Bonaparte entered with all his fiery nature into this idea which
Barras and Talleyrand had sought to inveigle him into, and all his
time, his thoughts, and his energies were directed to the one
purpose, to fit himself out with every thing that should be needful
to bring to a victorious end a long and stubborn war in a foreign
land. A strong fleet was collected, and Bonaparte, as the commander
of the many thousands who were to go to Egypt under him, called to
his aid the most skilful, valiant, and renowned generals of the
French army.
It could not fail that one of the first and most eminent of these
was General Kleber, and, of course, his young adjutant and nephew
Louis accompanied him.
On the 19th of April, 1798, the French fleet left the harbor of
Toulon, and sailed toward the East, for, as Bonaparte said, "Only in
the Orient are great realms and great deeds--in the Orient, where
six hundred millions of men live."
But these six hundred millions have no army such as the French is,
no commander like Bonaparte, no generals like Murat, Junot, Desaix,
and, above all, Kleber.
Kleber was the second in command. He shared his perils, he shared
his victories, and with him was united his nephew Louis, a youth of
fourteen years, who, from his tall, slim figure, his gravity, and
his ready understanding, would have passed at least for a youth of
eighteen, and who, trained in the school of misfortune, belonged to
those early-matured natures which destiny has steeled, that they may
courageously contend with and gain the victory over destruction.
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