January 12d, Paris:
On the first day of each decade there shall be held a gen-eral council of finance; on the fourth day a council of military administration; on the sixth day a council of naval administration. On the 8th day of each month there shall be a council of judicial administration; on the 18th, one for foreign affairs; and on the 28th, one for internal and police matters. These Councils will meet at the First Consul's at half-past nine in the evening.

When I want to close off one matter, I push in its file, and pull out another. I never get them mixed up, and they never bother nor fatigue me. If I want to sleep, I push in all the files at once, and I'm asleep.

13th. Four millions are all important to us in the present situation. Perhaps we could raise them at Hamburg.

14th. (To citoyen Gaudin.) General Moreau complains that his drafts on Bâle have not been honoured. His army is in absolute want. It is urgent to send him money. Couldn't you get some drafts on Marseilles or Corsica?

15th. (To brave Léon.) I have received your letter, my brave comrade; there was no necessity to remind me of your deeds. Since the death of brave Benezette you are the bravest grenadier of the army. One of the hundred swords I am giving to the army goes to you. All the men agreed that you were the model of your regiment. I am anxious to see you; the Minister of War will issue an order to that effect. I regard you as my son.

General Murat will give him a brevet as sub-lieutenant in the Consular Guard, and will write him a letter.

25th. I intend to organize a Reserve army, of which the command will go to the First Consul.

February 7th. (Order.) Washington is dead. That great man fought against despotism. He established the liberty of his country. His memory will always be treasured by the French people, as it will by the free men of both continents, and especially by the French soldiers who, like him and the American soldiers, are fighting for equality and liberty.

The First Consul therefore orders that, for the space of ten days, a black crape shall be draped on the standards and guidons of the Republic.

13th. (To General Hédouville.) Inform Bourmont that he must surrender his guns within twenty-four hours of your summons, and 3000 muskets within three days. On his refusal put yourself at the head of your troops and don't take your boots off till you've destroyed him.

18th. At the palace of the Tuileries:

To be here is nothing, we've got to stay here!

(To General Brune.) From what you write about Georges (Cadoudal) I shall be glad to see him in Paris. Send me a list of the leaders. Frotté has been captured with all his staff; I had refused to negotiate with him. At this writing he should be shot; so that peace is pretty well established in Normandy.

27th. Announce the Civil Code for next session. Give me the names of men who can carry through the work, and draw up a decree.

March 1st. There will be a grand parade of all the troops of the garrison in the Court of the Tuileries every decade.

5th. I saw Georges this morning; he looks a burly Breton who might be turned to some useful account for his country.

Will it be peace? Or will it be war? That is still very uncertain. However, the Emperor negotiates with some politeness; so far as manners go it all looks well.

8th. (Proclamation.) People of France, you want peace. Your Government desires it even more ardently than you. Our first hopes, our constant endeavours, have been to secure it. The English Government has betrayed the secret of its horrible policy. To tear France asunder; to destroy her navy and her ports; to efface her name from Europe; to reduce her to the rank of a second rate power; to divide the nations of the continent so as to seize their commerce and enrich herself with their spoils: these are the hideous successes for which England lavishes her gold, her promises, and her intrigues. If any Power still insists on attempting the fate of arms, the First Consul has promised peace; he will conquer it at the head of those warriors he has more than once led to victory. With them he will know how to find once more the fields of their former exploits; but in the midst of battle he will invoke peace, and he swears to fight for nothing but the happiness of France and the repose of the world.

12th. (To General Masséna.) The campaign will soon open on the Rhine. Melas, who is against you, is not very deep. He is far from having your military ability, or your activity. I am very distressed at your situation, but I count on your zeal and on your talent.

15th. The first division of the Reserve army, about 12,000 strong, will start from Paris to-morrow. The two other divisions left Nantes and Rennes on the 12th.

16th. (To General Moreau.) I have become a sort of lay figure, having lost my liberty of action and happiness. I envy you your lucky fate. At the head of brave men you will accomplish great things. I would willingly trade off my consular purple for the stripe of a chef de brigade under your orders.

