The mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1863-1943, 1865-01-21
sOuIt's Opinion Of Napoleon and his
Generals.

VeTsQtIOn WlIu UeHeTut OOuIt HdS Oeen
nuhlished am0Pg the pAne<s- & Siv WU~
4,or,,ess, ~44su& 1T the --hrstory or the
Peninsular War"
"'Grouchy,' be said, was not traitor;
he was unequal to bis situation that is to
say, he could not command more than q
few thousand men. calculated, said
Soult, the value of the French Generals by
the number Of men they were capable OF
commanding. name nobody, but there
were amongst them men who were worth
ten thousand men, who were worth fifteen
thousand, twenty thousand, thirty thou.
sand, forty.five thousand, or even in case
of necessity, sixty thousand. The art of
commanding armies becomes more diff.
cult as the numbers increase. 1t is very
difficult to command eighty thousand, and
impossible to command hundred thou.
sand. Pass hundred thousand, and the
human mimi is scarcely equal to the task.
Napoleon committed great error in Civ
ing so many men to Grouchy. l>t. That
General was not equal to the command.
End. Ten thousand men would have been
sufficient to impose upon the PrusSians.
DhN SNNhNNo ht w W.
changed; there were moments when his
genius and activity seemed as powerful
al as fresh as ever; at other moments he
seemed apaIhcic. For example, he fought
the battle Of Waterloo without having
himself examined the encmy's position.
He trusted to General lIaxo'S report. In
former days he would have examined and
re.examined it in person. Ney was the
evil genius of the campaign; he neglected
his orders at Quatre Bras, and again at
Waterloo: he attacked Wellington'S posi-.
ton beyond Ia IIaye Sainte contrary to
orders, and too soon but he is dead, he
was unfortunate. do not like to speak
of his errors IIoche-Soult knew him
we'll 4 was with him, he said, when
he died; be was poisoned bv the Dirccto.
ry; thought so at the time, | think so
STILL Napoleon-'Marshal! Was not
Napoleon the greatest genius Of all the
men France produced?' 'Ah bah yes
there was no comparison WAS he not
a good and kind man also?' Here Soult
raised his head with great eagcrness, and
exclaimed in an emphatic manner, Ja-
mais, jamais, iamais! 1t was necessary,
when once you were known to him, to
commit faults, nay, even crimes, over and
over again, twenty, thirty times, before
he could bring himself even to punish.
Joseph-'At the battle of Ocana, Joseph
! was at my side, and so meek, so quiet, |
could have put him in my pocket. After
the battle was gained and that we had
supped, instead Of convcrsinS upon the
action Of the war, he entered into vehe.
ment allocutinn against the Emperor. and
told me that he had written to him let
ter which he would show me. 1t WAS
menacing, urgent. inSolent; and his dis.
course went to sounding me upon exciting
the army against Napoleon. rose from
my chair aud addressed him thuS: Sine
you speak and act in such n manner thai
you give me the right to treat You with
out reserve or ceremnuy ; and first, il is
fortunate for YOU that choose to speak t.
yuu as a private pcr>o', and not as Mar.
>hal OF France. What you imagine that
the cclat OF such victory as Ocana rcn
derS you 50 dear to the French soldiers,
that they will support your absurd and
rash notions? Suppose it were true, have
you gained the affections also Of the rest
Of the French army in Spain Are you
sure Of those who remain to France out
of Spain? You are wofully deceived
beware Of how you try of what you are
thinking, even with the army here under
our orders; it will be dangerous. And
then you menace your brother! You
menace Napoleon! Oh, Sire, you shock
me- Here Soult put himself into the at
! titudc, and useJ the same gestures as he
had to Joseph, and they were very stri
king; he covered his eyes with one Of his
hands and with the other seemed to re.
pulse some horrid image, and his color and
looks were very animated.) who are
you? What are you? Who made you?
Your brother; and you menace him.
Burn your letter, Sire, and think again.
What, exclaimed the King. am not his
elder brother, the chief of his family /?
Yes, Sire, but you speak not as broth
er; you speak and would act as a King
and you are not the chief of mOnarchs.
Burn your letter Marceau-' Marceau
was clever and good, and Of great prom
iSc. but he had little experience before he
/ fell Moreal-'No great things Au-
ger au--ditto. Jnnot--ditto. .-Gouvion
st. Cvr-'A clever man and good off
cer, but deficient in enterprise aud vignr.
Ma"dnnall-'Too regular, too methodical;
an excellent man, but not a great general.
Ney-'No extent of capacity; but he was
unfortunate; he is dead Victorian old
woman; quite incapable. JOurdan-
Not capable Of leading large armies. -
MaSSrna-' Excellent IN great danger; neg
lIGcnt aud of no goodness out OF Danger.
Knew war we'll Marmont ont-'Under>tands
the theory Of war perfectly. History will
tell what he did with his knowledge -
CThiS was accompanied with a Sardonic
>mile) Regnicr-'An excellent officer.
denied this, and gave Snult the history
Of his operations at Sabugal. Sout re.
piled that he was considered a great Of
Hcer in France but il what said could
not be cOntroverted rs to fact, he was not
a great officer his reputation was unmer.
tied The facts were correctly stated =
But Regnier was certainly disafected to
Napoleon at the time his unSkillful con-
duct might have been intentional. Des-
saix- Clever, indetatigabIe, always, i'm
proving his mind; full of information
about his profession great soldier, a
noble character in all points of view; per-
haps not one of the greatest Of generals
by nature, but likely to become SO by
study and practice, when he was killed.
Kleber-'Knew him perfectly; colossal in
/ body, colossal in mind. lie was the god
of war; Mars in human shape. He knew
more than Hoche, more than Dcssaix; he
was greater general, but he VAS idle, in
dolent; he would not work Berthier and
Clarke--'Old women Catins. The Em-
peror knew them and their talents. They
were fit for tools, machines F.; good for
writing down his orders and making ar