The Cavaliers of Fortune; Or, British Heroes in Foreign WarsGrant, James
History
The Cavaliers of Fortune; Or, British Heroes in Foreign Wars
Grant, James
British -- Foreign countries; Great Britain -- History, Military
"I was going to answer him with great earnestness," says Tone, in his
interesting _Memoirs_, "when General Clarke entered, to request that
we would come to dinner with Citizen Carnot. We accordingly adjourned
the conversation to the apartment of the President, where we found
Carnot, and one or two more. Hoche, after some time, took me aside, and
repeated his question. I replied, '_Most decidedly a republic._' He
asked again, 'Are you sure?' I said, 'As sure as I can be of anything.
I know nobody in Ireland who thinks of any other system----.' Carnot
joined us here, with a pocket-map of Ireland, and the conversation
between Clarke, Hoche, and him became pretty general, every one else
having left the room. I said scarcely anything, as I wished to listen.
Hoche related to Carnot the substance of what passed between him and
me. When he mentioned his anxiety as to bread, Carnot laughed and said,
'There is plenty of beef in Ireland--if you cannot get bread, you
must eat beef.' I told him I hoped they would find both; adding, that
within twenty years Ireland had become a great corn country, so that at
present it made a considerable article in her exports."--Vol. ii. pp.
14-18.
The patience of Wolfe Tone was sorely tried by many and unnecessary
delays; and, after all, the hopes of the Irish exiles ended only in
mustering a regiment of their countrymen, which, instead of embarking
for Ireland, marched to the invasion of Spain, under the unfortunate
Colonel Lewis Lacy, the son of a race of hereditary Irish soldiers, as
related elsewhere.
In the year following his double appointment as minister for the war
and marine, Clarke made the German campaign on the staff of Bonaparte,
and was present at the capture of the free city of Ulm, in the Swabian
circle, on the 17th October, 1805, and at other operations, which
drove the army of the Archduke Ferdinand across the Danube; and, on
the capture of Vienna by the corps of the brave Murat and Lannes, he
was named governor of the city and also of Upper and Lower Austria,
Carinthia, Styria, Friuli, Trieste, &c. His moderation and justice in
this high command elevated him among the victors, and won him the love
and esteem of the vanquished. He also received the cordon of Grand
Officer of the Legion of Honour, and soon after was ordered to define
the line of demarcation between Brisgau, in the kingdom of Wirtemberg,
and the Grand Duchy of Baden.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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