Note 158 — BOOK THE THIRD 1812-1815

“C’etoit un de mes caprices,” said that great Prince of him at Elba. He had educated and fostered him like a son, he promoted him like a favourite, and he was basely betrayed by him at Fontainebleau in 1814. I remember Sir Lionel Copley, in 1799, defended his suspicions of General Moreau by a humorous, not to say nonsensical, coincidence: “When there are prospects of restorations by treachery,” said he, “I do not like a General whose name begins with an M.” What maledictions would he not have uttered when Marmont and Morillo were added to the list of Monk and Moreau!—V.H.

[Marmont, Duke of Ragusa (1774-1852) served in the artillery with Napoleon, and was his principal aide-de-camp in his Italian campaign of 1796. He reached the rank of Marshal in 1809, being promoted for his success at Wagram. He defended Paris in 1813 against the Allies while there was any hope of success, but afterwards went over to the enemy, and was among the number of those excepted by Napoleon from the amnesty on his return from Elba.]