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 468 Readings iii European History be my most cherished ambition. I am, with most profound respect, my dear uncle, your very humble and very obedient servant and nephew, Napoleone di Buonaparte. P.S. Destroy this letter. 420. Circum- stances under which Bonaparte undertook the Italian campaign. II. Bonaparte's Italian Campaign (i 796-1 797) A writer, Las Cases, who accompanied Napoleon to St. Helena, gathered the following information from the exiled emperor in regard to the circumstances of Bona- parte's first campaign. During the period of his command at Paris subsequent to the 18th Vendemiaire, Napoleon had to deal with a great dearth of food, which occasioned several popular com- motions. One day, when the usual distribution of bread had not taken place, crowds of people collected around the bakers' shops. Napoleon was patrolling the city with a party of his staff to preserve public order. A crowd of persons, chiefly women, assembled around him, loudly calling for bread. The crowd grew, the outcries increased, and the situation of Napoleon and his officers became crit- ical. A woman of monstrously robust appearance was par- ticularly conspicuous by her gestures and exclamations. "Those fine epauleted fellows," said she, pointing to the officers, " laugh at our distress ; so long as they can eat and grow fat, they do not care if the poor people die of hunger." Napoleon turned to her and said, " My good woman, look at me ; which is the fatter, you or I ? " Napo- leon was at that time extremely thin. " I was merely a slip of parchment," said he. A general burst of laughter dis- armed the fury of the populace, and the staff officers con- tinued their round. Napoleon's memoirs of the campaign in Italy show how he became acquainted with Madame de Beauharnais, and how he contracted the marriage which has been so greatly misrepresented in the accounts of the time. As soon as he