recession meant the peasants had no money with which to buy it. As for
the notables, the last straw for them was the senatus consultum of 3 April
r8r3, which raised guards of honour from the sons of all rich and noble
families in the Empire; each son had to arm and equip his troop (it was
envisaged there would be roo,ooo in all), and anyone without a valid
reason for avoiding military service had to pay a heavy tax. The response
was patchy, with some noble sons serving and others resisting, but the
main effect was to irritate both the notables themselves and the officer
corps in the regular army, who resented the intrusion of the new upstarts.
This device was just one of many Napoleon employed in a desperate
bid to raise the numbers needed to hold the Russians and Prussians at
bay. His problem was that conscription demands had grown steeper over
the years. Whereas in the years r8oo-o7 the average call-up total was
78,700, from February r8o8-January r8o9 alone 24o,ooo men were
drafted. From then until r8rz another 396,ooo were drafted, mainly for
service in Spain: men were increasingly taken from age groups that had
been previously balloted or were under age, in addition to the current
crop. Military service also became harder to avoid, as its administration
was taken out of the hands of local authorities, the right to use substitutes
was restricted, the demand for a minimum height was waived, and efforts
were made to end exemptions for married men.
Resistance to conscription reached unprecedented levels in r8rz-r3.
Draft dodgers often joined the large gangs of deserters who roamed the
hillsides in a life of petty crime, and in the north these bands became
genuine 'primitive rebels' as their resistance took on a coating of political
consciousness. Often these groups enjoyed widespread local support,
from priests, peasants and even prefects who, aware how high the tide of
local feeling was running, would keep the deserters informed of Army
search parties. In some departements evasion and desertion was at
epidemic level, and there was a departmental instance of a levy of r ,6oo
men where r,ooo decamped. The families of those who had taken to the
hills to evade service were punished by hefty fines or by having troops
billeted on them, while more and more troops were sent to scour the
countryside fo r the estimated (in r8u) 139,ooo missing draftees.
The attitude to the draft in r8r3 showed just how low French morale
had sunk. Those who served did so in an attitude of sullen resignation,
but many others inflicted terrible injuries on themselves to avoid call-up.
The married man's exemption was widely abused, with youths of
seventeen 'marrying' ninety-year-olds to achieve the cherished status. All
kinds of tricks were used to avoid being given a clean bill of health. Teeth
were pulled or made to decay by using acid or chewing incense. Some
marcin
(Marcin)
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