Meantime, Napoleon was promoted to a first lieutenancy, and shortly
after, during the Reign of Terror in Paris, having once more for the
moment yielded to an impulse to speak out in meeting, he denounced
anarchy in unmeasured terms, and was arrested and taken to Paris.

"It was a fortunate arrest for me," he said. "There I was in Corsica
with barely enough money to pay my way back to the capital.
Arrested, the State had to pay my fare, and I got back to active
political scenes on a free pass. As for the trial, it was a farce,
and I was triumphantly acquitted. The jury was out only fifteen
minutes. I had so little to say for myself that the judges began to
doubt if I had any ideas on any subject--or, as one of them said,
having no head to mention, it would be useless to try and cut it off.
Hence my acquittal and my feeling that taciturnity is the mother of
safety."

Then came the terrible attack of the mob upon the Tuileries on the
20th of June, 1792. Napoleon was walking in the street with
Bourrienne when the attack began.

"There's nothing like a lamp-post for an occasion like this, it
broadens one's views so," he said, rapidly climbing up a convenient
post, from which he could see all that went on. "I didn't know that
this was the royal family's reception-day. Do you want to know what
I think?"

"Mumm is the word," whispered Bourrienne. "This is no time to have
opinions."