Note 101 — Chapter III · BOOTY AND PLUNDERING

Napoleon, who actually permitted his soldiers to plunder in numerous cases and in others, at least, did not do his best to prevent it, spoke of it at St. Helena: “Policy and morality are in complete agreement in their opposition to pillage. I have meditated a good deal on this subject; I have often been in a position to gratify my soldiers thereby; I would have done it if I had found it advantageous. But nothing is more calculated to disorganize and completely ruin an army. From the moment he is allowed to pillage, a soldier’s discipline is gone.”