626 LOOT OF THE IMPERIAL SUMMER PALACE AT PEKIN. 



victory Itriiiys once more uroiuid them their liiiman Hock, who iire .soon 

 dismayed at not feeliuo- upon forehead and shoulders tlie accustomed 

 yoke, and will come of their own accord to take it up again. 



Montauban, with all his energy, coukl no more have prevented his 

 troops from passing through the great gate of the summer palace, than 

 Napoleon, with the prestige of a demigod, could have stopped his armies 

 tlying from the Held of Waterloo; accordingly he remained in his tent, 

 equally abandoned by his men. while General Grant remained in his 

 own, and both did right. 



Lord! I do not wish to make myself out better than I am. 1 never 

 set up for an angel for fear 1 should pass for a fool, and 1 admit thatl 

 could have taken my share of the treasures of the Son of Heaven with- 

 out any scruples. 1 even think that I might have stuffed my pockets 

 a little fuller than most of my comrades, because I had an advantage 

 over them in a more perfect knowledge of the xalue of the articles 

 and in the habit of a collector, which would have assisted me in choos- 

 ing the most precious and the least cumbersome. It was self-interest 

 that held me l)ack; for living in close relations with the (General, eating 

 with him, leaving him scarcely more than did his shadow, I could not 

 hope by any device to hidc^ from him my booty. Besides, I saw that he 

 was distressed at what was taking })lace. and I did not wish to increase 

 his displeasure. And why didn't I wish to give him troubled In the 

 tirst place, because 1 loved him; but, secondarily. I»ecause I knew that 

 there was destined for me in his hands a little thing, m}' cross of the 

 Legion of Honor, which had been promised me. Now to have the 

 cross at twenty seemed to me something that 1 would have gone 

 through the tire for. As to the riches of the summer palace and its 

 golden pagodas and diamonds, the Kmpeioi- might ha\e them, the 

 others might take them. 



Oh, youth! Oh, brave da3's when 1 was twenty! Oh, illusions! 

 Oh, dreams! How good it all is, even when you are fooled by it! 



I was simply an onlooker, a disinterested but curious spectator, and 

 I enjoyed this strange, luiforgetable vision. There was this ant-heap 

 of men of every color, of every race, this entanglement of individuals 

 from every nation on the earth, swarming on this mound of riches, 

 hurrahing in all the languages of the globe, hurr3'ing, struggling, 

 stumbling, falling, picking themselves up, swearing, cursing, exclaim- 

 ing, while each carried off something. I say it looked like an ant- 

 heap, crushed under one's foot, where the terrified workers 11}' in every 

 direction, one with a grain of wheat, another with a bug, another with 

 an egg. There were troopers, their heads buried in the boxes of red 

 lacquer belonging to the Empress; others, half smothered in the folds 

 of brocades and of pieces of silk; still others, who had placed rubies, 

 sapphires, pearls, and rock crystals in their pockets, in their hats, in 

 their cloaks, and who hung around their necks strings of great pearls. 



