in love,"
he says of himself in the former. It could not well have been in
Ajaccio, and it must have been the memories of the old Valence, of a
pleasant existence now ended, which called forth the doleful
confession. It was the future Napoleon who was presaged in the
antithesis. "I go further than the denial of its existence; I believe
it hurtful to society, to the individual welfare of men." The other
trenchant document demolishes the cherished hypothesis of Rousseau as
to man in a state of nature. The precious manuscripts brought from
Corsica were sent to the only publisher in the neighborhood, at Dole.
The much-revised history was refused; the other--whether by moneys
furnished from the Ajaccio club, or at the author's risk, is not
known--was printed in a slim octavo volume of twenty-one pages, and
published with the title, "Letter of Buonaparte to Buttafuoco." A copy
was at once sent to Paoli with a renewed request for such documents as
would enable the writer to complete his pamphlet on Corsica. The
patriot again replied in a very discouraging tone: Buttafuoco was too
contemptible for notice, the desired papers he was unable to send, and
such a boy could not in any case be a historian. Buonaparte was
undismayed and continued his researches. Joseph was persuaded to add
his solicitations for the desired papers to those of his brother, but
he too received a flat refusal.

Short as was Buonaparte's residence at Auxonne, he availed himself to
the utmost of the slackness of discipline in order to gratify his
curiosity as to the state of the country. He paid frequent visits to
Marmont in Dijon, and he made what he called at St. Helena his
"Sentimental Journey to Nuits" in Burgundy. The account he gave Las
Cases of the aristocracy in the little city, and of its assemblies at
the mansion of a wine-merchant's widow, is most entertaining. To his
host Gassendi and to the worthy mayor he aired his radical doctrines
with great complacence, but according to his own account he had not
the best of it in the discussions which ensued. Under the empire
Gassendi's son was a member of the council of state, and in one of its
sessions he dared to support some of his opinions by quoting Napoleon
himself. The Emperor remembered perfectly the conversation at Nuits,
but meaningly said that his friend must have been asleep and dreaming.

Several traditions which throw some light on Buonaparte's attitude
toward religion date from this last re