General Buonaparte is aged twenty-seven. He was born in Corsica, but educated in France. He was sent to the artillery school, where he made great progress in his duties, and after some years of service was raised to the rank of Captain.
He did not confine his acquirements to the knowledge of mathematics, and their application to the management of artillery. The history of every people, ancient and modern, the theory of their constitutions, and the principles of their military tactics, were the continual objects of his meditations, and served as a relaxation from the labours of his profession. An enthusiastic admirer of the heroes of Athens and Rome, he burned on every occasion with the desire of imitating them. His companions took for an immoderate ambition that restless activity of a genius which felt his own strength, and which eagerly impelled him onward in the career of glory.
Called to the siege of Toulon, to direct the batteries, Buonaparte perceived the dispositions of the generals were bad, and he declared his opinion. At first they viewed his observations as proceeding from the ridiculous presumption of youth, and paid no attention to them. But soon, re-considering his advice, his propositions were adopted; the consequences of which were, the sudden retreat of the English, and the capture of the place.
Barras and Freron named him general of artillery, and in that quality he contributed to the successes of the army in Italy. These successes were not so decisive as he desired. Our armies fell off at the end of each campaign; and at the return of spring they were obliged to renew their waggons and artillery carriages. The war of the mountains was disagreeable to the soldiers, ruinous to the Republic, and rendered the supplying of the army impossible.
Buonaparte was not the commander in chief, and was obliged to second plans which he disapproved. His opinion was always for abandoning a war of posts, and pouring as a torrent on the plains of Piedmont. This plan, which he ripened in silence, he soon realized and even surpassed.
I had occasion to employ Buonaparte in fortifying the shores of the Mediterranean. He acquitted himself of that mission with a\promptitude and success. He saved immense sums to the Republic, by removing two-thirds of the cannoneers and cannon with which the coast was lined, and particularly in places where descents were impossible. He had finished this operation when the Committee of Public Safety suddenly withdrew him from the service of the artillery, which he had followed all his life, to place him in that of the infantry, to the details of which he was a stranger. They would have forced him by this capricious change to give in his resignation. He demanded of me leave of absence for two months, for the [purpose of going to Paris to remove any prejudices which the committee might entertain against him. I saw him depart with regret. He was obliged, however, to obey.
His successor arrived, and I caused his discharge to be expedited. The committee was deaf to his just reclamations. A woman of intrigue disposed then of all the military employments. She had treated of that of Buonaparte with an officer who had resigned on the 10th of August, and who wished to be reconciled to the Republic; or rather to put himself in a situation where he might be useful to the person whom such men call their king.
On my return to the army of Italy I found Buonaparte there, determined to go and serve the Turks against Austria. He several times asked leave to resign, which was about to be granted; but it was strongly opposed by Jean de Brie, who demonstrated that his absence would be a loss to the Republic, and that good officers of artillery were not so common as to allow them thus to expatriate themselves. The struggle of Jean de Brie with the committee of government continued until the 13th of Vendemaire. Barras was then named General in Chief of the Army of the Interior. He had seen Buonaparte at the siege of Toulon. He knew his activity, his knowledge, and his courage, and made him his lieutenant. The manner in which he cleared the sections is well known. He threw a bomb into that of Le Pelletier, which alighted in the midst of the assembly, dispersed the conspirators, and put them to flight.
With the remainder of the history of Buonaparte all the world is acquainted, and it need not be here detailed. I shall only add, that on his departure for the army I spoke to him of his youth: "My friend," said he, "in a year I shall be older."
Buonaparte is little and slender. His figure is pale and meagre; but he possesses a bold and warlike countenance. He preserves the greatest coolness in the midst of danger, and is inaccessible to fear. Whatever be the difficulty of his situation, he never despairs of the success of his enterprises. It would seem, that the greater the obstacles the more easily he surmounts them.
Buonaparte, like Jourdan and Pichegru, is serious and silent in large circles; but in the company of his friends he converses gracefully, and expresses himself in a clear and precise manner. Literary, philosophical, and political discussions, have for him the greatest attraction. He bears in a little body an intrepid and vigorous soul, a generous and feeling heart, and a delicate and cultivated mind.
He is a good son, a good father, a good friend, a good husband, and consequently a good citizen. Such is the man whom the Committee of Public Safety of Prairial covered with disgust, and wanted to exclude from our armies. He is suspected of being a terrorist; I would say, and perhaps with more justice, a Republican.
