Chapter IV: Part 4

[15]“In 1783, Napoleon was one of the scholars who, at the usual competition at Brienne, were fixed upon to be sent to the military school at Paris, to finish their education. The choice was made annually by an inspector, who visited the twelve military schools. This office was filled by the Chevalier de Keralio, a general officer, and the author of a work on military tactics. He was also the tutor of the present [the late] King of Bavaria, who in his youth bore the title of Duke of Deux-Ponts. Keralio was an amiable old man and well qualified to discharge the duty of Inspector of the military schools. He was fond of the boys, played with them when they had finished their examinations, and permitted those who had acquitted themselves most to his satisfaction to dine with him at the table of the monks. He was particularly attached to young Napoleon, and took a pleasure in stimulating him to exertion. He singled him out to be sent to Paris, though it would appear he had not at that time attained the requisite age. The lad was not very far advanced in any branch of education except mathematics, and the monks suggested that it would be better to wait till the following year, to afford time for further improvement. But this the Chevalier de Keralio would by no means agree to; ‘I know what I am about,’ said he, ‘and if I am transgressing the rules, it is not on account of family influence:—I know nothing of the friends of this youth. I am actuated only by my own opinion of his merit. I perceive in him a spark of genius which cannot be too early fostered.’ The worthy chevalier died suddenly, before he had time to carry his determination into effect; but his successor, M. de Regnaud, who would not perhaps have evinced half his penetration, nevertheless fulfilled his intention, and young Napoleon was sent to Paris.”

Footnote 15:

Dictated by the Emperor.

At this period he began to develop qualities of a superior order: decision of character, profound reflection, and vigorous conceptions. It would appear, that from his earliest childhood his parents rested all their hopes on him. His father, when on his death-bed at Montpellier, though Joseph was beside him, spoke only of Napoleon, who was then at the military school. In the delirium with which he was seized in his last moments, he incessantly called Napoleon to come to his aid with his _great sword_. The grand uncle, Lucien, who on his death-bed was surrounded by all his relatives, said, addressing himself to Joseph, “You are the eldest of the family; but there is the head of it (pointing to Napoleon). Never lose sight of him.” The Emperor used to laugh and say, “This was a true disinheritance: it was the scene of Jacob and Esau.”

Having myself been educated at the military school of Paris, though at an earlier period than that at which Napoleon attended it, I was enabled, on returning from my emigration, to converse about the Emperor with the masters who had been common to us both.

M. de l’Eguille, our teacher of history, used to boast that the records of the military school contained proofs of his having foretold the great career which his pupil was destined to fill; and that he had frequently, in his notes, eulogised the depth of his reflection, and the shrewdness of his judgment. He informed me that the First Consul used often to invite him to breakfast at Malmaison, and that he always took pleasure in conversing about his old lessons.—“That which made the deepest impression on me,” said he, one day to M. de l’Eguille, “was the revolt of the Constable de Bourbon, though you did not present it to us precisely in its proper light. You made it appear that his great crime was his having fought against his king; which certainly was but a trifling fault, in those days of divided nobility and sovereignty; particularly considering the scandalous injustice of which he was the victim. His great, his real, his only crime, and that on which you did not sufficiently dwell, was his having joined with foreigners to attack his native country.”

M. Domairon, our professor of belles-lettres, informed me that he had always been struck with the singularity of Napoleon’s amplifications, which he said were like granite heated in a volcano.

Only one individual formed a mistaken idea of him; that was M. Bauer, the dull heavy German master. Young Napoleon never made much progress in the German language, which offended M. Bauer, who ranked German above all things, and he in consequence formed a most contemptible opinion of his pupil’s abilities. One day, Napoleon not being in his place, M. Bauer inquired where he was, and was told that he was attending his examination in the class of artillery. “What! does he know any thing?” said M. Bauer ironically. “Why, Sir, he is the best mathematician in the school,” was the reply. “Ah! I have always heard it remarked, and I have always believed, that none but a fool could learn mathematics.” “It would be curious,” said the Emperor, “to know whether M. Bauer lived long enough to see me rise in the world, and to enjoy the confirmation of his own judgment.”

Napoleon was scarcely eighteen years of age when the Abbé Raynal, struck with the extent of his acquirements, appreciated his merit so highly as to make him one of the ornaments of his scientific _déjeûners_. Finally, the celebrated Paoli, who, after having long inspired Napoleon with a sort of veneration, found the latter at the head of a party against him, the moment he shewed himself favourable to the English, was accustomed to say—“This young man is formed on the ancient model. He is one of Plutarch’s men.”

In 1785, Napoleon, who was appointed at once a cadet and an officer of artillery, quitted the military school to enter the regiment of la Fère with the rank of second lieutenant; from which he was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant in the regiment of Grenoble.

Napoleon, on quitting the military school, went to join his regiment at Valence. The first winter he spent there, his comrades at the mess-table were Lariboissière, whom, during the empire, he appointed inspector-general of the artillery; Sorbier, who succeeded Lariboissière in that post; d’Hedouville, junior, afterwards minister plenipotentiary at Frankfort; Mallet, brother of him who headed the tumult in Paris in 1813; an officer named Mabille, whom, on his return from emigration, the Emperor appointed to a situation in the post-office; Rolland de Villarceaux, afterwards prefect of Nismes; Desmazzis, junior, his companion at the military school, and the friend of his early years, who after Napoleon ascended the throne, became keeper of the Imperial wardrobe.

