the last occasion when my father's protecting hand was extended over
my existence; he has not been a witness of the cruel persecution I
have since endured, and which would have irritated him even more
than myself.

Bonaparte repaired to Lausanne to prepare the expedition of Mount
St. Bernard; the old Austrian general could not believe in the
possibility of so bold an enterprise, and in consequence made
inadequate preparations to oppose it. It was said, that a small body
of troops would have been sufficient to destroy the whole French
army in the midst of the mountainous passes, through which Bonaparte
led it; but in this, as well as in several other instances, the
following verses of J. B. Rousseau might be very well applied to the
triumphs of Bonaparte:

L'experience indecile
Du compagnon de Paul Emile,
Fit tout le succes d'Annibal.

(The unruly inexperience of the colleague of Paulus Emilius, was the
cause of all the victories of Hannibal).

I arrived in Switzerland to pass the summer according to custom with
my father, nearly about the time when the French army was crossing
the Alps. Large bodies of troops were seen continually passing
through these peaceful countries, which the majestic boundary of the
Alps ought to shelter from political storms. In these beautiful
summer evenings, on the borders of the lake of Geneva, I was almost
ashamed, in the presence of that beautiful sky and pure water, of
the disquietude I felt respecting the affairs of this world: but it