nderstood. Finally, here was a citizen of
the world, a man without a country; his birthright was gone, for
Corsica repelled him; France he hated, for she had never adopted him.
He was almost without a profession, for he had neglected that of a
soldier, and had failed both as an author and as a politician. He was
apparently, too, without a single guiding principle; the world had
been a harsh stepmother, at whose knee he had neither learned the
truth nor experienced kindness. He appears consistent in nothing but
in making the best of events as they occurred. So far he was a man
neither much better nor much worse than the world into which he was
born. He was quite as unscrupulous as those about him, but he was far
greater than they in perspicacity, adroitness, adaptability, and
persistence. During the period before his expulsion from Corsica these
qualities of leadership were scarcely recognizable, but they existed.
As yet, to all outward appearance, the little captain of artillery was
the same slim, ill-proportioned, and rather insignificant youth; but
at twenty-three he had had the experience of a much greater age.
Conscious of his powers, he had dreamed many day-dreams, and had
acquired a habit of boastful conversation in the family circle; but,
fully cognizant of the dangers incident to his place, and the
unsettled conditions about him, he was cautious and reserved in the
outside world.

CHAPTER XVI.

"The Supper of Beaucaire".

Revolutionary Madness -- Uprising of the Girondists --
Convention Forces Before Avignon -- Bonaparte's First
Success in Arms -- Its Effect upon His Career -- His
Political Pamphlet -- The Genius it Displays -- Accepted and
Published by Authority -- Seizure of Toulon by the Allies.

[Sidenote: 1793.]

It was a tempestuous time in Provence when on June thirteenth the
Buonapartes arrived at Toulon. Their movements during the first few
months cannot be determined; we only know that, after a very short
residence there, the family fled to Marseilles.[35] Much, too, is
obscure in regard even to Napoleon, soldier as he was. It seems as if
this period of their history had been wilfully confused to conceal how
intimate were the connections of the entire family with the Jacobins.
But the obscurity may also be due to the character of the times.
Fleeing before the storms of Corsican revolution, they were caught in
the whirlwind of French anarchy. The Girondists, after