The Daily Dispatch: October 5, 1864., [Electronic resource]

Napoleon and his Generals.

"Grouchy," he said, "was not a traitor; he was unequal to his situation-- that is to say, he could not command more than a few thousand men. I calculated (said Soult) the value of French generals by the number of men they were capable of commanding. I name nobody, but there were amongst them men who were worth ten thousand men; who were worth fifteen-thousand, twenty thousand, or even, in case of necessity, sixty thousand. The art of commanding armies becomes more difficult as the numbers increase. It is very different to command eighty thousand and to command a hundred thousand. Pass a hundred thousand, and the human mind is scarcely equal to the task.

Napoleon committed a great error in giving so many men to Grouchy. 1st. That General was not equal to the command. 2d. Ten thousand men would have been sufficient to impose on the Prussians. But the Emperor seemed at times to be changed; there were moments when his genius and activity seemed as powerful and as fresh as ever; at other moments he seemed apathetic. For example, he fought the battle of Waterloo without having himself examined the enemy's position. He trusted to General Haxo's report. In former days, he would have examined and re-examined it is person. Ney was the evil genius of the campaign; he neglected his orders at Quatre Bras, and again at Waterloo; he attacked Wellington's position beyond Haye Saint contrary to orders and too soon; but he is dead; he was unfortunate. I do not like to speak of his errors.

Hoche.--Soult knew him well. "I was with him," he said, ‘"when he died; he was poisoned by the Directory; I thought so at the time; I 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 eagerness, and exclaimed in an emphatic manner, "Napoleon n'a jamais perdu personne de son propre mouvement — jamais, jamais, jamais ! It 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 Ocans, Joseph was at my side, and so meek, so quiet, I could have put him in my pocket. After the battle was gained, and we had supped, instead of conversing upon the action and the war, he entered into a vehement allocution against the Emperor, and told me that he had written to him a letter which he would show me. It was menacing, urgent, insolent; and his discourse went to sounding me upon exciting the army to resist Napoleon. I rose from my chair and addressed him thus: "Sire, you speak and act in such a manner that you give me the right to treat you without reserve or ceremony; and, first, it is fortunate for you that. I choose to speak to you as a private person and not as a marshal of France.--What ! you imagine that the of such a victory as Ocana renders you so

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 woefully deceived; beware of how you try what you are thinking of, even with the army here under your orders; it will be dangerous. And then you menace your brother! You! you menace Napoleon! Oh, Sire! you shock me." (Here Soult put himself into the attitude, and used the same gestures as he had done to Joseph, and they were very striking; he covered his eye with one of his hands, and with the other seemed to repulse some horrid image, and his color and looks were very animated.) "Who are you? what are you? who has made you? Your brother; and you menace him! Burn your letter, Sire, and think again." "What!" exclaimed the king, "am I not his eider brother, the chief of his family?" "Yes, Sire, but you speak not as a brother; 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 promise, but he had little experience before he fell."

Moreau.--"No great things."

Augereau.--Ditto.

Junot.--Ditto.

Gouvion St. Cyr.--"A clever and a good officer, but deficient in enterprise and vigor."

Macdonald.--"Too regular, too methodical; an excellent man, but not a great general."

Ney.--"No extent of capacity; but he was unfortunate; he is dead."

Victor.--"An old woman, quite incapable."

Jourdan--"Not capable of leading large armies."

Massena.--"Excellent in great danger; negligent and of no goodness out of danger. Knew war well."

Marmont.--"Understands the theory of war perfectly. History will tell what he did with his knowledge." (This was accompanied with a sardonic smile.)

Regnier.--"An excellent officer." (I denied this, and gave Soult the history of his operations at Sabugal.) Soult replied that he was considered to be a great officer in France; but if what I said could not be controverted as to fact, he was not a great officer; his reputation was unmerited. (The facts were correctly stated, but Regnier was certainly disaffected to Napoleon at the time; his unskillful conduct might have been intentional.)

Desaix.--"Clever, indefatigable, always improving his mind, full of information about his profession, a great soldier, a noble character in all points of view; perhaps not amongst 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. He was the god of war; Mars in human shape. He knew more than Hoche, more than Desaix; he was a greater general, but he was idle, indolent, and would not work."

Berthier and Clarke.--"Old women--Catins. The Emperor knew them and their talents; they were fit for tools, machines, good for writing down his orders, and making arrangements according to rule; he employed them for nothing else. Bah! they were very poor. I could do their work as well or better than they could, but the Emperor was too wise to employ a man of my character at a desk; he knew I could control and tame wild men, and he employed me to do so."