After that the Emperor went to Milan, where he was crowned King of
Italy; and then began a regular triumph for us soldiers. Every man who
knew how to read and write became an officer; it rained dukedoms;
pensions were distributed with both hands; there were fortunes for the
general staff which didn't cost France a penny; and even common soldiers
received annuities with their crosses of the Legion of Honor--I get
mine to this day. In short, the armies of France were taken care of in
a way that had never before been seen.
But the Emperor, who knew that he was the emperor not only of the
soldiers but of all, remembered the bourgeois, and built wonderful
monuments for them, to suit their own taste, in places that had been as
bare before as the palm of your hand. Suppose you were coming from
Spain, for example, and going through France to Berlin. You would pass
under sculptured triumphal arches on which you'd see the common soldiers
carved just as beautifully as the generals.
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