“Paris, November 10th, 1815.
“MONSIEUR,
“You, who have served, must be well aware that it is not possible to give compensation to the full amount for all the damages arising from the presence of an army in a country, or the irregularities of individual soldiers, or the inevitable consequences of military occupation. It is quite true that I usually require reparation to be made for damages caused to the inhabitants by any irregularities of the troops, especially of English troops. But it is more as a means of discipline than as a full compensation to the inhabitants; and I cannot adopt in every case the same means with foreign troops, who are not so well, nor so regularly paid.
“The fact is, M. le général, that France, in carrying her arms into other countries, caused misery, devastation and ruin: I myself have been eyewitness of the destruction of property throughout whole provinces, that refused to submit to the yoke of the tyrant, and that were in consequence entirely depopulated.
“Although private revenge ought never to be the motive of a man, and most assuredly it is not that of the allied sovereigns, we can hardly expect that soldiers, men taken from the poorest and most hardy ranks of society, after having seen their properties, or those of their relatives, burned, sacked, destroyed by the French, should have any very great respect for French property, when, by the fortune of war, they find themselves in France.
“It is our duty, it is the interest of all of us, more even, I think, than that it is the duty of the French government, to prevent those acts of devastation; and I believe that there is no one who has endeavoured to do this duty so much as I have. But, M. le général, you know what armies are; and I appeal to your judgment: is it possible entirely to prevent such occurences in such an army as is under my command; particularly when the soldier is excited by the remembrance of the evils which he and his relatives have had to endure at the hands of French troops?...
“Wellington.”
(Gurwood, vol. XII, p. 685-6.)
To H.R.H. Prince Frederick of Orange.
“Paris, November 10th, 1815.
“I send you a letter I have just received from general comte de Vaubois, concerning the damages done by the soldiers of the Netherlands.