CHAPTER I.

LIFE OF NAPOLEON

POCKET EDITION

VOL. II.

LIFE OF

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

BY SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART.

VOL. 2.

[Illustration: Vincennes]

EDINBURGH; A. & C. BLACK.

1876

CONTENTS.

PAGE

CHAP. I.--Corsica--Family of Buonaparte--Napoleon born 15th

August, 1769--His early Habits--Sent to the Royal Military School

at Brienne--His great Progress in Mathematical Science--Deficiency

in Classical Literature--Anecdotes--Removed to the General School

of Paris--When in his Seventeenth Year, appointed Second

Lieutenant of Artillery--His early Politics--Promoted to a

Captaincy--Pascal Paoli--Napoleon sides with the French Government

against Paoli--And is Banished from Corsica--Visits Marseilles,

and Publishes the Souper de Beaucaire, 1

CHAP. II.--Siege of Toulon--Recapitulation--Buonaparte appointed

to the Command of the Artillery at Toulon--Finds every thing in

Disorder--His Plan for obtaining the Surrender of the Place

Adopted--Anecdotes during the Siege--Allied Troops resolve to

evacuate Toulon--Dreadful Particulars of the Evacuation--England

Censured on this occasion--Lord Lynedoch--Fame of Buonaparte

increases, and he is appointed Chief of Battalion in the Army of

Italy--Joins Headquarters at Nice--On the Fall of Robespierre,

Buonaparte superseded in Command--Arrives in Paris in May, 1795,

to solicit Employment--He is unsuccessful--Retrospect of the

Proceedings of the National Assembly--Difficulties in forming a

New Constitution--Appointment of the Directory--Of the Two

Councils of Elders and of Five Hundred--Nation at Large, and Paris

in Particular, Disgusted with their Pretensions--Paris assembles

in Sections--General Danican appointed their

Commander-in-Chief--Menou appointed by the Directory to Disarm the

National Guards--But Suspended for Incapacity--Buonaparte

appointed in his Room--The Day of the Sections--Conflict betwixt

the Troops of the Convention under Buonaparte, and those of the

Sections of Paris under Danican--The latter Defeated with much

Slaughter--Buonaparte appointed Second in Command of the Army of

the Interior--Then General-in-Chief--Marries Madame

Beauharnais--Her Character--Buonaparte immediately afterwards

joins the Army of Italy, 14

CHAP. III.--The Alps--Feelings and Views of Buonaparte on being

appointed to the Command of the Army of Italy--General Account of

his new Principles of Warfare--Mountainous Countries peculiarly

favourable to them--Retrospect of Military Proceedings since

October, 1795--Hostility of the French Government to the

Pope--Massacre of the French Envoy, Basseville, at Rome--Austrian

Army under Beaulieu--Napoleon's Plan for entering Italy--Battle of

Montenotte, and Buonaparte's first Victory--Again defeats the

Austrians at Millesimo--and again under Colli--Takes possession of

Cherasco--King of Sardinia requests an Armistice, which leads to a

Peace, concluded on very severe Terms--Close of the Piedmontese

Campaign--Napoleon's Character at this period, 43

CHAP. IV.--Farther Progress of the French Army under

Buonaparte--He crosses the Po, at Placenza, on 7th May--Battle of

Lodi takes place on the 10th, in which the French are

victorious--Remarks on Napoleon's Tactics in this celebrated

Action--French take possession of Cremona and Pizzighitone--Milan

deserted by the Archduke Ferdinand and his Duchess--Buonaparte

enters Milan on the 15th May--General situation of the Italian

States at this period--Napoleon inflicts fines upon the Neutral

and unoffending States of Parma and Modena, and extorts the

surrender of some of their finest Pictures--Remarks upon this

novel Procedure, 59

CHAP. V.--Directory proposes to divide the Army of Italy betwixt

Buonaparte and Kellermann--Buonaparte resigns, and the Directory

give up the point--Insurrection against the French at

Pavia--Crushed--and the Leaders shot--Also at the Imperial Fiefs,

and Lugo, quelled and punished in the same

way--Reflections--Austrians defeated at Borghetto, and Retreat

behind the Adige--Buonaparte narrowly escapes being made Prisoner

at Valeggio--Mantua blockaded--Verona occupied by the French--King

of Naples secedes from Austria--Armistice purchased by the

Pope--The Neutrality of Tuscany violated, and Leghorn occupied by

the French troops--Views of Buonaparte respecting the

Revolutionizing of Italy--He temporizes--Conduct of the Austrian

Government at this Crisis--Beaulieu displaced, and succeeded by

Wurmser--Buonaparte sits down before Mantua, 79

CHAP. VI.--Campaign on the Rhine--General Plan--Wartensleben and

the Archduke Charles retire before Jourdan and Moreau--The

Archduke forms a Junction with Wartensleben, and defeats Jourdan,

who retires--Moreau, also, makes his celebrated Retreat through

the Black Forest--Buonaparte raises the Siege of Mantua, and

defeats the Austrians at Salo and Lonato--Misbehaviour of the

French General Valette, at Castiglione--Lonato taken, with the

French Artillery, on 3d August--Retaken by Massena and

Augereau--Singular escape of Buonaparte from being captured at

Lonato--Wurmser defeated between Lonato and Castiglione, and

retreats on Trent and Roveredo--Buonaparte resumes his position

before Mantua--Effects of the French Victories on the different

Italian States--Inflexibility of Austria--Wurmser

recruited--Battle of Roveredo--French victorious, and Massena

occupies Trent--Buonaparte defeats Wurmser at Primolano--and at

Bassano, 8th September--Wurmser flies to Vicenza--Battle of

Saint-George--Wurmser finally shut up within the walls of Mantua, 95

CHAP. VII.--Corsica reunited with France--Critical situation of

Buonaparte in Italy at this period--The Austrian General Alvinzi

placed at the head of a new Army--Various Contests, attended with

no decisive result--Want of Concert among the Austrian

Generals--French Army begin to murmur--First Battle of

Arcola--Napoleon in Personal danger--No decisive result--Second

Battle of Arcola--The French victorious--Fresh want of Concert

among the Austrian Generals--General Views of Military and

Political Affairs, after the conclusion of the fourth Italian

Campaign--Austria commences a fifth Campaign--but has not profited

by Experience--Battle of Rivoli, and Victory of the

French--Further successful at La Favorita--French regain their

lost ground in Italy--Surrender of Mantua--Instances of Napoleon's

Generosity, 111

CHAP. VIII.--Situation and Views of Buonaparte at this period--His

politic Conduct towards the Italians--Popularity--Severe terms of

Peace proposed to the Pope--Rejected--Napoleon differs from the

Directory, and Negotiations are renewed--but again Rejected--The

Pope raises his Army to 40,000 men--Napoleon Invades the Papal

Territories--The Papal Troops defeated near Imola--and at

Ancona--which is captured--Loretto taken--Clemency of Buonaparte

to the French recusant Clergy--Peace of Tolentino--Napoleon's

