4] 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



which case there was also some 

 danger of tlie array stopping him, 

 and demanding an explanation of 

 his conduct ; so that the return of 

 Buonaparte, as well as his expedi- 

 tion to Egypt, and transactions 

 there, were strongly tinctured with 

 the marvelous. If there were in 

 reality a divinity of fortune, there 

 could be no doubt that Buonaparte 

 is one of her greatest favourites, as 

 he himself is very ready to acknow- 

 ledge. * 



At six o'clock in the evening of 

 the seventeenth of October, this 

 celebrated chief left Frejus, and 

 proceeded to Paris, in company 

 with general Berthier and the three 

 members of the national institute 

 already mentioned. The courier 

 who had been dispatched before 

 him, to announce his arrival to the 

 directory, and to prepare relays of 

 horses for his journey, called out 

 for them every where in his name, 

 and from every town and village 

 the people rushed out to meet him, 

 and accompanied him beyond their 

 respective communities : so im- 

 mense was the crowd, even in the 

 roads, that the carriages found it 

 difficult to go forward. In every 

 place through which he passed, 

 from Frejus to Paris, there were at 

 night illuminations. At Lyons, 

 when it was known that he was to 

 pass that city, nothing was omitted 

 that could be imagined, in order 

 to testify the joy of the citizens, and 

 give him a splendid reception. A 

 short threatrieal piece, called the 

 Hero's Return, was composed and 

 represented immediately. The per- 



formers read their parts, not hav- 

 ing had time to commit them to 

 memory. On his appearance at the 

 theatre, he was received with thun- 

 ders of applause, and when he 

 went out of the house, the audi- 

 ence followed him home to his 

 lodgings. On the day after his ar- 

 rival in Paris, he had a private au- 

 dience of the directory. All the 

 streets and alleys leading to the 

 Luxembourg were crowded with 

 spectators. Buonaparte testified a 

 lively sensibility to the demonstra- 

 tions with which he was every 

 where surrounded of the public joy 

 and gladness. In his way to and 

 from the direcloiial palace, he ob- 

 served among the spectators several 

 soldiers who had served under him 

 ill his campaigns in Italy. These 

 men he called to liim, wherever he 

 perceived them, and gave them 

 his hand, with expressions of good- 

 will and friendship. He wore a 

 great coat with a Turkish sabre. 

 His hair was cut very short, and 

 the climate of Egypt had changed 

 the natural paleness of his face, into 

 a dark complexion, which improved 

 his appearance. On leaving the 

 directory he paid visits to the mi- 

 nisters of war and marine, and 

 other persons of consequence in the 

 serxdce of the republic. 



These particulars will not be 

 censured as too minute, when we 

 reflect on the interest wliich the 

 French nation felt in Buonaparte at 

 this time, and how much that uni- 

 versal enthusiasm, in favour of this 

 single man, contributed to the im- 

 portant scenes with which it was 



* It is a question of not a little cui-iosity, wliat is tlic reason why Buonaparte 

 affects to consider hinl^.elf as under tlie peculiar protection of fortune ? Wlien lie 

 had to do with barbarians, to tallc of fate and fortune, misrhtnotbe bad policy. But 

 in tortiine he has expressed his confidence to the Frciic/i armi/, and even the French 

 nation and tegistatnrc, wiio, if they are not even deists, are much less polytheists. 



