Bonaparte did not resume his functions at Nice, after his release from imprisonment, but repaired to Marseilles where his mother was living in distressed circumstances. Before the end of the year he again came to Paris to solicit employment. At first he met with nothing but repulses. Aubry, president of the military committee, objected to his youth, at which Bonaparte replied rather sharply: "One ages quickly on battlefields, and I have just left one." The president, who had not seen much actual service himself, thought he was insulted, and treated Napoleon very coldly in consequence. Shortly afterwards Bonaparte was offered the command of a brigade of infantry which he refused, declaring that nothing could induce him to leave the artillery. Writing to Sucy, a friend, on this subject, Napoleon said: "I have been ordered to serve as a general of the line in La Vendée. I will not accept. Many soldiers could direct a brigade better than I, and few have commanded artillery with greater success." His refusal was followed by the erasure of his name from the list of general officers in employment. Some time later he asked for a commission to Turkey to form a barrier against the encroachments of Russia and England, but it was not granted. No answer was returned to his memorial, over which he conversed for some weeks with great enthusiasm. "How strange it would be," he said to his friends, "if a little Corsican should become king of Jerusalem." Already he was contemplating greatness, and firmly believed in his "Star of Destiny." At length he was nominated to the command of a brigade of artillery in Holland. The long-deferred appointment was, no doubt, very welcome; but in the meantime his services were called for in a more important field. When the National Guard sided with the enemies of the Convention, and took up arms against the Government, a man of force and decision was needed to defend them from the insurgents. A collision had taken place on October 3rd, 1795, when the troops of the Convention were withdrawn by that body. The insurgents, who represented the forty-eight sections of Paris, were prepared to attack the Palace of the Tuileries next morning with upwards of 40,000 men, and take the Government in their own hands. The nation, and especially the superior classes, aided by the Royalists, were indignant at the conduct of the members of the Convention,--who schemed to perpetuate themselves in office,--and formed a most formidable opposition to the measures of the existing Government. General Bonaparte was at the theatre when informed of the events that were passing. He at once hastened to the Assembly where he found the members in the heat of debate and greatly exercised over their approaching danger.