Letter to the Pope--San Marino--View of the situation of the

different Italian States--Rome--Naples--Tuscany--Venice, 130

CHAP. IX.--Archduke Charles--Compared with Napoleon--Fettered by

the Aulic Council--Napoleon, by a stratagem, passes the

Tagliamento, and compels the Archduke to retreat--Gradisca carried

by storm--Chusa-Veneta taken--Trieste and Fiume occupied--Venice

breaks the Neutrality--Terrified on learning that an Armistice had

taken place betwixt France and Austria--The Archduke retreats by

hasty marches on Vienna--The Government irresolute--and the Treaty

of Leoben signed--Venice makes humiliating submissions--Napoleon's

Speech to her Envoys--He declares War against Venice, and evades

obeying the orders of the Directory to spare it--The Great

Council, on 31st May, concede every thing to Buonaparte--Terms

granted, 147

CHAP. X.--Napoleon's Amatory Correspondence with Josephine--His

Court at Montebello--Negotiations and Pleasure mingled

there--Genoa--Revolutionary spirit of the Genoese--They rise in

insurrection, but are quelled by the Government, and the French

plundered and imprisoned--Buonaparte interferes, and appoints the

outlines of a new Government--Sardinia--Naples--The Cispadane,

Transpadane, and Emilian Republics, united under the name of the

Cisalpine Republic--The Valteline--The Grisons--The Valteline

united to Lombardy--Great improvement of Italy, and the Italian

Character, from these changes--Difficulties in the way of

Pacification betwixt France and Austria--The Directory and

Napoleon take Different Views--Treaty of Campo Formio--Buonaparte

takes leave of the Army of Italy, to act as French Plenipotentiary

at Rastadt, 166

CHAP. XI.--Retrospect--The Directory--They become

unpopular--Causes of their unpopularity--Also at enmity among

themselves--State of Public feeling in France--In point of

numbers, favourable to the Bourbons--but the Army and Monied

Interest against them--Pichegru, head of the Royalists, appointed

President of the Council of Five Hundred--Barbé Marbois, another

Royalist, President of the Council of Ancients--Directory throw

themselves upon the succour of Hoche and Buonaparte--Buonaparte's

personal Politics discussed--Pichegru's Correspondence with the

Bourbons--known to Buonaparte--He despatches Augereau to

Paris--Directory arrest their principal Opponents in the Councils

on the 18th Fructidor, and Banish them to Guiana--Narrow and

Impolitic Conduct of the Directory to Buonaparte--Projected

Invasion of England, 178

CHAP. XII.--View of the respective Situations of Great Britain and

France, at the Period of Napoleon's return from

Italy--Negotiations at Lisle--broken off--Army of England decreed,

and Buonaparte named to the Command--He takes up his Residence in

Paris--Public Honours--The real Views of the Directory discovered

to be the expedition to Egypt--Armies of Italy and the Rhine,

compared and contrasted--Napoleon's Objects and Motives in heading

the Egyptian Expedition--Those of the Directory regarding it--Its

actual Impolicy--Curious Statement by Miot--The Armament sails

from Toulon, on 19th May, 1798--Napoleon arrives before Malta on

10th June--Proceeds on his course, and, escaping the British

Squadron, lands at Alexandria on the 1st July--Description of the

various Classes who inhabit Egypt:--1. The Fellahs and

Bedouins--2. The Cophts--3. The Mamelukes--Napoleon issues a

Proclamation against the Mamelukes--Marches against them on the

7th July--Discontent of the French Troops--Battle of the Pyramids

on 21st of July--Cairo surrenders, 192

CHAP. XIII.--French Fleet--Conflicting Statements of Buonaparte

and Admiral Gantheaume--BATTLE OF ABOUKIR on 1st August 1798--The

French Admiral, Brueyes, killed, and his Ship, L'Orient, blown

up--The Victory complete--Effects of this disaster--Means by which

Napoleon proposed to establish himself in Egypt--His

Administration, in many respects, praiseworthy--in others, his

Conduct absurd--He aspires to be regarded an Envoy of the

Deity--His endeavours to propitiate the Porte--The Fort of El

Arish falls into his hands--Massacre of Jaffa--Admitted by

Buonaparte himself--His Arguments in its defence--Replies to

them--General Conclusions--Plague in the French Army--Napoleon's

Humanity and Courage upon this occasion--Proceeds against Acre to

attack Djezzar Pacha--Sir Sidney Smith--His Character--Captures a

French Convoy, and throws himself into Acre--French arrive before

Acre on 17th March, 1799, and effect a breach on the 28th, but are

driven back--Assaulted by an Army of Moslems assembled without the

Walls of Acre, whom they defeat and disperse--Personal

Misunderstanding and Hostility between Napoleon and Sir Sidney

Smith--Explained--Buonaparte is finally compelled to raise the

Siege, 216

CHAP. XIV.--Discussion concerning the alleged Poisoning of the

Sick in the Hospitals at Jaffa--Napoleon acquitted of the

charge--French Army re-enter Cairo on the 14th June--Retrospect of

what had taken place in Upper and Lower Egypt during Napoleon's

Absence--Incursion of Murad Bey--18,000 Turks occupy

Aboukir--Attacked and defeated--This Victory terminates Napoleon's

career in Egypt--Admiral Gantheaume receives Orders to make ready

for Sea--On the 22d August, Napoleon embarks for France--Arrives

in Ajaccio on the 30th September--and lands at Frejus on the 9th

October, 236

CHAP. XV.--Retrospect of Public Events since the Departure of

Napoleon for Egypt--Invasion and Conquest of Switzerland--Seizure

of Turin--Expulsion of the Pope--The Neapolitans declare War

against France--The French enter Naples--Disgraceful Avarice

exhibited by the Directory--Particularly in their Negotiations

with the United States of America--Russia comes forward in the

general Cause--Her Strength and Resources--Reverses of the French

in Italy, and on the Rhine--Insurrections in Belgium and Holland

against the French--Anglo-Russian Expedition sent to Holland--The

Chouans again in the Field--Great and Universal Unpopularity of

the Directory--State of Parties in France--Law of Hostages--Abbé

Siêyes becomes one of the Directory--His Character and

Genius--Description of the Constitution proposed by him for the

Year Three--Ducos, Gohier, and Moulins, also introduced into the

Directory--Family of Napoleon strive to keep him in the

Recollection of the People--Favourable Change in the French

Affairs--Holland evacuated by the Anglo-Russian Army--Korsakow

defeated by Massena--and Suwarrow retreats before Lecourbe, 246

CHAP. XVI.--General rejoicing on the return of

Buonaparte--Advances made to him on all sides--Napoleon Coalesces

with Siêyes--Revolution of the 18th Brumaire (Nov. 9)--Clashing

Views of the Councils of Ancients, and the Five Hundred--Barras

and his Colleagues resign--Proceedings of the Councils on the

18th--and 19th--Sittings removed from Paris to St.

