Hello, Kevin.

I don't believe anyone here is saying that Napoleon was 'a nice chap.' He was a hard man, though generally a fair one. He would have been interesting to work for.

No doubt.

Are you saying here that Napoleon did not wish for reform? I certainly hope that I have read that incorrectly because his reforms after he took over as head of state completely remade France and had a lasting positive impact on the country.

There is no cause for alarm. I am saying Napoleon wished reform, though the legacy of his code is controversial I will hardly be able to make any meaningful comment and we and are all stuck with what we have been left from earlier lawmakers, pardon my convoluted style of writing.

The French army did not use corporal punishment.

Officially no. And though I would like to stress that I never said they did, I used the word "beat" I will admit to my assuming Wellington and been given correct information when he said that the French would punish a dire offender with the side of a ramrod. I will however not contest the issue with that source, though a thread about punishment in the French army would be enlightening.

I believe that the trials of both Ney and Labedoyere were grossly unfair. And that is the reason the Moncey refused to preside over Ney's trial and he was punished for it. The Bourbons wanted blood and if they didn't use a show trial, they did it by mob action, as in the case of Brune. I have seen numbers as high as 7,000 murdered during the White Terror and that doesn't include those who were unfairly imprisoned or had to go into exile. You can't equate, logically, what happened to d'Engien and what happened to Ney, Labedoyere and the others.

I logically can and am quite content to equate the unjust seizure and trial of d'Enghien with the unjust trials and executions of Ney and Labedoyere. It is not the motive of the King or Emperor I am comparing, for both saw the executions as political exigencies and were either content to turn a blind eye or were too weak to prevent them.

What 'civil war' are you referring to?

There was a civil war of sorts occurring in France, at a high and a low level. The Terror and the resultant Royalist forces that grew up in the wake of the execution of Louis, a classic example of mob wanting blood but unrelated to Napoleon'/ regime, the continual campaigns in Vendee and the White Terror all add up to civil unrest and outright war. To me at least

Josh.