La Marechale, Fr. Marshal’s lady i. e. wife, was so called in France. We have already mentioned [la colonelle], &c. This practice has indeed, of late, obtained in England, but not in the unlimited manner which prevailed among the French. We use it merely to distinguish two ladies of the same name and family, or neighborhood, viz. Mrs. Johnson, and Mrs. colonel Johnson; meaning thereby that the latter is the wife or widow of colonel Johnson.
MARECHAUSSEES de France, Fr. A species of military police, which has long existed in France. During the French monarchy there were 31 companies of Maréchaussées à cheval, or mounted police-men. After twenty years service the individuals who belonged to this establishment were entitled to the privileges of invalid corps, being considered as a part of the gendarmerie.
These companies were first formed for the purpose of preserving public tranquillity, and were distributed in the different provinces of the kingdom. They consisted of provosts-generals, lieutenants, exempts, brigadiers, sub-brigadiers, and horsemen. This useful body of men was first formed under Philip the first, in 1060: they were afterwards suppressed, and again re-established in 1720, as constituting a part of the gendarmerie of France.
The uniform of the Maréchaussées, or mounted police men, consisted of royal blue cloth for the coat, with red cuffs and linings; the waistcoat of chamoy-color, lined with white serge; a cloak lined with red serge, the buttons of plated silver placed in rows of three each, with intervals between them; horseman’s sleeves, with six silver loops with tassels. The brigadiers and sub-brigadiers, had silver lace one inch broad upon their sleeves; their cloaks were made of blue cloth with red cuffs, and they wore silver laced hats. The private horsemen wore bandeleers.
There were other companies of Maréchaussées, who were particularly distinguished from the thirty-one we have mentioned. Such, for instance, as that of the constable, called the gendarmerie.
Marechaussees de France, camps, et armées du roi, Fr. That which was under the immediate direction of the provost-general of the isle of France, and that which belonged to the mint.
The first of these companies is said to have been formed under the first race of French kings: the second by Francis the first; and the third by Louis XIII. There were, besides, several small bodies of troops, composed of officers, and soldiers who had served, that remained stationary in the principal towns to assist the civil magistrates. Those in Paris consisted of three companies; the company belonging to the lieutenant criminel de Robe-Courte, or to that particular court of judicature which was superintended by the prevost de la Maréchaussée, and which Charles the IXth attached to the gendarmerie: the independent company of mounted police, called Guet à Cheval; and the company of the police or foot patrole, called Guet à Pied, which was again subdivided into two companies, in order that one might do the duty of the quays. These companies were under the immediate direction of the secretary of state for the interior department of Paris. The guet de nuit, or night patrole, seems to have been first established by Clotaire the second. The commanding officer of the patrole, or chevalier duguet, during the reign of St. Louis was called milesgueti.
MARENGO, a plain and village in Italy, about one league distant from Tortona, so called. These spots have been rendered memorable in military history by the obstinate and decisive engagement which took place on the 14th of June, 1800, between the Austrians, commanded by general field marshal Melas; and the republican French army, under the direction and personal guidance of Bonaparte, the first consul. According to a very recent publication, translated from the French of Joseph Petit, horse grenadier in the consular guard, the effective number of each army was nearly as follows: the French army, at the moment the battle commenced, was computed from forty to forty-five thousand men, of which three thousand were cavalry: there were besides, from twenty-five to thirty pieces of cannon, in which were included two companies of light artillery: the Austrian army, according to the accounts of the best informed persons, contained from fifty-five to sixty thousand men, including the reinforcements which had just arrived from Genoa. From 15 to 18,000 of these were cavalry. The cannon amounted to fourscore pieces and upwards, two hundred ammunition waggons, well provided, besides an immense train of army implements, stores, and equipage. The French were extremely deficient in the latter articles, having been obliged for want of caissons, to put their ammunition upon tumbrils drawn by oxen.
The loss on both sides was enormous; that of the French was rendered more serious to the republic, by the death of general Desaix, to whose intrepidity, at a most critical juncture, the success of the day, and even the personal safety of Bonaparte were unquestionably owing. This admirable young officer, (for even his enemies pay homage to his virtues and talents) was called by the French and Austrian soldiers, guerrier sans peur et sans rèproche: an irreproachable and undaunted warrior. Without entering into a minute detail of this memorable action, we shall so far trespass upon the limited arrangements of our work, as to extract a passage from another French publication, which has been written by citizen Foudras, and may be found in the English translation from which we have already quoted:—
“It has already been shewn with what obstinacy both armies fought, (see page 64 of Petit’s narrative) four times were the French driven back, four times did they return to the charge, and advance against the Austrians. At the very instant when the consul, surrounded by hostile shot, was reanimating his almost exhausted troops, general Desaix darted with impetuosity amidst the Austrian battalions, when he received his death wound from a musquet ball. He had only time to utter the following words to the son of the consul Lebrun, in whose arms he expired:—“Go and tell the first consul, that I die with regret in not having done enough to live in the memory of posterity!” See page 192, of Foudras’s Biographical Notice.