There were in the corps officers more or less easy in their circumstances; Napoleon ranked among the former. He received from his family 1200 francs a year, which was then the amount of an officer’s full pay. There were two individuals in the regiment who could afford to keep cabriolets, or carriages of some kind, and they were looked upon as very great men. Sorbier was one of these two: his companions got him to drive them about, and they repaid the obligation by jokes and puns. Sorbier was the son of a physician at Moulins.

At Valence, Napoleon obtained an early introduction to Madame du Columbier, a lady about fifty years of age, who was endowed with many rare and estimable qualities, and who was the most distinguished person in the town. She entertained a great regard for the young artillery-officer, and through her acquaintance he mingled in all the best company in Valence and its neighbourhood. She introduced him to the Abbé de Saint Rufe, an elderly man of property, who was frequently visited by the most distinguished persons in the country. Napoleon was indebted for the favour he enjoyed to his extensive information, joined to the facility and force with which he turned it to account. Madame du Colombier often foretold that he would be a distinguished man. The death of this lady happened about the time of the breaking out of the Revolution: it was an event in which she took great interest, and in her last moments was heard to say that, if no misfortune befel young Napoleon, he would infallibly play a distinguished part in the events of the time. The Emperor never spoke of Madame du Colombier but with expressions of the tenderest gratitude; and he did not hesitate to acknowledge that the valuable introductions and superior company in society which she procured for him had great influence over his destiny.

The gaiety which Napoleon enjoyed at this period of his life, excited great jealousy on the part of his fellow-officers. They were displeased at seeing him absent himself so frequently from among them, though his doing so could be no reasonable ground of offence to them. Fortunately the commandant, M. d’Urtubie, had formed a just estimate of his character: he shewed him great kindness, and afforded him the means of fulfilling his military duties, and at the same time of mingling in the pleasures of society.

Napoleon conceived an attachment for Mademoiselle du Colombier, who, on her part, was not insensible to his merits. It was the first love of both; and it was that kind of love which might be expected to arise at their age and with their education. “We were the most innocent creatures imaginable,” the Emperor used to say; “we contrived little meetings together: I well remember one which took place on a Midsummer morning, just as daylight began to dawn. It will scarcely be believed that all our happiness consisted in eating cherries together.”

It has been said that the mother wished to bring about this marriage, and that the father opposed it on the ground that they would ruin each other by their union; while each was separately destined to a fortunate career. But this story is untrue, as is likewise another anecdote relative to a marriage with Mademoiselle Clary, afterwards Madame Bernadotte, now Queen of Sweden.

In 1805, the Emperor, when about to be crowned King of Italy, on passing through Lyons, again saw Mademoiselle du Colombier, who had now changed her name to Madame de Bressieux. She gained access to him with some difficulty, surrounded as he was by the etiquette of royalty. Napoleon was happy to see her again; but he found her much altered for the worse. He did for her husband what she solicited, and placed her in the situation of lady of honour to one of his sisters.

Mademoiselles de Laurencin and Saint-Germain were at that time the reigning toasts in Valence, where they divided the general admiration. The latter married Monsieur de Montalivet, who was also known to the Emperor at that time, and who was afterwards made Minister of the Interior. “He was an honest fellow,” said Napoleon, “and one who, I believe, remained firmly attached to me.”

When about eighteen or twenty years of age, the Emperor was distinguished as a young man of extensive information, possessing a reflective turn of mind and strong reasoning powers. His reading had been very extensive, and he had profoundly meditated on the fund of knowledge thus acquired, much of which, he used to say, he had probably since lost. His sparkling and ready wit and energetic language distinguished him wherever he went: he was a favourite with every one, particularly with the fair sex, to whom he recommended himself by the elegance and novelty of his ideas, and the boldness of his arguments. As for the men, they were often afraid to engage with him in those discussions into which he was led by a natural confidence in his own powers.

Many individuals, who knew him at an early period of life, predicted his extraordinary career; and they viewed the events of his life without astonishment. At an early age he gained anonymously a prize at the Academy of Lyons, on the following question, proposed by Raynal:—“_What are the principles and institutions calculated to advance mankind to the highest possible degree of happiness?_” The anonymous memorial excited great attention: it was perfectly in unison with the ideas of the age. It began by enquiring in what happiness consisted; and the answer was, in the perfect enjoyment of life in the manner most conformable with our moral and physical organization. After he became Emperor, Napoleon was one day conversing on this subject with M. de Talleyrand: the latter, like a skilful courtier, shortly after presented to him the famous memorial, which he had procured from the archives of the Academy of Lyons. The Emperor took it, and, after reading a few pages, threw into the fire this first production of his youth. “We can never think of every thing,” said Napoleon: and M. de Talleyrand had not taken the precaution of having it copied.

The Prince de Condé one day visited the Artillery school at Auxonne; and the cadets considered it a high honour to be examined by that military prince. The commandant, in spite of the hierarchy, placed young Napoleon at the head of the polygon, in preference to others of superior rank. It happened that, on the day preceding the examination, all the cannons of the polygon were spiked: but Napoleon was too much on the alert to be caught by this trick of his comrades, or snare, perhaps, of the illustrious traveller.

