Chaptal discovers that Napoleon was involved in a serenading incident at Brienne and was punished for it
Excerpt from Mes souvenirs sur Napoléon, by Jean-Antoine Chaptal:
Lebreton had noticed the cold welcome that the first Consul had given him. I told him what he had done for Domairon. I invited him to probe his conscience, to find out the real reason for this disadvantage. After a few moments of hesitation, he confided to me that, in his Order, he was considered a severe man, that his tall size and off-putting face imposed on young people, and that his superiors constantly chose him to restore order in their colleges. “It was for this purpose,” he told me, “I was sent to Brienne. I found the most complete insubordination, the most scandalous disorder. But three days was enough to get everything into duty. Two or three of these young people thought they were taking revenge with songs and pushed the audacity until they came to sing them under my windows at nine o’clock in the evening. I was patient for two days; but, the third, I crouched behind my door, which I left ajar, and, as they opened their mouths, I rushed on them, I took one by the collar; it was the little Corsican. He was arrested for three days.”
