The life of Napoleon Bonaparte

Preface

In presenting the public with this new biography of Napoleon Bonaparte, the author did not expect to add new facts, or modify those with which the world is familiar, in his career. We have quoted often from wellknown authors the mere statement of stereotyped facts, and have endeavored, in the great condensation of matter necessary in a volume no larger than this biography, to embrace all the illustrative and stirring scenes in Napoleon's history. The authors chiefly referred to are Bourrienne, The Berkley Men, Lockhart, Yon Rotteck, Encyclopedia Americana, Confidential Correspondence with Joseph, and Abbott's Napoleon. A striking fact, omitted entirely by the latter, the invasion of St. Domingo, is given at length, from documents furnished by B. C. Clarke, Esq., of Boston, ex-Consul at Hayti, from which, by his permission, extracts are freely made. With but little comment generally, the convincing testimony of the recently published Confidential Correspondence, upon some of the darkest deeds of Napoleon, is furnished by the insertion of interesting letters. The views expressed on these pages are neither those of imqualified and bitter condemnation, which distinguish

VI PREFACE.

Scott and Lockhart ; nor the equally extreme and more dangerous sentiments of boundless admiration and fulsome praise, which glow in the language, and on every page of the more attractive volumes of Mr. Abbot. We can not, we confess, comprehend the apparent sincerity of this author, in the delineation of Napoleon as a republican philanthropist; a faithful husband; a warrior who grieved over the necessity of shedding blood ; and finally, a martyr-saint on the rocks of St, Helena. He was not a monster of unalleviated depravity ; nor was he a truly philanthropic and good man. He loved his chosen profession of arms ; he began his career a republican ; he grew in fame and ambition, until he believed himself appointed to rule and redeem a continent. In the pursuit of his object, like the unjust judge, "he neither feared God, nor regarded man."

The King of kings hung a dark cloud over his " star of destiny," when the cruel blow fell on the exiled wife, whose only crime was that heaven had written her to him childless. That cloud expanded till it darkened all the sky ; and bolt after bolt came down upon his lofty brow, and laid it low on a captive's pillow within the confines of a rocky island, where, Prometheus-like, he was compelled to feel the wasting power of burning memories and awakened conscience, until death removed him to a more righteous adjudication.

We quote, in conclusion, from an editorial in a leading paper of the daily press, the name of whose author is to us unknown ; but whose summary of character and results must command the assent of the impai^al reader of history :

PREFACE. VU

" No pirate ever more foully decoyed, by the use of a false flag, a merchantman into his cKitches, than I^apoleon possessed himself of Spain, so far as he ever did possess it. There was absolutely no French, no Bonapartean party among the Spanish people from first to last — barely a little handfull of titled office-seekers, and nothing more. The greatest mistake of Napoleon's career, because the most flagrant crime, was that which transformed the Spanish nation from serviceable allies into annoying, wasting, exhausting, if not formidable foes. A true history of Napoleon would show that, whereas the good deeds of his career were abundantly prospered and recompensed, and the enemies who wantonly conspired to overthrow him were always defeated and humbled, so, when he began wantonly to trample on the necks of nations, he sowed dragon's teeth, whence arose in due time the foes who crushed him. His Italian, Austrian, PruS' sian, PoUsh campaigns were generally successful, becauso he had right on his side ; while his Egyptian, Spanish, Russian forays, though promising success at the outset, proved disastrous, and finally ruinous, because they were impelled by rapacity and founded in wrong. * * * Let it never be forgotten that the kings were impotent against the Man of Destiny, imtil the people rallied to his overthrow — until German and Spaniard went with Russ and Hun to compass his downfall. The monarchs afterward betrayed the masses, and snatched most of the fruits of the common conquest ; for which let them be held to the sternest reckoning ; but let not this obscure the great truth that Napoleon fell because he betrayed the sacred cause of the inalienable rights of man, ai/d

VIU PREFACE.

leagued himself with the people's hereditary oppressors, divorcing his noble and faithful wife, to intermarry with them, laboring personally to eradicate from the mind of Alexander his liberal impulses, reducing France to a state of Asiatic despotism, and the surrounding nations to that of her conquest, professing an intense horror of 'Jacobins,' by which term he designated all earnest repubhcans, though he had himself been a professor not merely of republicanism, but of Jacobinism, in his obscure and powerless youth. When Napoleon's true character shall be inscribed on his tomb, the awed" millions shaU gather before it and read — ' Here lies the thunderbolt, the idol, the spoUed chUd of democracy, who betrayed her to make himself an emperor, and died a fettered and heart-broken exile. Let all who may hereafter be tempted to betray the cause of Human Liberty be warned by his example.' "