Cloud--Commotion in the Council of Five Hundred--Napoleon menaced

and assaulted, and finally extricated by his Grenadiers--Lucien

Buonaparte, the President, retires from the Hall--Declares the

Council dissolved--Provisional Consular Government of Buonaparte,

Siêyes, and Ducos, 260

CHAP. XVII.--Clemency of the New Consulate--Beneficial change in

the Finances--Law of Hostages repealed--Religious liberty

allowed--Improvements in the War Department--Pacification of La

Vendée--Ascendancy of Napoleon--Disappointment of

Siêyes--Committee formed to consider Siêyes' Plan of a

Constitution--Rejected as to essentials--A new one adopted,

monarchical in every thing but form--Siêyes retires from Public

life--General View of the new Government--Despotic Power of the

First Consul, 276

CHAP. XVIII.--Proceedings of Buonaparte in order to consolidate

his power--His great Success--Causes that led to it--Cambacérès

and Le Brun chosen Second and Third Consuls--Talleyrand appointed

Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Fouché Minister of Police--Their

Characters--Other Ministers nominated--Various Changes made in

order to mark the Commencement of a new Era--Napoleon addresses a

Letter personally to the King of England--Answered by Lord

Grenville--Negotiation for peace that followed, speedily broken

off--Campaigns in Italy and on the Rhine--Successes of

Moreau--Censured by Napoleon for over-caution--The Charge

considered--The Chief Consul resolves to bring back, in Person,

Victory to the French Standards in Italy--His Measures for that

purpose, 292

CHAP. XIX.--The Chief Consul leaves Paris on 6th May, 1800--Has an

Interview with Necker at Geneva on 8th--Arrives at Lausanne on the

13th--Various Corps put in motion to cross the Alps--Napoleon, at

the head of the Main Army, marches on the 15th, and ascends Mont

St. Bernard--On the 16th, the Vanguard takes possession of

Aosta--Fortress and Town of Bard threaten to baffle the whole

plan--The Town is captured--and Napoleon contrives to send his

Artillery through it, under the fire of the Fort, his Infantry and

Cavalry passing over the Albaredo--Lannes carries

Ivrea--Recapitulation--Operations of the Austrian General

Melas--At the commencement of the Campaign, Melas advances towards

Genoa--Actions betwixt him and Massena--In March, Lord Keith

blockades Genoa--Melas compelled to retreat--Enters Nice--Recalled

from thence by the news of Napoleon's having crossed Mont St.

Bernard--Genoa surrenders--Buonaparte enters Milan--Battle of

Montebello--The Chief Consul is joined by Desaix--Battle of

Marengo on the 14th--Death of Desaix--Capitulation on the 15th, by

which Genoa, &c., are yielded--Napoleon returns to Paris on the 2d

July, 305

CHAP. XX.--Napoleon offers, and the Austrian Envoy accepts, a new

Treaty--The Emperor refuses it, unless England is

included--Negotiations with England--fail--Renewal of the

War--Armistice--Resumption of Hostilities--Battle of

Hohenlinden--Other Battles--The Austrians agree to a separate

Peace--Treaty of Luneville--Convention between France and the

United States--The Queen of Naples repairs to Petersburgh--Paul

receives her with cordiality, and applies in her behalf to

Buonaparte--His Envoy received at Paris with the utmost

distinction, and the Royal Family of Naples saved for the

present--Rome restored to the authority of the Pope--Napoleon

demands of the King of Spain to declare War against

Portugal--Olivenza and Almeida taken--Malta, after a Blockade of

Two Years, obliged to submit to the English, 324

CHAP. XXI.--Internal Government of France--General Attachment to

the Chief Consul--Plot to remove him by

Assassination--Defeated--Vain hopes of the Royalists, that

Napoleon would restore the Bourbons--Infernal Machine--It

fails--Suspicion first falls on the Republicans--The actual

Conspirators executed--Use made by Buonaparte of the Conspiracy to

consolidate Despotism--System of Police--Fouché--His Skill,

Influence, and Power--Apprehension entertained by the Chief Consul

of the effects of Literature--Persecution of Madame de Staël--The

Concordat--Plan for a general System of Jurisprudence--Amnesty

granted to the Emigrants--Plans of Public Education--Hopes of a

General Peace, 337

CHAP. XXII.--Return to the external Relations of France--Her

universal Ascendancy--Napoleon's advances to the Emperor

Paul--Plan of destroying the British Power in India--Right of

Search at Sea--Death of Paul--Its effects on Buonaparte--Affairs

of Egypt--Assassination of Kleber--Menou appointed to succeed

him--British Army lands in Egypt--Battle and Victory of

Alexandria--Death of Sir Ralph Abercromby--General Hutchinson

succeeds him--The French General Belliard capitulates--as does

Menou--War in Egypt brought to a victorious Conclusion, 356

CHAP. XXIII.--Preparations for the Invasion of Britain--Nelson put

in command of the Sea--Attack of the Boulogne Flotilla--Pitt

leaves the Ministry--succeeded by Mr. Addington--Negotiations for

Peace--Just punishment of England, in regard to the conquered

Settlements of the enemy--Forced to restore them all, save Ceylon

and Trinidad--Malta is placed under the guarantee of a Neutral

Power--Preliminaries of Peace signed--Joy of the English Populace,

and doubts of the better classes--Treaty of Amiens signed--The

ambitious projects of Napoleon, nevertheless, proceed without

interruption--Extension of his power in Italy--He is appointed

Consul for life, with the power of naming his Successor--His

Situation at this period, 364

CHAP. XXIV.--Different Views entertained by the English Ministers

and the Chief Consul of the effects of the Treaty of

Amiens--Napoleon, misled by the Shouts of a London Mob,

misunderstands the Feelings of the People of Great Britain--His

continued encroachments on the Independence of Europe--His conduct

to Switzerland--Interferes in their Politics, and sets himself up,

uninvited, as Mediator in their concerns--Ney enters Switzerland

at the head of 40,000 men--The patriot, Reding, disbands his

Forces, and is imprisoned--Switzerland is compelled to furnish

France with a Subsidiary Army of 16,000 Troops--The Chief Consul

adopts the title of Grand Mediator of the Helvetic Republic, 372

APPENDIX--

No. I.--Buonaparte's Letter to General Paoli, 381

No. II.--Letter of Napoleon Buonaparte to M. Matteo Buttafuoco,

Deputy from Corsica to the National Assembly, 382

No. III.--The Supper of Beaucaire, 388

No. IV.--Letters of Napoleon to Josephine, 392

No. V.--Descent of the French in South Wales, under General Tate, 396

No. VI.--Buonaparte's Camp-Library, 397

No. VII.--Buonaparte, Member of the National Institute,

Commander-in-Chief, to the People of Egypt, 398

No. VIII.--Historical Notes on the Eighteenth Brumaire, 399

[Illustration]

CHAPTER I.

_Corsica--Family of Buonaparte--Napoleon born 15th August,

1769--His early habits--Sent to the Royal Military School at

Brienne--His great Progress in Mathematical Science--Deficiency

in Classical Literature--Anecdotes--Removed to the General

School of Paris--When in his Seventeenth Year, appointed Second

Lieutenant of Artillery--His early Politics--Promoted to a

Captaincy--Pascal Paoli--Napoleon sides with the French

Government against Paoli--And is banished from Corsica--Visits

Marseilles, and publishes the Souper de Beaucaire._

The island of Corsica was, in ancient times, remarkable as the scene of

Seneca's exile, and in the last century was distinguished by the

memorable stand which the natives made in defence of their liberties

against the Genoese and French, during a war which tended to show the

high and indomitable spirit of the islanders, united as it is with the

fiery and vindictive feelings proper to their country and climate.

