310

LIFE OF COLONEL MACERONL

Republic consolidated, General Buonaparte was proclaimed |the saviour of the nation, and invested with the chief com-mand of the army of the interior. And here was given one ;of the early proofs of that acute judgment and discrimination jwhich enabled Napoleon , as it were instinctively, to knowthe men he had to deal with, and the most fitting use thatcould be made of their respective qualities. He now choseMurat to be his Aide-de-camp.

Events and wants were pressing warmly upon the republic,Napoleon was named General-in-Chief of the army of Italy ,but such an army surely never scared the eye of pipe-clayed Martinet, or scented lordling, since the memorablemarch of Falstaff through the streets of Coventry. Ofcourse, I only allude to the external casings and habili-ments of the men ; their souls were glowing with enthusiasmand the noblest feelings.

Napoleon , with his Aide-de-Camp Murat, repaired toNice, the then head-quarters of this army, which wantedevery thing but courage and indomitable energy. Here thestaff of Buonaparte was composed; all young and ardentminds full of confidence in themselves and in their General,who had just attained his sixth and twentieth year ; Murathis twenty-ninth ; never in fact could this self-reliance havebeen more required, than on this memorable occasion.The infantry of this army were barely twenty-eight thousandmen, the cavalry three thousand, and both were in the worstpossible state of privation ; no pay, no clothes, no shoes,scanty provisions, plenty of artillery, but no horses forconveyance. The only sum of money that the Directory hadbeen able to collect for the prosecution of the campaign wastwo thousand pounds sterling. The situation of this armywas daily becoming worse; nothing but victory, such asshould open to its onward march, the gates of plenteousItaly, could possibly save it. But Italy was defended by 1