Ryde, 21 September 1857 

Dear Marx, 

Steffen and Pieper have been here in company with a friend of 
Pieper’s and, as the two last have only just left, I’ve hardly any 
time before the post goes to take a look at the enclosed article* or 
write to you about ‘Bernadotte’. 

Austerlitz.°° He was sent to Iglau” by Napoleon in order to keep 
an eye on the Archduke Ferdinand in Bohemia. Having received 
in good time Napoleon’s order to come to Brünn,° which he did, 
he was placed with his corps between Soult and Lannes (in the 
centre) where he helped repulse the outflanking movement of 
the allied right wing. I don’t recall any particularly important 
action of Bernadotte’s on this occasion, nor can I find anything in 
Jomini.* 

Jena.’ Here it is a fact that Bernadotte did indeed receive 
orders from Napoleon to march from Naumburg to Dornburg 
while Davout, who was also in Naumburg, was to march to 
Apolda. The order received by Davout stated that, if Bernadotte 
had already joined him, they might both march to Apolda 
together. Davout was in favour of the latter, having reconnoitred 
the Prussian lines of advance in person and satisfied himself that 
Bernadotte wouldn’t meet the enemy in the Dornburg direction. 
He even offered to place himself under Bernadotte’s command. The 
latter, however, insisted that, in the orders he had received, the 
passage relating to Apolda did not appear, and he moved off. The 
result was that on the 14th he spent the whole day marching 
round without meeting the enemy, while Davout was compelled to 
fight alone at Auerstedt. Had Bernadotte been there, or had he 
simply marched towards the thunder of the cannon on the 14th, 
this aw fond indecisive victory could have been every bit as 
decisive as the one at Jena. Only because of the meeting of the 
Auerstedt Prussian army with the fugitives from Jena and also 

aF. Engels, ‘Battle’.- > Czech name: Jihlava.-¢ Czech name: Brno. - 
d A. H. Jomini, Vie politique et militaire de Napoléon, t. 2. - © basically 

because of the strategic preparations Napoleon had made for the 
battle, did the affair prove decisive after all in its consequences. 
Why Bernadotte did this nobody has ever found out. Jomini 
calls it une exactitude trop scrupuleuse.* Probably Bernadotte was 
glad to discredit Napoleon by sticking rigidly to his instructions, 
for in this instance the latter had undoubtedly acted on false 
premises. 

Eylau.'*' When Bennigsen moved off to engage Ney’s troops, 
who had ventured too far forward, Bernadotte being to their left 
rear, Napoleon laid a trap for him. Ney withdrew to the south and 
Bernadotte to the south-west with orders to lure Bennigsen 
towards the Vistula, while Napoleon marched north from Poland 
towards Bennigsen’s communications. An orderly officer carrying 
written orders for Bernadotte was captured by the Cossacks and in 
this way Bennigsen learnt of the impending danger, which he just 
managed to elude. Bernadotte, on the other hand, remained 
without instructions as a result of the same incident and 
accordingly stayed to the rear of the line. I don’t see that there is 
anything to reproach him with on this score. 

Wagram.” On the first day of the battle 

‘Eugéne> déboucha prés de Wagram; mais, donnant ici au milieu des réserves 
ennemies, et n’étant pas soutenu par Bernadotte qui ne s’était engagé ni assez t6t ni 
assez franchement, il fut attaqué de front et en flanc, et ramené vertement jusqu’a 
ma garde.’¢ 

I can discover nothing of special moment about Bernadotte on 
the 2nd day of the battle. 

At all events Monsieur Bernadotte was not a great general; 
nowhere did he distinguish himself and even as a politician there 
was much of the Gascon in him—what an idea, wanting to become 
Emperor after Napoleon!? 

I have absolutely nothing to say about Bessiéres save that for the 
most part he was in command of the Guard, in particular the 
cavalry, a post that hardly demanded a superfluity of intelligence. 
He was brave, voila tout‘ 

I intend to finish B this week if possible, or at any rate break 

a undue punctiliousness (A. H. Jomini, op. cit., p. 290) - > Beauharnais - ¢ ‘Eugéne 
debouched near Wagram, but having arrived in the midst of the enemy reserves and 
not being supported by Bernadotte, who had not joined battle either early enough or 
resolutely enough, he was attacked on his front and flanks and was smartly driven 
back as far as my Guard’ (A. H. Jomini, op. cit., t. 3, p. 266. Here Jomini quotes 
Napoleon). - 4 Engels’ notes on Bernadotte were used by Marx in his article 
‘Bernadotte’. - ¢ that’s all 

the back of the letter, after which I shall send you what is needed 
on Blucher. It’s time for the post now. 
Warm regards to your wife and children. 

Your 

What’s the position as regards your trip? 

Havelock seems to be the best chap in India, and it is a really 
tremendous feat to have marched 126 miles in a week in that 
climate, not to mention fighting 5 or 6 engagements. That it 
would end in a general outbreak of cholera might have been 
predicted. 

I hardly see The Times at all here, otherwise I could write to 
you at greater length about India, but getting hold of newspapers 
to read here is altogether too difficult.