In this island, which was destined to derive its future importance

chiefly from the circumstance, NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE, or BONAPARTE,[1] had

his origin. His family was noble, though not of much distinction, and

rather reduced in fortune. Flattery afterwards endeavoured to trace the

name which he had made famous, into remote ages, and researches were

made through ancient records, to discover that there was one Buonaparte

who had written a book,[2] another who had signed a treaty--a female of

the name who had given birth to a pope,[3] with other minute claims of

distinction, which Napoleon justly considered as trivial, and unworthy

of notice. He answered the Emperor of Austria, who had a fancy of

tracing his son-in-law's descent from one of the petty sovereigns of

Treviso, that he was the Rodolph of Hapsbourg of his family; and to a

genealogist, who made a merit of deducing his descent from some ancient

line of Gothic princes, he caused reply to be made, that he dated his

patent of nobility from the battle of Montenotte, that is, from his

first victory.[4]

[Sidenote: CORSICA.]

All that is known with certainty of Napoleon's family may be told in few

words. The Buonapartes were a family of some distinction in the middle

ages;[5] their names are inscribed in the Golden Book at Treviso, and

their armorial bearings are to be seen on several houses in Florence.

But attached, during the civil war, to the party of the Ghibellines,

they of course were persecuted by the Guelphs; and being exiled from

Tuscany, one of the family took refuge in Corsica, and there established

himself and his successors, who were regularly enrolled among the noble

natives of the island, and enjoyed all the privileges of gentle blood.

The father of Napoleon, Charles Buonaparte, was the principal descendant

of this exiled family. He was regularly educated at Pisa, to the study

of the law, and is stated to have possessed a very handsome person, a

talent for eloquence, and a vivacity of intellect, which he transmitted

to his son. He was a patriot also and a soldier, and assisted at the

gallant stand made by Paoli against the French. It is said he would have

emigrated along with Paoli, who was his friend, but was withheld by the

influence of his father's brother, Lucien Buonaparte, who was Archdeacon

of the Cathedral of Ajaccio, and the wealthiest person of the family.

It was in the middle of civil discord, fights, and skirmishes, that

Charles Buonaparte married Lætitia Ramolini, one of the most beautiful

young women of the island, and possessed of a great deal of firmness of

character. She partook the dangers of her husband during the years of

civil war, and is said to have accompanied him on horseback in some

military expeditions, or perhaps hasty flights, shortly before her being

delivered of the future emperor.[6] Though left a widow in the prime of

life, she had already born her husband thirteen children, of whom five

sons and three daughters survived him. I. Joseph, the eldest, who,

though placed by his brother in an obnoxious situation, as intrusive

King of Spain, held the reputation of a good and moderate man. II.

Napoleon himself. III. Lucien, scarce inferior to his brother in

ambition and talent. IV. Louis, the merit of whose character consists in

its unpretending worth, and who renounced a crown rather than consent to

the oppression of his subjects. V. Jerome, whose disposition is said to

have been chiefly marked by a tendency to dissipation. The females were,

I. Maria Anne, afterwards Grand Duchess of Tuscany, by the name of

Eliza.[7] II. Maria Annonciada, who became Maria Pauline, Princess of

Borghese.[8] III. Carlotta, or Caroline, wife of Murat, and Queen of

Naples.

The family of Buonaparte being reconciled to the French government after

the emigration of Paoli, enjoyed the protection of the Count de

Marbœuf, the French Governor of Corsica, by whose interest Charles

was included in a deputation of the nobles of the island, sent to Louis

XVI. in 1779. As a consequence of this mission, he was appointed to a

judicial situation--that of assessor of the Tribunal of Ajaccio--the

income of which aided him to maintain his increasing family, which the

smallness of his patrimony, and some habits of expense, would otherwise

have rendered difficult. Charles Buonaparte, the father of Napoleon,

died at the age of about forty years, of an ulcer in the stomach, on the

24th February 1785.[9] His celebrated son fell a victim to the same

disease. During Napoleon's grandeur, the community of Montpellier

expressed a desire to erect a monument to the memory of Charles

Buonaparte. His answer was both sensible and in good taste. "Had I lost

my father yesterday," he said, "it would be natural to pay his memory

some mark of respect consistent with my present situation. But it is

twenty years since the event, and it is one in which the public can take

no concern. Let us leave the dead in peace."

The subject of our narrative was born upon the 15th day of August 1769,

at his father's house in Ajaccio, forming one side of a court which

leads out of the Rue Charles.[10] We read with interest, that his

mother's good constitution, and bold character of mind, having induced

her to attend mass upon the day of his birth, (being the Festival of the

Assumption,) she was obliged to return home immediately, and as there

was no time to prepare a bed or bedroom, she was delivered of the future

victor upon a temporary couch prepared for her accommodation, and

covered with an ancient piece of tapestry, representing the heroes of

the Iliad. The infant was christened by the name of Napoleon, an obscure

saint, who had dropped to leeward, and fallen altogether out of the

calendar, so that his namesake never knew which day he was to celebrate

as the festival of his patron. When questioned on this subject by the

bishop who confirmed him, he answered smartly, that there were a great

many saints, and only three hundred and sixty-five days to divide

amongst them. The politeness of the Pope promoted the patron in order to

compliment the god-child, and Saint Napoleon des Ursins was accommodated

with a festival. To render this compliment, which no one but a Pope

could have paid, still more flattering, the feast of Saint Napoleon was

fixed for the 15th August, the birthday of the Emperor, and the day on

which he signed the Concordat.[11] So that Napoleon had the rare honour

of promoting his patron saint.

The young Napoleon had, of course, the simple and hardy education proper

to the natives of the mountainous island of his birth, and in his

infancy was not remarkable for more than that animation of temper, and

wilfulness and impatience of inactivity, by which children of quick

parts and lively sensibility are usually distinguished.[12] The winter

of the year was generally passed by the family of his father at Ajaccio,

where they still preserve and exhibit, as the ominous plaything of

Napoleon's boyhood, the model of a brass cannon, weighing about thirty

pounds.[13] We leave it to philosophers to inquire, whether the future

love of war was suggested by the accidental possession of such a toy; or

whether the tendency of the mind dictated the selection of it; or,

lastly, whether the nature of the pastime, corresponding with the taste

which chose it, may not have had each their action and reaction, and

contributed between them to the formation of a character so warlike.

The same traveller who furnishes the above anecdote, gives an

interesting account of the country retreat of the family of Buonaparte,

during the summer.

