initial commit of ebook 3552HEADmain

1 files changed, 3876 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/3552.txt b/3552.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1e17007
--- /dev/null
+++ b/3552.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3876 @@
+The Project Gutenberg Etext of the Memoirs of Napoleon, V2, 1798
+NB#02 in our Napoleon series, by Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check
+the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!!
+
+Please take a look at the important information in this header.
+We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an
+electronic path open for the next readers.
+
+Please do not remove this.
+
+This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book.
+Do not change or edit it without written permission.  The words
+are carefully chosen to provide users with the information they
+need about what they can legally do with the texts.
+
+
+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations*
+
+Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and
+further information is included below.  We need your donations.
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3)
+organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541
+
+As of 12/12/00 contributions are only being solicited from people in:
+Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa,
+Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Montana,
+Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota,
+Texas, Vermont, and Wyoming.
+
+As the requirements for other states are met,
+additions to this list will be made and fund raising
+will begin in the additional states.  Please feel
+free to ask to check the status of your state.
+
+International donations are accepted,
+but we don't know ANYTHING about how
+to make them tax-deductible, or
+even if they CAN be made deductible,
+and don't have the staff to handle it
+even if there are ways.
+
+These donations should be made to:
+
+Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+PMB 113
+1739 University Ave.
+Oxford, MS 38655-4109
+
+
+Title: Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, V2
+
+Author: Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne
+
+Release Date: December, 2002  [Etext #3552]
+[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule]
+[The actual date this file first posted = 04/20/01]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Memoirs of Napoleon, V2, 1798
+*****This file should be named 3552.txt or 3552.zip****
+
+This etext was produced by David Widger
+
+Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions,
+all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a
+copyright notice is included.  Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any
+of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+We are now trying to release all our books one year in advance
+of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing.
+Please be encouraged to send us error messages even years after
+the official publication date.
+
+Please note:  neither this list nor its contents are final till
+midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
+The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at
+Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
+preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
+and editing by those who wish to do so.
+
+Most people start at our sites at:
+https://gutenberg.org
+http://promo.net/pg
+
+
+Those of you who want to download any Etext before announcement
+can surf to them as follows, and just download by date; this is
+also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the
+indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an
+announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter.
+
+http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext02
+or
+ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext02
+
+Or /etext01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90
+
+Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want,
+as it appears in our Newsletters.
+
+
+
+Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)
+
+We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
+time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours
+to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
+searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.  This
+projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If our value
+per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2
+million dollars per hour this year as we release fifty new Etext
+files per month, or 500 more Etexts in 2000 for a total of 3000+
+If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total
+should reach over 300 billion Etexts given away by year's end.
+
+The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext
+Files by December 31, 2001.  [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion]
+This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
+which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users.
+
+At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third
+of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 3,333 Etexts unless we
+manage to get some real funding.
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created
+to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+Presently, contributions are only being solicited from people in:
+Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa,
+Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Montana,
+Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota,
+Texas, Vermont, and Wyoming.
+
+As the requirements for other states are met,
+additions to this list will be made and fund raising
+will begin in the additional states.
+
+These donations should be made to:
+
+Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+PMB 113
+1739 University Ave.
+Oxford, MS 38655-4109
+
+
+Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation,
+EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541,
+has been approved as a 501(c)(3) organization by the US Internal
+Revenue Service (IRS).  Donations are tax-deductible to the extent
+permitted by law.  As the requirements for other states are met,
+additions to this list will be made and fund raising will begin in the
+additional states.
+
+All donations should be made to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation.  Mail to:
+
+Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+PMB 113
+1739 University Avenue
+Oxford, MS 38655-4109  [USA]
+
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+You can get up to date donation information at:
+
+https://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html
+
+
+***
+
+If you can't reach Project Gutenberg,
+you can always email directly to:
+
+Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com>
+
+hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org
+if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, if
+it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . .
+
+Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message.
+
+We would prefer to send you information by email.
+
+
+***
+
+
+Example command-line FTP session:
+
+ftp ftp.ibiblio.org
+login: anonymous
+password: your@login
+cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg
+cd etext90 through etext99 or etext00 through etext02, etc.
+dir [to see files]
+get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files]
+GET GUTINDEX.??  [to get a year's listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99]
+GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a listing of ALL books]
+
+
+**The Legal Small Print**
+
+
+(Three Pages)
+
+***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START***
+Why is this "Small Print!" statement here?  You know: lawyers.
+They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
+your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from
+someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
+fault.  So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
+disclaims most of our liability to you.  It also tells you how
+you may distribute copies of this etext if you want to.
+
+*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT
+By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
+this "Small Print!" statement.  If you do not, you can receive
+a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by
+sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
+you got it from.  If you received this etext on a physical
+medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.
+
+ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS
+This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etexts,
+is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart
+through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project").
+Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
+on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
+distribute it in the United States without permission and
+without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules, set forth
+below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext
+under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.
+
+Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market
+any commercial products without permission.
+
+To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable
+efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
+works.  Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any
+medium they may be on may contain "Defects".  Among other
+things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
+disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer
+codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
+But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
+[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may
+receive this etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims
+all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
+legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
+UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
+INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
+OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
+POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
+
+If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of
+receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
+you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
+time to the person you received it from.  If you received it
+on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
+such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
+copy.  If you received it electronically, such person may
+choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
+receive it electronically.
+
+THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS".  NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
+TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
+PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
+the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
+above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
+may have other legal rights.
+
+INDEMNITY
+You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation,
+and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated
+with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
+texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including
+legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
+following that you do or cause:  [1] distribution of this etext,
+[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the etext,
+or [3] any Defect.
+
+DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
+You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by
+disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
+"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
+or:
+
+[1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
+     requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
+     etext or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
+     if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable
+     binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
+     including any form resulting from conversion by word
+     processing or hypertext software, but only so long as
+     *EITHER*:
+
+     [*]  The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
+          does *not* contain characters other than those
+          intended by the author of the work, although tilde
+          (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
+          be used to convey punctuation intended by the
+          author, and additional characters may be used to
+          indicate hypertext links; OR
+
+     [*]  The etext may be readily converted by the reader at
+          no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
+          form by the program that displays the etext (as is
+          the case, for instance, with most word processors);
+          OR
+
+     [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
+          no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
+          etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
+          or other equivalent proprietary form).
+
+[2]  Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this
+     "Small Print!" statement.
+
+[3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the
+     gross profits you derive calculated using the method you
+     already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
+     don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
+     payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation"
+     the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were
+     legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent
+     periodic) tax return.  Please contact us beforehand to
+     let us know your plans and to work out the details.
+
+WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
+Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of
+public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed
+in machine readable form.
+
+The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time,
+public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses.
+Money should be paid to the:
+"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or
+software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at:
+hart@pobox.com
+
+*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.12.12.00*END*
+
+
+
+
+
+This etext was produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, VOLUME 2.
+
+by LOUIS ANTOINE FAUVELET DE BOURRIENNE
+
+His Private Secretary
+
+Edited by R. W. Phipps
+Colonel, Late Royal Artillery
+
+1891
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS:
+Chapter V. to Chapter XIV.  1798
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+1797.
+
+     Signature of the preliminaries of peace--Fall of Venice--My arrival
+     and reception at Leoben--Bonaparte wishes to pursue his success--
+     The Directory opposes him--He wishes to advance on Vienna--Movement
+     of the army of the Sombre-et-Mouse--Bonaparte's dissatisfaction--
+     Arrival at Milan--We take up our residence at Montebello--Napoleon's
+     judgment respecting Dandolo and Melzi.
+
+I joined Bonaparte at Leoben on the 19th of April, the day after the
+signature of the preliminaries of peace.  These preliminaries resembled
+in no respect the definitive treaty of Campo Formio.  The still
+incomplete fall of the State of Venice did not at that time present an
+available prey for partition.  All was arranged afterwards.  Woe to the
+small States that come in immediate contact with two colossal empires
+waging war!
+
+Here terminated my connection with Bonaparte as a comrade and equal, and
+those relations with him commenced in which I saw him suddenly great,
+powerful, and surrounded with homage and glory.  I no longer addressed
+him as I had been accustomed to do.  I appreciated too well his personal
+importance.  His position placed too great a social distance between him
+and me not to make me feel the necessity of fashioning my demeanour
+accordingly.  I made with pleasure, and without regret, the easy
+sacrifice of the style of familiar companionship and other little
+privileges.  He said, in a loud voice, when I entered the salon where he
+was surrounded by the officers who formed his brilliant staff, "I am glad
+to see you, at last"--"Te voila donc, enfin;", but as soon as we were
+alone he made me understand that he was pleased with my reserve, and
+thanked me for it.  I was immediately placed at the head of his Cabinet.
+I spoke to him the same evening respecting the insurrection of the
+Venetian territories, of the dangers which menaced the French, and of
+those which I had escaped, etc.  "Care thou' nothing about it," said he;
+
+     --[He used to 'tutoyer' me in this familiar manner until his return
+     to Milan.]--
+
+"those rascals shall pay for it.  Their republic has had its day, and is
+done."  This republic was, however, still existing, wealthy and powerful.
+These words brought to my recollection what I had read in a work by one
+Gabriel Naude, who wrote during the reign of Louis XIII. for Cardinal de
+Bagin: "Do you see Constantinople, which flatters itself with being the
+seat of a double empire; and Venice, which glories in her stability of a
+thousand years?  Their day will come."
+
+In the first conversation which Bonaparte had with me, I thought I could
+perceive that he was not very well satisfied with the preliminaries.  He
+would have liked to advance with his army to Vienna.  He did not conceal
+this from me.  Before he offered peace to Prince Charles, he wrote to the
+Directory that he intended to pursue his success, but that for this
+purpose he reckoned on the co-operation of the armies of the Sambre-et-
+Meuse and the Rhine.  The Directory replied that he must not reckon on a
+diversion in Germany, and that the armies of the Sambre-et-Meuse and the
+Rhine were not to pass that river.  A resolution so unexpected--
+a declaration so contrary to what he had constantly solicited, compelled
+him to terminate his triumphs, and renounce his favourite project of
+planting the standard of the republic on the ramparts of Vienna, or at
+least of levying contributions on the suburbs of that capital.
+
+A law of the 23d of August 1794 forbade the use of any other names than
+those in the register of births.  I wished to conform to this law, which
+very foolishly interfered with old habits.  My eldest brother was living,
+and I therefore designated myself Fauvelet the younger.  This annoyed
+General Bonaparte.  "Such change of name is absolute nonsense," said he.
+"I have known you for twenty years by the name of Bourrienne.  Sign as
+you still are named, and see what the advocates with their laws will do."
+
+On the 20th of April, as Bonaparte was returning to Italy, he was obliged
+to stop on an island of the Tagliamento, while a torrent passed by, which
+had been occasioned by a violent storm.  A courier appeared on the right
+bank of the river.  He reached the island.  Bonaparte read in the
+despatches of the Directory that the armies of the Sambre-et-Meuse and
+the Rhine were in motion; that they were preparing to cross the Rhine,
+and had commenced hostilities on the very day of the signing of the
+preliminaries.  This information arrived seven days after the Directory
+had written that "he must not reckon on the co-operation of the armies of
+Germany."  It is impossible to describe the General's vexation on reading
+these despatches.  He had signed the preliminaries only because the
+Government had represented the co-operation of the armies of the Rhine as
+impracticable at that moment, and shortly afterwards he was informed that
+the co-operation was about to take place!  The agitation of his mind was
+so great that he for a moment conceived the idea of crossing to the left
+bank of the Tagliamento, and breaking off the negotiations under some
+pretext or other.  He persisted for some time in this resolution, which,
+however, Berthier and some other generals successfully opposed.  He
+exclaimed, "What a difference would there have been in the preliminaries,
+if, indeed, there had been any!"
+
+His chagrin, I might almost say his despair, increased when, some days
+after his entry into the Venetian States, he received a letter from
+Moreau, dated the 23d of April, in which that general informed him that,
+having passed the Rhine on the 20th with brilliant success, and taken
+four thousand prisoners, it would not be long before he joined him.
+Who, in fact, can say what would have happened but for the vacillating
+and distrustful policy of the Directory, which always encouraged low
+intrigues, and participated in the jealousy excited by the renown of the
+young conqueror?  Because the Directory dreaded his ambition they
+sacrificed the glory of our arms and the honour of the nation; for it
+cannot be doubted that, had the passage of the Rhine, so urgently
+demanded by Bonaparte, taken place some days sooner, he would have been
+able, without incurring any risk, to dictate imperiously the conditions
+of peace on the spot; or, if Austria were obstinate, to have gone on to
+Vienna and signed it there.  Still occupied with this idea, he wrote to
+the Directory on the 8th of May: "Since I have received intelligence of
+the passage of the Rhine by Hoche and Moreau, I much regret that it did
+not take place fifteen days sooner; or, at least, that Moreau did not say
+that he was in a situation to effect it."  (He had been informed to the
+contrary.)  What, after this, becomes of the unjust reproach against
+Bonaparte of having, through jealousy of Moreau, deprived France of the
+advantages which a prolonged campaign would have procured her?  Bonaparte
+was too devoted to the glory of France to sacrifice it to jealousy of the
+glory of any individual.
+
+In traversing the Venetian States to return to Milan, he often spoke to
+me of Venice.  He always assured me that he was originally entirely
+unconnected with the insurrections which had agitated that country; that
+common sense would show, as his project was to advance into the basin of
+the Danube, he had no interest in having his rear disturbed by revolts,
+and his communications interrupted or cut off: "Such an idea," said he,
+"would be absurd, and could never enter into the mind of a man to whom
+even his enemies cannot deny a certain degree of tact."  He acknowledged
+that he was not vexed that matters had turned out as they had done,
+because he had already taken advantage of these circumstances in the
+preliminaries and hoped to profit still more from them in the definitive
+peace.  "When I arrive at Milan," said he, "I will occupy myself with
+Venice."  It is therefore quite evident to me that in reality the
+General-in-Chief had nothing to do with the Venetian insurrections; that
+subsequently he was not displeased with them; and that, later still, he
+derived great advantage from them.
+
+We arrived at Milan on the 5th of May, by way of Lawbook, Thrust, Palma-
+Nova, Padua, Verona, and Mantua.  Bonaparte soon took up his residence at
+Montebello, a very fine chateau, three leagues from Milan, with a view
+over the rich and magnificent plains of Lombard.  At Montebello commenced
+the negotiations for the definitive peace which were terminated at
+Passeriano.  The Marquis de Gallo, the Austrian plenipotentiary, resided
+half a league from Montebello.
+
+During his residence at Montebello the General-in-Chief made an excursion
+to the Lake of Como and to the Ago Maguire.  He visited the Borromean
+Islands in succession, and occupied himself on his return with the
+organization of the towns of Venice, Genoa, and Milan.  He sought for men
+and found none.  "Good God," said he, "how rare men are!  There are
+eighteen millions in Italy, and I have with difficulty found two, Dandolo
+and Melzi."
+
+He appreciated them properly.  Dandolo was one of the men who, in those
+revolutionary times, reflected the greatest honour upon Italy.  After
+being a member of the great council of the Cisalpine Republic, he
+exercised the functions of Proveditore-General in Dalmatia.  It is only
+necessary to mention the name of Dandolo to the Dalmatians to learn from
+the grateful inhabitants how just and vigorous his administration was.
+The services of Melzi are known.  He was Chancellor and Keeper of the
+Seals of the Italian monarchy, and was created Duke of Lodi.
+
+     --[Francesco, Comte de Melzi d'Eryl (1753-1816), vice President of
+     the Italian Republic, 1802; Chancellor of the Kingdom of Italy,
+     1805; Duc de Loth, 1807.]--
+
+In those who have seen the world the truth of Napoleon's reproach excites
+little astonishment.  In a country which, according to biographies and
+newspapers, abounds with extraordinary men, a woman of much talent
+-(Madame Roland.)- said, "What has most surprised me, since the elevation
+of my husband has afforded me the opportunity of knowing many persons,
+and particularly those employed in important affairs, is the universal
+mediocrity which exists.  It surpasses all that the imagination can
+conceive, and it is observable in all ranks, from the clerk to the
+minister.  Without this experience I never could have believed my species
+to be so contemptible."
+
+Who does not remember Oxenstiern's remark to his son, who trembled at
+going so young to the congress of Munster: "Go, my son.  You will see by
+what sort of men the world is governed."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+1797.
+
+     Napoleon's correspondence--Release of French prisoners at Olmutz--
+     Negotiations with Austria--Bonaparte's dissatisfaction--Letter of
+     complaint from Bonaparte to the Executive Directory--Note respecting
+     the affairs of Venice and the Club of Clichy, written by Bonaparte
+     and circulated in the army--Intercepted letter of the Emperor
+     Francis.
+
+During the time when the preliminaries of Leoben suspended military
+operations, Napoleon was not anxious to reply immediately to all letters.
+He took a fancy to do, not exactly as Cardinal Dubois did, when he threw
+into the fire the letters he had received, saying, "There! my
+correspondents are answered," but something of the same kind.  To satisfy
+himself that people wrote too much, and lost, in trifling and useless
+answers, valuable time, he told me to open only the letters which came by
+extraordinary couriers, and to leave all the rest for three weeks in the
+basket.  At the end of that time it was unnecessary to reply to four-
+fifths of these communications.  Some were themselves answers; some were
+acknowledgments of letters received; others contained requests for
+favours already granted, but of which intelligence had not been received.
+Many were filled with complaints respecting provisions, pay, or clothing,
+and orders had been issued upon all these points before the letters were
+written.  Some generals demanded reinforcements, money, promotion, etc.
+By not opening their letters Bonaparte was spared the unpleasing office
+of refusing.  When the General-in-Chief compared the very small number of
+letters which it was necessary to answer with the large number which time
+alone had answered, he laughed heartily at his whimsical idea.  Would not
+this mode of proceeding be preferable to that of causing letters to be
+opened by any one who may be employed, and replying to them by a circular
+to which it is only necessary to attach a date?
+
+During the negotiations which followed the treaty of Leoben, the
+Directory ordered General Bonaparte to demand the liberty of MM. de La
+Fayette, Latour-Marbourg, and Bureau de Puzy, detained at Olmutz since
+1792 as prisoners of state.  The General-in-Chief executed this
+commission with as much pleasure as zeal, but he often met with
+difficulties which appeared to be insurmountable.  It has been very
+incorrectly stated that these prisoners obtained their liberty by one of
+the articles of the preliminaries of Leoben.  I wrote a great deal on
+this subject to the dictation of General Bonaparte, and I joined him only
+on the day after the signature of these preliminaries.  It was not till
+the end of May of the year 1797 that the liberation of these captives was
+demanded, and they did not obtain their freedom till the end of August.
+There was no article in the treaty, public or secret, which had reference
+to them.  Neither was it at his own suggestion that Bonaparte demanded
+the enlargement of the prisoners, but by order of the Directory.  To
+explain why they did not go to France immediately after their liberation
+from Olmutz, it is necessary to recollect that the events of the 18th
+Fructidor occurred between the period when the first steps were taken to
+procure their liberty and the date of their deliverance.  It required all
+Bonaparte's ascendency and vigour of character to enable him to succeed
+in his object at the end of three months.
+
+We had arrived at the month of July, and the negotiations were tediously
+protracted.  It was impossible to attribute the embarrassment which was
+constantly occurring to anything but the artful policy of Austria: Other
+affairs occupied Bonaparte.  The news from Paris engrossed all his
+attention.  He saw with extreme displeasure the manner in which the
+influential orators of the councils, and pamphlets written in the same
+spirit as they spoke, criticised him, his army, his victories, the
+affairs of Venice, and the national glory.  He was quite indignant at the
+suspicions which it was sought to create respecting his conduct and
+ulterior views.
+
+The following excerpts, attributed to the pens of Dumouriez or Rivarol,
+are specimens of some of the comments of the time:
+
+     EXTRACTS OF LETTERS IN "LE SPECTATUER DU NORD of 1797.
+
+     General Bonaparte is, without contradiction, the most brilliant
+     warrior who has appeared at the head of the armies of the French
+     Republic.  His glory is incompatible with democratic equality, and
+     the services he has rendered are too great to be recompensed except
+     by hatred and ingratitude.  He is very young, and consequently has
+     to pursue a long career of accusations and of persecutions.
+
+     ........Whatever may be the crowning event of his military career,
+     Bonaparte is still a great man.  All his glory is due to himself
+     alone; because he alone has developed s character end a genius of
+     which no one else has furnished an example.
+
+
+     EXTRACT OF LETTER OR 18TH APRIL 1797 in "THE SPECTATEUR DU NORD."
+
+     Regard, for instance, this wretched war.  Uncertain in Champagne, it
+     becomes daring under Dumouriez, unbridled under the brigands who
+     fought the Vendeeans, methodic under Pichegru, vulgar under Jourdan,
+     skilled under Moreau, rash under Bonaparte.  Each general has put
+     the seal of his genius on his career, and has given life or death to
+     his army.  From the commencement of his career Bonaparte has
+     developed an ardent character which is irritated by obstacles, and a
+     quickness which forestalls every determination of the enemy.  It is
+     with heavier and heavier blows that, he strikes.  He throws his army
+     on the enemy like an unloosed torrent.  He is all action, and he is
+     so in everything.  See him fight, negotiate, decree, punish, all is
+     the matter of a moment.  He compromises with Turin as with Rome.  He
+     invades Modena as he burns Binasco.  He never hesitates; to cut the
+     Gordian knot is always his method.
+
+
+Bonaparte could not endure to have his conduct predicated; and enraged at
+seeing his campaigns depreciated, his glory and that of his army
+disparaged,
+
+     --[The extraordinary folly of the opposition to the Directory in
+     throwing Bonaparte on to the side of the Directory, will be seen by
+     reading the speech of Dumolard, so often referred to by Bourrienne
+     (Thiers, vol. v.  pp. 110-111), and by the attempts of Mathieu Dumas
+     to remove the impression that the opposition slighted the fortunate
+     General.  (See Dumas, tome iii.  p. 80; see also Lanfrey, tome i.
+     pp. 257-299).]--
+
+and intrigues formed against him in the Club of Clichy, he wrote the
+following letter to the Directory:--
+
+     TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTORY.
+
+     I have just received, Citizens-Directors, a copy of the motion of
+     Dumolard (23d June 1797).
+
+     This motion, printed by order of the Assembly, it is evident, is
+     directed against me.  I was entitled, after, having five times
+     concluded peace, and given a death-blow to the coalition, if not to
+     civic triumphs, at least to live tranquilly under the protection of
+     the first magistrates of the Republic.  At present I find myself
+     ill-treated, persecuted, and disparaged, by every shameful means,
+     which their policy brings to the aid of persecution.  I would have
+     been indifferent to all except that species of opprobrium with which
+     the first magistrates of the Republic endeavour to overwhelm me.
+     After having deserved well of my country by my last act, I am not
+     bound to hear myself accused in a manner as absurd as atrocious.
