Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete
and to the last the allowance attached to the appointment figured in
the Imperial accounts. He replaced Carnot, the exiled Director.]--
He showed a deep sense of this honour, and wrote the following letter to
Camus; the president of the class:
CITIZEN PRESIDENT--The suffrage of the distinguished men who compose
the institute confers a high honour on me. I feel well assured
that, before I can be their equal, I must long be their scholar. If
there were any way more expressive than another of making known my
esteem for you, I should be glad to employ it. True conquests--the
only ones which leave no regret behind them--are those which are
made over ignorance. The most honourable, as well as the most
useful, occupation for nations is the contributing to the extension
of human knowledge. The true power of the French Republic should
henceforth be made to consist in not allowing a single new idea to
exist without making it part of its property.
BONAPARTE.
The General now renewed, though unsuccessfully, the attempt he had made
before the 18th Fructidor to obtain a dispensation of the age necessary
for becoming a Director. Perceiving that the time was not yet favourable
for such a purpose, he said to me, on the 29th of January 1798,
"Bourrienne, I do not wish to remain here; there is nothing to do. They
are unwilling to listen to anything. I see that if I linger here, I
shall soon lose myself. Everything wears out here; my glory has already
disappeared. This little Europe does not supply enough of it for me. I
must seek it in the East, the fountain of glory. However, I wish first
to make a tour along the coast, to ascertain by my own observation what
may be attempted. I will take you, Lannes, and Sulkowsky, with me. If
the success of a descent on England appear doubtful, as I suspect it
will, the army of England shall become the army of the East, and I will
go to Egypt."
This and other conversations give a correct insight into his
character. He always considered war and conquest as the most noble and
inexhaustible source of that glory which was the constant object of his
desire. He revolted at the idea of languishing in idleness at Paris,
while fresh laurels were growing for him in distant climes. His
imagination inscribed, in anticipation, his name on those gigantic
monuments which alone, perhaps, of all the creations of man, have the
character of eternity. Already proclaimed the most illustrious of living
generals, he sought to efface the rival names of antiquity by his
own. If Caesar fought fifty battles, he longed to fight a hundred--if
Alexander left Macedon to penetrate to the Temple of Ammon, he wished to
leave Paris to travel to the Cataracts of the Nile. While he was thus to
run a race with fame, events would, in his opinion, so proceed in France
as to render his return necessary and opportune. His place would be
ready for him, and he should not come to claim it a forgotten or unknown
man.
CHAPTER XII.
1798.
Bonaparte's departure from Paris--His return--The Egyptian
expedition projected--M. de Talleyrand--General Desaix--Expedition
against Malta--Money taken at Berne--Bonaparte's ideas respecting
the East--Monge--Non-influence of the Directory--Marriages of
Marmont and La Valette--Bonaparte's plan of colonising Egypt--His
camp library--Orthographical blunders--Stock of wines--Bonaparte's
arrival at Toulon--Madame Bonaparte's fall from a balcony--Execution
of an old man--Simon.
Bonaparte left Paris for the north on the 10th of February 1798--but
he received no order, though I have seen it everywhere so stated, to go
there--"for the purpose of preparing the operations connected with
the intended invasion of England." He occupied himself with no such
business, for which a few days certainly would not have been sufficient.
His journey to the coast was nothing but a rapid excursion, and its sole
object was to enable him to form an opinion on the main point of the
question. Neither did he remain absent several weeks, for the journey
occupied only one. There were four of us in his carriage--himself,
Lannes, Sulkowsky, and I. Moustache was our courier. Bonaparte was not a
little surprised on reading, in the 'Moniteur' of the 10th February,
an article giving greater importance to his little excursion than it
deserved.
"General Bonaparte," said the 'Moniteur', "has departed for Dunkirk
with some naval and engineer officers. They have gone to visit the
coasts and prepare the preliminary operations for the descent [upon
England]. It may be stated that he will not return to Rastadt, and
that the close of the session of the Congress there is approaching."
Now for the facts. Bonaparte visited Etaples, Ambleteuse, Boulogne,
Calais, Dunkirk, Furnes, Niewport, Ostend, and the Isle of Walcheren. He
collected at the different ports all the necessary information with that
intelligence and tact for which he was so eminently distinguished.
He questioned the sailors, smugglers, and fishermen, and listened
attentively to the answers he received.
We returned to Paris by Antwerp, Brussels, Lille, and St. Quentin. The
object of our journey was accomplished when we reached the first of
these towns. "Well, General," said I, "what think you of our journey?
Are you satisfied? For my part, I confess I entertain no great hopes
from anything I have seen and heard." Bonaparte immediately answered,
"It is too great a chance. I will not hazard it. I would not thus sport
with the fate of my beloved France." On hearing this I already fancied
myself in Cairo!
On his return to Paris Bonaparte lost no time in setting on foot the
military and scientific preparations for the projected expedition to
the banks of the Nile, respecting which such incorrect statements have
appeared. It had long occupied his thoughts, as the following facts will
prove.