It is generally believed that Napoleon, in his boyhood, was taciturn, sullen, and morose: on the contrary, he was of a very lively turn. He never appeared more delighted than when relating to us the various tricks he was accustomed to play when at the School of Artillery. In describing the joyous moments of his early youth, he seems to forget the misfortunes which hold him in captivity.

There was an old commandant, upwards of eighty years of age, for whom the cadets entertained a very high respect, notwithstanding the many jokes they played upon him. One day, while he was examining them in their cannon exercise, and watching every discharge with his eye-glass, he asserted they were far from hitting the mark, and asked those near him if they had seen the ball strike. Nobody had observed the youths’ slipping aside the ball every time they loaded. The old general was rather sharp; after five or six discharges, he took it into his head to count the balls. The trick was discovered. The general thought it a very good one; but nevertheless ordered all who had participated in it to be put under arrest.

The cadets would occasionally take a pique at some of their captains, or determine to revenge themselves on others to whom they owed a grudge. They then resolved to banish them from society, and to reduce them to the necessity of putting themselves under a sort of arrest. Four or five of the cadets undertook to execute the design. They fastened on their victim; pursued him into every company, and he was not suffered to open his mouth without being methodically and logically contradicted, though always with a strict regard to politeness: at length the poor fellow found that retirement was his only alternative.

“On another occasion,” Napoleon used to relate, “one of my comrades who lodged above me unluckily took a fancy to learn to play the horn, and made such a hideous noise as completely disturbed the studies of those who were within hearing. We met each other one day on the stairs; ‘Are you not tired of practising the horn?’ said I. ‘Not at all,’ he replied. ‘At any rate, you tire other people.’ ‘I am sorry for it.’ ‘It would be better if you went to practise elsewhere.’ ‘I am master of my own apartment.’ ‘Perhaps you may be taught to entertain a doubt on that point.’ ‘I scarcely think any one will be bold enough to attempt to teach me that.’” A challenge ensued; but before the antagonists met, the affair was submitted to the consideration of a council of the cadets, and it was determined that the one should practise the horn at a greater distance, and that the other should be more accommodating.

In the campaign of 1814, the Emperor again met his horn-player in the neighbourhood of Soissons or Laon: he was residing on his estate, and gave some important information respecting the enemy’s position. The Emperor made him one of his aides-de-camp; this officer was Colonel Bussy.

When attached to his artillery-regiment, Napoleon seized every opportunity of mingling in company, where he invariably made an agreeable impression. Women at that time attached a high value to wit in the other sex; it was a quality which never failed to win their good graces. Napoleon, at this period, performed what he termed his Sentimental Journey from Valence to Mont-Cenis in Burgundy, and he intended to write an account of it after the manner of Sterne. The faithful Desmazzis was of the party: he was constantly with him, and his narrative of Napoleon’s private life, if combined with the details of his public career, would form a perfect history of the Emperor. It would then be seen that, however extraordinary his life might be with respect to its incidents, yet nothing could be more simple or natural than its course.

Circumstances and reflection have considerably modified his character. Even his style of expression, now so concise and laconic, was in his youth diffuse and emphatic. At the time of the Legislative Assembly, Napoleon assumed a serious and severe demeanour, and became less communicative than before. The army of Italy also marked another epoch in his character. His extreme youth, when he went to take the command of the army, rendered it necessary that he should evince great reserve, and the utmost strictness of morals. “This was indispensably necessary,” said he, “to enable me to command men so much above me in point of age. I pursued a line of conduct truly irreproachable and exemplary. I proved myself a sort of Cato. I must have appeared such in the eyes of all. I was a philosopher and a sage.” In this character he appeared on the theatre of the world.

Napoleon was in garrison at Valence when the Revolution broke out. At that time it was made a point of particular importance to induce the artillery-officers to emigrate; and the officers, on their part, were very much divided in opinion. Napoleon, who was thoroughly imbued with the notions of the age, possessing a natural instinct for great actions and a passion for national glory, espoused the cause of the Revolution; and his example influenced the majority of the regiment. He was an ardent patriot under the Constituent Assembly; but the Legislative Assembly marked a new period in his ideas and opinions.

He was at Paris on the 21st of June, 1792, and witnessed the insurrection of the people of the Faubourgs, who traversed the garden of the Tuileries, and forced the palace. There were but 6000 men; a mere disorderly mob, whose language and dress proved them to belong to the very lowest class of society.

Napoleon was also a witness of the events of the 10th of August, in which the assailants were neither higher in rank nor more formidable in number.

In 1793, Napoleon was in Corsica, where he had a command in the National Guards. He opposed Paoli, as soon as he was led to suspect that the veteran, to whom he had hitherto been so much attached, entertained the design of betraying the island to the English. Therefore it is not true, as it has been generally reported, that Napoleon, or one of his family, was at one time in England, proposing to raise a Corsican regiment for the English service.

The English and Paoli subdued the Corsican patriots, and burnt Ajaccio. The house of the Buonapartes was destroyed in the general conflagration, and the family was obliged to fly to the Continent. They fixed their abode at Marseilles, whence Napoleon proceeded to Paris. He arrived just at the moment when the federalists of Marseilles had surrendered Toulon to the English.

