605 



SOULT, MAR&CHAL DUG DE DALMATIE. 



SOULT, MARSHAL DUC DE DALMATIE. 



and at the head of the vanguard of the left wing was present and acted 

 with distinguished bravery and ability at the battle of Stockach, 

 March 25. Though the battle was eventually won, after a fierce 

 struggle, by the Archduke Charles and the Austrians, such was tha 

 opinion entertained of Soult's skilful conduct, that the Directory pro- 

 moted him to a division on April 21st, whilst Jourdan, the commander- 

 in-chief, lo.-t credit and command by the same action. Soon after, he 

 found himself under the orders of Massena, who, besides his own army 

 in the Alps, had lately succeeded to the command of that on the Rhine, 

 after Jourdan's disgrace. Under that able general he took part in the 

 battle of Zurich, June 4, 1779, when the Austnans were defeated, and 

 France preserved from invasion. In 1800, when Massena shut himself 

 up in the walls of Genoa, General Soult was one of the most active of 

 its defenders during the siege, distinguishing himself highly in the 

 numerous skirmishes which took place beneath its walls. Ho was 

 wounded and taken prisoner in one of these sorties, but recovered his 

 liberty after Napoleon's victory of Marengo. 



After the battle of Mareugo, June 14, 1800, the military command 

 of Piedmont was conferred upon General Soult; who was next 

 despatched with a corps of 15,000 men to occupy the peninsula of 

 Utranto ; but after the peace of Amiens, he was superseded in this 

 government by General Saint-Cyr. Soult returned to France during 

 the suspension of hostilities, and though, for some unexplained cause, 

 he was not personally a favourite with Bonaparte, on the recommenda- 

 tion of Massena he became one of the four colonels of the Consular 

 Guard. The rupture between England and France soon followed, and 

 it was General Soult who organised the vast armament collected on 

 the heights of Boulogne, known KS the Army of England. Meanwhile, 

 the French Empire had been formed, and so assiduous had been the 

 court paid by Soult to the First Consul during the short period of 

 transition, that although he had served neither in the first campaigns 

 in Italy, 1796-97, nor in that of Egypt, 1798-99, nor even yet fought 

 under Napoleon, nor commanded an army in the field, his name was 

 included in the li^t of French marshals created at the coronation. 



In the campaign of 1805 Marshal Soult obtained still greater 

 distinction ; his services at the battle of Austerlitz, December 2, being 

 so efficient, that Napoleon thanked him on the battle-ground, before 

 his whole staff, calling him one of the first of living strategists. 

 Thenceforward, and until the end of the war, he ranked as one of the 

 leading generals of France, to whom the greatest undertakings might 

 be committed when Napoleon himself was elsewhere. With the same 

 success, he took part in the campaigns of 1806 and 1807. After the 

 battle of Jena, October 14, 1806, he defeated Marshal Kalkreuth, 

 captured Magdeburg, and put to flight the Prussian general Bliicher, 

 and the Russian General Lestocq. Again he signalised himself at the 

 battle of Eylau, February 8, 1807, and captured Konigsberg the same 

 year. He had now been fifteen years in constant service in the 

 field, and had fought under the ablest and most experienced com- 

 manders, with all of whom he had enjoytd the same confidence. He 

 had now fully acquired the confidence of Napoleon himself, who for the 

 rest of his career treated Soult as his lieutenant, by honouring him 

 with the chief command he had to bestow after the one he filled in his 

 own person. 



When the ambition of the French Emperor had turned towards 

 Spain, Marshal Soult was appointed to command the 2nd corps, with 

 which he was despatched, in November 1808, to attack Belveder's 

 corps of 20,000 men, at Burgos. In this battle, fought on the 10th of 

 November, the Spanish army was defeated, although one of Soult's 

 divisions alone (Maison's) was engaged. Madrid having surrendered 

 to the French, after its fall Napoleon marched against the British 

 army under Sir John Moore, then on its way from Portugal. Marshal 

 Soult was at first directed upon Sahagun ; but Sir John Moore, seeing 

 the risk to which he was exposed of being intercepted aud hemmed in, 

 lost no time in commencing his retreat upon Corunna. Napoleon was 

 averse to dilatory war, and was moreover unwilling to fatigue the 

 troops under his command unnecessarily ; he therefore recalled the 

 marshal, with injunctions to pursue Sir John, and " drive the English 

 into the sea." At the same time Marshal Ney was commanded to 

 support the operation with the 6th corps. Some French generals, and 

 other military historians, with the anxiety so common with them to 

 explain away any failure of the French arms, have, on this occasion 

 severely censured Marshal Soult for inactivity and negligence, "in 

 halting at every defile to collect the sick and loiterers, by which the 

 almost total destruction of the British army," according to them, was 

 prevented. On the other hand, the marshal always expressed his 

 astonishment at the skilful retreat of his enemies. At length, on the 

 16th of January 1809, the British army, having approached Corunna, 

 the place intended for their embarcation, made a stand, and a blocdy 

 engagement ensued. In this action Sir John Moore was mortally 

 wounded, but the French met with a decisive repulse [MooRE, SIR 

 JOHN]. The British troops effected their passage to their ships unmo- 

 lested by the French, and it was not until the 20th that the Spanish 

 governor capitulated. 



Soon after, Marshal Soult entered the Portuguese territory with the 

 2nd and the 8th corps; and having defeated the Portuguese troops 

 under Romana, he appeared before Oporto, which was carried by 

 storm on the 29th of March 1809. Instead of marching at once upon 

 Lisbon, the marshal lingered at Oporto, where he is said to have con- 



ceived the plan of making himself king of Portugal, and to have 

 postponed the interests of hia imperial master, whilst indulging this 

 intrigue. 