I hope that circumstances will allow me to come to your help. In any case, I have the fullest confidence in you.

(To a journalist.) I am trying my strength against Europe; you are trying yours against the spirit of the Revolution. Your ambition is greater than mine, and I have more chances of success than you.

20th, Malmaison:
I was here last Sunday, walking, alone with the silence of nature. The sound of the church-bell of Rueil suddenly struck my ear; it gave me a sharp sensation. So strong is the power of early habit and education over us! I said to myself: How great must that impression be on simple and credulous men! Let the philosophers and rationalists get over that! The people need a religion.

April 4th. General Berthier is starting for the Reserve army; I have appointed Carnot minister of war. I have not yet sent my baggage off; I am daily expecting decisive information from Vienna.

5th. The First Consul would be gratified by the suppression of the couplet that alludes to him in the Tableau des Sabines.

(To citoyen Fouché.) The Consuls intend that the journals Le Bien Informé, Les Hommes libres, and Les Dé-fenseurs de la Patrie be suppressed. Inform Mr. (Tom) Paine that the police are aware that his conduct is not good; at the first complaint he will be sent to America, his own country.

9th. (To General Berthier.) The Reserve army which you command is to establish harmony between the armies of the Rhine and of Italy in view of the operations that are about to take place. It is to be the centre of a grand line of which the right is at Genoa and the left on the Danube.

(To General Masséna.) The army of the Rhine will open the campaign between the 10th and 20th of this month. As soon as this is done, General Lecourbe will be transferred to the command of General Berthier; he will cross the St. Gothard and descend into Italy. At the same moment part of the Reserve army will enter the Valais, and thence cross into Italy, either by the Simplon or by the St. Gothard.

21st. (Proclamation to the youth of France.) Young Frenchmen: If you are burning to belong to an army that is intended to bring the wars of the Revolution to a close, by securing the independence, the liberty, and the glory of the great nation: to arms! to arms! Rush to Dijon!

Generally speaking, the best way to praise me is to do all things that inspire the nation, the youth, the army, with heroic sentiments.

24th. (To Carnot.) The army of Italy is in contact with the Austrian army. The Reserve army must not lose a single hour. Therefore pray order General Berthier to move the army as rapidly as possible to Geneva. I have nothing new by the semaphore from Bâle to-day. Repeat the order to General Moreau to attack the enemy.

25th. (To General Berthier.) Everything is going smoothly here, and the instant you think my presence necessary because of events either on the Rhine or in Italy, I can start one hour after receiving your letter. I regret to see that residing in Dijon makes you melancholy. Cheer up!

27th. (To General Berthier.) My plan is no longer to cross the St. Gothard; I think that move possible and within the bounds of prudence only if General Moreau should win some success over the enemy. Besides, Milan may not be our objective after all, for we may have to hasten to Tortona to relieve Masséna, who, if he has been defeated, has doubtless shut himself up in Genoa, where he has food for thirty days. We shall therefore have to cross by the St. Bernard.

There is no greater coward than I when I am drawing up a plan of campaign. I magnify every danger, every disadvantage that can be conceived. My nervousness is painful; not but that I show a cool face to those who are about me. I am like a woman in the throes of childbirth. When once my decision is made, however, I forget all, except what may carry it through to success.

I love power; but I love it as an artist, as a musician loves his violin. I love to draw sounds from it, chords, harmony!

Midnight:

I am waiting impatiently for news from the Rhine and from Italy.

May 1st. (To Carnot.) Please send an intelligent staff or engineer officer to General Suchet and then on to General Masséna. He will inform them that the Reserve army is in full march for the passes of the Alps, and will debouch in Piedmont on the 11th of May.

2d. (To Berthier.) The enemy is far from suspecting your march. I have sure information that at Vienna and in Italy they are laughing at our Reserve army; they think August will be here before it is ready, and that it is merely a levy of conscripts to fill the ranks of the army of the Rhine.