CAPE VERD ISLANDS.—NAPOLEON AT THE SIEGE OF TOULON.—RISE OF DUROC
AND JUNOT.—NAPOLEON QUARRELS WITH THE REPRESENTATIVES OF
THE PEOPLE.—QUARRELS WITH AUBRY.—ANECDOTES RELATIVE TO
VENDEMIAIRE.—NAPOLEON GENERAL OF THE ARMY OF ITALY.—INTEGRITY OF HIS
MILITARY ADMINISTRATION.—HIS DISINTERESTEDNESS.—NICK-NAMED
PETIT-CAPORAL.—DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SYSTEM OF THE DIRECTORY AND THAT
OF THE GENERAL OF THE ARMY OF ITALY.

September 1st—6th. On the 1st of September we found from our latitude that we should see the Cape Verd Islands in the course of the day. The sky was, however, overcast, and at night we could see nothing. The Admiral, convinced that there was a mistake in the reckoning of our longitude, was preparing to bear westward to the right, in order to fall in with the islands, when a brig, which was ahead of us, intimated by a signal that she had discovered them on the left. During the night the wind blew violently from the south-east, and if our mistake had been the reverse of what it was, and the Admiral had really borne to the right, it is not improbable that we should have been thrown out of our course; a proof that, notwithstanding the improvements in science, mistakes are very apt to take place, and that the chances of navigation are very great. As the wind continued to blow strong, and the sea was boisterous, the Admiral preferred continuing his course, rather than waiting to take in water, of which he believed he had already a sufficient store. Every thing now promised a prosperous passage; we were already very far advanced on our course. Every circumstance continued favourable; the weather was mild, and we might even have thought our voyage agreeable, had it been undertaken in the pursuit of our own plans and in conformity with our own inclinations: but how could we forget our past misfortunes, or close our eyes on the future?——

Occupation alone could enable us to support the languor and tedium of our days. I had undertaken to teach my son English; and the Emperor, to whom I mentioned the progress he was making, expressed a wish to learn also. I endeavoured to form a very simple plan for his instruction, in order to save him trouble. This did very well for two or three days; but the _ennui_ occasioned by the study was at least equal to that which it was intended to counteract, and the English was laid aside. The Emperor occasionally reproached me with having discontinued my lessons: I replied that I had the medicine ready, if he had the courage to take it. In other respects, particularly before the English, his manners and habits were always the same: never did a murmur or a wish escape his lips; he invariably appeared contented, patient, and good-humoured.

The admiral, who, on account of our reputation, I suppose, had assumed great stiffness, on our departure from England, gradually laid aside his reserve, and every day took greater interest in his captive. He represented the danger incurred by coming on deck after dinner, owing to the damp of the evening; the Emperor would then sometimes take his arm and prolong the conversation, which never failed to gratify him exceedingly. I have been assured that the Admiral carefully noted down every particular that he could collect. If this be true, the remarks which the Emperor one day made, during dinner, on naval affairs—on the French resources in the south; those which he had already created, and those which he contemplated; and on the ports and harbours of the Mediterranean: to all of which the Admiral listened with deep attention, and as if fearful of interruption—will compose a chapter truly valuable to a seaman.

I will now return to the details collected during our ordinary conversation. The following relate to the siege of Toulon.

In September 1793, Napoleon Buonaparte, then in his twenty-fourth year, was yet unknown to the world which was destined to resound with his name. He was a lieutenant-colonel of artillery, and had been only a few weeks in Paris; having left Corsica, where political events had forced him to yield to the faction of Paoli. The English had taken possession of Toulon; an experienced artillery-officer was wanting to direct the operations of the siege, and Napoleon was fixed on. There will history take him up, never more to leave him;—there commences his immortality.

I refer to the Memoirs of the Campaign of Italy for the plan of attack which he adopted, and the manner in which that plan was carried into effect. It will there be seen that it was he, and he alone, who took the fortress. This was a great triumph, no doubt: but to appreciate it justly, it would be necessary to compare the plan of the attack with the account of the evacuation; the one is the literal prediction, and the other is the fulfilment word for word. From this moment the young commander of artillery enjoyed the highest reputation. The Emperor never looks back to this period without pleasure, and always mentions it as the happiest portion of his life. The taking of Toulon was his first successful achievement, and it naturally excites the fondest recollections. The history of the campaign of Italy will present a faithful picture of the three generals-in-chief who succeeded each other during the siege: the inconceivable ignorance of Cartaux, the gloomy brutality of Doppet, and the honest courage of Dugommier. Of them I shall here say nothing.

At the first breaking out of the Revolution, there was nothing but disorder in the _matériel_ and ignorance in the _personnel_ of the French army, which was owing both to the confusion of the times and the rapidity and irregularity with which the promotions had been made. The following story will afford an idea of the state of affairs and of the manners of the time:—

On his arrival at head-quarters, Napoleon waited on General Cartaux, a fine figure, covered with gold lace from head to foot, who asked him what duty he had been sent upon. The young officer modestly presented the letter which directed him to superintend, under the general’s command, the operations of the artillery. “This was quite unnecessary,” said the fine-looking man, twirling his whiskers; “we want no assistance to retake Toulon: however, you are welcome, and you may share the glory of burning the town to-morrow, without having experienced any of the fatigue.” And he made him stay to sup with him.

