the subject, he paced the salon with hasty strides; the intonations of his voice varied according to the characters of the personages he brought on the scene; he seemed to multiply himself in order to play the different parts, and no person needed to feign the terror which he really inspired, and which he loved to see depicted in the countenances of those who surrounded him.”  In this tale I have made no alterations, as can be attested by those who, to my knowledge, have a copy of it.  It is curious to compare the impassioned portions of it with the style of Napoleon in some of the letters addressed to Josephine.

VOLUME III. —­ 1805-1807

CHAPTER I.

1805.

Abolition of the Republican calendar—­Warlike preparations in Austria—­Plan for re-organizing the National Guard—­Napoleon in Strasburg—­General Mack—­Proclamation—­Captain Bernard’s reconnoitering mission—­The Emperor’s pretended anger and real satisfaction—­Information respecting Ragusa communicated by Bernard —­Rapid and deserved promotion—­General Bernard’s retirement to the United States of America.

I had been three months at Hamburg when I learned that the Emperor had at last resolved to abolish the only remaining memorial of the Republic, namely, the revolutionary calendar.  That calendar was indeed an absurd innovation, for the new denominations of the months were not applicable in all places, even in France; the corn of Provence did not wait to be opened by the sun of the month of Messidor.  On the 9th of September a ‘Senates-consulte’ decreed that on the 1st of January following the months and days should resume their own names.  I read with much interest Laplace’s report to the Senate, and must confess I was very glad to see the Gregorian calendar again acknowledged by law, as it had already been acknowledged in fact.  Frenchmen in foreign countries experienced particular inconvenience from the adoption of a system different from all the rest of the world.

A few days after the revival of the old calendar the Emperor departed for the army.  When at Hamburg it may well be supposed that I was anxious to obtain news, and I received plenty from the interior of Germany and from some friends in Paris.  This correspondence enables me to present to my readers a comprehensive and accurate picture of the state of public affairs up to the time when Napoleon took the field.  I have already mentioned how artfully he always made it appear that he was anxious for peace, and that he was always the party attacked; his, conduct previous to the first conquest of Vienna affords a striking example of this artifice.  It was pretty evident that the transformation of the Cisalpine Republic into the kingdom of Italy, and the union of Genoa to France were infractions of treaties; yet the Emperor, nevertheless, pretended that all the infractions were committed by Austria.  The truth is, that Austria was raising levies as secretly as possible, and collecting her troops on the frontiers of Bavaria.  An Austrian corps even penetrated into some provinces of the Electorate; all this afforded Napoleon a pretest for going to the aid of his allies.