SOULT, NICOLAS-JEAN DE DrEU, Duke of Dalmatia and Marshal of France, the son of a notary, was b. at Saint-Amensda-Bastide, in the dep. of Tarn, March 29, 1769. In 1785 he enrolled himself as a private in the royal infantry regiment, and so distin guished himself by his steady obedience to discipline, indomitable sangfroid, and gen eral intelligence that, in 1792, he became adjutant-major. His behavior at Fleurus gained for him (Oct. 11, 1794) the brevet of general of brigade. From 1794 to 1799 he was employed on the eastern frontier, and in the retreat after the defeat of Stockach (March 25, 1799), his able handling of the rear-guard alone prevented the annihilation of the French army. Appointed general of division (April 21, 17t9), and put under Massena, whom he ably seconded in Switzerland and Italy, he was afterward, on the warm recormuendation of Massena, appointed by Napoleon to one of the four colonel ships of the consular guards, and now became an ardent Napoleonist. This devotiOn, doubtless, was it great means of his obtaining the bilton of marshal of France; but lie most certainly justified his appointment by his brilliant a ellieverncuis in the subsequent campaign against the Austrians, closed by the battle of Austerlitz, which he decided by piercing the Russian center. Ile also did good service in the Prussian campaign, and took an important, though not is prominent, part iu the Russian campaign of 1806-7„ after which lie was appointed governor of Berlin and created duke of Dalmatia. Souk was next placed at the head of the second corps in Spain, pursued the retreating British, attacked them at Coruna, and though repulsed, forced them to leave all their materiel behind. He then conquered Portugal and exercised vice-regal authority over it, but the sudden arrival of Wellesley at Coimbra, and of Beresford at Chaves, made him retreat rapidly to Galicia. In Sept., 1809, he became commander-in-chief in Spain, gained a brilliant victory at Ocana (Nov. 18); and at the commencement of the foflowing year 'overran and subdued Andalusia, continuing to command in person the southern army. In attempting to succor Badajos, which he had captured and garrisoned (March 11), he was defeated by Beresford at Albuera (May 16, 1811). After the battle of Salamanca and the advance of the British on Madrid, Souk became thoroughly disgusted at the rejection of his admirable plans for transferring the theater of war to Andalusia, and demanded and obtained his recall; but on the news of Vitoria (q.v.) reaching Napoleon,
Souk, whom alone he considered capable of turning the tide of ill-fortune, was, in all haste, restored to the command-in-chief of the army of Spain.' Now, howevOr, it was not in Spain, but in France, that the contest had to be waged, and the advantage of numbers, discipline, and prestige were all.on the enemy's side; nevertheless, by a system of military tactics which has been universally admired, he completely neutralized the consummate strategy of Wellington, and reduced the campaign, during the seven months it lasted, to a mere trial of strength, the defeats which he sustained at Orthez and Toulouse being due to the superiority of the British soldiers, not of their general. With his usual suppleness of character he became an ardent royalist after the abdication of Napoleon; but on the return of the latter from Elba, he.abandoned Louis XVIII. and became maj.gen. of the imperial army. After Waterloo he rallied the army at Laon; and on July 3, at the council of war, coincided with Carnot as to the uselessness of further resistance. To avoid the punishment due to his treachery he published a memoir traducing Napoleon in the basest manner, and lauding the "lawful princes" (i.e., the Bourbons); but in spite of this he was banished and not recalled till May, 1819; however, in the course of a few years more, he was restored to all his former honors, and took an active part in politics and in the development of French industry. In 1838 he was sent as ambassador to England, and, as the great an9gonist of Wellington, was received with the utmost enthusiasm. In 1845 he retired from active duty, was honored with the appointment of " marshal general of France," and retired to his residence of Soultberg, where he died, Nov. 26, 1851. In the following year a statue of him, in white marble, was placed in the galleries of Versailles. See Souk's ilemoires ; also, Napier's History of the Peninsular War; • Thiers's Hietoire de la Revolution et de l'Empire; 'and Salle's Vie Politique du Irtarechal Soult (1834).