220 



NEY NIAGARA. 



Klcber, who gave him the commond of a corps of 500 

 men, and, in 1796, appointed him adjutant-general. 

 He soon surpassed the expectations which he had ex- 

 cited, and, in 1796, at the battle of Rednitz, was made 

 general of brigade. Notwithstanding his rank, his 

 impetuous courage often led him to expose his person 

 like a private soldier. He contributed essentially to 

 the victory of Neuwied, in 1797. After a valiant 

 defence, he was taken prisoner at Diernsdorft' ; and, 

 on his liberation, in 1798, was made general of divi- 

 sion. As such, he commanded on the Rhine in 1799, 

 and, by an able diversion at Manheim, contributed to 

 the victory of Massena, at Zurich, over the Russi- 

 ans under general Korsokoff. Ney also distinguished 

 himself under Moreau, particularly at Hohenlinden. 

 In 1802, he was sent ambassador to the Helvetic re- 

 public. In 1805, he commanded in the camp at 

 Montreuil, and was appointed by Napoleon marshal 

 of the empire and grand-cross of the legion of honour. 

 He opened the campaign of 1805 against Austria by 

 a brilliant victory atElchingen (whence he received 

 his title duke of Elchingen), and brought about the 

 capitulation of Ulm. He occupied the Tyrol, and 

 marched on to Carinthia, when he was stopped in his 

 career by the peace of Presburg. In 1806 and 1807, 

 he fought at Jena, and, after the capture of Magde- 

 burg, at Eylau and Friedland. In 1808, he maintained 

 his high reputation in Spain. Napoleon recalled him, 

 but kept him at a distance till the commencement of 

 hostilities against Russia, when he received the chief 

 command of the third division of the imperial forces. 

 At the battle of Moscow, Napoleon gave him the 

 well-deserved title of le brave des braves (bravest of 

 the brave). After the burning of Moscow, he led 

 the van of the army, and, by his masterly conduct, 

 prevented its utter destruction. On this occasion, 

 his ability was perhaps more strikingly manifested 

 than at any former period. The emperor made 

 him prince of Moscow, and Alexander confirmed 

 the title on his visit to Paris, in 1814. In 

 the spring of 1813, Ney reorganized the army 

 which .had conquered at Lutzen and Bautzen, 

 and marched with it to Berlin ; but was met at 

 Dennewitz by Bulow, and defeated. He was now 

 obliged to retire to Torgau, but soon took the field 

 again ; chased the Swedes from Dessau, and fought 

 with his wonted valour at Leipsic, where he received 

 a wound, and afterwards at Hanau. When the 

 enemy entered France, he disputed every step of 

 their progress. Brienne, Montmirail, Craonne, and 

 Chalons-sur-Marne are shining names in the history 

 of his battles. When Paris was taken, and the em- 

 peror was vacillating, Ney was the first who ventured 

 to suggest to him that the contest would soon assume 

 the character of a civil war, unless it were brought 

 to a speedy termination. Thus he had an important 

 influence upon Napoleon's abdication. After this 

 event, Ney took the oath of allegiance to the king, 

 was made a peer, and received the cross of St Louis 

 and the command of the cuirassiers, dragoons, chas- 

 seurs, and light-armed lancers. He enjoyed the most 

 marked distinction at court, and appeared to be 

 entirely devoted to the Bourbons. When Napoleon 

 landed, on his return from Elba, Ney collected a 

 considerable force, was appointed its commander, 

 and, with many assurances of his zeal and fidelity to 

 the king, marched against the invader. But, soon 

 noticing the desertion of his soldiers, and their inclina- 

 tion for Napoleon, he regarded the cause of the 

 Bourbons as lost ; and, receiving an invitation from 

 the late emperor, he joined him at Lyons, on the 

 thirteenth of March, and thus opened his way to 

 Paris. In the war of 1815, Napoleon gave him the 

 command of his left wing, which engaged with the 

 British at Quatre-Bras. The charge made by gene- 



ral GonrgauiJ, from the lips of Napoleon himself, that 

 Ney's conduct in this engagement was the cause of 

 all the disasters of the campaign, has been fully 

 refuted by Gamot, by means of a copy of the written 

 orders which the marshal received on that fatal day. 

 At Waterloo, he led the attack on the enemy's centre, 

 and, after five horses had been killed under him, re- 

 mained last upon the bloody field. His clothes were 

 full of bullet-holes, and he fought on foot till night, 

 in the midst of the slain. After the defeat, he re- 

 turned to Paris, where he entered the chamber of 

 peers, and publicly contradicted the assertion of 

 Davoust, the minister of war, that 60,000 men had 

 arrived under the walls of Guise, declaring, in plain 

 terms, that all was lost. On the return of the king, 

 Ney was included in the decree of July 24, 1815. 

 For a considerable time he remained concealed in 

 the castle of a friend at Aurillac, in Upper Auvergne. 

 During an entertainment given by his friend, one of 

 the guests observed a splendid sabre. The account 

 of it reached the ears of the sub-prefect, and it was 

 immediately recognised as the sabre of Ney. The 

 castle was searched, the marshal taken, and im- 

 prisoned on the fifth of August. Ney might have 

 escaped with ease, but he was confident of acquittal. 

 He was brought before a court martial, which de- 

 clared itself incompetent to take cognizance of his 

 case, on the tenth of November. His trial was there- 

 fore referred to the chamber of peers, where the 

 minister, the duke de Richelieu, was eager for his 

 punishment. His advocate was Dupin. The twelfth 

 article of the capitulation of Paris, signed July 3, 

 1815, promising a general amnesty, was quoted in 

 his favour ; but Wellington affirmed that this was 

 not the true construction of the article. Notwith- 

 standing the remonstrances of marshal Davoust, who 

 had made the treaty, and who explained it in favour 

 of Ney, he was sentenced to death on theseventhof 

 December, by 169 votes against seventeen. With 

 the calmness which had distinguished him through 

 the whole trial he listened to the sentence ; but when 

 the person who read it came to his title, he interrupt- 

 ed him " What need of titles now ? I am Michel 

 Ney, and soon shall be a handful of dust." When 

 the assistance of a priest was offered him, he replied 

 " I need no priest to teach me how to die ; I have 

 learned it in the school of battle." He permitted, 

 however, the curate of St Sulpice to accompany him 

 to the scaffold, and compelled him to enter the car- 

 riage first, " You mount before me now, sir, but I 

 shall soonest reach a higher region." On the eighth 

 of December, 1815, at nine o'clock, A. M., he was 

 shot in the garden of Luxemburg. When an at- 

 tempt was made to blindfold him, he tore away the 

 bandage, and indignantly exclaimed, " Have you 

 forgotten that for twenty-six years I have lived 

 among bullets?" Then, turning to the soldiers, he 

 solemnly declared that he had never been a traitor to 

 his country, and, laying his hand upon his heart, 

 called out, with a steady voice, " Aim true. France 

 forever ! Fire!" Marshal Ney left four sons, one 

 of whom has since married the daughter of the fain 

 ous banker Laffitte. 



NIAGARA ; a township of Niagara county, New 

 York, on the river of the same name. It embraces 

 Niagara falls #nd Manchester village. At this 

 village there is a post-office ; and it contains a spa- 

 cious hotel for those who visit the falls. 



NIAGARA FALLS are situated on Niagara river, 

 about equidistant between lakes Erie and Ontario. 

 They have already been described in this work, under 

 the article Cataract. Whoever notices the structure 

 of the land between the two lakes, must be convinced 

 that the falls have greatly receded from their former 

 position. Lake Erie is 334 feet higher than lake 



