The life of Napoleon Buonaparte, emperor of the French. By Sir Walter Scott.

4P6 LIFE OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.
wfho were bred up among the common children of who applied the system to the conduct of distarn
the peasants, that their future grandeur might not offensive wars, no otherwise necessary than for the
too much or too early obscure the real views of ha- satisfaction of his own ambition, stands liable to the
mall nature and character. But it is unnecessary to heavy charge of having drained the very life-blood
speculate on a system which never was doomed to of the people intrusted to his charge, not for the
I be brought to experiment; only, we may presume defence of' their own country, but to extend the
it was intended to teach the young Napoleon more ravages of war to distant and uunoflending regions.
respect to the right of property which his princely The French conscription was yet more severely
companions held in their toys and playthings, than felt by the extreme rigour of its conditions. No
htis father evinced towards the crowns and sceptres distinction was made betwixt the married man
of his brothers and allies. whose absence might be the rain of his family, and
the single member of a numerous lineage, who
could be easily spared. The son of the widow, the
CHAPTER LVIII. child of the decrepid and helpless, had no right to
claim an exemption. Three sons mlight be carried
Military details.-Plan of the cotscription-I-s nature of in three successive years frol the same desolated
-and efuc7tr the general citharacter of the French so- paents; there was no allowance made for having
jlctrnce upon the general character of the French sot- already supplied a recruit. Those unable to serve
diery.-New mode of conductinrg hostilities introduced
bJy the Revolttiont.-Costiitetion of the French armies were mulcted in a charge proportioned to the quota
-Forced marches.-La maraude-Its?natucre-and ef- of taxes which they or their parents contributed to
fects-on the eneniy's country, and on the Freunch sol- the state, and which might vary firom fifty to twelve
diers themselves.-Policy of Napoleon, in his personal hundred francs. Substitutes might indeed be offered,
conduct to his officers and soldiers.-Altered character but then it was both difficult and expensive to procure
of the French soldiery during, and after, the Revole. them, as the law required that such substitutes
tion-Explaidied. should not only have the usual personal qualifications
for a military life, but should be dom:nesticated within
WE have shown that the course of education the same district as their plrincipal, or come within
practised in France was so directed, as to turn the the conscription of the year. Suitable persons were
thoughts and hopes of the youth to a military life, sure to know their own value, and had learned so
and prepare them to obey the call of the conscrip- well to profit by it, that they were not to be bribed
tion. This means of recruiting the military force, to serve without excessive bounties. The substithe most formidable ever established in a civilized tutes also had the practice of deserting upon the
nation, was originally presented to the Council of road, and thus cheating the principal, who remained
Five Hundred in 1798. It comprehended a series answerable for them till they joined their colours.
of lists, containing the names of the whole youth of On the whole, the difficulty of obtaining exemption
the kingdom, from the age of twenty to twenty- by substitution was so great, that very many young
five, and empowering government to call them out men, well educated, and of respectable families,
successively, in such numbers as the exigencies of were torn from all their more propitious prospects,
the state should require. The classes were five in to bear the life, discharge the duties, and die the
number. The first contained those who were aged death of common soldiers in a marching regiment.
twenty years complete, before the commencement There was no part of Napoleon's government
of' the year relative to which the conscription was enforced with such extreme rigour as tile levy of the
demanded, and the same rule applied to the other conscriptiois. The mayor, upon whom the duty
four classes of men, who had attained the twenty- devolved of seeing the number called for selected
first, twenty-second, twenty-third, twenty-fourth, by lot from the class to -whoim they belonged, was
and twenty-fifth years successively, before the same compelled,'under the most severe penalties, to avoid
period. In practice, however, the second class of con. showing the slightest indulgence,-the brand, the
scripts were not called out until the first were actually pillory, or the galleys, awaited the magistrate himin service, nor as it usual to demand more than the sell; if he'was found to have favoured any individual
first class in ainy one year. But as the first class on whom the law of conscription had claims. The
anmounted to 60 or 80,000, so forcible and general a same laws held out the utmost extent of their terlevy presented inmuense facilities to the government, rors against refiactory conscripts, and the public
and was proportionally burdensome to the people. fiunctionaries were everywhere in search of them.'his lav, undoubtedly, has its general principle When arrested, they were treated like convicts of
in the duty which every one owes to his country. the most infamous description. Clothed in a dress
Nothing can be miore true, than that all men ca- of infimy, loaded with chains, and dragging weights
pable of bearing arus are liable to be emlployed in which were attached to them, they were condenmnthe defence of the state; and nothing call be more ed like galley slaves to work upon the public filrtifipolitic, than that the obligatiomn which is incumbent cations. Their relations did not escape, but were
upoun ail should be, in the first instance, imposed often rendered liable for fines and penalties.
upon the youth, who are best qualified for nilitary Blut perhaps the most horrible part of the fate of
service lby the freshness of their age, and whose the conscript was, that it was determined for life.
nbsence ftromn the ordinary businuess of the countrly'rvo or three, even four or five years spent in mniliwvill occasion the least inconvemnience. But it is tary service, might have formed a more enduirable,
obvious, tlhat such a measure can only be vindicated though certainly a severe tax upon human life, with
i ut1,ltsie wavr. andl that the conduct of Bonaparte, its natural plospects and purposes. But the con