st by Cartaux, a vain coxcomb who
had been a painter, and then by Doppet, an ex-physician, and a coward.
To watch and report on the proceedings of these chiefs, there were
present in the camp several Representatives of the People, as they were
called--persons holding no military character or rank, but acting as
honourable spies for the government at Paris. The interference of these
personages on this, as on many other occasions, was productive of
delays, blunders, and misfortunes; but the terror which their ready
access to the despotic government inspired was often, on the other hand,
useful in stimulating the exertions of the military. The younger
Robespierre was one of the deputies at Toulon, and his name was enough
to make his presence formidable.

Cartaux had not yet been superseded, when Napoleon Buonaparte made his
appearance at headquarters, with a commission to assume the command of
the artillery. It has been said that he owed his appointment to the
private regard of Salicetti; but the high testimonials he had received
from the Military Academy were more likely to have served him; nor is it
possible to suppose that he had been so long in the regiment of La Fere
without being appreciated by some of his superiors. He had, besides,
shortly before this time, excited attention by a pamphlet, called the
_Supper of Beaucaire_, in which the politics of the Jacobin party were
spiritedly supported; and of which he was afterwards so ashamed, that he
took great pains to suppress it. However this may have been, he was
received almost with insolence by Cartaux, who, strutting about in an
uniform covered with gold lace, told him his assistance was not wanted,
but he was welcome to partake in _his_ glory.

The commandant of the artillery, on examining the state of affairs,
found much to complain of. They were still disputing which extremity of
the town should be the chief object of attack; though at the one there
were two strong and regular fortifications, and at the other only a
small and imperfect fort called Malbosquet. On inspecting their
batteries, he found that the guns were placed about two gunshots from
the walls; and that it was the custom to heat the shot at a distance
from the place where they were to be discharged; in other words, to heat
them to no purpose. Choosing officers of his own acquaintance to act
under him, and exerting himself to collect guns from all quarters,
Buonaparte soon remedied these disorders, a