Memoirs of General Count Rapp, First aide-de-camp to Napoleon. Jean Comte Rapp
with me. This M. d'A * * * *, like many of his countrymen, had a very unprepossessing countenance. I was distrustful of him; but, nevertheless, I informed the Emperor he was waiting, and he was introduced. He had doubtless something important to communicate. Napoleon, by a motion of his hand, directed me to return to the saloon. I pretended not to observe him, and I remained, for I was apprehensive for his safety. He advanced towards me, and said that they wished to be alone. I then withdrew, but I left the door of the chamber partly open.
When Napoleon had dismissed M. d'A * * * *, he asked me why I had been so reluctant to withdraw. "You know," replied I, "that I am not officious; but I must frankly confess that I do not like your Corsicans." He himself related this anecdote, which displeased some of the individuals of his family. However, I am persuaded that he would rather not have heard me speak of his countrymen in this way.
One evening, after the battle of Wagram, we were playing at vingt-et-un. Napoleon was very fond of this game: he used to try to deceive those he was playing with, and was much amused at the tricks he played. He had a great quantity of gold spread out upon the table before him. "Rapp," said he, "are not the Germans very fond of these little Napoleons?"—"Yes, Sire, they like them much better than the great one."—"That, I suppose," said he, "is what you call German frankness."
CHAPTER VI
I was at the camp of Boulogne when the third war with Austria broke out. The French were passing the Rhine. The remnants of the enemy's army, which had been beaten and nearly cut to pieces, shut themselves up in Ulm, and they were immediately summoned to surrender. The account of this negotiation, which was conducted by M. de Segur, so well pourtrays the confusion and anxiety of the unfortunate general, that I cannot refrain from inserting it here. The following is M. de Segur's own statement.
"Yesterday, the 24th of Vendemiaire (16th of Oct.), the Emperor desired me to attend him in his closet. He directed me to proceed to Ulm, and to prevail on General Mack to surrender in five days, or, if he absolutely required six, I was to allow him that time: I received no other instructions. The night was dark; a terrible hurricane arose and the rain poured in torrents: it was necessary to travel by cross roads, and to adopt every precaution for avoiding the marshes, in which man, horse, and mission, might all have come to an untimely end. I had almost reached the gates of the city without finding any of our advanced parties. All had withdrawn: sentinels, videttes, out-posts, all had placed themselves under shelter. Even the parks of artillery were abandoned; no fires, no stars were visible. I wandered about for three hours before I could find a general: I passed through several villages, and interrogated all whom I met; but without receiving any satisfactory answer.
"At length I found an artillery trumpeter, beneath a cassoon, half buried in mud, and stiff with cold. We approached the ramparts of Ulm. Our arrival had doubtless been expected; for M. de Latour, an officer, who spoke French very well, presented himself on the first summons. He tied a bandage over my eyes, and made me climb over the fortifications. I remarked to my guide that the extreme darkness of the night rendered it unnecessary to blindfold me; but he replied that it was a custom that could not be dispensed with. We seemed to have walked a considerable way. I entered into conversation with my guide; my object was to ascertain what number of troops were shut up in the city. I inquired whether we were far from the residences of General Mack and the Archduke. 'They are close at hand,' replied my guide. I concluded that all the remains of the Austrian army were in Ulm, and the sequel of the conversation confirmed me in this conjecture. At length we reached the inn where the general-in-chief resided. He was a tall elderly man, and the expression of his pallid countenance denoted a lively imagination. His features were disturbed by a feeling of anxiety which he endeavoured to conceal. After exchanging a few compliments, I told him my name; and then entering upon the subject of my mission, I informed him that the Emperor had sent me to invite him to surrender, and to settle with him the conditions of the capitulation. These words evidently offended him; and at first he seemed disinclined to listen to me further: but I insisted on being heard; and I observed that having been received, I, as well as the Emperor, might naturally suppose that he knew how to appreciate his condition. But he replied, sharply, that his situation would soon be changed, as the Russian army was advancing to his assistance; that we should be placed between two fires, and it would then be our turn to capitulate. I replied, that situated as he was, it was not surprising he should be ignorant of what was passing in Germany; but that I must inform him Marshal Bernadotte was in possession of Ingolstadt and Munich, and that he had his advance posts on the Inn, where the Russians had not yet shewn themselves. 