3d. (To the Presidents of the Tribunals of the Department of the Seine.) While France was torn by factions, justice was badly administered, as was indeed inevitable. For ten years have these conditions lasted; it is for you to bring them to an end. You are never to ask to what party the man who demands justice belongs; but you are to weigh the rights of all men with severe impartiality. It is for the army to secure peace with foreign countries; it is for Justice to secure peace between our citizens. You are appointed for life; no one has the right to remove you; you are responsible for your judgments only to your conscience; you will be as impassive as the law.

With laws that actually interfere with the action of justice, I myself am compelled to prosecute disorders that affect the security of the state and to repress them arbitrarily.

Penal laws should read as though engraved on tables of marble, and should be as concise as the Decalogue.

A law should always lay down a general principle; it would be futile to attempt to foresee all possible cases.

4th. (To General Berthier.) I have just received your dispatch. The last news from Italy is that on the 23d Masséna was at the bridge of Cornigliano; he is therefore really blockaded in Genoa. It may happen: that Masséna will capitulate and evacuate Genoa; (or that) Masséna's positions at Genoa will be carried. In either case, you must see that General Melas can move from Genoa to Aosta in eight days, and if he reached there before you could debouch with 20,000 men, the odds would be much in his favour in attempting to hold the passage into Italy. Therefore try to get General Chabran's (command), together with a thousand cavalry, to Aosta by the 10th of May, and the rest by the 12th and 13th. I leave to-morrow night, and will be at Genoa on the 18th.

5th. (To Berthier.) I have just learned by semaphore that Moreau has been engaged with the enemy at Stockach, that he has made 7000 prisoners, captured nine guns, and large magazines. All is going well. Masséna's aide-de-camp has reached me; he assures me they have rations for twenty-five days. Order forced marching.

(To Moreau.) I was starting for Geneva when the semaphore brought me news of your victory over the Austrians: glorious, and three times glorious!

The situation of the army of Italy is somewhat critical; Masséna is cooped up in Genoa with rations that will last till the 25th or 26th. The army of Melas appears to be quite large. I greet you cordially.

(To Masséna.) The Reserve army is marching fast. I leave to-night. I count on you to hold out as long as you can, but at the least until the 30th.

9th, Geneva:
(To the Consuls of the Republic.) I reached here at midnight. The whole army is moving and in good order. I note with pleasure that Paris is calm. But in any case, I repeat, strike hard at any one, whoever he may be, who shows the first signs of wabbling.

What I witnessed on my journey through France is indescribable. Had I not frequently changed my route I would have been another eight days getting here.

11th. (To Saliceti.) Write to Malta by every ship, and give them news from Europe, insisting on the fact that France and Europe confidently expect them to hold their posts to the last mouthful of bread.

19th, Lausanne:
(To General Dupont.) Give orders that, beginning to-morrow, in every demi-brigade the conscripts shall be made to fire a few shots, shall be shown with which eye to aim, and how to load a musket

13th. I have news from Masséna up to the 30th. He was completely surrounded in Genoa, and fighting every day.

14th. (To General Desaix.) My dear Desaix: I receive your letter this very moment. Here you are at last; splendid news for the whole Republic, but especially for me who hold you in the esteem due to men of your talent, and in a friendship which my heart, so old now and knowing mankind but too well, feels for no one else.

On my arrival in France I found the Republic lost; the Vendée was at the gates of Paris; the fleet instead of being at Toulon was at Brest, and dismantled; Brest was even threatened by the English. I have had to destroy the Vendée, find money, refit the fleet. But don't let us talk of those things; come and join me as quickly as you can.

(To the Consuls of the Republic.) I wish you to have printed in the Journal Officiel that Generals Desaix and Davout have arrived at Toulon, with a few words added to the effect that these generals maintained, after my departure, the reputation they had won in the campaigns of Holland and the Rhine.

15th. (To the Consuls.) The advance guard commanded by General Lannes is at this moment crossing the St. Bernard. Hold back the news from the army for a few days; merely say that it is in full march.

16th. (To Josephine.) I am just starting for St. Maurice, where I shall sleep. I have had no letters from you; that's not nice; I write to you by every courier. A thousand tender things, my good little Josephine, for you and for yours.

17th, Martigny:
I have just arrived at Martigny. I shall stay the night here in hopes of getting news of the capture of Fort Bard to-morrow morning.