A party of thirty sat down to table; the general alone was served like a prince, while every one else was dying of hunger; a circumstance which, in those days of equality, strangely shocked the new guest. The next morning, at break of day, the general took him out in his cabriolet, to admire, as he said, the preparations for attack. As soon as he had crossed the height, and come within sight of the roads, they got out of the carriage, and entered some vineyards by the road side. The commandant of artillery then perceived some pieces of ordnance, and some digging, for which it was literally impossible for him in the slightest degree to account. “Dupas,” said the general haughtily, turning to his aide-de-camp, his confidential man, “are those our batteries?”—“Yes, general.”—“And our park?” “There, close at hand.”—“And our red-hot balls?”—“In yonder houses, where two companies have been employed all the morning in heating them.”—“But how shall we be able to carry these red-hot balls?” This consideration seemed to puzzle them both completely, and they turned to the officer of artillery, and begged to know whether, through his scientific knowledge, he could not explain how the thing was to be managed. Napoleon, who would have been very much tempted to take the whole for a hoax, had his interrogators evinced less simplicity, for they were more than a league and a half from the object of attack, summoned to his aid all the gravity he was master of, and endeavoured to persuade them, before they troubled themselves about red-hot balls, to try the range of the shot with cold ones. After a great deal of trouble, he at length prevailed on them to follow his advice, but not till he had very luckily made use of the technical term _coup d’épreuve_, (proof-shot,) which took their fancy, and brought them over to his opinion. They then made the experiment, but the shot did not reach to a third of the distance required: and the general and Dupas began to abuse the Marseillais and the Aristocrats who had, they said, maliciously spoiled the powder. In the mean time the representative of the people came up on horseback: this was Gasparin, an intelligent man, who had served in the army.—Napoleon, perceiving how things were going on, and boldly deciding on the course he meant to pursue, immediately assumed great confidence of manner, and urged the representative to intrust him with the whole direction of the affair. He exposed, without hesitation, the unparalleled ignorance of all who were about him, and from that moment took upon himself the entire direction of the siege.

Cartaux was a man of such limited intellect that it was impossible to make him understand that, to facilitate the taking of Toulon, it would be necessary to make the attack at the outlet of the road. When the commandant of artillery sometimes pointed to this outlet on the map, and told him _there was Toulon_, Cartaux suspected he knew very little of geography; and when, in spite of his opposition, the authority of the representative decided on the adoption of this distant point of attack, the general was haunted by the idea of treasonable designs, and he would often remark, with great uneasiness, that Toulon did not lie in that direction.

Cartaux wanted one day to oblige the commandant to erect a battery, with the rear of the guns so close against the front of a house as to leave no room for the recoil. On another occasion, on his return from the morning parade, he sent for the commandant to tell him that he had just discovered a position, from which a battery of from six to twelve pieces would infallibly carry Toulon in a few days: it was a little hillock which would command three or four forts and several points of the town. He was enraged at the refusal of the commandant of artillery, who observed to him that, although the battery commanded every point, it was itself commanded by every point; that the twelve guns would have one hundred and fifty to oppose them; and that simple subtraction would suffice to show him his disadvantage. The commandant of the engineer department was called on for his opinion, and, as he concurred without hesitation in that of the commandant of artillery, Cartaux said that it was impossible to do any thing with those learned corps, as they all went hand-in-hand. At length, to put a stop to difficulties which were continually recurring, the representative decided that Cartaux should communicate to the commandant of artillery his general plan of attack, and that the latter should execute the details, according to the rules of his department. The following was Cartaux’s memorable plan:—“The general of artillery shall batter Toulon during three days, at the expiration of which time I will attack it with three columns, and carry it.”

At Paris, however, the engineer committee found this summary measure much more humorous than wise, and it was one of the causes which led to Cartaux’s recal. There was indeed no want of plans; for, the retaking of Toulon having been proposed as a subject for competition in the popular societies, plans poured in from all quarters. Napoleon says he must have received at least six hundred during the siege. It was to the representative Gasparin that Napoleon was indebted for the triumph of his plan (that which took Toulon) over the objections of the Committees of the Convention. He preserved a grateful recollection of this circumstance: it was Gasparin, he used to say, who had first opened his career.[16]

Footnote 16:

The Emperor has, in his will, paid a tribute of gratitude to the
representative Gasparin, for the special protection he received from
him.

He has honoured with a similar tribute General Duteil, the head of his
School of Artillery, and General Dugommier, for the attention and
kindness he had experienced from them.

In all the disputes between Cartaux and the commandant of artillery, which usually took place in the presence of the general’s wife, the latter uniformly took the part of the officer of artillery, saying, with great _naïveté_ to her husband, “Let the young man alone, he knows more about it than you do, for he never asks your advice; besides, it is you who are to give the account: the glory will be yours.”

