“You are right. The bravery of a soldier will never excuse his blasphemies. Soult was a very brave and able soldier; he is held in high estimation in France at the present time by King Louis Philippe. Suchet, Augereau, Berthier, Rapp, Macdonald, and Beauharnois, were all generals of high reputation, as well as Maret, Jourdan, Grouchey, and Vandamme. Generals Bertrand and Gourgaud accompanied Buonaparte when he was exiled to St. Helena.”
“Well, they did right in not forsaking him in his misfortunes.”
“Junot was one of the generals in the French army under Buonaparte. During the siege of Toulon, Junot was only a sergeant. Buonaparte, while constructing a battery under the enemy’s fire, had occasion to prepare a dispatch, and called aloud for some one who could use his pen. Junot leaped forward; but while he was leaning on the breastwork, writing down what Buonaparte dictated, a shot struck the ground and scattered the dust all over him. ‘Good!’ said Junot, laughing, ‘this time we shall spare our sand?’ Buonaparte was so much pleased by the cool intrepidity and gaiety of the sergeant that he kept his eye on him afterwards. In course of time Junot became Marshal of France and Duke of Abrantes.”
“A bold man was sure to be taken notice of by Buonaparte.”
“Massena and Davoust were able generals, but very, very cruel: it would be hard to say which were the greater, the atrocities practised by Junot and Massena in Portugal, or those perpetrated by Davoust on the banks of the Elbe. Courage is a noble quality, but it will never atone for cold-hearted cruelty.”
“If they had come over to England they would have served us in just the same manner.”
“The celebrated Moreau, who fought on the side of the Russians against his countrymen the French, was wounded amid a group of reconnoitring officers. Buonaparte seeing these officers together, ordered half-a-dozen cannons to be fired at them, when a commotion took place as though one had been wounded. In the evening a peasant brought a greyhound and a bloody boot to the camp; on the collar of the greyhound was graven the name of Moreau. They belonged, he said, to a great man, who had fallen.”
“Ah! no doubt it was Moreau!”
“Yes it was. A shot had taken away both his legs; yet such was his firmness that he smoked a cigar while undergoing amputation, in the presence of the Emperor Alexander. He died shortly after.”
“What dreadful things soldiers go through, and yet they hardly seem to care for them.”