MARSHAL NEY, "the bravest of the brave" among those who clustered round Napoleon, was doomed, after a glorious life, to an inglorious death. Yet, like his great master, he remains in the world's memory as he appeared in the zenith of his career, rather than at its close. He is the typical general of cavalry.

Michael Ney was the son of an old soldier who had fought at

Rosbach, but had afterwards returned to his trade of cooper at Sarre-Louis, on the border of Lorraine. Here Michael was born on the 10th of January, 1769. After receiving a fair education, he was placed with a public notary; but, on account of his dislike for the tame drudgery of this occupation, his father sent him to the mines of Assenwider. Two years spent here only strengthened his strong desire for military life, and finally the willful lad ran away and enlisted in a regiment of hussars. Ney was tall, well-proportioned and vigorous, with fiery red hair, which caused his comrades to call him "the Red Lion." He was a subaltern at the outbreak of the French Revolution; but he soon attracted the

attention of his commanders, especially Kléber and Hoche, by his desperate valor and skill in the campaigns against the armies of Austria, and was rapidly promoted, until, in 1798, he had attained the rank of general-of-division. Ney shared in the glories of Masséna's campaign in Switzerland, in 1799, and had the satisfaction of returning to his native town with all the pomp of a victorious general. In the year following he aided, under Moreau, in gaining the victories of Moeskirch and Hohenlinden.

Napoleon afterwards employed him as minister plenipotentiary to complete the submission of the Swiss to French ascendancy, a task which was performed with such success, that thenceforth he stood high in the great leader's favor. While commanding the camp at Montreuil he begged, in the name of the army, that Napoleon should declare himself emperor. On the organization of the Empire, in 1804, Ney was created marshal. In the campaign of 1805 against Austria, he commanded the French at the victory of Elchingen, for which service he was made Duke of Elchingen. Ney contributed greatly to the overthrow of the Prussians at Jena, and to the defeat of the Russians at Friedland. Such, indeed, had been his conduct during the campaign of 1806-7, that the veteran conquerors of the Continent of Europe unanimously awarded him the title of "Bravest of the Brave." As a general, Ney had the good fortune to have as his chief of staff Baron de Jomini, whose treatises on the art of war as exemplified in Napoleon's campaigns have long been standard military text-books. What Jomini suggested, Ney executed.

In 1808 Marshal Ney was transferred to the Spanish Peninsula, and for some time commanded in Galicia, and on the northern frontier of Portugal. In 1810 he acted under Masséna in the invasion of Portugal, which was baffled by the genius of Wellington, and the lines of Torres Vedras. During that invasion, and in the subsequent retreat of the French army, Ney, according to Sir William Napier, displayed "a happy mixture of courage and skill." But the altercations between him and Masséna were frequent and violent, and at last Ney was deprived of his command.

In 1812 Ney served again under Napoleon, and took part in the invasion of Russia. He had command of the French centre at the battle of Moscow, and gained from that victory a new title, "Prince of Moskwa.' His heroic bravery was still more signally displayed during the awful retreat from Moscow. His honorable task was to protect the French rear. On leaving Smolensko, Ney, at the head of about 7,000 men, found his path barred, near the river Losmina, by a large Russian army under Milaradovich. Being summoned to surrender, he replied: "A Marshal of France never surrenders," and he led his men on with the bayonet against the Russian batteries. Driven back repeatedly with fearful carnage, Ney countermarched the remnant of his column, and wheeling to the left, under shelter of the night eluded the Russian pursuit. He reached the bank of the Dnieper at a spot where the river was frozen over, but so thinly that the ice bent and often broke beneath the soldiers' tread. The perilous passage was, however, accomplished, but was followed by a succession of desperate contests with other Russian forces that strove to intercept him. With 1,500 of his men Ney fought his way through to Orcha, where Napoleon was encamped with the wreck of the main army. Napoleon's joy was almost rapturous when the intrepid marshal rejoined him, for all had believed that he had been slain, or made prisoner.