This woman was not without some share of good sense. On her return to Paris, after the recal of her husband, the jacobins of Marseilles gave a splendid fête in honour of the disgraced family. In the course of the evening the conversation happened to fall on the commandant of artillery, who was enthusiastically praised. “Do not reckon on him,” said she; “that young man has too much understanding to remain long a _sans-culotte_.” On which the general exclaimed, with the voice of a Stentor, “Wife Cartaux, would you make us all out to be fools then?” “No, I do not say that, my dear; but ... I must tell you, he is not one of your sort.”

One day, at head quarters, a superb carriage arrived from the Paris road; it was followed by a second, and a third; and at length no fewer than fifteen appeared. It may be imagined how great was the astonishment and curiosity occasioned by such a circumstance in those times of republican simplicity. The _grand monarque_ himself could not have travelled with greater pomp. The whole cavalcade had been procured by a requisition in the capital; several of the carriages had belonged to the Court. About sixty soldiers, of fine appearance, alighted from them, and inquired for the General-in-chief; they marched up to him with the important air of ambassadors:—“Citizen General,” said the orator of the party, “we come from Paris; the patriots are indignant at your inactivity and delay. The soil of the Republic has long been violated; she is enraged to think that the insult still remains unavenged: she asks, why is Toulon not yet retaken? Why is the English fleet not yet destroyed? In her indignation, she has appealed to her brave sons; we have obeyed her summons, and burn with impatience to fulfil her expectation. We are volunteer gunners from Paris: furnish us with arms, to-morrow we will march upon the enemy.” The General, disconcerted at this address, turned to the commandant of artillery, who promised, in a whisper, to rid him of these heroes next morning. They were well received, and at day-break the commandant of artillery led them to the sea-shore, and put some guns at their disposal. Astonished to find themselves exposed from head to foot, they asked whether there was no shelter or epaulement. They were told that all those things were out of fashion; that patriotism had abolished them. Meanwhile, an English frigate fired a broadside, and put all the braggadocios to flight. There was but one cry throughout the camp; some openly fled, and the rest quietly mingled with the besiegers.

Disorder and anarchy now prevailed. Dupas, the factotum of the General-in-chief, a man of no ability, made himself busy, and was continually meddling with the artillery-men in the arrangement of their field-train and batteries. A plan was formed to get rid of him. They turned him into ridicule, and urged each other on till they became very vehement in their jokes. On a sudden Dupas appeared among them with all his usual confidence, giving orders and making inquiries about every thing he saw. He received uncivil answers, and high words arose. The tumult spread on every side; cries of _l’aristocrate_ and _la lanterne_ were echoed from every mouth; and Dupas clapped both spurs to his horse, and never returned to annoy them.

The commandant of artillery was to be seen every where. His activity and knowledge gave him a decided influence over the rest of the army. Whenever the enemy attempted to make a sortie, or compelled the besiegers to have recourse to rapid and unexpected movements, the heads of columns and detachments were always sure to exclaim, “Run to the commandant of artillery, and ask him what we are to do; he understands the localities better than any one.” This advice was uniformly adopted without a murmur. He did not spare himself; he had several horses killed under him, and received from an Englishman a bayonet-wound in his left thigh, which for a short time, threatened to require amputation.

Being one day in a battery where one of the gunners was killed, he seized the rammer, and, with his own hands, loaded ten or twelve times. A few days afterwards he was attacked with a violent cutaneous disease. No one could conceive where he had caught it, until Muiron, his adjutant, discovered that the dead gunner had been infected with it. In the ardour of youth and the activity of service, the commandant of artillery was satisfied with slight remedies, and the disorder disappeared; but the poison had only entered the deeper into his system, it long affected his health, and well nigh cost him his life. From this disorder proceeded the meagreness, the feebleness of body, and sickly complexion, which characterized the General-in-chief of the army of Italy and of the army of Egypt.

It was not till a much later period, at the Tuileries, that Corvisart succeeded, by the application of numerous blisters on his chest, in restoring him to perfect health; and it was then that he acquired the corpulence for which he has since been remarked.

From being the commandant of artillery in the army of Toulon, Napoleon might have become general-in-chief before the close of the siege. The very day of the attack on _Little Gibraltar_, General Dugommier, who had delayed it for some days, wished to delay it still longer; about three or four o’clock in the afternoon, the Representatives sent for Napoleon: they were dissatisfied with Dugommier, particularly on account of his delay; they wished to deprive him of the command, and to transfer it to the chief of the artillery, who declined accepting it. Napoleon went to the General, whom he esteemed and loved, informed him of what had occurred, and persuaded him to decide on the attack. About eight or nine in the evening, when all the preparations were completed, and just as the attack was about to commence, a change took place in the state of affairs, and the Representatives countermanded the attack. Dugommier, however, still influenced by the commandant of artillery, persisted: had he failed, he must have forfeited his head. Such was the course of affairs and the justice of the times.

