The Sun.
London, England, 1808-11-08 00:00:00

Of thetr, over the territory of the lice public Of `l,•fe-
,• nice; but it will never forget that a long course •of
friendship unites the two Republics- ,
vernment,' cu§tflinb,rnanners, property, all shell be
reseeded'! het, the people then repose in,perfeEt
security 6 The. most se,:ere-emcipline shall be, main-
tained ; eitery, thing wthich shall be furnished to the
army shall be , scrupulously paid, for- in specie.__
Faiififql iri.the paths of honour, as in
_these •
.of
tory, the French s)lelier is onvic-
ly terrible to the enc.
.Such, with a fevislight -variations, were the Pro-
clamations which BMONAPARTE issued in every
country that .he entered. He announced rneinte
nance of distipline, respea for the property of, in-
dividuals, specie, of every, thing,
that, was furnish-4Jc). his army. This was what
he promised we: will now shew what he per-
formed
~ His, army having.sUfered from the long and sever()
Privations in the Genoese territories; BUONAPARTE
resolved to;pfocure it some indeinnification! He
made 'hisJroops, therefore,. pass from starvation to
a state of absolute abundance. Clothing, horbes,.
food, were to be stipplied by the people, either van-
quished or friendly to him ; for he made. no dif7,
ferenee between the one
.and the other. gis sol-
diers'were.almost naked--,.it was necessary clothe
them : for this purpose a vast number of shops and
warehouses of cloth; of linen, of stockings, of
shoes, and,.of hats, were completely stripped.
The
wretched merchants, seeing
,their magazines thus
• pillaged, gave 166se to grief ; they exclaimed+
eiee4lofm
against tliegf,foFi rr. and • were ridiculed ',they re-.
monstratedoimildt•-were not heard. As a full satis-
i
fddioti, they were presented, with drafts on the Rink,
of the Diredory, payable at Paris, or with bills on
the CoMmissariesef the army 1 N,-ither the one
nor the other were ever discharged, and bankrupt-
clesi rapidly increasing from day to day, coread c On-
sternat ion 'and despair through every town.
The French cavalry stood in need of tieing.
mounted -be Sides this, horses' were wanted for the
'artillery, for tho..ainrocinition Wag-gonS, for all the
bai.-tgftg of the army, and tor the service of the
officers. All,fliNev:horses were take' by violence,
• eif
not only from the•-stables of the rich, but from the
fields of the peasatctry ; who", thus .cruelly robbe
were unable to cultivate the grodnd. Nor did 'the
French content thernsAvet with taking the' horses
only; they seized the coaChei and' Othur velieles of
the Nobility. And for•whoin ? For the Cominander
in Chief, •RLYONkPARTE, for all the other
and head of the di:Fere,' t car
themselves with a puerile ostentation iti -th ,e most
superb carriages of the Italian Nobles; althongh not"
one Of them, perh.,p,,, before the revolution, had
ever -rode in any nobler vehicle than ,a stage-coach'
or a cart ! It is needk:s:.; to add that none of those

nernli

carriages, none of t

Tses

-re ever paid for,

even when they; were -,,_,---
. .
san,try.
This isynet aft!
,It'was necessary every day to feed;
r)0t06.0 iJ.
~
and ampitNeg?l, the starved. and -3venons- French
army.' All the communitics were therefore assessed
at a:filted'quantity of provisions, in bread,' wine;
meat,. and rice ; and these praisions were even fur-
, nished to the Officers, in propoiltion to their respec-
tive ranics,-altbough the itin.;keepers were obliged, to
find them every
_daY a profuse and splendid table !
and what was the indemnity-offered to the commu-
nities. and the innTkeepers ? The same kind of
drafts as the- merchants had received before, and-
'.: . ..
~ . • '
whictivmmlyrecisely in the same manner /-
It must not be supposed that any want of
money
authorised this dkitionesty :-, it was merely the pfea-
, sure of BUONAPAIVI`E. He bad it in his powerlo
pay all, and paid none ! The pecuniary contribu-
tions which he exa6ted from the Duke
,of PARMA
amounted to two million French livres ; those from
the Duke of MoDeNA,to seven millions and a half;
of which three were to be instantly placed at the
dispOSal of the Paymaster of the Forces. Add to
this, that the King of SARDINIA had assuredly paid -
very high for the armistice which he bad obtained.
What. then .became of all this money ? You
would naturally: imagine that it was
.employed to
. ...
pay the army. Nat at all. N.:.zik.'e your inqUiries on
this' head, of all the inhabitants of Italy. ; and all will
'unite in assuring ou that it was still they who paid
the troops'. that icir this purpose enormous Contribu-
tions Winteirnpnsqtd,on them ;- and that it was not the
CemtnahileidlnlChief alone who imposed- those
enormous centributiOns, hut that even the Genei-als
and CorurniSsaries' of the Army arrogated to them-
, selve3-the same right, and augmented the burden of
the- peop/e by .%.,exatiou3 and oppressive demands.

n" fi

be poorest pea.-

It was in this manner
-.that BLIONAPARTE kept
Iris_ promise of respecting .property ! It was in this
manner that he treated the people whom he came,
in bis own words, to deliver from the Austrian yoke,
and tcywhom he. held out the assurance of the most:
cordial`f44l.ll4l7'
:".16;1°i h.army
t is that t-e promise
of paying for evflpyrthing in specie was an insulting
tiwniceiy,' that of the ()thee% and alien vom-