Going along the sea-shore from Ajaccio towards the Isle Sanguinière,

about a mile from the town, occur two stone pillars, the remains of a

door-way, leading up to a dilapidated villa, once the residence of

Madame Buonaparte's half-brother on the mother's side, whom Napoleon

created Cardinal Fesch.[14] The house is approached by an avenue,

surrounded and overhung by the cactus and other shrubs, which luxuriate

in a warm climate. It has a garden and a lawn, showing amidst neglect,

vestiges of their former beauty, and the house is surrounded by

shrubberies, permitted to run to wilderness. This was the summer

residence of Madame Buonaparte and her family. Almost enclosed by the

wild olive, the cactus, the clematis, and the almond-tree, is a very

singular and isolated granite rock, called Napoleon's grotto, which

seems to have resisted the decomposition which has taken place around.

The remains of a small summer-house are visible beneath the rock, the

entrance to which is nearly closed by a luxuriant fig-tree. This was

Buonaparte's frequent retreat, when the vacations of the school at which

he studied permitted him to visit home.--How the imagination labours to

form an idea of the visions, which, in this sequestered and romantic

spot, must have arisen before the eyes of the future hero of a hundred

battles!

[Sidenote: BRIENNE.]

The Count de Marbœuf, already mentioned as Governor of Corsica,

interested himself in the young Napoleon, so much as to obtain him an

appointment [April, 1779] to the Royal Military School at Brienne, which

was maintained at the royal expense, in order to bring up youths for the

engineer and artillery service. The malignity of contemporary historians

has ascribed a motive of gallantry towards Madame Buonaparte as the

foundation of this kindness; but Count Marbœuf had arrived at a

period of life when such connexions are not to be presumed, nor did the

scandal receive any currency from the natives of Ajaccio.

Nothing could be more suitable to the nature of young Buonaparte's

genius, than the line of study which thus fortunately was opened before

him. His ardour for the abstract sciences amounted to a passion, and was

combined with a singular aptitude for applying them to the purposes of

war, while his attention to pursuits so interesting and exhaustless in

themselves, was stimulated by his natural ambition and desire of

distinction. Almost all the scientific teachers at Brienne, being

accustomed to study the character of their pupils, and obliged by their

duty to make memoranda and occasional reports on the subject, spoke of

the talents of Buonaparte, and the progress of his studies, with

admiration. Circumstances of various kinds, exaggerated or invented,

have been circulated concerning the youth of a person so remarkable.

The following are given upon good authority.[15]

The conduct of Napoleon among his companions, was that of a studious and

reserved youth, addicting himself deeply to the means of improvement,

and rather avoiding than seeking the usual temptations to dissipation of

time. He had few friends, and no intimates; yet at different times when

he chose to exert it, he exhibited considerable influence over his

fellow-students, and when there was any joint plan to be carried into

effect, he was frequently chosen dictator of the little republic.

In the time of winter, Buonaparte upon one occasion engaged his

companions in constructing a fortress out of the snow, regularly

defended by ditches and bastions, according to the rules of

fortification. It was considered as displaying the great powers of the

juvenile engineer in the way of his profession, and was attacked and

defended by the students, who divided into parties for the purpose,

until the battle became so keen that their superiors thought it proper

to proclaim a truce.

The young Buonaparte gave another instance of address and enterprise

upon the following occasion. There was a fair held annually in the

neighbourhood of Brienne, where the pupils of the Military School used

to find a day's amusement; but on account of a quarrel betwixt them and

the country people upon a former occasion, or for some such cause, the

masters of the institution had directed that the students should not, on

the fair day, be permitted to go beyond their own precincts, which were

surrounded with a wall. Under the direction of the young Corsican,

however, the scholars had already laid a plot for securing their usual

day's diversion. They had undermined the wall which encompassed their

exercising ground, with so much skill and secrecy, that their operations

remained entirely unknown till the morning of the fair, when a part of

the boundary unexpectedly fell, and gave a free passage to the

imprisoned students, of which they immediately took the advantage, by

hurrying to the prohibited scene of amusement.

But although on these, and perhaps other occasions, Buonaparte displayed

some of the frolic temper of youth, mixed with the inventive genius and

the talent for commanding others by which he was distinguished in after

time, his life at school was in general that of a recluse and severe

student, acquiring by his judgment, and treasuring in his memory, that

wonderful process of almost unlimited combination, by means of which he

was afterwards able to simplify the most difficult and complicated

undertakings. His mathematical teacher was proud of the young islander,

as the boast of his school, and his other scientific instructors had the

same reason to be satisfied.

In languages Buonaparte was less a proficient, and never acquired the

art of writing or spelling French, far less foreign languages, with

accuracy or correctness; nor had the monks of Brienne any reason to

pride themselves on the classical proficiency of their scholar. The full

energies of his mind being devoted to the scientific pursuits of his

profession, left little time or inclination for other studies.

Though of Italian origin, Buonaparte had not a decided taste for the

fine arts, and his taste in composition seems to have leaned towards the

grotesque and the bombastic. He used always the most exaggerated

phrases; and it is seldom, if ever, that his bulletins present those

touches of sublimity which are founded on dignity and simplicity of

expression.

Notwithstanding the external calmness and reserve of his deportment, he

who was destined for such great things, had, while yet a student at

Brienne, a full share of that ambition for distinction and dread of

disgrace, that restless and irritating love of fame, which is the spur

to extraordinary attempts. Sparkles of this keen temper sometimes showed

themselves. On one occasion, a harsh superintendent imposed on the

future Emperor, for some trifling fault, the disgrace of wearing a

penitential dress, and being excluded from the table of the students,

and obliged to eat his meal apart. His pride felt the indignity so

severely, that it brought on a severe nervous attack; to which, though

otherwise of good constitution, he was subject upon occasions of

extraordinary irritation. Father Petrault,[16] the professor of

mathematics, hastened to deliver his favourite pupil from the punishment

by which he was so much affected.

It is also said that an early disposition to the popular side

distinguished Buonaparte even when at Brienne. Pichegru, afterwards so

celebrated, who acted as his monitor in the military school, (a singular

circumstance,) bore witness to his early principles, and to the peculiar

energy and tenacity of his temper. He was long afterwards consulted

whether means might not be found to engage the commander of the Italian

armies in the royal interest. "It will be but lost time to attempt it,"

said Pichegru. "I knew him in his youth--his character is inflexible--he

has taken his side, and he will not change it."[17]

In October, 1784, Napoleon Buonaparte, then only fifteen years old, was,

though under the usual age, selected by M. de Keralio,[18] the inspector

of the twelve military schools, to be sent to have his education

completed in the general school of Paris. It was a compliment paid to

the precocity of his extraordinary mathematical talent, and the

steadiness of his application. While at Paris he attracted the same

notice as at Brienne; and among other society, frequented that of the

celebrated Abbé Raynal, and was admitted to his literary parties. His

taste did not become correct, but his appetite for study in all

departments was greatly enlarged; and notwithstanding the quantity which

he daily read, his memory was strong enough to retain, and his judgment

sufficiently ripe to arrange and digest, the knowledge which he then

acquired; so that he had it at his command during all the rest of his

busy life. Plutarch was his favourite author; upon the study of whom he

had so modelled his opinions and habits of thought, that Paoli

afterwards pronounced him a young man of an antique caste, and

resembling one of the classical heroes.[19]

Some of his biographers have, about this time, ascribed to him the

anecdote of a certain youthful pupil of the military school, who desired

to ascend in the car of a balloon with the æronaut Blanchard, and was so

mortified at being refused, that he made an attempt to cut the balloon

with his sword.[20] The story has but a flimsy support, and indeed does

not accord well with the character of the hero, which was deep and

reflective, as well as bold and determined, and not likely to suffer its

energies to escape in idle and useless adventure.

