The petition was referred to the Government; but Bonaparte, who was not yet Consul for life, proudly declared that so long as he was at the head of affairs, and, indeed, for a year afterwards, he would accept no national recompense.  Sometime after we went to visit the palace of the 18th Brumaire.  Bonaparte liked it exceedingly, but all was in a, state of complete dilapidation.  It bore evident marks of the Revolution.  The First Consul did not wish, as yet, to burden the budget of the State with his personal expenses, and he was alarmed at the enormous sum required to render St. Cloud habitable.  Flattery had not yet arrived at the degree of proficiency which it subsequently attained; but even then his flatterers boldly assured him he might take possession of St. Cloud for 25,000 francs.  I told the First Consul that considering the ruinous state of the place, I could to say that the expense would amount to more than 1,200,000 francs.  Bonaparte determined to have a regular estimate of the expense, and it amounted to nearly 3,000,000.  He thought it a great sum; but as he had resolved to make St. Cloud his residence he gave orders for commencing the repairs, the expense of which, independently of the furniture, amounted to 6,000,000.  So much for the 3,000,000 of the architect and the 25,000 francs of the flatterers.

When the First Consul contemplated the building of the Pont des Arts we had a long conversation on the subject.  I observed that it would be much better to build the bridge of stone.  “The first object of monuments of this kind,” said I, “is public utility.  They require solidity of appearance, and their principal merit is duration.  I cannot conceive, General, why, in a country where there is abundance of fine stone of every quality, the use of iron should be preferred.”—­“Write,” said Bonaparte, “to Fontaine and Percier, the architects, and ask what they think of it.”  I wrote and they stated in their answer that “bridges were intended for public utility and the embellishment of cities.  The projected bridge between the Louvre and the Quatre-Nations would unquestionably fulfil the first of these objects, as was proved by the great number of persons who daily crossed the Seine at that point in boats; that the site fixed upon between the Pont Neuf and the Tuileries appeared to be the best that could be chosen for the purpose; and that on the score of ornament Paris would gain little by the construction of an iron bridge, which would be very narrow, and which, from its light form, would not correspond with the grandeur of the two bridges between which it would be placed.”