RETURN TO FRANCE. 75 



frail boat, and that Picbegru, being arrested by Auge- 

 reau, was expecting to be taken back to one of the pris- 

 ons in Paris. Carnot was still at Nyon when Bonaparte, 

 returning from Italy, passed through that little town on 

 his way to Rastadt. Like all the other inhabitants, he 

 illuminated his windows to do homage to the general. 



If the plan that I have proposed to myself were to 

 allow me at present to speak of Carnot's rare and sin- 

 cere modesty, I hope his little illumination at Nyon 

 would not be opposed to me. When he placed two 

 candles in his window, in honour of victories to which 

 he had contributed by his orders, or at least, by his 

 counsels, Carnot proscribed, Carnot labouring under the 

 menace of a forced journey back to Paris, and then of 

 exile in the deserts of Guyana, must certainly have 

 been agitated by far different sentiments ; nor can we 

 presume that pride showed itself in any of them. 



1STH BRTJMAIRE. RETURN OF CARNOT TO FRANCE. 



HIS NOMINATION TO BE MINISTER OF WAR. HIS 



DISMISSAL. HIS APPOINTMENT TO THE TRIBUNATE. 



During upwards of two years, Carnot had disappeared 

 from the arena of politics ; during upwards of two years 

 he had lived at Augsbourg under a feigned name, ex- 

 clusively occupied in the cultivation of the sciences and 

 of literature, when General Bonaparte returned from 

 Egypt, and with a breath reversed the 18th Brumaire, 

 a government that had never been able to take root in 

 the country. One of his first acts was his recalling the 

 illustrious exile, and nominating him to be Minister of 

 War. The enemy was then at our gates. Carnot did 

 not hesitate to accept ; but a few months after, when the 

 immortal victories of Marengo and of Hohenlinden had 