Chapter I

Napoleon's birth-place. — The Bonaparte family. — The mother's character. — Napoleon's boyhood. — Enters the Military School at Brienne. — Incidents while there. — Revisits Corsica and meets General Paoli. — He is promoted to a place in the Royal Military Acadenjy of Paris. — His fraternal interest. — Receives a Lieutenant's commission. — Falls in love. — Life at Valence.— His appearance at M. Neckar's party. — Is present at the storming of the King's palace by the populace. — France and Napoleon. — Again visits Corsica. — Is arrested. — The flight of the Bonaparte family. — The siege of Toulon. — Junot. — The general assault. — The victory. — The slaughter. — Napoleon appointed on the Coast Survey. — Appointed Chief of Battalion. — Another love-affair. — Family destitution. — Letters. — The Convention and Napoleon. — Tlie insurrections of the Sections. — The defeat. — ^Eugene and his father's sword. — Napoleon and Josephine. 13

CHAPTER n.

Napoleon is appointed to the chief command. — His youth. — Leaves Paris for Nice. — Visits his mother. — The contending armies. — The character of Napoleon. — His new tactics. — His address to the soldiers. — The objects of the campaign. — The route of passing the Alps. — The conflict. — The victory. — The pursuit of the Austrians. — Reaches Cherasco, near Turin. — Dictates terms of peace to the king of Sardinia. — Again addresses the army. — His knowledge of men. — Morals. — Crosses the Po. — Battle of Lodi. — Napoleon at Milan. — Letter to Joseph. — Treaty with the Dukes of Parma and Modena. — Address to the army. — Jealousy of the Directory. — Napoleon pursues the Austrians. — Insurrection in Lombardy. — Treaty with the Vatican. — "Wurmzer appointed to the command. — The Austrians advance. — Battle of Lonato. — Napoleon's peril. — Incidents. — Letter to Joseph. — Castiglione. — Retreat of Wurmzer. — Mantua besieged. — Alvinzi sent into Italy. — The battles of Areola. — Alvinzi routed. — Battle of Rivoh. — Mantua surrenders. — ^Letter to Josephine. — Napoleon's success 53

CHAPTER in.

Napoleon and the Pope. — ^Venice. — Archduke Charles. — Battle of * Tagliamento. — Incidents. — Retreat of Charles. — Negotiations.

1*

: CONTENTS.

PAQB

— Pichegru. — The Directory. — Treaty of Campo Formio. — Court of Milan. — Josephine. — Napoleon at Rastadt. — He reaches Paris. — His reception. — Life at the Capital. — Napoleon and England. — He is appointed to command an Invasion of England. — Ho urges an expedition to Egypt. — Embarkation. — Malta taken. — Letter to Joseph. — He arrives at Alexandria. — Addresses the Army and the Egyptians. — March up the Nile. —The Mamelukes. — Battle of the Pyramids. — Cairo taken. — Letter to Joseph. — Battle of Aboukir. — Napoleon's Power. — Expedition to the Red Sea. — Siege of Acre. — The Plague. — Napoleon retreats to Egypt. — Scenes in the March. — The Turks defeated at Aboukir. — Napoleon returns to France. — Reasons. — The Domestic Sorrow. — The Reconciliation. — The Crisis 99

CHAPTER IV.

Napoleon in Paris. — The 18th Brumaire. — Napoleon at St. Cloud. — The consular government. — The motives of Napoleon — Reforms. — The new constitution. — Napoleon at the Tuilleries. — Josephine. — Personal appearance of the First Consul. — ^Newa of "Washington's death. — The Bourbons. — Napoleon's policy. — Propositions of peace with England. — Correspondence. — Causes of war. — Movement of the armies. — Capitulation of Genoa. — Napoleon at Marengo. — The battle. — The results. — ^Napoleon at Milan. — Renewed hopes of the Bourbons. — A new campaign.— Battle of Hohenlinden. — The emperor sues for peace. — Napoleon returns. — His work of reform of national advancement. — The infernal machine. — The spring of 1801. — The Battle of Copenhagen. — The English take Egypt. — Invasion of England. — Peace of Amiens. — Letters. — Napoleon's designs of reform. — Treaty with the Pope. — Legion of Honor. — Consulate for life. — Colonial conquests. — Napoleon and the invasion of Hayti 14'/

CHAPTER V.

