This is what Vionnet has to say on the matter of abuse and administrative faults:

"The enthusiasm that had inspired our battalions had been destroyed. Ambition had replaced duty, the army was commanded by men who were extremely brave, but they were inexperienced and poorly trained. The soldiers sought every occasion to absent themselves from the ranks, or to make their way to the hospitals and far from danger. It has to be added that they were beaten for the slightest of faults, that those who fell sick or could not continue marching were mistreated and abused and that it was simply not the case that they were being treated as companions in the struggle, or agents of our glory. Most of the officers and the generals were treating them as slaves, something which disgusted those who had nobler sentiments. Impossible things were demanded of them, things beyond the capabilities of man. And, in order to achieve those demands, the ends justified the means. The result was that if a man was even slightly ill, he would be more likely to die a miserable death than be treated and recover. This complete lack of humanity was the cause of us losing a vast number of brave soldiers. Observation would have shown how misguided this way of doing things was. It should have been clear that by forcing a few more men to stay with the colours they would have to fall out after a few days and then be lost forever. Treating them and allowing them to recover and rejoin the ranks at the end of the campaign would have been better. Well, indeed, this way of doing things, which is no more than good governance, was alien to the French army. Colonels and other officers who left men in the rear were criticised, rearguards consisting of NCOs and corporals were formed and they, by lashing out, forced exhausted men, who could barely stand upright, to keep marching. Those who were pitiless and without compassion were rewarded and flattered, to the extent that even those officers who were kind grew to be harsh and as barbarous as the others. The consequence of all this was that the soldiers no longer fought for glory, but out of fear. It was clear that a man who fell out of the ranks would put of trying to rejoin because he simply feared that he would be punished on his return.

I must now add one further observation, and that is that the administration of the army was so badly organised that at least three quarters of the time the army had to do without meat. Captains were therefore obliged to send soldiers out in the countryside to pillage in order to avoid anyone starving to death. Soldiers abandoned in such a way are little more than ferocious beasts, capable of inflicting any manner of harm. There were examples to prove this from experience in Portugal, but this was ignored and nobody thought to takes measures to remedy the ill until it was far too late."