Complete Project Gutenberg Collection of Memoirs of Napoleon — John Shaqi
Complete Project Gutenberg Collection of Memoirs of NapoleonVarious
History
Complete Project Gutenberg Collection of Memoirs of Napoleon
Various
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821
I do not understand what favourable interpretations can be put upon a
statement entirely false. General Bonaparte repeatedly applied for the
erasure of my name, from the month of April 1797, when I rejoined him at
Leoben, to the period of the signature of the treaty of Campo-Formio; but
without success. He desired his brother Louis, Berthier, Bernadotte, and
others, when he sent them to the Directory, to urge my erasure; but in
vain. He complained of this inattention to his wishes to Bottot, when he
came to Passeriano, after the 18th Fructidor. Bottot, who was secretary
to Barras, was astonished that I was not erased, and he made fine
promises of what he would do. On his return to France he wrote to
Bonaparte: "Bourrienne is erased." But this was untrue. I was not
erased until November 1797, upon the reiterated solicitations of General
Bonaparte.
It was during my absence from France that Bonaparte, in the rank of 'chef
de bataillon', performed his first campaign, and contributed so
materially to the recapture of Toulon. Of this period of his life I have
no personal knowledge, and therefore I shall not speak of it as an
eye-witness. I shall merely relate some facts which fill up the interval
between 1793 and 1795, and which I have collected from papers which he
himself delivered to me. Among these papers is a little production,
entitled 'Le Souper de Beaucaire', the copies of which he bought up at
considerable expense, and destroyed upon his attaining the Consulate.
This little pamphlet contains principles very opposite to those he wished
to see established in 1800, a period when extravagant ideas of liberty
were no longer the fashion, and when Bonaparte entered upon a system
totally the reverse of those republican principles professed in
'Le Souper de Beaucaire.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account