Omens of discord between England and France. — Violations of treaty, — ^Abuse of Napoleon. — Remonstrance. — Interview of the First Consul with Lord Whitworth. — Declaration of war. — Successes.: — Descent upon England. — Conspiracy. — Pichegru. — Duke d'Enghein. — Napoleon emperor. — The coronation. — Napoleon's sway. — Coronation at Milan. — Napoleon hastens to Paris. — Omens of war. — New coalition against France. — Napoleon desires peace. — The conflict opens. — Napoleon is victorious. — Address to the soldiers. — Marches toward Vienna. — Correspondence. — Austerlitz — 'Letters. — Treaty of peace at Presburg. — Death of Pitt. — Royal plans. — Letters. — Naples seized. — Sub-kingdoms. — Napoleon and Mr. Fox. — Letters. — Another campaign. — Prussia enters the field. — Battle of Jena and Auerstadt. — ^Napoleon enters Berlin. — ^Letters. — ^Pardons Prince Hatzfield 205

CONTENTS. XI

CHAPTER VI.

PAOS

The position of the hostile parties. — The Berlin decrees. — The war goes on. — Battle of Eylau. — Letter to Josephine. — Offers of peace rejected. — Preparations for another campaign. — Battle of Friedland. — The peace of Tilsit. — Friendship of Napoleon and Alexander. — Correspondence. — Napoleon's magnificent plans. — Code Napoleon. — Designs upon Spain and Portugal. — Letters. — Tour to Italy. — Disagreement with Lueien. — Portugal taken. — Invasion of Spain. — Letters. — The abdication. — Joseph designated for the vacant throne. — His reluctant and unquiet reign. — The meeting of the emperors at Erfurth. — Josephine's divorce suggested. — Revolution in Spain. — Victories. — Letters. — Joseph again enthroned. — His complaint of Napoleon. — Intelligence of an Austrian campaign.— Battles of Eckmuhl and Wagram. — Quarrel with the Pope. — Peace. — Divorce of Josephine 267

CHAPTER Vn.

Tho choice of a new empress. — Josephine's experience. — Napoleon's power shaken. — The birth of a prince. — Propositions of peace with England. — War with Russia.-r-His progress to Dresden. — He reaches Dantzic. — The Grand Army cross the Niemen. — The Poles hail the presence of the emperor with hope. — The Russian method of destruction to the enemy. — Napoleon enters Moscow. — -He occupies the Kremlin. — Letter to Alexander. — Conflagration of Moscow. — The retreat. — The march to Smolensk. — Conspiracy in Paris. — Marshal Nay. — His supposed death. — His rescue. — The wasting army reach the Beresina. — The tragical crossing of the river Wilna. — Napoleon returns to Paris. — Reaches the palace at night. — The rear-guard of the Grand Army 339

CHAPTER VIU.

Napoleon's reception after the defeat in Russia. — His character. — The new coalition. — Battle of Lutzen. — Entrance into Dresden. — Battle of Bautzen. — Negotiations. — Metternich. — The plan of campaign — Siege of Dresden. — Disasters. — Napoleon's desperate courage. — Battle of Leipsic. — Murat abandons the emperor's cause. — Treachery of the allies. — The Senate of France falter in their support. — Napoleon's rebuke. — Correspondence with Joseph. — Napoleon at the Tuilleries. — He enters on the final struggle. — Battle of Brienne. — Letters. — "Want of arms. — Letters. — The progress of tlie alhes. — Napoleon's expedition on the Marne. — His victories. — Letters from Joseph on the condition of Paris. — Negotiations for peace. — Napoleon's account of the crisis in his afiliirs. — His policy in his extremity. — Battle of Leon. — Rheims. — Letters to Josepli. — The last struggle. — The allies advance toward Paris. — The flight of the Court. — The capitulation 369

Xll CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IX.

PAGB

Caulaincourt secures an interview with the Czar of Russia. — Scenes in the capital. — Correspondence between Napoleon and Joseph- — The abdication. — The royal debate upon the disposal of the fallen emperor. — Marmont's treachery. — The conditions of the allies. — Joseph urges peace. — Napoleon's anguish. — Attempts suicide. — Adieu to his army. — Josephine and Maria Louisa. — Napoleon embarks for Elba. — The return of Louis XVIIL — His reign. — Napoleon at Elba. — His return to France. — ^The tidings reach Talleyrand on the eve of a ball. — Vaia attempt to regain the empress and her son. — Letters. — ^The exile again on the throne. — The allies enter the field. — Napoleon leads the Erench army. — The plan of the campaign. — The battles of Ligny and Quatre-Bras. — Waterloo. — The charge of the Old Guard. — The victory of Wellington. — The flight of Napoleon. — He reaches the Elysee. — The meeting of the Chambers. — The debates. — The abdication 423

CHAPTER X.

