The Companions of Jehu by Alexandre Dumas (best ereader for comics TXT) đ
- Author: Alexandre Dumas
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âPermit me, general, to remark that I did not ask you for all this.â
âBut I, I ask youââ
âI think you are doing me the honor to take me for posterity.â
Bonaparte started, turned round, saw to whom he was speaking, and was silent.
âI only want,â said Morgan, with a dignity which surprised the man whom he addressed, âa yes or a no.â
âAnd why do you want that?â
âTo know whether we must continue to war against you as an enemy, or fall at your feet as a savior.â
âWar,â said Bonaparte, âwar! Madmen, they who war with me! Do they not see that I am the elect of God?â
âAttila said the same thing.â
âYes; but he was the elect of destruction; I, of the new era. The grass withered where he stepped; the harvest will ripen where I pass the plow. War? Tell me what has become of those who have made it against me? They lie upon the plains of Piedmont, of Lombardy and Cairo!â
âYou forget the VendĂ©e; the VendĂ©e is still afoot.â
âAfoot, yes! but her leaders? Cathelineau, Lescure, La Rochejaquelin, dâElbĂ©e, Bonchamps, Stoffiet, Charette?â
âYou are speaking of men only; the men have been mown down, it is true; but the principle is still afoot, and for it are fighting Autichamp, Suzannet, Grignon, FrottĂ©, ChĂątillon, Cadoudal. The younger may not be worth the elder, but if they die as their elders died, what more can you ask?â
âLet them beware! If I determine upon a campaign against the VendĂ©e I shall send neither Santerre nor Rossignol!â
âThe Convention sent KlĂ©ber, and the Directory, Hoche!â
âI shall not send; I shall go myself.â
âNothing worse can happen to them than to be killed like Lescure, or shot like Charette.â
âIt may happen that I pardon them.â
âCato taught us how to escape the pardon of CĂŠsar.â
âTake care; you are quoting a Republican!â
âCato was one of those men whose example can be followed, no matter to what party they belong.â
âAnd suppose I were to tell you that I hold the VendĂ©e in the hollow of my hand?â
âYou!â
âAnd that within three months, she will lay down her arms if I choose?â
The young man shook his head.
âYou donât believe me?â
âI hesitate to believe you.â
âIf I affirm to you that what I say is true; if I prove it by telling you the means, or rather the men, by whom I shall bring this about?â
âIf a man like General Bonaparte affirms a thing, I shall believe it; and if that thing is the pacification of the VendĂ©e, I shall say in my turn: âBeware! Better the VendĂ©e fighting than the VendĂ©e conspiring. The VendĂ©e fighting means the sword, the VendĂ©e conspiring means the dagger.ââ
âOh! I know your dagger,â said Bonaparte. âHere it is.â
And he drew from a drawer the dagger he had taken from Roland and laid it on the table within reach of Morganâs hand.
âBut,â he added, âthere is some distance between Bonaparteâs breast and an assassinâs dagger. Try.â
And he advanced to the young man with a flaming eye.
âI did not come here to assassinate you,â said the young man, coldly. âLater, if I consider your death indispensable to the cause, I shall do all in my power, and if I fail it will not be because you are Marius and I the Cimbrian. Have you anything else to say to me, citizen First Consul?â concluded the young man, bowing.
âYes. Tell Cadoudal that when he is ready to fight the enemy, instead of Frenchmen, I have a colonelâs commission ready signed in my desk for him.â
âCadoudal commands, not a regiment, but an army. You were unwilling to retrograde from Bonaparte to Monk; why should you expect him to descend from general to colonel? Have you nothing else to say to me, citizen First Consul?â
âYes. Have you any way of transmitting my reply to the Comte de Provençe?â
âYou mean King Louis XVIII.?â
âDonât let us quibble over words. To him who wrote to me.â
âHis envoy is now at the camp at Aubiers.â
âWell, I have changed my mind; I shall send him an answer. These Bourbons are so blind that this one would misinterpret my silence.â
And Bonaparte, sitting down at his desk, wrote the following letter with a care that showed he wished to make it legible:
I have received your letter, monsieur. I thank you for the good opinion you express in it of me. You must not wish for your return to France; it could only be over a hundred thousand dead bodies. Sacrifice your own interests to the repose and welfare of France. History will applaud you. I am not insensible to the misfortunes of your family, and I shall hear with pleasure that you are surrounded with all that could contribute to the tranquillity of your retreat. BONAPARTE.Then, folding and sealing the letter, he directed it to âMonsieur le Comte de Provençe,â and handed it to Morgan. Then he called Roland, as if he knew the latter were not far off.
âGeneral?â said the young officer, appearing instantly.
âConduct this gentleman to the street,â said Bonaparte. âUntil then you are responsible for him.â
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