A better authenticated anecdote states, that at this time he expressed

himself disrespectfully towards the king in one of his letters to his

family. According to the practice of the school, he was obliged to

submit the letter to the censorship of M. Domairon, the professor of

belles lettres, who, taking notice of the offensive passage, insisted

upon the letter being burnt, and added a severe rebuke. Long afterwards,

in 1802, M. Domairon appeared at Napoleon's levee; when the first consul

reminded his old tutor good-humouredly, that times had changed

considerably since the burning of the letter.

[Sidenote: VALENCE--AUXONNE.]

Napoleon Buonaparte, in his seventeenth year, [September, 1785,]

received his first commission as second lieutenant in the regiment of La

Fère, or first artillery, then quartered at Valence. He mingled with

society when he joined his regiment, more than he had hitherto been

accustomed to do; mixed in public amusements, and exhibited the powers

of pleasing which he possessed in an uncommon degree, when he chose to

exert them. His handsome and intelligent features, with his active and

neat, though slight figure, gave him additional advantages. His manners

could scarcely be called elegant, but made up in vivacity and variety of

expression, and often in great spirit and energy, for what they wanted

in grace and polish.

In 1786, he became an adventurer for the honours of literature also, and

was anonymously a competitor for the prize offered by the Academy of

Lyons on Raynal's question, "What are the principles and institutions,

by application of which mankind can be raised to the highest pitch of

happiness?" The prize was adjudged to the young soldier. It is

impossible to avoid feeling curiosity to know the character of the

juvenile theories respecting government, advocated by one who at length

attained the power of practically making what experiments he pleased.

Probably his early ideas did not exactly coincide with his more mature

practice; for when Talleyrand, many years afterwards, got the Essay out

of the records of the Academy, and returned it to the author, Buonaparte

destroyed it, after he had read a few pages.[21] He also laboured under

the temptation of writing a journey from Valence to Mount Cenis, after

the manner of Sterne, which he was fortunate enough finally to

resist.[22] The affectation which pervades Sterne's peculiar style of

composition, was not likely to be simplified under the pen of

Buonaparte.

In 1789, Buonaparte, then quartered at Auxonne, had composed a work,

which might form two volumes, on the political, civil, and military

history of Corsica. He addressed a letter to General Paoli, then

residing in London, on the subject of the proposed work, and the actual

condition of his countrymen.[23] He also submitted it to the Abbé

Raynal, who recommended the publication of it.[24] With this view,

Buonaparte invited M. Joly, a bookseller of Dole, to visit him at

Auxonne. He came, he says, and found the future Emperor in a naked

barrack room, the sole furniture of which consisted of a wretched bed

without curtains, a table placed in the embrasure of a window, loaded

with books and papers, and two chairs. His brother Louis, whom he was

teaching mathematics, lay on a wretched mattress, in an adjoining

closet. M. Joly and the author agreed on the price of the impression of

the book, but Napoleon was at the time in uncertainty whether he was to

remain at Auxonne or not. The work was never printed, nor has a trace of

it been discovered.[25]

In 1790, Buonaparte, still at Auxonne, composed a political tract in the

form of a letter to M. de Buttafuoco, major-general, and deputy of the

Corsican noblesse in the National Assembly. A hundred copies were

printed and sent to Corsica; where it was adopted and republished by the

patriotic society of Ajaccio,[26] who passed a resolution, attaching the

epithet _infamous_, to the name of their noble deputy.[27]

Sterner times were fast approaching, and the nation was now fully

divided by those factions which produced the Revolution. The officers of

Buonaparte's regiment were also divided into Royalists and Patriots; and

it is easily to be imagined, that the young and the friendless stranger

and adventurer should adopt that side to which he had already shown some

inclination, and which promised to open the most free career to those

who had only their merit to rely upon. "Were I a general officer," he is

alleged to have said, "I would have adhered to the King; being a

subaltern, I join the Patriots."

There was a story current, that in a debate with some brother officers

on the politics of the time, Buonaparte expressed himself so

outrageously, that they were provoked to throw him into the Saone, where

he had nearly perished. But this is an inaccurate account of the

accident which actually befell him. He was seized with the cramp when

bathing in the river. His comrades saved him with difficulty; but his

danger was matter of pure chance.

Napoleon has himself recorded that he was a warm patriot during the

whole sitting of the National Assembly; but that, on the appointment of

the Legislative Assembly, he became shaken in his opinions. If so, his

original sentiments regained force; for we shortly afterwards find him

entertaining such as went to the extreme heights of the Revolution.

Early in the year 1792, Buonaparte became a captain in the artillery by

seniority; and in the same year, being at Paris, he witnessed the two

insurrections of the 20th June and 10th August. He was accustomed to

speak of the insurgents as the most despicable banditti, and to express

with what ease a determined officer could have checked these apparently

formidable, but dastardly and unwieldy masses.[28] But, with what a

different feeling of interest would Napoleon have looked on that

infuriated populace, those still resisting though overpowered Swiss, and

that burning palace, had any seer whispered to him, "Emperor that shall

be, all this blood and massacre is but to secure your future empire!"

Little anticipating the potent effect which the passing events were to

bear on his own fortune, Buonaparte, anxious for the safety of his

mother and family, was now desirous to exchange France for Corsica,

where the same things were acting on a less distinguished stage.

[Sidenote: PAOLI--CORSICA.]

It was a singular feature in the French Revolution, that it brought out

from his retirement the celebrated Pascal Paoli, who, long banished from

Corsica, the freedom and independence of which he had so valiantly

defended, returned from exile with the flattering hope of still

witnessing the progress of liberty in his native land. On visiting

Paris, he was received there with enthusiastic veneration, and the

National Assembly and Royal Family contended which should show him most

distinction. He was created president of the department, and commander

of the national guard of his native island, and used the powers

intrusted to him with great wisdom and patriotism.

But Paoli's views of liberty were different from those which unhappily

began to be popular in France. He was desirous of establishing that

freedom, which is the protector, not the destroyer of property, and

which confers practical happiness, instead of aiming at theoretical

perfection. In a word, he endeavoured to keep Corsica free from the

prevailing infection of Jacobinism; and in reward, he was denounced in

the Assembly. Paoli, summoned to attend for the purpose of standing on

his defence, declined the journey on account of his age, but offered to

withdraw from the island.

