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.
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