wed an ambition to shine in other places than in
the counting-house and upon the exchange. Under La Fayette, in 1790, he
was the chief of a battalion of the Parisian National Guards; under
Robespierre, a commissioner for purchasing provisions; and under
Bonaparte he is become a Senator and a commander of the Legion of Honour.
I am told that he has made all his money by his connection with your
country; but I know that the favourite of Napoleon can never be the
friend of Great Britain. He is a widower; but Mademoiselle Mars, of the
Emperor's theatre, consoles him for the loss of his wife.
General Marmont accompanied Bonaparte to Egypt, and distinguished himself
at the capture of Malta, and when, in the following year, the siege of
St. Jean d'Acre was undertaken, he was ordered to extend the
fortifications of Alexandria; and if, in 1801, they retarded your
progress, it was owing to his abilities, being an officer of engineers as
well as of the artillery. He returned with Bonaparte to Europe, and was,
after his usurpation, made a Counsellor of State. At the battle of
Marengo he commanded the artillery, and signed afterwards, with the
Austrian general, Count Hohenzollern, the Armistice of Treviso, which
preceded shortly the Peace of Luneville. Nothing has abated Bonaparte's
attachment to this officer, whom he appointed a commander-in-chief in
Holland, when a change of Government was intended there, and whom he will
entrust everywhere else, where sovereignty is to be abolished, or thrones
and dynasties subverted.
LETTER XXXVII.
PARIS, October, 1805.
MY LORD:--Many wise people are of the opinion that the revolution of
another great Empire is necessary to combat or oppose the great impulse
occasioned by the Revolution of France, before Europe can recover its
long-lost order and repose. Had the subjects of Austria been as
disaffected as they are loyal, the world might have witnessed such a
terrible event, and been enabled to judge whether the hypothesis was the
production of an ingenious schemer or of a profound statesman. Our
armies under Bonaparte have never before penetrated into the heart of a
country where subversion was not prepared, and where subversion did not
follow.
How relatively insignificant, in the eyes of Providence, must be the
independence of States and the liberties of nations, when such a
relatively insignificant personage as General von Mack can shake them?
Have, then, the Austrian he
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