- And he pointed out the place， 'a roadway behind the town.' I went out overwhelmed with astonishment that among thousands of cannon distributed among the mounted batteries or light artillery on the coast， two pieces should not have escaped his recollection." -"Correspondance，" letter to King Joseph， August 6， 1806： "The admirable condition of my armies is due to this， that I give attention to them every day for an hour or two， and， when the monthly reports come in， to the state of my troops and fleets， all forming about twenty large volumes. I leave every other occupation to read them over in detail， to see what difference there is between one month and another. I take more pleasure in reading those than any young girl does in a novel." - Cadet de Gassicourt， "Voyage en Autriche"(1809).
On his reviews at Schoenbrunn and his verification of the contents of a pontoon-wagon， taken as an example.
[59] One ancient French league equals app. 4 km. (SR.)[60] Bourrienne， II.， 116； IV.， 238： "He had not a good memory for proper names， words， and dates， but it was prodigious for facts and localities. I remember that， on the way from Paris to Toulon， he called my attention to ten places suitable for giving battle. . .
. It was a souvenir of his youthful travels， and he described to me the lay of the ground， designating the positions he would have taken even before we were on the spot." March 17， 1800， puncturing a card with a pin， he shows Bourrienne the place where he intends to beat Mélas， at San Juliano. "Four months after this I found myself at San Juliano with his portfolio and dispatches， and， that very evening， at Torre-di-Gafolo， a league off， I wrote the bulletin of the battle under his dictation" (of Marengo). -De Ségur， II.， 30 (Narrative of M. Daru to M. De Ségur Aug. 13， 1805， at the headquarters of La Manche， Napoleon dictates to M. Daru the complete plan of the campaign against Austria)： "Order of marches， their duration， places of convergence or meeting of the columns， attacks in full force， the various movements and mistakes of the enemy， all， in this rapid dictation， was foreseen two months beforehand and at a distance of two hundred leagues. . . . The battle-field， the victories， and even the very days on which we were to enter Munich and Vienna were then announced and written down as it all turned out. . . . Daru saw these oracles fulfilled on the designated days up to our entry into Munich； if there were any differences of time and not of results between Munich and Vienna， they were all in our favor." -M. de La Vallette， "Mémoires，" II.， p. 35. (He was postmaster-general)： "It often happened to me that I was not as certain as he was of distances and of many details in my administration on which he was able to set me straight." - On returning from the camp at Bologna， Napoleon encounters a squad of soldiers who had got lost， asks what regiment they belong to， calculates the day they left， the road they took， what distance they should have marched. and then tells them， "You will find your battalion at such a halting place." - At this time， "the army numbered 200，000 men."[61] Madame de Rémusat， I.， 103， 268.
[62] Thibaudeau， p.25， I (on the Jacobin survivors)： "They are nothing but common artisans， painters， etc.， with lively imaginations， a little better instructed than the people， living amongst the people and exercising influence over them." - Madame de Rémusat， I.， 271 (on the royalist party)： "It is very easy to deceive that party because its starting-point is not what it is， but what it would like to have."- I.， 337： "The Bourbons will never see anything except through the Oeil de Boeuf." - Thibaudeau， p.46： "Insurrections and emigrations are skin diseases； terrorism is an internal malady." Ibid.， 75： "What now keeps the spirit of the army up is the idea soldiers have that they occupy the places of former nobles."[63] Thibaudeau， pp.419 to 452. (Both texts are given in separate columns.) And passim， for instance， p.84， the following portrayal of the decadal system of worship under the Republic： "It was imagined that citizens could be got together in churches， to freeze with cold and hear， read， and study laws， in which there was already but little fun for those who executed them." Another example of the way in which his ideas expressed themselves through imagery (Pelet de la Lozère， p.
242)： "I am not satisfied with the customs regulations on the Alps.
They show no life. We don't hear the rattle of crown pieces pouring into the public treasury." To appreciate the vividness of Napoleon's expressions and thought the reader must consult， especially， the five or six long conversations， noted on the very evening of the day they occurred by Roederer； the two or three conversations likewise noted by Miot de Melito； the scenes narrated by Beugnot； the notes of Pelet de la Lozère and by Stanislas de Girardin， and nearly the entire volume by Thibaudeau.