_Primo_, we
have no citizens; we have subjects. _Secundo_, the
conscription is a revolutionary measure, which we will not
adopt at any price; it consecrates a principle of equality
as much opposed to the ideas of the Government as to the
habits of the country. It might possibly give us a very good
army, but that army would belong to the nation, not to the
Sovereign. We will at once put away, if you please, this
dangerous utopia."
"It might gain you some popularity."
"Far from it. Believe me, the subjects of the Holy Father have a deep
antipathy to the principle of the conscription. The discontent of La
Vendee and Brittany is nothing to that which it would create here."
"People become accustomed to everything, Monsignore. I have met
contingents from La Vendee and Brittany singing merrily as they went
to join their corps."
"So much the better for them. But let me tell you the only grievance
of this country against the French rule is the conscription, which the
Emperor had established among us."
"So you negative my proposal of the conscription."
"Absolutely!"
"I must think no more about it?"
"Quite out of the question."
"Well, Monsignore, I'll do without it. Let us have recourse to the
system of voluntary enlistment, but with the condition that you secure
the prospects of the soldier. What bounty do you offer to recruits?"
"Twelve scudi; but for the future we mean to go as high as twenty.
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