et of Vienna,
which was then entirely under the influence of the Cabinet of London.
After our return from the battle the popular joy was general and
heartfelt not only among the higher and middle ranks of society, but in
all classes; and the affection evinced from all quarters to the First
Consul was unfeigned. In what a tone of sincerity did he say to me one
day, when returning from the parade, "Bourrienne, do you hear the
acclamations still resounding? That noise is as sweet to me as the sound
of Josephine's voice. How happy and proud I am to be loved by such a
people!"

During our stay at Milan Bonaparte had arranged a new government for
Piedmont; he had ever since cherished the wish to unite that rich and
fertile country to the French territory because some Piedmontese
provinces had been possessed by Louis XIV. That monarch was the only
king whom the First Consul really admired. "If," said he one day, "Louis
XIV. had not been born a king, he would have been a great man. But he
did not know mankind; he could not know them, for he never knew
misfortune." He admired the resolution of the old King, who would rather
bury himself under the ruins of the monarchy than submit to degrading
conditions, after having commanded the sovereigns of Europe. I recollect
that Bonaparte was extremely pleased to see in the reports which he
ordered to be made that in Casal, and in the valleys of Pignerol, Latour,
and Luzerne, there still existed many traces of the period when those
countries belonged to France; and that the French language was yet
preserved there. He already began to identify himself with the past; and
abusing the old kings of France was not the way to conciliate his favour.

The First Consul appointed for the government of Piedmont a Council
which, as may naturally be imagined; he composed of those Piedmontese who
were the declared partisans of France. He stated as the grounds of this
arrangement that it was to give to Piedmont a new proof of the affection
and attachment of the French people. He afterwards appointed General.
Dupont President of the Council, with the title of Minister-Extraordinary
of the French government. I will here mention a secret step taken by
Bonaparte towards the overthrowing of the Republic. In making the first
draught of General Dupont's appointment I had mechanically written,
"Minister-Extraordinary of the French Republic."--"No! no!" said
Bonaparte, "not of the Republic; say of the Government