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Page 14
--ceased as if by enchantment. The flotilla entered the port safe and
sound and he went back to the camp, where the sports and amusements
prepared for the soldiers commenced, and in the evening the brilliant
fireworks which were let off rose in a luminous column, which was
distinctly seen from the English coast.--[It appears that Napoleon was
so well able to cover up this fiasco that not even Bourrienne ever heard
the true story. D.W.]
When he reviewed the troops he asked the officers, and often the
soldiers, in what battles they had been engaged, and to those who had
received serious wounds he gave the cross. Here, I think, I may
appropriately mention a singular piece of charlatanism to which the
Emperor had recourse, and which powerfully contributed to augment the
enthusiasm of his troops. He would say to one of his aides decamp,
"Ascertain from the colonel of such a regiment whether he has in his
corps a man who has served in the campaigns of Italy or the campaigns of
Egypt. Ascertain his name, where he was born, the particulars of his
family, and what he has done. Learn his number in the ranks, and to what
company he belongs, and furnish me with the information."
On the day of the review Bonaparte, at a single glance, could perceive
the man who had been described to him. He would go up to him as if he
recognised him, address him by his name, and say, "Oh! so you are here!
You area brave fellow--I saw you at Aboukir--how is your old father?
What! have you not got the Cross? Stay, I will give it you." Then the
delighted soldiers would say to each other, "You see the Emperor knows us
all; he knows our families; he knows where we have served." What a
stimulus was this to soldiers, whom he succeeded in persuading that they
would all some time or other become Marshals of the Empire!
Lauriston told me, amongst other anecdotes relating to Napoleon's sojourn
at the camp at Boulogne, a remarkable instance of intrepidity on the part
of two English sailors. These men had been prisoners at Verdun, which
was the most considerable depot of English prisoners in France at the
rupture of the peace of Amiens. They effected their escape from Verdun,
and arrived at Boulogne without having been discovered on the road,
notwithstanding the vigilance with which all the English were watched
They remained at Boulogne for some time, destitute of money, and without
being able to effect their escape. They had no hope of getting aboard a
boat, on account of the strict watch that was kept upon vessels of every
kind. These two sailors made a boat of little pieces of wood, which they
put together as well as they could, having no other tools than their
knives. They covered it with a piece of sail-cloth. It was only three
or four feet wide, and not much longer, and was so light that a man could
easily carry it on his shoulders,--so powerful a passion is the love of
home and liberty! Sure of being shot if they were discovered, almost
equally sure of being drowned if they effected their escape, they,
nevertheless, resolved to attempt crossing the Channel in their fragile
skiff. Perceiving an English frigate within sight of the coast, they
pushed off and endeavoured to reach her. They had not gone a hundred
toises from the shore when they were perceived by the custom-house
officers, who set out in pursuit of them, and brought them back again.
The news of this adventure spread through the camp, where the
extraordinary courage of the two sailors was the subject of general
remark. The circumstance reached the Emperor's ears. He wished to see
the men, and they were conducted to his presence, along with their little
boat. Napoleon, whose imagination was struck by everything
extraordinary, could not conceal his surprise at so bold a project,
undertaken with such feeble means of execution. "Is it really true,"
said the Emperor to them, "that you thought of crossing the sea in
this?"--"Sire," said they, "if you doubt it, give us leave to go, and you
shall see us depart."--"I will. You are bold and enterprising men--I
admire courage wherever I meet it. But you shall not hazard your lives.
You are at liberty; and more than that, I will cause you to be put on
board an English ship. When you return to London tell how I esteem brave
men, even when they are my enemies." Rapp, who with Lauriaton, Duroc,
and many others were present at this scene, were not a little astonished
at the Emperor's generosity. If the men had not been brought before him,
they would have been shot as spies, instead of which they obtained their
liberty, and Napoleon gave several pieces of gold to each. This
circumstance was one of those which made the strongest impression on
Napoleon, and he recollected it when at St. Helena, in one of his
conversations with M. de Las Casas.
No man was ever so fond of contrasts as Bonaparte. He liked, above
everything, to direct the affairs of war whilst seated in his easy chair,
in the cabinet of St. Cloud, and to dictate in the camp his decrees
relative to civil administration. Thus, at the camp of Boulogne, he
founded the decennial premiums, the first distribution of which he
intended should take place five years afterwards, on the anniversary of
the 18th Brumaire, which was an innocent compliment to the date of the
foundation of the Consular Republic. This measure also seemed to promise
to the Republican calendar a longevity which it did not attain. All
these little circumstances passed unobserved; but Bonaparte had so often
developed to me his theory of the art of deceiving mankind that I knew
their true value. It was likewise at the camp of Boulogne that, by a
decree emanating from his individual will, he destroyed the noblest
institution of the Republic, the Polytechnic School, by converting it
into a purely military academy. He knew that in that sanctuary of high
study a Republican spirit was fostered; and whilst I was with him he had
often told me it was necessary that all schools, colleges, and
establishments for public instruction should be subject to military
discipline. I frequently endeavoured to controvert this idea, but
without success.
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