displease the first consul, would expose myself; but I could not
resolve to stifle this song of the swan, who wished to make himself
heard once more on the tomb of French liberty. I encouraged him
therefore in his design, but we deferred to the following year the
question whether what he wrote should be published.

The news of the signature of the preliminaries of peace between
England and France, came to put the crown to Bonaparte's good
fortune. When I learned that England had recognised his power, it
seemed to me that I had been wrong in hating it; but circumstances
were not long in relieving me from this scruple. The most remarkable
article of these preliminaries was the complete evacuation of Egypt:
that expedition therefore had had no other result than to make
Bonaparte talked of. Several publications written in places beyond
the reach of Bonaparte's power, accuse him of having made Kleber be
assassinated in Egypt, because he was jealous of his influence; and
I have been assured by persons worthy of credit, that the duel in
which General D'Estaing was killed by General Regnier was provoked
by a discussion on this point. It appears to me, however, scarcely
credible that Bonaparte should have had the means of arming a Turk
against the life of a French general, at a moment when he was far
removed from the theatre of the crime. Nothing ought to be said
against him of which there are not proofs; the discovery of a single
error of this kind among the most notorious truths would tarnish
their lustre. We must not fight Bonaparte with any of his own
weapons.

I delayed my return to Paris to avoid being present at the great
fete in honour of the peace. I know no sensation more painful than
these public rejoicings in which the heart refuses to participate.