The “Memoires de Napoleon” (published at Paris by Bossange, in 1823) contain notes by the Emperor on a history of St. Domingo, which furnish precise and curious particulars respecting the expedition against that colony, the causes which led to the undertaking, to its failure, &c.
The History of the Convention, of which Napoleon had already expressed his disapprobation, again presented itself to his thoughts; he was far from being satisfied with Lacretelle. “Sentences in abundance,” he repeated, “and but little colouring, no depth: he is an academician, but in no respect a historian.” He made me call my son, and dictated the two following notes, of which I give a literal copy, however imperfect they may be, for he never read them a second time. Every thing that comes from him is, in my opinion, valuable.
"The Convention, called by a law of the Legislative Assembly to give a new constitution to France, decreed the Republic; not that the most enlightened did not think the republican system incompatible with the existing state of manners in France, but because the Monarchy could not be continued without placing the Duke of Orleans on the throne, which would have alienated a great part of the nation.
"An executive power, consisting of five ministers, was established by the Convention for conducting the affairs of the republic.
"Two parties contended for the ascendancy in the National Convention: that of the _Girondists_, composed of men who had influenced the Legislative Assembly, and that of the _Mountain_, formed by the Commune of Paris, which had directed the atrocities of the 10th of August and the 2d of September, and commanded the population of the capital.
"Vergniaud, Brissot, Condorcet, Guadet, and Roland, were the leaders of the Girondists; Danton, Robespierre, Marat, Collot d’Herbois, and Billaud-Varennes, headed the Mountain. These two parties were alike indebted for their rise to the principles of the revolution. Their conductors sprang out of the popular societies which they had successively rendered subservient to their views.
"The party of the Girondists was more powerful in talents, and was eminently popular in the great provincial towns, particularly at Bourdeaux, Montpellier, Marseilles, Caen, Lyons, &:c.
