ancholy periods affords the strongest evidence of the incessant operation of the principles destined for the preservation and extension of social happiness, even in the darkest periods of human existence. Since the fall of the Roman empire, no such calamitous era had arisen as that which immediately followed the 10th of August; none in which innocence so generally suffered, and vice so long triumphed; in which impiety was so openly professed, and profligacy so generally indulged; in which blood flowed in such ceaseless torrents, and anguish embittered such a multitude of hearts. Yet, even in those disastrous times, the benevolent laws of nature were incessantly acting: this anguish expiated the sins of former times; this blood tamed the fierceness of present discord. In the stern school

of adversity wisdom was learned, and error forgotten; speculation ceased to blind its votaries, and ambition to mislead by the language of virtue. Years of suffering conferred centuries of experience; the latest posterity will, it is to be hoped, in that country at least, reap the fruits of the Reign of Terror. Like all human things, the government of France may undergo changes in the lapse of time; different institutions may be required, and new dynasties called to the throne; but no bloody convulsion similar to that which once tore its bosom will again take place; the higher ranks will not a second time be massacred by the lower-ere another French Revolution of the same character as that which has been portrayed can ensue, the age in which it occurs must be ignorant of the first.

CHAPTER XX.

RISE OF NAPOLEON, AND CAMPAIGN OF 1796 IN ITALY.

1. NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE was born at Ajaccio, in Corsica, on the 5th February 1768.* The Duke of Wellington was born in the year after, which Napoleon subsequently assumed as that of his nativity, in order to constitute him

self a French citizen. "Providence," said Louis XVIII., "owed us that counterpoise." His family, though noble, had not been distinguished, and had suffered severely from misfortune. He was too great a man to attempt to de* He entered the world on 5th February Claire des Vergers de Sanois, his wife. I, 1768, and subsequently gave out that he was Charles Théodore François Leclerc, public born in August 1769, as, in the interim, Cor- officer in the état civil of the second Arsica had been incorporated with the French rondissement of Paris, after having read in monarchy.-ODELEBEN, i. 230, and Histoire the presence of the parties and witnesses de France, par M. SALGUES, i. 67. The record-1st, the certificate of the birth of Napolione of his marriage with Josephine, which still exists in Paris, gives his birth as on 5th February 1768. It is as follows: "2d Arrondissement of Paris. Act of marriage between Napolione Bonaparte, general-in-chief of the Army of the Interior, aged twentyeight years, born at Ajaccio, department of Corsica, domiciled at Paris in the Rue d'Antin, son of Charles Bonaparte, landowner, and of Letzia Ramolini, his wife, and Marie Josephe Rose de Tascher, aged twenty-eight years, born at Martinique, in the West India Islands, domiciled at Paris in the Rue de Chantéreine, daughter of Joseph Gaspard de Tascher, captain of dragoons, and of Rosa

Bonaparte, general, which declares that he was born on the 5th of February 1768, in lawful wedlock, by Charles Bonaparte and Letzia Ramolini." -The register bears the signatures, "Tallien, M. J. R. Tascher, P. Barras, Le Manois le jeune, Napoleone Bonaparte, Charles Leclerq, officier public." See the whole extract in SALGUES, Mémoires pour servir à l'Histoire de France, i. 66, 67.

This official act, signed by Napoleon himself on an occasion when no one but a very young man represents himself as "older" than he really is, and when incorporated with France till June 1769, decides the. his interest lay the other way, as Corsica was not matter.

