68 CARNOT. . 
came the victims of it, would not have been any better 
guide. I should have seen Hoche march at one moment 
against his constant and zealous protector, against him 
who had saved his: life under the rule of Robespierre, and 
who, in 1793, transformed the trimmings of the young 
sergeant into the epaulettes of a full general. I should 
have found Bonaparte contributing by his delegate Auge- 
reau, to the upsetting, and to the proscription of the only 
Director with whom he had continued intimately con- 
nected during the campaign of Italy. I should have 
seen him on his journey to Geneva have the banker 
Bontemps arrested, under pretext that he had favour- 
ed the escape of that same Carnot to whom a few 
months before, he, Bonaparte, wrote from Plaisance 
(20th of Floréal, year IV.), from Milan (the 20th of 
Prairial, the same year), from Verona (the 9th of Plu- 
viose, year V.): “I owe you special thanks for the at- 
tention that you kindly show to my wife; I recommend 
her to you; she is a sincere patriot, and I love her to 
madness .... I will deserve your esteem; I beg of 
you to continue your friendship for me. ... . The 
sweetest recompense for the fatigues, the dangers, the 
chances of this profession, is the approbation of the small 
number of men whom we appreciate... ... I have 
always had to rejoice in the marks of friendship that you 
have shown to me and mine, and I shall always be truly 
grateful to you for them..... The esteem of a small . 
number of persons like yourself, that of my brother 
officers, of the soldier, interest me deeply.” 
Of the two sincere Republicans included in the execu- 
tive Directory, I should have met one among the Fruc- 
tidorisants, the other among the Vructidorisés; the 
satrap Barras—of whom it might have been said, with- 