Meanwhile, Wellington had landed, collected hia forces, and made 

 his preparations ; on the 8th of May, he reached Coimbra with the 

 English army, whilst Beresford at the head of the Portuguese troops 

 was advancing towards Chaves and Amarante to turn the French 

 army. After passing the Douro with his usual boldness and promp- 

 titude, Wellington fell upon the marshal, drove him from his position, 

 and captured his sick, hia baggage, and almost all his guns. Soult 

 then retreated upon Galicia, with a loss upon bin route of 2000 men; 

 whence, after leaving Ney, with his single corps, to defend that 

 province, he continued his retreat to Zamora. The retreat was con- 

 ducted in a manner creditable to hia military talent, but he suffered 

 bis troops to commit atrocities on the helpless peasantry which have 

 left an ineffaceable stain on his memory. 



After the battle of Talavera, July 28, 1809, Soult was appointed to 

 replace Marshal Jourdan as Major-general of the army in Spain, the 

 chief command being nominally left in the hands of King Joseph, a 

 man without any capacity for war, but faithful and devoted to his 

 brother's plans. On the 19th November 1809, he won the battle of 

 Ocana, and soon after resolved upon an expedition into Andalusia, one 

 of the richest provinces in Spain. Accordingly, in January 1810, he 

 collected a strong army, consisting of four corps, and taking his way 

 through Andujar and Seville, appeared before Cadiz on the 5th of 

 February ; but was disappointed of taking the place. Soon after this 

 check, King Joseph returned to Madrid, leaving the marshal in com- 

 mand of the army of the South, consisting of the 1st, 4th, and 5th 

 corps. The year 1810 was almost entirely occupied by the marshal in 

 establishing his position in Andalusia; but the wide cantonments 

 over which his troops were dispersed, constantly exposed them to loss 

 in petty skirmishes with the enemy, who, supported by the strong 

 fortress of Badajoz to fall back upon, had a great advantage over him. 

 In the beginning of 1811, Napoleon, who felt the urgent necessity of 

 supporting Massena in Portugal, ordered Soult to besiege Badajoz. 

 The marshal obeyed; but although he captured the place on the 

 llth of March 1811, the Prince of Essling, unable to penetrate the 

 strong lines of Torres Vedras, had found it necessary to abandon 

 Portugal. 



The departure of Massena having relieved the English army from 

 one of their most formidable opponents, Lord Wellington determined 

 to recapture Badajoz, for which purpose he despatched Beresford to 

 invest it. The siege was opened on the 7th of May 1811 ; Soult came 

 to its relief, and on the 16th had to fight the battle of Albuera, in 

 which though by means of his great superiority in numbers he 

 inflicted great loss upon Beresford's army he was thoroughly defeated. 

 The fall of Badajoz now appeared inevitable, when Napoleon, apprised 

 of Soult's recent defeat, ordered Marshal Marmont, who had super- 

 seded Massena in the command of the army of Portugal, to push 

 forward to his support. This movement rendered it necessary for 

 Wellington to raise the siege on the 16th of June. However, in the 

 following spring, encouraged by the capture of Ciudad Rodrigo, 

 Wellington laid siege a second time to the fort of Badajoz, and 

 though not without terrible loss the place was carried on the 6th of 

 April 1812. Soult was in consequence compelled to retreat from 

 Seville, his rear-guard being severely cut up at Villa Garcia. 



The subsequent defeat of Marmont at the battle of Salamanca 

 (July 22, 1812), and the surrender of Madrid to the British general, 

 compelled Joseph Bonaparte to withdraw behind the Tagus with his 

 army, and Marshal Soult received orders to join him. Accordingly, 

 to his deep regret, he marched out of Andalusia, and on the 10th of 

 November took the command of the three combined French armies 

 stationed on the Tonnes. This junction of forces was too powerful 

 to be attacked ; Lord Wellington therefore fell back upon Ciudad 

 Rodrigo, with a heavy loss of troops on his route, and went into 

 winter quarters. After his departure from the rich province of Anda- 

 lusia, which he had occupied for nearly three years, the strongest 

 charges were brought against Marshal Soult for the cruel extortions 

 levied on the people by himself and his agents, and his shameless and 

 unbridled robbery of pictures and articles of value. Tim reports of 

 military men of every army engaged in the Peninsular war have fully 

 corroborated the charges ; while the enormous wealth which he osten- 

 tatiously displayed after the peace seemed to indicate that he' did not 

 feel the disgrace his atrocious conduct had drawn down upon his name. 

 For a few months during the year 1813 Soult was employed in the 

 German campaign, having been summoned by Napoleon to t;\ke the 

 command of his guard, after the death of Marshal Bessieres at 

 Weissenfels. 



But the disastrous defeat of Marshal Jourdan at Vitoria, on the 

 21st of June 1813, having threatened, not only the loss of Spain, after 

 an occupation of five years, but the security of the French soil, 

 Napoleon was once more compelled to employ Soult in the Peninsula, 

 though it was not without some sense of shame that he sent him 

 there. Accordingly, in July, Soult returned to Spain as commander- 

 in-chief of the French armies. Then followed the most arduous 

 period in his career; and although overmatched by the genius of 

 Wellington nearly every enterprise was a failure, and every battle a 

 defeat, we cannot refuse to Soult the credit due to resolute perse- 