The second abdication. — The indecision and distress of Napoleon. — He resolves to take refuge in the United States. — He leaves Malmaison for Rochefort. — Letter from Bertrand to Joseph. — Negotiations with England for passports. — These are denied. — Napoleon throws himself upon the mercy of England. — The reception, and voyage to the English coast. — The decision respecting the emperor's fate. — He contemplates suicide. — The departure for St. Helena. — Arrival at the island. — Napoleon's residence. — His treatment in exile. — His habits. — Progress of disease. — His religious character. — His last hours. — General Bertrand's account of the emperor's death. — His burial. — . Tho removal of his remains to France 450

CHAPTER I.

Napoleon's birth place. — The Bonaparte family. — The mother's character. — Napoleon's boyhood. — Enters the Military School at Brienne. — Incidents while there. — Revisits Corsica and meets General Paoli. — He is promoted to a place in the Royal Military Academy of Paris. — His fraternal interest. — Receives a Lieutenant's commission. — Falls in love. — Life at Valence. — His appearance at M. Neckar's party. — Is present at the storming of the King's palace by the populace. — Prance and Napoleon. — Again visits Corsica. — Is- arrested. — The flight of the Bonaparte family. — The siege of Toulon. — Junot. — The general assault. — The victory. — The slaughter. — Napoleon appointed on the Coast Survey. — Appointed Chief of Battalion. — Another love-affair. — Family destitution. — Letters. — The Convention and Napoleon. — The insurrection of the Sections. — The defeat. — Eugene and his father's sword. — Napoleon and Josephine.

Corsica, the third in extent, among tlie Italian islands, lies in the blue waters of the Mediterranean sea, one hundred miles from France, and fifty from Tuscany. It contains nearly four thousand square miles, and one hundred and eighty thousand inhabitants. Its scenery is varied. Traversed by ranges of mountains, whose summits are covered with perpetual snow, veined with rivers, and abounding in fruitful 'valleys, the island presents wild and beautiful landscapes. Successively under the sway of tlie Cartliaginians, Eomans, Vandals, Greeks, Groths and Genoese, in 1769 it nominallj'' submitted to the French, though partisan warfare continued many years. The population, chiefly Italians in origin and customs, never developed the resources of their productive soil. Multitudes lived on chestnuts ; but cherished the love of freedom and independence, indomitable valor, and unrelenting revenge of a wrong.

August 15, 1769, at Ajaccio, two months after the subjugation of Corsica by the French, Letitia Bonaparte .gave birth to her second son, ISTapoleon. His father was of ancient and honorable descent. He was a successful lawyer, but when the French army landed, he enlisted under the command of General Paoli, to fight the battles of his brave countrymen.

His noble wife was from the distinguished family of Eamolini, and was regarded one of the most beau • tiful maidens of Corsica. She was married at the age of sixteen, and became a widow at thirty-five, with eight living children, and three among the dead. The family group, whose names have been so conspicuous in the annals of France, were Joseph, Napoleon, Lucien, Louis, Jerome, Eliza, Pauline, and Caroline.

Of Napoleon's mother he has given a brief but suggestive sketch : " She had the head of a man on the shoulders of a woman. Left without a guide or protector, she was obliged to assume the management of affairs : but the burden did not overcome her. She administered, every tiling with, a degree of sagacity not to be expected from her age and sex. Her tenderness was joined with severity : she punished, rewarded, all alike ; the good, the bad, nothing escaped her. Losses, privations, fatigue, had no effect upon her ; she endured all, braved all. Ah ! what a woman ! Where look for her equal ?"

She bore within her graceful form the future Emperor, amid the stormy scenes of revolution ; and returned from an expedition among the mountains, whither she had followed her husband, to give the world the gifted child. If these facts had nothing to do with the intellectual power and bias of the son, they were significant of his marvelous career upon the battle-field of a hemisphere. Sixteen years later, in 1785, Charles Bonaparte, the father, died at Montpelier, in France, of cancer in the stomach ; an hereditary disease, transmitted to the illustrious son.

