[329] "I spent the night of the 17th in beholding the preparations for the awful scene which was to take place in a few hours. None but soldiers appeared in the streets. The cannon, brought to surround the palace where the Legislative Body assembled, were rolling along the pavements; but, except their noise, all was silence. No hostile assemblage was seen any where; nor was it known against whom all this apparatus was directed. Liberty was the only power vanquished in that fatal struggle. It might have been said, that she was seen to fly, like a wandering spirit, at the approach of the day which was to shine upon her destruction."--MAD. DE STAËL, tom. ii., p. 182. [330] "Astonishment was excited by the little respect which the soldiers showed for a general who had so often led them to victory; but he had been successfully represented as a counter-revolutionist--a name which when the public opinion is free, exercises in France a kind of magical power. Besides, Pichegru had no means of producing an effect on the imagination: He was a man of good manners, but without striking expression, either in his features or his words. It has often been said, that he was guided in war by the councils of another. This is, at least, credible; for his look and conversation were so dull, that they suggested no idea of his being fit for becoming the leader of any enterprise."--MAD. DE STAËL, tom. ii., p. 184. [331] In Carnot's Memoirs, the merit of discovering Buonaparte's talents and taking care of his promotion, is attributed to Carnot, rather than to Barras. However this may be, it is certain that Napoleon acknowledged great obligation to Carnot, and protested to him perpetual gratitude.--See _Moniteur_, No. 140, Feb. 1, 1797.--S. [332] Las Cases, tom. ii., p. 155. [333] Montholon, tom. iv., p. 267. [334] Montholon, tom. iv., p. 103. [335] Moniteur, Nov. 8; Thibaudeau, tom. iii., p. 423. [336] "Un grenadier Français avait fait une action très brillante; son général lui offre trois louis. Plus noble, plus généreux, le grenadier refuse, et lui dit: '_Mon général, on ne fait pas ces choses-là pour de l'argent._' Irez-vous offrir de l'or à un homme courbé sous le poids des lauriers? Non non, l'ame de Buonaparte est trop grande," &c.--THIBAUDEAU, tom. iii., p. 423. CHAPTER XII.