Artist(s):

unknown maker

Composed Title English:

No one passes.

Inscribed Title:

On n'passe pas.

Inscription:

Lith. Anst. v. F. W. Goedsche u. Steinmetz in Meissen.

Description:

On the evening of the battle of Ebersberg, Napoleon decided to sleep in a local house for the night. A young sentry named Jean-Baptiste Coluche was assigned to stand guard in front of the door. Napoleon must have left the house before the sentry had got to his post, and when the Emperor returned, the soldier did not recognise him and said : "On ne passe pas." Then, as Napoleon continued to near : "Si tu fais un pas, je te fous ma baïoneette dans le ventre!" Officers arrived and took the young soldier away. His comrades told him that it was to the Emperor that he had refused entry, and that he would be shot for this. Coluche escaped, but another soldier, shrewder than him, took his place and was awarded the Legion of honour by the Emperor the next day, for doing his job so well. The anecdote took the proportion of myth, and was illustrated countless times, notably by Charlet.

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