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t on it, whose
loss "will make London tremble." They secretly dread a war in the
Tyrol, forgetting that Bonaparte is a specialist in mountain fighting,
educated under Paoli. They remind him that he has not sent the plans
of his battles. "You ought not to lack draughtsmen in Italy. Eh! what
are your young engineer officers doing?"

On May 31st Carnot writes to urge him to press the siege of Mantua,
reasserting that the reinforcements which Beaulieu has received will
not take from that army its sense of inferiority, and that ten
battalions of Hoche's army are on the way. It approves and confirms
the "generous fraternity" with which Bonaparte offers a million francs
to the armies on the Rhine. On June 7th he tells the Directory that
Rome is about to fulminate a bull against the French Royalists, but
that he thinks the expedition to Naples should be deferred, and also a
quarrel with Venice--at least till he has beaten his other enemies; it
is not expedient to tackle every one at once. On June 6th he thanks
Carnot for a kind letter, adding that the best reward to sweeten
labour and perils is the esteem of the few men one really admires. He
fears the hot weather for his men: "we shall soon be in July, when
every march will cost us 200 sick." The same day he writes General
Clarke that all is flourishing, but that the dog-star is coming on at
a gallop, and that there is no remedy against its malign influence.
"Luckless beings that we are! Our position with nature is merely
observation, without control." He holds that the only safe way to end
the campaign without being beaten is not to go to the south of Italy.
On the 9th he thanks Kellermann for the troops he sends, and their
excellent discipline. On the 11th--always as anxious to help his
generals as himself--he urges the Directory to press the Swiss
Government to refund La Harpe's property to his children.

"_Presentiment of ill._"--Marmont tells us what this was. The glass of
his wife's portrait, which he always carried with him, was found to be
broken. Turning frightfully pale, he said to Marmont, "My wife is
either very ill, or unfaithful." She left Paris June 24th. Marmont
says, "Once at Milan, General Bonaparte was very happy, for at that
time he lived only for his wife.... Never love more pure, more true,
more exclusive, has possessed the heart of any man."

No. 8.

Between June 15th and the renewal of Josephine's correspondence a
glance at the intervening dates will show that Bonaparte and his army
were not wasting time. The treaty with Rome was a masterpiece, as in
addition to money and works of art, he obtained the port of Ancona,
siege-guns with which to bombard Mantua, and best of all, a letter
from the Pope to the faithful of France, recommending submission to
the new government there. In consideration of this, and possibly
yielding to the religious sentiments of Josephine, he spared Rome his
presence--the only capital which he abstained from entering, when he
had, as in the present case, the opportunity. It was not, however,
until February 1797 that the Pope fulfilled his obligations under this
Treaty, and then under new compulsion.

_Fortune._--Josephine's dog (see note to Letter 2, Series B).

FOOTNOTES

 [41] No. 89 of Napoleon III.'s Correspondence of Napoleon I., vol. i.,
 the last letter signed Buonaparte; after March 24 we only find
 Bonaparte.

 [42] Compelled to surrender Genoa, before Marengo takes place, he
 swears to the Austrian general he will be back there in
 fourteen days, and keeps his word.

 [43] Two days later he evidently feels this letter too severe, and
 writes: "All goes well. Pillage is less pronounced. This first
 thirst of an army destitute of everything is quenched. The poor
 fellows are excusable; after having sighed for three years at
 the top of the Alps, they arrive in the Promised Land, and wish
 to taste of it."

 [44] Bingham, with his customary ill-nature, remarks that Bonaparte,
 "in spite of the orders of the Directory, took upon himself to
 sign the armistice." These orders, dated March 6th, were
 intended for a novice, and no longer applicable to the
 conqueror of two armies, and which a Despatch on the way, dated
 April 25th, already modified. Jomini admits the wisdom of this
 advantageous peace, which secured Nice and Savoy to France, and
 gave her all the chief mountain-passes leading into Italy.

SERIES B

No. 1.

_July 6, Sortie from Mantua of the Austrians._--According to Jomini
the French on this occasion were not successful (vol. viii. 162). In
one of his several letters to the Directory on this date is seen
Bonaparte's anxiety for reinforcements; the enemy has already 67,000
men against his available 40,000. Meanwhile he is helping the
Corsicans to throw off the British yoke, and believes that the French
possession of Leghorn will enable the French to gain that island
without firing a shot.

No. 2.

_Marmirolo._--On July 12th he writes to the Directory from Verona that
for some days he and the enemy have been watching each other. "Woe to
him who makes a false move." He indicates that he is about to make a
_coup de main_ on Mantua, with 300 men dressed in Austrian uniforms.
He is by no means certain of success, which "depends entirely on
luck--either on a dog[45] or a goose." He complains of much sickness
among his men round Mantua, owing to the heat and miasmata from the
marshes, but so far no deaths. He will be ready to make Venice
disgorge a few millions shortly, if the Directory make a quarrel in
the interim.

On the 13th he was with Josephine, as he writes from Milan, but leaves
on the 14th, and on the 17th is preparing a _coup de_ _main_ with 800
grenadiers, which, as we see from the next letter, fails.

_Fortune._--Arnault tells an anecdote of this lap-dog, which in 1794,
in the days of the Terror, had been used as a bearer of secret
despatches between Josephine in prison and the governess of her
children outside the grille. Henceforward Josephine would never be
parted from it. One day in June 1797 the dog was lying on the same
couch as its mistress, and Bonaparte, accosting Arnault and pointing
to the dog with his finger, said, "You see that dog there. He is my
rival. He was in possession of Madame's bed when I married her. I
wished to make him get out--vain hope! I was told I must resign
myself to sleep elsewhere, or consent to share with him. That was
sufficiently exasperating, but it was a question of taking or
leaving, and I resigned myself. The favourite was less accommodating
than I. I bear the proof of it in this leg."

Not content with barking at every one, he bit not only men but other
dogs, and was finally killed by a mastiff, much to Bonaparte's secret
satisfaction; for, as St. Amand adds, "he could easily win battles,
accomplish miracles, make or unmake principalities, but could not show
a dog the door."

No. 3.

"_The village of Virgil._"--Michelet (Jusqu'au 18 _Brumaire_) thinks
that here he got the idea of the Fete of Virgil, established a 

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