CHAPTER II.
Buonaparte commands the Artillery at Toulon--Fall of Toulon--The Representatives of the People--Junot.
Buonaparte's first military service occurred, as we have seen, in the summer of 1793.

The king of France had been put to death on the 21st of January in that year; and in less than a month afterwards the convention had declared war against England.

The murder of the king, alike imprudent as atrocious, had in fact united the princes of Europe against the revolutionary cause; and within France itself a strong reaction took place.

The people of Toulon, the great port and arsenal of France on the Mediterranean, partook these sentiments, and invited the English and Spanish fleets off their coast to come to their assistance, and garrison their city.

The allied admirals took possession accordingly of Toulon, and a motley force of English, Spaniards, and Neapolitans, prepared to defend the place.