Besides the city residence, Madame Bonaparte's brother had a beautiful villa on the sea-shore. Massive rocks stood around it, and the solitude was undisturbed, excepting by the murmur of the waves breaking gently upon the beach, and the merry voices of childhood. Neither the mother, her brother, nor the happy children, dreamed that the delicate feet, whose impression on the sand the advancing tides effaced, were to shake thrones in their march of power, and echo in the palace-halls of many kingdoms.

,The ruins of this romantic retreat still bear the name of " Napoleon's Grotto," and stories are told of liis solitary reveries under tlie shadow of tlie leaning granite, and on tlie margin of the sea ; of Ms young love for an Italian girl, Giacominetta ; wHch, on account of liis careless attire, was the subject of a couplet shouted after him in his pastimes at school :

" Napoleon di mezza calgetta^ ■ Fa I'amore a Giacominetta."*

He was not an attractive, though remarkable boy. His reserve, and an irritability, which D'Israeli would call "the irritability of genius," repelled familiarity, and even made his brothers and sisters distant, while they recognized his intellectual superiority. A venerable uncle, Lucien Bonaparte, when dying, called the children to his side, and said to Joseph, " You, Joseph, are the eldest ; but Napoleon is the head of the familj'-. Take care to remember my words."

Kapoleon's favorite sport was mimic battle with his miniature brass cannon, displaying the almost invariable fact in the early history of eminent talent; the drift of the mental powers ; the direction, under occult and forming influences, of the greatest ef&ciency and success of a mind which has a work to do, and which but few men, if any other one, could perform. Yarious incidents disclosed his self-reliance and pride of character.

He was once accused of a fault committed by an associate ; but scorning to declare his innocence, he suffered without a complaint the unmerited punishment,

* " Napoleon with his stockings half-o£^ Makes love to Giacominetta."

At another time, when detected regaling his appetite on figs in an orchard near his home, the proprietor threatened to reveal his guilt to his mother. This was more than ho could endure in silence ; for he both feared and loved the maternal guide of his youth. With simple eloquence, he pleaded his cause, and gained his suit. Napoleon had heard much of the French invasions and fierce conflicts ; and he cordially hated the people who afterward adored him, and to whom he gave his warmest affection. January, 1779, Napoleon, then ten years of age, accompanied his father, who was a member of the deputation representing the Corsican noblesse, to the Court of Louis XVI., and entered the military school at Brienne, where Count Marbeuf had obtained for him admis-* sion. The parting with his mother was so touching, the impression remained fresh upon his mind during all the years of his stormy life.

The exciting scenes of travel, and the splendor of Paris, were new and strange to the young islander, whose existence dawned and deepened into rosy morning among the ancient dwelHngs and secluded retreats of the land he cherished. At Brienne, he encountered an unexpected embarrassment, which stung his proud spirit. He was an Italian, ^nth. limited means of support. Around him were sons of the aristocracy, speaking the language of France, and without disguise, revealing a bitter scorn of his humbler position. His hatred of the French was made intense ; and with a threat of revenge for the insult, he withdrew from the associations of the gay scions of a waning nobility, and devoted himself to the severest studies of the institution. In general literature he was not ambitious of excellence, but in the branches which directly told upon the soldier's complete preparation for the field of action, he rapidly rose above all rivals, and stood at the head of the aspiring candidates for military honors. To the students were allowed plots of land, to be used for profit or pleasure according to the choice of each. Kapoleon appropriated his portion to solitary study, adding shrubbery and flowers to increase its shade and beauty. Here, as at all times, he nourished that thirst for military glory, which death only quenched, freezing upon his silent lips the shout of conflict, " Tete d' armee !"

During the remarkable winter of 1784, when snow lay in heaps around Brienne, Napoleon rallied the stadents under his command, to erect, on scientific principles, an immense fortification from the frostquarry nature had bountifully furnished. The com- ]3leted fort was the wonder and admiration of thousands. The general of both the besieged and besieging forces, he displayed surprising skill in the frequent shamfights which occurred before the white walls of the bastions, while the brief winter campaign continued.

Napoleon seriously scarred a comrade's forehead, and amply repaid him in after life, when royal gifts were at his disposal.

His vacations were spent on his native island ; and often in company with the brave and restless PaoH, he was urged by him to enlist in the cause of the patriots. The compliment the Italian gave Napoleon, alluding to his famihar study of Plutarch's Lives, was designed to win the youthful cadet to his banner. He said to him with enthusiasm, " Oh, Napoleon 1 you do not at all resemble the moderns. You belong to the heroes of Plutarch."