18th. We are struggling against ice, snow, storms, and avalanches. The St. Bernard, amazed at the sight of so great a multitude attempting to pass so rapidly, places obstacles in our way. Not since Charlemagne has so large an army been seen here. A third of our fieldpieces are over. General Berthier is at Aosta. In three days the whole army will have crossed.

19th. (To the Consuls.) I hear from General Suchet that the enemy are showing signs of being disturbed at the movement of the Reserve army, and that they have sent a detachment towards Berthier. I see that I am reported in the papers as writing to my mother that I should be in Milan in a month. It doesn't sound like me. I often don't say what I know, but I never prophesy what will happen. I wish you to send a note to the Moniteur on this subject, written in a bantering tone.

20th. On the St. Bernard:
The St. Bernard was covered with snow, and the climb was very stiff. General Marmont, in command of the artillery, employed two methods. The first was to take a tree-trunk hollowed out like a trough in which the 8-pounders and howitzers were placed; a hundred men hitched to a cable dragged it, taking two days to cross the St. Bernard. In the worst places the men were cheered on by the drums beating the charge, -- a striking spectacle! The First Consul descended the St. Bernard sitting on the snow, crossing precipices and sliding over torrents by this means.

24th, Aosta:

On the 19th, Melas was at Nice, still unsuspecting. Our artillery continues crossing the St. Bernard. Fort Bard, at the mouth of the valley, makes the passage of the artillery very difficult.

(To Joseph Bonaparte.) Please give 30,000 francs to my wife. We have dropped here like a thunderbolt; the enemy didn't expect it, and hardly believe it yet.

27th, Ivrea:
I reached Ivrea last night. Everything is going as well as possible. I shall be back in Paris before the end of Prairial.

29th. At Chivasso the First Consul reviewed the advance guard. He said to the 28th of the line: -- You have spent two years on these mountains, often deprived of everything, and you have always done your work without a murmur. That is a good soldier's first duty. -- The First Consul ordered that as a sign of his satisfaction with the good appearance of this demi-brigade it should be placed in the van at the next engagement. Two couriers have been intercepted, and it is clear that General Melas is still at Turin. The greater part of his army, which was tucked away at Nice, is making forced marches towards the Po.

30th, Vercelli:
I leave to-night for Novara. To-morrow I shall reach the banks of the Ticino to see how we can get across; the river is very large and swift.

The advance guard remained at Chivasso the whole of the 29th. The enemy have moved all their available infantry from Turin along the right bank of the Po, opposite Chivasso. In the meanwhile, General Murat was completing his bridge over the Sesia, crossed that river, reached Novara, and took up a position along the right bank of the Ticino. The inhabitants of Milan could hear the guns at our outposts to-day.

June 1st, Novara:
The First Consul arrived at the Ticino on the morning of the 31st. The enemy showed a considerable force of cavalry and a few guns on the left bank. General Murat got a battery in position, and a cannonade followed for an hour. After six hours' work we got nearly 1500 men and two guns over.

Murat is now halfway to Milan.

3d, Milan:
General Murat reached Milan on the 2d. He immediately surrounded the citadel. Three hours later the First Consul and his staff made their entry, surrounded by a crowd displaying the greatest enthusiasm.

Night:
Our movement has been so rapid that it was only twenty-four hours before our entry that the people of Milan knew the French were in Italy.

4th. (To Talleyrand.) Please have a pamphlet printed with the following title: Letter of a patriotic member of the Germanic body on the policy of the House of Austria. The object is to show that Austria has always striven to enlarge herself at the expense and to the detriment of the Empire. It would be a good thing to have this letter printed in German and to have it distributed broadcast in Germany.

I see no objection to your sending some dresses to the Queen of Spain; you may spend about a thousand louis for this purpose. However, see that proprieties are observed and that nothing ridiculous is done.

(To General Bernadotte.) I will say nothing more, my dear General, than that we are in Milan, that we have captured the enemy's train, 300 field and siege guns, all their hospitals and magazines.

Moreau is holding his own near Ulm.

