SKETCH of the LIFE of BONAPARTE, with a LIST of his principal ACTIONS. As this year has seen the death of Napoleon Bonaparte, we think it will be useful, without pretend ing at present, to enter into a detailed account of his life, simply to record his birth and parentage, and give a list of the dates of his principal actions. Napoleon Bonaparte was born at Ajaccio on the 15th of Aug., 1769. He was the second son of Carlo Bonaparte, who, having studied law at Rome, resigned the gown for the sword, fought under the banners of his friend Paoli, and much distinguished himself by his talents and bravery. When Corsica submitted to France, he was on the point of expatriating himself, but was dissuaded by his uncle Lucien, archdeacon of the cathedral of Ajaccio. In 1767, he married a young and beautiful lady, Letitia Ramolini, by whom he had five sons and three daughters. On submitting himself to the new government, in 1768, he was much noticed by the count de Marboeuf, the governor, and named a member of the deputation of the Corsican nobility to Louis XV. He was soon after nominated judge lateral of the tribunal of Ajaccio, and died at Montpellier, of a cancer in the stomach, having proceeded thither for the benefit of his health in 1785, at the age of 39. Napoleon was early sent to France, and Originally Buonaparte: it is common with Italians in France to frenchify their names for the sake of the more easy pronunciation; Napoleon did this. patronized by a brother of M. de Marbœuf, a prelate, who sent him to a college in the village where he resided, and afterwards got him admitted into the military academy of Brienne. He joined the military school of Paris in 1784, and in 1785 was appointed to the artillery in the regiment de la Fere. Barras became his patron during the revolution, and he first distinguished himself at Toulon by his superior skill in directing the batteries. He was soon after named general of brigade; and on the 13th Vendemaire (Oct. 5,) 1794, he commanded the conventional troops and defeated the Parisians. In March 1796, he married Josephine de Beauharnois, the widow of the count de Beauhar. nois, who was beheaded four days before Robespierre. Barras obtained the liberty of madame de Beauharnois from prison soon after that event. Three days after his marriage, Bonaparte left his bride for Nice, to take the command of an army of 60,000 men, the great object of his ambition; and after several skirmishes, he out-manoeuvred the Austrians and Sardinians; and with troops deficient in every thing, won the battles of Montenotte, Millesimo, Dego, and Mondovi, in April. On the 10th of May he gained the battle of Lodi, and soon found himself master of Piedmont and the Milanese. August the 3rd, 1796, he conquered at Lonado, and on the 5th, at Castiglione. In the same year he fought July 25. Battle of Aboukir. June Prussia. 26. Treaty of Presburgh with Austria. 1806. 5. Louis Bonaparte declared King of Holland. Aug. 23. Sailed from Egypt for July 26. Convocation of the Jews. 27. Confederation of the Rhine France. published. 1806. tional Government. Oct. 10. Battle of Saalfield 10. Declared First Consul. 15. Made peace with the Crossed Mount St. Bernard. 26. Battle of Romano. of Montebello. 19. Berlin Decree. 16. -. Preliminaries with Austria signed at Paris. Dec. 24. Explosion of the Infernal Machine. 1801. Jan. Feb. Austria. Oct. 9. Treaty of Luneville with Feb. 8. Preliminaries with Eng 27. 6. 19. land. June 14. 1802. July Jan. 26. The Cisalpine_Republic placed under Bonaparte. July March 27. Definitive Treaty with England. Oct. May 15. Legion of Honour insti- 10. 16. Aug. 2. Declared Consul for Life. Nov. Feb. 5. Moreau arrested. March 20. Duc D'Enghien shot. 18. Battle of St. Ander. May 18. Made Emperor. Dec. Nov. 19. Crowned by the Pope. 4. Surrender of Madrid. 8. Of Santa Cruz. 23. Battle of Zarnovo. 25. 26. Battle of Mohringen. of Bergfreid. of Eylau. of Ostrolenka. of Weiskelmonde. of Friedland. 7. The Treaty of Tilsit. 1808. 7. Joseph Bonaparte declared King of Spain. 8. Battle of Valmaceda. of Gamenal. of Burgos. Sept. 20. Conference at Erfurth. 5. Bonaparte arrived at Vit toria. of Pulstuck. 1807. NARRATIVE of SCHILL'S Resistance to FRANCE, in 1809. [See ANNUAL REGISTER, Vol. LI., p. 213.] The situation of Prussia, after the battle of Jena, in 1806, was most deplorable. The loss of independence, the loss of territory, the plunder of the public property, and the ruin of the Prussian name in Europe, were felt like mortal wounds. But the personal insolence of the French, who have always lost by their insolence what they had gained by their rapine, struck deeper into the national mind. The innumerable private injuries to honour and feeling, the gross language, and the malignant tyranny of the French military, inflamed the people's blood into a fever of impatience and revenge. In this fermentation of the public mind, the north of Germany was suddenly denuded of troops to form a part of the grand imperial army, marching against Austria. Slight garrisons were placed in the principal towns, and the general possession of the open country was chiefly left to the gendarmerie. Schill, then about 36 years of age, major of one of the most distinguished regiments in the service, the Brandenburg hussars, one morning on the dismissal of the parade, suddenly turned his horse's head towards the gate of Berlin, gave a shout, for "king and country," and