The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 1 of 2) eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 610 pages of information about The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 1 of 2).

The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 1 of 2) eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 610 pages of information about The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 1 of 2).
animale a des besoins indispensables:  manger, dormir, engendrer.  Une nourriture, une cabane, des vetements, une femme, sont donc une stricte necessite pour le bonheur.  Notre organisation intellectuelle a des appetits non moins imperieux et dont la satisfaction est beaucoup plus precieuse.  C’est dans leur entier developpement que consiste vraiment le bonheur.  Sentir et raisonner, voila proprement le fait de l’homme.”]

[Footnote 16:  Nasica; Chuquet, p. 248.]

[Footnote 17:  His recantation of Jacobinism was so complete that some persons have doubted whether he ever sincerely held it.  The doubt argues a singular naivete it is laid to rest by Buonaparte’s own writings, by his eagerness to disown or destroy them, by the testimony of everyone who knew his early career, and by his own confession:  “There have been good Jacobins.  At one time every man of spirit was bound to be one.  I was one myself.” (Thibaudeau, “Memoires sur le Consulat,” p. 59.)]

[Footnote 18:  I use the term commissioner as equivalent to the French representant en mission, whose powers were almost limitless.]

[Footnote 19:  See this curious document in Jung, “Bonaparte et son Temps,” vol. ii., p. 249.  Masson ignores it, but admits that the Paolists and partisans of France were only seeking to dupe one another.]

[Footnote 20:  Buonaparte, when First Consul, was dunned for payment by the widow of the Avignon bookseller who published the “Souper de Beaucaire.”  He paid her well for having all the remaining copies destroyed.  Yet Panckoucke in 1818 procured one copy, which preserved the memory of Buonaparte’s early Jacobinism.]

[Footnote 21:  I have chiefly followed the careful account of the siege given by Cottin in his “Toulon et les Anglais en 1793” (Paris, 1898).

The following official figures show the weakness of the British army.  In December, 1792, the parliamentary vote was for 17,344 men as “guards and garrisons,” besides a few at Gibraltar and Sydney.  In February, 1793, 9,945 additional men were voted and 100 “independent companies”:  Hanoverians were also embodied.  In February, 1794, the number of British regulars was raised to 60,244.  For the navy the figures were:  December, 1792, 20,000 sailors and 5,000 marines; February, 1793, 20,000 additional seamen; for 1794, 73,000 seamen and 12,000 marines. ("Ann.  Reg.")]

[Footnote 22:  Barras’ “Memoires” are not by any means wholly his.  They are a compilation by Rousselin de Saint-Albin from the Barras papers.]

[Footnote 23:  Jung, “Bonaparte et son Temps,” vol. ii.]

[Footnote 24:  M.G.  Duruy’s elaborate plea (Barras, “Mems.,” Introduction, pp. 69-79) rests on the supposition that his hero arrived at Toulon on September 7th.  But M. Chuquet has shown ("Cosmopolis,” January, 1897) that he arrived there not earlier than September 16th.  So too Cottin, ch, xi.]

[Footnote 25:  As the burning of the French ships and stores has been said to be solely due to the English, we may note that, as early as October 3rd, the Spanish Foreign Minister, the Duc d’Alcuida, suggested it to our ambassador, Lord St. Helens:  “If it becomes necessary to abandon the harbour, these vessels shall be sunk or set on fire in order that the enemy may not make use of them; for which purpose preparations shall be made beforehand.”]

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The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 1 of 2) from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.