New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-08-25
IN NAPOLEON'S WARS.
THE FORTUNES OF AN HUMBLE SOLDIER
INFINITELY RELATED.

uoirs so fiourishinR OF late, 10 the stage Where
Daniel Defoe would have been glad 10 take A
hand in It, Jean-Roch Coignet always doing his
dutv and always having the most unexpected sd-
ventures would have been hero quite to De-
foes mind. To say this is not to cast any doubt
On the reality Of Coignet any more than on that
., Robinson Crusoe But NJ IArchey has taken
exactly the same method Of Justifying his MARIA
tive that Defoe would have taken II he had
s,muar affair 10 handle He anticipates scepti-
cism. and meets 1t more than half way. His read
ers are asked to look on the military record OF
CAPTAIN Coignet as still preserved in the archives
., France and to examine his handwriting.
snecimen OF which IL carefully given in fac-simile.
Rut after all. these things might prove only that
the memoirs had been studously adapted to as
certainabe dates in the career Of an obscure Off
GER about whom nothing else was known. The
documents are too slight for proof of an ausobi-
ography the genuneness Of which as whole,
not in specific parts, is in question
Cantain Cognet is supposed to have taken up
his rather unskilfu pen at the ripe age OF TWO
and seventy years to write out his "reminiscences.
He betrays no lapses Of memory. Every incident
Of his career Is as fresh with him as II he had
kept a journal all his life. But the memory OF
early years becomes more vivid as age increases
is the triumphant reply Of NJ Larchey' VINO seems
to forget for an instant that his nero mas as good
o r,or,orv of what happened to him after 1880 as
he has of his youth before 1900. Coignets memory
has none of the eccentricties OF age III IL rather
that Of man In mature years. who can recall at
will many things which he may seem In the press
NJ other matters 70 have forgotten. to whom his
whole mast presents itself in orderly sequence. Il
do not feel that Cognet invented anything, NJ
Larchev is made to say In the translation OF Mrs.
Carey There is a point Of view from which this
sentence could be taken for concession to those
who as NJ. Larchey says. accuse MIN OF having
Fabricated an original manuscript What were
the need of an inventive Coignet II NJ Larcney
had invention enough for two? To all sceptcs NJ
Larchey gives this advice. In AuXerre al the
municipal library they car question NJ. Moard
who gave NJ Larchey the chance OF seeing cog
nets manuscript. They can also see NJ. Lorn
its last owner. They can see NJ. Monceau VINO
gave NJ Larchey two portraits of Cognet. Here
NJ Larchey or his translator has committed the
slip of spelling NJ Monceau's name in two differ
ent ways. In short they may do an endless num-
Der of things to ascertain that there was yeter-
an captain OF the Empire named Cognet, VINO
passed his last days at Auxerre' but they are not
told that they can see the manuscript Of which
NJ I.archey's book is said TO be a printed copy
How like the strategy Of Defoe all this Is. 1t Is
lust as il NJ Larchey meant to have the one de-
cisive fact forgotten in the midst OF a multitude
of details more or less relevant TO his theme.
NJ Larchey has really succeeded in his plan
He has produced book, genuine or feigned.
which has a veritable air Of history. He mas
banled criticism. and has left doubt where denial
might have been certainty Even the very
errors Of the story are made to sustain It's au-
thenticity as a personal narrative. II Coignet
in his younger days as non-commissioned
officer is overwhelmed By the magn.hcence OF his
captains house and the ladies of high degree
whom he meets there the reader H. kindly eau
toned in a footnote to remember that 1t Is only
a sergeant who Is speaking. He Is also told not
to believe Coignet when he says that the stirrups
Of the First Consul were OF solid gold Besides.
two paragraphs which Cognet inserted in the
edition of his memoirs printed under his own
supervision al Auxerre vigilantly pointed out
as not in the manuscript which was used by VI.
Larchey In short. NJ. Larchey is not going to
permit his readers t, be fooled in the minutest
particular If he can help it.
Another merit of this took is that IL does not
matter whether Cognet ever existed or not. II
is contribution to the great epic OF French
history from a side hard to reach. What the
great figure Of this epic thought and felt has
been dwelt upon by himself and others until a
vast library has been built up around his name
Apparently. the world knows all about Napoleon.
and yet two men are agreed upon an est-
mate of his character. Meanwhile the men who
made Napoleon possible. the French soldiers of
the closing years Of the last century and the
opening years Of the present one. have not been
studied with the care that might restore to OBJ
servation their minute individual characteristics
In this book the uneducated private soldier is
the hero What he did. what he thought what
his feelings were within a mental horizon limited
by the commands OF his officers all these are re-
fected with an accuracy which makes all ques
tons Indifferent respecting the origin OF NJ
Larchey's narrative. Even If 1t be fiction from
the personal point Of view 1t Is history. valid
enough in every other aspect. Its prosaic
method, its lack OF all HEROES carry conviction
One is reminded by contrast Of the melodramatic
outbursts of "Reminiscences in Les Mserables."
which. stirring they are, have none Of that
cynical moderation noted in men to whom war
is a twce-told tale. Coignet never grows elo |
quent. It is all very simple to him. this matter
Of camping and marching about, OF fighting in
Italy or Prussia. or Austria. of getting wounded
killed. OF starving in Bavaria or freezing In
Russia. He does not take the trouble to blame
his superiors unless they interfere with what he
knows 10 be his duty a soldier. In battle |
he tells only Of what one man could be cognizant
Of with his own senses, or Of such things as he |
has heard with his own ears. On the march |
and in camp he is more anxious about food and
forage than he isabout the plans Of his generals
He is so frank that he can boast without being
blamed. The number of his single combats IL
really surprising. and he always comes of victor
With sabre or with piston he is sure death to his
foe. His instincts unerring when 1t comes
to finding hidden store. say. Of cured hams or
sausages in Germany. The finest touch in the
narrative is his fondness for the Germans. For
all the other peoples overrun by Napoleon he has
contempt hatred. But the Germans AL