The military occupation of France, painful as it was to the inordinate pride of the people—especially after their armies had run riot in every capital of the Continent,—was rendered still more unbearable by the excesses which the Prussians indulged in. Following the example set by their gallant, but irrational, Commander, both Officers and men exercised their authority in a harsh and often in a brutal manner. Forgetful of what they owed to Louis XVIII., whose restoration absolved the French from past offences, and mindful only of the grievous tyranny which they had experienced, they made the unfortunate inhabitants feel the full measure of their revenge, by their arrogance and exactions. “Blücher’s troops were billeted in every house; he obliged the inhabitants to feed and clothe them; and he issued an order (which I well recollect seeing), commanding the authorities to supply each soldier with a bedstead containing a bolster, a woollen mattress, two new blankets, and a pair of linen sheets. The rations per day, for each man, were two pounds of butcher’s meat, a bottle of wine, a quarter of a pound of butter, ditto rice, a glass of brandy, and some tobacco[48].... Blücher’s Generals occupied all the best hôtels in the Faubourg St. Germain; General Thieleman that of Marshal Ney, where he forcibly took possession of the plate, carriages, and horses. Other Prussian Generals acted in a similar manner. The Russian and Austrian armies with the two Emperors entered Paris soon after our arrival. The Emperors imitated Blücher in some respects; they refused to quarter their soldiers in the large and wholesome barracks which were in readiness to receive them; they preferred billeting them with the peaceable merchants and tradespeople, whom they plundered and bullied in the most outrageous manner.”[49] ----- Footnote 48: It is said that the Prussians cost the French not less than three francs per day for each man (_Paris revisited in 1815_ , p. 361). Footnote 49: Gronow, _Reminiscences_ , i. 206. ----- It is pleasant to record that the Duke of Wellington adopted an entirely different system in his relations with the inhabitants; everything was paid for regularly, property was respected, and the people were unmolested. In short, the British army set an example of humanity, generosity, and forbearance, which not only did honour to their country and to their noble profession, but which also (notwithstanding national antipathies), gained them the respect and almost the affection of the French themselves.[50] ----- Footnote 50: