41
Las Cases, vol. i., p. 140.
42
It was to Gasparin that Napoleon was indebted for the triumph of his plan over the objections of the committees of the Convention. He preserved a grateful recollection of this circumstance, as appears by his will. It was Gasparin, he used to say, who had first opened his career. – Las Cases, vol. i., p. 144.
43
Las Cases, vol. i., p. 147.
44
Las Cases, vol. i., p. 154.
45
Napoleon says six thousand. – Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 17.
46
Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 24.
47
Jomini, tom. iv., p. 223; Toulongeon, tom. iv., p. 88; Napoleon's Memoirs, vol. i., p. 25; Rivington's Annual Register, 1793, p. 415.
48
Moniteur, 28th December.
49
"Amongst those who chiefly distinguished themselves are the citizens Buonaparte, commandant of the artillery, Arena, and Gervoni." – Dugommier
50
Rivington's Annual Register, 1793, p. 415.
51
James's Naval History, vol. i., p. 115; Thiers, tom. vi., p. 59. – "The total number borne away amounted to 14,877." —
52
Mr. Graham of Balgowan, now Lord Lynedoch. He marched out on one of the sorties, and when the affair became hot, seized the musket and cartouch-box of a fallen soldier, and afforded such an example to the troops, as contributed greatly to their gaining the object desired. – S.
53
Jomini, tom. iv., p. 226; Lacretelle, tom. xi., p. 189.
54
Montholon, tom. iii., p. 13; Jomini, tom. iv., p. 226; Las Cases, vol. i., p. 153.
55
Las Cases, vol. i., p. 152.
56
"Dugommier wrote to the Committee of Public Safety, soliciting the rank of brigadier-general for him, and concluded with these words, 'Reward this young man, and promote him, for should he be ungratefully treated, he will promote himself.'" – Napoleon,
Dugommier was killed on the following November, by the bursting of a field-piece. Napoleon bequeathed to his descendant 100,000 francs, "as a testimonial of gratitude for the esteem, affection, and friendship of that brave and intrepid general."
57
Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 30.
58
An Englishman will probably remember the sublime passage in "The Mariners of England: " —
"Britannia needs no bulwark, No towers along the steep; Her march is on the mountain-wave, Her home is on the deep."
59
"Brunet being unjustly accused of favouring the insurrection at Marseilles, was delivered up to the Revolutionary Tribunal at Paris, and perished on the scaffold." – Napoleon,
60
"An old and brave officer. His military knowledge was considerable, but he was confined to his bed by the gout half his time." – Napoleon,
"Happily, he allowed himself to be directed entirely by the young Buonaparte." – Thiers, tom. vi., p. 288.
61
Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 42.
62
Jomini, tom. v., p. 204; Thiers, tom. vi., p. 283; Montholon, tom. iii., p. 30; Botta, tom. i., p. 190. General Dumerbion, in his despatch to the government, describing his successes, says, "It is to the talent of General Buonaparte that I am indebted for the skilful plans which have assured our victory."
63
Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 48.
64
General Tilly. See
65
"In the despatch of Salicetti and Albitte to the Government, dated 24th August, they declare, that there existed no foundation for the charges made against him." – Jomini, tom. vi., p. 114;
66
Montholon, tom. iii., p. 50; Las Cases, vol. i., p. 155; Louis Buonaparte, p. 14.
67
Buonaparte is represented by some writers as having at this period found his situation extremely embarrassing, even as regarded pecuniary means, in the capital of which he was at no distant period to be the ruler. Among others who are said to have assisted him was the celebrated actor Talma; and such may have been the case; but the story of Talma's having been acquainted with Napoleon at the Academy of Brienne, and at that early period predicting the greatness of "
68
See
69
The Memoirs published under the name of Fouché make this assertion. But although that work shows great intimacy with the secret history of the times, it is not to be implicitly relied upon. – S.
70
"Peut-être un jour, on vous nommerait un Bourbon." – Thiers, tom. viii., p. 10.
71
"Its authors were Lesage, Daunou, Boissy d'Anglas, Creuzée-Latouche, Berlier, Louvet, Lareveillèire-Lepaux, Languinais, Durand-Maillanne, Baudin des Ardennes, and Thibaudeau." – Thiers, tom. viii., p. 9.
72
Thiers, tom. viii., p. 13.
73
"La Harpe, Lacretelle, jun., Suard, Morellet, Vaublanc, Pastoret, Dupont de Nemours, Quatremère de Quincy, Delalot, Marchenna, and General Miranda, all either published pamphlets or made speeches in the sections." – Thiers, tom. viii., p. 15.
74
75
76
"For several months, Napoleon, not being actively employed, laboured in the military committee, and was well acquainted with Carnot and Tallien, whom he saw daily. How, then, could Barras make them the proposal attributed to him?" – Louis Buonaparte, p. 17.
77
In 1796, the Directory appointed Berruyer commander of the Hôpital des Invalides, which situation he held till his death, in 1804.
78
Las Cases, tom. i., p. 161.
79
Montholon, tom. iii., p. 82.
80
See vol. i., p. 355.
81
Buonaparte was then in his twenty-sixth year. Josephine gave herself in the marriage contract for twenty-eight. – S.
82
A lady of high rank, who happened to live for some time in the same convent at Paris, where Josephine was also a pensioner or boarder, heard her mention the prophecy, and told it herself to the author, just about the time of the Italian expedition, when Buonaparte was beginning to attract notice. Another clause is usually added to the prediction – that the party whom it concerned should die in an hospital, which was afterwards explained as referring to Malmaison. This the author did not hear from the same authority. The lady mentioned used to speak in the highest terms of the simple manners and great kindness of Madame Beauharnais. – S.
83
"It was I who proposed Buonaparte for the command of the army of Italy, not Barras." – Carnot,
"Napoleon owed the appointment to the command of the army of Italy to his signal services under Dumerbion." – Jomini, tom. viii., p. 49.
84
Napoleon, Memoirs, tom. iii., p. 91.