ou mustering them?"--"Citizen President, I am going to make an
inspection of them, and order a grand maneuver. Forward--march!" And
the citizen general filed out at the head of his troop to rejoin General
Bonaparte at Saint-Cloud; while the latter was awaited at the house of
the citizen president, and the breakfast delayed to which General
Bonaparte had been invited for that very morning.
General Marmont had also entertained at breakfast the officers of the
division of the army which he commanded (it was, I think, the artillery).
At the end of the repast he addressed a few words to them, urging them
not to alienate their cause from that of the conqueror of Italy, and to
accompany him to Saint-Cloud. "But how can we follow him?" cried one of
his guests. "We have no horses."--"If that alone deters you, you will
find horses in the court of this hotel. I have seized all those of the
national riding-school. Let us go below and mount." All the officers
present responded to the invitation except General Allix, who declared he
would take no part in all this disturbance.
I was at Saint-Cloud on the two days, 18th and 19th Brumaire. I saw
General Bonaparte harangue the soldiers, and read to them the decree by
which he had been made commander-in-chief of all the troops at Paris, and
of the whole of the Seventeenth Military Division. I saw him come out
much agitated first from the Council of the Ancients, and afterwards from
the Assembly of the Five Hundred. I saw Lucien Bonaparte brought out of
the hall, where the latter assembly was sitting, by some grenadiers, sent
in to protect him from the violence of his colleagues. Pale and furious,
he threw himself on his horse and galloped straight to the troops to
address them; and when he pointed his sword at his brother's breast,
saying he would be the first to slay him if he dared to strike at
liberty, cries of "Vive Bonaparte! down with the lawyers!" burst forth
on all sides; and the soldiers, led by General Murat, rushed into the
Hall of the Five Hundred. Everybody knows what then occurred, and I will
not enter into details which have been so often related.
The general, now made First Consul, installed himself at the Luxembourg,
though at this time he resided also at Malmaison. But he was often on
the road, as was also Josephine; for their trips to Paris when they
occupied this residence were very frequent, not only on Government
business, which often required the presence of the
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