The reminiscences and recollections of Captain Gronow, being anecdotes of the camp, court, clubs and society, 1810-1860 . raveller, any morethan the sterling qualities of the Englishman are ap-preciated by the foreigner who makes a brief sojournin Great Britain. Slowly, but, I believe, surely, theagreeable knowledge that I possess of the French isbecoming more universal; and I cannot but ima-gine that such a correct appreciation will be fraughtwith the most valuable political as well as socialresult! Intelligent Englishmen have lived long enough toappreciate the genius of Napoleon I., whose mo
The reminiscences and recollections of Captain Gronow, being anecdotes of the camp, court, clubs and society, 1810-1860 . raveller, any morethan the sterling qualities of the Englishman are ap-preciated by the foreigner who makes a brief sojournin Great Britain. Slowly, but, I believe, surely, theagreeable knowledge that I possess of the French isbecoming more universal; and I cannot but ima-gine that such a correct appreciation will be fraughtwith the most valuable political as well as socialresult! Intelligent Englishmen have lived long enough toappreciate the genius of Napoleon I., whose mode ofgoverning France has been applied by NapoleonIII., with a success which prejudice even has beencompelled to acknowledge. But 1 remember aperiod when probably not a dozen Englishmencould have been found to speak of the first em-peror with the most ordinary common sense. Iwill, however, record one honourable exception tothe rule. The late Lord Dudley and Ward, an ec-centric, but able man, was at Vienna, in the midstof a large party, who were all more or less abusingor depreciating the fallen hero, whose very name. CO X o z UJ q:u. LO Z> a. UJ > X en C/) zo o a FRANCE AND THE FRENCH. 177 had so long created fear and hatred amongst was naturally supposed that the Englishman whowas silently listening to this conversation must ofcourse, as the natural enemy of France, approve ofall that had been said. Prince Metternich turnedat last to his guest, and said, Et vous, my lord,que pensez-vous de Napoleon V Je pense, re-plied Lord Dudley, quil a rendu la gloire passeedouteuse, et la renommee future impossible. As an old soldier and an admirer of the Dukeof Wellington, I cannot altogether admit the entirejustice of the observation; yet, spoken by an Eng-lishman to the enemies of the exiled emperor, itwas a gallant homage paid to fallen greatness. The great man who now wields the destinies ofFrance possesses many of the remarkable qualitiesof the founder of his dynasty :
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