General Carteaux, the senior officer present came forward to greet Barras, and at once expressed his willingness to serve under him. Then Barras said; "Be good enough, Citizen General, to show me the dispositions of your troops and those of the insurgents."
Carteaux led him over to the table. The officer seated at it glanced up and nodded. Roger recognized him then as a little Corsican Captain of Artillery who had got the better of him in a heated argument during the siege of Toulon. At the siege, partly because he was an enthusiastic follower of Robespierre and partly because he was one of the very few officers there who understood anything about the positioning of batteries, he had been given brevet rank as a Lieutenant-Colonel and the command of all the Republican artillery. Having witnessed both his competence and pushfulness, Roger was not surprised to see that, in these days of rapid promotion, he had so soon risen to Brigadier, and decided that he might be worth keeping an eye on.
Meanwhile, Barras had asked: "What are you measuring there, Citizen Brigadier Buonaparte?"
"Ranges," came the prompt reply. "So as to decide where I would position our forces were it my responsibility to put a swift end to this msurrection."
"Let us suppose it is, then," said Barras. "How would you set about it?"
The young Corsican stood up. He was below middle height and so thin that, although only nineteen months younger than Roger, he appeared a stripling beside him. His complexion was sallow, the yellowish skin being drawn taut across gaunt cheeks but becoming whiter towards the top of his fine forehead, the width of which was concealed by lank black hair, parted in the middle and falling over his ears nearly down to his shoulders. In profile his sharply defined features would have made an admirable cameo: full face he might, for a moment, have been taken for an ascetic, until one noticed the unusually powerful development of the muscles at the base of his lower jaw, and the expression—determined, contemptuous and ruthless by turns—that animated the direct glance of his dark eyes.
Turning towards Barras, he showed no trace of the diffidence usual in a junior officer submitting his views to his senior; but, speaking the chronically ungrammatical French of one brought up to use Italian, he gave in short staccato sentences an appreciation of the situation as if he were an instructor teaching a cadet a lesson.
"At our disposal we have some five thousand troops of the line, a battalion of approximately fifteen hundred patriots armed yesterday, and the armed police. Totaclass="underline" eight thousand. Opposed to us we have over thirty-five thousand trained National Guards; the 'golden youth', numbering perhaps two thousand; the returned emigres, at least another thousand; and a considerable number of Chouans known to have been secretly drafted by the Royalists from Brittany to Paris. Totaclass="underline" approximately forty thousand. Were we in open country, vigorous and skilful direction, coupled with the better training and discipline of our troops, might serve to outweigh the heavy odds against us. But street fighting entails scores of localized conflicts over which simultaneous control by one General is impossible; and for storming a barricade courage is a greyer asset than training. Therefore, to take the offensive against the insurgents must inevitably result in our defeat."
"What, then, do you suggest?" Barras asked.
Buonaparte's hands, which were of unusual beauty, began to move swiftly about the map. "We must regard the Convention as the keep of a fortress that is besieged. There, in the Tuileries, it could not be better situated. From the south it can be approached only across the river by three bridges, Pont Neuf, Pont Royal, and Pont Louis XVI. They are easily held. To the west lie the gardens, giving us excellent fields of fire. To the east is the Palais du Louvre, by manning the windows of which we can deny the streets to columns advancing from that direction. One thousand of our men should be sufficient to hold each of those three sides. That leaves us five thousand for the north, and no greater number can be brought against us through the streets there opening on to the Rue St. Honore. Naturally, I should give additional protection to our most vulnerable side by establishing strong advance positions in the Place Venddme, the Cul-de-sac Dauphin, and other places north of the St Honor6; and I should hold a reserve against emergencies, including all our cavalry, in the Place du Carousel. With such dispositions I consider we could render the area that should be held, impregnable."
"All that is well enough," Barras commented. "But what if it develop into a regular siege? Within forty-eight hours our men would be out of ammunition, and starving."
"Citizen General! do you take me for a fool?" the little Corsican snapped. "Were I in command here a strong detachment would already be on its way to secure the heights of Meudon and the Arsenal there. By morning sufficient munitions could be brought in to keep us supplied for a month. The same applies to food. Troops should be sent at once to commandeer the main stocks in the depots and bring them to the Tuileries. I would, too, send arms to the Section Quinze-Vingts, which alone has supported the Convention. A rising of the patriots there could draw off considerable numbers of tho insurgents, and make our break-out the easier."
"You visualize a break-out then?"
"Sacre nom! Yes. What sort of general would contemplate sitting down to be shot at indefinitely? To entrench ourselves is only a temporary expedient forced on us by the superior numbers of the enemy. Our object is not to protect the Convention: it is to crush the insurrection. But for that we need cannon. Our one piece of good fortune is that the Sections were made to give up their cannon after the risings in the spring. They have none; and if we can bring in the batteries from the camp at Sablons we shall have the enemy at our mercy."
"No, no!" General Carteaux shook his head. "We could not use cannon on the people. God knows, during the past three years there has been enough fighting in the streets of Paris, but cannon has never been used by either side?'
"Where lies the difference between killing your fellow citizens with a pike or grape-shot?" asked Buonaparte acidly. "Personally I am against spilling any blood at all, if it can be avoided. In any case, whatever provocation may be given to the Convention's troops, they should be ordered to hold their fire until they have been fired upon.
But if fight we must, let us be sensible about it The more potent the weapons we use, the sooner it will be over and the fewer people will be killed. Without cannon I would wash my hands of this. But if given leave to make such dispositions as I wish, and to call in the batteries of artillery from the camp, I'd pledge my head to crush all opposition against the Convention before the week is out"
With a laugh, Barras brought a heavy hand down on the little man's shoulder. "That is the kind of. language it pleases me to hear. Go to it, then, Citizen Brigadier! Under me you shall handle tins thing; for I am convinced you will do it well. Give any orders you wish with my authority. I ask only that you should acquaint me with them."
Instantly the young Brigadier's face lit up. His thread-bare jacket ill-cleaned boots and slovenly appearance, which had earned him the nickname of 'the little ragamuffin', were forgotten at the sight of his flashing eyes, and the ringing tones of his heavily accented voice.
Seizing Barras's hand he wrung it; then, without a moment's hesitation he began to allocate duties to the officers round him. His first order was to a Major Murat: a tall, dark, grossly handsome cavalryman who, with the liberty about uniform usual in those days, had a large ostrich feather fixed in his busby. He was despatched with his squadron to fetch the forty cannon post-haste from the camp at Sablons. A Captain Marmont was sent with another squadron to seize the Arsenal at Meudon, and a Colonel Brune to follow him with a battalion of infantry and wagons to bring in ammunition.