The notes which the committees of Paris found in the office of the artillery department, respecting Napoleon, first called their attention to his conduct at the siege of Toulon. They saw that, in spite of his youth and the inferiority of his rank, as soon as he appeared there, he was master.—This was the natural effect of the ascendancy of knowledge, activity, and energy, over the ignorance and confusion of the moment. He was, in fact, the conqueror of Toulon, and yet he is scarcely named in the official despatches. He was in possession of the town before the army had scarcely dreamt of it. After taking Little Gibraltar, which he always looked upon as the key of the whole enterprise, he said to old Dugommier, who was worn out with fatigue,—“Go and rest yourself—we have taken Toulon—you may sleep there the day after to-morrow.” When Dugommier found the thing actually accomplished—when he reflected that the young commandant of artillery had always foretold exactly what would happen, he became all enthusiasm and admiration; he was never tired of praising him. It is perfectly true, as some of the publications of the period relate, that Dugommier informed the Committees of Paris that he had with him a young man who merited particular notice; for that, whichever side he might adopt, he was certainly destined to throw great weight into the balance. When Dugommier joined the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees, he wished to take with him the young commandant of artillery; but this he was unable to do. He, however, spoke of him incessantly: and, at a subsequent period, when this same army was, on the conclusion of peace with Spain, sent to re-inforce the army of Italy, of which Napoleon soon after became general-in-chief, he found on his arrival, that in consequence of all Dugommier had said of him, the officers had, to use his own expression, scarcely eyes enough to look at him.

With regard to Napoleon, his success at Toulon did not much astonish him; he enjoyed it, he says, with a lively satisfaction, unmingled with surprise. He was equally happy the following year at Saorgio, where his operations were admirable: he accomplished in a few days what had been attempted in vain for two years. “Vendemiaire, and even Montenotte,” said the Emperor, “never induced me to look upon myself as a man of a superior class; it was not till after Lodi that I was struck with the possibility of my becoming a decisive actor on the scene of political events. It was then that the first spark of my ambition was kindled.” He, however, mentioned that, subsequently to Vendemiaire, during his command of the Army of the Interior, he drew up the plan of a campaign which was to terminate by a treaty of peace on the summit of the Simmering, which plan he shortly afterwards carried into execution at Leoben. It is, perhaps, still to be found in the official archives. The well-known fury of the times was still farther increased under the walls of Toulon, by the assembling of two hundred deputies from the neighbouring popular associations, who had proceeded thither for the purpose of instigating the most atrocious measures. To them must be attributed the excesses which were then committed, and of which the whole army complained. When Napoleon afterwards rose to distinction, attempts were made to throw the odium of these atrocities on him. “It would be a degradation,” said the Emperor, “to think of replying to such calumnies.”

As soon as Napoleon took the command of the artillery at Toulon, he availed himself of the necessity of circumstances to procure the return of many of his old companions, who had, at first, left the service on account of their birth or political principles. He obtained the appointment of Col. Gassendi to the command of the arsenal of Marseilles. The obstinacy and severity of this man are well known: they frequently placed him in danger: it more than once required all Napoleon’s vigilance and care to save him from the effects of the irritation which his conduct excited.

The ascendancy which Napoleon had acquired, through his services, in the port and arsenal of Toulon, afforded him the means of saving several unfortunate members of the emigrant family of Chabriant, or Chabrillan, who had been overtaken by storms at sea, and driven on the French shore. They were about to be put to death, for the law was decisive against emigrants who might return to France. They urged, in their defence, that their return had been purely the effect of accident, and was contrary to their own wishes; the only favour they solicited was to be permitted to depart; but all was vain: they would have perished, had not the Commandant of the Artillery hazarded his own safety, and procured for them a covered boat, which he sent off from the French coast under the pretence of business relative to his department. During the reign of Napoleon, these individuals took an opportunity of expressing their gratitude to him, and informing him that they had carefully preserved the order which saved their lives.

Napoleon was himself, at various times, exposed to the fury of revolutionary assassins.—Whenever he established a new battery, the numerous patriotic deputations, who were at the camp, solicited the honour of having it named after them. Napoleon named one ‘the battery of the Patriots of the South:’ this was a sufficient ground for his being denounced and accused of federalism; and had he been a less useful person, he would have been put under arrest, or, in other words, he would have been sacrificed. In short, language is inadequate to describe the frenzy and horror of the times. For instance, the Emperor told us that, while engaged in fortifying the coasts at Marseilles, he was a witness to the horrible condemnation of the merchant Hugues, a man of eighty-four years of age, deaf and nearly blind. In spite of his age and infirmities, his atrocious executioners pronounced him guilty of conspiracy: his real crime was his being worth eighteen millions. This he was himself aware of, and he offered to surrender his wealth to the tribunal, provided he might be allowed to retain five hundred thousand francs, which, he said, he should not live long to enjoy. But this proposition was rejected, and his head was cut off. “At this sight,” said Napoleon, “I thought the world was at an end!” an expression he was accustomed to employ on any extraordinary occasion. Barras and Fréron were the authors of these atrocities. The Emperor did Robespierre the justice to say that he had seen long letters written by him to his brother, Robespierre the younger, who was then a representative with the army of the South, in which he warmly opposed and disclaimed these excesses, declaring that they would disgrace and ruin the Revolution.

Napoleon, when at Toulon, formed friendships with many individuals, who subsequently became very celebrated. He distinguished in the train a young officer, whose talents he had at first much difficulty in cultivating, but from whom he afterwards derived the greatest services: this was Duroc, who, with a very unprepossessing person, was endowed with talent of the most solid and useful kind: he loved the Emperor for himself, was devoted to his interests, and at the same time knew how to tell him the truth at proper seasons. He was afterwards created Duke de Frioul and Grand Marshal of the Palace. He placed the Imperial household on an excellent footing, and preserved the most perfect order. At his death, the Emperor thought he had sustained an irreparable loss, and many other persons were of the same opinion. The Emperor told me that Duroc was the only man who had possessed his intimacy and entire confidence.

