arged at the head of
the eighth battalion of grenadiers, and contributed much to its fortunate
issue. In October of the same year, Bonaparte, as a mark of his
satisfaction, sent him to present to the Directory the numerous colours
which the army of Italy had conquered; from whom he received in return a
pair of pistols, with a fraternal hug from Carnot. On his return to
Italy he was, for the first time, employed by his chief in a political
capacity. A republic, and nothing but a republic, being then the order
of the day, some Italian patriots were convoked at Reggio to arrange a
plan for a Cisalpine Republic, and for the incorporation with it of
Modena, Bologna, and other neutral States; Marmont was nominated a French
republican plenipotentiary, and assisted as such in the organization of a
Commonwealth, which since has been by turns a province of Austria or a
tributary State of France.

Marmont, though combating for a bad cause, is an honest man; his hands
are neither soiled with plunder, nor stained with blood. Bonaparte,
among his other good qualities, wishes to see every one about him rich;
and those who have been too delicate to accumulate wealth by pillage, he
generally provides for, by putting into requisition some great heiress.
After the Peace of Campo Formio, Bonaparte arrived at Paris, where he
demanded in marriage for his aide-de-camp Marmont, Mademoiselle
Perregeaux, the sole child of the first banker in France, a well-educated
and accomplished young lady, who would be much more agreeable did not her
continual smiles and laughing indicate a degree of self-satisfaction and
complacency which may be felt, but ought never to be published.

The banker, Perregeaux, is one of those fortunate beings who, by drudgery
and assiduity, has succeeded in some few years to make an ample fortune.
A Swiss by birth, like Necker, he also, like him, after gratifying the
passion of avidity, showed 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'