Capture that rascal Georges dead or alive. If you ever catch him, have him shot within 24 hours.

5th. (Speech to the priests of Milan.) It was my wish to meet you here so as to be able to inform you in person of my sentiments towards the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic faith. Convinced as I am that it is the only faith that can assure real happiness to a well-ordered society and strengthen the foundations of good government, I assure you that at all times and in every way I shall en-deavour to protect and defend it. Ministers of a religion which is also mine, I regard you as my dearest friends. My firm intention is that the Christian religion, Catholic and Roman, shall be maintained untouched. Now that power is in my hands I am resolved to put everything in operation to secure and guarantee the faith. Have no alarm because of the way in which the late Pope was treated: the misfortunes of Pius VI were partly due to the wretched intrigues of his advisers and partly to the cruel policy of the Directoire. When I am able to discuss matters with the new Pope I hope I shall be fortunate enough to remove every obstacle that may still remain in the way of a reconciliation between France and the head of the Church.

6th. Our men are over the Po and hold the position of Stradella; the enemy's army is therefore cut off.

7th. Most of the army will be concentrated by to-morrow. There is nothing Melas can do but to offer battle, and he has no retreat open save the fortresses of Alessandria and of Tortona.

8th. (To General Berthier.) General Murat has sent me some intercepted dispatches that give us interesting particulars. A letter from Melas to the Aulic Council of the 5th of June from Turin states that Masséna capitulated on the 4th. It looks as though the enemy could not complete their concentration at Alessandria before the 12th or 13th. Send detachments forward rapidly and crush everything you come across. The advance guard can move as far as Voghera.

9th. (To Carnot.) I still fail to see bow Melas can get out of it: either he must attack us at Stradella, and be de-feated and destroyed; or he can attempt to get over the Po, the Sesia, and the Ticino, and will get no better result. His position is somewhat amusing, and if Genoa had held out only 72 hours more but little of his army would ever have got away.

I start in an hour to cross the Po on my way to Stradella.

10th, Stradella:
General Ott got from Genoa to Voghera in three forced marches with 15,000 of the besieging troops. He was reinforced by 4000 or 5000 men detached by General Melas to guard the Po. The advance guards of the two armies met about noon. The enemy held the heights in front of Casteggio. Determined fighting took place and lasted all day. The 96th decided the long uncertain result with a bayonet charge. The enemy left 3000 killed and wounded, 6000 prisoners, and 5 guns on the field. Their rout was complete.

14th. Battle of Marengo.

15th. Torre dei Garoffoli:
(To the Consuls of the Republic.) All the news from the army is very good. I shall be in Paris soon. I can write no more, I am prostrated by the death of the man whom I most loved and esteemed.

(Bulletin.) After the battle of Montebello the army marched to cross the Scriva. The enemy appeared to have no plan and was making uncertain movements.

On the 14th at daybreak the enemy crossed the Bormida on three bridges, determined to cut their way through; they debouched in force, surprised our advance guard, and briskly opened the celebrated battle of Marengo which has at last decided the fate of Italy and of the Austrian army.

Four times during the battle we were falling back, and four times we were moving forward. At different moments and at one point and another, more than sixty guns were captured and recaptured. More than twelve charges of cavalry were delivered, with varied success.

At 3 in the afternoon 10,000 cavalry outflanked our right in the splendid plain of San Giulano. They were supported by a line of infantry and many guns. The grenadiers of the Guard stood like a granite redoubt in the midst of this immense plain; nothing could shake them.

This desperate resistance contained the enemy's left, and supported our right until General Mounier got up, and carried the village of Castel Ceriolo at the point of the bayonet. The enemy's cavalry now made a rapid movement on our left, which was already shaken; this attack hastened our retreat.

