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Rh founded, and which he conducted so honourably and with such success, was now one of the first firms in Europe. He had gathered round him many of the émigrés, former fellow officers of the Dauphine regiment, and had made them associates with him in his business. I arrived in time to witness an incident which proved in what consideration my brother was held, on account of his upright conduct.

But a short time before, a French army had presented itself before Trieste, and the city, being incapable of any resistance, surrendered.

The general laid a heavy tax upon the city, and a great part of this fell upon the merchants. They prepared to pay it, and Joseph la Brosse put his own name down at the head of the list for a large amount. But the conquerors had heard that he was a French émigré, and knew how he had regained his fortune and the noble use that he made of it, and the French general, being willing to oblige a compatriot who had so bravely struggled against adversity,