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.
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