In the month of August 1797 he wrote "that the time was not far distant
when we should see that, to destroy the power of England effectually,
it would be necessary to attack Egypt." In the same month he wrote to
Talleyrand, who had just succeeded Charles de Lacroix as Minister of
Foreign Affairs, "that it would be necessary to attack Egypt, which did
not belong to the Grand Signior." Talleyrand replied, "that his ideas
respecting Egypt were certainly grand, and that their utility could not
fail to be fully appreciated." He concluded by saying he would write to
him at length on the subject.
History will speak as favourably of M. de Talleyrand as his
contemporaries have spoken ill of him. When a statesman, throughout
a great, long, and difficult career, makes and preserves a number of
faithful friends, and provokes but few enemies, it must be acknowledged
that his character is honourable and his talent profound, and that his
political conduct has been wise and moderate. It is impossible to know
M. de Talleyrand without admiring him. All who have that advantage, no
doubt, judge him as I do.
In the month of November of the same year Bonaparte sent Poussielgue,
under the pretence of inspecting the ports of the Levant, to give the
finishing stroke to the meditated expedition against Malta.
General Desaix, whom Bonaparte had made the confidant of all his plans
at their interview in Italy after the preliminaries of Leoben, wrote
to him from Affenbourg, on his return to Germany, that he regarded the
fleet of Corfu with great interest. "If ever," said he, "it should be
engaged in the grand enterprises of which I have heard you speak, do
not, I beseech you, forget me." Bonaparte was far from forgetting him.
The Directory at first disapproved of the expedition against Malta,
which Bonaparte had proposed long before the treaty of Campo-Formio
was signed. The expedition was decided to be impossible, for Malta had
observed strict neutrality, and had on several occasions even assisted
our ships and seamen. Thus we had no pretext for going to war with her.
It was said, too, that the legislative body would certainly not look
with a favourable eye on such a measure. This opinion, which, however,
did not last long, vexed Bonaparte. It was one of the disappointments
which made him give a rough welcome to Bottot, Barras' agent, at the
commencement of October 1797.
In the course of an animated conversation he said to Bottot, shrugging
his shoulders, "Mon Dieu! Malta is for sale!" Sometime after he himself
was told that "great importance was attached to the acquisition of
Malta, and that he must not suffer it to escape." At the latter end of
September 1797 Talleyrand, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, wrote to
him that the Directory authorized him to give the necessary orders to
Admiral Brueys for taking Malta. He sent Bonaparte some letters for
the island, because Bonaparte had said it was necessary to prepare the
public mind for the event.
Bonaparte exerted himself night and day in the execution of his
projects. I never saw him so active. He made himself acquainted with
the abilities of the respective generals, and the force of all the army
corps. Orders and instructions succeeded each other with extraordinary
rapidity. If he wanted an order of the Directory he ran to the
Luxembourg to get it signed by one of the Directors. Merlin de Douai
was generally the person who did him this service, for he was the
most constant at his post. Lagarde, the Secretary-General, did not
countersign any document relative to this expedition, Bonaparte not
wishing him to be informed of the business. He transmitted to Toulon the
money taken at Berne, which the Directory had placed at his disposal. It
amounted to something above 3,000,000 francs. In those times of disorder
and negligence the finances were very badly managed. The revenues were
anticipated and squandered away, so that the treasury never possessed so
large a sum as that just mentioned.
It was determined that Bonaparte should undertake an expedition of an
unusual character to the East. I must confess that two things cheered
me in this very painful interval; my friendship and admiration for the
talents of the conqueror of Italy, and the pleasing hope of traversing
those ancient regions, the historical and religious accounts of which
had engaged the attention of my youth.
It was at Passeriano that, seeing the approaching termination of his
labours in Europe, he first began to turn serious attention to the East.
During his long strolls in the evening in the magnificent park there he
delighted to converse about the celebrated events of that part of the
world, and the many famous empires it once possessed. He used to
say, "Europe is a mole-hill. There have never been great empires and
revolutions except in the East, where there are 600,000,000 men." He
considered that part of the world as the cradle of all religious, of all
metaphysical extravagances. This subject was no less interesting than
inexhaustible, and he daily introduced it when conversing with the
generals with whom he was intimate, with Monge, and with me.
Monge entirely concurred in the General-in-Chief's opinions on
this point; and his scientific ardour was increased by Bonaparte's
enthusiasm. In short, all were unanimously of one opinion. The Directory
had no share in renewing the project of this memorable expedition, the
result of which did not correspond with the grand views in which it
had been conceived. Neither had the Directory any positive control over
Bonaparte's departure or return. It was merely the passive instrument
of the General's wishes, which it converted into decrees, as the law
required. He was no more ordered to undertake the conquest of Egypt than
he was instructed as to the plan of its execution. Bonaparte organised