+     I have not expected that a manifesto, signed by emigrants, paid by
+     England, should obtain more credit with the Council of Five Hundred
+     than the evidence of eighty thousand men--than mine!  What! we were
+     assassinated by traitors--upwards of four hundred men perished; and
+     the first magistrates of the Republic make it a crime to have
+     believed the statement for a moment.  Upwards of four hundred
+     Frenchmen were dragged through the streets.  They were assassinated
+     before the eyes of the governor of the fort.  They were pierced with
+     a thousand blows of stilettos, such as I sent you and the
+     representatives of the French people cause it to be printed, that if
+     they believed this fact for an instant, they were excusable.  I know
+     well there are societies where it is said, "Is this blood, then, so
+     pure?"
+
+     If only base men, who are dead to the feeling of patriotism and
+     national glory, had spoken of me thus, I would not have complained.
+     I would have disregarded it; but I have a right to complain of the
+     degradation to which the first magistrates of the Republic reduce
+     those who have aggrandised, and carried the French name to so high a
+     pitch of glory.  Citizens-Directors, I reiterate the demand I made
+     for my dismissal; I wish to live in tranquillity, if the poniards of
+     Clichy will allow me to live.  You have employed me in negotiations.
+     I am not very fit to conduct them.
+
+
+About the same time he drew up the following note respecting the affairs
+of Venice, which was printed without the author's name, and circulated
+through the whole army:--
+
+                                  NOTE.
+
+     Bonaparte, pausing before the gates of Turin, Parma, Rome, and
+     Vienna, offering peace when he was sure of obtaining nothing but
+     fresh triumphs--Bonaparte, whose every operation exhibits respect
+     for religion, morality, and old age; who, instead of heaping, as he
+     might have done, dishonour upon the Venetians, and humbling their
+     republic to the earth, loaded her with acts of kindness, and took
+     such great interest in her glory--is this the same Bonaparte who is
+     accused of destroying the ancient Government of Venice, and
+     democratising Genoa, and even of interfering in the affairs of the
+     prudent and worthy people of the Swiss Cantons?  Bonaparte had
+     passed the Tagliamento, and entered Germany, when insurrections
+     broke out in the Venetian States; these insurrections were,
+     therefore, opposed to Bonaparte's project; surely, then, he could
+     not favour them.  When he was in the heart of Germany the Venetians
+     massacred more than four hundred French troops, drove their quarters
+     out of Verona, assassinated the unfortunate Laugier, and presented
+     the spectacle of a fanatical party in arms.  He returned to Italy;
+     and on his arrival, as the winds cease their agitation at the
+     presence of Neptune, the whole of Italy, which was in commotion,
+     which was in arms, was restored to order.
+
+     However, the deputies from Bonaparte drew up different articles
+     conformable to the situation of the country, and in order to
+     prevent, not a revolution in the Government, for the Government was
+     defunct, and had died a natural death, but a crisis, and to save the
+     city from convulsion, anarchy, and pillage.  Bonaparte spared a
+     division of his army to save Venice from pillage and massacre.  All
+     the battalions were in the streets of Venice, the disturbers were
+     put down, and the pillage discontinued.  Property and trade were
+     preserved, when General Baragney d'Hilliers entered Venice with his
+     division.  Bonaparte, as usual, spared blood, and was the protector
+     of Venice.  Whilst the French troops remained they conducted
+     themselves peaceably, and only interfered to support the provisional
+     Government.
+
+     Bonaparte could not say to the deputies of Venice, who came to ask
+     his protection and assistance against the populace, who wished to
+     plunder them, "I cannot meddle with your affairs."  He could not say
+     this, for Venice, and all its territories, had really formed the
+     theatre of war; and, being in the rear of the army of Italy, the
+     Republic of Venice was really under the jurisdiction of that army.
+     The rights of war confer upon a general the powers of supreme police
+     over the countries which are the seat of war.  As the great
+     Frederick said, "There are no neutrals where there is war."
+     Ignorant advocates and babblers have asked, in the Club of Clichy,
+     why we occupy the territory of Venice.  These declaimers should
+     learn war, and they would know that the Adige, the Brenta, and the
+     Tagliamento, where we have been fighting for two years, are within
+     the Venetian States.  But, gentlemen of Clichy, we are at no loss to
+     perceive your meaning.  You reproach the army of Italy for having
+     surmounted all difficulties--for subduing all Italy for having twice
+     passed the Alps--for having marched on Vienna, and obliged Austria
+     to acknowledge the Republic that, you, men of Clichy, would destroy.
+     You accuse Bonaparte, I see clearly, for having brought about peace.
+     But I know you, and I speak in the name of eighty thousand soldiers.
+     The time is gone when base advocates and wretched declaimers could
+     induce soldiers to revolt.  If, however, yon compel them, the
+     soldiers of the army of Italy will soon appear at the Barrier of
+     Clichy, with their General.  But woe unto you if they do!
+
+     Bonaparte having arrived at Palma-Nova, issued a manifesto on the 2d
+     of May 1797.  Arrived at Mestre, where he posted his troops, the
+     Government sent three deputies to him, with a decree of the Great
+     Council, without Bonaparte having solicited it and without his
+     having thought of making any change in the Government of that
+     country: The governor of Venice was an old man, ninety-nine years-of
+     age, confined by illness to his apartment.  Everyone felt the
+     necessity of renovating this Government of twelve hundred years'
+     existence, and to simplify its machinery, in order to preserve its
+     independence, honour, and glory.  It was necessary to deliberate,
+     first, on the manner of renovating the Government; secondly, on the
+     means of atoning for the massacre of the French, the iniquity of
+     which every one was sensible..
+
+     Bonaparte, after having received the deputation at Mestre, told them
+     that in order to obtain satisfaction, for the assassination of his
+     brethren is arms, he wished the Great Council to arrest the
+     inquisitors.  He afterwards granted them an armistice, and appointed
+     Milan as the place of conference.  The deputies arrived at Milan on
+     the .  .  .  A negotiation commenced to re-establish harmony between
+     the Governments.  However, anarchy, with all its horrors, afflicted
+     the city of Venice.  Ten thousand Sclavonians threatened to pillage
+     the shops.  Bonaparte acquiesced in the proposition submitted by the
+     deputies, who promised to verify the loss which had been sustained
+     by pillage.
+
+
+Bonaparte also addressed a manifesto to the Doge, which appeared in all
+the public papers.  It contained fifteen articles of complaint, and was
+followed by a decree ordering the French Minister to leave Venice, the
+Venetian agents to leave Lombard, and the Lion of St. Mark to be pulled
+down in all the Continental territories of Venice.
+
+The General-in-Chief now openly manifested his resolution of marching on
+Paris; and this disposition, which was well known in the army, was soon
+communicated to Vienna.  At this period a letter from the Emperor Francis
+II. to his brother, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, was intercepted by
+Bonaparte.  I translated the letter, which proved to him that Francis II.
+was acquainted with his project.  He likewise saw with pleasure the
+assurances which the Emperor gave his brother of his love of peace, as
+well as the wavering of the imperial resolves, and the incertitude
+respecting the fate of the Italian princes, which the Emperor easily
+perceived to depend on Bonaparte.  The Emperor's letter was as follows:--
+
+     MY DEAR BROTHER--I punctually received your third letter, containing
+     a description of your unhappy and delicate situation.  You may be
+     assured that I perceive it as clearly as you do yourself; and I pity
+     you the more because, in truth, I do not know what advice to give
+     you.  You are, like me, the victim of the former inactivity of the
+     princes of Italy, who ought, at once, to have acted with all their
+     united forces, while I still possessed Mantua.  If Bonaparte's
+     project be, as I learn, to establish republics in Italy, this is
+     likely to end in spreading republicanism over the whole country.  I
+     have already commenced negotiations for peace, and the preliminaries
+     are ratified.  If the French observe them as strictly as I do, and
+     will do, then your situation will be improved; but already the
+     French are beginning to disregard them.  The principal problem which
+     remains to be solved is, whether the French Directory approve of
+     Bonaparte's proceedings, and whether the latter, as appears by some
+     papers distributed through his army, is not disposed to revolt
+     against his country, which also seems to be probable, from his
+     severe conduct towards Switzerland, notwithstanding the assurances
+     of the Directory, that he had been ordered to leave the country
+     untouched.  If this should be the case, new and innumerable
+     difficulties may arise.  Under these circumstances I can, at
+     present, advise nothing; for, as to myself, it is only time and the
+     circumstances of the moment which can point out how I am to act.
+
+     There is nothing new here.  We are all well; but the heat is
+     extraordinary.  Always retain your friendship and love for me.
+     Make my compliments to your wife, and believe me ever
+
+               Your best Friend and Brother,
+                                        FRANCIS.
+
+     HETZENDORF, July 20, 1797.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+1797.
+
+     Unfounded reports--Carnot--Capitulation of Mantua--General Clarke--
+     The Directory yields to Bonaparte--Berthier--Arrival of Eugene
+     Beauharnais at Milan--Comte Delannay d'Entraigues--His interview
+     with Bonaparte--Seizure of his papers--Copy of one describing a
+     conversation between him and Comte de Montgaillard--The Emperor
+     Francis--The Prince de Conde and General Pichegru.
+
+While Bonaparte was expressing his opinion on his campaigns and the
+injustice with which they had been criticised, it was generally believed
+that Carnot dictated to him from a closet in the Luxembourg all the plans
+of his operations, and that Berthier was at his right hand, without whom,
+notwithstanding Carnot's plans, which were often mere romances, he would
+have been greatly embarrassed.  This twofold misrepresentation was very
+current for some time; and, notwithstanding it was contrary to the
+evidence of facts, it met with much credence, particularly abroad.  There
+was, however, no foundation for the opinion: Let us render to Caesar that
+which is Caesar's due.  Bonaparte was a creator in the art of war, and no
+imitator.  That no man was superior to him in that art is incontestable.
+At the commencement of the glorious campaign in Italy the Directory
+certainly sent out instructions to him; but he always followed his own
+plans, and continually, wrote back that all would be lost if movements
+conceived at a distance from the scene of action were to be blindly
+executed.  He also offered to resign.  At length the Directory perceived
+the impossibility of prescribing operations of war according to the view
+of persons in Paris; and when I became the secretary of the General-in-
+Chief I saw a despatch of the Directory, dated May, 1796, committing the
+whole plan of the campaign to his judgment; and assuredly there was not a
+single operation or movement which did not originate with him.  Carnot
+was obliged to yield to his firmness.  When the Directory, towards the
+end of 1796, felt disposed to treat for peace, General Clarke, appointed
+to conclude the armistice, was authorised, in case Mantua should not be
+taken before the negotiation was brought to a close, to propose leaving
+the blockade in statu quo.  Had such a condition been adopted it would
+doubtless hays been stipulated that the Emperor of Austria should be
+allowed to provision the garrison and inhabitants of the city day by day.
+Bonaparte, convinced that an armistice without Mantua would by no means
+conduce to peace, earnestly opposed such a condition.  He carried his
+point; Mantua capitulated, and the result is well known.  Yet he was not
+blind to the hazards of war; while preparing, during the blockade, an
+assault on Mantua, he wrote thus to the Directory: "A bold stroke of this
+nature depends absolutely for success on a dog or a goose."  This was
+about a question of surprise.
+
+Bonaparte was exceedingly sensitive to the rumours which reached him
+respecting Carnot and Berthier.  He one day said to me: "What gross
+stupidity, is this?  It is very well to say to a general, 'Depart for
+Italy, gain battles, and sign a peace at Vienna;' but the execution that
+is not so easy.  I never attached any value to the plans which the
+Directory sent me.  Too many circumstances occur on the spot to modify
+them.  The movement of a single corps of the enemy's army may confound a
+whole plan arranged by the fireside.  Only fools can believe such stuff!
+As for Berthier, since you have been with me, you see what he is--he is a
+blockhead.  Yet it is he who does it all; it is he who gathers a great
+part of the glory of the army of Italy."  I told him that this erroneous
+opinion could not last long; that each person would be allowed his merit,
+and that at least posterity would judge rightly.  This observation seemed
+to please him.
+
+Berthier was a man full of honour, courage, and probity, and exceedingly
+regular in the performance of his duties.  Bonaparte's attachment to him
+arose more from habit than liking.  Berthier did not concede with
+affability, and refused with harshness.  His abrupt, egotistic, and
+careless manners did not, however, create him many enemies, but, at the
+same time, did not make him many friends.  In consequence of our frequent
+intercourse he had contracted the friendly practice of speaking to me in
+the second person singular; but he never wrote to me is that style.  He
+was perfectly acquainted with the disposition of all the corps, and could
+name their commanders and their respective forces.  Day or night he was
+always at hand and made out with clearness all the secondary orders which
+resulted from the dispositions of the General-in-Chief.  In fact, he was,
+an excellent head of the staff of an army; but that is all the praise
+that can be given, and indeed he wished for no greater.  He had such
+entire confidence in Bonaparte, and looked up to him with so much
+admiration, that he never would have presumed to oppose his plans or give
+any advise.  Berthier's talent was very limited, and of a special nature;
+his character was one of extreme weakness.  Bonaparte's friendship for
+him and the frequency of his name in the bulletins and official
+despatches have unduly elevated his reputation.  Bonaparte, giving his
+opinion to the Directory respecting the generals employed in his army,
+said, "Berthier has talents, activity, courage, character--all in his
+favour."  This was in 1796.  He then made an eagle of him; at St. Helena
+he called him a goose.  He should neither have, raised him so high nor
+sunk him so low.
+
+Berthier neither merited the one nor the other.  Bonaparte was a man of
+habit; he was much attached to all the people about him, and did not like
+new faces.  Berthier loved him.  He carried out his orders well, and that
+enabled him to pass off with his small portion of talent.
+
+It was about this time that young Beauharnais came to Milan.  He was
+seventeen years old.  He had lived in Paris with his mother since the
+departure of Bonaparte.  On his arrival he immediately entered the
+service as 'aide de camp' to the General-in-Chief, who felt for him an
+affection which was justified by his good qualities.
+
+Comte Delaunay d'Entraigues, well known in the French Revolution, held a
+diplomatic post at Venice when that city was threatened by the French.
+Aware of his being considered the agent of all the machinations then
+existing against France, and especially against the army of Italy, he
+endeavoured to escape; but the city being, surrounded, he was seized,
+together with all his papers.  The apparently frank manners of the Count
+pleased Bonaparte, who treated him with indulgence.  His papers were
+restored, with the exception of three relating to political subjects.
+He afterwards fled to Switzerland, and ungratefully represented himself
+as having been oppressed by Bonaparte.  His false statements have induced
+many writers to make of him an heroic victim.  He was assassinated by his
+own servant in 1802.
+
+I kept a copy of one of his most interesting papers.  It has been much
+spoken of, and Fauche-Borel has, I believe, denied its authenticity and
+the truth of its contents.  The manner in which it fell into the hands of
+the General-in-Chief, the importance attached to it by d'Entraigues, the
+differences I have observed between the manuscript I copied and versions
+which I have since read, and the, knowledge of its, authenticity, having
+myself transcribed it from the handwriting of the Count, who in my
+presence vouched for the truth of the facts it details--all these
+circumstances induce me to insert it here, and compel me to doubt that it
+was, as Fauche-Borel asserted, a fabrication.
+
+This manuscript is entitled, 'My Conversation with Comte de Montgaillard,
+on the 4th of December 1796, from Six in the Afternoon till midnight, in
+the presence of the Abbe Dumontel.'
+
+[On my copy are written the words, "Extracts from this conversation, made
+by me, from the original."  I omitted what I thought unimportant, and
+transcribed only the most interesting passages.  Montgaillard spoke of
+his escape, of his flight to England, of his return to France, of his
+second departure, and finally of his arrival at Bale in August 1795.]
+
+     The Prince de Conde soon afterwards, he said, called me to Mulheim,
+     and knowing the connections I had had in France, proposed that I
+     should sound General Pichegru, whose headquarters were at Altkirch,
+     where he then was, surrounded by four representatives of the
+     Convention.
+
+     I immediately went to Neufchatel, taking with me four or five
+     hundred Louis.  I cast my eyes on Fauche-Borel, the King's printer
+     at Neufchatel, and also yours and mine, as the instrument by which
+     to make the first overture, and I selected as his colleague M.
+     Courant, a native of Neufchatel.  I persuaded them to undertake the
+     business: I supplied them with instructions and passports.  They
+     were foreigners: so I furnished them with all the necessary
+     documents to enable them to travel in France as foreign merchants
+     and purchasers of national property.  I went to Bale to wait for
+     news from them.
+
+     On the 13th of August Fauche and Courant set out for the
+     headquarters at Altkirch.  They remained there eight days without
+     finding an opportunity to speak to Pichegru, who was surrounded by
+     representatives and generals.  Pichegru observed them, and seeing
+     them continually wheresoever he went, he conjectured that they had
+     something to say to him, and he called out in a loud voice, while
+     passing them, "I am going to Huningen."  Fauche contrived to throw
+     himself in his way at the end of a corridor.  Pichegru observed him,
+     and fixed his eyes upon him, and although it rained in torrents, he
+     said aloud, "I am going to dine at the chateau of Madame ,Salomon."
+     This chateau was three leagues from Huningen, and Madame Salomon was
+     Pichegru's mistress.
+
+     Fauche set off directly to the chateau, and begged to speak with
+     General Pichegru.  He told the general that, being in the possession
+     of some of J. J. Rousseau's manuscripts, he wished to publish them
+     and dedicate them to him.  "Very good," said Pichegru; "but I should
+     like to read them first; for Rousseau professed principles of
+     liberty in which I do not concur, and with which I should not like
+     to have my name connected."--"But," said Fauche, "I have something
+     else to speak to you about."--"What is it, and on whose behalf?"--
+     "On behalf of the Prince de Conde."--"Be silent, then, and follow
+     me."
+
+     He conducted Fauche alone into a retired cabinet, and said to
+     him, "Explain yourself; what does Monseigneur le Prince de Conde
+     wish to communicate to me?"  Fauche was embarrassed, and stammered
+     out something unintelligible.  "Compose yourself." said Pichegru;
+     "my sentiments are the same, as the Prince de Conde's.  What does he
+     desire of me?"  Fauche, encouraged by these words, replied, "The
+     Prince wishes to join you.  He counts on you, and wishes to connect
+     himself with you."
+
+     "These are vague and unmeaning words," observed Pichegru.  "All this
+     amounts to nothing.  Go back, and ask for written instructions, and
+     return in three days to my headquarters at Altkirch.  You will find
+     me alone precisely at six o'clock in the evening."
+
+     Fauche immediately departed, arrived at Bale, and informed me of all
+     that had passed.  I spent the night in writing a letter to General
+     Pichegru.  (The Prince de Conde, who was invested with all the
+     powers of Louis XVIII, except that of granting the 'cordon-bleu',
+     had, by a note in his own handwriting, deputed to me all his powers,
+     to enable me to maintain a negotiation with General Pichegru).
+
+     I therefore wrote to the general, stating, in the outset, everything
+     that was calculated to awaken in him that noble sentiment of pride
+     which is the instinct of great minds; and after pointing out to him
+     the vast good it was in his power to effect, I spoke of the
+     gratitude of the King, and the benefit he would confer on his
+     country by restoring royalty.  I told him that his Majesty would
+     make him a marshal of France, and governor of Alsace, as no one
+     could better govern the province than he who had so valiantly
+     defended it.  I added that he would have the 'cordon-rouge', the
+     Chateau de Chambord, with its park, and twelve pieces of cannon
+     taken from the Austrians, a million of ready money, 200,000 livres
+     per annum, and an hotel in Paris; that the town of Arbors,
+     Pichegru's native place, should bear his name, and be exempt from
+     all taxation for twenty-five years; that a pension of 200,000 livres
+     would be granted to him, with half reversion to his wife, and 50,000
+     livres to his heirs for ever, until the extinction of his family.
+     Such were the offers, made in the name of the King, to General
+     Pichegru.  (Than followed the boons to be granted to the officers
+     and soldiers, an amnesty to the people, etc).  I added that the
+     Prince de Coude desired that he would proclaim the King in the
+     camps, surrender the city of Huningen to him, and join him for the
+     purpose of marching on Paris.
+
+     Pichegru, having read my letter with great attention, said to
+     Fauche, "This is all very well; but who is this M. de Montgaillard
+     who talks of being thus authorised?  I neither know him nor his
+     signature.  Is he the author?"--"Yes," replied Fauche.  "But," said
+     Pichegru, "I must, before making any negotiation on my part, be
+     assured that the Prince de Conde, with whose handwriting I am well
+     acquainted, approves of all that has been written is his name by M.
+     de Montgaillard.  Return directly to M. de Montgaillard, and tell
+     him to communicate my answer to the Prince.
+
+     Fauche immediately departed, leaving M. Courant with Pichegru.  He
+     arrived at Bale at nine o'clock in the evening.  I set off directly
+     for Malheim, the Prince de Conde's headquarters, and arrived there
+     at half-past twelve.  The Prince was in bed, but I awoke him.  He
+     made me sit down by his bedside, and our conference then commenced.
+
+     After having informed the Prince of the state of affairs, all that
+     remained was to prevail on him to write to General Pichegru to
+     confirm the truth of what had been stated in his name.  This matter,
+     which appeared so simple, and so little liable to objection,
+     occupied the whole night.  The Prince, as brave a man as can
+     possibly be, inherited nothing from the great Conde but his
+     undaunted courage.  In other respects he is the most insignificant
+     of men; without resources of mind, or decision of character;
+     surrounded by men of mediocrity, and even baseness; and though he
+     knows them well, he suffers himself to be governed by them.
+
+     It required nine hours of hard exertion on my part to get him to
+     write to General Pichegru a letter of eight lines.  1st.  He did not
+     wish it to be in his handwriting.  2d.  He objected to dating it
+     3d.  He was unwilling to call him General, lest he should recognise
+     the republic by giving that title.  4th.  He did not like to address
+     it, or affix his seal to it.
+
+     At length he consented to all, and wrote to Pichegru that he might
+     place full confidence in the letters of the Comte de Montgaillard.
+     When all this was settled, after great difficulty, the Prince next
+     hesitated about sending the letter; but at length he yielded.  I set
+     off for Bale, and despatched Fauche to Altkirch, to General
+     Pichegru.
+
+     The general, after reading the letter of eight lines, and
+     recognising the handwriting and signature, immediately returned it
+     to Fauche, saying, "I have seen the signature: that is enough for
+     me.  The word of the Prince is a pledge with which every Frenchman
+     ought to be satisfied.  Take back his letter."  He then inquired
+     what was the Prince's wish.  Fauche explained that he wished--1st.
+     That Pichegru should proclaim the King to his troops, and hoist the
+     White flag.  2d.  That he should deliver up Huningen to the Prince.
+     Pichegru objected to this.  "I will never take part in such a plot,"
+     said he; "I have no wish to make the third volume of La Fayette and
+     Dumouriez.  I know my resources; they are as certain as they are
+     vast.  Their roots are not only in my army, but in Paris, in the
+     Convention, in the departments, and in the armies of those generals,
+     my colleagues, who think as I do.  I wish to do nothing by halves.
+     There must be a complete end of the present state of things.  France
+     cannot continue a Republic.  She must have a king, and that king
+     must be Louis XVIII.  But we must not commence the counter-
+     revolution until we are certain of effecting it.  'Surely and
+     rightly' is my motto.  The Prince's plan leads to nothing.  He would
+     be driven from Huningen in four days, and in fifteen I should be
+     lost.  My army is composed both of good men and bad.  We must
+     distinguish between them, and, by a bold stroke, assure the former
+     of the impossibility of drawing back, and that their only safety
+     lies in success.  For this purpose I propose to pass the Rhine, at
+     any place and any time that may be thought necessary.  In the
+     advance I will place those officers on whom I can depend, and who
+     are of my way of thinking.  I will separate the bad, and place them
+     in situations where they can do no harm, and their position shall be
+     such as to prevent them from uniting.  That done, as soon as I shall
+     be on the other side of the Rhine, I will proclaim the King, and
+     hoist the white flag.  Conde's corps and the Emperor's army will
+     then join us.  I will immediately repass the Rhine, and re-enter
+     France.  The fortresses will be surrendered, and will be held in the
+     King's name by the Imperial troops.  Having joined Conde's army, I
+     immediately advance.  All my means now develop themselves on every
+     side.  We march upon Paris, and in a fortnight will be there.  But
+     it is necessary that you should know that you must give the French
+     soldier wine and a crown in his hand if you would have him cry 'Vive
+     le Roi!  Nothing must be wanting at the first moment.  My army must
+     be well paid as far as the fourth or fifth march in the French
+     territory.  There go and tell all this to the Prince, show my
+     handwriting, and bring me back his answer."
+
+     During these conferences Pichegru was surrounded by four
+     representatives of the people, at the head of whom was Merlin de
+     Thionville, the most insolent and the most ferocious of inquisitors.
+     These men, having the orders of the Committee, pressed Pichegru to
+     pass the Rhine and go and besiege Manheim, where Merlin had an
+     understanding with the inhabitants.  Thus, if on the one hand the
+     Committee by its orders made Pichegru wish to hasten the execution
+     of his plan, on the other he had not a moment to lose; for to delay
+     obeying the orders of the four representatives was to render himself
+     suspected.  Every consideration, therefore, called upon the Prince
+     to decide, and decide promptly.  Good sense required him also to do
+     another thing, namely, to examine without prejudice what sort of man
+     Pichegru was, to consider the nature of the sacrifice he made, and
+     what were his propositions.  Europe acknowledged his talents, and he
+     had placed the Prince in a condition to judge of his good faith.
+     Besides, his conduct and his plan afforded fresh proofs of his
+     sincerity.  By passing the Rhine and placing himself between the
+     armies of Conde and Wurmser, he rendered desertion impossible; and,
+     if success did not attend his attempt, his own acts forced him to
+     become an emigrant.  He left in the power of his fierce enemies his
+     wife, his father, his children.  Everything bore testimony to his
+     honesty; the talents he had shown were a pledge for his genius, his
+     genius for his resources; and the sacrifices he would have to make
+     in case of failure proved that he was confident of success.
+
+     What stupid conceit was it for any one to suppose himself better
+     able to command Pichegru's army than Pichegru himself!--to pretend
+     to be better acquainted with the frontier provinces than Pichegru,
+     who commanded them, and had placed his friends in them as commanders
+     of the towns!  This self-conceit, however, ruined the monarchy at
+     this time, as well as at so many others.  The Prince de Conde, after
+     reading the plan, rejected it in toto.  To render it successful it
+     was necessary to make the Austrians parties to it.  This Pichegru
+     exacted, but the Prince of Conde would not hear a word of it,
+     wishing to have confined to himself the glory of effecting the
+     counter-revolution.  He replied to Pichegru by a few observations,
+     and concluded his answer by returning to his first plan--that
+     Pichegru should proclaim the King without passing the Rhine, and
+     should give up Huningen; that then the army of Conde by itself, and
+     without the aid of the Austrians, would join him.  In that case he
+     could promise 100,000 crowns in louis, which he had at Bale, and
+     1,400,000 livres, which he had in good bills payable at sight.
+
+     No argument or entreaty had any effect on the Prince de Condo.  The
+     idea of communicating his plan to Wurmser and sharing his glory with
+     him rendered him blind and deaf to every consideration.  However, it
+     was necessary to report to Pichegru the observations of the Prince
+     de Conde, and Courant was commissioned to do so.
+
+This document appeared so interesting to me that while Bonaparte was
+sleeping I was employed in copying it.  Notwithstanding posterior and
+reiterated denials of its truth, I believe it to be perfectly correct.
+
+Napoleon had ordered plans of his most famous battles to be engraved, and
+had paid in advance for them.  The work was not done quickly enough for
+him.  He got angry, and one day said to his geographer, Bacler d'Albe,
+whom he liked well enough, "Ah!  do hurry yourself, and think all this is
+only the business of a moment.  If you make further delay you will sell
+nothing; everything is soon forgotten!"
+
+We were now in July, and the negotiations were carried on with a
+tardiness which showed that something was kept in reserve on both sides.
+Bonaparte at this time was anything but disposed to sign a peace, which
+be always hoped to be able to make at Vienna, after a campaign in
+Germany, seconded by the armies of the Rhine and the Sambre-et-Meuse.
+The minority of the Directory recommended peace on the basis of the
+preliminaries, but the majority wished for more honourable and
+advantageous terms; while Austria, relying on troubles breaking out in
+France, was in no haste to conclude a treaty.  In these circumstances
+Bonaparte drew up a letter to be sent to the Emperor of Austria, in which
+he set forth the moderation of France; but stated that, in consequence of
+the many delays, nearly all hope of peace had vanished.  He advised the
+Emperor not to rely on difficulties arising in France, and doubted, if
+war should continue and the Emperor be successful in the next campaign,
+that he would obtain a more advantageous peace than was now at his
+option.  This letter was never sent to the Emperor, but was communicated
+as the draft of a proposed despatch to the Directory.  The Emperor
+Francis, however, wrote an autograph letter to the General-in-Chief of
+the army of Italy, which will be noticed when I come to the period of its
+reception: It is certain that Bonaparte at this time wished for war.  He
+was aware that the Cabinet of Vienna was playing with him, and that the
+Austrian Ministers expected some political convulsion in Paris, which
+they hoped would be favourable to the Bourbons.  He therefore asked for
+reinforcements.  His army consisted of 35,900 men, and he desired it to
+be raised to 60,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry ready for the field.
+
+General Desaix, profiting by the preliminaries of Leoben, came in the end
+of July to visit the scene of the army of Italy's triumphs.  His
+conversations with Bonaparte respecting the army of the Rhine were far
+from giving him confidence in his military situation in Italy, or
+assurance of support from that army in the event of hostilities
+commencing beyond the mountains.  It was at this period that their
+intimacy began.  Bonaparte conceived for Desaix the greatest esteem and
+the sincerest friendship.
+
+     --[Desaix discontented with the conduct of affairs in Germany,
+     seceded from the army of the Rhine, to which he belonged, to join
+     that of Napoleon.  He was sent to Italy to organise the part of the
+     Egyptian expedition starting from Civita Vecchia.  He took with him
+     his two aides de camp, Rapp and Savary (later Duc de Rovigo), both
+     of whom, on his death, were given the same post with Bonaparte.]--
+
+When Desaix was named temporary commander of the force called the army of
+England, during the absence of General Bonaparte, the latter wrote to the
+Directory that they could not have chosen a more distinguished officer
+than Desaix; these sentiments he never belied.  The early death of Desaix
+alone could break their union, which, I doubt not, would eventually have
+had great influence on the political and military career of General
+Bonaparte.
+
+All the world knows the part which the General-in-Chief of the army of
+Italy took at the famous crisis of the 18th Fructidor; his proclamation,
+his addresses to the army, and his celebrated order of the day.
+Bonaparte went much into detail on this subject at St. Helena; and I
+shall now proceed to state what I knew at the time respecting that
+memorable event, which was in preparation in the month of June.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+1797.
+
+     The royalists of the interior--Bonaparte's intention of marching on
+     Paris with 25,000 men--His animosity against the emigrants and the
+     Clichy Club--His choice between the two parties of the Directory--
+     Augereau's order of the day against the word 'Monsieur'--Bonaparte
+     wishes to be made one of the five Directors--He supports the
+     majority of the Directory--La Vallette, Augereau, and Bernadotte
+     sent to Paris--Interesting correspondence relative to the 18th
+     Fructidor.
+
+Bonaparte had long observed the struggle which was going on between the
+partisans of royalty and the Republic.  He was told that royalism was
+everywhere on the increase.  All the generals who returned from Paris to
+the army complained of the spirit of reaction they had noticed.
+Bonaparte was constantly urged by his private correspondents to take one
+side or the other, or to act for himself.  He was irritated by the
+audacity of the enemies of the Republic, and he saw plainly that the
+majority of the councils had an evident ill-will towards him.  The
+orators of the Club of Clichy missed no opportunity of wounding his self-
+love in speeches and pamphlets.  They spared no insults, disparaged his
+success, and bitterly censured his conduct in Italy, particularly with
+respect to Venice.  Thus his services were recompensed by hatred or
+ingratitude.  About this time he received a pamphlet, which referred to
+the judgments pronounced upon him by the German journals, and more
+particularly by the Spectator of the North, which he always made me
+translate.
+
+Bonaparte was touched to the quick by the comparison make between him and
+Moreau, and by the wish to represent him as foolhardy ("savants sous
+Moreau, fougueuse sous Buonaparte").  In the term of "brigands," applied
+to the generals who fought in La Vendee, he thought he recognized the
+hand of the party he was about to attack and overthrow.  He was tired of
+the way in which Moreau's system of war was called "savants."  But what
+grieved him still more was to see sitting in the councils of the nation
+Frenchmen who were detractors and enemies of the national glory.
+
+He urged the Directory to arrest the emigrants, to destroy the influence
+of foreigners, to recall the armies, to suppress the journals sold to
+England, such as the 'Quotidienne', the 'Memorial', and the 'The', which
+he accused of being more sanguinary than Marat ever was.  In case of
+there being no means of putting a stop to assassinations and the
+influence of Louis XVIII., he offered to resign.
+
+His resolution of passing the Alps with 25,000 men and marching by Lyons
+and Paris was known in the capital, and discussions arose respecting the
+consequences of this passage of another Rubicon.  On the 17th of August
+1797 Carnot wrote to him: "People attribute to you a thousand absurd
+projects.  They cannot believe that a man who has performed so many great
+exploits can be content to live as a private citizen."  This observation
+applied to Bonaparte's reiterated request to be permitted to retire from
+the service on account of the state of his health, which, he said,
+disabled him from mounting his horse, and to the need which he constantly
+urged of having two years' rest.
+
+The General-in-Chief was justly of opinion that the tardiness of the
+negotiations and the difficulties which incessantly arose were founded on
+the expectation of an event which would change the government of France,
+and render the chances of peace more favourable to Austria.  He still
+urgently recommended the arrest of the emigrants, the stopping of the
+presses of the royalist journals, which he said were sold to England and
+Austria, the suppression of the Clichy Club.  This club was held at the
+residence of Gerard Desodieres, in the Rue de Clichy.  Aubry, was one of
+its warmest partisans, and he was the avowed enemy of the revolutionary
+cause which Bonaparte advocated at this period.  Aubry's conduct at this
+time, together with the part he had taken in provoking Bonaparte's
+dismissal in 1795, inspired the General with an implacable hatred of him.
+
+Bonaparte despised the Directory, which he accused of weakness,
+indecision, pusillanimity, wasteful expenditure, of many errors, and
+perseverance in a system degrading to the national glory.
+
+     --[The Directory merited those accusations.  The following sketches
+     of two of their official sittings present a singular contrast:
+
+     At the time that the Directory were first installed in the
+     Luxembourg (27th October 1795)."  says M. Baileul, "there was hardly
+     a single article of furniture in it.  In a small room, round a
+     little broken table, one of the legs of which had given way from
+     age, on which table they had deposited a quire of letter-paper, and
+     a writing desk 'a calamet', which luckily they had had the
+     precaution to bring with them from the Committee of Public safety,
+     seated on four rush-bottomed chairs, in front of some logs of wood
+     ill-lighted, the whole borrowed from the porter Dupont; who would
+     believe that it was in this deplorable condition that the member's
+     of the new Government, after having examined all the difficulties,
+     nay, let me add, all the horrors of their situation, resolved to
+     confront all obstacles, and that they would either deliver France
+     from the abyss in which she was plunged or perish in the attempt?
+     They drew up on a sheet of letter-paper the act by which they
+     declared themselves constituted, and immediately forwarded it to the
+     Legislative Bodies."
+
+     And the Comte de La Vallette, writing to M. Cuvillier Fleury, says:
+     "I saw our five kings, dressed in the robes of Francis I., his hat,
+     his pantaloons, and his lace: the face of La Reveilliere looked like
+     a cork upon two pins, with the black and greasy hair of Clodion.  M.
+     de Talleyrand, in pantaloons of the colour of wine dregs, sat in a
+     folding chair at the feet of the Director Barras, in the Court of
+     the Petit Luxembourg, and gravely presented to his sovereigns as
+     ambassador from the Grand Duke of Tuscany, while the French were
+     eating his master's dinner, from the soup to the cheese.  At the
+     right hand there were fifty musicians and singers of the Opera,
+     Laine, Lays, Regnault, and the actresses, not all dead of old age,
+     roaring a patriotic cantata to the music of Mehul.  Facing them, on
+     another elevation, there were two hundred young and beautiful women,
+     with their arms and bosoms bare, all in ecstasy at the majesty of
+     our Pentarchy and the happiness of the Republic.  They also wore
+     tight flesh-coloured pantaloons, with rings on their toes.  That was
+     a sight that never will be seen again.  A fortnight after this
+     magnificent fete, thousands of families wept over their banished
+     fathers, forty-eight departments were deprived of their
+     representatives, and forty editors of newspapers were forced to go
+     and drink the waters of the Elbe, the Synamary or the Ohio!  It
+     would be a curious disquisition to seek to discover what really were
+     at that time the Republic and Liberty."]
+
+
+He knew that the Clichy party demanded his dismissal and arrest.  He was
+given to understand that Dumolard was one of the most decided against
+him, and that, finally, the royalist party was on the point of
+triumphing.
+
+Before deciding for one party or the other Bonaparte first thought of
+himself.  He did not imagine that he had yet achieved enough to venture
+on possessing himself of that power which certainly he might easily have
+obtained.  He therefore contented himself with joining the party which
+was, for the moment, supported by public opinion.  I know he was
+determined to march upon Paris with 25,000 men had affairs taken a turn
+unfavourable to the Republic, which he preferred to royalty.  He
+cautiously formed his plan.  To defend the Directory was, he conceived,
+to defend his own future fortune; that is to say, it was protecting a
+power which appeared to have no other object than to keep a place for him
+until his return.
+
+The parties which rose up in Paris produced a reaction in the army.  The
+employment of the word 'Monsieur' had occasioned quarrels, and even
+bloodshed.  General Augereau, in whose division these contests had taken
+place, published an order of the day, setting forth that every individual
+in his division who should use the word 'Monsieur', either verbally or in
+writing, under any pretence whatever, should be deprived of his rank, and
+declared incapable of serving in the Republican armies.  This order was
+read at the head of each company.
+
+Bonaparte viewed the establishment of peace as the close of his military
+career.  Repose and inactivity were to him unbearable.  He sought to take
+part in the civil affairs of the Republic, and was desirous of becoming
+one of the five Directors, convinced that, if he obtained that object, he
+would speedily stand single and alone.  The fulfilment of this wish would
+have prevented the Egyptian expedition, and placed the imperial crown
+much sooner upon his head.  Intrigues were carried on in Paris in his
+name, with the view of securing to him a legal dispensation on the score
+of age.  He hoped, though he was but eight-and-twenty, to supersede one
+of the two Directors who were to go out of office.
+
+     --[The Directors had to be forty years of ago before they could be
+     appointed.]--
+
+His brothers and their friends made great exertions for the success of
+the project, which, however, was not officially proposed, because it was
+too adverse to the prevailing notions of the day, and seemed too early a
+violation of the constitution of the year III., which, nevertheless, was
+violated in another way a few months after.
+
+The members of the Directory were by no means anxious to have Bonaparte
+for their colleague.  They dissembled, and so did he.  Both parties were
+lavish of their mutual assurances of friendship, while they cordially
+hated each other.  The Directory, however, appealed for the support of
+Bonaparte, which he granted; but his subsequent conduct clearly proves
+that the maintenance of the constitution of the year III. was a mere
+pretest.  He indeed defended it meanwhile, because, by aiding the triumph
+of the opposite party, he could not hope to preserve the influence which
+he exercised over the Directory.  I know well that, in case of the Clichy
+party gaining the ascendency, he was determined to cross the Alps with
+his army, and to assemble all the friends of the Republic at Lyons,
+thence to march upon Paris.
+
+In the Memorial of St.  Helena it is stated, in reference to the 18th
+Fructidor, "that the triumph of the majority of the councils was his
+desire and hope, we are inclined to believe from the following fact,
+viz., that at the crisis of the contest between the two factions a secret
+resolution was drawn up by three of the members of the Directory, asking
+him for three millions to support the attack on the councils, and that
+Napoleon, under various pretences, did not send the money, though he
+might easily have done so."
+
+This is not very comprehensible.  There was no secret resolution of the
+members who applied for the three millions.  It was Bonaparte who offered
+the money, which, however, he did not send; it was he who despatched
+Augereau; and he who wished for the triumph of the Directorial majority.
+His memory served him badly at St. Helena, as will be seen from some
+correspondence which I shall presently submit to the reader.  It is very
+certain that he did offer the money to the Directory; that is to say, to
+three of its members.
+
+     --[Barras,  La Revelliere-Lepaux, and Rewbell, the three Directors
+     who carried out the 'coup d'etat' of the 18th Fructidor against
+     their colleagues Carnot and Bartholemy.  (See Thiers' French
+     Revolution", vol. v.  pp. 114,139, and 163.)]--
+
+Bonaparte had so decidedly formed his resolution that on the 17th of
+July, wishing to make Augereau his confidant, he sent to Vicenza for him
+by an extraordinary courier.
+
+Bonaparte adds that when Bottot, the confidential agent of Barras, came
+to Passeriano, after the 18th Fructidor, he declared to him that as soon
+as La Vallette should make him acquainted with the real state of things
+the money should be transmitted.  The inaccuracy of these statements will
+be seen in the correspondence relative to the event.  In thus distorting
+the truth Napoleon's only object could have been to proclaim his
+inclination for the principles he adopted and energetically supported
+from the year 1800, but which, previously to that period, he had with no
+less energy opposed.
+
+He decidedly resolved to support the majority of the Directory, and to
+oppose the royalist faction; the latter, which was beginning to be
+important, would have been listened to had it offered power to him.
+About the end of July he sent his 'aide de camp' La Vallette to Paris.
+La Vallette was a man of good sense and education, pleasing manners,
+pliant temper, and moderate opinions.  He was decidedly devoted to
+Bonaparte.  With his instructions he received a private cipher to enable
+him to correspond with the General-in-Chief.
+
+Augereau went, after La Vallette, on the 27th of July.  Bonaparte
+officially wrote to the Directory that Augereau "had solicited leave to
+go to Paris on his own private business."
+
+But the truth is, Augereau was sent expressly to second the revolution
+which was preparing against the Clichy party and the minority of the
+Directory.
+
+Bonaparte made choice of Augereau because he knew his staunch republican
+principles, his boldness, and his deficiency in political talent.  He
+thought him well calculated to aid a commotion, which his own presence
+with the army of Italy prevented him from directing in person; and
+besides, Augereau was not an ambitious rival who might turn events to his
+own advantage.  Napoleon said, at St. Helena, that he sent the addresses
+of the army of Italy by Augereau because he was a decided supporter of
+the opinions of the day.  That was the true reason for choosing him.
+
+Bernadotte was subsequently despatched on the same errand.  Bonaparte's
+pretence for sending him was, that he wished to transmit to the Directory
+four flags, which, out of the twenty-one taken at the battle of Rivoli,
+had been left, by mistake, at Peschiera.  Bernadotte, however, did not
+take any great part in the affair.  He was always prudent.
+
+The crisis of the 18th Fructidor, which retarded for three years the
+extinction of the pentarchy, presents one of the most remarkable events
+of its short existence.  It will be seen how the Directors extricated
+themselves from this difficulty.  I subjoin the correspondence relating
+to this remarkable episode of our Revolution, cancelling only such
+portions of it as are irrelevant to the subject.  It exhibits several
+variations from the accounts given by Napoleon at St. Helena to his noble
+companions in misfortune.
+
+Augereau thus expressed himself on the 18th Fructidor (4th September
+1797):--
+
+     At length, General, my mission is accomplished, and the promises of
+     the army of Italy are fulfilled.  The fear of being anticipated has
+     caused measures to be hurried.
+
+     At midnight I despatched orders to all the troops to march towards
+     the points specified.  Before day all the bridges and principal
+     places were planted with cannon.  At daybreak the halls of the
+     councils were surrounded, the guards of the councils were amicably
+     mingled with our troops, and the members, of whom I send you a list,
+     were arrested and conveyed to the Temple.  The greater number have
+     escaped, and are being pursued.  Carnot has disappeared.'
+
+     --[In 1824 Louis XVIII.  sent letters of nobility to those members
+     of the two councils who were, as it was termed, 'fructidorized'.
+     --Bourrienne]--
+
+     Paris is tranquil, and every one is astounded at an event which
+     promised to be awful, but which has passed over like a fete.
+
+     The stout patriots of the faubourgs proclaim the safety of the
+     Republic, and the black collars are put down.  It now remains for
+     the wise energy of the Directory and the patriots of the two
+     councils to do the rest.  The place of sitting is changed, and the
+     first operations promise well.  This event is a great step towards
+     peace; which it is your task finally to secure to us.
+
+On the 24th Fructidor (10th September 1797) Augereau writes:
+
+     My 'aide de camp', de Verine, will acquaint you with the events of
+     the 18th.  He is also to deliver to you some despatches from the
+     Directory, where much uneasiness is felt at not hearing from you.
+     No less uneasiness is experienced on seeing in Paris one of your
+     'aides de camp',-(La Vallette)- whose conduct excites the
+     dissatisfaction and distrust of the patriots, towards whom he has
+     behaved very ill.
+
+     The news of General Clarke's recall will have reached you by this
+     time, and I suspect has surprised you.  Amongst the thousand and one
+     motives which have determined the Government to take this step may
+     be reckoned his correspondence with Carnot, which has been
+     communicated to me, and in which he treated the generals of the army
+     of Italy as brigands.
+
+     Moreau has sent the Directory a letter which throws a new light on
+     Pichegru's treason.  Such baseness is hardly to be conceived.
+
+     The Government perseveres in maintaining the salutary measures which
+     it has adopted.  I hope it will be in vain for the remnant of the
+     factions to renew their plots.  The patriots will continue united.
+
+     Fresh troops having been summoned to Paris, and my presence at their
+     head being considered indispensable by the Government, I shall not
+     have the satisfaction of seeing you so soon as I hoped.  This has
+     determined me to send for my horses and carriages, which I left at
+     Milan.
+
+Bernadotte wrote to Bonaparte on the 24th Fructidor as follows:--
+
+     The arrested deputies are removed to Rochefort, where they will be
+     embarked for the island of Madagascar.  Paris is tranquil.  The
+     people at first heard of the arrest of the deputies with
+     indifference.  A feeling of curiosity soon drew them into the
+     streets; enthusiasm followed, and cries of 'Vive la Republique',
+     which had not been heard for a long time, now resounded in every
+     street.  The neighbouring departments have expressed their
+     discontent.  That of Allier has, it is said, protested; but it will
+     cut a fine figure.  Eight thousand men are marching to the environs
+     of Paris.  Part is already within the precincts; under the orders of
+     General Lemoine.  The Government has it at present in its power to
+     elevate public spirit; but everybody feels that it is necessary the
+     Directory should be surrounded by tried and energetic Republicans.
+     Unfortunately a host of men, without talent and resources, already
+     suppose that what has taken place has been done only in order to
+     advance their interests.  Time is necessary to set all to rights.
+     The armies have regained consistency.  The soldiers of the interior
+     are esteemed, or at least feared.  The emigrants fly, and the non-
+     juring priests conceal themselves.  Nothing could have happened more
+     fortunately to consolidate the Republic.
+
+Bonaparte wrote as follows, to the Directory on the 26th Fructidor:
+
+     Herewith you will receive a proclamation to the army, relative to
+     the events of the 18th.  I have despatched the 45th demi-brigade,
+     commanded by General Bon, to Lyons, together with fifty cavalry;
+     also General Lannes, with the 20th light infantry and the 9th
+     regiment of the line, to Marseilles.  I have issued the enclosed
+     proclamation in the southern departments.  I am about to prepare a
+     proclamation for the inhabitants of Lyons, as soon as I obtain some
+     information of what may have passed there.
+
+     If I find there is the least disturbance, I will march there with
+     the utmost rapidity.  Believe that there are here a hundred thousand
+     men, who are alone sufficient to make the measures you have taken to
+     place liberty on a solid basis be respected.  What avails it that we
+     gain victories if we are not respected in our country.  In speaking
+     of Paris, one may parody what Cassius said of Rome: "Of what use to
+     call her queen on the banks of the Seine, when she is the slave of
+     Pitt's gold?"
+
+After the 18th Fructidor Augereau wished to have his reward for his share
+in the victory, and for the service which he had rendered.  He wished to
+be a Director.  He got, however, only the length of being a candidate;
+honour enough for one who had merely been an instrument on that day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+1797.
+
+     Bonaparte's joy at the result of the 18th Fructidor.--His letter to
+     Augerean--His correspondence with the Directory and proposed
+     resignation--Explanation of the Directory--Bottot--General Clarke--
+     Letter from Madame Bacciocchi to Bonaparte--Autograph letter of the
+     Emperor Francis to Bonaparte--Arrival of Count Cobentzel--Autograph
+     note of Bonaparte on the conditions of peace.
+
+Bonaparte was delighted when he heard of the happy issue of the 18th
+Fructidor.  Its result was the dissolution of the Legislative Body and
+the fall of the Clichyan party, which for some months had disturbed his
+tranquillity.  The Clichyans had objected to Joseph Bonaparte's right to
+sit as deputy for Liamone in the Council of Five Hundred.
+
+     --[He was ambassador to Rome, and not a deputy at this time.  When
+     he became a member of the council, after his return from Rome, he
+     experienced no opposition (Bourrienne et ses Erreurs, tome i.
+     p. 240).]--
+
+His brother's victory removed the difficulty; but the General-in-Chief
+soon perceived that the ascendant party abused its power, and again
+compromised the safety of the Republic, by recommencing the Revolutionary
+Government.  The Directors were alarmed at his discontent and offended by
+his censure.  They conceived the singular idea of opposing to Bonaparte,
+Augereau, of whose blind zeal they had received many proofs.  The
+Directory appointed Augereau commander of the army of Germany.  Augereau,
+whose extreme vanity was notorious, believed himself in a situation to
+compete with Bonaparte.  What he built his arrogance on was, that, with a
+numerous troop, he had arrested some unarmed representatives, and torn
+the epaulettes from the shoulders of the commandant of the guard of the
+councils.  The Directory and he filled the headquarters at Passeriano
+with spies and intriguers.
+
+Bonaparte, who was informed of everything that was going on, laughed at
+the Directory, and tendered his resignation, in order that he might be
+supplicated to continue in command.
+
+The following post-Thermidorian letters will prove that the General's
+judgment on this point was correct.
+
+On the 2d Vendemiaire, year VI.  (23d September 1797), he wrote to
+Augereau, after having announced the arrival of his 'aide de camp' as
+follows:
+
+     The whole army applauds the wisdom and vigour which you have
+     displayed upon this important occasion, and participates in the
+     success of the country with the enthusiasm and energy which
+     characterise our soldiers.  It is only to be hoped, however, that
+     the Government will not be playing at see saw, and thus throw itself
+     into the opposite party.  Wisdom and moderate views alone can
+     establish the happiness of the country on a sure foundation.  As for
+     myself, this is the most ardent wish of my heart.  I beg that you
+     will sometimes let me know what you are doing in Paris.
+
+On the 4th Vendemiaire Bonaparte wrote a letter to the Directory in the
+following terms:
+
+     The day before yesterday an officer arrived at the army from Paris.
+     He reported that he left Paris on the 25th, when anxiety prevailed
+     there as to the feelings with which I viewed the events of the 18th
+     He was the bearer of a sort of circular from General Augereau to all
+     the generals of division; and he brought a letter of credit from the
+     Minister of War to the commissary-general, authorising him to draw
+     as much money as he might require for his journey.
+
+     It is evident from these circumstances that the Government is acting
+     towards me in somewhat the same way in which Pichegru was dealt with
+     after Vendemiaire (year IV.).
+
+     I beg of you to receive my resignation, and appoint another to my
+     place.  No power on earth shall make me continue in the service
+     after this shocking mark of ingratitude on the part of the
+     Government, which I was very far from expecting.  My health, which
+     is considerably impaired, imperiously demands repose and
+     tranquillity.
+
+     The state of my mind, likewise, requires me to mingle again in the
+     mass of citizens.  Great power has for a longtime been confided to
+     my hands.  I have employed it on all occasions for the advantage of
+     my country; so much the worse for those who put no faith in virtue,
+     and may have suspected mine.  My recompense is in my own conscience,
+     and in the opinion of posterity.
+
+     Now that the country is tranquil and free from the dangers which
+     have menaced it, I can, without inconvenience, quit the post in
+     which I have been placed.
+
+     Be sure that if there were a moment of danger, I would be found in
+     the foremost rank of the defenders of liberty and of the
+     constitution of the year III.
+
+The Directory, judging from the account which Bottot gave of his mission
+that he had not succeeded in entirely removing the suspicions of
+Bonaparte, wrote the following letter on the 30th Vendemiaire:
+
+     The Directory has itself been troubled about the impression made on
+     you by the letter to the paymaster-general, of which an 'aide de
+     camp' was the bearer.  The composition of this letter has very much
+     astonished the Government, which never appointed nor recognised such
+     an agent: it is at least an error of office.  But it should not
+     alter the opinion you ought otherwise to entertain of the manner in
+     which the Directory thinks of and esteems you.  It appears that the
+     18th Fructidor was misrepresented in the letters which were sent to
+     the army of Italy.  You did well to intercept them, and it may be
+     right to transmit the most remarkable to the Minister of Police.
+     --(What an ignoble task to propose to the conqueror of Italy.)
+
+     In your observations on the too strong tendency of opinion towards
+     military government, the Directory recognises an equally enlightened
+     and ardent friend of the Republic.
+
+     Nothing is wiser than the maxim, 'cedant arma togae', for the
+     maintenance of republics.  To show so much anxiety on so important a
+     point is not one of the least glorious features in the life of a
+     general placed at the head of a triumphant army.
+
+The Directory had sent General Clarke
+
+     --[H.  J.  G.  Clarke, afterwards Minister of War under Napoleon,
+     1807-1814, acid under the Bourbons in 1816, when he was made a
+     Marshal of France.  He was created Due de Feltre in 1819.]--
+
+to treat for peace, as second plenipotentiary.  Bonaparte has often told
+me he had no doubt from the time of his arrival that General Clarke was
+charged with a secret mission to act as a spy upon him, and even to
+arrest him if an opportunity offered for so doing without danger.  That
+he had a suspicion of this kind is certain; but I must own that I was
+never by any means able to discover its grounds; for in all my
+intercourse since with Clarke he never put a single question to me, nor
+did I ever hear a word drop from his mouth, which savoured of such a
+character.  If the fact be that he was a spy, he certainly played his
+part well.  In all the parts of his correspondence which were intercepted
+there never was found the least confirmation of this suspicion.  Be this
+as it may, Bonaparte could not endure him; he did not make him acquainted
+with what was going on, and his influence rendered this mission a mere
+nullity.  The General-in-Chief concentrated all the business of the
+negotiation in his own closet; and, as to what was going on, Clarke
+continued a mere cipher until the 18th Fructidor, when he was recalled.
+Bonaparte made but little count of Clarke's talents.  It is but justice,
+however, to say that he bore him no grudge for the conduct of which he
+suspected he was guilty in Italy.  "I pardon him because I alone have the
+right to be offended."
+
+He even had the generosity to make interest for an official situation for
+him.  These amiable traits were not uncommon with Bonaparte.
+
+Bonaparte had to encounter so many disagreeable contrarieties, both in
+the negotiators for peace and the events at Paris, that he often
+displayed a good deal of irritation and disgust.  This state of mind was
+increased by the recollection of the vexation his sister's marriage had
+caused him, and which was unfortunately revived by a letter he received
+from her at this juncture.  His excitement was such that he threw it down
+with an expression of anger.  It has been erroneously reported in several
+publications that "Bacciocchi espoused Marie-Anne-Eliza Bonaparte on the
+5th of May 1797.  The brother of the bride was at the time negotiating
+the preliminaries of peace with Austria."
+
+In fact, the preliminaries were signed in the month of April, and it was
+for the definitive peace we were negotiating in May.  But the reader will
+find by the subjoined letter that Christine applied to her brother to
+stand godfather to her third child.  Three children in three months would
+be rather quick work.
+
+
+                    AJACCIO, 14th, Thermidor, year V.  (1st August 1797).
+
+     GENERAL--Suffer me to write to you and call you by the name of
+     brother.  My first child was born at a time when you were much
+     incensed against us.  I trust she may soon caress you, and so make
+     you forget the pain my marriage has occasioned you.  My second child
+     was still-born.  Obliged to quit Paris by your order,
+
+     --[Napoleon had written in August 1796 to Carnot, to request that
+     Lucien might be ordered to quit Paris; see Iung, tome iii.
+     p. 223.]--
+
+     I miscarried in Germany.  In a month's time I hope to present you
+     with a nephew.  A favourable time, and other circumstances, incline
+     me to hope my next will be a boy, and I promise you I will make a
+     soldier of him; but I wish him to bear your name, and that you
+     should be his godfather.  I trust you will not refuse your sister's
+     request.
+
+     Will you send, for this purpose, your power of attorney to
+     Baciocchi, or to whomsoever you think fit?  I shall expect with
+     impatience your assent.  Because we are poor let not that cause you
+     to despise us; for, after all, you are our brother, mine are the
+     only children that call you uncle, and we all love you more than we
+     do the favours of fortune.  Perhaps I may one day succeed in
+     convincing you of the love I bear you.--Your affectionate sister,
+
+                                             CHRISTINE BONAPARTE.
+
+     --[Madame Bacciocchi went by the name of Marianne at St. Cyr, of
+     Christine while on her travels, and of Eliza under the Consulate.--
+     Bourrienne.]--
+
+     P.S.--Do not fail to remember me to your wife, whom I strongly
+     desire to be acquainted with.  They told me at Paris I was very like
+     her.  If you recollect my features you can judge.  C.  B.
+
+
+This letter is in the handwriting of Lucien Bonaparte.'
+
+     --[Joseph Bonaparte in his Notes says, "It is false that Madame
+     Bonaparte ever called herself Christine; it is false that she ever
+     wrote the letter of which M. de Bourrienne here gives a copy."  It
+     will be observed that Bourrienne says it was written by her brother
+     Lucien.  This is an error.  The letter is obviously from Christine
+     Boyer, the wife of Lucien Bonaparte, whose marriage had given such
+     displeasure to Napoleon.  (See Erreurs, tome i.  p. 240, and Iung's
+     Lucien, tome i p.  161).]--
+
+General Bonaparte had been near a month at Passeriano when he received
+the following autograph letter from the Emperor of Austria:
+
+
+     TO MONSIEUR LE GENERAL BONAPARTE, GENERAL-IN-CHIEF
+     OF THE ARMY OF ITALY.
+
+     MONSIEUR LE GENERAL BONAPARTE--When I thought I had given my
+     plenipotentiaries full powers to terminate the important negotiation
+     with which they were charged, I learn, with as much pain as
+     surprise, that in consequence of swerving continually from the
+     stipulations of the preliminaries, the restoration of tranquillity,
+     with the tidings of which I desire to gladden the hearts of my
+     subjects, and which the half of Europe devoutly prays for, becomes
+     day after day more uncertain.
+
+     Faithful to the performance of my engagements, I am ready to execute
+     what was agreed to at Leoben, and require from you but the
+     reciprocal performance of so sacred a duty.  This is what has
+     already been declared in my name, and what I do not now hesitate
+     myself to declare.  If, perhaps, the execution of some of the
+     preliminary articles be now impossible, in consequence of the events
+     which have since occurred, and in which I had no part, it may be
+     necessary to substitute others in their stead equally adapted to the
+     interests and equally conformable to the dignity of the two nations.
+     To such alone will I put my hand.  A frank and sincere explanation,
+     dictated by the same feelings which govern me, is the only way to
+     lead to so salutary a result.  In order to accelerate this result as
+     far as in me lies, and to put an end at once to the state of
+     uncertainty we remain in, and which has already lasted too long, I
+     have determined to despatch to the place of the present negotiations
+     Comte de Cobentzel, a man who possesses my most unlimited
+     confidence, and who is instructed as to my intentions and furnished
+     with my most ample powers.  I have authorised him to receive and
+     accept every proposition tending to the reconciliation of the two
+     parties which may be in conformity with the principles of equity and
+     reciprocal fitness, and to conclude accordingly.
+
+     After this fresh assurance of the spirit of conciliation which
+     animates me, I doubt not you will perceive that peace lies in your
+     own hands, and that on your determination will depend the happiness
+     or misery of many thousand men.  If I mistake as to the means I
+     think best adapted to terminate the calamities which for along time
+     have desolated Europe, I shall at least have the consolation of
+     reflecting that I have done all that depended on me.  With the
+     consequences which may result I can never be reproached.
+
+     I have been particularly determined to the course I now take by the
+     opinion I entertain of your upright character, and by the personal
+     esteem I have conceived towards you, of which I am very happy, M. le
+     General Bonaparte, to give you here an assurance.
+
+                                                  (Signed) FRANCIS.
+
+
+In fact, it was only on the arrival of the Comte de Cobentzel that the
+negotiations were seriously set on foot.  Bonaparte had all along clearly
+perceived that Gallo and Meerweldt were not furnished with adequate
+powers.  He saw also clearly enough that if the month of September were,
+to be trifled away in unsatisfactory negotiations, as the month which
+preceded it had been, it would be difficult in October to strike a blow
+at the house of Austria on the side of Carinthia.  The Austrian Cabinet
+perceived with satisfaction the approach of the bad weather, and insisted
+more strongly on its ultimatum, which was the Adige, with Venice.
+
+Before the 18th Fructidor the Emperor of Austria hoped that the movement
+which was preparing in Paris would operate badly for France and
+favourably to the European cause.  The Austrian plenipotentiaries, in
+consequence, raised their pretensions, and sent notes and an ultimatum
+which gave the proceedings more an air of trifling than of serious
+negotiation.  Bonaparte's original ideas, which I have under his hand,
+were as follows:
+
+     1.  The Emperor to have Italy as far as the Adda.
+     2.  The King of Sardinia as far as the Adda.
+     3.  The Genoese Republic to have the boundary of Tortona as far as
+     the Po (Tortona to be demolished), as also the imperial fiefs.
+     (Coni to be ceded to France, or to be demolished.)
+     4.  The Grand Duke of Tuscany to be restored.
+     5.  The Duke of Parma to be restored.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+1797.
+
+     Influence of the 18th Fructidor on the negotiations--Bonaparte's
+     suspicion of Bottot--His complaints respecting the non-erasure of
+     Bourrienne--Bourrienne's conversation with the Marquis of Gallo--
+     Bottot writes from Paris to Bonaparte on the part of the Directory
+     Agents of the Directory employed to watch Bonaparte--Influence of
+     the weather on the conclusion of peace--Remarkable observation of
+     Bonaparte--Conclusion of the treaty--The Directory dissatisfied with
+     the terms of the peace--Bonaparte's predilection for representative
+     government--Opinion on Bonaparte.
+
+After the 18th Fructidor Bonaparte was more powerful, Austria less
+haughty and confident.  Venice was the only point of real difficulty.
+Austria wanted the line of the Adige, with Venice, in exchange for
+Mayence, and the boundary of the Rhine until that river enters Holland.
+The Directory wished to have the latter boundary, and to add Mantua to
+the Italian Republic, without giving up all the line of the Adige and
+Venice.  The difficulties were felt to be so irreconcilable that within
+about a month of the conclusion of peace the Directory wrote to General
+Bonaparte that a resumption of hostilities was preferable to the state of
+uncertainty which was agitating and ruining France.  The Directory,
+therefore, declared that both the armies of the Rhine should take the
+field.  It appears from the Fructidorian correspondence, which has been
+already given, that the majority of the Directory then looked upon a
+peace such as Bonaparte afterwards made as infamous.
+
+But Bonaparte, from the moment the Venetian insurrection broke out,
+perceived that Venice might be used for the pacification.  Bonaparte,
+who was convinced that, in order to bring matters to an issue, Venice and
+the territory beyond the Adige must fall beneath the Hapsburg sceptre,
+wrote to the Directory that he could not commence operations,
+advantageously, before the end of March, 1798; but that if the objections
+to giving Venice to the Emperor of Austria were persisted in, hostilities
+would certainly be resumed in the month of October, for the Emperor would
+not renounce Venice.  In that case it would be necessary to be ready on
+the Rhine for an advance in Germany, as the army of Italy, if it could
+make head against the Archduke Charles, was not sufficiently strong for
+any operations on a grand scale.  At this period the conclusion of peace
+was certainly very doubtful; it was even seriously considered in, what
+form the rupture should be notified.
+
+Towards the end of September Bottot, Barras' secretary, arrived at
+Passeriano.  He was despatched by the Directory.  Bonaparte immediately
+suspected he was a new spy, come on a secret mission, to watch him.  He
+was therefore received and treated with coolness; but Bonaparte never
+had, as Sir Walter Scott asserts, the idea of ordering him to be shot.
+That writer is also in error when he says that Bottot was sent to
+Passeriano to reproach Bonaparte for failing to fulfil his promise of
+sending money to the Directory.
+
+Bonaparte soon gave Bottot an opportunity of judging of the kind of
+spirit which prevailed at headquarters.  He suddenly tendered his
+resignation, which he had already several times called upon the Directory
+to accept.  He accused the Government, at table, in Bottot's presence,
+of horrible ingratitude.  He recounted all his subjects of complaint,
+in loud and impassioned language, without any restraint, and before
+twenty or thirty persons.
+
+Indignant at finding that his reiterated demands for the erasure of my
+name from the list of emigrants had been slighted, and that, in spite of
+his representations, conveyed to Paris by General Bernadotte, Louis
+Bonaparte, and others, I was still included in that fatal list, he
+apostrophised M. Bottot at dinner one day, before forty individuals,
+among whom were the diplomatists Gallo, Cobentzel, and Meerweldt.  The
+conversation turned upon the Directory.  "Yes, truly," cried Bonaparte,
+in a loud voice, "I have good reason to complain; and, to pass from great
+to little things, look, I pray you, at Bourrienne's case.  He possesses
+my most unbounded confidence.  He alone is entrusted, under my orders,
+with all the details of the negotiation.  This you well know; and yet
+your Directory will not strike him off the list.  In a word it is not
+only an inconceivable, but an extremely stupid piece of business; for he
+has all my secrets; he knows my ultimatum, and could by a single word
+realize a handsome fortune, and laugh at your obstinacy.  Ask M. de Gallo
+if this be not true."
+
+Bottot wished to offer some excuse; but the general murmur which followed
+this singular outburst reduced him to silence.
+
+The Marquis de Gallo had conversed with me but three days before, in the
+park of Passeriano, on the subject of my position with regard to France,
+of the determination expressed by the Directory not to erase my name, and
+of the risk I thereby ran.  "We have no desire," continued he, "to renew
+the war; we wish sincerely for peace; but it must be an honourable one.
+The Republic of Venice presents a large territory for partition, which
+would be sufficient for both parties.  The cessions at present proposed
+are not, however, satisfactory.  We want to know Bonaparte's ultimatum;
+and I am authorised to offer an estate in Bohemia, with a title and
+residence, and an annual revenue of 90,000 florins."
+
+I quickly interrupted M. de Gallo, and assured him that both my
+conscience and my duty obliged me to reject his proposal; and so put at
+once an end to the conversation.
+
+I took care to let the General-in-Chief know this story, and he was not
+surprised at my reply.  His conviction, however, was strong, from all
+that M. de Gallo had said, and more particularly from the offer he had
+made, that Austria was resolved to avoid war, and was anxious for peace.
+
+After I had retired to rest M. Bottot came to my bedroom and asked me,
+with a feigned surprise, if it was true that my name was still on the
+list of emigrants.  On my replying in the affirmative, he requested me to
+draw up a note on the subject.  This I declined doing, telling him that
+twenty notes of the kind he required already existed; that I would take
+no further steps; and that I would henceforth await the decision in a
+state of perfect inaction.
+
+General Bonaparte thought it quite inexplicable that the Directory should
+express dissatisfaction at the view he took of the events of the 18th
+Fructidor, as, without his aid, they would doubtless have been overcome.
