Had the peace of Europe continued, Bernadotte was the person selected by
Bonaparte and Talleyrand as our representative in America; because we
then intended to strike, and not to negotiate. But during the present
embroiled state of Europe, an intriguer was more necessary there than
either a warrior or a politician. A man who has passed through all the
mire of our own Revolution, who has been in the secrets, and an
accomplice of all our factions, is, undoubtedly, a useful instrument
where factions are to be created and directed, where wealth is designed
for pillage, and a State for overthrow. General Turreaux is, therefore,
in his place, and at his proper post, as our Ambassador in America.

The son of a valet of the late Duc de Bouillon, Turreaux called himself
before the Revolution Chevalier de Grambonville, and was, in fact, a
'chevalier d'industrie' (a swindler), who supported himself by gambling
and cheating. An associate of Beurnonville, Barras, and other vile
characters, he with them joined the colours of rebellion, and served
under the former in 1792, in the army of the Moselle, first as a
volunteer, and afterwards as an aide-de-camp. In a speech at the Jacobin
Club at Quesnoy, on the 20th of November, 1792, he made a motion--"That,
throughout the whole republican army, all hats should be prohibited, and
red caps substituted in their place; and that, not only portable
guillotines, but portable Jacobin clubs, should accompany the soldiers of
Liberty and Equality."

A cousin of his was a member of the National Convention, and one of those
called Mountaineers, or sturdy partisans of Marat and Robespierre. It
was to the influence of this cousin, that he was indebted, first for a
commission as an adjutant-general, and afterwards for his promotion to a
general of brigade. In 1793, he was ordered to march, under the command