7 Four non-nobles who rose quickly through the meritorious ranks of the revolutionary armies. The Alsatian Jean-Baptiste Kléber (1753–1800) made his name in the Vendée and in Germany, followed Bonaparte to Egypt, and was assassinated in Cairo after Bonaparte returned to France to seize power in 1799. Louis-Lazare Hoche (1768–97) fought in the Vendée and against the Austrians. Jean-Baptiste Jourdan (1762–1833) survived the revolutionary wars, served under Joseph Bonaparte in Italy and Spain, and switched allegiance to the Bourbons and ultimately to Louis-Philippe d'Orléans. Pichegru became a royalist and later plotted against Napoleon (see note for p. 284, ll. 32–35); it is probably these good intentions that the marquis is referring to.
Chapter 231