oved by such a
people!"

During our stay at Milan Bonaparte had arranged a new government for
Piedmont; he had ever since cherished the wish to unite that rich and
fertile country to the French territory because some Piedmontese
provinces had been possessed by Louis XIV. That monarch was the only
king whom the First Consul really admired. "If," said he one day, "Louis
XIV. had not been born a king, he would have been a great man. But he
did not know mankind; he could not know them, for he never knew
misfortune." He admired the resolution of the old King, who would rather
bury himself under the ruins of the monarchy than submit to degrading
conditions, after having commanded the sovereigns of Europe. I recollect
that Bonaparte was extremely pleased to see in the reports which he
ordered to be made that in Casal, and in the valleys of Pignerol, Latour,
and Luzerne, there still existed many traces of the period when those
countries belonged to France; and that the French language was yet
preserved there. He already began to identify himself with the past; and
abusing the old kings of France was not the way to conciliate his favour.

The First Consul appointed for the government of Piedmont a Council
which, as may naturally be imagined; he composed of those Piedmontese who
were the declared partisans of France. He stated as the grounds of this
arrangement that it was to give to Piedmont a new proof of the affection
and attachment of the French people. He afterwards appointed General.
Dupont President of the Council, with the title of Minister-Extraordinary
of the French government. I will here mention a secret step taken by
Bonaparte towards the overthrowing of the Republic. In making the first
draught of General Dupont's appointment I had mechanically written,
"Minister-Extraordinary of the French Republic."--"No! no!" said
Bonaparte, "not of the Republic; say of the Government."

On his return to Paris the First Consul gave almost incredible proofs of
his activity. The day after his arrival he promulgated a great number of
decrees, and afterwards allotted the rewards to his soldiers. He
appointed Kellerman General of division which, on every principle of
justice, he ought to have done on the field of battle. He distributed
sabres of honour, with the following inscription, highly complimentary to
himself:--

"Battle of Maringo,--[spelt for some time, I do not know why, as,
Maringo--Bourrienne]--commanded in perso