great blow was struck; but there might still occur an emergency requiring the presence of a skillful experienced general, well acquainted with the country.  And besides, we could not be perfectly at ease, until it was ascertained what conditions would be adhered to by the Cabinet of Vienna, which was then entirely under the influence of the Cabinet of London.  After our return from the battle the popular joy was general and heartfelt not only among the higher and middle ranks of society, but in all classes; and the affection evinced from all quarters to the First Consul was unfeigned.  In what a tone of sincerity did he say to me one day, when returning from the parade, “Bourrienne, do you hear the acclamations still resounding?  That noise is as sweet to me as the sound of Josephine’s voice.  How happy and proud I am to be loved by such a people!”

During our stay at Milan Bonaparte had arranged a new government for Piedmont; he had ever since cherished the wish to unite that rich and fertile country to the French territory because some Piedmontese provinces had been possessed by Louis xiv.  That monarch was the only king whom the First Consul really admired.  “If,” said he one day, “Louis xiv. had not been born a king, he would have been a great man.  But he did not know mankind; he could not know them, for he never knew misfortune.”  He admired the resolution of the old King, who would rather bury himself under the ruins of the monarchy than submit to degrading conditions, after having commanded the sovereigns of Europe.  I recollect that Bonaparte was extremely pleased to see in the reports which he ordered to be made that in Casal, and in the valleys of Pignerol, Latour, and Luzerne, there still existed many traces of the period when those countries belonged to France; and that the French language was yet preserved there.  He already began to identify himself with the past; and abusing the old kings of France was not the way to conciliate his favour.

The First Consul appointed for the government of Piedmont a Council which, as may naturally be imagined; he composed of those Piedmontese who were the declared partisans of France.  He stated as the grounds of this arrangement that it was to give to Piedmont a new proof of the affection and attachment of the French people.  He afterwards appointed General.  Dupont President of the Council, with the title of Minister-Extraordinary of the French government.  I will here mention a secret step taken by Bonaparte towards the overthrowing of the Republic.  In making the first draught of General Dupont’s appointment I had mechanically written, “Minister-Extraordinary of the French Republic.”—­“No! no!” said Bonaparte, “not of the Republic; say of the Government.”

On his return to Paris the First Consul gave almost incredible proofs of his activity.  The day after his arrival he promulgated a great number of decrees, and afterwards allotted the rewards to his soldiers.  He appointed Kellerman General of division which, on every principle of justice, he ought to have done on the field of battle.  He distributed sabres of honour, with the following inscription, highly complimentary to himself:—­