rive distinction from any adventitious | irritability and turbulence of temper. advantages which did not really belong But these qualities, as well as the deto him, and could afford to discard all cision with which they were accomthe lustre of patrician descent. When panied, were so powerfully developed the Emperor of Austria endeavoured, that they gave him the entire command after he became his son-in-law, to trace of his eldest brother Joseph, a boy of a his connection with some of the obscure mild and unassuming character, who Dukes of Treviso, he answered that he was constantly beaten, pinched, or torwas the Rudolph of Hapsburg of his mented by the future Emperor. But family; and when the genealogists were even at that early period it was obengaged in deducing his descent from served that he never wept when chasan ancient line of Gothic princes, he tised; and on one occasion, when he cut short their labours by declaring was only seven years of age, having that his patent of nobility dated from been suspected unjustly of a fault, and the battle of Montenotte. punished when innocent, he endured the pain, and subsisted in disgrace for three days on the coarsest food, rather than betray his companion, who was really in fault. Though his anger was violent, it was generally of short endurance, and his smile from the first was like a beam of the sun emerging from the clouds. But, nevertheless, he gave no indications of extraordinary capacity at that early age; and his mother was frequently heard to declare that, of all her children, he was the one whom she would least have expected to have attained any extraordinary eminence. This is often observed of those destined for ultimate greatness; and the reason is, that they are reflecting rather than quick, and that their attention is fixed on things, which render a man eminent, rather than words, which make a schoolboy distinguished.

2. His mother, as in the case of many other eminent men of whom history has preserved a record, was distinguished by great beauty, and no common firmness and intrepidity of mind. She shared in the fatigues and dangers of her husband during the civil dissensions which distracted the island at the time of Napoleon's birth, and had recently before been engaged in some expeditions on horseback with him. His father died at the age of thirty-eight, of a cancer in the stomach, a complaint hereditary in his family, which also proved fatal to Napoleon himself; but the want of paternal care was more than supplied by his mother, to whose early education and solicitude he, in after life, mainly ascribed his elevation.* Though left a widow in the prime of life, she had already borne thirteen children, of whom five sons and three daughters survived their father. She lived to see one of them wearing the crown of Charlemagne, and another seated on the throne of Charles V. On the day of his birth she had been at church, and was seized with her pains during high mass. She was brought home hastily, and, as there was not time to prepare a bed, was laid upon a couch covered with tapestry represent-proached by an avenue, overhung by ing the heroes of the Iliad, and there the future conqueror was brought into the world.

4. The winter residence of his father was usually at Ajaccio, the place of his birth, where there is still preserved a cannon, weighing about thirty pounds, the early plaything of Napoleon. But in summer the family retired to a dilapidated villa near the isle Sanguinière, once the residence of a relation of his mother's, situated in a romantic spot on the sea-shore. The house is ap

the cactus and acacia, and other shrubs which grow luxuriantly in that southern climate. It has a garden and a lawn, showing vestiges of neglected beauty, and surrounded by a shrubbery permitted to run to wilderness. There, enclosed by the cactus, the clematis, and the wild olive, is a singular and isolated granite rock, beneath which

the remains of a small summer-house | which fractures and wounds were reare still visible, the entrance to which ceived on both sides. On another ocis nearly closed by a luxuriant fig-tree. casion, the wife of the porter of the This was the favourite retreat of the school, well known to the boys for the young Napoleon, who early showed a fruit which she sold, having presented love of solitary meditation, during the herself at the door of their theatre to periods when the vacations at school be allowed to see the Death of Caesar, permitted him to return home. We which was to be played by the youths, might suppose that there were perhaps and been refused an entrance, the serformed those visions of ambition and geant at the door, induced by the vehehigh resolves, for which the limits of mence of her manner, reported the the world were ere long felt to be in- matter to the young Napoleon, who sufficient, did we not know that child- was the boy in command on the ochood can hardly anticipate the destiny casion. "Remove that woman, who of maturer years; and that, in Crom- brings here the license of camps," said well's words, a man never rises so high the future ruler of the Revolution. as when he does not know where his course is to terminate.

6. It was the fortune of the school at Brienne at this time to possess among its scholars, besides Napoleon, another boy, who rose to the highest eminence in the Revolution, PICHEGRU, after

several years older than Napoleon, and instructed him in the elements of mathematics, and the first four rules of arithmetic. Pichegru early perceived the firm character of his little pupil; and when, many years afterwards, he had embraced the Royalist party, and it was proposed to him to sound Napoleon, then in the command of the army of Italy, he replied "Don't waste time upon him: I have known him from his infancy; his character is inflexible; he has taken his side, and will never swerve from it." The fate of these two illustrious men afterward rose in painful contrast to each other: Pichegru was strangled in a dungeon, when Napoleon was ascending the throne of France.

