'
'It melts terribly in this warm weather, lieutenant,' said the hussar,
joining in the conversation with the freedom which was one of the
characteristics of Napoleon's troops.
'Well, well, Caspar, in a year or two you will dispense with them.'
'Who knows? Perhaps he will have dispensed with his head also by that
time,' said a corporal in front, and they all laughed together in a
manner which in England would have meant a court-martial. This seemed
to me to be one of the survivals of the Revolution, that officer and
private were left, upon a very familiar footing, which was increased, no
doubt, by the freedom with which the Emperor would chat with his old
soldiers, and the liberties which he would allow them to take with him.
It was no uncommon thing for a shower of chaff to come from the ranks
directed at their own commanding officers, and I am sorry to say, also,
that it was no very unusual thing for a shower of bullets to come also.
Unpopular officers were continually assassinated by their own men; at
the battle of Montebello it is well known that every officer, with the
exception of one lieutenant belonging to the 24th demi-brigade, was shot
down from behind.
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