+He wrote a despatch, in which he repeated that his health and his spirits
+were affected--that he had need of some years' repose-that he could no
+longer endure the fatigue of riding; but that the prosperity and liberty
+of his country would always command his warmest interests.  In all this
+there was not a single word of truth.  The Directory thought as much, and
+declined to accept his resignation in the most flattering terms.
+
+Bottot proposed to him, on the part of the Directory, to revolutionise
+Italy.  The General inquired whether the whole of Italy would be included
+in the plan.  The revolutionary commission had, however, been entrusted
+to Bottot in so indefinite a way that he could only hesitate, and give a
+vague reply.  Bonaparte wished for more precise orders.  In the interval
+peace was concluded, and the idea of that perilous and extravagant
+undertaking was no longer agitated.  Bottot, soon after his return to
+Paris, wrote a letter to General Bonaparte, in which he complained that
+the last moments he had passed at Passeriano had deeply afflicted his
+heart.  He said that cruel suspicions had followed him even to the gates
+of the Directory.  These cruel suspicions had, however, been dissipated
+by the sentiments of admiration and affection which he had found the
+Directory entertained for the person of Bonaparte.
+
+These assurances, which were precisely what Bonaparte had expected, did
+not avail to lessen the contempt he entertained for the heads of the
+Government, nor to change his conviction of their envy and mistrust of
+himself.  To their alleged affection he made no return.  Bottot assured
+the hero of Italy of "the Republican docility" of the Directory, and
+touched upon the reproaches Bonaparte had thrown out against them, and
+upon his demands which had not been granted.  He said:
+
+"The three armies, of the North, of the Rhine, and of the Sambre-et-
+Meuse, are to form only one, the army of Germany.--Augereau?  But you
+yourself sent him.  The fault committed by the Directory is owing to
+yourself!  Bernadotte?--he is gone to join you.  Cacault?--he is
+recalled.  Twelve thousand men for your army?--they are on their march.
+The treaty with Sardinia?--it is ratified.  Bourrienne?--he is erased.
+The revolution of Italy?--it is adjourned.  Advise the Directory, then: I
+repeat it, they have need of information, and it is to you they look for
+it."
+
+The assertion regarding me was false.  For six months Bonaparte demanded
+my erasure without being able to obtain it.  I was not struck off the
+list until the 11th of November 1797.
+
+Just before the close of the negotiation Bonaparte, disgusted at the
+opposition and difficulties with which he was surrounded, reiterated
+again and again the offer of his resignation, and his wish to have a
+successor appointed.  What augmented his uneasiness was an idea he
+entertained that the Directory had penetrated his secret, and attributed
+his powerful concurrence on the 18th Fructidor to the true cause--his
+personal views of ambition.  In spite of the hypocritical assurances of
+gratitude made to him in writing, and though the Directory knew that his
+services were indispensable, spies were employed to watch his movements,
+and to endeavour by means of the persons about him to discover his views.
+Some of the General's friends wrote to him from Paris, and for my part I
+never ceased repeating to him that the peace, the power of making which
+he had in his own hands, would render him far more popular than the
+renewal of hostilities undertaken with all the chances of success and
+reverse.  The signing of the peace, according to his own ideas, and in
+opposition to those of the Directory, the way in which he just halted at
+Rastadt, and avoided returning to the Congress, and, finally, his
+resolution to expatriate himself with an army in order to attempt new
+enterprises, sprung more than is generally believed from the ruling idea
+that he was distrusted, and that his ruin was meditated.  He often
+recalled to mind what La Vallette had written to him about his
+conversation with Lacuee; and all he saw and heard confirmed the
+impression he had received on this subject.
+
+The early appearance of bad weather precipitated his determination.  On
+the 13th of October, at daybreak, on opening my window, I perceived the
+mountains covered with snow.  The previous night had been superb, and the
+autumn till then promised to be fine and late.  I proceeded, as I always
+did, at seven o'clock in the morning, to the General's chamber.  I woke
+him, and told him what I had seen.  He feigned at first to disbelieve me,
+then leaped from his bed, ran to the window, and, convinced of the sudden
+change, he calmly said, "What!  before the middle of October!  What a
+country is this!  Well, we must make peace!"  While he hastily put on his
+clothes I read the journals to him, as was my daily custom.  He paid but
+little attention to them.
+
+Shutting himself up with me in his closet, he reviewed with the greatest
+care all the returns from the different corps of his army.  "Here are,"
+said he, "nearly 80,000 effective men.  I feed, I pay them: but I can
+bring but 60,000 into the field on the day of battle.  I shall gain it,
+but afterwards my force will be reduced 20,000 men--by killed, wounded,
+and prisoners.  Then how oppose all the Austrian forces that will march
+to the protection of Vienna?  It would be a month before the armies of
+the Rhine could support me, if they should be able; and in a fortnight
+all the roads and passages will be covered deep with snow.  It is
+settled--I will make peace.  Venice shall pay for the expense of the war
+and the boundary of the Rhine: let the Directory and the lawyers say what
+they like."
+
+He wrote to the Directory in the following words: "The summits of the
+hills are covered with snow; I cannot, on account of the stipulations
+agreed to for the recommencement of hostilities, begin before five-and-
+twenty days, and by that time we shall be overwhelmed with snow."
+
+Fourteen years after, another early winter, in a more severe climate, was
+destined to have a fatal influence on his fortunes.  Had he but then
+exercised equal foresight!
+
+It is well known that, by the treaty of Campo-Formio, the two belligerent
+powers made peace at the expense of the Republic of Venice, which had
+nothing to do with the quarrel in the first instance, and which only
+interfered at a late period, probably against her own inclination, and
+impelled by the force of inevitable circumstances.  But what has been the
+result of this great political spoliation?  A portion of the Venetian
+territory was adjudged to the Cisalpine Republic; it is now in the
+possession of Austria.
+
+Another considerable portion, and the capital itself, fell to the lot of
+Austria in compensation for the Belgic provinces and Lombard, which she
+ceded to France.  Austria has now retaken Lombard, and the additions then
+made to it, and Belgium is in the possession of the House of Orange.
+France obtained Corfu and some of the Ionian isles; these now belong to
+England.
+
+     --[Afterwards to be ceded by her to Greece.  Belgium is free.]--
+
+Romulus never thought he was founding Rome for Goths and priests.
+Alexander did not foresee that his Egyptian city would belong to the
+Turks; nor did Constantine strip Rome for the benefit of Mahomet II.  Why
+then fight for a few paltry villages?
+
+Thus have we been gloriously conquering for Austria and England.  An
+ancient State is overturned without noise, and its provinces, after being
+divided among different bordering States, are now all under the dominion
+of Austria.  We do not possess a foot of ground in all the fine countries
+we conquered, and which served as compensations for the immense
+acquisitions of the House of Hapsburgh in Italy.  Thus that house was
+aggrandised by a war which was to itself most disastrous.  But Austria
+has often found other means of extending her dominion than military
+triumphs, as is recorded in the celebrated distich of Mathias Corvinus:
+
+          "Bella gerunt alli, to felix Austria nube;
+          Nam quae Mars allis, dat tibi regna Venus."
+
+         [Glad Austria wins by Hymen's silken chain
+          What other States by doubtful battle gain,
+          And while fierce Mars enriches meaner lands,
+          Receives possession from fair Venus' hands."]
+
+The Directory was far from being satisfied with the treaty of Campo-
+Formio, and with difficulty resisted the temptation of not ratifying it.
+A fortnight before the signature the Directors wrote to General Bonaparte
+that they would not consent to give to the Emperor Venice, Frioul, Padua,
+and the 'terra firma' with the boundary of the Adige.  "That," said they,
+"would not be to make peace, but to adjourn the war.  We shall be
+regarded as the beaten party, independently of the disgrace of abandoning
+Venice, which Bonaparte himself thought so worthy of freedom.  France
+ought not, and never will wish, to see Italy delivered up to Austria.
+The Directory would prefer the chances of a war to changing a single word
+of its ultimatum, which is already too favourable to Austria."
+
+All this was said in vain.  Bonaparte made no scruple of disregarding his
+instructions.  It has been said that the Emperor of Austria made an offer
+of a very considerable sum of money, and even of a principality, to
+obtain favourable terms.  I was never able to find the slightest ground
+for this report, which refers to a time when the smallest circumstance
+could not escape my notice.  The character of Bonaparte stood too high
+for him to sacrifice his glory as a conqueror and peacemaker for even the
+greatest private advantage.  This was so thoroughly known, and he was so
+profoundly esteemed by the Austrian plenipotentiaries, that I will
+venture to say none of them would have been capable of making the
+slightest overture to him of so debasing a proposition.  Besides, it
+would have induced him to put an end to all intercourse with the
+plenipotentiaries.  Perhaps what I have just stated of M. de Gallo will
+throw some light upon this odious accusation.  But let us dismiss this
+story with the rest, and among them that of the porcelain tray, which was
+said to have been smashed and thrown at the head of M. de Cobentzel.
+I certainly know nothing of any such scene; our manners at Passeriano
+were not quite so bad!
+
+The presents customary on such occasions were given, and the Emperor of
+Austria also took that opportunity to present to General Bonaparte six
+magnificent white horses.
+
+Bonaparte returned to Milan by way of Gratz, Laybach, Thrust, Mestre,
+Verona, and Mantua.
+
+At this period Napoleon was still swayed by the impulse of the age.  He
+thought of nothing but representative governments.  Often has he said to
+me, "I should like the era of representative governments to be dated from
+my time."  His conduct in Italy and his proclamations ought to give, and
+in fact do give, weight to this account of his opinion.  But there is no
+doubt that this idea was more connected with lofty views of ambition than
+a sincere desire for the benefit of the human race; for, at a later
+period, he adopted this phrase: "I should like to be the head of the most
+ancient of the dynasties cf Europe."  What a difference between
+Bonaparte, the author of the 'Souper de Beaucaire', the subduer of
+royalism at Toulon; the author of the remonstrance to Albitte and
+Salicetti, the fortunate conqueror of the 13th Vendemiaire, the
+instigator and supporter of the revolution of Fructidor, and the founder
+of the Republics of Italy, the fruits of his immortal victories,--and
+Bonaparte, First Consul in 1800, Consul for life in 1802, and, above all,
+Napoleon, Emperor of the French in 1804, and King of Italy in 1805!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+1797
+
+     Effect of the 18th Fructidor on the peace--The standard of the army
+     of Italy--Honours rendered to the memory of General Hoche and of
+     Virgil at Mantua--Remarkable letter--In passing through Switzerland
+     Bonaparte visits the field of Morat--Arrival at Rastadt--Letter from
+     the Directory calling Bonaparte to Paris--Intrigues against
+     Josephine--Grand ceremony on the reception of Bonaparte by the
+     Directory--The theatres--Modesty of Bonaparte--An assassination--
+     Bonaparte's opinion of the Parisians--His election to the National
+     Institute--Letter to Camus--Projects--Reflections.
+
+The day of the 18th Fructidor had, without any doubt, mainly contributed
+to the conclusion of peace at Campo Formio.  On the one hand, the
+Directory, hitherto not very pacifically inclined, after having effected
+a 'coup d'etat', at length saw the necessity of appeasing the
+discontented by giving peace to France.  On the other hand, the Cabinet
+of Vienna, observing the complete failure of all the royalist plots in
+the interior, thought it high time to conclude with the French Republic a
+treaty which, notwithstanding all the defeats Austria had sustained,
+still left her a preponderating influence over Italy.
+
+Besides, the campaign of Italy, so fertile in glorious achievements of
+arms, had not been productive of glory alone.  Something of greater
+importance followed these conquests.  Public affairs had assumed a
+somewhat unusual aspect, and a grand moral influence, the effect of
+victories and of peace, had begun to extend all over France.
+Republicanism was no longer so sanguinary and fierce as it had been some
+years before.  Bonaparte, negotiating with princes and their ministers on
+a footing of equality, but still with all that superiority to which
+victory and his genius entitled him, gradually taught foreign courts to
+be familiar with Republican France, and the Republic to cease regarding
+all States governed by Kings as of necessity enemies.
+
+In these circumstances the General-in-Chief's departure and his expected
+visit to Paris excited general attention.  The feeble Directory was
+prepared to submit to the presence of the conqueror of Italy in the
+capital.
+
+It was for the purpose of acting as head of the French legation at the
+Congress of Rastadt that Bonaparte quitted Milan on the 17th of November.
+But before his departure he sent to the Directory one of those monuments,
+the inscriptions on which may generally be considered as fabulous, but
+which, in this case, were nothing but the truth.  This monument was the
+"flag of the Army of Italy," and to General Joubert was assigned the
+honourable duty of presenting it to the members of the Executive
+Government.
+
+On one side of the flag were the words "To the Army of Italy, the
+grateful country."  The other contained an enumeration of the battles
+fought and places taken, and presented, in the following inscriptions, a
+simple but striking abridgment of the history of the Italian campaign.
+
+     150,000 PRISONERS; 170 STANDARDS; 550 PIECES OF SIEGE ARTILLERY;
+     6OO PIECES OF FIELD ARTILLERY; FIVE PONTOON EQUIPAGES; NINE 64-GUN
+     SHIPS; TWELVE 32-GUN FRIGATES; 12 CORVETTES; 18 GALLEYS; ARMISTICE
+     WITH THE KING OF SARDINIA; CONVENTION WITH GENOA; ARMISTICE WITH THE
+     DUKE OF PARMA; ARMISTICE WITH THE KING OF NAPLES; ARMISTICE WITH THE
+     POPE; PRELIMINARIES OF LEOBEN; CONVENTION OF MONTEBELLO WITH THE
+     REPUBLIC OF GENOA; TREATY OF PEACE WITH THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY AT
+     CAMPO-FORMIO.
+
+     LIBERTY GIVEN TO THE PEOPLE OF BOLOGNA, FERRARA, MODENA, MASSA-
+     CARRARA, LA ROMAGNA, LOMBARD, BRESCIA, BERGAMO, MANTUA, CREMONA.
+     PART OF THE VERONESE, CHIAVENA, BORMIO, THE VALTELINE, THE GENOESE,
+     THE IMPERIAL FIEFS, THE PEOPLE OF THE DEPARTMENTS OF CORCYRA, OF THE
+     AEGEAN SEA, AND OF ITHACA.
+
+     SENT TO PARIS ALL THE MASTERPIECES OF MICHAEL ANGELO, OF GVERCINO,
+     OF TITIAN, OF PAUL VERONESE, OF CORREGGIO, OF ALBANA, OF THE
+     CARRACCI, OF RAPHAEL, AND OF LEONARDO DA VINCI.
+
+
+Thus were recapitulated on a flag, destined to decorate the Hall of the
+Public Sittings of the Directory, the military deeds of the campaign in
+Italy, its political results, and the conquest of the monuments of art.
+
+Most of the Italian cities looked upon their conqueror as a liberator-
+such was the magic of the word liberty, which resounded from the Alps to
+the Apennines.  On his way to Mantua the General took up his residence in
+the palace of the ancient dukes.  Bonaparte promised the authorities of
+Mantua that their department should be one of the most extensive;
+impressed on them the necessity of promptly organising a local militia,
+and of putting in execution the plans of Mari, the mathematician, for the
+navigation of the Mincio from Mantua to Peschiera.
+
+He stopped two days at Mantua, and the morrow of his arrival was devoted
+to the celebration of a military funeral solemnity, in honour of General
+Hoche, who had just died.  His next object was to hasten the execution of
+the monument which was erecting to the memory of Virgil.  Thus, in one
+day, he paid honour to France and Italy, to modern and to ancient glory,
+to the laurels of war and to the laurels of poetry.
+
+A person who saw Bonaparte on this occasion for the first time thus
+described him in a letter he wrote to Paris:--"With lively interest and
+extreme attention I have observed this extraordinary man, who has
+performed such great deeds, and about whom there is something which seems
+to indicate that his career is not yet terminated.  I found him very like
+his portraits--little, thin, pale, with an air of fatigue, but not of
+ill-health, as has been reported of him.  He appears to me to listen with
+more abstraction than interest, and that he was more occupied with what
+he was thinking of than with what was said to him.  There is great
+intelligence in his countenance, along with which may be marked an air of
+habitual meditation, which reveals nothing of what is passing within.
+In that thinking head, in that bold mind, it is impossible not to believe
+that some daring designs are engendering which will have their influence
+an the destinies of Europe."
+
+From the last phrase, in particular, of this letter, one might suspect
+that it was written after Bonaparte had made his name feared throughout
+Europe; but it really appeared in a journal in the month of December
+1797, a little before his arrival in Paris.
+
+There exists a sort of analogy between celebrated men and celebrated
+places; it was not, therefore, an uninteresting spectacle to see
+Bonaparte surveying the field of Morat, where, in 1476, Charles the Bold,
+Duke of Burgundy, daring like himself, fell with his powerful army under
+the effects of Helvetian valour.  Bonaparte slept during the night at
+Maudon, where, as in every place through which he passed, the greatest
+honours were paid him.  In the morning, his carriage having broken down,
+we continued our journey an foot, accompanied only by some officers and
+an escort of dragoons of the country.  Bonaparte stopped near the
+Ossuary, and desired to be shown the spot where the battle of Morat was
+fought.  A plain in front of the chapel was pointed out to him.  An
+officer who had served in France was present, and explained to him how
+the Swiss, descending from the neighbouring mountains, were enabled,
+under cover of a wood, to turn the Burgundian army and put it to the
+rout.  "What was the force of that army?"  asked Bonaparte.--"Sixty
+thousand men."--"Sixty thousand men!" he exclaimed: "they ought to have
+completely covered these mountains!"--"The French fight better now," said
+Lannes, who was one of the officers of his suite.  "At that time,"
+observed Bonaparte, interrupting him, "the Burgundians were not
+Frenchmen."
+
+Bonaparte's journey through Switzerland was not without utility; and his
+presence served to calm more than one inquietude.  He proceeded on his
+journey to Rastadt by Aix in Savoy, Berne, and Bale.  On arriving at
+Berne during night we passed through a double file of well-lighted
+equipages, filled with beautiful women, all of whom raised the cry of
+"Long live, Bonaparte!--long live the Pacificator!  "To have a proper
+idea of this genuine enthusiasm it is necessary to have seen it.
+
+The position in society to which his services had raised him rendered it
+unfit to address him in the second person singular and the familiar
+manner sometimes used by his old schoolfellows of Brienne.  I thought,
+this very natural.
+
+M. de Cominges, one of those who went with him to the military school at
+Paris, and who had emigrated, was at Bale.  Having learned our arrival,
+he presented himself without ceremony, with great indecorum, and with a
+complete disregard of the respect due to a man who had rendered himself
+so illustrious.  General Bonaparte, offended at this behaviour, refused
+to receive him again, and expressed himself to me with much warmth on the
+occasion of this visit.  All my efforts to remove his displeasure were
+unavailing this impression always continued, and he never did for M. de
+Cominges what his means and the old ties of boyhood might well have
+warranted.
+
+On arriving at Rastadt
+
+     --[The conference for the formal peace with the Empire of Germany
+     was held there.  The peace of Leoben was only one made with
+     Austria.]--
+
+Bonaparte found a letter from the Directory summoning him to Paris.  He
+eagerly obeyed this invitation, which drew him from a place where he
+could act only an insignificant part, and which he had determined to
+leave soon, never again to return.  Some time after his arrival in Paris,
+on the ground that his presence was necessary for the execution of
+different orders, and the general despatch of business, he required that
+authority should be given to a part of his household, which he had left
+at Rastadt, to return.
+
+How could it ever be said that the Directory "kept General Bonaparte away
+from the great interests which were under discussion at Rastadt"?  Quite
+the contrary!  The Directory would have been delighted to see him return
+there, as they would then have been relieved from his presence in Paris;
+but nothing was so disagreeable to Bonaparte as long and seemingly
+interminable negotiations.  Such tedious work did not suit his character,
+and he had been sufficiently disgusted with similar proceedings at Campo-
+Formio.
+
+On our arrival at Rastadt I soon found that General Bonaparte was
+determined to stay there only a short time.  I therefore expressed to him
+my decided desire to remain in Germany.  I was then ignorant that my
+erasure from the emigrant list had been ordered on the 11th of November,
+as the decree did not reach the commissary of the Executive Directory at
+Auxerre until the 17th of November, the day of our departure from Milan.
+
+The silly pretext of difficulties by which my erasure, notwithstanding
+the reiterated solicitations of the victorious General, was so long
+delayed made me apprehensive of a renewal, under a weak and jealous
+pentarchy, of the horrible scenes of 1796.  Bonaparte said to me, in
+atone of indignation, "Come, pass the Rhine; they will not dare to seize
+you while near me.  I answer for your safety."  On reaching Paris I found
+that my erasure had taken place.  It was at this period only that General
+Bonaparte's applications in my favour were tardily crowned with success.
+Sotin, the Minister of General Police, notified the fact to Bonaparte;
+but his letter gave a reason for my erasure very different from that
+stated in the decree.  The Minister said that the Government did not wish
+to leave among the names of traitors to their country the name of a
+citizen who was attached to the person of the conqueror of Italy; while
+the decree itself stated as the motive for removing my name from the list
+that I never had emigrated.
+
+At St. Helena it seems Bonaparte said that he did not return from Italy
+with more than 300,000 francs; but I assert that he had at that time in
+his possession something more than 3,000,000.
+
+     --[Joseph says that Napoleon, when he exiled for Egypt, left with
+     him all his fortune, and that it was much nearer 300,000 francs than
+     3,000,000.  (See Erreurs, tome i.  pp. 243, 259]--
+
+How could he with 300,000 francs have been able to provide for the
+extensive repairs, the embellishment, and the furnishing of his house in
+the Rue Chantereine?  How could he have supported the establishment he
+did with only 15,000 francs of income and the emoluments of his rank?
+The excursion which he made along the coast, of which I have yet to
+speak, of itself cost near 12,000 francs in gold, which he transferred to
+me to defray the expense of the journey; and I do not think that this sum
+was ever repaid him.  Besides, what did it signify, for any object he
+might have in disguising his fortune, whether he brought 3,000,000 or
+300,000 francs with him from Italy?  No one will accuse him of
+peculation.  He was an inflexible administrator.  He was always irritated
+at the discovery of fraud, and pursued those guilty of it with all the
+vigour of his character.  He wished to be independent, which he well knew
+that no one could be without fortune.  He has often said to me, "I am no
+Capuchin, not I"  But after having been allowed only 300,000 francs on
+his arrival from the rich Italy, where fortune never abandoned him, it
+has been printed that he had 20,000,000 (some have even doubled the
+amount) on his return from Egypt, which is a very poor country, where
+money is scarce, and where reverses followed close upon his victories.
+All these reports are false.  What he brought from Italy has just been
+stated, and it will be seen when we come to Egypt what treasure he
+carried away from the country of the Pharaohs.
