 In Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte , a biography by Napoleon 's private secretary , Louis de <unk> , he notes that Le souper de Beaucaire was reprinted as a book – the first edition issued at the cost of the Public Treasury in August 1798 , and a second edition in 1821 , following Napoleon 's death . He also states , " It was during my absence from France that Bonaparte , in the rank of ' chef de <unk> ' [ major ] , performed his first campaign , and contributed so materially to the recapture of Toulon . Of this period of his life I have no personal knowledge , and therefore I shall not speak of it as an eye @-@ witness . I shall merely relate some facts which fill up the interval between 1793 and 1795 , and which I have collected from papers which he himself delivered to me . Among these papers is a little production , entitled ' Le <unk> de Beaucaire ' , the copies of which he bought up at considerable expense , and destroyed upon his attaining the <unk> . " 