A large proportion of the inhabitants took part with the aged champion

of their freedom, while the Convention sent an expedition, at the head

of which were La Combe Saint Michel,[29] and Salicetti,[30] one of the

Corsican deputies to the Convention, with the usual instructions for

bloodshed and pillage issued to their commissaries.[31]

Buonaparte was in Corsica, upon leave of absence from his regiment, when

these events were taking place; and although he himself, and Paoli, had

hitherto been on friendly terms, the young artillery officer did not

hesitate which side to choose. He embraced that of the Convention with

heart and hand; and his first military exploit was in the civil war of

his native island. In the year 1793, he was despatched from Bastia, in

possession of the French party, to surprise his native town Ajaccio,

then occupied by Paoli or his adherents. Buonaparte was acting

provisionally, as commanding a battalion of national guards. He landed

in the gulf of Ajaccio with about fifty men, to take possession of a

tower called the Torre di Capitello, on the opposite side of the gulf,

and almost facing the city. He succeeded in taking the place; but as

there arose a gale of wind which prevented his communicating with the

frigate which had put him ashore, he was besieged in his new conquest by

the opposite faction, and reduced to such distress, that he and his

little garrison were obliged to feed on horse-flesh. After five days he

was relieved by the frigate, and evacuated the tower, having first in

vain attempted to blow it up. The Torre di Capitello still shows marks

of the damage it then sustained, and its remains may be looked on as a

curiosity, as the first scene of _his_ combats, before whom

"Temple and tower

Went to the ground."[32]

The strength of Paoli increasing, and the English preparing to assist

him, Corsica became no longer a safe or convenient residence for the

Buonaparte family. Indeed, both Napoleon and his brother Joseph, who had

distinguished themselves as partisans of the French, were subjected to a

decree of banishment from their native island; and Madame Buonaparte,

with two of her daughters, set sail under their protection, and settled

for a time, first at Nice, and afterwards at Marseilles, where the

family remained in obscurity, until the dawning prospects of Napoleon

afforded him the means of assisting them.

One small fountain at Ajaccio is pointed out as the only ornament which,

in after days, his bounty bestowed on his birth-place.[33] He might

perhaps think it impolitic to do any thing which might remind the

country he ruled that he was not a child of her soil, nay, was in fact

very near having been born an alien, for Corsica was not united to, or

made an integral part of France, until June 1769, a few weeks only

before Napoleon's birth. This stigma was repeatedly cast upon him by

his opponents, some of whom reproached the French with having adopted a

master, from a country from which the ancient Romans were unwilling even

to choose a slave; and Napoleon may have been so far sensible to it, as

to avoid showing any predilection to the place of his birth, which might

bring the circumstance strongly under observation of the great nation,

with which he and his family seemed to be indissolubly united. But as a

traveller already quoted, and who had the best opportunities to become

acquainted with the feelings of the proud islanders, has expressed

it,--"The Corsicans are still highly patriotic, and possess strong local

attachment--in their opinion, contempt for the country of one's birth is

never to be redeemed by any other qualities. Napoleon, therefore,

certainly was not popular in Corsica, nor is his memory cherished

there."[34]

The feelings of the parties were not unnatural on either side. Napoleon,

little interested in the land of his birth, and having such an immense

stake in that of his adoption, in which he had every thing to keep and

lose,[35] observed a policy towards Corsica which his position rendered

advisable; and who can blame the high-spirited islanders, who, seeing

one of their countrymen raised to such exalted eminence, and disposed to

forget his connexion with them, returned with slight and indifference

the disregard with which he treated them?

On his return from Corsica, Buonaparte had arrived at Nice, and was

preparing to join his regiment, when General Degear, who commanded the

artillery of "the army of Italy," then encamped round the city, required

his services, and employed him in several delicate operations. Shortly

after, the insurrection of Marseilles broke out--a movement consequent

upon the arrest of the leaders of the Girondist party in the Convention,

on the first Prairial (31st May;) and which extended with violence into

the departments. The insurgents of Marseilles organized a force of six

thousand men, with which they took possession of Avignon, and thereby

intercepted the communications of the army of Italy. The

general-in-chief being much embarrassed by this circumstance, sent

Buonaparte to the insurgents, to try to induce them to let the convoys

pass. In July he went to Marseilles and Avignon, had interviews with the

leaders, convinced them that it was their own interest not to excite the

resentment of the army of Italy, and in fine secured the transit of the

convoys.

During his residence at Marseilles, when sent to the insurgents, having,

he says, an opportunity of observing all the weakness and incoherence of

their means of resistance, he drew up a little pamphlet, which he called

"_Le Souper de Beaucaire_," and which he published in that city. "He

endeavoured," he says, "to open the eyes of these frantic people, and

predicted that the only result of their revolt would be to furnish a

pretext to the men of blood of the day, for sending the principal

persons amongst them to the scaffold." "It produced," he adds, "a very

powerful effect, and contributed to calm the agitation which

prevailed."[36] During these proceedings Toulon had surrendered to the

English. Buonaparte was ordered on service to the siege of that town,

and joined the army on the 12th of September.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] There was an absurd debate about the spelling of the name, which

became, as trifles often do, a sort of party question. Buonaparte had

disused the superfluous _u_, which his father retained in the name, and

adopted a more modern spelling. This was represented on one side as an

attempt to bring his name more nearly to the French idiom; and, as if it

had been a matter of the last moment, the vowel was obstinately replaced

in the name, by a class of writers who deemed it politic not to permit

the successful general to relinquish the slightest mark of his Italian

extraction, which was in every respect impossible for him either to

conceal or to deny, even if he had nourished such an idea. In his

baptismal register, his name is spelled Napoleone Bonaparte, though the

father subscribes, Carlo Buonaparte. The spelling seems to have been

quite indifferent.--S.--"During Napoleon's first campaign in Italy, he

dropped the _u_. In this change he had no other motive than to

assimilate the orthography to the pronunciation, and to abbreviate his

signature."--BOURRIENNE, tom. i., p. 3.

[2] The book alluded to is entitled "Ragguaglio Storico di tutto

l'occorso, giorno per giorno, nel Sacco de Roma dell anno 1527, scritto

da Jacopo Buonaparte, gentiluomo Samminiatese, chi vi si trovò

presente." In 1568, a Giuseppe Buonaparte published a comedy, entitled

"La Vedova." Copies of both these works are in the British Museum.

[3] Paul the Fifth.

[4] "I sent Clarke to Florence as ambassador, where he employed himself

in nothing but turning over the old musty records of the place, in

search of proofs of the nobility of my family. He so plagued me with

letters upon the subject, that I was forced to bid him cease from

troubling either his head or mine with this nonsense about

nobility,--that I was the _first_ of my family."--NAPOLEON, _Voice_,

&c., vol. i., p. 401.

[5] "They were of Tuscan origin. In the middle ages they figured as

senators of the republics of Florence, San Miniato, Bologna, Sarzana,

and Treviso, and as prelates attached to the Court of Rome."--NAPOLEON,

_Memoirs_, vol. iii., y. 7.

[6] Las Cases, vol. i., p. 108.

[7] Died at Trieste, 9th August, 1820. "On accidentally reading, at St.

Helena, the account of her death, Napoleon exclaimed, 'Eliza has just

shown us the way; death, which seemed to have overlooked our family, now

begins to strike it. I shall be the next to follow her to the

grave.'"--ANTOMMARCHI, vol. i., p. 384.

