Württember officer in 1812
The site of Thorn is very romantic; especially there is a picturesque island at the Vistula beyond the town. I witnessed in this town the entrance of the emperor. Whoever had to judge this man according to the demeanor which he showed at his face, when he was riding into the town, couldn’t come to another conclusion other that this sorrow free facial expression and comfortable composure of the well fed body, was the exhibition of a man who did not care about anything else than to eat and drink and indulging into sensuality. Also the kind of the entrance seemed to be beyond the dignity of such a great man. Before he appeared Polish Lancers of the Guard were sweeping up and down the road to get people out of the way. Finally he did ride across the bridge, accompanied by a not such numerous entourage. In front of him walked with the expression of a butcher’s dog, wheezing and sweating with a drawn sword in his hand, a fat colonel of the Gens d’armes d’elite, closely behind the horse of a captain of the same unit, along with6 or 8 probably hired street urchins The captain of the gensdarmes urged from time to time in such a load voice, that the emperor must have heard it, “allons donc criez”[well now – shout]. When those poor devils didn’t immediately realize what as wanted, the closest received some knocks beyond their ribs, whereupon they burst out in a deplorable and rapidly diminishing Vive l’Empreur.
Quelle : Denkwürdigkeiten eines württembergischen Offiziers aus dem Feldzug im Jahre 1812, München 1892
p. 6 - 7

and in 1815 it was much worse