With some allowance made for the romantic coloring and interest thrown over the youth of transcendent genius, it is still apparent that Napoleon made an unusually deep impression on all who knew him. With a frail form, a large head, a clear, penetrating eye, and rare powers of conversation, he gave sure token of pre- eminence among men. In his fifteenth year, he became one of the three students selected annually from the cadets, for promotion to the Eoyal Military School in the splendid capital of France, The following note from the papers of the War Department, shows the rank and prospects of the Corsican upon his entrance into the Parisian Academy :

" State of the king's scholars eligible to enter into service, or to pass to the school at Paris : Monsieur de Bonaparte (Napoleon), born 15th August, 1769; in height five feet six and a half inches ; has finished his fourth season ; of a good constitution, health excellent, character mild, honest, and grateful ; conduct exemplary ; has always distinguished himself by application to mathematics; understands history and geography tolerably well ; is indifferently skilled in merely ornamental studies, and in Latin, in which he has only finished his fourth course ; would make an excellent sailor ; deserves to be passed to the school at Paris." In his new and aristocratic halls, Napoleon kept his object steadily in view. Turning with contempt from the means of present display and indulgence, like all great men whose eje has been on an eminence in the future, unseen bj common minds, he studied, thought, and dreamed alone of a brilliant and undisputed success in the profession of arms. Though imbued with republican sentiments which not unfrequently gave offense to the loyal subjects of the monarch, and possessed of manly and generous traits of character, yet was he a devotee most ardent of Mars, the deity of his panting ambition. Through all the history of his youth, we do not discover any indications of religious feeling, or sense of moral obligation. The spirit of the age, which was military glory, regardless of the sacrifice of human life in its attainment, fired the unfolding genius of Napoleon. He was not cruel and heartless ; but the grandeur of extended conquest, and the prosperity of France, filled his mind with gorgeous visions of his sanguinary career. He displayed his fraternal regard in the attention he now gave to the education of his brother Louis, who in his " Response a Sir Walter Scott," refers to it with great affection. Up to this time, he nourished a dislike of '.ne French. The gradual transfer of his interests from Corsica to the land of his adoption, was doubtless effected by the power of new associations, the hopeless struggles of his isolated people, and the magnificent field opening before him in the unquiet realm of Louis XVI., where principles in harmony with his own political bias, were to be the mighty forces of civil commotion.

In September, 1785, when only sixteen years of age, Napoleon appeared before the board of examination, on trial for his first appointment in the royal army. In mathematics, the distinguished astronomer, La Place, was the intellectual inquisitor of the anxious cadets. Bonaparte sustained himself with honor, and so familiar was he with the pages of history, that Keruglion, who conducted the examination in this department, made the following significant and prophetic memorandum opposite his name: " A Corsican by character and by birth; this young man will distinguish himself in the world, if favored by fortune."

He immediately received the commission to lieutenant in the regiment of artillery Le F^re, and no subsequent promotion thrilled his whole being with more intense delight than this signal of his future destiny.

Soon after, he became interested in his second romance of love, giving evidence of a nature attractively susceptible to the charms of female society, and the fascination of beautiful women. He frequented, among other cultivated families, the house of Madame du Cojombier, whose daughter threw over his restless heart the spell of a strong, -though transitory attachment. When in after life he alluded to it, he remarks, ""We were the most innocent creatures imaginable.

We contrived sliort interviews together. I well remember one which, took place on a mid-summer's morning, just as the light began to dawn. It will scarcely be credited that all our felicity consisted in eating cherries together." ISTapoleon's post was at this time at Valence, from which his regiment was removed to Lyons. Embarrassed for want of means to support the rank of even a subordinate officer, he was taken sick, and found, as ever, in the favor his impressive presence won from woman, the most generous attention in the care of a Grerman lady, who was not forgotten when he commanded the resources of a kingdom. He entered the lists as competitor for a prize offered for the best essay upon "the institutions most likely to contribute to human happiness," and received the award.

An Italian gentleman gives an entertaining account of Xapoleon, in a splendid evening party at M. Neckar's. The Bastile had fallen, and the murmurs of an excited populace rose with ominous distinctness around the throne of the king-— the first undertone of that revolutionary earthquake, soon to overthrow the entire order of things, and startle the world. Alfieri, Lafayette, Mirabeau, La Grrange, and other distinguished Frenchmen, were in the brilliant saloon. Madame de Stael and Josephine adorned the Intel lectual assemblage. Kapoleon, who was introduced by Abbd Eaynal, attracted attention by his extraor- . dinary conversational powers.