at the head of this regiment burst from the Glacis. Though the whole garrison of Berlin, French and Prussian, were on the parade, there was no attempt to intercept this bold manœuvre. They were thunderstruck, and by the time that orders were determined on, Schill was leagues off, galloping free over the sands of Prussia. The officers of his corps were among the best families of Brandenburgh, and some fine young men of rank joined him immediately. It is uncertain, to this hour, whether he was not secretly urged by his court to make the experiment on the probabilities of insurrection. But Napoleon was too near to allow of open encouragement, and at the demand of De Marsan, the French am bassador, who was, as Trinculo says, "viceroy over the king," Schill was proclaimed an enemy to the state. His first attempt was the surprise of Magdeburg, the principal fortress of the new kingdom of Westphalia, and famous to English ears for the imprisonment of Trenck. He advanced to the gates, and after sustaining a vigorous skirmish with the garrison, in which the French were on the point of being cut off from the town, was forced to abandon an enterprize which was probably undertaken merely as a more open mode of declaring, that "war in procinct" was levied against the oppressors of the population. He then plunged into Westphalia, and with no more than from four to six hundred hussars, and a few infantry, deserters from the line, he remained for nearly three months master of the communications of that country, continually intercepting officers, functionaries, and couriers, and either eluding or beating every detachment sent to break up his flying camp. In one of his expeditions he took marshal Victor with his suite and despatches, on his way to join the army before Vienna. But it affords an extraordinary evidence of the apathy, or the terror of Germany, that, during this period of excitement, his reeruits never amounted to two hundred men. It, however, grew obviously perilous to leave this daring partizan free to raise the spirit of the country, and a considerable force was dispatched against him. A corps from Cassel moved in direct pursuit, while another, composed of Dutch and Danes, turned towards his rear. It was now time to fly. The ex this, he was now master of a city; the sea was at his back; the state of Germany was hourly fluctuating; and his position still served as a rallying point, if the old genius of Prussia was at length to shake the ashes from her head. Such might have been among the motives for this apparent imprudence in a man who had hitherto taken his measures with equal conduct and intrepidity. In this period of inaction he appears to have lost his habitual temper, and, like Richard before Bosworth, to have given an ill omen by his melancholy. He was said to have indulged in drinking, and to exhibit altogether the aspect of a man expecting ruin. But in his dejection he omitted none of the usual arrangements for defence. He set the peasants at work upon the ap periment on Westphalia was com pleted; and an escape into Sweden was the only course of safety. Schill has been blamed for lingering on this retreat. But a gentler estimate, and probably a truer one, would have attributed his tardiness to the natural reluctance of a brave man to leave the ground while there is a chance of disputing it. Every hour was full of change; a battle on the Danube might alter the whole fortunes of Germany within a day, and Prussia would have been the first to raise the standard. But Schill suffered no advantage to be taken of his delay. His marches were regular, he fixed his head-quarters for ten or twelve days at Domitz, a small town on the Mecklenburg side, which he fortified so far as to be secure from a surprise. He abandoned it only on the approaches to the town, collected proach of the enemy, to whom he left nothing but his sick,-advanced to Stralsund, the strongest fortress in Pomerania, dismantled by the French, but still in their possession, and capable of defence against an ordinary hazard; stormed the gates; drove the French before his cavalry into the great square; and was in possession of the town, after a brisk engagement of less than an hour. On his march he had baffled the Dutch general, Gratien, whose express commission was, to extirpate him in the field. Schill out-manœuvred the general, and was master of Stralsund a week before he saw the face of a pursuer. There can be no doubt that he might, in that interval, have made good his retreat into Sweden. But the reluctance to leave Germany was strong upon him at all times. In addition to ammunition, planted a battery to command the principal entrance, I believe, borrowing the guns from the merchant ships; and seems to have neglected nothing but the means of retreat. Stralsund is a city of much interest. It has a tolerable commerce, and some of its buildings exhibit the old ponderous magnificence of the time when German traders made head against princes. The principal streets are wide, and the square in the centre, which serves, as in all the German towns, for all imaginable public purposes,-a mart, a parade, and a place of justice,-has the picturesque look of English architecture in the days of Elizabeth. It was in this spot, that Schill drew up his reserve on the morning of the attack. Among the accounts of the fight, to be received from persons who, during the day, were hiding in their |