NAPOLEON I, emperor of the French: b. Ajaccio, Corsica, 15 Aug. 1769; d. Longwood, Saint Helena, 5 May 1821. He was descended from the Italian family of Bonaparte (q.v.), of which the Corsican branch through him became the historic representative. Napoleon parte was the son of Charles Bonaparte, an ad vocate of some repute, and of Letitia .Ramolino, whose family were Florentines. Of 13 children born to them, he was the fourth,' and was the second son. At 10 he was sent to the military school of Brienne, where he remained till 1784, His school companions regarded him as taciturn and morose; but as be was a Corsican, speaking very little French, and poor as well as proud, his conduct is doubtless to be ascribed as much to his circumstances as to his temperament. Toward those who, like Bourrienne, showed him sympathy, he was susceptible of strong and lasting attachments. From the annual report of the school it appears that he °distinguished himself in mathematics, was tolerably versed in history and geography, weak in Latin, general literature, and other accomplishments; of regu lar habits, well behaved and 'studious, and en joying excellent health.' His favorite author was Plutarch. In October 1784 he repaired to the military school at Paris to complete his studies for the army; and in September 1785 received his commission as second lieutenant in the artillery regiment of La Fere. Soon afterward he was promoted to be first lieuten ant in the regiment of Grenoble, then stationed at Valence. While here he devoted some at tention to literature, gaining a prize offered by the Lyons Academy. He had the intention of describing an excursion he made to Mont Cenis in the style of Sterne's (Sentimental Journey,' then much in favor on the Continent; but a much more suitable task was a 'History of Corsica? which he began and communicated to Paoli, then living in exile in London.
Meantime the Revolution was rapidly devel oping. Many of Napoleon's fellow-officers at Valence openly took part with the Royalists, but he chose the popular side, though in a quiet and undemonstrative way as he had little liking for the turbulence of mobs. On 6 Feb. 1792 he became captain of artillery by seniority and, being in Paris the same year, he witnessed the insurrections of 20 June and 10 August. He was accompanied by his friend and biographer, Bourrienne (q.v.), who relates that on one of these occasions, when Napoleon saw the mob break into the Tuileries and force the king to don the red cap, he exclaimed, °It is all over with that poor man! A few discharges of grape would have sent all those despicable wretches fleeing!' Soon after he left for Corsica, where Paoli then held the chief com mand. The excesses of the Septembrists and
Terrorists, however, induced Paoli to break with the Convention and seek the assistance of England. This brought him into conflict with Napoleon, who adhered to the Convention, which so exasperated the Corsicans against him that after a few skirmishes he was driven from the island along with his whole family. He made a short stay at Marseilles, where he published a small pamphlet, Souper de 13eaucaire? Republican in sentiment, but not Jacobinical, as has been asserted. He then set out for Paris, where he spent a part of the sum mer of 1793; and in September of that year was sent, with the commission of lieutenant colonel of artillery, to assist in the reduction of Toulon, then in the hands of the English. The place was captured 19 December entirely through his strategic genius; and in the following February he was made a brigadier-general of artillery. Later in the year he was sent to Genoa to examine the state of the defenses of that city and to ascertain the political disposi tion of its inhabitants.
In the beginning of 1795 he was again in Paris in search of employment, but in spite of his known abilities was not at-first successful. In his letters to his brother Joseph, written about this time, he complains of poverty. and ennui, and seems to have thought of offering his services to the sultan of Turkey.. On the 13th Vendemiaire IV (5 Oct. 1795), when the sections of Paris had risen against the Con vention, Napoleon, named by Barras (q.v.), was commander of the 5,000 troops provided for its defense. Although he had had but a night in which to make arrangements for the dispersion of thepulace, when the National Guards, as the of the sections were called, ad vanced to the number of 30,000 along the quaz of the Seine, the Rue Saint Honore and other approaches to the Tuileries, they found every point securely guarded. To their feeble musketry fire Napoleon replied by murderous discharges of grape. In less than an hour of actual fighting victory was secured for the Convention, which recognized the value of the young victor's services by appointing him to the command of the Army of the Interior.