of 160,000 francs was obtained. Such slight supplies could not satisfy the soldiers, who were inflamed by false reports, and among whom the insurrection was not slow in breaking out. It was sudden and general, and presented a character quite peculiar. I will enter into all the details of it, because they will serve to make the spirit of the French soldiery better known.

"On the 2d of September, about eight in the morning, about sixty subaltern officers of different regiments met in one of the bastions of the place. They agreed on a plan of obedience to the orders for the disbanding of the army, but on conditions, from which they resolved not to swerve. This declaration began in the following manner.

"In the name of the army of the Rhine, the officers, sub-officers, and soldiers, will obey the orders issued for the disbanding of the army only on the following conditions:

"Art. I. The officers, sub-officers, and soldiers, will not leave the army till they have received all the pay that is due to them.

"Art. II. They will set out all on the same day, carrying their arms, baggage, and fifty cartridges each," &c. &c.