[482] "In the confusion, one of them, named Thomé, was slightly wounded by the thrust of a dagger, and the clothes of another were cut through."—Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 95.
[483] Lacretelle, tom. xiv., p. 428; Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 91.
[484] The Moniteur is anxious to exculpate Augereau from having taken any part in favour of the routed party on the nineteenth Brumaire. That officer, it says, did not join in the general oath of fidelity to the Constitution of the year Three. The same official paper adds, that on the evening of the nineteenth, being invited by some of the leading persons of the democratic faction, to take the military command of their partisans, he had asked them by way of reply, "Whether they supposed he would tarnish the reputation he had acquired in the army, by taking command of wretches like them?" Augereau, it may be remembered, was the general who was sent by Buonaparte to Paris to act as military chief on the part of the Directory in the revolution of the 18th Fructidor, in which the soldiery had willingly followed him. Buonaparte was probably well pleased to keep a man of his military reputation and resolved character out of the combat if possible.—S.
[485] Thibaudeau, tom. i., p. 56; Lacretelle, tom. xv., p. 430; Thiers, tom. x., p. 385; Montgaillard, tom. v., p. 271.
[486] Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 97.
[487] "I have heard some of Arena's countrymen declare that he was incapable of attempting so rash an act. The contrary opinion was, however, so prevalent, that he was obliged to retire to Leghorn, where he made an appeal to the justice of the first consul; who gave him no reply: but I never heard him say that he had noticed the attitude attributed to Arena."—Savary, tom. i., p. 154.
[488] "Metaphysicians have disputed, and will long dispute, whether we did not violate the laws, and whether we were not criminal; but these are mere abstractions, at best fit for books and tribunes, and which ought to disappear before imperious necessity: one might as well blame a sailor for waste and destruction, when he cuts away his masts to avoid being overset. The fact is, that had it not been for us the country must have been lost; and we saved it. The authors and chief agents of that memorable state transaction may, and ought, instead of denials or justifications, to answer their accusers proudly, like the Romans, 'We protest that we have saved our country, come with us and return thanks to the gods.'"—Napoleon, Las Cases, tom. iv., p. 331.
[489] "Siêyes, during the most critical moments, had remained in his carriage at the gate of St. Cloud, ready to follow the march of the troops. His conduct during the danger was becoming: he evinced coolness, resolution, and intrepidity."—Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 100.
[490] Gourgaud, tom. i., p 120.
[491] Subsequently Duke of Gaëta, who had long occupied the place of chief clerk of finance. "He was a man of mild manners, and of inflexible probity; proceeding slowly, but surely. He never had to withdraw any of his measures, because his knowledge was practical and the fruit of long experience."—Napoleon, Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 109.