It is very certain that Bonaparte’s dislike of Kleber was as decided as the friendship he cherished for Desaix.  Kleber’s fame annoyed him, for he was weak enough to be annoyed at it.  He knew the manner in which Kleber spoke of him, which was certainly not the most respectful.  During the long and sanguinary siege of St. Jean d’Acre Kleber said to me, “That little scoundrel Bonaparte, who is no higher than my boot, will enslave France.  See what a villainous expedition he has succeeded in involving us in.”  Kleber often made the same remark to others as well as to me.  I am not certain that it was ever reported to Bonaparte; but there is reason to believe that those who found it their interest to accuse others did not spare Kleber.

Kleber, who was a sincere republican, saw and dreaded for his country’s sake the secret views and inordinate ambition of Bonaparte.  He was a grumbler by nature; yet he never evinced discontent in the discharge of his duties as a soldier.  He swore and stormed, but marched bravely to the cannon’s mouth:  he was indeed courage personified.  One day when he was in the trench at St. Jean d’Acre, standing up, and by his tall stature exposed to every shot, Bonaparte called to him, “Stoop down, Kleber, stoop down!”—­“Why;” replied he, “your confounded trench does not reach to my knees.”  He never regarded the Egyptian expedition with a favourable eye.  He thought it too expensive, and utterly useless to France.  He was convinced that in the situation in which we stood, without a navy or a powerful Government, it would have been better to have confined our attention to Europe than to have wasted French blood and money on the banks of the Nile, and among the ruined cities of Syria.  Kleber, who was a cool, reflecting man, judged Bonaparte without enthusiasm, a thing somewhat rare at that time, and he was not blind to any of his faults.

Bonaparte alleged that Kleber said to him, “General, you are as great as the world!” Such a remark is in direct opposition to Kleber’s character.  He was too sincere to say anything against his conviction.  Bonaparte, always anxious to keep Egypt, of which the preservation alone could justify the conquest, allowed Kleber to speak because he acted at the same time.  He knew that Kleber’s sense of military duty would always triumph over any opposition he might cherish to his views and plans.  Thus the death of his lieutenant, far from causing Bonaparte any feeling of satisfaction, afflicted him the more, because it almost totally deprived him if the hope of preserving a conquest which had cost France so dear, and which was his work.