+
+Bonaparte's brothers, desirous of obtaining complete dominion over his
+mind, strenuously endeavoured to lessen the influence which Josephine
+possessed from the love of her husband.  They tried to excite his
+jealousy, and took advantage of her stay at Milan after our departure,
+which had been authorised by Bonaparte himself.  My intimacy with both
+the husband and the wife fortunately afforded me an opportunity of
+averting or lessening a good deal of mischief.  If Josephine still lived
+she would allow me this merit.  I never took part against her but once,
+and that unwillingly.  It was on the subject of the marriage of her
+daughter Hortense.  Josephine had never as yet spoken to me on the
+subject.  Bonaparte wished to give his stepdaughter to Duroc, and his
+brothers were eager to promote the marriage, because they wished to
+separate Josephine from Hortense, for whom Bonaparte felt the tenderest
+affection.  Josephine, on the other hand, wished Hortense to marry Louis
+Bonaparte.  Her motives, as may easily be divined, were to, gain support
+in a family where she experienced nothing but enmity, and she carried her
+point.
+
+     --[Previous to her marriage with Louis, Hortense cherished an
+     attachment for Duroc, who was at that time a handsome man about
+     thirty, and a great favourite of Bonaparte.  However, the
+     indifference with which Duroc regarded the marriage of Louis
+     Bonaparte sufficiently proves that the regard with which be had
+     inspired Hortense was not very ardently returned.  It is certain
+     that Duroc might have become the husband of Mademoiselle de
+     Beauharnais had he been willing to accede to the conditions on which
+     the First Consul offered him his step-daughter's hand.  But Duroc
+     looked forward to something better, and his ordinary prudence
+     forsook him at a moment when he might easily have beheld a
+     perspective calculated to gratify even a more towering ambition than
+     his.  He declined the proposed marriage; and the union of Hortense
+     and Louis, which Madame Bonaparte, to conciliate the favour of her
+     brothers-in-law, had endeavoured to bring about, was immediately
+     determined on (Memoires de Constant).
+
+     In allusion to the alleged unfriendly feeling of Napoleon's brothers
+     towards Josephine, the following observation occurs in Joseph
+     Bonaparte's Notes on Bourrienne:
+
+     "None of Napoleon's brothers," he says, "were near him from the time
+     of his departure for Italy except Louis who cannot be suspected of
+     having intrigued against Josephine, whose daughter he married.
+     These calumnies are without foundation" (Erreurs, tome i. p. 244)]--
+
+On his arrival from Rastadt the most magnificent preparations were made
+at the Luxembourg for the reception of Bonaparte.  The grand court of the
+Palace was elegantly ornamented; and at its farther end, close to tho
+Palace, a large amphitheatre was erected for the accommodation of
+official persons.  Curiosity, as on all like occasions, attracted
+multitudes, and the court was filled.  Opposite to the principal
+vestibule stood the altar of the country, surrounded by the statues of
+Liberty, Equality, and Peace.  When Bonaparte entered every head was
+uncovered.  The windows were full of young and beautiful females.  But
+notwithstanding this great preparation an icy coldness characterized the
+ceremony.  Every one seemed to be present only for the purpose of
+beholding a sight, and curiosity was the prevailing expression rather
+than joy or gratitude.  It is but right to say, however, that an
+unfortunate event contributed to the general indifference.  The right
+wing of the Palace was not occupied, but great preparations had been
+making there, and an officer had been directed to prevent anyone from
+ascending.  One of the clerks of the Directory, however, contrived to get
+upon the scaffolding, but had scarcely placed his foot on the first plank
+when it tilted up, and the imprudent man fell the whole height into the
+court.  This accident created a general stupor.  Ladies fainted, and the
+windows were nearly deserted.
+
+However, the Directory displayed all the Republican splendour of which
+they were so prodigal on similar occasions.  Speeches were far from being
+scarce.  Talleyrand, who was then Minister for Foreign Affairs, on
+introducing Bonaparte to the Directory, made a long oration, in the
+course of which he hinted that the personal greatness of the General
+ought not to excite uneasiness, even in a rising Republic.  "Far from
+apprehending anything from his ambition, I believe that we shall one day
+be obliged to solicit him to tear himself from the pleasures of studious
+retirement.  All France will be free, but perhaps he never will; such is
+his destiny."
+
+Talleyrand was listened to with impatience, so anxious was every one to
+hear Bonaparte.  The conqueror of Italy then rose, and pronounced with a
+modest air, but in a firm voice, a short address of congratulation on the
+improved position of the nation.
+
+Barras, at that time President of the Directory, replied to Bonaparte
+with so much prolixity as to weary everyone; and as soon as he had
+finished speaking he threw himself into the arms of the General, who was
+not much pleased with such affected displays, and gave him what was then
+called the fraternal embrace.  The other members of the Directory,
+following the example of the President, surrounded Bonaparte and pressed
+him in their arms; each acted, to the best of his ability, his part in
+the sentimental comedy.
+
+Chenier composed for this occasion a hymn, which Mehul set to music.  A
+few days after an opera was produced, bearing the title of the 'Fall of
+Carthage', which was meant as an allusion to the anticipated exploits of
+the conqueror of Italy, recently appointed to the command of the "Army of
+England."  The poets were all employed in praising him; and Lebrun, with
+but little of the Pindaric fire in his soul, composed the following
+distich, which certainly is not worth much:
+
+         "Heros, cher a la paix, aux arts, a la victoire--
+          Il conquit en deux ans mille siecles de gloire."
+
+The two councils were not disposed to be behind the Directory in the
+manifestation of joy.  A few days after they gave a banquet to the
+General in the gallery of the Louvre, which had recently been enriched by
+the masterpieces of painting conquered in Italy.
+
+At this time Bonaparte displayed great modesty in all his transactions in
+Paris.  The administrators of the department of the Seine having sent a
+deputation to him to inquire what hour and day he would allow them to
+wait on him, he carried himself his answer to the department, accompanied
+by General Berthier.  It was also remarked that the judge of the peace of
+the arrondissement where the General lived having called on him on the
+6th of December, the evening of his arrival, he returned the visit next
+morning.  These attentions, trifling as they may appear, were not without
+their effect on the minds of the Parisians.
+
+In consequence of General Bonaparte's victories, the peace he had
+effected, and the brilliant reception of which he had been the object,
+the business of Vendemiaire was in some measure forgotten.  Every one was
+eager to get a sight of the young hero whose career had commenced with so
+much 'eclat'.  He lived very retiredly, yet went often to the theatre.
+He desired me, one day, to go and request the representation of two of
+the best pieces of the time, in which Elleviou, Mesdames St. Aubin,
+Phillis, and other distinguished performers played.  His message was,
+that he only wished these two pieces on the same night, if that were
+possible.  The manager told me that nothing that the conqueror of Italy
+wished for was impossible, for he had long ago erased that word from the
+dictionary.  Bonaparte laughed heartily at the manager's answer.  When we
+went to the theatre he seated himself, as usual, in the back of the box,
+behind Madame Bonaparte, making me sit by her side.  The pit and boxes,
+however, soon found out that he was in the house, and loudly called for
+him.  Several times an earnest desire to see him was manifested, but all
+in vain, for he never showed himself.
+
+Some days after, being at the Theatre des Arts, at the second
+representation of 'Horatius Cocles', although he was sitting at the back
+of a box in the second tier, the audience discovered that he was in the
+house.  Immediately acclamations arose from all quarters; but he kept
+himself concealed as much as possible, and said to a person in the next
+box, "Had I known that the boxes were so exposed, I should not have
+come."
+
+During Bonaparte's stay at Paris a woman sent a messenger to warn him
+that his life would be attempted, and that poison was to be employed for
+that purpose.  Bonaparte had the bearer of this information arrested,
+who: went, accompanied by the judge of the peace, to the woman's house,
+where she was found extended on the floor, and bathed in her blood.  The
+men whose plot she had overheard, having discovered that she had revealed
+their secret, murdered her.  The poor woman was dreadfully mangled: her
+throat was cut; and, not satisfied with that, the assassins had also
+hacked her body with sharp instruments.
+
+On the night of the 10th of Nivose the Rue Chantereine, in which
+Bonaparte had a small house (No. 6), received, in pursuance of a decree
+of the department, the name of Rue de la Victoire.  The cries of "Vive
+Bonaparte!" and the incense prodigally offered up to him, did not however
+seduce him from his retired habits.  Lately the conqueror and ruler of
+Italy, and now under men for whom he had no respect, and who saw in him a
+formidable rival, he said to me one day, "The people of Paris do not
+remember anything.  Were I to remain here long, doing nothing, I should
+be lost.  In this great Babylon one reputation displaces another.  Let me
+be seen but three times at the theatre and I shall no longer excite
+attention; so I shall go there but seldom."  When he went he occupied a
+box shaded with curtains.  The manager of the opera wished to get up a
+special performance in his honour; but he declined the offer.  When I
+observed that it must be agreeable to him to see his fellow-citizens so
+eagerly running after him, he replied, "Bah!  the people would crowd as
+fast to see me if I were going to the scaffold."
+
+     --[A similar remark made to William III. on his lending at Brixham
+     elicited the comment, "Like the Jews, who cried one day 'Hosanna!'
+     and the next "Crucify Him! crucify Him!"]--
+
+On the 28th of December Bonaparte was named a member of the Institute, in
+the class of the Sciences and arts.
+
+     --[Napoleon seems to have really considered this nomination as a
+     great honour.  He was fond of using the title in his proclamations;
+     and to the last the allowance attached to the appointment figured in
+     the Imperial accounts.  He replaced Carnot, the exiled Director.]--
+
+He showed a deep sense of this honour, and wrote the following letter to
+Camus; the president of the class:
+
+     CITIZEN PRESIDENT--The suffrage of the distinguished men who compose
+     the institute confers a high honour on me.  I feel well assured
+     that, before I can be their equal, I must long be their scholar.  If
+     there were any way more expressive than another of making known my
+     esteem for you, I should be glad to employ it.  True conquests--the
+     only ones which leave no regret behind them--are those which are
+     made over ignorance.  The most honourable, as well as the most
+     useful, occupation for nations is the contributing to the extension
+     of human knowledge.  The true power of the French Republic should
+     henceforth be made to consist in not allowing a single new idea to
+     exist without making it part of its property.
+                                                       BONAPARTE.
+
+
+The General now renewed, though unsuccessfully, the attempt he had made
+before the 18th Fructidor to obtain a dispensation of the age necessary
+for becoming a Director.  Perceiving that the time was not yet favourable
+for such a purpose, he said to me, on the 29th of January 1798,
+"Bourrienne, I do not wish to remain here; there is nothing to do.  They
+are unwilling to listen to anything.  I see that if I linger here, I
+shall soon lose myself.  Everything wears out here; my glory has already
+disappeared.  This little Europe does not supply enough of it for me.  I
+must seek it in the East, the fountain of glory.  However, I wish first
+to make a tour along the coast, to ascertain by my own observation what
+may be attempted.  I will take you, Lannes, and Sulkowsky, with me.  If
+the success of a descent on England appear doubtful, as I suspect it
+will, the army of England shall become the army of the East, and I will
+go to Egypt.
+
+This and other conversations give a correct insight into his character.
+He always considered war and conquest as the most noble and inexhaustible
+source of that glory which was the constant object of his desire.  He
+revolted at the idea of languishing in idleness at Paris, while fresh
+laurels were growing for him in distant climes.  His imagination
+inscribed, in anticipation, his name on those gigantic monuments which
+alone, perhaps, of all the creations of man, have the character of
+eternity.  Already proclaimed the most illustrious of living generals,
+he sought to efface the rival names of antiquity by his own.  If Caesar
+fought fifty battles, he longed to fight a hundred--if Alexander left
+Macedon to penetrate to the Temple of Ammon, he wished to leave Paris to
+travel to the Cataracts of the Nile.  While he was thus to run a race
+with fame, events would, in his opinion, so proceed in France as to
+render his return necessary and opportune.  His place would be ready for
+him, and he should not come to claim it a forgotten or unknown man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+1798.
+
+     Bonaparte's departure from Paris--His return--The Egyptian
+     expedition projected--M. de Talleyrand--General Desaix--Expedition
+     against Malta--Money taken at Berne--Bonaparte's ideas respecting
+     the East--Monge--Non-influence of the Directory--Marriages of
+     Marmont and La Valette--Bonaparte's plan of colonising Egypt--His
+     camp library--Orthographical blunders--Stock of wines--Bonaparte's
+     arrival at Toulon--Madame Bonaparte's fall from a balcony--Execution
+     of an old man--Simon.
+
+Bonaparte left Paris for the north on the 10th of February 1798--but he
+received no order, though I have seen it everywhere so stated, to go
+there--"for the purpose of preparing the operations connected with the
+intended invasion of England."  He occupied himself with no such
+business, for which a few days certainly would not have been sufficient.
+His journey to the coast was nothing but a rapid excursion, and its sole
+object was to enable him to form an opinion on the main point of the
+question.  Neither did he remain absent several weeks, for the journey
+occupied only one.  There were four of us in his carriage--himself,
+Lannes, Sulkowsky, and I.  Moustache was our courier.  Bonaparte was not
+a little surprised on reading, in the 'Moniteur' of the 10th February, an
+article giving greater importance to his little excursion than it
+deserved.
+
+     "General Bonaparte," said the 'Moniteur', "has departed for Dunkirk
+     with some naval and engineer officers.  They have gone to visit the
+     coasts and prepare the preliminary operations for the descent [upon
+     England].  It may be stated that he will not return to Rastadt, and
+     that the close of the session of the Congress there is approaching."
+
+Now for the facts.  Bonaparte visited Etaples, Ambleteuse, Boulogne,
+Calais, Dunkirk, Furnes, Niewport, Ostend, and the Isle of Walcheren.
+He collected at the different ports all the necessary information with
+that intelligence and tact for which he was so eminently distinguished.
+He questioned the sailors, smugglers, and fishermen, and listened
+attentively to the answers he received.
+
+We returned to Paris by Antwerp, Brussels, Lille, and St. Quentin.  The
+object of our journey was accomplished when we reached the first of these
+towns.  "Well, General," said I, "what think you of our journey?  Are you
+satisfied?  For my part, I confess I entertain no great hopes from
+anything I have seen and heard."  Bonaparte immediately answered, "It is
+too great a chance.  I will not hazard it.  I would not thus sport with
+the fate of my beloved France."  On hearing this I already fancied myself
+in Cairo!
+
+On his return to Paris Bonaparte lost no time in setting on foot the
+military and scientific preparations for the projected expedition to the
+banks of the Nile, respecting which such incorrect statements have
+appeared.  It had long occupied his thoughts, as the following facts will
+prove.
+
+In the month of August 1797 he wrote "that the time was not far distant
+when we should see that, to destroy the power of England effectually, it
+would be necessary to attack Egypt."  In the same month he wrote to
+Talleyrand, who had just succeeded Charles de Lacroix as Minister of
+Foreign Affairs, "that it would be necessary to attack Egypt, which did
+not belong to the Grand Signior."  Talleyrand replied, "that his ideas
+respecting Egypt were certainly grand, and that their utility could not
+fail to be fully appreciated."  He concluded by saying he would write to
+him at length on the subject.
+
+History will speak as favourably of M. de Talleyrand as his
+contemporaries have spoken ill of him.  When a statesman, throughout a
+great, long, and difficult career, makes and preserves a number of
+faithful friends, and provokes but few enemies, it must be acknowledged
+that his character is honourable and his talent profound, and that his
+political conduct has been wise and moderate.  It is impossible to know
+M. de Talleyrand without admiring him.  All who have that advantage, no
+doubt, judge him as I do.
+
+In the month of November of the same year Bonaparte sent Poussielgue,
+under the pretence of inspecting the ports of the Levant, to give the
+finishing stroke to the meditated expedition against Malta.
+
+General Desaix, whom Bonaparte had made the confidant of all his plans at
+their interview in Italy after the preliminaries of Leoben, wrote to him
+from Affenbourg, on his return to Germany, that he regarded the fleet of
+Corfu with great interest.  "If ever," said he, "it should be engaged in
+the grand enterprises of which I have heard you speak, do not, I beseech
+you, forget me."  Bonaparte was far from forgetting him.
+
+The Directory at first disapproved of the expedition against Malta, which
+Bonaparte had proposed long before the treaty of Campo-Formio was signed.
+The expedition was decided to be impossible, for Malta had observed
+strict neutrality, and had on several occasions even assisted our ships
+and seamen.  Thus we had no pretext for going to war with her.  It was
+said, too, that the legislative body would certainly not look with a
+favourable eye on such a measure.  This opinion, which, however, did not
+last long, vexed Bonaparte.  It was one of the disappointments which made
+him give a rough welcome to Bottot, Barras' agent, at the commencement of
+October 1797.
+
+In the course of an animated conversation he said to Bottot, shrugging
+his shoulders, "Mon Dieu!  Malta is for sale!" Sometime after he himself
+was told that "great importance was attached to the acquisition of Malta,
+and that he must not suffer it to escape."  At the latter end of
+September 1797 Talleyrand, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, wrote to him
+that the Directory authorized him to give the necessary orders to Admiral
+Brueys for taking Malta.  He sent Bonaparte some letters for the island,
+because Bonaparte had said it was necessary to prepare the public mind
+for the event.
+
+Bonaparte exerted himself night and day in the execution of his projects.
+I never saw him so active.  He made himself acquainted with the abilities
+of the respective generals, and the force of all the army corps.  Orders
+and instructions succeeded each other with extraordinary rapidity.  If he
+wanted an order of the Directory he ran to the Luxembourg to get it
+signed by one of the Directors.  Merlin de Douai was generally the person
+who did him this service, for he was the most constant at his post.
+Lagarde, the Secretary-General, did not countersign any document relative
+to this expedition, Bonaparte not wishing him to be informed of the
+business.  He transmitted to Toulon the money taken at Berne, which the
+Directory had placed at his disposal.  It amounted to something above
+3,000,000 francs.  In those times of disorder and negligence the finances
+were very badly managed.  The revenues were anticipated and squandered
+away, so that the treasury never possessed so large a sum as that just
+mentioned.
+
+It was determined that Bonaparte should undertake an expedition of an
+unusual character to the East.  I must confess that two things cheered me
+in this very painful interval; my friendship and admiration for the
+talents of the conqueror of Italy, and the pleasing hope of traversing
+those ancient regions, the historical and religious accounts of which had
+engaged the attention of my youth.
+
+It was at Passeriano that, seeing the approaching termination of his
+labours in Europe, he first began to turn serious attention to the East.
+During his long strolls in the evening in the magnificent park there he
+delighted to converse about the celebrated events of that part of the
+world, and the many famous empires it once possessed.  He used to say,
+"Europe is a mole-hill.  There have never been great empires and
+revolutions except in the East, where there are 600,000,000 men."  He
+considered that part of the world as the cradle of all religious, of all
+metaphysical extravagances.  This subject was no less interesting than
+inexhaustible, and he daily introduced it when conversing with the
+generals with whom he was intimate, with Monge, and with me.
+
+Monge entirely concurred in the General-in-Chief's opinions on this
+point; and his scientific ardour was increased by Bonaparte's enthusiasm.
+In short, all were unanimously of one opinion.  The Directory had no
+share in renewing the project of this memorable expedition, the result of
+which did not correspond with the grand views in which it had been
+conceived.  Neither had the Directory any positive control over
+Bonaparte's departure or return.  It was merely the passive instrument of
+the General's wishes, which it converted into decrees, as the law
+required.  He was no more ordered to undertake the conquest of Egypt than
+he was instructed as to the plan of its execution.  Bonaparte organised
+the army of the East, raised money, and collected ships; and it was he
+who conceived the happy idea of joining to the expedition men
+distinguished in science and art, and whose labours have made known, in
+its present and past state, a country, the very name of which is never
+pronounced without exciting grand recollections.
+
+Bonaparte's orders flew like lightning from Toulon to Civita Vecchia.
+With admirable precision he appointed some forces to assemble before
+Malta, and others before Alexandria.  He dictated all these orders to me
+in his Cabinet.
+
+In the position in which France stood with respect to Europe, after the
+treaty of Campo-Formio, the Directory, far from pressing or even
+facilitating this expedition, ought to have opposed it.  A victory on the
+Adige would have been far better far France than one on the Nile.  From
+all I saw, I am of opinion that the wish to get rid of an ambitious and
+rising man, whose popularity excited envy, triumphed over the evident
+danger of removing, for an indefinite period, an excellent army, and the
+possible loss of the French fleet.  As to Bonaparte, he was well assured
+that nothing remained for him but to choose between that hazardous
+enterprise and his certain ruin.  Egypt was, he thought, the right place
+to maintain his reputation, and to add fresh glory to his name.
+
+On the 12th of April 1798 he was appointed General-in-Chief of the army
+of the East.
+
+It was about this time that Marmont was married to Mademoiselle
+Perregaux; and Bonaparte's aide de camp, La Valletta, to Mademoiselle
+Beauharnais.
+
+     --[Sir Walter Scott informs us that Josephine, when she became
+     Empress, brought about the marriage between her niece and La
+     Vallette.  This is another fictitious incident of his historical
+     romance.--Bourrienne.]--
+
+Shortly before our departure I asked Bonaparte how long he intended to
+remain in Egypt.  He replied, "A few months, or six years: all depends on
+circumstances.  I will colonise the country.  I will bring them artists
+and artisans of every description; women, actors, etc.  We are but nine-
+and-twenty now, and we shall then be five-and-thirty.  That is not an old
+age.  Those six years will enable me, if all goes well, to get to India.
+Give out that you are going to Brest.  Say so even to your family."  I
+obeyed, to prove my discretion and real attachment to him.
+
+Bonaparte wished to form a camp library of cabinet editions, and he gave
+me a list of the books which I was to purchase.  This list is in his own
+writing, and is as follows:
+
+                              CAMP LIBRARY.
+
+1. ARTS AND SCIENCE.-- Fontenelle's Worlds, 1 vol.   Letters to a German
+Princess, 2 vols.   Courses of the Normal School, 6 vols.   The Artillery
+Assistant, 1 vol.   Treatise on Fortifications, 3 vols.   Treatise on
+Fireworks, 1 vol.
+
+2. GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.-- Barclay's Geography, 12 vols.   Cook's
+Voyages, 3 vols.   La Harpe's Travels, 24 vols.
+
+3. HISTORY.-- Plutarch, 12 vols.   Turenne, 2 vols.   Conde, 4 vols.
+Villars, 4 vols.   Luxembourg, 2 vols.   Duguesclin, 2 vols.
+Saxe, 3 vols.   Memoirs of the Marshals of France, 20 vols.  President
+Hainault, 4 vols.   Chronology, 2 vols.   Marlborough, 4 vols.  Prince
+Eugene, 6 vols.   Philosophical History of India, 12 vols.
+Germany, 2 vols.   Charles XII., 1 vol.   Essay on the Manners of
+Nations, 6 vols.  Peter the Great, 1 vol.   Polybius, 6 vols.
