deadly fusillade, mowing down the insurgents in droves. This was the
action he later euphemistically called 'the whiff of grapeshot'. Meanwhile
the guns he had positioned to command the Seine prevented the rebels
on the Left bank from crossing over to aid their comrades. By 6 p.m.
these too fell back discomfited, and both 'horns' of the intended attack
withdrew. That night the rain pelted down again, washing away the gore
of an urban battlefield. There were four hundred corpses inside St-Roch
church and another thousand bodies lay dead on the streets.
Next day Barras and his henchmen left the gates of Paris open so that
the surviving rebels could escape. Barras informed the government that
Napoleon was the hero of the hour and must be promoted to major
general, but his colleagues in the Directory claimed to be incredulous that
this General Bonaparte, still an unknown, had played any part in the
victory. A week later Barras resigned his post as Commander-in-Chief of
the Army of the Interior and recommended Napoleon as his successor.
The story was that Barras told his colleagues: 'Promote this man or he
will promote himself without you.' Over great opposition, particularly
from Carnot, Napoleon was named as the new commander. He was to
receive an annual salary of 48,ooo francs and would have the de facto
position of Governor of Paris, as well as controlling the police and secret
servtce.
At twenty-six, Napoleon was rich and famous. In euphoria he wrote to
Joseph that he would now be able to enrich the Bonaparte clan with
places and perquisites. The process began at once. Letizia received 6o,ooo
francs and, with her daughters, relocated from the wretched garret in
Marseilles to the best apartment in the plushest house in the city's most
sought-after quarter. Joseph was made consul in Italy and given money to
invest in Genoese privateers, while Lucien was appointed commissary
with the Army of the North in the Netherlands. Louis was promoted
lieutenant in the 4th Artillery Regiment and joined Napoleon's staff as
military secretary and aide-de-camp. The eleven-year-old Jerome was
sent to an expensive Irish school near Paris, where Napoleon, mindful of
his own schooldays at Brienne, spoiled him outrageously and loaded him
with pocket money. Fesch, the financial brains of the Bonaparte clan,
temporarily left the priesthood for the lucrative post of commissary to the
Army of Italy.
To Madame Clary Napoleon sent a de haut en bas note informing her
of his new status, ostensibly for the purpose of introducing his henchman
Stanislas Freron, but to Desiree he wrote not a word. To Joseph he wrote
on 15 November, clearly revelling in his new status as a man of wealth:
marcin
(Marcin)
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