The enemy were advancing along the whole line, pouring grape from a hundred guns. The roads were packed with fugitives and wounded: the battle appeared to be lost. The enemy were allowed to continue their advance as far as the village of San Giulano, where Desaix'division had been deployed, with eight fieldpieces on its front, and two battalions thrown back and in column on the wings. All the fugitives were rallying behind. The enemy were already making mistakes that presaged their catastrophe, they were extending their wings too much. The presence of the First Consul was restoring the morale of the troops: -- My lads, he called out, remember that my habit is to sleep on the battlefield! --

With shouts of Vive la République! Vive le Premier Consul! Desaix moved forward by his centre at the charge. In a moment the enemy's line was broken. General Kellermann, who, with his brigade of heavy cavalry, had been protecting the retirement of our left wing all day, charged at just the right moment, and so hard that 6000 grenadiers, with General Zach, chief of staff, were made prisoners, while several generals were killed.

The whole army followed up this attack. The enemy's right was cut off; surprise and panic seized their ranks. The Austrian cavalry moved to the centre to protect their retreat. Brigadier-General Bessières, at the head of the Cassecous and the grenadiers of the Guard, bravely and promptly charged them and broke through them, which completed the rout of their army.

We have captured 15 flags, 40 guns, and 6000 or 8000 prisoners. More than 6000 of the enemy remained on the battlefield. General Berthier had his clothes full of bullets and several of his staff were unhorsed. But a grave loss for the army, and for the whole Republic takes all rejoicing from our hearts: Desaix was struck by a bullet just as his division went into action; he was killed on the spot. He lived just long enough to say to young Lebrun who was near him: "Go tell the First Consul that I die regretting I have not lived long enough to be known to posterity!" He had joined headquarters only three days before; he was ardent for the fray, and the day before he had several times repeated to the officers of his staff. "It is long since I fought in Europe. The bullets will have forgotten me; something will happen." When, in the midst of heavy firing, the news of Desaix' death was brought to the First Consul, he merely said: "Why may I not weep?" -- His body has been removed to Milan for embalming.

Little Kellermann made a very lucky charge; it was in the nick of time; we owe him a lot. To think that great events turn on such things!

(To Kellermann.) Your charge was pretty good!

16th, Marengo:
(To the Consuls.) The day following the battle of Marengo General Melas sent a request to our outposts that he might send General Skal to confer with me, and in the course of the day the inclosed convention was agreed on, and was signed in the night by General Berthier and General Melas. I hope the French people will be pleased with its army. I shall be at Milan to-night.

(To His Majesty the Emperor and King.) I have the honour of writing to Your Majesty to communicate the wish of the French people to bring to an end the war that desolates our countries. It is on the battlefield of Marengo, in the midst of suffering and surrounded by 15,000 corpses, that I beg Your Majesty to listen to the cry of suffering. It is for me to urge Your Majesty, as I am nearer the field of conflict. The arms of Your Majesty have earned enough glory, and control enough territory. What reasons can Your Majesty's ministers allege for continuing hostilities?

I think it my duty to propose to Your Majesty: that the armistice be extended to all the armies; and that negotiators be instructed on both sides.

17th, Milan:
I have just reached Milan, somewhat fatigued.

Some Hungarian grenadiers and German prisoners passing by, who had already been prisoners in the campaigns of 1796 and 1797, recognized the First Consul. Many began to shout, with apparent enthusiasm: "Vive Bonaparte!"

What a thing is imagination! Here are men who don't know me, who have never seen me, but who only knew of me, and they are moved by my presence, they would do anything for me! And this same incident arises in all centuries and in all countries! Such is fanaticism! Yes, imagination rules the world. The defect of our modern institutions is that they do not speak to the imagination. By that alone can man be governed; without it he is but a brute.

18th. To-day, whatever our Paris atheists may say, I am going in full state to the Te Deum that is to be sung in the Cathedral of Milan.

An imposing and splendid ceremony!

21st. (To the Consuls.) I have sent a courier to the Emperor, with a letter which the Minister of Foreign Affairs will transmit to you. You may think it rather informal in style, but it was written on a battlefield. Part of the Guard started for Paris to-day with the flags captured at Marengo. Their route is arranged so that they shall reach Paris on the 14th of July. You must work at making the celebration a brilliant one, and don't ape previous ones. Fireworks would be effective. Chariot races are all right for Greece, where chariots were implements of war; with us they mean nothing.

25th. I am starting for Paris.

