“When General Lefebre besieged Saragossa, the place was defended by Don Jose Palafox, a young nobleman of moderate talents. But men and women fought side by side among the Spaniards, and became irresistible.”
“How they must have hated the French, for the women to fight.”
“They must indeed! The old Moorish walls and monastic buildings in the suburbs of the place, were manned with determined men. Disease came and famine came among them, but for all this, when the French general, who had taken the convent St. Engracia, sent to Palafox this short summons, ‘Head-quarters, Santa Engracia—capitulation,’ he received this short answer: ‘Head-quarters, Saragossa—war to the knife.’ The French were compelled to retreat.”
“The boasting of the French general did no good, after all.”
“Marmont, Mortier, Dupont, Victor, and Oudinot, were all famous generals, as well as Bernadotte and Murat. Victor, having failed to dislodge the enemy at Montereau, fell under the displeasure of Buonaparte, who broke out into a furious passion, and dismissed him the service. Victor then declared, while the tears streamed down his face, that though he had ceased to be an officer he would still be a soldier, and that, as he had risen from the ranks, he would again enter them as a private soldier. This melted Buonaparte, who gave him his hand, and told him that, though he could not give him the command of his corps, for it had been assigned to another, he was welcome to place himself at the head of a brigade of the guard.”
“Then, he did not serve as a common soldier?”
“No. His determination to do so rather than to quit the army, softened the heart of Buonaparte, and made him relent. It is related, that on one occasion, when a desperate attack was led on by Soult, there occurred a circumstance, as honourable as it was characteristic of the spirit which animated the French. The soldiers of two regiments, or demi-brigades of the army of Italy, namely, the twenty-fifth, light, and the twenty-fourth of the line, had sworn eternal enmity against one another, because that previously to the opening of the campaign, when desertion, and all the evils of insubordination prevailed in that army, disorganized by suffering, the former, in which discipline had been maintained, was employed to disarm the latter. The utmost care had been taken to keep them separate; but it happened that these two corps found themselves one day made rivals, as it were, in valour, the one before the eyes of the other. The same dangers, the same thirst of glory, the same eagerness to maintain themselves, at once renewed in all hearts generous sentiments; the soldiers became instantly intermingled; they embraced in the midst of the fire, and one half of the one corps passing into the ranks of the other, they renewed the combat after the exchange, with double ardour.”
“What a very odd thing! It shows that soldiers can forgive one another, however!”
“The battle of Marengo, fought between the French and the Austrians, shows us, that without good tactics a field may be lost almost in the moment of victory. The Austrians, under Melas, were full forty thousand strong, while the French, under Buonaparte, in the absence of their reserve, could hardly be more than half that number.”
“Two to one—that was a terrible difference.”