5. At an early age he was sent to the Military School, first of Angers, and latterly of Brienne. It is remarkable that the Duke of Wellington also learn-wards conqueror of Holland. He was ed the rudiments of the art of war at the first of these seminaries. His character there underwent a rapid alteration. He became thoughtful, studious, contemplative, and diligent in the extreme. His proficiency, especially in mathematics, was soon remarkable; but the quickness of his temper, though subdued, was not extinguished. On one occasion, having been subjected to a degrading punishment by his masterthat of dining on his knees at the gate of the refectory-the mortification he experienced was so excessive that it produced a violent vomiting, and a universal tremor of the nerves. But in the games of his companions he was inferior to none in spirit and agility, and already began to evince, in a decided predilection for military pursuits, the native basis of his mind. During the winter of 1783-4, so remarkable for its severity even in southern latitudes, the ordinary amusements of the boys without doors were completely stopped. Napoleon proposed to his companions to beguile the weary hours by forming intrenchments and bastions of snow, with parapets, ravelins, and horn-works. The little army was divided into two parties, one of which was intrusted with the attack, the other with the defence of the works; and the mimic war was continued for several weeks, during

7. The speculations of Napoleon at this time were more devoted to political than military subjects. His habits were thoughtful and solitary; and his conversation, even at that early age, was so remarkable for its reflection and energy that it attracted the notice of the Abbé Raynal, with whom he frequently lived during vacations, and who discoursed with him on government, legislation, and the relations of commerce. He was distinguished by his Italian complexion, his piercing look, and the decided style of his expression -a peculiarity frequently inducing a vehemence of manner, which rendered

him not generally popular with his Ecole Militaire at Paris, for the comschoolfellows. The moment their play-pletion of his military studies. He had time arrived, he flew to the library of the school, where he read with avidity the historical works of the ancients, particularly Polybius, Plutarch, and Arrian. His companions disliked him, on account of his not joining their games at these hours, and frequently rallied him on his name and Corsican birth. He often said to Bourrienne, his earliest friend, with much bitterness-"I hate these French-I will do them all the mischief in my power." Notwithstanding this, his animosity had nothing ungenerous in it; and when he was intrusted, in his turn, with the enforcing of any regulation which was infringed, he preferred going to prison to informing against the young delinquents.

not been long there, when he was so much struck with the luxurious habits in which the young men were then brought up at that seminary, that he addressed an energetic memorial to the governor on the subject, strongly urging that, instead of having footmen and grooms to wait upon their orders, they should be taught to do everything for themselves, and be inured to the hardships and privations which awaited them in real warfare. In the year 1785, at the age of seventeen, he received a commission in a regiment of artillery, and was soon promoted to the rank of first lieutenant, in a corps quartered at Valence. Shortly after, he gave a proof of the varied subjects which occupied his mind, by writing a History of Cor8. Though his progress at school was sica, and an Essay for a prize, proposed respectable, it was not remarkable; and by the Abbé Raynal, on the "Instituthe notes transmitted to government in tions most likely to contribute to Pub1784 exhibited many other young men lic Happiness." The premium was admuch more distinguished for their judged to the young soldier. These early proficiency. But from the very productions, as might have been exfirst he gave decided marks of the in- pected, were distinguished by the reflexibility of his temper. In the pri-volutionary doctrines then generally vate instructions communicated to gov-prevalent, and were very different from ernment by the masters of the estab- his maturer speculations. The essay lishment, he was characterised as of a was recovered by Talleyrand after Na"domineering, imperious, and head-poleon was on the throne; but the mostrong disposition.' During the vaca- ment the Emperor saw it he committed tions of school, he returned in general it to the flames. to Corsica, where he gave vent to the ardour of his mind in traversing the mountains and valleys of that romantic island, and listening to the tales of feudal strife and family revenge by which its inhabitants are so remarkably dis-ship he chose to cultivate, he was altinguished. The celebrated Paoli, the hero of Corsica, accompanied him in some of these excursions, and explained to him on the road the actions which he had fought, and the positions which he had occupied, during his struggle for the independence of the island. The energy and decision of his young companion at this period made a great impression on that illustrious man. "Oh! Napoleon," said he, “you do not resemble the moderns-you belong to the heroes of Plutarch."