26th, Turin:
The Reserve army and the army of Italy are united as the army of Italy. General Masséna will be commander-in-chief.

29th, Lyons:
I have reached Lyons. I am stopping to lay the cornerstone of the place Bellecour, which is being rebuilt. I am told that we may hope to have it finished in two years. I hope that before then the trade of this great city, once the pride of Europe, will have recovered its prosperity.

I shall arrive in Paris unexpectedly. I wish no triumphal arches, no ceremonies. I have too good an opinion of myself to put any value on such flim-flam. The only real triumph is the satisfaction of the public.

July 2d, Paris, the Tuileries:
Well, citizens, here we are. Come, have you been hard at work since I left?

(Not as hard as you, general!)

I only gain battles, but Josephine by her sweetness, wins every heart. -- Josephine the most amiable and the best of women! --

4th. I! a royal maggot! I am a soldier, I come from the people, I have made myself! Am I to be compared with Louis XVI? I listen to everybody, but my own mind is my only counsellor. There are some men who have done France more harm than the wildest revolutionaries, -- the talkers, and the rationalists. Vague and false thinkers, a few lessons of geometry would do them good!

My policy is to govern men as the great number wish to be governed. That, I think, is the way to recognise the sovereignty of the people.

14th. To the 14th of July! To the French people, the sovereign of us all!

24th. (To His Majesty the Emperor.) I have received the letter which Your Majesty has sent me by Count St. Julien. The peace preliminaries it contains will soon, I hope, be followed by a final peace.

25th. When a Frenchman has to choose between a policeman and the devil, he is for the devil, but when it is between the devil and fashion, he follows fashion, and providing the government does well, all that it does will be in the fashion.

28th. At Marengo Desaix had a presentiment of his death. I could see that he was gloomy, and as at the crisis there was much anxiety, I got off my horse and said to him, let us sit down here for a moment on the grass to show our confidence. It was at that moment that Desaix said to me, -- the bullets don't recognise me now.

30th. Well, Junot, so you were fool enough to get caught by those . . . English. What do you want to do? Shall I send you to the army of the Rhine? You need to put on another ten years.

The impact of an army, like the total of mechanical coefficients, is equal to the mass multiplied by the velocity.

A battle is a dramatic action which has its beginning, its middle, and its conclusion. The result of a battle depends on the instantaneous flash of an idea. When you are about to give battle concentrate all your strength, neglect nothing; a battalion often decides the day.

In warfare every opportunity must be seized; for fortune is a woman: if you miss her to-day, you need not expect to find her to-morrow.

There is nothing in the military profession I cannot do for myself. If there is no one to make gunpowder, I know how to make it; gun carriages, I know how to construct them; if it is founding a cannon, I know that; or if the details of tactics must be taught, I can teach them.

The presence of a general is necessary: he is the head, he is the all in all of an army. It was not the Roman army conquered Gaul, but Cæsar; it was not the Carthaginians made the armies of the Republic tremble at the very gates of Rome, but Hannibal; it was not the Macedonian army marched to the Indus, but Alexander; it was not the French army that carried war to the Weser and to the Inn, but Turenne; it was not the Prussian army that defended Prussia during seven years against the three strongest Powers of Europe, but Frederick the Great.

Concentration of forces, activity, activity with the firm resolve to die gloriously: these are the three great principles of the military art that have always made fortune favourable in all my operations. Death is nothing; but to live defeated and ingloriously, is to die every day.

I am a soldier, because that is the special faculty I was born with; that is my life, my habit. I have commanded wherever I have been. I commanded, when twenty-three years old, at the siege of Toulon; I commanded in Paris at Vendémiaire; I carried the soldiers of the army of Italy with me as soon as I appeared among them; I was born that way.

August 12th. (Decree.) The Minister of Justice will call together at the ministry citoyens Tronchet, Bigot de Préameneu, and Portalis, to confer on the draft of the Civil Code.

13th. Wealth cannot confer a privilege. I have no intention of preaching collectivism; I am speaking between ourselves; I even want to have rich men, for that is the only way of supporting the poor; but I cannot admit that wealth is entitled to social or political distinction.

