Andre Massena, prince of Essling, a marshal of France, born in Nice in May, 1758, died in Paris, April 4, 1817. It has been said that he was of Jewish origin, and that his real name was Manasseh. In early life he was a sailor, and subsequently entered the royal Italian regiment in the Sardinian service, in which he served 14 years without rising above the grade of sergeant. On the annexation of Nice to the French republic in 1792 he resumed the profession of arms, was appointed adjutant major and soon after colonel, and by the end of 1793 had attained the rank of general of division. His tactical skill in the Italian campaigns of 1794-'5 attracted attention, and in 1796 Bonaparte gave him the command of the advanced guard of the army of Italy. At Montenotte, Millesimo, Castiglione, Arcole, and Rivoli, Massena distinguished himself, and Napoleon surnamed him the "favored child of victory." In February, 1798, he was sent to replace Berthier in the Papal States; but the appointment proving unpopular among the troops and the people on account of his character for rapacity and avarice, he soon resigned.

In the succeeding campaign his operations against the allied Austrian and Russian armies in Switzerland were attended with brilliant success, and the decisive defeat inflicted by him on the Russian general Korsakoflf at Ziirich, Sept. 25, 1799, saved France from invasion. Directed by Bonaparte to defend Genoa, which was invested by an Austrian army and blockaded by a British fleet under Lord Keith, he sustained a memorable siege of more than three months, and only surrendered (June 3, 1800) when the inhabitants, reduced to desperation by hunger, threatened to rise against him. The concentration of a large Austrian force at this point, however, greatly aided Bonaparte in gaining the important battle of Marengo, fought eleven days after the capitulation of Genoa. Attached from interested motives to the republic, Massena opposed the establishment of the empire; but his services were deemed by Napoleon too valuable to be dispensed with, and in 180-t he was created a marshal. During the campaign of 1805 he commanded an army of 50,-000 men in Italy, where by skilful manoeuvres he occupied the attention of the archduke Charles until Napoleon had gained the decisive victory of Austerlitz; and in 1806 he completed the conquest of Naples and established Joseph Bonaparte on the throne of that kingdom.

In the campaign of 1809 he commanded the fourth corps of the army. In the battles of Aspern and Essling his firmness sued the retreating French forces from destruction; and the title of prince of Essling was bestowed on him by Napoleon. At the battle of Wagram, where he commanded the left wing, he was obliged, in consequence of a recent injury, to direct the movements of his troops from a carriage. Seeing his men waver at a critical moment, he caused himself to be placed on horseback, and had scarcely changed his position when a cannon ball struck the seat he had been occupying. In 1810 he was appointed chief in command of the army of Portugal, with orders to drive the British troops from the peninsula. Crossing the Mondego in the middle of September with 70,000 men, he followed Wellington to the neighborhood of Lisbon, where his progress was arrested by the famous lines of Torres Vedras. He accordingly fell back to Santa-rem on the Tagus, to await reinforcements from Soult. who could not spare them.

After lingering at Santarem until his army was greatly weakened by sickness and scarcity of supplies, he commenced on March 5, 1811, his celebrated retreat into Spain, "in which," says Napicr, "he displayed infinite ability, but withal a harsh and ruthless spirit." In the latter part of April he entered Salamanca, having lost 30.000 men within six months; on May 5 he fought the bloody but indecisive battle of Fuentes de Onoro; and soon after he was obliged on account of ill health to resign his command and return to France. During the whole campaign he had been a confirmed invalid, and to his inability to reconnoitre personally Napoleon ascribed the ill result of his operations. After the restoration of his health he held the comparatively inactive post j of commander of the eighth military division of the empire. He gave in his adherence to the Bourbons at the restoration, and during the hundred days took no part in public affairs. - In military capacity Massena ranks with the first generals of the empire, although it was said that he never began to act with judgment until the battle was going against him.

His private character was stained by imputations of meanness and rapacity, which took definite form in a series of accusations brought against him by the inhabitants of Marseilles. Napoleon called him a "robber," and offered him a present of 1,000,000 francs if he would discontinue his peculations. He paid little attention to discipline or to the comfort of his troops, by whom he was cordially disliked.