“The three armies, of the North, of the Rhine, and of the Sambre-et-Meuse, are to form only one, the army of Germany.—­Augereau?  But you yourself sent him.  The fault committed by the Directory is owing to yourself!  Bernadotte?—­he is gone to join you.  Cacault?—­he is recalled.  Twelve thousand men for your army?—­they are on their march.  The treaty with Sardinia?—­it is ratified.  Bourrienne?—­he is erased.  The revolution of Italy?—­it is adjourned.  Advise the Directory, then:  I repeat it, they have need of information, and it is to you they look for it.”

The assertion regarding me was false.  For six months Bonaparte demanded my erasure without being able to obtain it.  I was not struck off the list until the 11th of November 1797.

Just before the close of the negotiation Bonaparte, disgusted at the opposition and difficulties with which he was surrounded, reiterated again and again the offer of his resignation, and his wish to have a successor appointed.  What augmented his uneasiness was an idea he entertained that the Directory had penetrated his secret, and attributed his powerful concurrence on the 18th Fructidor to the true cause—­his personal views of ambition.  In spite of the hypocritical assurances of gratitude made to him in writing, and though the Directory knew that his services were indispensable, spies were employed to watch his movements, and to endeavour by means of the persons about him to discover his views.  Some of the General’s friends wrote to him from Paris, and for my part I never ceased repeating to him that the peace, the power of making which he had in his own hands, would render him far more popular than the renewal of hostilities undertaken with all the chances of success and reverse.  The signing of the peace, according to his own ideas, and in opposition to those of the Directory, the way in which he just halted at Rastadt, and avoided returning to the Congress, and, finally, his resolution to expatriate himself with an army in order to attempt new enterprises, sprung more than is generally believed from the ruling idea that he was distrusted, and that his ruin was meditated.  He often recalled to mind what La Vallette had written to him about his conversation with Lacuee; and all he saw and heard confirmed the impression he had received on this subject.

The early appearance of bad weather precipitated his determination.  On the 13th of October, at daybreak, on opening my window, I perceived the mountains covered with snow.  The previous night had been superb, and the autumn till then promised to be fine and late.  I proceeded, as I always did, at seven o’clock in the morning, to the General’s chamber.  I woke him, and told him what I had seen.  He feigned at first to disbelieve me, then leaped from his bed, ran to the window, and, convinced of the sudden change, he calmly said, “What! before the middle of October!  What a country is this!  Well, we must make peace!” While he hastily put on his clothes I read the journals to him, as was my daily custom.  He paid but little attention to them.