Charles Napier was taken prisoner
at Corunna, desperately wounded; and his friends at home did not
know whether he was alive or dead. A special messenger was sent
out from England with a frigate to ascertain his fate. Baron
Clouet received the flag, and informed Ney of the arrival. "Let
the prisoner see his friends," said Ney, "and tell them he is well,
and well treated." Clouet lingered, and Ney asked, smiling, "what
more he wanted"? "He has an old mother, a widow, and blind." "Has
he? then let him go himself and tell her he is alive." As the
exchange of prisoners between the countries was not then allowed,
Ney knew that he risked the displeasure of the Emperor by setting
the young officer at liberty; but Napoleon approved the generous
act.
Notwithstanding the wail which we occasionally hear for the
chivalry that is gone, our own age has witnessed deeds of bravery
and gentleness--of heroic self-denial and manly tenderness--which
are unsurpassed in history. The events of the last few years have
shown that our countrymen are as yet an undegenerate race. On the
bleak plateau of Sebastopol, in the dripping perilous trenches of
that twelvemonth's leaguer, men of all classes proved themselves
worthy of the noble inheritance of character which their
forefathers have bequeathed to them.
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