Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/617

NEXT FRIEND. 525 NEZ PERCE. those who are mentally incompetent are repre- sented by committees or guardians. An action eonnnenced by a next friend cannot l)e discon- tinued or settled without the consent of the court. A ne.xt friend only represents the incom- petent during the litigation, which, however, is not considered as ended until an appeal is de- termined or the right to appeal has expired. See Co.^rMITTEE; Guaediax ; Infant; Lunatic; Markied Womex ; Parties; and authorities where referred to under these titles. NEY, na, Michel, Duke of Elchingen and Prinec of the Moskva ( 1709-1815) . One of Napo- leon's most celebrated marshals. He was born .January 10, 1709. at Saarlouis, the son of a poor cooper." He had but little education and worked as clerk to a notary and as foreman in a mine until 178S. when he joined a hussar regiment at Jletz. He made the campaign of 1792 with the Army of the North and rose to be lieutenant. In April, 1794, he became captain in the Army of the Sambre and Meuse, and distinguished himself by his energy and his cool intrepidity. He was wounded at the siege of Mainz, fought bravely in 179.5 at Altenkirchen, and for his services in storming the citadel of Wiirzburg and forcing the passage of the Rednitz was made in 1790 brig- adier-general. His capture of ilannheim (March 28, 1799) gained him the rank of general of di- vision, and after being severely wounded at Win- terthur in JIay. he was placed in September in temporary command over the Army of the Rhine, and carried on a skillful game of strategy against the Arcliiluke Charles of Austria, whom he pre- vented from uniting with Suvaroff against Mas- sena. He fought subsequently under Lecourbe and Moreau at Engen, Moiiskirch, and Hohenlin- dcn. Ney's republican principles could not with- stand the blandishments of Napoleon, who per- suaded him to marry, in 1S02. Mile. Auguio, a friend of Hortense Beauharnais, made him in- spector-general of cavalry, and sent him on a diplomatic mission to Switzerland, where he V-our,'ht about the Act of ilediation of February, 180,3. In the same year he received command of the Sixth Corps of the Grand Army rai.sed for the invasion of England, but soon to be turned against Austria. In 1804 he was made a marshal of the Empire. In the following year he defeated the Austrians at Giinzburg (October 9th) and by his successful assault on the intrenchmcnts of Klchingen brought about the capitulation of Ulm and gained for himself the ducal title (conferred in 1808). He fought at .Jena in 1800, reduced the cities of Erfurt, Magdeburg, and Tliorn, and by his timely arrival on the battlefield of Eylau (q.v. ) prevented a possible defeat for the Frencli. On .Tune 14, 1807, Ney took the village of Fried- land from the Russians after a bloody combat, and thus decided the outcome of the battle. He now became the idol of the army, while Napoleon bestowed on him the title of Urate ihn hrnrc.i. In 1808 he was sent with the Sixth Corps to Spain. He overran Galicia. maintained an energetic war- fare against the Spanish guerrillas, and added to his reputation for audacity and skill. In 1810 he was placed miiler the command of ilassi'na. to whom was intrusted the invasion of Portiigal. Ney resented what he conceived a slight toward himself, and. though he fought with splendid courage on the retreat from Torres Vedras as commander of the rear guard ( one of the greatest incidents in his career), he was guilty of gross insuljordination, and in Jlarch, 1811, returned to France in semi-disgrace. His talents, however, made him invaluable, and in the Russian cam- paign (1812) he held command of the Third Corps. He distinguished himself at Smolensk and commanded the centre at Borodino (q.v.), where his efforts achieved the victory, his ser- vices being rewarded with the title of Prince of the Moskva. He commanded the rear guard on the retreat from Moscow, and l)y vigorous disci- pline and devoted heroism saved the remnants of the Grand Army from utter disorganization, notably at the disastrous passage of the Bere- sina. In the campaign of 1813 he won a victory over the Allies at Weissenfels (May 1, 1813), fought at LUtzen and Bautzen in May. but was defeated by Bulow at Dennewitz (September eth). He held the left of the French line in the battles around Leipzig and was with Napoleon in the defensive campaign of 1814 in France. After the taking of Paris by the Allies he insisted on Napoleon's abdication and hastened to offer his services to the Bourbons. He was made a peer of France, and a member of the council of war, and was placed in charge of the sixth military division. On news of Napoleon's return from Elba he was ordered to Besancon to resist the Emperor's advance, but on the night of March 13th he went over to Napoleon, summoning his troops to follow him", and on the 17th he joined the Emperor at Auxerre, moved to this act, no doubt, hj the magic influence of his old com- mander, but influenced too by the humiliations to which he had been subjected by the returned nobles of the old regime. At the head of the First and Second Corps of the new army raised by Napoleon, he fought on June lOth at Quatre- bras ( q.v. ) . and led the last charge of the Old Guard at Waterloo. After the battle he returned to Paris and advocated the recall of the Bour- bons. Proscribed on July 24th. he remained in hiding in the country till August .5th, when he was discovered and brought to Paris and ar- raigned (December 5th) before a court-martial containing many of his old companions in arms. The court declared Ney out of its jurisdiction as a peer of France, and handed him over to the Chamber of Peers, wdiich on December 0, 1815, by 139 votes against 17 found him guilty of trea- son and condemned him to death. He was shot the following day in the gardens of the Luxembourg. Consult: Dumoulin, HiMorrr complete du proces (111 marechal Xeij (Paris, 1815) ; Rouval, Vie du marechal Nei/ (ib., 1833) ; Welschinger, Le mare- chal Xey. 1813 (ib., 1893). NEZHIN, nye'zhen. or NEJIN. A town in the Government of Tchernigov. Little Russia, situated on the Oster. about 80 miles northeast of Kiev. It has a 7)hilologieal institute, a gym- nasium, and a Greek school. It is noted for the tobacco cultivated in its vicinity. Vegetables and fruit are also important products. The trade, formerly of great extent, has decreased since the rise of Taganrog and Rostov-on-the-Don. It was under Chmielnicki. in the seventeenth cen- tury, that CJreek merchants settled at Nezhin. where they received special privileges. Pop- ulation, in 1897, 32,100, including a number of Greeks. NEZ PERCE, nft par'sA'. The leading tribe of Shahaptian stock (q.v.). They call them-