The Boar and the Leopard: A Novel of Napoleon, Wellington, and the Struggle of Waterloo

Copyright © 2008 by David H.C. Carter.

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Contents

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Bibliography

. . . For my Uncle Michael and the soldiers, past and present, who fought and fight for liberty in the world.

In the third month at the rising of the sun,

The Wild Boar and Leopard in the fields of Mars battle,

The Leopard weary, lifts his eyes to Heaven and seeth an eagle playing about the Sun.

-Nostradamus

1     

France in the early 1800’s was a country on the move. The Napoleonic Wars had brought if from the brink of counter-revolution, an established and empire across the face of Europe. Danton Lebeau, just returning from service in the Emperor’s Army, came home to take of family matters.

He lived in Paris, a town that reflected the changes of the times. He was a relatively poor man, a commoner. His only wealth came from his service in the army, and his family depended on that for their survival.

The French Revolution of 1789 had had the effect of a natural disaster on the old regime of King Louis XVI, one in which the wreckage was left to be cleaned by the Directory of the middle class revolutionaries. Powerful men, such as Robespierre, Marot, and Carnot, had succeeded in turning the Old World upside down with their tactics of terror, leaving the way wide open for an ambitious enterpriser such as Napoleon Bonaparte.

For Danton, life had been a whirlwind since the revolution. A schoolboy at the Military Academy, he had been drilled for service in the King’s Army. When the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune had their way, he was ushered out in hopes of surviving the tumult.

Many of his professors, as well as classmates, had been arrested during the revolution. Some even beheaded for their involvement, or suspected involvement, with the the monarchy. His background was too economically insufficient to put him in that category, and for that he thanked the Lord.

His way to the academy had been paid for by his benefactor-his Uncle David Lebeau-a wealthy financier who had left the family a long time ago to make his own way in the relatively new world of business. He returned to help his brother, who was relatively impoverished, care for his son. No one was fully aware of what David did during the revolution, but all agreed that it helped him win his new fortune. Grateful for his uncle’s gift, Danton accepted his admission to the academy with hopes of a brighter future.

With the revolution of 1789 all of this changed. He found himself wandering the streets of Paris, torn between joining the rabble-rousers, and remaining loyal to those who held to the old ways. With the government overthrown, and something close to order restored by the Directory, Danton thought he might have a chance to fulfill his dreams of soldiering. The Revolutionary Army, by now, had achieved a major victory over the Prussians at Valmy, and gone on to invade the Austrian provinces in the Netherlands.

France was now becoming a nation, something that hadn’t been achieved in the Absolutist monarchy of the past. Then, a young Corsican Lieutenant arrived on the scene. Brilliant at the French victory of Toulon, he gave advice to the commanding generals that led to their capture of a strategic fort, after which the city fell.

When news of his competent abilities reached Robespierre and the Directory, they immediately wanted to know more about him . . . . His name was Napoleon Bonaparte, a man of African descent.

When the legislature in Paris was in danger of being seized by the public, he was remembered and put in command of the military. He placed his cannons around their building and prevented a citizen coup. He, next, took command of the army in Northern Italy against the Austrians.

Bonaparte succeeded in taking most of Italy, and next turned his eye towards Egypt. Before he was to undertake that conquest, he signed a treaty with Austria, granting France, Belgium. Venice became a province of Austria, and the provinces of Northern Italy became a Cisalpine Republic.

Sailing for Egypt, Napoleon had his eye on Constantinople and Asia. However, on August 1, 1798, the British Fleet, under Lord Horatio Nelson, defeated his Navy at the battle of the Nile. His line of communication back to France was cut off. He fought the Turks in Syria, but was stopped at the battle of Acre, by Sir Sydney Smith, and his force of English seamen. Napoleon’s dreams of Eastern conquest were ended. He abandoned his army and escaped to France.

In Italy, Napoleon regained control of the army, and beat the Austrians, once again, at the battle of Marengo, in Piedmont. In 1802 the British government made a treaty with him. There was peace for a while. The British tourists traveled to France to get a look at the spectacle of revolution. Meanwhile, Napoleon was preparing his forces for an invasion of England.

In 1804, Napoleon, now master of Western Europe, had himself crowned Emperor of France, by the Pope. France had now returned to autocratic rule, and to many it was as if the revolution had never occurred. Danton, a spectator of Napoleon’s conquests up to now, had a choice to make: whether to continue to sit out and watch the sweeping events unfold before his eyes or participate. He chose the latter, and joined the Emperor’s Army, to offer his services to his country. On August 21, 1804, Lord Horatio Nelson beat the French Fleet at the battle of Trafalgar. The peace between Britain and France had ended. Napoleon had picked and trained 90,000 troops, and stationed them on the coast at Boulogne. Danton remained in training during this time, learning the ropes from the new French Army.

