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Rh theless, he cannot help, now and then, giving us glimpses of the red and hideous ruin which Napoleon had brought on France. Here is a passage of sober but effective eloquence in which Marbot paints France as she was in 1814:

"Several military writers have expressed surprise that France did not rise as in 1792 to repel the invaders, or at least form, like the Spaniards, a focus of national defence in every province. To this the answer is, that twenty-five years of war, and the conscription too frequently anticipated, had worn out the enthusiasm which in 1792 had improvised armies. The example of Spain does not apply to France. Paris has been allowed to gain too much influence, and unless she puts herself at the head of the movement, France is helpless. In Spain, on the other hand, each province, being a little government, could act and raise an army, even when the French held Madrid. France was ruined by centralisation."

Marbot, as well as the other chroniclers, shows Napoleon's softer side. He was very indulgent to some of his lieutenants, especially to General Lasalle, who seems to have been one of the greatest scamps as well as one of the most brilliant soldiers in the army.

"Lasalle had intimate relations with a French lady in high society, and while he was in Egypt their correspondence was seized by the English and insultingly published by order of the Govern-