CHAPTER XIV.
THE BATTLE OF VALMY.
Purpurei metuunt tyranni
Injurioso ne pede proruas
Stantem columnam; neu populus frequens
Ad arma cessantes ad arma
Concitet, imperiumque frangat.
Horat. Od. I. 35.
A little fire is quickly trodden out,
Which, being suffered, rivers cannot quench.
Shakspeare.
A few miles distant from the little town of St.Menehould, in the north-east of France, are the village and hill of Valmy; and near the crest of that hill a simple monument points out the burial-place of the heart of a general of the French republic, and a marshal of the French empire.
The elder Kellerman (father of the distinguished officer of that name, whose cavalry charge decided the battle of Marengo), held high commands in the French armies throughout the wars of the Convention, the Directory, the Consulate, and the Empire. He survived those wars, and the empire
