The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-30 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 60,

THE OLD EMPIRE.

(From the Tines' Correspondent.)
PARIS, Sept. 28.—The fact, of which there seems
scarcely a doubt, that there are still in. existence
300,000 'men entitled to claim, for service in the
French armies up to the year 1815, the newly-
instituted medal of St. Helena, brings forcibly
home to us the enormous magnitude of the military
forces of the first Napoleon. Forty-two years have
elapsed since the close of the 23 for service during
any portion of which the medal is awarded, and—
' allowing.for the fact • that during *the last two or
th; us years of the Empire the scarcity of men was
such that conscripts were called to the colours when
little over the age of 17--enone of the claimants can
be more than a few months under 60, whire those
who are so young are probably very few, for the
mortality from sickness and fatigue was great
among the lads thus prematurely levied, thousands
of whom were left in hospital or disappeared to-
tally from the ranks before they ever saw a foe.
The. mortality among the survivors during those
forty-two years was likely to bo greater than the
usual average, many of them having suffered from
wounds, and ineSt of them having endured
the fatigues, privations, and exposure of ar-
duous campaigns. Yet, in 1857; 300,000 remain.
To account for this, we need to remember the
sale of Napoleon's levies and Cie number of
nat'ons from which he drew his recruits. In
1805 he had 600,000 men in arms ; in 1812,
before the Russian campaign,' 1,200,000, of which
force 300,000 were in Spain, while half a million
composed the Grand Army, afterwards reinforced
by 100,000 more. Of the troops that went to Rus-
sia, and for the most part perished there, little
aura than one-third were French, the remainder
..Polet-rXtatiatis;--Bwirsrtiz-rn- In.
1813, within a few months after his terrible reverse,
his.army attained nearly equal numerical strength,
for he' had a million of men in arms when the war
in Germany 'began ; :the popula'ion -of France,
which then included Belgium, Holland, the Hanse
Towns, and the Roman States, amounting to 42
millions ; so that 1 in 42 of the, whole nation was
under the col airs. With the exception of Great
Britain th re was scarcely a e-mntry in Europe that
did not, at one time or other, furnish a contingent
t r the leg.oris of that most wonderful of conquerors.
But a great many of the foreigners who now have
a right to the medal were Frenchmen in name and
government at `the titre they earned it. As early
as 1795 Belgium and the other conquered territ•ry
On the left of the Rhine formed nine French de-
-1 a'trnents in 1800 four others were formed be-
tween the Meuse and the Rtiine, and the Rhine
and the Moselle, arid in thiS country, before its in-
corporation, a legion known as the Franks of the
Nor th had already been recruited. Savoy, Nic',
and Monaco were early annexed ; at the com-
mencement of the century Piedmont formed the
27th military division, comprising six departments.
Italy, as far as Rome, was gradually absorbed ;
several German States were converted into. four
French departments ; and, finally, Holland was
drawn in and made into two military divisions.
The absorption completed, in 1810 the 86 depart-
ments of France had been increased to 130, all of
which turniehed their regular quota to the con-
scription. Other countries, also annexed, but not
organised in departments, had to furnish troops.
There were the Illyrian provinces, which Mar-
mont governed; they yielded six regiments
of Croat infantry and the Regiment of Elyria ;
in the lonian Islands, in the possession of
France, were recruited a rerrierent of Albanians, a
" septinsular" battalion,- the Pandours and lonian
Chas urs. Bet these were by no means all—many
anti' ns that did not form part of Franc', but that.
we=e more or less under her domination, sent
troops to the Imperial standard. Switzerland had
constantly nearly 18,000 men with the French
arreies, besides the Battalion of Neuchatel and that
of the Valais, raised in the department of the
Simplen ; Roland was a great feeder of Napoleon's
armies, and it is estimated that 85,000 Poles fought
in he .11u-situ campaign. Then there were Ger-
man legions and battalions, from Westphalia,
Hanover, Hesse ; contingents from numerous
small German princes, supplied to Napoleon in his
quality of Protector of the Confederation of the
Rhine ; there were three regiments compose] of a
medley of Hungarians, Sweden, Rugsians, Austrians,
SaxenA,.Danes, Bavarians, Bohemians, prisoners of
war co:rpelled to serve their captors. There was a
Poi tuguose Legion, there was the Spanish r egiment
of Joseph Napoleon, and there was an Irish regi-
ment. Finally, the army of Egypt, the Mame-
bakes of the Guard, and the Black Pioneers com-
prised. Africans and Levantirres, Turks, Greeks,
Syrians, Maltese, &c. It is estimated that thirty-
five different nations contributed to the tremendous
armies tha so long made Europe one great battle-
fi,l-1, and to whose remnants, still a very numerous
army of old men, has now b. en granted a memento
of their campaigns.