Jomini and his career.
Major-General Halleck has recently published the first English translation of
General Jomini's Life of
Napoleon, the most thoroughly military record of the career of the
Emperor ever written.
General Anthony Henry Jomini was born in the small village of Pavano,
Switzerland, on the 6th of March, 1779, and died during the last year at the advanced age of eighty-four years. His family was of Italian origin, but had for several centuries resided in the
Canton of Vand.
He received such an education as the schools of
Switzerland could afford, and, having an ambition for a military career, he entered at an early age the school of the
Prince of Wertemburg at Montheliard.
He afterwards went to
Paris, where he was for a time engaged in commercial pursuits, still devoted to military pursuits, at one time on the staff of Kellen, and afterwards in the office of the
Secretary of War.
In 1805 he received an appointment on the staff of
Marshal Ney, with whom he passed through the campaigns of Cim,
Jena,
Eylau, and
Spain, and was promoted to the rank of chief of staff for services in the field.
In these campaigns he acquired a brilliant reputation as a staff officer and a strategist, but his success made him enemies, among whom was
Berthier, the
major-general and chief of staff of the Immoral army.
After the capitulation of
Dupont Baylen, in 1808,
Napoleon determined to direct person the military operations in
Spain, and Jomin was assigned to duty on the staff of
Berthier; but rather than serve under one who had always been his enemy, be tendered his resignation, intending then to enter the service of the
Emperor of
Russia.
But
Napoleon refused to allow him to leave the service, and placed him on special duty in
Paris, to enable him to write the history of the campaigns in
Italy.
When the war of 1812, between
France and
Russia, broke out,
Jomini, not wishing to fight against the Emperor Alexander, who had offered him a high position in the
Russian army, asked the pacific position of governor of a province, and was assigned to the governorship of Wilma.
He was afterwards sent to replace
General Barbanegre in the government of
Smolensk, and rendered most valuable assistance to
Napoleon in the retreat from
Moscow, especially in the passage of the Baresina, at which place he was ordered to select, in conjunction with
General Eble, the points for placing the bridges.
He suffered terribly in his retreat, and several times nearly perished.
Jomini and
General Negro, of the artillery, were the only officers who received the honor of being called to
Paris to assist the
Emperor in the organization of a new army.
He obeyed, but after his arrival in
Paris was for three months unable to leave his bed.
He rejoined the army on the day of the battle of
Lutzen, and was appointed by
Napoleon chief of
Ney's staff.
He soon distinguished himself, and was recommended by
Ney for promotion to the grade of general of division, but
Berthier interfered, and instead of rewarding his services, charged him with incapacity, and ordered him under arrest.
This was more than
Jomini could bear; he left the
French army, repaired to the headquarters of the
Emperor of
Russia, and was received into his service.
His conduct, after joining the Allies, was every way honorable, and he refused to answer questions put by the
King of
Prussia concerning the number and position of the
French troops.
Napoleon, in his memoirs dedicated at St. Helena, has cleared
Jomini from the accusation that he conveyed to the Allies the plans of the
Emperor, and has given the only excuse there is for his desertion of the
French--that he had great injustice to complain of and at he was not a Frenchman he had no love of country to restrain him.
During the campaign of 1813,
Jomini rendered valuable services to the Allies, and when their armies reached the
Rhine, advised against the invasion of
France.
When the
Allied Powers entered
France,
Jomini, on his urgent solicitations, was permitted to return to
Switzerland, and, through the influence of
Russia, aided in saving it from the intended conquest and subjugation by
Austria.
When the Allies again entered
Paris, in 1815
Jomini accompanied the Emperor Alexander, and so warmly — though ineffectually — opposed the execution of
Marshal Ney that it was proposed to strike his name from the list of
Russian generals.
After the peace he accompanied the
Emperor to
Russia, and was promoted to the rank of general-in-chief — a rank next to that of marshal, which no one can hold who has not gained a battle.
He successively received the grand cross of St. Anna, St. Waldimir and St. Alexander; assisted the
Emperor at the
Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1818, and at the
Congress of
Verona, in 1828; was made president of a committee for organizing the military academy; and was afterwards charged with preparing plans for fortifying and defending the frontiers of the empire.
On the accession of
Nicholas to the throne, he was appointed aide-de-camp general, and charged with directing the military education of the
Imperial heir.
General Jomini's first published work is his "Treatise on Grand Military Operations, " which appeared in 1804, and is considered the most important of his works.
In 1811 he began the publication of his "Critical and Military History of the Revolution," which was not completed until 1824.--It is a strictly scientific work, in fifteen volumes, with four atlases.
In 1827 he published anonymously the "Life of
Napoleon, " which
General Halleck has translated.
The work is written as though it was
Napoleon himself speaking, and the author represents him as arrived in the
Elysian Fields, and relating to the assembled heroes —
Alexander, Casser,
Frederick, and the lesser lights,--the story of his wonderful career.
It is said that
Jomini originally intended to make it a more complete history of the wars of the
Empire as a continuation of the history of the revolution.
General Halleck tells a curious story, which shows
Jomini's remarkable knowledge of military strategy, or what the
French call strategic intuition.
Having been summoned to the
Imperial headquarters at
Mayence, at the beginning of the campaign of Jens,
Napoleon said to him, "I am delighted that the first book which demonstrates the true principles of war has appeared in my reign.--No work like years is taught in our military schools.
We are going to fight Prussians.
I have called you near me because you have written on the campaigns of Frederick the
Great because he knew his army, and have studied the theatre of the war. "A Journal asked for four days to get his horses and equipage from the headquarters of
Marshal Ney, and ended that he would join his Majesty at Ramberg. "Why at Ramberg!" said the
Emperor. "Who told you that I am going to Ramberg?" "The may of many sire," "There are a hundred roads on that map," said
Napoleon. "Yes, sire; but it is probable that your Majesty will make against the left of the Prussians the same measure which made at Donaworth against the right of and by
Saint Bernard
"Very well," said
Napoleon. " Go to , but don't say a word about it; no one should know that I am going to Ramberg."