After Napoleon left the army, Ney still continued to fight in the rear against the advancing Russians. Thrice did the rear guard, which he commanded, melt away beneath him by death, captivity, or flight; and as often was it reorganized by the indomitable marshal. At last, Ney, with about thirty men under him, defended the gate of Kowno, the last place in the Russian dominions through which the French retreated, against the pursuing enemy, whilst his comrades escaped to the other side of the town. He himself was the last man to retire; with his own hand he fired the last shot against the foe, threw the musket into the river Niemen, plunged into the neighboring forests to baffle the enemy who held him in chase; and, after a series of almost incredible personal adventures, rejoined his comrades in the Prussian territory.

In the campaign of 1814, Ney was present at the victories of Lützen and Bautzen; but he was defeated with great loss by Bernadotte, then Crown Prince of Sweden, at Dennewitz. This defeat brought upon him Napoleon's displeasure, and he was little employed during the rest of the struggle against the Allies, which ended in Napoleon's first abdication. On the first return of the Bourbons, Ney professed, and probably felt, great willingness to serve them loyally. When, in 1815, the news reached Paris of Napoleon's escape from Elba, Ney took command of the army which was sent to oppose him. He promised Louis XVIII. that he would bring the ex-emperor to Paris "like a beast in a cage." There seems no reason to doubt Ney's sincerity in this critical moment of his career. But as he advanced against the emperor, he received a letter from Napoleon, who summoned him by the magic name of "the bravest of the brave" to join his old master beneath the old banner. The army which Ney was leading, showed, both officers and soldiers, their strong desire to fight under Napoleon. Ney caught the contagion, and passed over with all his troops to the emperor, who received him with expressions of the warmest welcome.

But, though Ney had thus deeply committed himself against the Bourbons, Napoleon appears to have mistrusted him, and to have long hesitated as to employing him in the campaign of 1815. It was only on the night of the 11th of June, that Ney received at Paris an order to join the French army in Belgium. Hurrying forward to the frontier, Ney met Napoleon on the 15th at Charleroi, after active operations had commenced. Napoleon gave him the command of the left wing, and sent him to seize the post of Quatre Bras, and oppose the English. Ney's want of promptness in this eventful campaign has been censured; but it should be remembered that the marshal had been so suddenly appointed to his command, that he did not know the strength of the regiments placed under him, or even the names of their commanding officers. On the 16th Ney attacked the Allies at Quatre Bras, but after many hours' hard fighting was repulsed; though he succeeded in preventing the English from marching to the help of the Prussians, who were being defeated by the

emperor at Ligny. On the 18th Ney acted as the emperor's lieutenant at Waterloo. He led in person several of the fiercest assaults upon various parts of the English line, and especially the final charge of the "Old Guard." Never was his valor more grandly, though unsuccessfully, displayed. His horse was killed under him in the last great attack, and he was seen on foot, striving, sword in hand, first to urge his men forward, and at last to check their flight. But his exertions were in vain, and the day was lost.

On the second restoration of the Bourbons, Ney, foreseeing the consequences of his defection from Louis, secreted himself with one of his relatives at the Château of Bessaris, but was discovered. After an unsuccessful attempt to have him tried by a council of war composed of the marshals of France, he was brought before the Chamber of Peers, and, under express directions of the king's ministers, he was found guilty of treason. He was sentenced to be shot, December 7th, 1815, and died with the greatest intrepidity, his severest trial having been the parting from his wife and children. His father, who had rejoiced in the glory of his son, lived to the age of one hundred, dying in 1826.

THE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE.

After the battle of Fleurus, in June, 1794, Kléber, the commander of the left wing of the army of the Sambre and Meuse, being desirous to reconnoitre a position, sent for an escort; and, entering into conversation with the officer who commanded it, was so much struck by his remarks, that, after returning home, he sent his aide-de-camp with an order of appointment for this officer to his staff. It was Ney; who, however, declined the offer. Shortly after, at an engagement near Pellemberg, Ney, hearing the firing, changed the route he was following, and came upon the ground at a critical moment. The men under his command were, however, too much. fatigued by a long march to follow him. He put himself at the head of a few dragoons, rushed upon the Austrians and routed them. Kléber, who was an eye-witness of this daring charge, spoke of it thus, in his dispatch to the commissioner: "Captain Ney, acting adjutant-general, performed prodigies