In the month of Trafalgar, the camp at Boulogne was broken up, and the French troops marched east to the Danube. The Austrians were defeated at Ulm. At the battle of Austerlitz, Austria and Russia were defeated decisively. Here, Danton got his first taste of combat.

A year later, Napoleon defeated the Prussians at Jena. He gained control over that country. In 1807 the Russians were defeated at the Eylau River. The Czar and the Emperor then made peace and formed an alliance.

England, much like a period later in her history, was alone. Observing a review of the French Army, with Napoleon, the Czar asked of the famed Marshall Ney, when viewing Naopoleon’s battered Old Guard. And where are the soldiers who have given these wounds? Sire they are dead, Ney responded.

Napoleon, now, dominated Europe. He made his brothers kings at the Hague, Naples, and Westphalia. His step-son was ruler of Northen Italy. Austria had become a satellite, Prussia was held captive and Spain chose not to oppose him.

2     

William Pitt, Prime Minister of England, died in 1806. He spent much of his time in that office repairing England’s financial situation. The concept of free trade was brought in, and the introduction of the term Budget.

The National Debt was reduced, using the Sinking Fund. It was a system in which money was set aside then used to buy stock. The interest would be used to pay off the debt. However, when there was no surplus to feed the fund, money was borrowed at high interest to do so. This had a psychological effect on the wealthy classes, whereas, they saw only that the debt was being paid.

When the French Revolution broke out, Pitt was left dumbfounded. His primary expertise was in finance. And the country was not prepared to deal with the tremendous social upheaval, albeit on foreign soil. As one colleague said of him, Pitt lacked, the ungainliness or the promise of a growing intellect.

For the most part, the English remained aloof about the happenings on the mainland. The monarchy was not in favor of intervention in the revolution while the aristocracy tended to their finances.

No stranger to social upheaval, Britain had been through a civil war a century before. In which the middle classes were instrumental in gaining a measure of power from the monarchy and nobility. The American Revolution saw a rise in the middle class, as well. Their social aspirations were fueled by the new worlds of capitalism and international mercantilism. The Industrial Revolution further spurred on these changes, giving previously disenfranchised people the means with which to obtain money and power.

When news of the French Revolution reached the estate of Lord William Arthur Hamilton, he took it rather calmly. His family, long a member of the nobility, now aristocratic class, knew the trouble with class warfare. He was the father of four children: two boys and two girls. They were now grown and making pursuits in the British world of privilege.

His eldest son, Timothy, was learning the affairs of the estate. His second born, Michael, spent most of his time drinking and philandering with the socialites of Birmingham, which was the nearest city to their estate. His two daughters, Hanna and Tiffany, were very attractive young ladies that were closely guarded by their older siblings.

Lord Hamilton’s wife, by maiden name, was Maureen Hannigan. She was a well-known socialite, and was well respected. She was the rock of the family and she played her part well. Both she and her husband were in their late fifties, and the long years of family rearing and English politicizing were beginning to take their toll on them.

They were friends of the King, and in good standing with the ruling class. Their money came from a mixture of nobility and a long line of merchants, now turned industrialists, who owned a cotton mill in the city.

For years, Lord Hamilton ran the mill, overseeing its production and growth. Now, he was preparing to hand it over to his eldest son, and retire to the estate to enjoy the remainder of his years foxhunting, and things of that nature.

The English poet Wordsworth wrote of the French Revolution: Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive. The Whigs, reformers, and radicals were accepting the revolution, for a time, but largely there was a fear amongst the Conservatives that the ideas spread of the revolution would spread to the working masses.

George Jacques Danton, in a celebrated speech, said of the execution of King Louis XVI, and the possibility of war with the rest of Europe, Allied kings threaten us and we hurl at their feet as a gage of battle the head of a king. Jean Paul Marat espoused, We must establish the despotism of liberty to crush the despotism of kings. Peace is out of the question. We have three hundred thousand men in arms. We must make them march as far as their legs will carry them, or they will return and cut our throats,—A Girondin Minister.

The rise of the Revolutionary Amry brought fear to the doorstep of England. In a speech in 1792, Pitt told Parliament that he believed Europe would have peace for 15 years. When France instructed their generals to follow retreating Austrians into any country entered, Holland was immediately threatened. Another move by France, opening the waters between Antwerp and the sea, led to the bombardment of that city by French men-of-war.

The British Foreign Secretary, Lord Grenville, stated:

England will never consent that France shall arrogate the power of