[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "] Sirt,—It is surely hardly
worth while to notice the falsehood of the picture referred to in the letter under the above beading in the Spectator of June 8th. I have often heard a relative of mine, who had served in the 5th Fusiliers as a subaltern in the Peninsular War, and who was in the army of occupation in Paris after Waterloo, speak of the execution of Marshal Ney as having been carried out in a. way quite unknown to, and in fact unexpected by, our army then in Paris, or rather in and about the Bois de Boulogne. Writing now from memory of what I heard more than twenty years ago, the only intimation this relative, and other officers who at the time were with him at breakfast in a cafe in the Luxembourg quarter of Paris, had, was the report in the Luxembourg Gardens of a volley of musketry, and on their asking what it was they were told it was the execution of Marshal Ney. I well remember that so far as the feeling of the officers I refer to was concerned, it was only one of unanimous regret and respect for the French Marshal as a brave enemy, and the very reverse feeling for the Bourbon French Government under which he was executed.—I am,
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