own himself in seizing the salient
elements of a complicated situation, and the man of affairs had found
a style in which to express his clear-cut ideas. When the tide turns
it rises without interruption. Buonaparte's pamphlet was scarcely
written before its value was discerned; for at that moment arrived
one of those legations now representing the sovereignty of the
Convention in every field of operations. This one was a most
influential committee of three--Escudier, Ricord, and the younger
brother of Robespierre. Accompanying them was a commission charged to
renew the commissary stores in Corsica for the few troops still
holding out in that island. Salicetti was at its head; the other
member was Gasparin. Buonaparte, we may infer, found easy access to
the favor of his compatriot Salicetti, and "The Supper of Beaucaire"
was heard by the plenipotentiaries with attention. Its merit was
immediately recognized, as is said, both by Gasparin and by the
younger Robespierre; in a few days the pamphlet was published at the
expense of the state.[38] Of Buonaparte's life between July
twenty-ninth and September twelfth, 1793, there are the most
conflicting accounts. Some say he was at Marseilles, others deny it.
His brother Joseph thought he was occupied in collecting munitions and
supplies for the Army of Italy. His earliest biographer declares that
he traveled by way of Lyons and Auxonne to Paris, returning by the
same route to Avignon, and thence journeying to Ollioules near Toulon.
From the army headquarters before that city Salicetti wrote on
September twenty-sixth that while Buonaparte was passing on his way to
rejoin the Army of Italy, the authorities in charge of the siege
changed his destination and put him in command of the heavy artillery
to replace Dommartin, incapacitated for service by a wound. It has
been hinted by both the suspicious and the credulous writers on the
period that the young man was employed on some secret mission. This
might be expected from those who attribute demonic qualities to the
child of destiny from earliest infancy, but there is no slightest
evidence to sustain the claim. Quite possibly the lad relapsed into
the queer restless ways of earlier life. It is evident he was thwarted
in his hope of transfer to the Army of the Rhine. Unwilling as he was
to serve in Italy, he finally turned his lagging footsteps thither.
Perhaps, as high authorities declare, it was at Marseilles that his
compatriot C