+Justin, 2 vols.  Arrian, 3 vols.   Tacitus, 2 vols.   Titus Livy,
+Thucydides, 2 vols.  Vertot, 4 vols.  Denina, 8 vols.
+Frederick II, 8 vols.
+
+4. POETRY.-- Osaian, 1 vol.   Tasso, 6 vols.   Ariosto, 6 vols.
+Homer, 6 vols.   Virgil, 4 vols.   The Henriade, 1 vol.
+Telemachus, 2 vols.  Les Jardin, 1 vol.   The Chefs-d'Oeuvre of the
+French Theatre, 20 vols.  Select Light Poetry, 10 vols.  La Fontaine.
+
+5. ROMANCE.-- Voltaire, 4 vols.  Heloise, 4 vols.  Werther, 1 vol.
+Marmontel, 4 vols.  English Novels, 40 vols.  Le Sage, 10 vols.
+Prevost, 10 vols.
+
+6. POLITICS AND MORALS.-- The Old Testament.  The New Testament.  The
+Koran.  The Vedan.  Mythology.  Montesquieu.  The Esprit des Lois.
+
+
+It will be observed that he classed the books of the religious creeds of
+nations under the head of "politics."
+
+The autograph copy of the above list contains some of those
+orthographical blunders which Bonaparte so frequently committed.  Whether
+these blunders are attributable to the limited course of instruction he
+received at Brienne, to his hasty writing, the rapid flow of his ideas,
+or the little importance he attached to that indispensable condition of
+polite education, I know not.  Knowing so well as he did the authors and
+generals whose names appear in the above list, it is curious that he
+should have written Ducecling for Duguesclin, and Ocean for Ossian.  The
+latter mistake would have puzzled me not a little had I not known his
+predilection for the Caledonian bard.
+
+Before his departure Bonaparte laid in a considerable stock of Burgundy.
+It was supplied by a man named James, of Dijon.  I may observe that on
+this occasion we had an opportunity of ascertaining that good Burgundy,
+well racked off, and in casks hermetically sealed, does not lose its
+quality on a sea voyage.  Several cases of this Burgundy twice crossed
+the desert of the Isthmus of Suez on camels' backs.  We brought some of
+it back with us to Frejus, and it was as good as when we departed.  James
+went with us to Egypt
+
+During the remainder of our stay in Paris nothing occurred worthy of
+mention, with the exception of a conversation between Bonaparte and me
+some days before our departure for Toulon.  He went with me to the
+Luxembourg to get signatures to the official papers connected with his
+expedition.  He was very silent.  As we passed through the Rue Sainte
+Anne I asked him, with no other object than merely to break a long pause,
+whether he was still determined to quit France.  He replied, "Yes: I have
+tried everything.  They do not want me (probably alluding to the office
+of Director).  I ought to overthrow them, and make myself King; but it
+will not do yet.  The nobles will never consent to it.  I have tried my
+ground.  The time is not yet come.  I should be alone.  But I will dazzle
+them again."  I replied, "Well, we will go to Egypt;" and changed the
+conversation.
+
+     --[Lucien and the Bonapartists of course deny that Napoleon wished
+     to become Director, or to seize on power at this time; see Lucien,
+     tome 1.  p. 154.  Thiers (vol. v.  p. 257) takes the same view.
+     Lanfrey (tome i.  p. 363) believes Napoleon was at last compelled by
+     the Directory to start and he credits the story told by Desaix to
+     Mathieu Dumas, or rather to the wife of that officer, that there was
+     a plot to upset the Directory, but that when all was ready Napoleon
+     judged that the time was not ripe.  Lanfrey, however, rather
+     enlarges what Dumas says; see Dumas, tome iii.  p. 167.  See also
+     the very remarkable conversation of Napoleon with Miot de Melito
+     just before leaving Italy for Rastadt: "I cannot obey any longer.  I
+     have tasted the pleasures of command, and I cannot renounce it.  My
+     decision is taken.  If I cannot be master, I shall quit France
+     (Miot, tome i.  p. 184).]--
+
+The squabble with Bernadotte at Vienna delayed our departure for a
+fortnight, and might have had the most disastrous influence on the fate
+of the squadron, as Nelson would most assuredly have waited between Malta
+and Sicily if he had arrived there before us.'
+
+     --[Sir Walter Scott, without any authority, states that, at the
+     moment of his departure, Bonaparte seemed disposed to abandon the
+     command of an expedition so doubtful and hazardous, and that for
+     this purpose he endeavoured to take advantage of what had occurred
+     at Vienna.  This must be ranked in the class of inventions, together
+     with Barras mysterious visit to communicate the change of
+     destination, and also the ostracism and honourable exile which the
+     Directory wished to impose on Bonaparte. --Bourrienne.]--
+
+It is untrue that he ever entertained the idea of abandoning the
+expedition in consequence of Bernadotte's affair.  The following letter
+to Brueys, dated the 28th of April 1798, proves the contrary:
+
+     Some disturbances which have arisen at Vienna render my presence in
+     Paris necessary for a few days.  This will not change any of the
+     arrangements for the expedition.  I have sent orders by this courier
+     for the troops at Marseilles to embark and proceed to Toulon.  On
+     the evening of the 30th I will send you a courier with orders for
+     you to embark and proceed with the squadron and convoy to Genoa,
+     where I will join you.
+
+     The delay which this fresh event has occasioned will, I imagine,
+     have enabled you to complete every preparation.
+
+We left Paris on the 3d of May 1798.  Ten days before Bonaparte's
+departure for Egypt a prisoner (Sir Sidney Smith) escaped from the Temple
+who was destined to contribute materially to his reverses.  An escape so
+unimportant in itself afterwards caused the failure of the most gigantic
+projects and daring conceptions.  This escape was pregnant with future
+events; a false order of the Minister of Police prevented the revolution
+of the East!
+
+We were at Toulon on the 8th.  Bonaparte knew by the movements of the
+English that not a moment was to be lost; but adverse winds detained us
+ten days, which he occupied in attending to the most minute details
+connected with the fleet.
+
+Bonaparte, whose attention was constantly occupied with his army, made a
+speech to the soldiers, which I wrote to his dictation, and which
+appeared in the public papers at the time.  This address was followed by
+cries of "The Immortal Republic for ever!" and the singing of national
+hymns.
+
+Those who knew Madame Bonaparte are aware that few women were more
+amiable and fascinating.  Bonaparte was passionately fond of her, and to
+enjoy the pleasure of her society as long as possible he brought her with
+him to Toulon.  Nothing could be more affecting than their parting.  On
+leaving Toulon Josephine went to the waters of Plombieres.  I recollect
+that during her stay at Plombieres she incurred great danger from a
+serious accident.  Whilst she was one day sitting at the balcony of the
+hotel, with her suite, the balcony suddenly gave way, and all the persons
+in it fell into the street.  Madame Bonaparte was much hurt, but no
+serious consequences ensued.
+
+Bonaparte had scarcely arrived at Toulon when he heard that the law for
+the death of emigrants was enforced with frightful rigour; and that but
+recently an old man, upwards of eighty, had been shot.  Indignant at this
+barbarity, he dictated to me, in a tone of anger, the following letter:
+
+                                   HEADQUARTERS TOULON,
+                         27th Floreal, year VI. (16th May 1798).
+
+     BONAPARTE, MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE, TO THE MILITARY
+     COMMISSIONERS OF THE NINTH DIVISION, ESTABLISHED BY THE LAW OF
+     THE 19TH FRUCTIDOR.
+
+     I have learned, citizens, with deep regret, that an old man, between
+     seventy and eighty years of age, and some unfortunate women, in a
+     state of pregnancy, or surrounded with children of tender age, have
+     been shot on the charge of emigration.
+
+     Have the soldiers of liberty become executioners?  Can the mercy
+     which they have exercised even in the fury of battle be extinct in
+     their hearts?
+
+     The law of the 19th Fructidor was a measure of public safety.  Its
+     object was to reach conspirators, not women and aged men.
+
+     I therefore exhort you, citizens, whenever the law brings to your
+     tribunals women or old men, to declare that in the field of battle
+     you have respected the women and old men of your enemies.
+
+     The officer who signs a sentence against a person incapable of
+     bearing arms is a coward.
+                                             (Signed) BONAPARTE.
+
+
+This letter saved the life of an unfortunate man who came under the
+description of persons to whom Bonaparte referred.  The tone of this note
+shows what an idea he already entertained of his power.  He took upon
+him, doubtless from the noblest motives, to step out of his way to
+interpret and interdict the execution of a law, atrocious, it is true,
+but which even in those times of weakness, disorder, and anarchy was
+still a law.  In this instance, at least, the power of his name was nobly
+employed.  The letter gave great satisfaction to the army destined for
+the expedition.
+
+A man named Simon, who had followed his master in emigration, and dreaded
+the application of the law, heard that I wanted a servant.  He came to me
+and acknowledged his situation.  He suited me, and I hired him.  He then
+told me he feared he should be arrested whilst going to the port to
+embark.  Bonaparte, to whom I mentioned the circumstance, and who had
+just given a striking proof of his aversion to these acts of barbarity,
+said to me in a tone of kindness, "Give him my portfolio to carry, and
+let him remain with you."  The words "Bonaparte, General-in-Chief of the
+Army of the East," were inscribed in large gold letters on the green
+morocco.  Whether it was the portfolio or his connection with us that
+prevented Simon from being arrested I know not; but he passed on without
+interruption.  I reprimanded him for having smiled derisively at the ill
+humour of the persons appointed to arrest him.  He served me faithfully,
+and was even sometimes useful to Bonaparte.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+1798.
+
+     Departure of the squadron--Arrival at Malta--Dolomieu--General
+     Barguay d'Hilliers--Attack on the western part of the island--
+     Caffarelli's remark--Deliverance of the Turkish prisoners--Nelson's
+     pursuit of the French fleet--Conversations on board--How Bonaparte
+     passed his, time--Questions to the Captains--Propositions discussed
+     --Morning music--Proclamation--Admiral Brueys--The English fleet
+     avoided  Dangerous landing--Bonaparte and his fortune--Alexandria
+     taken--Kleber wounded--Bonaparte's entrance into Alexandria.
+
+The squadron sailed on the 19th of May.  The Orient, which, owing to her
+heavy lading, drew too much water, touched the ground; but she was got
+off without much difficulty.
+
+We arrived off Malta on the 10th of June.  We had lost two days in
+waiting for some convoys which joined us at Malta.
+
+The intrigues throughout Europe had not succeeded in causing the ports of
+that island to be opened to us immediately on our arrival.  Bonaparte
+expressed much displeasure against the persons sent from Europe to
+arrange measures for that purpose.  One of them, however, M. Dolomieu,
+had cause to repent his mission, which occasioned him to be badly treated
+by the Sicilians.  M. Poussielgue had done all he could in the way of
+seduction, but he had not completely succeeded.  There was some
+misunderstanding, and, in consequence, some shots were interchanged.
+Bonaparte was very much pleased with General Baraguay d'Hilliers'
+services in Italy.  He could not but praise his military and political
+conduct at Venice when, scarcely a year before, he had taken possession
+of that city by his orders.  General Baraguay d'Hilliers joined us with
+his division,--which had embarked in the convoy that sailed from Genoa.
+The General-in-Chief ordered him to land and attack the western part of
+the island.  He executed this order with equal prudence and ability, and
+highly to the satisfaction of the General-in-Chief.  As every person in
+the secret knew that all this was a mere form, these hostile
+demonstrations produced no unpleasant consequences.  We wished to save
+the honour of the knights--that was all; for no one who has seen Malta
+can imagine that an island surrounded with such formidable and perfect
+fortifications would have surrendered in two days to a fleet which was
+pursued by an enemy.  The impregnable fortress of Malta is so secure
+against a 'coup de main' that General Caffarelli, after examining its
+fortifications, said to the General-in-Chief, in my presence, "Upon my
+word, General, it is luck: there is some one in the town to open the
+gates for us."
+
+By comparing the observation of General Caffarelli with what has been
+previously stated respecting the project of the expedition to Egypt and
+Malta, an idea may be formed of the value of Bonaparte's assertion at St.
+Helena:
+
+"The capture of Malta was not owing to private intrigues, but to the
+sagacity of the Commander-in-chief.  I took Malta when I was in Mantua!"
+
+It is not the less true, however, that I wrote, by his dictation, a mass
+of instructions for private intrigues.  Napoleon also said to another
+noble companion of his exile at St Helena, "Malta certainly possessed
+vast physical means of resistance; but no moral means.  The knights did
+nothing dishonourable nobody is obliged to do impossibilities.  No; but
+they were sold; the capture of Malta was assured before we left Toulon."
+
+The General-in-Chief proceeded to that part of the port where the Turks
+made prisoners by the knights were kept.
+
+The disgusting galleys were emptied of their occupants: The same
+principles which, a few days after, formed the basis of Bonaparte's
+proclamation to the Egyptians, guided him in this act of reason and
+humanity.
+
+He walked several times in the gardens of the grandmaster.  They were in
+beautiful order, and filled with magnificent orange-trees.  We regaled
+ourselves with their fruit, which the great heat rendered most delicious.
+
+On the 19th of June, after having settled the government and defence of
+the island, the General left Malta, which he little dreamed he had taken
+for the English, who have very badly requited the obligation.  Many of
+the knights followed Bonaparte and took civil and military appointments.
+
+During the night of the 22d of June the English squadron was almost close
+upon us.  It passed at about six leagues from the French fleet.  Nelson,
+who learned the capture of Malta at Messina on the day we left the
+island, sailed direct for Alexandria, without proceeding into the north.
+He considered that city to be the place of our destination.  By taking
+the shortest course, with every sail set, and unembarrassed by any
+convoy, he arrived before Alexandria on the 28th of June, three days
+before the French fleet, which, nevertheless, had sailed before him from
+the shores of Malta.  The French squadron took the direction of Candia,
+which we perceived on the 25th of June, and afterwards stood to the
+south, favoured by the Etesian winds, which regularly prevail at that
+season.  The French fleet did not reach Alexandria till the 30th of June.
+
+When on board the 'Orient' he took pleasure in conversing frequently with
+Monge and Berthollet.  The subjects on which they usually talked were
+chemistry, mathematics, and religion.  General Caffarelli, whose
+conversation, supplied by knowledge, was at once energetic, witty, and
+lively, was one of those with whom he most willingly discoursed.
+Whatever friendship he might entertain for Berthollet, it was easy to
+perceive that he preferred Monge, and that he was led to that preference
+because Monge, endowed with an ardent imagination, without exactly
+possessing religious principles, had a kind of predisposition for
+religious ideas which harmonised with the notions of Bonaparte.  On this
+subject Berthollet sometimes rallied his inseparable friend Monge.
+Besides, Berthollet was, with his cold imagination, constantly devoted to
+analysis and abstractions, inclined towards materialism, an opinion with
+which the General was always much dissatisfied.
+
+Bonaparte sometimes conversed with Admiral Brueys.  His object was always
+to gain information respecting the different manoeuvres, and nothing
+astonished the Admiral more than the sagacity of his questions.
+I recollect that one day, Bonaparte having asked Brueys in what manner
+the hammocks were disposed of when clearing for action, he declared,
+after he had received an answer, that if the case should occur he would
+order every one to throw his baggage overboard.
+
+He passed a great part of his time in his cabin, lying on a bed, which,
+swinging on a kind of castors, alleviated the severity of the sea-
+sickness from which he frequently suffered much when the ship rolled.
+
+I was almost always with him in his cabin, where I read to him some of
+the favourite works which he had selected for his camp library.  He also
+frequently conversed, for hours together, with the captains of the
+vessels which he hailed.  He never failed to ask whence they came? what
+was their destination? what ships they had met? what course they had
+sailed?  His curiosity being thus satisfied, he allowed them to continue
+their voyage, after making them promise to say nothing of having seen the
+French squadron.
+
+Whilst we were at sea he seldom rose before ten o'clock in the morning.
+The 'Orient' had the appearance of a populous town, from which women had
+been excluded; and this floating city was inhabited by 2000 individuals,
+amongst whom were a great number of distinguished men.  Bonaparte every
+day invited several persons to dine with him, besides Brueys, Berthier,
+the colonels, and his ordinary household, who were always present at the
+table of the General-in-Chief.  When the weather was fine he went up to
+the quarter-deck, which, from its extent, formed a grand promenade.
+
+I recollect once that when walking the quarter-deck with him whilst we
+were in Sicilian waters I thought I could see the summits of the Alps
+beautifully lighted by the rays of the setting sun.  Bonaparte laughed
+much, and joked me about it.  He called Admiral Brueys, who took his
+telescope and soon confirmed my conjecture.  The Alps!
+
+At the mention of that word by the Admiral I think I can see Bonaparte
+still.  He stood for a long time motionless; then, suddenly bursting from
+his trance, exclaimed, "No! I cannot behold the land of Italy without
+emotion!  There is the East: and there I go; a perilous enterprise
+invites me.  Those mountains command the plains where I so often had the
+good fortune to lead the French to victory.  With them we will conquer
+again."
+
+One of Bonaparte's greatest pleasures during the voyage was, after
+dinner, to fix upon three or four persons to support a proposition and as
+many to oppose it.  He had an object in view by this.  These discussions
+afforded him an opportunity of studying the minds of those whom he had an
+interest in knowing well, in order that he might afterwards confide to
+each the functions for which he possessed the greatest aptitude: It will
+not appear singular to those who have been intimate with Bonaparte, that
+in these intellectual contests he gave the preference to those who had
+supported an absurd proposition with ability over those who had
+maintained the cause of reason; and it was not superiority of mind which
+determined his judgment, for he really preferred the man who argued well
+in favour of an absurdity to the man who argued equally well in support
+of a reasonable proposition.  He always gave out the subjects which were
+to be discussed; and they most frequently turned upon questions of
+religion, the different kinds of government, and the art of war.  One day
+he asked whether the planets were inhabited; on another, what was the age
+of the world; then he proposed to consider the probability of the
+destruction of our globe, either by water or fire; at another time,
+the truth or fallacy of presentiments, and the interpretation of dreams.
+I remember the circumstance which gave rise to the last proposition was
+an allusion to Joseph, of whom he happened to speak, as he did of almost
+everything connected with the country to which we were bound, and which
+that able administrator had governed.  No country came under Bonaparte's
+observation without recalling historical recollections to his mind.
+On passing the island of Candia his imagination was excited, and he spoke
+with enthusiasm of ancient Crete and the Colossus, whose fabulous renown
+has surpassed all human glories.  He spoke much of the fall of the empire
+of the East, which bore so little resemblance to what history has
+preserved of those fine countries, so often moistened with the blood of
+man.  The ingenious fables of mythology likewise occurred to his mind,
+and imparted to his language something of a poetical, and, I may say, of
+an inspired character.  The sight of the kingdom of Minos led him to
+reason on the laws best calculated for the government of nations; and the
+birthplace of Jupiter suggested to him the necessity of a religion for
+the mass of mankind.  This animated conversation lasted until the
+favourable north winds, which drove the clouds into the valley of the
+Nile, caused us to lose sight of the island of Candia.
+
+The musicians on board the Orient sometimes played serenades; but only
+between decks, for Bonaparte was not yet sufficiently fond of music to
+wish to hear it in his cabin.  It may be said that his taste for this art
+increased in the direct ratio of his power; and so it was with his taste
+for hunting, of which he gave no indication until after his elevation to
+the empire; as though he had wished to prove that he possessed within
+himself not only the genius of sovereignty for commanding men, but also
+the instinct for those aristocratical pleasures, the enjoyment of which
+is considered by mankind to be amongst the attributes of kings.
+
+It is scarcely possible that some accidents should not occur during a
+long voyage in a crowded vessel--that some persons should not fall
+overboard.  Accidents of this kind frequently happened on board the
+'Orient'.  On those occasions nothing was more remarkable than the great
+humanity of the man who has since been so prodigal of the blood of his
+fellow-creatures on the field of battle, and who was about to shed rivers
+of it even in Egypt, whither we were bound.  When a man fell into the sea
+the General-in-Chief was in a state of agitation till he was saved.  He
+instantly had the ship hove-to, and exhibited the greatest uneasiness
+until the unfortunate individual was recovered.  He ordered me to reward
+those who ventured their lives in this service.  Amongst these was a
+sailor who had incurred punishment for some fault.  He not only exempted
+him from the punishment, but also gave him some money.  I recollect that
+one dark night we heard a noise like that occasioned by a man falling
+into the sea.  Bonaparte instantly caused the ship to be hove-to until
+the supposed victim was rescued from certain death.  The men hastened
+from all sides, and at length they picked up-what?--the quarter of a
+bullock, which had fallen from the hook to which it was hung.  What was
+Bonaparte's conduct?  He ordered me to reward the sailors who had exerted
+themselves in this occasion even more generously than usual, saying,
+"It might have been a sailor, and these brave fellows have shown as much
+activity and courage as if it had."
+
+After the lapse of thirty years all these things are as fresh in my
+recollection as if they were passing at the present moment.  In this
+manner Bonaparte employed his time on board the Orient during the voyage,
+and it was also at this time that he dictated to me the following
+proclamation:
+
+                              HEADQUARTERS ON BOARD THE " ORIENT,"
+                                   the 4th Messidor, year VI.
+
+     BONAPARTE, MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE,
+     GENERAL-IN-CHIEF.
+
+     SOLDIERS--You are about to undertake a conquest the effects of which
+     on civilisation and commerce are incalculable.  The blow you are
+     about to give to England will be the best aimed, and the most
+     sensibly felt, she can receive until the time arrive when you can
+     give her her deathblow.
+
+     We must make some fatiguing marches; we must fight several battles;
+     we shall succeed in all we undertake.  The destinies are with us.
+     The Mameluke Beys who favour exclusively English commerce, whose
+     extortions oppress our merchants, and who tyrannise over the
+     unfortunate inhabitants of the Nile, a few days after our arrival
+     will no longer exist.
+
+     The people amongst whom we are going to live are Mahometans.  The
+     first article of their faith is this: "There is no God but God, and
+     Mahomet is his prophet."  Do not contradict them.  Behave to them as
+     you have behaved to the Jews--to the Italians.  Pay respect to their
+     muftis, and their Imaums, as you did to the rabbis and the bishops.
+     Extend to the ceremonies prescribed by the Koran and to the mosques
+     the same toleration which you showed to the synagogues, to the
+     religion of Moses and of Jesus Christ.
+
+     The Roman legions protected all religions.  You will find here
+     customs different from those of Europe.  You must accommodate
+     yourselves to them.  The people amongst whom we are to mix differ
+     from us in the treatment of women; but in all countries he who
+     violates is a monster.  Pillage enriches only a small number of men;
+     it dishonours us; it destroys our resources; it converts into
+     enemies the people whom it is our interest to have for friends.
+
+     The first town we shall come to was built by Alexander.  At every
+     step we shall meet with grand recollections, worthy of exciting the
+     emulation of Frenchmen.
+                                                  BONAPARTE.
