Mr. L., The Young Irish
Barrister, Told Me At Dijon That He Left His Purse By Mistake In A Shop
There in which were 20 napoleons in gold, when a soldier of the army of the
Loire, who happened to
Be in the shop, perceived it and came running after
him with it, but refused to accept of anything, tho' much pressed by Mr.
L., who wished to reward him handsomely for his disinterested conduct. Yes,
the French soldier is a fine fellow. I have served against them in Holland
and in Egypt and I will never flinch from rendering justice to their
exemplary conduct and lofty valour. No! it is not the French soldiery who
can be accused of plundering and exaction, but what brought the French name
in disrepute was the conduct of certain prefects and administrators in
Germany who were promoted to these posts for no other reason than because
they were of the old noblesse or returned Emigrants, whom Napoleon
favoured in preference to the Republicans whom he feared. These emigrants
repaid his favours with the basest ingratitude; after being guilty of the
grossest and most infamous concussions on the inhabitants of those parts
of Germany where their jurisdiction extended, they had the hypocrisy after
the restoration to declaim against the oppression of the Usurper's
government and its system: but Napoleon richly deserved to meet with this
ingratitude for employing such unprincipled fellows. I believe he was never
aware of the villany they carried on, or they would have met with his
severest displeasure in being removed from office, as was the case with
Wirion at Verdun.[49]
I do not find that the French soldiers with whom I have conversed are so
much attached to the person of the Emperor as I was led to believe; but
they are attached to their country and liberty; and in serving him, they
conceived they were serving the man par excellence of the People.
The French army too was beloved by the people, instead of being dreaded by
them as the armies of most other European nations are. In short, whenever I
met with and held conversation with soldiers of this army, I was always
tempted to address them in the words of Elvira to Pizarro when she seeks to
console him for his defeat:
Yet think another morning shall arise,
Nor fear the future, nor lament the past.[50]
The French Major was very much inclined to take up a quarrel with an
Austrian officer, on my account, but I dissuaded him. The cause was as
follows. A young Austrian boy, servant to one of the officers of Artillery,
had entered the coche d'eau at Chalon, some minutes before his master,
and began to avail himself of the right of conquest by taking possession of
the totality of one of the cabins and endeavouring to exclude the other
passengers; among other things he was going to thrust my portmanteau out of
its place. I called to him to let it alone, when the French Major stepped
forward and said that if he dared to touch any of the baggage belonging to
the passengers, he would punish him on the spot and his master also, for
that he longed to measure swords with those "Jean F - - d'Autrichiens."
Fearful of a serious quarrel between them and being unwilling that any
dispute should occur on my account, I requested the Major not to meddle
with the business, for that I was sure the Austrian officer would check the
impertinence of his servant when he came on board; and that if he did not,
I was perfectly able and willing to defend my own cause.
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