During the erection of one of the first batteries which Napoleon, on his arrival at Toulon, directed against the English, he asked whether there was a serjeant, or corporal, present who could write. A man advanced from the ranks, and wrote by his dictation on the epaulement. The note was scarcely ended, when a cannon ball which had been fired in the direction of the battery, fell near the spot, and the paper was immediately covered by the loose earth thrown up by the ball. “Well,” said the writer, “I shall have no need of sand.” This remark, together with the coolness with which it was made, fixed the attention of Napoleon, and made the fortune of the serjeant. This man was Junot, afterwards Duke of Abrantes, colonel-general of the Hussars, commandant in Portugal, and governor-general in Illyria, where he evinced signs of mental alienation, which increased on his return to France, where he wounded himself in a horrible way. He died the victim of the intemperance which destroyed both his health and his reason.

Napoleon, on being created General of Artillery, and Commandant of that department in the Army of Italy, carried thither all the superiority and influence which he had acquired before Toulon; still, however, he experienced reverses, and even dangers. He was put under arrest for a short time at Nice, by the representative Laporte, because he refused to crouch to his authority. Another representative pronounced sentence of outlawry upon him, because he would not suffer him to employ all his artillery-horses for the posting service. Finally, a decree, which was never executed, summoned him to the bar of the Convention, for having proposed certain military measures relative to the fortifications at Marseilles.

When attached to the Army of Nice or of Italy, he became a great favourite with the representative Robespierre the younger, whom he described as possessing qualities very different from his brother: the latter Napoleon never saw. Robespierre the younger, on being recalled to Paris by his brother, some time before the 9th of Thermidor, exerted every endeavour to prevail on Napoleon to accompany him. “If I had not firmly resisted,” observed the Emperor, “who knows whither this first step might have led me, and for what a different destiny I might have been reserved?”

At the Army of Nice, there was another Representative, an insignificant man. His wife, who was an extremely pretty and fascinating woman, shared and even usurped his authority; she was a native of Versailles. Both husband and wife paid great attention to the General of artillery; they became extremely fond of him, and treated him in the handsomest manner. This was a great advantage to the young General, for, at that time, during the absence or the inefficiency of the laws, a representative of the people was a man of immense power.

The individual here alluded to was one of those who, in the Convention, most contributed to bring Napoleon into notice, at the crisis of Vendemiaire: this was the natural consequence of the deep impressions produced by the character and capacity of the young General.

The Emperor relates that, after he had ascended the throne, he again saw his old acquaintance the fair representative of Nice. She was so much altered as to be scarcely recognisable; her husband was dead, and she was reduced to extreme indigence. The Emperor readily granted every thing she solicited: “He realized,” he said, “all her dreams, and even went beyond them.” Although she lived at Versailles, many years had elapsed before she succeeded in gaining access to him. Letters, petitions, solicitations of every description had proved unavailing: “So difficult it is,” said the Emperor, “to reach the sovereign, even when he does not wish to deny himself.” At length, one day when he was on a hunting excursion at Versailles, Napoleon happened to mention this lady to Berthier, who was also a native of that place, and had known her in her youth; and he, who had never yet deigned to mention her, and still less to regard her petitions, on the following day presented her to the sovereign. “But why did you not get introduced to me through our mutual acquaintances in the Army of Nice?” inquired the Emperor: “many of them are now great men, and are on a constant footing of intimacy with me.” “Alas! sire,” replied she, “our acquaintance ceased when they became great, and I was overtaken by misfortune.”

The Emperor one day communicated to me some details respecting this old friendship:—“I was,” said he, “very young when I first knew this lady; I was proud of the favourable impression I had made on her, and seized every opportunity of shewing her all the attention in my power. I will mention one circumstance, to shew how authority is sometimes abused, and on what men’s fate may depend: for I am no worse than the rest. I was walking one day with the Representative’s wife, inspecting our positions in the vicinity of the Col di Tende, when I suddenly took it into my head to give her an idea of an engagement, and, for this purpose, ordered the attack of an advanced post. We were conquerors, it is true; but the affair could be attended by no advantage. The attack was a mere whim, and yet it cost the lives of several men. I have never failed to reproach myself whenever I look back on this affair.”

The events of Thermidor having produced a change in the Committees of the Convention, Aubry, formerly a captain of artillery, was appointed to direct the Committee of War, and he re-modelled the army. He did not forget himself; he promoted himself to the rank of general of artillery, and favoured several of his old comrades, to the injury of the inferior officers, whom he dismissed. Napoleon, who was at this time scarcely twenty-five years of age, became a general of infantry, and he was chosen for the service of La Vendée. This circumstance induced him to quit the Army of Italy, in order to protest earnestly against the change, which, on every account, was unsatisfactory to him. Finding Aubry inflexible, and even offended at his just representations, he gave in his resignation. Only a short time elapsed before he was again employed in the Topographical Committee, by which the movements of the army and the plans of the campaigns were arranged: he was thus engaged at the period of the 13th of Vendemiaire.