[8] She died at the Borghese Palace, near Florence, 9th June, 1825.

[9] "I was quietly pursuing my studies whilst my father was struggling

against the violence of a painful agony. He died, and I had not the

consolation to close his eyes: that sad duty was reserved for Joseph,

who acquitted himself of it with all the zeal of an affectionate

son."--NAPOLEON, Antommarchi, vol. i., p. 240.

[10] "The patrimonial house of Napoleon, at present in the possession of

M. Ramolini, member of the Chamber of Deputies for the department of

Corsica, continues an object of great veneration with travellers and

military men."--BENSON'S _Corsica_, p. 4.

[11] Las Cases, vol. i., p. 120.

[12] "In my infancy I was noisy and quarrelsome, and feared nobody. I

beat one, scratched another, and made myself formidable to

all."--NAPOLEON, Antommarchi, vol. i., p. 327.

[13] Benson's Sketches of Corsica, p. 4.--S.

[14] The mother of Letitia Ramolini, wife of Carlo Buonaparte, married a

Swiss officer in the French service, named Fesch, after the death of

Letitia's father.--S.

[15] They were, many years since, communicated to the author by Messrs.

Joseph and Louis Law, brothers of General Lauriston, Buonaparte's

favourite aide-de-camp. These gentlemen, or at least Joseph, were

educated at Brienne, but at a later period than Napoleon. Their

distinguished brother was his contemporary.--S.

[16] Father Petrault was subsequently secularized, and joined the army

of Italy, where he served his pupil in the capacity of secretary. On

Buonaparte's return from Egypt, he found him a corpulent financier; but

commencing usurer, he was soon reduced to beggary. Napoleon granted him

a pension sufficient for his subsistence.--LAS CASES, vol. i., p. 119.

[17] Las Cases, vol. i., p. 120.

[18] The following is a copy of Keralio's report:--"M. de Buonaparte,

(Napoleon,) born 15th August, 1769, height four feet, ten inches, ten

lines, has finished his fourth course; of good constitution, excellent

health, of submissive character, upright, grateful, and regular in

conduct; has always been distinguished for application to the

mathematics. He is tolerably well acquainted with history and geography;

he is deficient in the ornamental branches, and in Latin, in which he

has only completed his fourth course. He will make an excellent sailor:

he deserves to pass to the military school at Paris."--M. de Keralio, a

highly accomplished man, who had been tutor in the royal family of

Bavaria, died in 1793.

[19] "Paoli often patted me on the head, saying, 'You are one of

Plutarch's men.' He divined that I should be something

extraordinary."--NAPOLEON, _Voice_, &c., vol. i., p. 251.

[20] "This story, though incorrect as to Napoleon, was true as to one of

his comrades, Dupont de Chambon."--ARNOULT, _Vie de Napoleon_, p. 3.

[21] Las Cases, vol. i., p. 129. A copy of the Essay had, however, been

taken by his brother Louis. It was published in 1826 by Gourgaud.

[22] Las Cases, vol. i., p. 135.

[23] A copy of this letter is given in the Appendix, No. I. A few months

after it was written, Paoli, in consequence of Mirabeau's motion for the

recall of the Corsican exiles, left England for Corsica.

[24] Las Cases, vol. ii., p. 345.

[25] "This passage is not correct. I recollect very well, that, on my

account, a larger and more commodious apartment was assigned to my

brother than to the other officers of the same rank. I had a good

chamber and an excellent bed. My brother directed my studies, but I had

proper masters, even in literature."--LOUIS BUONAPARTE, p. 26.

[26] Norvins, tom. i., p. 19.

[27] The letter to Buttafuoco is a diatribe against that Corsican

nobleman, who had been, during the wars with France, a strong opponent

of the liberties of his country. He had been, of course, the enemy of

the family of Paoli, to which Napoleon at this time was warmly attached.

We have preserved the composition entire, because, though the matter be

uninteresting, the rough and vivid style of invective is singularly

characteristic of the fiery youth, whose bosom one of his teachers

compared to a volcano surcharged with molten granite, which it poured

forth in torrents, whenever his passions were excited.--See Appendix,

No. II.

[28] See _ante_, vol. i., p. 163; Las Cases, vol. iii., p. 143; and

Bourrienne, tom. i., p. 48.

[29] La Combe Saint Michel was afterwards employed by Napoleon in Italy,

Spain, and Germany. He died in 1812.

[30] During the reign of Joseph, he was appointed minister of police at

Naples, where he died in 1809.

[31] Napoleon, Memoirs, vol. iv., p. 51.

[32] Such is the report of the Corsicans concerning the alleged first

exploit of their celebrated countryman. See Benson's _Sketches_, p. 4.

But there is room to believe that Buonaparte had been in action so early

as February, 1793. Admiral Truguet, with a strong fleet, and having on

board a large body of troops, had been at anchor for several weeks in

the Corsican harbours, announcing a descent upon Sardinia. At length,

having received on board an additional number of forces, he set sail on

his expedition. Buonaparte is supposed to have accompanied the admiral,

of whose talent and judgment he is made in the Saint Helena MSS., to

speak with great contempt. Buonaparte succeeded in taking some batteries

in the straits of Saint Bonifacio; but the expedition proving

unsuccessful, they were speedily abandoned.--S.--For an account of the

expedition to Sardinia, see _Napoleon's Memoirs_, vol. i., p. 5.

[33] "As you quit the town, the first object that presents itself is a

little fountain on the left, which, except the pavement of the quay, is

the only public work of Buonaparte, for the place of his

birth."--BENSON.

[34] Benson's Sketches of Corsica, p. 121.--S.

[35] Not literally, however; for it is worth mentioning, that when he

was in full-blown possession of his power, an inheritance fell to the

family, situated near Ajaccio, and was divided amongst them. The First

Consul, or Emperor, received an olive garden as his share.--_Sketches of

Corsica._--S.

[36] Montholon, tom. iii., p. 14.--Nothing can be more inaccurate than

to term the _Souper de Beaucaire_ a Jacobin pamphlet, although it is

unquestionably written to urge the Federalists to submit to their

inevitable fate, and avert extremity by doing so in time. The work is

nearly free from the cant language of the day. There is no mention of

liberty, equality, fraternity, or the rights of man, &c.--no abstract

discussion of political principles. The whole merits of the dispute

betwixt Paris and the departments are hurried over with little or no

argument. Buonaparte urges the Marseillois to submission, not because

the principles which dictated their insurrection were erroneous, but

because they had not means to maintain successful resistance; not

because they had been confuted by the Jacobins in argument, but because

they were unequal to the task of contending with them by force. In after

time, however, he called in and destroyed every copy of the _Souper de

Beaucaire_ which could be found, so that only one remained, from which

the recent reprint of Monsieur Pancoucke has been executed.--S.--As

remarkable specimens of Napoleon's easy style and habits of thinking,

the opening and closing parts of this pamphlet are given, translated

into English, in No. III. of the Appendix to this volume.