“However, such is the influence of report that these stories, however absurd, were credited by the vulgar, and are perhaps still believed by a numerous class of persons. Happily the statements of the historian who reasons are divested of this pernicious effect.”
Then, returning to the former topic of conversation, he said, "What a number of great Generals arose suddenly during the revolution: Pichegru, Kleber, Massena, Marceau, Desaix, Hoche, &c., and almost all were originally private soldiers. But here the efforts of nature seem to have been exhausted; for she has produced nothing since, or at least nothing so great. At that period every thing was submitted to competition among thirty millions of men, and nature necessarily asserted her rights: whereas, subsequently, we were again confined within the narrower limits of order and the forms of society. I was even accused of having surrounded myself, in military and civil posts, with men of inferior ability, the better to display my own superiority. But now, when the competition will not certainly be renewed, it remains for those who are in power to make a better selection. We shall see what they will do.
"Another circumstance, not less remarkable, was the extreme youth of some of these Generals, who seemed to have started ready made from the hands of nature. Their characters were perfectly suited to the circumstances in which they were placed, with the exception of Hoche, whose morals were by no means pure. The others had no object in view save _glory_ and _patriotism_, which formed their whole circle. They were men after the antique model.
"Desaix was surnamed by the Arabs the _Just Sultan_; at the funeral of Marceau, the Austrians observed an armistice, on account of the respect they entertained for him: and young Duphot was the emblem of perfect virtue.
"But the same commendations cannot be bestowed on those who were farther advanced in life: for they belonged in some measure to the era that had just passed away. Massena, Augereau, Brune, and many others, were merely intrepid plunderers. Massena was, moreover, distinguished for the most sordid avarice. It was asserted that I played him a trick which might have proved a hanging matter; that, being one day indignant at his last depredations, I drew on his banker for 2 or 3,000,000. Great embarrassment ensued: for my name was not without its weight. The banker wrote to intimate that he could not pay the sum without the authority of Massena. On the other hand, he was urged to pay it without hesitation, as Massena, if he were wronged, could appeal to the courts of law for justice. Massena however resorted to no legal measures, and suffered the money to be paid.