MEMOIRS of the EARLY LIFE of BONAPARTE. [From the "LIFE of BONAPARTE," translated from the French.] [APOLEON BONAPARTE was born at Ajaccio in Corsica, on the 15th of August, 1769. He was brought early into France, and was placed in the military school of Brienne in Champagne, under the direction of the fathers, called minims; where the education he received developed in him the hidden germs of talents and genius. "In his youth, almost in his infancy, he displayed an energy, and a certain degree of pride, that would be a fault in inferior characters, but which appears almost invariably to show itself in those designed for an extraordinary and eccentric career, and to be a marked and distinguishing quality of their minds. He inspired several of his companions with the same inclination, and taught them the military exercise, in which he conducted himself so well, that they were led to say, Does he not appear born to com mand? "As it is natural to take pleasure in viewing the first efforts of an heroic mind, and tracing in their dawn those eminent qualities which are one day to command the respect and admiration of the world, we shall here recite a few anecdotes of the childhood and youth of the first consul. The following circum. stances are little known, but they are real facts. They come from baron L*****r, a school-fellow of the consul's, and the friend of his childhood. Before he had made any figure, or his name had been even mentioned in any political connexion in France, baron L*****r said, I wish I knew what is become of a school-fellow of mine, of the " They had been at the military school at Brienne together, had left it at the same time to go to Paris, and were in habits of close intimacy while they continued there. "While a pupil at the college of Brienne, he formed his little garden with his own hands, and fortified it, as well as he was able, against the attacks of his enemies. In this garden he was fond of shutting him-name of Bonaparte; his whole heart self up, to walk and to meditate : must be in the revolution." and he passed there almost all his hours of recreation, with a book of philosophy or mathematics in his hand, his mind seeming to disdain all lower occupations and less important studies. The youths of the college were unfortunate enough, in letting off some fire-works, to injure his little property; and he made them repent their carelessness. His school-fellows feared, but they esteemed him at the same time, and may be said even to revere him. "The only sports he was fond of, were those which required thought, or were a type of the military art. 'Bonaparte,' says he, always showed the most lively interest in the success of the patriots of Corsica when in arms; he listened eagerly to all news from his country: Paoli was his god; he never mentioned him, or his native soil, without enthusiasm. Some of the French officers, who had been in Corsica, would now and then repair to the military school, and, talking of the war, war, would give the most exaggerated accounts of their success against the Corsicans: Bonaparte quietly suffered them to talk on, asking them occasionally a shrewd question or two; but when he was certain he could prove their having falsified a fact, he would exclaim eagerly" Are you not ashamed, for a momentary gratification of vanity, to calumniate in this man ner a whole nation? You say there were six hundred of you only in the engagement: I know you were six thousand; and that you were op posed only by a few wretched peasants!" He would then open his journals and maps, and he generally ended his declamation with saying to his friend-"Come, L*****r, let us leave these dastards." L*****r followed and pacified him. "He was at that time employed on a poem, on the Liberty of Corsica. He imagined that, while slumbering in one of its numerous caverns, the genius of his country appeared to him in a dream, and, putting a poniard in his hand, called on him for vengeance. This was the opening of the poem, and when ever he added any thing to it, he would go and dig up a short rusty sword, which he called his poniard, send for his friend, and enthusiastically repeat the lines he had just written; after which, he returned to bury his dagger. The austerity of his morals and character had raised him some enemies among his school-fellows: he came one day, in consequence, to L*****r, and said to him, "My dear L*****r, there is a very serious plot forming against me; you are my friend, and are therefore in volved in the proscription: we are to be attacked this very night: come then to my chamber; bring your pitcher, water-bottle, &c. with you; we will barricade ourselves with my dressing-table; if they break through this barrier, we will throw our bottles at them; if they force their way further, I have a sword."