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LIFE OF COLONEL MACERONI.

and arguments, and probably as much more by the personalappearance and address of bis applicant, to cause the rejec-tion to be reversed, and his immediate admission into theconstitutional guard. It is a remarkable coincidence thatthis same Cavaignac , subsequently served Murat when Kingof Naples, as Counsellor of State, and Minister of Finance !

Full of hope and exultation, Murat in the twenty-thirdyear of his age, set out for Paris in company with his fellowcollegian Bessieres , who afterwards became a marshal ofFrance and Duke of Istria.

The selections for the constitutional guard, of whichMurat was now a member, had fallen upon a great manyyoung men of “ good family,” and of the officers, not a fewbelonged to the old order of “ Noblesse.” The politicalopinions of Murat were then more decidedly republicanthan as yet had become the institutions of the nation.Frank, open, and bold in the expression of his thoughts,Murat had frequent altercations with his comrades, as wellas with others whom he met in Parisian society. These ledto duels, in no less than six of which he was engaged andvictor, in the space of three weeks.

The duty assigned to the corps in which he served, beingprincipally confined to the pomps of court ceremonies andofficial exhibitions, did not suit the desire of Murat to beengaged in operations more strictly military. He obtainedhis discharge and a commission of sub-lieutenant in the13th regiment of light-horse. His Tory comrades of theguard were right joyful at this translation, for althoughgenerally beloved, too much fear of him, was mingled withthe admiration which even his enemies could not withhold,of his personal and military qualities.

Murat, now decorated with an epaulette, proceeded, I mustconfess to emit opinions and support a party in the statewhich was far from being guided by the maxims of philoso-