How can a state be well governed without the aid of religion? Society cannot exist save with inequality of fortune, and inequality of fortune cannot be supported without religion. When a man dies of hunger by the side of another who is gorged, he cannot accept that disparity without some authority that shall say to him: "God has decreed it thus: there must be rich and poor in the world; but in the hereafter, and for all eternity, it will be the other way about."

It was by becoming a Catholic that I pacified the Vendée, and a Mussulman that I established myself in Egypt; it was by becoming ultramontane that I won over public opinion in Italy. If I ruled a people of Jews, I would rebuild the temple of Solomon! Paradise is a central spot whither the souls of men proceed along different roads; every sect has a road of its own.

September 6th. A monument shall be erected to the memory of Generals Desaix and Kléber, who died on the same day, at the same moment: one in Europe, at the battle of Marengo, which reconquered Italy for the Republic; the other in Africa, after the battle of Heliopolis, which reconquered Egypt for France.

7th. The King is at Mittau; let him stay there!

(To the Comte de Provence (Louis XVIII).) I have received your letter, sir, and I thank you for the polite expressions it contains. You must give up all hope of returning to France; you would have to step over 100,000 dead bodies. Sacrifice your personal interest to the peace and happiness of France. History will remember you for it. I am not unmindful of the misfortunes of your family. I would be glad to contribute to the comfort and security of your retirement.

My poor Cambacérès, I can't help it, but your case is clear; if ever the Bourbons return, you will be hanged!

10th. (To Lucien Bonaparte, Minister of the Interior.) Please send me a list of our ten best painters, of our ten best sculptors, of our ten best composers, of our ten best musicians, of our ten best architects, and the names of any artists in other lines who deserve public recognition.

23d. The Government notifies the King of England that it would raise no objection to admit his envoys to the Congress of Lunéville, on the basis of a truce at sea.

October 17th. To govern France, after ten such extraordinary years, is no easy task!

November 22d. (To Savary.) Kindly start for Brest tomorrow. You will take with you citoyen Jerome Bonaparte, whom you will put on board Admiral Ganteaume. Stay there until that rear-admiral has made sail and is out of sight.

(To Rear-Admiral Ganteaume.) I am sending you citoyen Jerome Bonaparte, to serve his apprenticeship at sea. You know that he needs a firm hand, and has lost time to make up. Insist on his carrying out every one of the duties of the profession he has entered.

December 1st. If I die four or five years hence, the machine will be in order, it will run. If I die before then, I don't know what would happen.

(Devaismes: We should make some general First Consul.)

You don't want a general in that position; you want a civilian. The army will obey a civilian better than it will a soldier. If three or four years from now I were dying in my bed, of a fever, and if to crown my romance I were to make my will, I would warn the nation against a military government; I would tell it to choose a civilian for its first magistrate.

9th. Order salutes of all the artillery in the shore batteries and ships at Calais and Boulogne to announce the victory of Hohenlinden.

24th. I had been greatly occupied with business all day, and in the evening was sleepy and tired. I threw myself on a sofa in my wife's salon, and fell asleep. Josephine came down some time after, awoke me, and insisted that I should go to the theatre. You know that when women take a thing into their heads, they will go through with it, and you must gratify them. Well I got up much against my inclination, and went in my carriage, accompanied by Lannes and Bessières. I was so drowsy that I fell asleep in the coach. I was asleep when the explosion took place; and I recollect when I woke experiencing a sensation as if the vehicle had been raised up, and was passing through a great body of water. The contrivers of this were a man named St. Régent, Imolan, and some others. They got a cart and barrel resembling that with which water is supplied through the streets of Paris, with this exception, that the barrel was put crossways. This he had filled with gunpowder, and placed it nearly in the turning of the street through which I was to pass. Possibly my coachman may have assisted by driving furiously round the corner, as he was drunk and not afraid of anything. He was so far gone that he thought the report of the explosion was that of a salute fired in honour of my visit to the theatre.

25th. They want to attack the Revolution by destroying me; I will defend it because I am the Revolution!

31st. (General, you are taking longer over your meals!) Already! -- The corruption of power!