. Charles O'Malley, the Irish dragoon . uld be compelled to evacuate the Peninsula,and under favor of a convention be permitted to return toEngland. All this was sufficiently ridiculous, coming froma youth of nineteen, wounded, in misery, a prisoner; butfurther experience of his nation has shown me that was not the exception, but the rule. The convictionin the ultimate success of their ^rmy, whatever be themerely momentary mishap, is the one present thought ofa Frenchman; a victory with them is a conquest; a defeat, 404 CHAELES OMALLEY. — if they are by any chance driven to acknowledg
. Charles O'Malley, the Irish dragoon . uld be compelled to evacuate the Peninsula,and under favor of a convention be permitted to return toEngland. All this was sufficiently ridiculous, coming froma youth of nineteen, wounded, in misery, a prisoner; butfurther experience of his nation has shown me that was not the exception, but the rule. The convictionin the ultimate success of their ^rmy, whatever be themerely momentary mishap, is the one present thought ofa Frenchman; a victory with them is a conquest; a defeat, 404 CHAELES OMALLEY. — if they are by any chance driven to acknowledge one, —a fatalite. I was too young a man, and still more, too young a soldier,to bear with this absurd affectation of superiority as I ought,and consequently was glad to wander, whenever I could,from the contested point of our national superiority to othertopics. St. Croix, although young, had seen much of theworld as a page in the splendid court of tlie Tuileries; thescenes passing before his eyes were calculated to make a .-^ja;. strong impression; and by many an anecdote of his formerlife, he lightened the road as we passed along. * You promised, by-the-bye, to tell me of your did that occur, St. Croix ? Ah, par Dleu / that was an unfortunate affair for me;then began all my misliaps. But for that, I should neverhave been sent to rontaine])leau; never have played leap-frog with the Emperor; never have been sent a soldier intoSpain. True, said he, laughing, I should never have had THE MARCH. 405 the happiness of your acquaintance. But still, I d muchrather have met you first in the Place des Victoires than inthe Estrella Mountains. Who knows ? said I; perhaps your good genius pre-vailed in all this. Perhaps, said he, interrupting me ; thats exactlywhat the Empress said, — she was my godmother, — Juleswill be a Marechal de France yet. But certainly, it mustbe confessed, I have made a bad beginning. However, youwish to hear of ray disgrace at court. Allan
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