-L*****r went to his room, and the preparations were made for defence, which happily proved useless, no attack being made on them. They received their first communion together. It was at that time usual for the communion to be confirmed on the same day, and the ceremony was performed at the military school by the archbishop. When he came to Bonaparte, he asked him, like the rest, his Christian name: Bonaparte answered it with an openness and confidence, that formed a singular contrast with the timid and downcast looks of his comrades. The name of Napoleon being rather uncommon, escaped the archbishop, who desired him to repeat it; which Bonaparte did, with a little appearance of impatience. The assisting minister remarked to the prelate" Napoleon! I do not know that saint.". " Parbleu, I believe it," replied Bonaparte; "the saint is a Corsican!" His friendship with L*****r was subject to clouds, and a coolness took place occasionally between them. He was not the exclusive associate of the latter, who was intimate with other schoolfellows, of rather relaxed morals, and whose principles were displeasing to Bonaparte. One day he said, in a tone of seriousness, to "Notwithstanding the authentic source from which this narrative is derived, we may be allowed to have our doubts as to so puerile an anecdote." L*****[, It was in vain L*****r as sured him he was mistaken, that he was still the same, still his friend. Bonaparte, thinking him self right in his suspicions, again repeated" Make your choice, sir, make your choice; and consider this as the first warning." Some time afterwards, he took a second opportunity of speaking to him: L*****r made still the same answer: at last, Bonaparte drily said, "Sir, you have despised the warnings of friendship: you have, therefore, renounced mine, and I wish to have nothing more to do with you." "These anecdotes of the early days of Bonaparte tend to show what he was one day to prove: he has been seen at all times, and in all circumstances, following the same rigid principles, the same uniform and settled line of conduct, from which he has never, perhaps, once deviated. This it is which essentially distinguishes the man of character, who has the art of uniting extensive acquired knowledge to great natural talents, not only in the military, but legislative department: at once a consummate general, statesman, and politician, we see him alternately great in war and peace; bearing in one hand the sword, and with the other of fering the olive. Bonaparte was taught the rudiments of mathematics by father Patrault, a minim at Brienne. The pupil still retains the esteem and respect for his master, which be longs to grateful minds. He quitted Brienne, to finish his studies at the military school at Paris; whither he was sent before the expiration of the time allotted to the pupils, who were usually removed to the capital in rotation: but he had outstripped his competi tors, and was taken by preference. "At Paris he displayed the same energy, and followed the same principles as at Brienne. Naturally given to observation, he saw the revolution in prospect, which soon broke out. At the first meeting of the notables he had not entered his nineteenth year; and he then declared at once for liberty, that is to say, against the abuses of power, and the corruptions of a court. "While he was yet only a volunteer cadet in the artillery, as he was one day conversing on the existing causes, and future progress of the revolution, with some other young officers of his own rank, he maintained singly against them all his own way of thinking so firmly, and so provoked them by his warmth, that they endeavoured to throw him into the ditch which incloses the Champ-de-Mars. It was with difficulty he escaped the effects of their resentment. "The time which elapsed between the commencement of the revolu tion, and the famous siege of Toulon in December 1793, was wholly employed by Bonaparte in the study of tactics, which he pursued in retirement and obscurity: for, till the siege of Toulon, he might be said to have lived unknown. It was at that remarkable period he first attracted notice, by the display of those great qualities which would no longer be suppressed: he was then but twenty-three years of age, and was was an officer in a company of artillery. "Barras and Freron, at that time representatives of the people, were sent to superintend the siege. At the attack of the redoubt of Fort Pharo, they observed a young officer extraordinarily busy in directing the corps of artillery that was under his command. Calm and intrepid a midst a thousand dangers, he was every-where in an instant, displaying at once coolness and activity. At last, his wounded cannoniers scattered round him, and swimming in their blood, he was seen serving, almost by himself, a piece of artillery, charging, loading, ramming, in fact, undauntedly performing the whole business of his men. Upon inquiry, this young officer was found to be Bonaparte. "The two representatives, witnesses of his extraordinary skill and valour, immediately advanced him to the rank of general of brigade. "It has bean reported also, that at the same siege a representative having blamed the placing of a battery, Bonaparte took upon him. to say Mind, sir, your business of representative, and leave to me mine in the artillery: the battery shall remain where it is, and I will answer with my life for its success.' If this be a fact, it does equal honour to the firmness of Bonaparte and the moderation of Barras, of whom it is told, and who at that time had the whole power in his hands. "Become general of