Page images
PDF
EPUB

Felton, a coquette, Varley, a coxcomb, and Peter Stokes, a blunt purse-proud man, are ably introduced and contrasted with Mr. Egerton, and his two amiable pupils.

In the last volume, the actors are transported to Paris, and many intelligent remarks, and much curious and entertaining information are given, concerning this grand theatre, of the most important events which have happened within this last century, and for many centuries previous.

After visiting the Museum of Ancient Monuments, in the Rue des Petits Augustins, our travellers reached the gardens of Elysium, where, among other statues, tombs, and urns of great men, judged worthy of having their names and actions recorded on monumental marble, is placed the tomb of Abelard and Eloisa; which gives rise to different sensations in the different spectators. Emma observes on this occasion, "When Mr. Egerton first read aloud to me the poem of these renowned and unfortunate lovers, I was charmed by the beauty of the verse, and interested for the sorrow that it expressed; but when I found that it was the sorrow of unlawful love, and not a virtuous wife separated by force from a virtuous and beloved husband, and that the writer was a woman not ashamed of her error, but glorying in it, and preferring the title of mistress to that of wife, while the poet had only given more power and notoriety to her own profligate prose by clothing it in the most seducing poetical language, I lost the deep interest I originally felt for the eloquent nun, and can, I confess to you, gaze on this tomb with as much indifference nearly as on that of the mistress of Henry the Second."

We earnestly recommend this publication to the perusal of our fair readers; and are confident they will reap both pleasure and improvement from it. Temper, like all Mrs. Opie's works, is superior to most of the kind; it strikes at the root of an evil which destroys the happiness of society; and, if circulated widely, cannot fail to be of general utility.

SPIRIT OF MAGAZINES.

FOR THE SELECT REVIEWS,

MEMOIRS OF MOREAU.

J. VICTOR MOREAU, French general, son of an eminent advocate, was born at Morlaix in 1761. Induced by a strong inclination for the military art, he engaged in it at the age of eighteen; but his father having procured his discharge, he continued his studies, and was at Rennes at the beginning of the revolution, where he enjoyed a marked preeminence among the students. An ingenuous air, and an agreeable person, added a lustre to his natural talents, and to the knowledge he had attained. He was first called into action, at the period when M. de Brienne attempted a revolution in the magistracy; and was called the general of the parliament. During five months, which was the period of that petty war, he displayed much bravery and some prudence. The commandant of Rennes, had ordered him to be taken, alive; but he was so well upon his guard, and showed so much intrepidity, that the garrison could not arrest him, although he appeared every day in the public places, and often with but a small escort. During the winter of 1788-89, he opposed the innovations of the ministers, relative to the convocation of the States-General; he commanded the troops of Rennes and Nantes, armed against the parliament and the states of the province; he presided in 1790 at the confederation of the young men of Brittany at Pontivy, and merited to be appointed at the formation of the volunteers, commander of a battalion from that department. At liberty now, to indulge his taste for the profession of arms, he applied himself to the study of tactics and military details. His battalion was employed early in the armies of the north. He was far from approving of the constitution of 1793, and the battalion which he commanded, was the last in the army that accepted it. His bravery and talents being highly distinguished, he was promoted in 1793 to the rank of a general of Drigade.

[ocr errors]

Having become a general of division, on the 14th April 1794, at the instance of Pichegru, he served in a brilliant manner under that general, in the army of the north, and distinguished himself particularly on the 26th and 30th of April, when he blockaded and took Menin; and in June, before Ypres, which he beseiged on the 1st and took the 17th, after twelve days intrenchment; before Bruges, which he entered on the 29th; in July at Ostend, Nieuport, and Cassandria (Isle), of which he was master (successively) on the 1st, 18th, and 28th, and again at the attack of Fort Sluys, which capitulated the 26th of August. It was at the very time when he acquired this place for the republic, that the jacobins of Brest carried his aged father to the scaffold as an aristocrat, or friend of aristocrats. That venerable man, whom the people of Morlaix called the father of the poor, had taken charge of the affairs of some of the emigrants, which formed a pretext to his enemies for his ruin. In the celebrated campaign of the winter of 1794, which added Holland to France, Moreau commanded the right wing of Pichegru's army, contributed much to the rapid successes of that general, and succeeded him in the chief command when he was removed to the armies on the Rhine and Moselle. Moreau about that time drew a plan for the defence of Holland, which he communicated to generals Daendels and Dumonceau, and to the Batavian committee, with orders to put it into execution and to render him an account. in eight days, that he might take measures in consequence. Be-. ing appointed to the command of the armies on the Rhine and Moselle, in the room of Pichegru, he opened in June 1796, the campaign which laid the foundation of his military glory. After having forced Wurmser in his camp before Frankenthall, he repulsed him at Manheim and effected his passage over the Rhine at Strasburg, in the night of the 23d and 24th of June; and not finding in Kehl that the troops of the Cantons would oppose any resistance, he made prisoners of part of them and put the rest to flight. He sent against Condé and a number of small corps of Austrians, general Ferino, who had fought against them continually at Brisgau, and against La Kinche on the 18th July; he went himself against the Austrian army of the Lower Rhine, which had advanced towards Rastadt, and sent another body by Huningen, to advance through the forest towns and force the troops to retreat who occupied Brisgau. On the 6th of July he attacked the archduke Charles at Rastadt, and after a very lively action forced him to retreat to Eslingen, where he attacked him again on the 9th, and obliged him to fall back to Dourlach, and thence to Pfortzeim. In these two bloody days the troops on each side gave proofs of much bravery, and Moreau displayed great talents. He was, it is true, perfectly seconded by his ge