+
+
+During the voyage, and particularly between Malta and Alexandria,
+I often conversed with the brave and unfortunate Admiral Brueys.
+The intelligence we heard from time to time augmented his uneasiness.
+I had the good fortune to obtain the confidence of this worthy man.
+He complained bitterly of the imperfect manner in which the fleet had
+been prepared for sea; of the encumbered state of the ships of the line
+and frigates, and especially of the 'Orient'; of the great number of
+transports; of the bad Outfit of all the ships and the weakness of their
+crews.  He assured me that it required no little courage to undertake the
+command of a fleet so badly equipped; and he often declared, that in the
+event of our falling in with the enemy, he could not answer for the
+consequences.  The encumbered state of the vessels, the immense quantity
+of civic and military baggage which each person had brought, and would
+wish to save, would render proper manoeuvres impracticable.  In case of
+an attack, added Brueys, even by an inferior squadron, the confusion and
+disorder amongst so great a number of persons would produce an inevitable
+catastrophe.  Finally, if the English had appeared with ten vessels only,
+the Admiral could not have guaranteed a fortunate result.  He considered
+victory to be a thing that was impossible, and even with a victory, what
+would have become of the expedition?  "God send," he said, with a sigh,
+"that we may pass the English without meeting them!"  He appeared to
+foresee what did afterwards happen to him, not in the open sea, but in a
+situation which he considered much more favourable to his defence.
+
+On the morning of the 1st of July the expedition arrived off the coast of
+Africa, and the column of Septimus-Severus pointed out to us the city of
+Alexandria.  Our situation and frame of mind hardly permitted us to
+reflect that in the distant point we beheld the city of the Ptolemies and
+Caesars, with its double port, its pharos, and the gigantic monuments of
+its ancient grandeur.  Our imaginations did not rise to this pitch.
+
+Admiral Brueys had sent on before the frigate Juno to fetch M. Magallon,
+the French Consul.  It was near four o'clock when he arrived, and the sea
+was very rough.  He informed the General-in-Chief that Nelson had been
+off Alexandria on the 28th--that he immediately dispatched a brig to
+obtain intelligence from the English agent.  On the return of the brig
+Nelson instantly stood away with his squadron towards the north-east.
+But for a delay which our convoy from Civita Vecchia occasioned, we
+should have been on this coast at the same time as Nelson.
+
+It appeared that Nelson supposed us to be already at Alexandria when he
+arrived there.  He had reason to suppose so, seeing that we left Malta on
+the 19th of June, whilst he did not sail from Messina till the 21st.
+Not finding us where he expected, and being persuaded we ought to have
+arrived there had Alexandria been the place of our destination; he sailed
+for Alexandretta in Syria, whither he imagined we had gone to effect a
+landing.  This error saved the expedition a second time.
+
+Bonaparte, on hearing the details which the French Consul communicated,
+resolved to disembark immediately.  Admiral Brueys represented the
+difficulties and dangers of a disembarkation--the violence of the surge,
+the distance from the coast,--a coast, too, lined with reefs of rocks,
+the approaching night, and our perfect ignorance of the points suitable
+for landing.  The Admiral, therefore, urged the necessity of waiting till
+next morning; that is to say, to delay the landing twelve hours.  He
+observed that Nelson could not return from Syria for several days.
+Bonaparte listened to these representations with impatience and ill-
+humour.  He replied peremptorily, "Admiral, we have no time to lose.
+Fortune gives me but three days; if I do not profit by them we are lost."
+He relied much on fortune; this chimerical idea constantly influenced his
+resolutions.
+
+Bonaparte having the command of the naval as well as the military force,
+the Admiral was obliged to yield to his wishes.
+
+I attest these facts, which passed in my presence, and no part of which
+could escape my observation.  It is quite false that it was owing to the
+appearance of a sail which, it is pretended, was descried, but of which,
+for my part, I saw nothing, that Bonaparte exclaimed, "Fortune, have you
+abandoned me?  I ask only five days!"  No such thing occurred.
+
+It was one o'clock in the morning of the 2d of July when we landed on the
+soil of Egypt, at Marabou, three leagues to the west of Alexandria.  We
+had to regret the loss of some lives; but we had every reason to expect
+that our losses would have been greater.
+
+At three o'clock the same morning the General-in-Chief marched on
+Alexandria with the divisions of Kleber, Bon, and Menou.  The Bedouin
+Arabs, who kept hovering about our right flank and our rear, picked up
+the stragglers.
+
+Having arrived within gunshot of Alexandria, we scaled the ramparts, and
+French valour soon triumphed over all obstacles.
+
+The first blood I saw shed in war was General Kleber's.  He was struck in
+the head by a ball, not in storming the walls, but whilst heading the
+attack.  He came to Pompey's Pillar, where many members of the staff were
+assembled, and where the General-in-Chief was watching the attack.  I
+then spoke to Kleber for the first time, and from that day our friendship
+commenced.  I had the good fortune to contribute somewhat towards the
+assistance of which he stood in need, and which, as we were situated,
+could not be procured very easily.
+
+It has been endeavoured to represent the capture of Alexandria, which
+surrendered after a few hours, as a brilliant exploit.  The General-in-
+Chief himself wrote that the city had been taken after a few discharges
+of cannon; the walls, badly fortified, were soon scaled.  Alexandria was
+not delivered up to pillage, as has been asserted, and often repeated.
+This would have been a most impolitic mode of commencing the conquest of
+Egypt, which had no strong places requiring to be intimidated by a great
+example.
+
+Bonaparte, with some others, entered the city by a narrow street which
+scarcely allowed two persons to walk abreast; I was with him.  We were
+stopped by some musket-shots fired from a low window by a man and a
+woman.  They repeated their fire several times.  The guides who preceded
+their General kept up a heavy fire on the window.  The man and woman fell
+dead, and we passed on in safety, for the place had surrendered.
+
+Bonaparte employed the six days during which he remained in Alexandria in
+establishing order in the city and province, with that activity and
+superior talent which I could never sufficiently admire, and in directing
+the march of the army across the province of Bohahire'h.  He sent Desaix
+with 4500 infantry and 60 cavalry to Beda, on the road to Damanhour.
+This general was the first to experience the privations and sufferings
+which the whole army had soon to endure.  His great mind, his attachment
+to Bonaparte, seemed for a moment about to yield to the obstacles which
+presented themselves.  On the 15th of July he wrote from Bohahire'h as
+follows: "I beseech you do not let us stop longer in this position.  My
+men are discouraged and murmur.  Make us advance or fall back without
+delay.  The villages consist merely of huts, absolutely without
+resources."
+
+In these immense plains, scorched by the vertical rays of a burning sun,
+water, everywhere else so common, becomes an object of contest.  The
+wells and springs, those secret treasures of the desert, are carefully
+concealed from the travellers; and frequently, after our most oppressive
+marches, nothing could be found to allay the urgent cravings of thirst
+but a little brackish water of the most disgusting description.
+
+     --[Some idea of the misery endured by the French troops on this
+     occasion may be gathered from the following description is
+     Napoleon's Memoirs, dictated at St. Helena:
+
+     "As the Hebrews wandering in the wilderness complained, and angrily
+     asked Moses for the onions and flesh-pots of Egypt, the French
+     soldiers constantly regretted the luxuries of Italy.  In vain were
+     they assured that the country was the most fertile in the world,
+     that it was even superior to Lombard; how were they to be persuaded
+     of this when they could get neither bread nor wine?   We encamped on
+     immense quantities of wheat, but there was neither mill nor oven in
+     the country.  The biscuit brought from Alexandria had long been
+     exhausted; the soldiers were even reduced to bruise the wheat
+     between two stones and to make cake which they baked under the
+     ashes.  Many parched the wheat in a pan, after which they boiled it.
+     This was the best way to use the grain; but, after all, it was not
+     bread.  The apprehensions of the soldiers increased daily, and rose
+     to such a pitch that a great number of them said there was no great
+     city of calm; and that the place bring that name was, like
+     Damanhour, a vast assemblage of mere huts, destitute of everything
+     that could render life comfortable or agreeable.  To such a
+     melancholy state of mind had they brought themselves that two
+     dragoons threw themselves, completely clothed, into the Nile, where
+     they were drowned.  It is nevertheless true that, though there was
+     neither bread nor wine, the resources which were procured with
+     wheat, lentils, meat, and sometimes pigeons, furnished the army with
+     food of some kind.  But the evil was, in the ferment of the mind.
+     The officers complained more loudly than the soldiers, because the
+     comparison was proportionately more disadvantageous to them.  In
+     Egypt they found neither the quarters, the good table, nor the
+     luxury of Italy.  The General-in-Chief, wishing to set an example,
+     tried to bivouac in the midst of the army, and in the least
+     commodious spots.  No one had either tent or provisions; the dinner
+     of Napoleon and his staff consisted of a dish of lentils.  The
+     soldiers passed the evenings in political conversations, arguments,
+     and complaints.  'For what purpose are we come here?' said some of
+     them, 'the Directory has transported us.' 'Caffarelli,' said others,
+     'is the agent that has been made use of to deceive the General-in-
+     Chief.'  Many of them, having observed that wherever there were
+     vestiges of antiquity they were carefully searched, vented their
+     spite in invective against the savants, or scientific men, who, they
+     said, had started the idea of she expedition to order to make these
+     searches.  Jests were showered upon them, even in their presence.
+     The men called an ass a savant; and said of Caffarelli Dufalga,
+     alluding to his wooden leg, 'He laughs at all these troubles; he has
+     one foot to France.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+1798.
+
+     The mirage--Skirmishes with the Arabs--Mistake of General Desaix's
+     division--Wretchedness of a rich sheik--Combat beneath the General's
+     window--The flotilla on the Nile--Its distress and danger--The
+     battle of Chebreisse--Defeat of the Mamelukes--Bonaparte's reception
+     of me--Letter to Louis Bonaparte--Success of the French army--
+     Triumphal entrance into Cairo--Civil and military organisation of
+     Cairo--Bonaparte's letter to his brother Joseph--Plan of
+     colonisation.
+
+On the 7th of July General Bonaparte left Alexandria for Damanhour.  In
+the vast plains of Bohahire'h the mirage every moment presented to the
+eye wide sheets of water, while, as we advanced, we found nothing but
+barren ground full of deep cracks.  Villages, which at a distance appear
+to be surrounded with water, are, on a nearer approach, discovered to be
+situated on heights, mostly artificial, by which they are raised above
+the inundations of the Nile.  This illusion continually recurs; and it is
+the more treacherous, inasmuch as it presents to the eye the perfect
+representation of water, at the time when the want of that article is
+most felt.  This mirage is so considerable in the plain of Pelusium that
+shortly after sunrise no object is recognisable.  The same phenomenon has
+been observed in other countries.  Quintus Curtius says that in the
+deserts of Sogdiana, a fog rising from the earth obscures the light, and
+the surrounding country seems like a vast sea.  The cause of this
+singular illusion is now fully explained; and, from the observations of
+the learned Monge, it appears that the mirage will be found in almost
+every country situated between the tropics where the local circumstances
+are similar.
+
+The Arabs harassed the army without intermission.  The few wells met with
+in the desert were either filled up or the water was rendered unfit for
+use.  The intolerable thirst with which the troops were tormented, even
+on this first march, was but ill allayed by brackish and unwholesome
+water.  The army crossed the desert with the rapidity of lightning,
+scarcely tasting a drop of water.  The sufferings of the troops were
+frequently expressed by discouraging murmurs.
+
+On the first night a mistake occurred which might have proved fatal.
+We were advancing in the dark, under feeble escort, almost sleeping on
+our horses, when suddenly we were assailed by two successive discharges
+of musketry.  We aroused ourselves and reconnoitred, and to our great
+satisfaction discovered that the only mischief was a alight wound
+received by one of our guides.  Our assailants were the division of
+General Desaix, who, forming the advanced guard of the army, mistook us
+for a party of the enemy, and fired upon us.  It was speedily ascertained
+that the little advanced guard of the headquarters had not heard the "Qui
+vive?" of Desaix's advanced posts.
+
+On reaching Damanhour our headquarters were established at the residence
+of a sheik.  The house had been new whitened, and looked well enough
+outside, but the interior was inconceivably wretched.  Every domestic
+utensil was broken, and the only seats were a few dirty tattered mats.
+Bonaparte knew that the sheik was rich, and having somewhat won his
+confidence, he asked him, through the medium of the interpreter, why,
+being in easy circumstances, be thus deprived himself of all comfort.
+"Some years ago," replied the sheik, "I repaired and furnished my house.
+When this became known at Cairo a demand was made upon me for money,
+because it was said my expenses proved me to be rich.  I refused to pay
+the money, and in consequence I was ill-treated, and at length forced to
+pay it.  From that time I have allowed myself only the bare necessaries
+of life, and I shall buy no furniture for my house."  The old man was
+lame in consequence of the treatment he had suffered.  Woe to him who in
+this country is suspected of having a competency--a hundred spies are
+always ready to denounce him.  The appearance of poverty is the only
+security against the rapine of power and the cupidity of barbarism.
+
+A little troop of Arabs on horseback assailed our headquarters.
+Bonaparte, who was at the window of the sheik's house, indignant at this
+insolence, turned to one of his aides de camp, who happened to be on
+duty, and said, "Croisier, take a few guides and drive those fellows
+away!"  In an instant Croisier was in the plain with fifteen guides.  A
+little skirmish ensued, and we looked on from the window.  In the
+movement and in the attack of Croisier and his party there was a sort of
+hesitation which the General-in-Chief could not comprehend.  "Forward,
+I say!  Charge!" he exclaimed from the window, as if he could have been
+heard.  Our horsemen seemed to fall back as the Arabs returned to the
+attack; and after a little contest, maintained with tolerable spirit, the
+Arabs retired without loss, and without being molested in their retreat.
+Bonaparte could no longer repress his rage; and when Croisier returned he
+experienced such a harsh reception that the poor fellow withdrew deeply
+mortified and distressed.  Bonaparte desired me to follow him and say
+something to console him: but all was in vain.  "I cannot survive this,"
+he said.  "I will sacrifice my life on the first occasion that offers
+itself.  I will not live dishonoured."  The word coward had escaped the
+General's lips.  Poor Croisier died at Saint Jean d'Acre.
+
+On the 10th of July our headquarters were established at Rahmahanie'h,
+where they remained during the 11th and 12th.  At this place commences
+the canal which was cut by Alexander to convey water to his new city; and
+to facilitate commercial intercourse between Europe and the East.
+
+The flotilla, commanded by the brave chief of division Perree, had just
+arrived from Rosette.  Perree was on board the xebec 'Cerf'.
+
+     --[Bonaparte had great confidence in him.  He had commanded, under
+     the General's orders, the naval forces in the Adriatic in 1797.--
+     Bourrienne]--
+
+Bonaparte placed on board the Cerf and the other vessels of the flotilla
+those individuals who, not being military, could not be serviceable in
+engagements, and whose horses served to mount a few of the troops.
+
+On the night of the 14th of July the General-in-Chief directed his march
+towards the south, along the left bank of the Nile.  The flotilla sailed
+up the river parallel with the left wing of the army.  But the force of
+the wind, which at this season blows regularly from the Mediterranean
+into the valley of the file, carried the flotilla far in advance of the
+army, and frustrated the plan of their mutually defending and supporting
+each other.  The flotilla thus unprotected fell in with seven Turkish
+gunboats coming from Cairo, and was exposed simultaneously to their fire
+and to that of the Mamelukes, fellahs, and Arabs who lined both banks of
+the river.  They had small guns mounted on camels.
+
+Perree cast anchor, and an engagement commenced at nine o'clock on the
+14th of July, and continued till half past twelve.
+
+At the same time the General-in-Chief met and attacked a corps of about
+4000 Mamelukes.  His object, as he afterwards said, was to turn the corps
+by the left of the village of Chebreisse, and to drive it upon the Nile.
+
+About eleven in the morning Perree told me that the Turks were doing us
+more harm than we were doing them; that our ammunition would soon be
+exhausted; that the army was far inland, and that if it did not make a
+move to the left there would be no hope for us.  Several vessels had
+already been boarded and taken by the Turks, who massacred the crews
+before our eyes, and with barbarous ferocity showed us the heads of the
+slaughtered men.
+
+Perree, at considerable risk, despatched several persons to inform the
+General-in-Chief of the desperate situation of the flotilla.  The
+cannonade which Bonaparte had heard since the morning, and the explosion
+of a Turkish gunboat, which was blown up by the artillery of the xebec,
+led him to fear that our situation was really perilous.  He therefore
+made a movement to the left, in the direction of the Nile and Chebreisse,
+beat the Mamelukes, and forced them to retire on Cairo.  At sight of the
+French troops the commander of the Turkish flotilla weighed anchor and
+sailed up the Nile.  The two banks of the river were evacuated, and the
+flotilla escaped the destruction which a short time before had appeared
+inevitable.  Some writers have alleged that the Turkish flotilla was
+destroyed in this engagement.  The truth is, the Turks did us
+considerable injury, while on their part they suffered but little.  We
+had twenty men killed and several wounded.  Upwards of 1500 cannon-shots
+were fired during the action.
+
+General Berthier, in his narrative of the Egyptian expedition, enumerates
+the individuals who, though not in the military service, assisted Perree
+in this unequal and dangerous engagement.  He mentions Monge, Berthollet,
+Andreossy, the paymaster, Junot, and Bourrienne, secretary to the
+General-in-Chief.  It has also been stated that Sucy, the commissary-
+general, was seriously wounded while bravely defending a gunboat laden
+with provisions; but this is incorrect.
+
+We had no communication with the army until the 23d of July.  On the 22d
+we came in sight of the Pyramids, and were informed that we were only
+about, ten leagues from Gizeh, where they are situated.  The cannonade
+which we heard, and which augmented in proportion as the north wind
+diminished, announced a serious engagement; and that same day we saw the
+banks of the Nile strewed with heaps of bodies, which the waves were
+every moment washing into the sea.  This horrible spectacle, the silence
+of the surrounding villages, which had hitherto been armed against us,
+and the cessation of the firing from the banks of the river, led us to
+infer, with tolerable certainty, that a battle fatal to the Mamelukes had
+been fought.  The misery we suffered on our passage from Rahmahanie'h to
+Gizeh is indescribable.  We lived for eleven days on melons and water,
+besides being momentarily exposed to the musketry of the Arabs and the
+fellahs.  We luckily escaped with but a few killed and wounded.  The
+rising of the Nile was only beginning.  The shallowness of the river near
+Cairo obliged us to leave the xebec and get on board a djerm.  We reached
+Gizeh at three in the afternoon of the 23d of July.
+
+When I saluted the General, whom I had not seen for twelve days, he thus
+addressed me: "So you are here, are you?  Do you know that you have all
+of you been the cause of my not following up the battle of Chebreisse?
+It was to save you, Monge, Berthollet, and the others on board the
+flotilla that I hurried the movement of my left upon the Nile before my
+right had turned Chebreisse.  But for that, not a single Mameluke would
+have escaped."
+
+"I thank you for my own part," replied I; "but in conscience could you
+have abandoned us, after taking away our horses, and making us go on
+board the xebec, whether we would or not?"  He laughed, and then told me
+how sorry he was for the wound of Sucy, and the death of many useful men,
+whose places could not possibly be filled up.
+
+He made me write a letter to his brother Louis, informing him that he had
+gained a complete victory over the Mamelukes at Embabeh, opposite Boulac,
+and that the enemy's loss was 2000 men killed and wounded, 40 guns, and a
+great number of horses.
+
+The occupation of Cairo was the immediate consequence of the victory of
+Embabeh.  Bonaparte established his head-quarters in the home of Elfy
+Bey, in the great square of Ezbekye'h.
+
+The march of the French army to Cairo was attended by an uninterrupted
+succession of combats and victories.  We had won the battles of
+Rahmahanie'h, Chebreisse, and the Pyramids.  The Mamelukes were defeated,
+and their chief, Mourad Bey, was obliged to fly into Upper Egypt.
+Bonaparte found no obstacle to oppose his entrance into the capital of
+Egypt, after a campaign of only twenty days.
+
+No conqueror, perhaps, ever enjoyed a victory so much as Bonaparte, and
+yet no one was ever less inclined to abuse his triumphs.
+
+We entered Cairo on the 24th of July, and the General-in-Chief
+immediately directed his attention to the civil and military organization
+of the country.  Only those who saw him in the vigour of his youth can
+form an idea of his extraordinary intelligence and activity.  Nothing
+escaped his observation.  Egypt had long been the object of his study;
+and in a few weeks he was as well acquainted with the country as if he
+had lived in it ten years.  He issued orders for observing the strictest
+discipline, and these orders were punctually obeyed.
+
+The mosques, the civil and religious institutions, the harems, the women,
+the customs of the country-all were scrupulously respected.  A few days
+after they entered Cairo the French were freely admitted into the shops,
+and were seen sociably smoking their pipes with the inhabitants,
+assisting them in their occupations, and playing with their children.
+
+The day after his arrival in Cairo Bonaparte addressed to his brother
+Joseph the following letter, which was intercepted and printed.  Its
+authenticity has been doubted, but I saw Napoleon write it, and he read
+it to me before he sent it off.
+
+                                             CAIRO,
+                              7th. Thermidor (25th July 1798)
+
+     You will see in the public papers the bulletins of the battles and
+     conquest of Egypt, which were sufficiently contested to add another
+     wreath to the laurels of this army.  Egypt is richer than any
+     country in the world in coin, rice, vegetables, and cattle.  But the
+     people are in a state of utter barbarism.  We cannot procure money,
+     even to pay the troops.  I maybe in France in two months.
+
+     Engage a country-house, to be ready for me on my arrival, either
+     near Paris or in Burgundy, where I mean to pass the winter.
+
+     --[Bonaparte's autograph note, after enumerating the troops and
+     warlike stores he wished to be sent, concluded with the following
+     list:
+
+     1st, a company of actors; 2d, a company of dancers; 3d, some dealers
+     in marionettes, at least three or four; 9th, a hundred French women;
+     5th, the wives of all the men employed in the corps; 6th, twenty
+     surgeons, thirty apothecaries, and ten Physicians; 7th, some
+     founders; 8th, some distillers and dealers in liquor; 9th fifty
+     gardeners with their families, and the seeds of every kind of
+     vegetable; 10th, each party to bring with them: 200,000 pints of
+     brandy; 11th, 30,000 ells of blue and scarlet cloth; 12th, a supply
+     of soap and oil.  --Bourrienne.]--
+
+                                        (Signed) BONAPARTE
+
+
+This announcement of his departure to his brother is corroborated by a
+note which he despatched some days after, enumerating the supplies and
+individuals which he wished to have sent to Egypt.  His note proves, more
+convincingly than any arguments, that Bonaparte earnestly wished to
+preserve his conquest, and to make it a French colony.  It must be borne
+in mind that the note here alluded to, as well as the letter above
+quoted, was written long before the destruction of the fleet.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of The Memoirs of Napoleon, V2, 1798
+by Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne
+