brigade, Bonaparte turned all his attention to the comfort of his soldiers, and the perfecting the plan of a campaign, on which he had been long employing his thoughts. "From Toulon he set off for Nice. It was in this city he was put under arrest as a terrorist, by the counter-royalist Beffroi. On 1801. this occasion, bis papers underwent the most rigorous search; but they were found to consist only of a familiar correspondence on different subjects, plans and remarks on the war, and letters breathing a spirit of patriotism and honour. He was accordingly set at liberty. "His indefatigable mind was so constantly employed, that he spent many hours of the night in study. During his stay at Nice, one of his friends, being in the most urgent want of his assistance, went to his apartments long before day, and, not doubting but he was in bed, knocked softly at his door, for fear of disturbing him too abruptly; but upon entering his chamber, he found to his surprise Bonaparte dressed as in the day, his police cap on his. head, hard at work, plans, maps, and numerous books, lying open around him. What! said his fiend, not yet in bed? In be!!' replied Bonaparte, I am already risen.' Indeed!' repeated the former, What, so early?' 'Yes, so carly: two or three hours are enough for sleep.' "An attempt being afterwards made to remove him from the corps to which he had done so much honour, and place him in the infantry, he repaired to Paris to remonstrate against this act of injustice. The representative Aubry was then at the head of the military departinent of the committee of public safety; and Bonaparte, notwith-standing the justice of his cause, gained no redress. Disgusted at the little attention paid to his complaint, he asked leave to retire to Constantinople; but that also was refused him. "At length the mournful and memorable 13th of Vendémiairę (4th of October) arrived, and Bonaparte, that day second in command C under under Barras, had the charge of the troops of the line. The scene which ensued is too generally known for us to dwell on it: we shall therefore confine our account to a few remarks, which rise naturally from the subject. "The enemies of Bonaparte have sedulously endeavoured to throw the odium of what happened that day upon him. Before a judgment be pronounced upon this subject, several questions must be solved. 66 First. Who were those that guided the sections of Paris? 66 Secondly. What was their aim? "The fair answer to these two questions alone would greatly tend to confound his calumniators; for the character of the times should be borne in mind, and the spirit of the day. But what is more astonishing, and should make men hesitate, at least before they decide, is, that the sections, led on by a cabal of twenty or thirty persons, neither knew why they were called out, nor whither they were going. "Thirdly. Bonaparte was under the command of Barras, and, as a military subaltern, had no duty but obedience. "Fourthly. He did what every man of sense would have done in the same situation. Those who acted with him are never mentioned on this occasion: for they have remained in the line they then filled, and their obscurity has secured them from the attacks of envy. "Fifthly. One thing is certain, that had it not been for Bonaparte, the day would still have been more fatal than it was; for, by keeping up a fire of powder only during the night, the sections, who had in many places rallied, intending to return to the attack, were wholly disheartened, and a torrent of blood was thus prevented from being shed, In fine, notwithstanding the horrors of the day, it produced, according to the Publiciste, more good than evil, by terminating a struggle between the people and the conven'tion, which might have been attended with the most disastrous consequences. "A general, being afterwards present in a company where the 13th of Vendémiaire was talked of, said, in a manner which struck all who heard him: We must not judge without knowing our ground; the 'Parisians are not aware how much 'they owe to Bonaparte: had he li terally followed the orders he received, no day had ever been more bloody! "After the inauguration of the directory, Bonaparte, as general of the armed force, waited on each of the five directors. Carnot, who was the last nominated on the refusal of Sieyes, lived at the top of a house, beneath the ruins of the Luxembourg, the apartments preparing for him not being ready. It was on a Monday that Bonaparte presented himself, which was, the day in the week on which a certain author was in the habit of regularly visiting Carnot. When Bonaparte entered, this author was singing a new air, which a young lady accompanied on the pianoforte. The appearance of Bonaparte put a stop to the music. Seeing five or six tall young men (his aid-de-camps) come into the room, followed by a little well-made man, introducing and expressing himself with dignity, and bowing to the company with that air of ease and politeness which, it must be owned, formed a striking contrast with the manners and appearance of most of the generals who had appeared before, such as Rossignol and Santerre: the author in question seeing this, asked Carnot in a whisper who that |