'May I be the greatest –,' exclaimed General Mack, angrily, 'if I am not positively informed that the Russians are at Dachau! Do you think to impose on me thus? Do you take me for a boy? No, Monsieur de Segur, if I receive not assistance within eight days, I consent to surrender my fortress, on condition that my troops shall be prisoners of war, and my officers prisoners on parole. Eight days will allow time for affording me assistance; and I shall thus fulfil my duty. But I shall receive aid, I am certain!'—'Allow me to repeat, General, that we are masters not only of Dachau, but of Munich also: besides, allowing your supposition to be correct, if the Russians be really at Dachau, five days will enable them to advance and attack us, and these five days his Majesty is willing to grant you.'—'No, Sir,' replied the Marshal, 'I demand eight days. I can listen to no other proposition; I must have eight days; that period is indispensable to my responsibility.'—'Then,' resumed I, 'the whole difficulty consists in settling the difference between five and eight days. But I cannot conceive why your Excellency should attach so much importance to this point, seeing that the Emperor is before you, at the head of 100,000 men; and that the corps of Marshal Bernadotte and General Marmont are sufficient to retard for three days the advance of the Russians, even supposing them to be where they are really very far from being.'—'They are at Dachau,' repeated General Mack.—'Well, Baron! be it so: and even allowing them to be at Augsburgh, we should only be the more ready to come to an agreement with you. Do not force us to carry Ulm by assault; for then, instead of waiting five days, it will be but a morning's work for the Emperor to gain possession of it.'—'Sir,' replied the General-in-chief, 'do not imagine that fifteen thousand men are so easily subdued. The conquest will cost you dear.'—'Perhaps a few hundred men,' I replied; 'while Germany will reproach you with the loss of your army and the destruction of Ulm; in short, with all the horrors of an assault, which his Majesty seeks to prevent, by the proposition which he has charged me to make to you.'—'Rather say,' exclaimed the Marshal, 'that it will cost you ten thousand men! The strength of Ulm is known.'—'It consists in the heights which surround it, and which are in our possession.'—'Come, come, Sir, it is impossible that you can be ignorant of the strength of Ulm!'—'Certainly not, Marshal; and I am the better able to appreciate it, now that I am within the walls of the city.'—'Well, Sir,' resumed the unfortunate General, 'you see men ready to defend themselves to the utmost extremity, should your Emperor refuse to grant them an armistice of eight days. I can hold out for a considerable time. Ulm contains 3000 horses, which, rather than surrender, we will eat, with as much pleasure as you would were you in our place.'—'Three thousand horses!' I exclaimed: 'alas, Marshal! you must look forward to dreadful misery before you can think of trusting to so pitiful a resource.'
"The Marshal eagerly assured me, that he had provisions for ten days; but I believed no such thing. Day was beginning to dawn, and the negotiation was no farther advanced than at the commencement of our interview. I might have granted six days; but General Mack so obstinately insisted on eight, that I concluded the concession of a single day would be useless. I would not incur the risk, and I rose to depart, saying, that my instructions required me to return before day-light; and, in case my proposition should be rejected, to transmit to Marshal Ney the order for commencing the attack. Here General Mack complained of the conduct of the Marshal towards one of his flags of truce, whose message he had refused to hear. I availed myself of this circumstance to remark, that the Marshal's temper was hasty, impetuous, and ungovernable; that he commanded the most numerous corps, and that which was nearest the city; that he impatiently awaited the order to commence the assault, which order I was to transmit to him on my departure from Ulm. The old General, however, was not intimidated; he insisted on being allowed an interval of eight days, and urged me to make the proposal to the Emperor.
"Poor General Mack was on the point of signing his own ruin, and that of Austria. But notwithstanding his desperate situation, in which he must have suffered the most