9. At the age of fourteen, he was sent from the school of Brienne to the

10. At this period, Napoleon was generally disliked by his companions: he was considered as proud, haughty, and irascible; but with the few whose conversation he valued, and whose friend

ready a favourite, and high expectations began to be formed of the future eminence to which he might rise. His powers of reasoning were especially remarkable; his expressions lucid and energetic; his knowledge and information immense, considering his years and the opportunities of study which he had enjoyed. Logical accuracy was the great characteristic of his mind; and his subsequent compositions have abundantly proved that, if he had not become the first conqueror he would have been one of the greatest writers, as he assuredly was one of

the most profound thinkers, of modern times.

11. His figure, always diminutive, was at that period thin and meagre in the highest degree-a circumstance which, with his sallow and lank visage, rendered his appearance somewhat ridiculous when he first assumed the military dress. Mademoiselle Permon, afterwards Duchess of Abrantes, one of his earliest female acquaintances, and who afterwards became one of the most brilliant wits of the imperial court, mentions that he came to their house on the day on which he first put on his uniform, in the highest spirits, as is usual with young men on such an occasion; but her sister, who had just left her boarding-school, was so struck with his comical appearance, in the enormous boots which were at that period worn by the artillery, which he had entered, that she immediately burst into an immoderate fit of laughter, saying he resembled nothing so much as Puss in Boots. The stroke told; the libel was too true not to be felt but Napoleon soon recovered his good humour, and, a few days afterwards, presented her with an elegantly bound copy of Puss in Boots, as a proof that he retained no rancour on account of her raillery.

12. When the Revolution broke out, he adhered, like almost all the young officers of subaltern rank, to the popular side, and continued a warm patriot during the whole time of the Constituent Assembly. But, on the appointment of the Legislative Assembly, he has himself declared that his sentiments underwent a rapid change; and he soon imbibed, under the Reign of Terror, that profound hatred of the Jacobins which his subsequent life so | strongly evinced, and which he never, even for the purposes of ambition, made any attempt to disguise. It was his fortune to witness both the mob which inundated the Tuileries on the 20th June, and that which overturned the throne on the 10th August; and on both occasions he strongly expressed his sense of the ruinous consequences likely to arise from the want of resolution in the government. No man knew

better the consequences of yielding to popular clamour, or how rapidly it is checked by proper firmness in the depositaries of power. From the weakness shown on the 20th June, he predicted the disastrous effects which so speedily followed on the next great revolt of the populace. When he saw the monarch, in obedience to the rabble, put on the red cap, his indignation knew no bounds. "How on earth," he exclaimed, "could they let those wretches enter the palace! They should have cut down four or five hundred with grape-shot, and the rest would speedily have taken to flight."

13. The first military exploit of Napoleon was in his native country. The disturbances in Corsica having led the revolutionary forces into that island, he was despatched from Bastia, in spring 1793, to surprise his native city of Ajaccio, and succeeded in making himself master of a tower called the Torre di Capitello, in its vicinity, where he was shortly afterwards besieged, and compelled to evacuate it. Thus, like Frederick of Prussia, and Wellington, his first essay in arms proved unfortunate. His talents, and the high character which he had received from the masters of the Military Academy, ere long, however, led to a more important employment. At the siege of Toulon, the artillery, after the operations had advanced a considerable length, was intrusted to his direction, and he soon communicated a new impulse to the hitherto languishing progress of the siege. By his advice, the attack was changed from the body of the place to the forts on the Hauteur de Grasse, and on the Mountain of Faron, which proved so successful, that the siege, which before his arrival was on the point of being abandoned in despair, was speedily crowned with complete success. During this operation, he was first struck by the firmness and intrepidity of a young corporal of artillery, whom he immediately recommended for promotion. Having occasion to send a despatch from the trenches, he called for some person who could write, that he might dictate the order. A young soldier stepped from the ranks, and, rest