imate, without which they must have been completely
conquered. I will say this, indeed, that the Russians themselves seem to
consider their own efforts as rather secondary to the weather. Besides
this officer we had a Citizen of Metz, a young officer of the
Polytechnique School who had fought at Montmartre, and a youth who was
silent; the other 3, however, made ample amends, talking incessantly,
and all equally vehement in praise of Buonaparte. The officer blessed
his stars that he had enough to live upon, and that he was now quitting
a service which, having lost its brightest ornament, was no longer
interesting or supportable. The young Polytechnique was equally violent,
with less of the gentleman to soften it down. He, too, was disgusted,
and had retired for the same reason (these Frenchmen are sad liars after
all). Of course, as he had been engaged with his school companions I
thought I could not have a better opportunity of ascertaining the number
killed at Montmartre, as it was invariably circulated and believed at
Paris that this defence was noble to a degree and that the greater part
perished by their guns. You will recollect that the Polytechnique cadets
I met on the heights of Montmartre said the same, and yet the youth
asserted that they had not lost a single individual, that only 30 were
wounded, whereas they knocked over the Russians in countless
multitudes.[83] The Citizen took the best ground for his Panegyric. He
referred us to the roads, the public buildings, the national
improvements which France had gained under the dynasty of Napoleon; and
when I hinted the intolerable weight of the taxes (being 1/5 on all
rents and property) he made light of them, assuring me that Frenchmen
had quite enough left for the comforts of life. When they all filled
their glasses to drink to the health of their hero I turned to the
Genoese officer and begged first to drink to the restoration of Genoa to
that independence of which Napoleon had in great measure deprived her,
adding that her present degradation was a cruel contrast to the
dignified station she once held in Europe. His national superseded his
Imperial feelings, and he drank my toast with great good humour and
satisfaction; nor did he think it necessary in return to press me to
drink success to the Emperor, though the Citizen on my refusal, half in
joke, half in earnest, said he wished I might be ill off for the rest of
my journey.

My good fortune has not quitte