France -- History -- Revolution, 1789-1799 -- Fiction; Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 -- Fiction
The Convention understood so thoroughly on the morning of the 14th that
its power was fully restored, that it did not trouble itself as to what
had become of the Sectionaries, who had disappeared without leaving any
trace of their passage other than the blood they had shed, and which had
disappeared during the following day, if not from the memories of the
citizens, at least from the pavement of the streets.
They contented themselves with dismissing the staff of the National
Guard, disbanding the chasseurs and grenadiers, who were almost all
young men, placing the National Guard under the orders of Barras, or
rather his young colleague, Bonaparte, to whom the former had abandoned
almost all the active part of the work. They also commanded the
disarming of the Section Le Peletier, and the Section Théâtre Français,
and finally formed three commissions to try the leading members of the
Sectionists, who had almost entirely disappeared.
Anecdotes of the day were related for some time--this day which was
destined to leave so lasting and bloody an impression upon the minds of
Parisians. The magnificent words which had fallen from the lips of the
wounded, or rather from the wounds themselves, on that day of supreme
patriotism, were repeated and extolled. They told how the wounded, who
had been carried to the Convention in the Salle des Victoires, which had
been transformed into a hospital, had been cared for by the gentle hands
of the wives and daughters of the members of the Convention, who assumed
the rôle of Sisters of Charity.
They praised Barras for choosing his second with such unerring judgment
at the first glance, and that second, who, unknown to them on the
previous evening, had burst upon them like a god from the midst of
thunder and lightning.
Descending from this brilliant pedestal, Bonaparte remained general of
the interior; and to be within reach of the staff, who had their
headquarters on the Boulevard des Capucines, in what had formerly been
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he took two rooms in the Hôtel de la
Concorde, Rue Neuve-des-Capucines.
A young man was introduced into the room which he used for a study,
under the name of Eugene de Beauharnais.
Although he was already besieged by petitioners, Bonaparte had not yet
reached the point of drawing a sharp line as to whom he would or would
not receive. Besides, the name of Beauharnais awakened only pleasing
memories. He therefore gave orders that the young man was to be
admitted.
For those of our readers who have already seen him at Strasbourg some
three years earlier, it will suffice to say that he was a handsome young
man of sixteen or seventeen years of age.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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