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DESAIX DE VEYGOUX, LOUIS CHARLES ANTO...

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 78 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DESAIX DE VEYGOUX, See also:

LOUIS See also:CHARLES See also:ANTOINE (1768-1800) , See also:French See also:general, was See also:born of a See also:noble though impoverished See also:family. He received a military See also:education at the school founded by See also:Marshal d'Effiat, and entered the French royal See also:army. During the first six years of his service the See also:young officer devoted himself assiduously to See also:duty and the study of his profession, and at the outbreak of the Revolution threw himself whole-heartedly into the cause of See also:liberty. In spite of the pressure put upon him by his relatives, he refused to " emigrate," and in 1792 is found serving on See also:Broglie's See also:staff. The disgrace of this general nearly cost young Desaix his See also:life, but he escaped the See also:guillotine, and by his conspicuous services soon See also:drew upon himself the favour of the Republican See also:government. Like many other members of the old ruling classes who had accepted the new See also:order of things, the See also:instinct of command, joined to native ability, brought Desaix rapidly to high posts. By 1794 he had attained the See also:rank of general of See also:division. In the See also:campaign of 1795 he commanded See also:Jourdan's right wing, and in See also:Moreau's invasion of See also:Bavaria in the following See also:year he held an equally important command. In the See also:retreat which ensued when the See also:archduke Charles won the battles of See also:Amberg and See also:Wurzburg (see FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY See also:WARS) Desaix commanded Moreau's rearguard, and later the fortress of See also:Kehl, with the highest distinction, and his name became a See also:household word, like those of See also:Bonaparte, Jourdan, See also:Hoche, Marceau and Kleber. Next year his initial successes were interrupted by the Preliminaries of See also:Leoben, and he procured for himself a See also:mission into See also:Italy in order to meet General Bonaparte, who spared no pains to captivate the brilliant young general from the almost See also:rival camps of See also:Germany. Provisionally appointed See also:commander of the " Army of See also:England," Desaix was soon transferred by Bonaparte to the expeditionary force intended for See also:Egypt. It was his division which See also:bore the brunt of the See also:Mameluke attack at the See also:battle of the Pyramids, and he crowned his reputation by his victories over See also:Murad See also:Bey in Upper Egypt.

Amongst the fellaheen he acquired the significant appellation of the " Just See also:

Sultan." When his See also:chief handed over the command to Kleber and prepared to return to See also:France, Desaix was 'one of the small party selected to accompany the future See also:emperor. But, from various causes, it was many months befo,re he could join the new See also:Consul. The campaign of "Boo was well on its way to the See also:climax when Desaix at last reported himself for duty in Italy. He was immediately assigned to the command of a See also:corps of two See also:infantry divisions. Three days later (See also:June 14), detached, with Boudet's division, at Rivalta, he heard the See also:cannon of See also:Marengo on his right. Taking the initiative he marched at once towards the See also:sound, See also:meeting Bonaparte's staff officer, who had come to recall him, See also:half way on the route. He arrived with Boudet's division at the moment when the Austrians were victorious all along the See also:line. Exclaiming, " There is yet See also:time to win another battle!" he led his three regiments straight against the enemy's centre. At the moment of victory Desaix was killed by a See also:musket See also:ball. See also:Napoleon paid a just See also:tribute to the memory of one of the most brilliant soldiers of that brilliant time by erecting the monuments of Desaix on the See also:Place See also:Dauphine and the Place See also:des Victoires in See also:Paris. See F. Martha-Beker, See also:Comte de See also:Mons, Le General L.

C. A. Desaix (Paris, 1852). D$SAUGIERS, MARC ANTOINE. MADELEINE (1772-1827), French dramatist and See also:

song-writer, son of Marc Antoine Desaugiers, a musical composer, was born at See also:Frejus (See also:Var) on the 17th of See also:November 1772. He studied at the See also:Mazarin See also:college in Paris, where he had for one of his teachers the critic See also:Julien Louis See also:Geoffroy. He entered the See also:seminary See also:Saint Lazare with a view to the priesthood, but soon gave up his intention. In his nineteenth year he produced in collaboration with his See also:father a See also:light See also:opera (1791) adapted from the Medecin malgre lui of See also:Moliere. During the Revolution he emigrated to St Domingo, and during the See also:negro revolt he was made prisoner, barely escaping with his life. He took See also:refuge in the See also:United States, where he supported himself by teaching the piano. In 1797 he returned to his native See also:country, and in a very few years he became famous as a writer of comedies, operas and vaudevilles, which were produced in rapid See also:succession at the See also:Theatre des Varietes and the See also:Vaudeville. He also wrote convivial and satirical songs, which, though different in See also:character, can only worthily be compared with those of See also:Beranger.

He was at one time See also:

president of the Caveau, a convivial society whose members were then chiefly See also:drawn from See also:literary circles. He had the See also:honour of introducing Beranger as a member. In 1815 Desaugiers succeeded See also:Pierre Yves See also:Barre as manager of the Vaudeville, which prospered under his management until, in 182o, the opposition of the Gymnase proved too strong for him, and he resigned. He died in Paris on the 9th of See also:August 1827. Among his pieces maybe mentioned Le See also:Valet d'emprunt (1807); See also:Monsieur Vautour (1811); and Le Regne d'un terme et le terme d'un rbgne, aimed at Napoleon. An edition of Desaugiers' Chansons et Poesies diverses appeared in 1827. A new selection with a See also:notice by See also:Alfred de Bougy appeared in 1858. See also Sainte-Beuve's Portraits contemporains, vol.v.

End of Article: DESAIX DE VEYGOUX, LOUIS CHARLES ANTOINE (1768-1800)

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