MICHEL, a marshal and peer of France, was born at Sarcelles on the 17th of January 1769. His father had been a soldier, but after the Seven Years' War had retired to his native village, where he exercised the humble trade of a cooper. Young Ney had received his education at a school kept by the monks of St Augustin, under whom he appears to have made considerable progress in his studies; but being fired with military ardour by the recitals of his father, he early enlisted, in 1787, in a regiment of hussars, where he served for some time, and was a subaltern at the commencement of the Revolution. He then attained the rank of captain, in which capacity he made his first campaigns, acting as aide-de-camp to General de Lamarche, and afterwards as adjutant-general under the orders of Kléber. This latter employment afforded him several opportunities of distinguishing himself; and he was commonly known by the well-merited surname of "Indefatigable" bestowed on him by his admiring general. In the official reports of the time honourable mention is made of him at the passage of the Lahn in 1795, and also at the combats of Neuwied, Altenkirchen, Montabaur, and Würzburg. On the 8th of August 1796 he took Pförtzheim, and was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general. In the campaign of 1797 he was again successful; but his horse having been killed at the combat of Steinberg, he fell into the hands of the enemy. Hoche, who admired his undaunted courage, earnestly solicited his exchange, and, as soon as he had obtained it, appointed him general of division. It was in this capacity that, in 1798, Ney commanded the cavalry of the army which, under the orders of Schaumbourg, executed the invasion of Switzerland. On this occasion he acted towards the inhabitants with as much generosity as circumstances would permit; and the following year he acquired a great reputation under Massena, particularly at the battle of Zurich. In the year 1800 he served with the army of Moreau, and greatly distinguished himself both at Moeskirch and at Hohentannen. After the peace of Luneville he returned to Paris, and was received with great distinction by Napoleon, who found him a wife in the person of Mademoiselle Augnè, a friend of Hortense Beauharnais. When Bonaparte wished to effect the entire subjugation of Switzerland, Ney was sent into that country with the title of minister plenipotentiary, and there seems to have won for himself the golden opinions of the people and the esteem of his master. In 1804 he obtained the baton of marshal of the empire; and the distinguished part which he played in the storming of Elchingen, on October 4, 1805, induced Napoleon, who was an eye-witness of his impetuous daring, afterwards to honour him with the rank and title of Duke of Elchingen. After the capitulation of Ulm, being ordered to occupy the Tyrol, he entered Innspruck on the 7th of November, at the head of the sixth corps of the grand army, which he also commanded the following year in the contest with Prussia. Having contributed essentially to the victory of Jena, he appeared before Magdeburg, and, by a prodigy which still remains inexplicable, he, on the 11th of November 1806, in less than twenty-four hours, received the capitulation of that redoubtable fortress, made 23,000 prisoners, and took 800 pieces of cannon. In the beginning of 1807 he obtained a signal success before Thorn, where the whole Russian army had advanced to attack him, hoping to surprise him in his winter quarters; and, at a later period, he carried the town of Friedland at the battle of that name, which terminated the war in the north of Europe. But the war in which Napoleon found himself involved, if extinguished at one point, was assiduously kept alive at others. Scarcely had he concluded a peace with the Russians at Tilsit, when he hurried away to attack the Spaniards; and Marshal Ney, with his corps d'armée, was transported from the banks of the Niemen to those of the Ebro and the Tagus. The marshal, finding himself obliged to carry on a war of posts and of chicanery in Galicia, lost a great number of men in this inglorious service, and with difficulty maintained his ground till the moment when he received orders to unite his corps with that of Massena, who had been sent in order to expel the English from Portugal. But this was found to be impracticable. It was judged that the lines of Torres Vedras could not be attacked with any prospect of success; and when Massena found himself constrained to retire before the Duke of Wellington, Ney commanded his rearguard, and in that difficult retreat displayed equal talent and courage. In 1812 he was recalled by Napoleon to assist in the approaching invasion of Russia, for which an army of more than four hundred thousand men had been assembled on the Vistula. At the terrible battle of Mojaïsk or Borodino Ney commanded the centre; and it was on this occasion, amid the carnage of a conflict unequalled in modern times, that "the bravest of the brave," as Ney was called by the army, earned the title of Prince of Moskwa. Nor did he display less valour and firmness in the disastrous retreat from Moscow, in which his corps almost entirely perished. Napoleon, in one of the bulletins of the army, designated him as having a soul tempered with steel. In 1813 Ney participated in the indecisive victories of Lützen and Bautzen; but he had the misfortune to lose the battle of Dennewitz, where he was defeated by Bernadotte and Bulow, with the loss of 13,000 men, 43 pieces of cannon, and 3 standards. This event made a deep impression upon his mind. Napoleon, according to St Cyr, manifested no displeasure at the reverse, but ascribed it wholly to the peculiar difficulties of the military art. Ney returned, however, to Paris in a sort of disgrace. Nevertheless, he was again employed in the unfortunate winter campaign of 1814; and he was at Fontainebleau when Napoleon was compelled to abdicate. Ney contributed materially to bring about this event; and he was one of the first generals who submitted to the Bourbons. Having presented himself before Mon-sieur on the 12th of April, he said to that prince, "Your Royal Highness will see with what fidelity we can serve our legitimate king." He also went to pay his respects to the king at Compiègne, and was there most favourably received. Louis XVIII. himself received his oath as a chevalier of the order of Saint-Louis, confirmed to him all his titles and pensions, and created him a peer of France. Marshal Ney was living at his estate of the Coudreaux when Napoleon, having escaped from the island of Elba, landed on the coast of France in February 1815; and he there received orders from the minister of war to repair to his government of Besançon. He immediately proceeded to Paris, and presenting himself before the king, made great protestations of devotion, and, kissing the hand of Louis, declared to him that he would bring back the disturber of Europe in an iron cage. He then set out for the eastern frontier, assembled some regiments at Besançon, and placing himself at their head, proceeded towards Lyons. At Lons-le-Saulnier, however, he learned that Napoleon had already entered Lyons; and from this time great agitation manifested itself amongst the troops. Nevertheless, the marshal himself still appeared faithful to the king, and even exerted himself to calm the excitement which prevailed in the army; but in the night between the 13th and 14th of March, an emissary sent by General Bertrand brought him proclamations and letters from Napoleon. His old master knew well that the heroic marshal was much more at home in the field of battle than amid the mazes of political intrigue. Bonaparte accordingly made him brilliant promises, and styled him, as formerly, "the bravest of the brave." The marshal could not resist the seductions of the great general, and next day he read to the troops his famous proclamation, beginning with these words, "The cause of the Bourbons is for ever lost. It is the Emperor Napoleon, our sovereign, who is alone entitled to reign." His whole conduct during the Hundred Days was a consequence of this step. Napoleon sent him as extraordinary commissioner to survey the frontiers of the North, and also appointed him a member of his Chamber of Peers. In the short but decisive campaign which ensued he displayed all his accustomed gallantry. At Quatre-Bras, however, his usual success did not attend him. Five horses were shot under him at Waterloo; yet with a dauntless spirit, which no danger could quell, he headed the terrible charge of the guards on foot, his clothes pierced thick with balls. And when that fierce conflict was over, and his wild daring proved fruitless, he was among the last to leave the bloody field. After the defeat of the French army he returned to the capital. When Paris capitulated, Ney, having no hopes of finding favour with the Bourbons, took refuge in Au-vergne, where he was arrested in consequence of the ordinance of the 24th of July, in which he was described as one of the authors of the revolution of the 20th March. Being conducted to Paris, he was confined in the Conciergerie, subjected to several interrogatories, and at length brought before a court-martial, composed of marshals of France and lieutenant-generals, to whose competency he objected. His counsel insisted much upon this point, in which they were ultimately successful; the members of the court being glad to escape from an embarrassing position, by pronouncing their own incompetence to try the prisoner. By an ordinance of the king, Ney was then brought before the court of the peers, whose competency was not disputed. But his counsel remonstrated warmly against the expressions employed by the ministers, who had declared that it was "in the name of Europe" that they demanded his trial; and the same learned persons appealed with much force and eloquence to the conditions of the capitulation of Paris, which guaranteed to all who were within the walls of the capital that they should neither be disturbed nor sought after on account of their political conduct. All their efforts to save their client were, however, unavailing. After fifteen sittings, Marshal Ney was condemned to death, on the 6th of December 1815, by a large majority; and the following day the sentence was carried into execution. "He who," says Napier (Peninsular War, vol. ii.), "had fought 500 battles for France—not one against her—was shot as a traitor" by a platoon of veterans, near the palace of the Luxembourg, where he had been condemned; and displayed in his last moments the same heroic courage which had so often distinguished him in the field of battle. His body was given to his friends, and conveyed to the cemetery of Père la Chaise, where his tomb may now be seen. Marshal Ney and Colonel Labédoyère were the only victims of a revolution where it is evident that neither played the principal part, and that both were led away by the force of circumstances, and the spell which Napoleon exercised over the minds of the officers as well as the common soldiers of the army.