ire Parlementaire, XVII, 56.]

Restlessness is the habit of the agitator, and Buonaparte's
temperament was not exceptional. His movements and purposes during the
months of July and August are very uncertain in the absence of
documentary evidence sufficient to determine them. But his earliest
biographers, following what was in their time a comparatively short
tradition, enable us to fix some things with a high degree of
probability. The young radical had been but two months with his new
command when he began to long for change; the fever of excitement and
the discomfort of his life, with probably some inkling that a Corsican
national guard would ere long be organized, awakened in him a purpose
to be off once more, and accordingly he applied for leave of absence.
His colonel, a very lukewarm constitutionalist, angry at the notoriety
which his lieutenant was acquiring, had already sent in a complaint of
Buonaparte's insubordinate spirit and of his inattention to duty.
Standing on a formal right, he therefore refused the application. With
the quick resource of a schemer, Buonaparte turned to a higher
authority, his friend Duteil, who was inspector-general of artillery
in the department and not unfavorable. Something, however, must have
occurred to cause delay, for weeks passed and the desired leave was
not granted.

While awaiting a decision the applicant was very uneasy. To friends he
said that he would soon be in Paris; to his great-uncle he wrote,
"Send me three hundred livres; that sum would take me to Paris. There,
at least, a person can show himself, overcome obstacles. Everything
tells me that I shall succeed there. Will you stop me for lack of a
hundred crowns?" And again: "I am waiting impatiently for the six
crowns my mother owes me; I need them sadly." These demands for money
met with no response. The explanation of Buonaparte's impatience is
simple enough. One by one the provincial societies which had been
formed to support the constitution were affiliating themselves with
the influential Jacobins at Paris, who were now the strongest single
political power in the country. He was the recognized leader of their
sympathizers in the Rhone valley. He evidently intended to go to
headquarters and see for himself what the outlook was. With backers
such as he thus hoped to find, some advantage, perhaps even the
long-desired command in Corsica, might be secured.

It was rare good fortune that the young hotspur was not