223

nerals of division, particularly by Desaix. On the 15th he was again obliged to attack the enemy at Pfortzeim, to force them to quit that position; but from the time he commenced, he advanced with such rapidity, that the best troops of the Cantons, who occupied the impregnable post of Knebis, having fled without combat, the troops which remained at Brisgau were forced to retire for fear of being cut off on the right by general Laborde, who was advancing through the forest towns. Meanwhile the Austrian army fell back step by step, and many bloody encounters took place on the 18th, the 21st, and the 22d, at Stutgard, Canstadt, Berg, and Eslingen; they all turned to the advantage of the French, who manœuvred in the most masterly manner at Eslingen. These successes rendered them masters of all the course of the Necker, and on the 3d of August they entered Constance. On the 8th and 10th, two of their divisions experienced many checks; and on the 11th the archduke determined to make a new attempt, charged upon the whole of their line, and drove the advanced bodies as far as the right wing, which lay before Haydenheim; but Desaix, who commanded on the left, repulsed the enemy with his usual intrepidity and conduct, until Moreau came up with the corps de reserve, and regained his ground on the right. Finally, after a battle of seventeen hours, the two armies rested in sight of each other, each claiming the victory. Moreau had already ordered away his baggage; but perceiving the next day that the Germans were commencing their retreat by the Danube, he hastened to assume an attitude of victory, and to advance upon them. The archduke Charles filed off to the right, to succour general Wartensleben, whom Jourdan pressed very hard, and Moreau continued to follow M. de Latour. On the 13th of August, the division of general Ferino, had an extremely hot action with the troops of Condé, whom they repulsed at Kamlack; and on the 24th Moreau attacked the Austrian army at Friedburg, near Augsburg, surprised them by a rapid march, and routed them completely, after having killed and taken the best part of them. He then went against Freisingen, which St. Cyr entered on the 3d of September, sent another body against Munich, and ordered a third to L'Iser. This last was beaten on the 11th of September by generals Frolich and Frustenburg, and the second supported continual attacks against the army of Condé, before Munich. Moreau appeared at one time willing to have passed the Danube to relieve Jourdan, but finding that fresh reinforcements were arriving every day from Austria, and that the French general, on his part, was retreating in great disorder, he thought only of effecting a retreat for himself, which he began on the 11th. He intended at first to have possessed himself of the two banks of the Danube, which would

have greatly facilitated the transportation of his baggage, but finding that the bridge of Neubourg was occupied by Nauendorf, he was obliged to follow the right bank. Notwithstanding that this false movement had given occasion to the light troops of the Austrian army, and that of Condé, to take from him a body of from 15 to 1800 men, he tranquilly repassed the Leck on the 17th, and beat a body of the enemy, who would have disputed his passage. His right alone experienced some difficulties, (particularly on the frontiers of Switzerland) during that long retreat, which was accompanied with many skirmishes, in which he always repulsed the Austrians, and particularly at Biberack, where he defeated them completely, took their regiments entire, and would have made his victory still more complete, if the army of Condé, and the column of Mercaudin, had not arrived during the day on his right. The archduke had sent a number of detachments to dispute his passage through the Black Forest, but he swept by these troops, and finally threw himself into Brisgau. After many skirmishes, in which he repulsed all the attacks with which they tried to obstruct his passage over the Rhine, he effected it at Brisac and Huningen, fixing his head quarters on the right bank of the river, at the latter place, and at Fort Kehl. The Austrians advanced upon this last place. It was attacked with vivacity, and obstinately defended. On the 22d of November, Moreau conducted in person a sortie, and destroyed many of the enemy's works. At last, on the 31st of December, Kehl was taken by the Austrians, who had lost before that place a number of men and a great deal of time. They then directed their force against Huningen. That little place made also an admirable resistance. As they found themselves overcome by the Austrian batteries, the French dug subterranean dwellings, leaving on the redoubts only the men necessary for the service, but at the moment of an attack, battalions appeared, rising from the bosom of the earth, to repel the enemy. On the 4th of February, 1797, they abandoned again, by capitulation, this little corner of the earth to the Austrians. Moreau then returned to Cologne, to reorganise the army of the Sambre and Meuse, which he soon after resigned to Hoche, to return to the Upper Rhine. On the 20th of April following, he effected another passage at Guemsheim, in full day and by main strength, and before an enemy ranged in the order of battle on the other shore. This was regarded as one of the most brilliant actions of the French armies. It was followed by the retaking of Kehl, with a great many stands of arms, 20 pieces of cannon, military chests, and 3 or 4000 prisoners; but the preliminaries of the peace of Leoben arrested these successes. The army of Moreau continued to remain in the same position. It was not until the 18th Fruct.

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »