the Rhine, and my father was about to set off for Mainz, when the
directory, learning of the defeat suffered by the army of Italy,
commanded by Scherer, appointed as his successor, General Joubert,
who commanded the 17th division, (now the 1st,) in Paris.

This post having now become vacant, the directory, realising that
its great political importance required that it should be filled by
someone of capacity and determination, instructed the minister for
war to offer it to my father. My father who had resigned from the
legislature only to resume active service, turned the offer down; but
on Bernadotte showing him the letter of appointment, already signed,
and saying that as a friend, he begged him to accept, and as a
minister, he ordered him, my father gave in, and the next day he went
to install himself in the headquarters of the Paris division,
situated, at that time in the Quai Voltaire, at the corner of the Rue
de Saint-Pères, and which has since been demolished. My father took
as his chief of staff his old friend Col. Ménard. I was delighted
by all the military suite with which my father was surrounded. His
headquarters were never empty of officers of all ranks. A squadron
of cavalry, a battalion of infantry and six field-guns were stationed
before his portals, and one saw a crowd of orderlies coming and
going. This seemed to me much more entertaining than the exercises
and translations of Sorèze.

France, and in particular Paris, were, at this time, in a state of
much agitation. We were on the brink of catastrophe. The Russians,
commanded by the celebrated Souwaroff, had just entered Italy, where
our army had suffered a major defeat at Novi, where General Joubert
had been killed. The victor, Souwaroff, was heading for our army of
Switzerland, commanded by Masséna.